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Jenny Rae Rappaport

@jennyrae.bsky.social

2.3K followers 790 following 4.4K posts

Writer of SFF stories. Published in Nature, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others. Member of Codex. Genealogist, too. All opinions are my own. She/her. www.jennyrae.com

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · Sep 6

Look, look, it's me! In a book! I'm so excited about seeing my short story in print. 😊

The anthology is gorgeous and full of so many awesome writers! ❤️❤️❤️

The beginning of my story, "Elephant in Winter".

It says:
Bess was late to the river.

So late, so very late, that they were already lighting the dusk-lanterns when she got there. Henry would be on the ice by now, his anger stewing despite the chill in the air. But the baby had been colicky again and Meg-down-the-street had been delayed coming to watch him, and really, today was just a terrible day.

It didn't matter how lovely the lanterns were with their tiny glass bowls and steady flames, each one a defense against the twilight-darkness of the midwinter day. It didn't matter that she wanted to stand on the frozen river and watch them, wanted to lose herself in them, wanted to think a thought just for herself and no one else. It didn't matter because there was no time to stop, and so, Bess went on.

The beautiful purple cover of Of Enchantment, Enigma, and the Infinite".

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 5h

I feel like the pickpocket warnings are because people have no idea how to behave in a city.

If you're fine in NYC and know how to watch your bag, you'll be fine in Paris.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 6h

14 year old, doing a homework assignment where they have to interview an "older generation": How did you conduct research?
My mom: You went to the library...
8 year old: You didn't. No one knew anything then.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 9h

Oh definitely! And three different alefs! 😀

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 9h

I'm aware. The name has been spelled Rappaport, Rapoport, and Rapaport in multiple records that I have. We are not the rabbinical family, however. 🙂

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 12h

Exactly! Although, none of the name changes themselves took place at Ellis Island. No clerk or bureaucrat “assigned” a new name to people.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I've seen that too! And the name changes were far more informal than nowadays.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

The last two name examples are taken from private family documents held by my cousin, btw. 11/11

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

And here's Rapoport in Yiddish script and Cyrillic script. My family used all of these! None of them were the Roman alphabet. Name transliteration is fun. 🙂 10/10

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I will add that my family all had names that used non-Roman alphabets.

This is the original spelling of Rappaport for my family in Hebrew. (Rapoport) 9/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Oh definitely! And I love being able to compare outgoing passenger manifests from places like Hamburg, with the incoming passenger manifests for the US. Both created in Europe! 🙂

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Name changes certainly did happen, across countries (my favorite are the Yiddish names that were changed in Spanish-speaking countries), but none of them were done at the port of entry in the United States, and certainly not at Ellis Island. It's a pervasive myth that's wrong. 8/8

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

You will often see commonly-accepted name changes on Petitions for Naturalizations, such as Chaim Grünberg "changing" his name to Hyman Green. Or Herman Green. To the best of my knowledge, this is merely an acknowledgement by the government of the immigrant's preferred Anglicized name. 7/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Never file for a legal name change*

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Nobody gets a name change.

In fact, most late 19th and early 20th century immigrants never file for a legal name in the US. They just anglicize their names. They adopt the new name, AFTER they're living in the US, and it's of their own volition. No one changes it for them. 6/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

When the ship with your ancestor and the passenger manifest arrives in Ellis Island, the clerks at Ellis Island interview the immigrants. Your ancestor self-reports, AGAIN, and the clerk checks it against the manifest. There are often check marks and notations made on the manifests in pencil. 5/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

At the port of departure, in Europe, the shipping company creates a passenger manifest. The information on the manifest is self-reported by your ancestor. The manifest forms are printed in English, since they were shipped to Europe from the US.

NO PASSENGER MANIFESTS ARE CREATED AT ELLIS ISLAND.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

The passenger ticket had the name that your ancestor gave to the ticket agent. It also listed any traveling companions on the same ticket. All of this is taking place in Europe.

Anyway, your ancestor buys a ticket, not always at a port. The ticket agent writes all the info down. 3/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

One, your ancestor's name was NOT CHANGED at Ellis Island. That's not how it worked. This myth is false. It's a made-up story.

When your ancestor immigrated from Europe--and I'm specifically speaking of that today--they bought a passenger ticket. In Europe. 2/

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I must explain that this is not accurate, particularly the part about Ellis Island. I cannot speak to the Chinese diaspora angle, but many of us have family whose names were expressed in non-Roman alphabets when they immigrated. This is a long thread, but I literally do this for a living. 1/

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 1d

Lots of us have great-grandparents names who were absolutely changed when they came here, and when people say otherwise, they're assuming your great-grandparents name was in the Roman alphabet.

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 1d

Now, more than ever, it's important to understand why so many the myths we tell ourselves about immigration are actually very harmful.

First of all, your great-great-grandparents names *were not changed* at Ellis Island. No one there had the authority to do that.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I have an entire collection ready to go! I spent two years trying to market it to agents.

I got back a lot of rejections, many of them complimenting my writing and asking: Did I have a novel they could rep instead?

Anyway, this is why my collection is still unpublished. 🙃

April Wolfe @aprilwolfe.bsky.social · 1d

Short story collections should be way more popular and marketed better for the short-attention present.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 2d

I have yarn I'm not using right now, and I'm feeling like it's a good time to post it for sale in the US. Mostly because I don't want it anymore for the project I originally bought it for. 😅

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

This dedication is made of pure awesome. It’s from Jodi Taylor’s OUT OF TIME. ❤️

This story is dedicated to those who work in our fast-disappearing public libraries. All of whom are, in my experience, equal to everything and anything the world can hurl at them. Dead dogs, exploding holes, temperamental urinals, first-aid emergencies, floods, stupid facilities managers getting themselves wedged in the wheel arch of a mobile library (yes, that has happened), readers demanding the book they had last year with the red cover – it’s all in a day’s work for library staff.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 4d

I'm tagging @johnchu.bsky.social here, since I think he'll like this. 🙂

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 4d

Jukebox the Ghost (@jukeboxtheghost.bsky.social) has basically released a musical in album form, holy hell. Possibly a concept album, but I swear, it's a musical, and someone needs to go cast and produce this.

open.spotify.com/album/3LpiN9...

Phantasmagorical Vol. 1

open.spotify.com

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 5d

I have the reverse! 60% blue and 40% green. 😂