Jack Szwergold

“An acute perception doesn’t make you crazy. However sometimes it can drive you crazy.”

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

You know what? I’m going to freeze this account and delete this app. This place is too toxic and filled with conflict. It’s been real! ✌️

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

I’ve debated whether to share this publicly or not, but after 25-ish years of staying silent, here it goes:

When I worked at the Onion on 1998, I seem to recall Scott Dikkers (@scottdikkers) ranting about how the Jews didn’t fight back during World War II. (1/7)

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

Did I ever tell you about the time I met Greg Peters (Buttress/Xerobot) at Todd Hanson’s place?

Gather round folks! Let me tell you a tale! @joegarden @todderichanson

P.S. I know you two claim you are not active on Twitter, but I gotta anchor this stuff to something! (1/14)

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thecob82 @MBNHood @JohnJuliusReel 20+ years ago… Me telling stories about 9-11 nowadays is like my dad talking about coming to America in 1963 when I was a kid.

Came to America! 🇺🇸
Got a TV! 📺
JFK gets assassinated on TV. 😔
Watches live coverage of Lee Harvey Oswald’s jail transfer; sees him shot on TV. 🤯

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thecob82 @daithaigilbert So Kamala Harris is prepping for the debate with psychedelic mushrooms? 🤔🍄

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@JamesUrbaniak @wychstreet “Mommy! Daddy! Warren Buffet!” 😍

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@DarkSoulNight They (thankfully) swapped out the picture. 🇮🇱🎉

https://t.co/QXzS7Rc3jA

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

Since Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) and @WNYC don’t have BlueSky accounts, reposting this here… 📝

Why the heck is a Gothamist (WNYC) article titled “Extra security for Israel parade in New York City on Sunday” illustrated with various variations of the Palestinian flag? 🤔🇵🇸 (1/2)

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

And finally — on June 3, 2024 — I heard back from Matt Katz and the image was swapped out for a more appropriate image. 🇮🇱🎉

https://t.co/QXzS7Rc3jA

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

This article is about Israel, yet these Palestinian flags are used as an illustration why? 🇮🇱 (2/2)

https://t.co/QXzS7Rc3jA

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thecob82 @MBNHood 😎🤙

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

Now in Mr. Beller’s Neigborhood… About the time I went on a “trip to Philadelphia” in high school in 1985 with the Jewish club, but it just ended up being just a con job: A cult-like trip to an ultra Orthodox “shabbaton” that I got kicked out of for smoking weed… Oh well! 🤷‍♂️🔔

[MrBellersNeighborhood @MBNHood]

The Lincoln High School “Jewish Club” was looking forward to its trip to Philly and staying in a hotel and seeing the Liberty Bell. The chaperones had other ideas. A new story from Jack Szwergold. #MBNhood @JackSzwergold
https://t.co/WQdC0dbdmV

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thomasbeller @todderichanson Thanks! I have definitely moved past that place — it’s 23+ since in worked there — but I truly appreciate the positive thoughts. 🙏

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

I’ve debated whether to share this publicly or not, but after 25-ish years of staying silent, here it goes:

When I worked at the Onion on 1998, I seem to recall Scott Dikkers (@scottdikkers) ranting about how the Jews didn’t fight back during World War II. (1/7)

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@DarkSoulNight I do? 🤔

The war in Gaza should have utterly no impact on a local news site choosing to illustrate their article about a parade about one specific place (Israel) with the flag of another place (Palestine).

What’s next? Using the Union Jack on a 4th of July article? 🇬🇧

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@MBNHood @thecob82 All that said, is there another neighborhood in NYC that has such a distinctive name for its denizens? “Westies?” Or something?

“Slopie” has a really nice ring to it even it is a bit derogatory.

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@MBNHood @thecob82 “Slopies” were typically like Noah Baumbach’s kids in “The Squid and the Whale”: Well off but “scruffy.”

Slopie party I went to was my first “Brownstone Brooklyn” experience with “crunchy granola” sandals with socks, attempts at acoustic guitar and sadly smoking pot on a stoop.

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thecob82 @StevenGoldleaf My reference was going to a “Slopie” party in the 1980s (1985?) with friends who went to Midwood H.S. while I went to Lincoln H.S.

It was a profoundly “un-fun” experience with one memory being rolling a friends car down the block (parked in neutral) and being chastised for that.

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thomasbeller Thank you! 🙏

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

@thecob82 @MBNHood I would say that pic predates the factory I was in since it seems to be from the 1920s or earlier? 🤔

But remove the people from the scene and the hardware and physical space would be pretty much the same as the 1970s. Those garment factory owners were cheap bastards! 💸

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

P.S. Sharing of my past to Onion colleagues ultimately led to not sympathy but bullying and harassment by Todd Hanson (@todderichanson).

For some reason he wanted me gone from the Onion and would harass me about how I could better spend time researching my family. (7/7)

[Jack Szwergold @JackSzwergold]

Am I calling Scott Dikkers an anti-Semite? I don’t know. Maybe? People are capable of change, so he could have changed.

But I do know that after 25-ish years of silence, I feel the need to let go of this painful memory of how I was treated by a place I helped grow. (6/7)