Alison B. Curry

*watching a nature documentary*
Narrator: “the female waits by her deceased relatives’ side for 3 days.”
Me: “Three days?!?”
My non-Jewish husband: “She’s sitting shiva, chill.”

I’m also excited to announce that later this summer, I will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. My husband and I are really thrilled to return to the DMV for the next two years. Now we just have to find a place, pack, and move 😅

Yesterday, I successfully defended my dissertation. It’s been a wild six years here at UNC, and while pursuing a PhD can be incredibly stressful and frustrating, I do not take for granted the ability to pursue my passion in this way.

My mother used to always say, “You only have to watch the last five minutes of a basketball game” and I never understood that, bc certainly that’s also true for all other sports??

But after catching a few of this season’s playoff games, I fear she’s right about that one too.

Today, more than six months after voters elected me to keep my seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, my opponent conceded the election. Read my statement here.

Thank you, Senator. Proud to have been able to vote for you in the past.

The UNC-CH chapter of the AAUP strongly and unequivocally condemns the targeting of international students and scholars.

In light of the April 8 revocation of six UNC student visas, we call on UNC-CH to take concrete steps to support students and scholars at risk:

unc-ch-aaup.org/news#2025-04...

No one talk to me for a week after June 27th.

A quick and easy to use tool to email your representatives to save the NEH.

And, in a time in which so many in our country are calling for our congress leaders to do something, anything, to resist! - Booker is at least actively NOT doing what his colleagues have been doing on a daily basis since Inauguration Day.

Resistance is significant if it aids in survival. If it inspires others. If it manages to stop oppression, even just for the short term. If it creates networks, facilitates communication.

I believe Booker is doing something that amounts to resistance here - let’s debate what not if.

Even within my own studies of resistance during the Holocaust, I’ve received pushback from scholars claiming something similar - were these acts “resisting” if they did not actually make a difference in fighting the Nazi regime?

I don’t believe resistance has to be all or nothing.

It’s fascinating to watch the reaction to @booker.senate.gov ‘s over 16hr speech on the Senate floor. On the one hand, there’s a lot of applause - others claim he’s not actually doing anything worthwhile.

As someone studying historical resistance, resistance takes many forms.

Thanks for the invite! Always love talking about cemeteries!

Very grateful for the support of fellow grad students throughout the PhD process.

I recently started a Zoom working group with grad friends I met at various conferences over the years. It’s turned into a super consistent and supportive part of my week. It’s lovely. And grad students are the best.

…citizenship. But in the harsh reality that is 2025, I doubt they’d question it now.

If there’s any chance Duda sees this (🤣) - we’ve traced my direct lineage back to the 18th century in Kurów, Poland.

Just read about Jesse Eisenberg being granted Polish citizenship earlier this week.

I looked into this a few years ago - we have so much documentation of my family’s Polish roots but Polish law is quite specific and we wouldn’t qualify.

Back then, people questioned why I would want Polish

New thinking point:

What would x experience have been like if there had been no men in the room?

It’s been so long since the last time I received genuinely good news that I’m not sure when I’ll ever get good news again.

As a society, we didn’t deserve a good Super Bowl game.

I could be down!

Tomorrow night!

Talk includes stories about greedy men, cemetery abuse, and one man that became known as the “King of the Dead.”

Register in link below.

From an ad in Gazeta Żydowska for Motl Pinkiert’s funeral business in the Warsaw ghetto.

The Pinkiert name would become synonymous with death in the ghetto, particularly as Pinkiert cashed in on high death rates.

I’ll be sharing more on this in my Zoom talk, one week from today.

From Burial Society to Funeral Home with @uncjewishstudies.bsky.social

Feb 3 at 5:30pm

To register:

jewishstudies.unc.edu/event/curry/

From an ad in Gazeta Żydowska for Motl Pinkiert’s funeral business in the Warsaw ghetto.

The Pinkiert name would become synonymous with death in the ghetto, particularly as Pinkiert cashed in on high death rates.

I’ll be sharing more on this in my Zoom talk, one week from today.

Another plug for my Zoom talk on Feb 3 with @uncjewishstudies.bsky.social

Register for free at link below!

My review of Once There was Warsaw for @ingeveb.bsky.social, an incredibly compelling memoir recently translated into English.

You know you come from a bowling family when you can watch a sitcom episode that takes place at a bowling alley and your mother calls out the main character’s “terrible form” and your father catches another character foul.

In one month (from yesterday 🙄), I will be giving a talk on Jewish burial societies and funeral homes through @uncjewishstudies.bsky.social .

Event will be on Zoom and is open to the public but registration is required. See link below.

Feb 3rd @ 5:30pm

There’s something special about the last candle to go out on the last night of Hanukkah.