Hi everyone,

Although I will be in Urbana, Illinois recording Passover Seders this year, I will be back in New York the night of April 9. That means if anyone is having a Seder in New York April 10-14, I could record it.  It seems Jews in Urbana only consider the first Friday and Saturday of Passover valid Seder days, but Wikipedia confirms it can be observed for an entire week.

Other than those dates, the constraint is the Seder must have 9 participants or fewer, due to recording limitations (I only have 9 recorders and microphones, and even that will be an enormous editing challenge).

Please shoot me a message if your NY Seder meets these requirements. Sorry for the late notice!

Love,

--Nina

Greetings Seder-Masochism supporters!

A lot has happened since you all kindly funded this project. In October I recorded an excellent interview with my Dad, the man who raised me with Passover in spite of being an atheist who dropped out of a very religious Jewish upbringing himself. This audio is dripping with the complexity of our relationship and I very much look forward to animating to it for the project (it should yield at least 5 entertaining minutes).

In January my Dad died. You can read about him here, here and here.

That sort of derailed me for a while, but Passover is approaching right on schedule anyway, and I'm going to get some of it on audio. But rather than record in New York, as I'd originally planned, I'm going to record in my hometown Urbana, Illinois. My Mom is still there, as are many friends I grew up sharing Passover with. Much of the draw of exploring Passover is that I was raised with it, it has informed my life and my approach to storytelling and my relationship with mythology and religion. Why not get as close to my roots here as possible?

If you're having a Seder in New York I was supposed to attend, my apologies.

If anyone anywhere wants to record their own Seder and share the results for the project, please do! Getting adequate audio quality without being impossibly intrusive is a challenge though. The best reason to record your Seder is to have a memento for yourself and your family, in which case sound quality may not be a priority. If you've had luck recording with tabletop mics and digital audio recorders, please share recommendations in the comments.

Thanks, and I will continue to keep you posted.

--Nina

Among other things, this entitles me to call my current project Seder-Masochism.

Want one? Print your own! Click here for high res. If you wonder whether you’re qualified to carry a Jew Card, listen to this song.

The shipment of everyone's material backer rewards, such as DVDs, was delayed due to an unexpected trip to Urbana, IL to visit my ailing Dad. The good news is I got a recording of him talking about Passover! There's some background noise of his IV machine and other ambient sounds of the oncology inpatient unit, but I think I got some good stuff.

I just got back to New York last night, and today I packed and addressed the "NinaVision" DVDs ($35 backer level reward) which are now ready to ship. Other DVDs I hope will be fulfilled by Amplifier, who fulfills orders for the Sita Sings the Blues Merchandise Empire. I should hear back from them soon.

Here's a photo of the family Judaica from Urbana!

That's my brother's fancy Siddur, given to him by my hopeful Bubby Zelda when he was born, assuming he'd actually read it. When I asked him if I could borrow it, he said, "I have a Siddur?" My sister and I always coveted its hinged metal cover, the only book we'd ever seen like that. None of us ever read what was inside, or cared.

Next to it is the Seder cup my parents bought on their honeymoon in Venice. My Momz says it's Murano glass. It's red because there's gold in the glass itself. It was at every Seder, every year, along with the Maxwell House Haggadah For The American Family. I scored one of those too.

Love,

--Nina

If it had only been $3,600, it would have been enough. Dayenu! But thanks to YOU we raised $4,146! I will be able to buy recording equipment and record Passover Seders this Spring! Blessed art Thou, O Lord our GOD, King of the Universe, Who createst the fruit of the vine and Digital Audio Recorders. Or not - there are more plausible non-theistic explanations for the fruit of the vine and digital audio recorders, but regardless: Next year in The Greater New York Metropolitan Area! Amen.

Love,

--Nina