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Award Winners

Rubicon Bakery

Rubicon Bakery

Rubicon Bakery

Beezy Portillo making tarts at Rubicon Bakers. Photo: Clara Rice

Alix won first prize in feature reporting from the San Francisco Press Club in 2016 for her Berkeleyside article about Rubicon Bakers, whose workforce is primarily made up of those in need of a second chance.

Daniel Boyarin

Rubicon Bakery

Rubicon Bakery

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Alix won a first prize in personality profiles in the American Jewish Press Association's Simon Rockower Awards in 2016 for this feature: "Daniel Boyarin: Talmudist, feminist, anti-Zionist, only-in-Berkeley Orthodox Jew."

Road to Atonement

Neshama Carlebach speaks out in light of #metoo

Neshama Carlebach speaks out in light of #metoo

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In 2013, Alix won another first prize in personality profiles in the AJPA's Rockower awards, this time for a feature about a Jewish man freshly out of prison after serving 22 years for murder.

Neshama Carlebach speaks out in light of #metoo

Neshama Carlebach speaks out in light of #metoo

Neshama Carlebach speaks out in light of #metoo

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Alix won a first prize in reporting on women in the AJPA's Rockower Awards in 2019 for this feature, but the real prize was Neshama's reaction, who told her it was the best article to ever be written about her. 

Audio Reporting

Unorthodox podcast: The Conversion Episode 2020

Unorthodox podcast: The Conversion Episode 2020

Unorthodox podcast: The Conversion Episode 2020

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Vy Nguyen chose to undergo an Orthodox conversion to Judaism while dealing with a rare form of cancer, converting and getting married within months. Her remarkable story begins around minute 58.

Unorthodox podcast: Headspace

Unorthodox podcast: The Conversion Episode 2020

Unorthodox podcast: The Conversion Episode 2020

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An Orthodox rabbi and a Holocaust survivor emerge as two advocates for psychedelic use; one for treating trauma and the other for greater connection to the divine. Starts around minute 37. 

Love Stories

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

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A couple who co-founded a non-profit that's saving thousands of lives, sometimes had a harder time tending to their marriage. They renewed their vows 20 years later. 

Levana & Casey

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

Perhaps the most creative wedding I've ever written about, complete with a ceremony to counter heter

This couple never wanted to get married, until they did. So they also held an "absurdist ceremony to counter heteronormative patriarchy" to make peace with their decision.  

Recovery Leads to Forgiveness

A Power Couple Finds the Spark

Recovery Leads to Forgiveness

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Irene had no idea when she met and fell in love with Hal, that he was an addict. 25 years of sobriety after they dated, she got the apology she always wanted, and love, too. 


Shoshana & Abigail

Shoshana & Abigail

Recovery Leads to Forgiveness

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“My parents...would have loved nothing better than to know I was finally getting married, and that they were hosting a rehearsal dinner right after getting buried."

Mike & Anthony

Shoshana & Abigail

Mike & Anthony

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Anthony was pleasantly surprised when he showed up to meet Mike on their blind date and saw a cute rabbi rather than the crypt-keeper. 

Alicia & Mike

Shoshana & Abigail

Mike & Anthony

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Mike had no idea what his type was, but a friend offered an introduction to Alicia. Another friend offered to set Alicia up with Mike. 

James "Sneaky" White

The stories Alix did about people living meaningful lives after prison led J.'s editor to ask her to write about James "Sneaky" White, a Vietnam Veteran serving year 37 of a life-without-parole sentence for killing the violent ex-husband of his wife, Nancy. As an inmate, White founded a college program at Ironwood State Prison, which has been responsible for educating over 1,500 men. Now every prison in the state has such a program, largely due to the success of his. Alix went to meet him in Vacaville's California Medical Facility in January, 2018, and her story about him came out in late March. When an investigator from Governor Jerry Brown's office came to meet Jim two months after the story appeared, he told him that Brown and his senior staff had all read the story about him in the Jewish newspaper. In August 2018, his case went to the state parole board in Sacramento, where Alix joined 12 others -- mostly Vietnam Vets and men whose lives had been greatly impacted by him in prison -- testifying on his behalf. Later that day, The parole board approved his pardon, and then in November, the state supreme court approved it as well. His was among the commutations that Brown issued right before Christmas. It took a full year for him to get his own date with the parole board, which happened in August, 2019. Alix has been featured talking about the case on the podcast Unorthodox. Meeting Jim, as well as being the one to bring his story to a wider audience has been, by far, the most rewarding story of her career. Alix won a first prize in personality profiles in the American Jewish Press Awards in 2019 for this story, but of course, the real prize came on Jan. 21, 2020, when she witnessed him walking out of prison as a free man.

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A first selfie

Alix took a selfie with Jim at his first breakfast out of prison on Jan. 21, 2020.

A Sampling of Favorites, Old and New

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

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The 80th birthday party I threw my dad turned out to be more meaningful and better suited for him than the original one that was planned.

He Believes in Angels

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

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Bruce Feldstein has an unusual background for a hospital chaplain; he was an emergency physician, until an injury changed everything.

Orthodox Paradox

A Pandemic Milestone Birthday

Orthodox Paradox

https://www.jweekly.com/2003/10/10/orthodox-paradox/

Meet Matthue Roth, the Orthodox slam poet (who has gone on to write novels and other stuff), at the very beginning of his career.

Nechama Langer

When Coronavirus upends your wedding

Orthodox Paradox

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Neshama and Nechama. Nechama Langer is carving her own path, pushing the boundaries of tradition and making it her own.

When Coronavirus upends your wedding

When Coronavirus upends your wedding

When Coronavirus upends your wedding

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In the early days of the pandemic, some couples whose weddings were upended quickly came up with plan B. 

RIP: Leo Horovitz

The Rabbi and his Church

The Rabbi and his Church

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One could truly say "they don't make them like Leo." He was a Holocaust refugee who made the most of life.

The Rabbi and his Church

The Rabbi and his Church

The Rabbi and his Church

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Rabbi Michael Lezak has managed to create his dream job, at a church of all places. He sees himself as an emissary.


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