|
Jewish Community Foundation panelists told their joy of giving
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--On Thursday, October 1st, more than 40 San Diego Jewishu Community Foundation funders attended the Thursday Connections program, "Jewish Values and Giving." Attendees heard from four panelists who reflected on Jewish texts and sources about giving and personal experiences with key giving values tzedakah (justice), dor l'dor (generation to generation) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Panelists included Rabbi Scott Meltzer of Ohr Shalom Synagogue, Murray Galinson and Laura Galinson, and Emma Tuttleman.
Rabbi Meltzer shared the directives for giving in the Shulchan Aruch, the Jewish Code of Law documented in the 16th century. Rabbi Meltzer's text study highlighted the Jewish values of giving happily and setting an individual level for giving based on one's own means. Rabbi Meltzer noted that inspiring others to give is particularly meritorious.
Father and daughter, Murray Galinson and Laura Galinson, shared their stories about how their tradition of philanthropy has shaped their family's values. Laura reflected that her current passion for philanthropy developed watching her parents give to others when she was a child although she didn't know it at the time and always wondered why they spent so much time in service of others. Now, she strives to model the same behavior for her own two children. Murray shared how engaging in joint philanthropic ventures has brought their family closer and given them a chance to pass on their legacy of giving to their grandchildren.
Emma Tuttleman, a senior at San Diego Jewish Academy, shared her experiences on her tikkun olam trip to Ghana with American Jewish World Service. She, along with 15 other Jewish high school students, participated in a volunteer work trip to Golokwati, a small village in Eastern Ghana, to help build a multi-purpose community center with the townspeople. She shared how her work in the town helped her connect more with her Jewish identity by exposing her to the needs of the poor in other parts of the world and by observing Shabbat and Tish'a B'av in a Christian country. View Emma Tuttleman's presentation.
Attendees received a resource packet of materials related to Jewish values and giving.
JFS schedules Nov. 15 adoption workshops at Turk Center
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—The Adoption Alliance of Southern California, a program of Jewish Family Service, will present a workshop on adoption from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 15, at the JFS Turk Family Center, 8804 Balboa Avenue, San Diego.
Presenters will include Dr. Gary Feldman, medical director of the Stramski International Adoption Program, who will discuss “attachment, bonding and medical concerns.”
His morning presentation will be followed by a choice of afternoon workshops, respectively on domestic adoptions led by attorney Joy Kolender; creating everlasting bonds after the adoption, led by Leita Koontz; Parenting in the Adolescent Years, led by Susan Wingate, and for adoption professionals only, supporting the adoption journey, led by Michelle Greenberg and Mireade McCallen.
A final workshop will present a discussion by members of the three adoptive families on their experiences.
Tickets, including lunch, are $25 for an individual or $35 for a couple. For professionals, the fee is $35, with 3.5 continuing education units offered. Childcare will be available for $10 per child, ages 3 and up. For more information, call (8589) 637-3060.
Emerald tells objections to San Carlos homeless shelter and to downtown parking plan
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--San Diego City Councilmember Marti Emerald has criticized a location chosen by the Mayor’s office for a winter homeless shelter in San Carlos as "absolutely inappropriate."
The Mayor’s proposal would hoist a tent in front of the San Carlos Library, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, steps away from a school, and half a mile from the closest bus stop. “This proposal is insincere and disappointing. It leaves the impression the Mayor’s office is not truly engaged in solving this dilemma over a winter shelter,” she said.
In September, the Councilmember explored four sites in her district for a possible winter homeless shelter location but found none suitable:
MCAS Miramar - security issues.
Alvarado Hospital Campus – underused buildings and parking lots – they still provide needed parking and office space for hospital staff.
Chollas Parkway – a short stretch of street between 54th and University – too close to a residential neighborhood, there is not a large enough paved area for a shelter, traffic control, and difficulty bringing utilities to the site.
SDSU Chapultepec Hall - the closed SDSU dormitory -- restrictions on occupancy – only students may reside on campus.
In addition to the reasons listed, these sites lack transportation for the homeless to reach the services they need.
"Ultimately, this brings us back to downtown San Diego, the main transportation hub for the City and where most of the homeless and social services are located," Emerald said.
She added, “We do need to create a regional and holistic fix for the challenge of homelessness but today our priority must be picking a downtown shelter site so the homeless have a safe place to stay during the winter.”
In another City Hall controversy, Emerald took a stand against a proposal she said would mean higher housing costs for future downtown homeowners .
On Tuesday, October 6th, the full City Council debated and approved a Comprehensive Downtown Parking Plan that would allow developers to unbundle (separate) required parking spaces from the purchase of downtown condominiums. This would allow developers to charge consumers $30,000 to $50,000 extra for a parking space that is currently included in the price of the condo, thus leaving the consumer with higher costs for housing and creating a windfall of profit for downtown developers.
The plan also encourages the City to further subsidize private developers with tax dollars by purchasing parking spaces for public use in new, private downtown buildings.
Emerald, in outlining her objections to general fund dollars being diverted to purchase downtown parking spaces, explained that a similar deal was initiated in her Council District many years ago. The cost to taxpayers for 350 Park n’ Rides spaces at the College Grove Shopping Center was almost $2.5 million. Those spaces were never posted or used as proposed. The City is still on the hook for $1.5 million in payments for the unused spaces.
Emerald encouraged her colleagues to remove these proposals from the plan for further study at the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee. In the end, Emerald was joined by Councilmembers Lightner and Frye in opposing the plan that puts consumers at risk.
Dumanis announces arrests
in identify fraud case
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis today announced 19 felony charges have been filed against eleven individuals accused of conspiracy, grand theft, credit card forgery, and identity theft.
The defendants are primarily Russian and Armenian nationals. If convicted, the defendants face between six and 35 years in state prison.
“These individuals didn’t stop at one scheme. They set up a variety of complicated scams to defraud the government and profit from identity theft,” said DA Dumanis.
The investigation was conducted by the Regional Fraud Task Force, in cooperation with the FBI, United States Secret Service, the District Attorney’s Office and San Diego Police Department. Arrested were: Karen Karapetyan, 48; Khachik Karapetyan , 25; Ruslan Kipnis, 33; Armen Astsaturov, 36; Gariy Agadzhanyan, 32; Andrey Babkin, 20; Mikhail Margis, 21; Igor Muratov, 21; Elizaveta Chernova, 21; Arman Eritsian, 31; and Davit Karapetyan, 22.
Some of the individuals are in the United States on work visas and have been placed on Immigration and Customs
Enforcement holds as a result of their arrest. Several others are part of a group that brought Russian citizens here, helped them obtain jobs as pedi-cab drivers, then used them to set up bank accounts to receive IRS wire transfers based on fraudulent tax returns.
Other fraud schemes the group operated include making counterfeit credit cards to purchase Louis Vuitton purses which were then sold online, and using information obtained through identity theft to defraud insurance companies.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of this investigation and look forward to more successful cases against individuals who target our citizens and our government,” said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne.
Several of the defendants were taken into custody on October 7, 2009; others were already in custody on other matters. Arraignments are scheduled in Superior Court downtown at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 9th. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the defendants is asked to contact the FBI at (858) 565-1255.
Jerry Seinfeld adds a date to his San Diego stand-up comedy tour
SAN DIEGO (Press Release) -- Broadway/ San Diego announces that comedian Jerry Seinfeld has agreed to one additional stage appearance in San Diego--adding the evening of Friday, December 4, to his previously scheduled appearances at 7 p.m., and 9:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Civic Theatre in downtown San Diego.
Tickets for his stand-up comedy shows go on sale Friday, October 16 at 10AM via www.BroadwaySD.com, by phone at 619-570-1100 or Ticketmaster at 800-982-2787, in person at the Civic Theatre Ticket Office at 3rd & B Street, or all Ticketmaster outlets.
|
|
Richard Dreyfuss, Bonnie Dumanis join Oct. 12 reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later
LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)– La Jolla Playhouse has added several exciting new cast members to its reading of Tectonic Theater Project’s new work: The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later on October 12. The Playhouse is joining with more than 100 theatres across the country and around the world in presenting a reading of this compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the award-winning original work.
Joining the cast will be Academy Award-winner Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl, Mr. Holland’s Opus); San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis; Lisa Sanders, daughter of Mayor Jerry Sanders, who will also be participating in the reading; renowned comedian Bruce Vilanch, local theater writer Pat Launer, as well as acclaimed actors Nancy Anderson, Kandis Chappell, Wayne Duvall (Bonnie & Clyde), Logan Marshall Green, Kathryn Meisle (Creditors), Stark Sands (Bonnie & Clyde), and UC San Diego faculty members Allyson Green and James Winker.
La Jolla Playhouse will host the only San Diego reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later on October 12 at 8:00pm in the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum. This sold-out reading will be helmed by acclaimed director Darko Tresnjak. Previously announced participants include: Mayor Jerry Sanders, Doug Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winner and adapter/director of the Playhouse’s current production of Creditors, San Diego Rep Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse, theater writer Anne Marie Welsh, as well as the acclaimed actors Mare Winningham (Bonnie & Clyde), Robert Foxworth, Amanda Naughton, James Newcomb, T. Ryder Smith (Creditors) and James Sutorius.
The epilogue focuses on the long-term effects of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew’s mother Judy Shepard and Mathew’s murderer Aaron McKinney, who’s serving two consecutive life sentences. The writers also conducted many follow-up interviews with Laramie residents from the original piece, including, Romaine Patterson, Reggie Fluty, Jedediah Shultz, Father Roger Schmidt, Jonas Slonaker, Beth Loffreda and others.
Proceeds from the Playhouse reading will benefit the Hillcrest Youth Center, a program operated by the San Diego LGBT Community Center.
Opened in 2000 with the vision and leadership of Dr. Heather Berberet, Richard Burhene, Scott Gross, and Jim Zians, The Hillcrest Youth Center is the only youth center in San Diego County dedicated to serving the needs of LGBT and questioning youth. The Youth Center offers cyber/computer access, health education, basic financial education, youth leadership training, case management, HIV prevention education, life skills training workshops, discussion groups, counseling services, and amazing social activities. The Hillcrest Youth Center is committed to providing a safe, affirming space for LGBTQ+ youth to be proud of who they are and the encouragement they need to become responsible, productive, and fully participating citizens.
The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is renowned for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention, Cry-Baby, 33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.
On October 6th of 1998 Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face.
A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country.
Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director, Greg Reiner, Executive Director, Jeffrey LaHoste, Managing Director, Dominick Balletta, General Manager) is an award-winning company whose plays have been performed around the world. Since 1992 TTP has produced innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with our audiences on the social, political and human issues of the day. The company has developed and produced works for theater and film, including: the smash hit Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde; The Laramie Project (one of the most produced plays in the country, as well as an HBO movie written and directed by Kaufman); and I Am My Own Wife (2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play). Tectonic has garnered numerous awards including the Humanitas Prize, the Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign, and the Making a Difference Award from the Matthew Shepard Foundation. The film of The Laramie Project was also honored with four Emmy nominations, The National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and a Golden Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival. In addition to creating theatrical works, Tectonic Theater Project works in residence at Universities around the country and hosts a New York based training lab for theater artists. For more information on the company, visit www.tectonictheaterproject.org.
Norman Krieger to perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Moonlight Sonata
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)-- Orchestra Nova orchestra will, for the first time, step forward without a conductor for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring renowned pianist Norman Krieger, during the October Flying Solo concerts. Maestro Pak, will however, kick off the concert by conducting Mozart’s Divertimento in D major (Salzburg Symphony No. 1).
Mr. Krieger, who will also perform Beethoven’s beloved Moonlight Sonata, is one of the most acclaimed pianists of his generation, highly regarded as an artist of depth, sensitivity and virtuosic flair. He began his training in Los Angeles under the guidance of Esther Lipton which led him to a full scholarship at the age of 15 to The Juilliard School where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He regularly performs with nationally and internationally renowned orchestras and has made many recordings. Based in Los Angeles once again, he is an Associated Professor of the distinguished faculty of the University of Southern California.
The orchestra is offering a special 20% discount to entrepreneurs for this concert at any of the three venues as a way of honoring the contribution entrepreneurs, experts at flying solo, have made and are making to the San Diego business community.
Student tickets at $10 are available all season at all venues for the Classics Series of concerts. The October concert venues and times: Downtown, St. Paul’s Cathedral – Wednesday, October 21, 7:30 p.m; Sorrento Valley, Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall – Saturday, October 24, 8:00o p.m.; and La Jolla, Sherwood Auditorium – Monday, October 26, 2009
To purchase tickets: Entrepreneurs – call 858-350-0290 and tell them the name of your company. All others – www.orchestranova.org or 858-350-0290. More information: www.orchestranova.org
SDSU sets Nov. 4 Klezmer concert
SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--The Jewish Studies Department at San Diego State University has scheduled a free klezmer concert at 7 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, in Rhapsody Hall (The Music Building).
In addition to Yale Strom, SDSU's artist in residence, and his band, Hot P'Strom'i, these are the guest artists on tap:
Leo Chelyapov won first place in the Shostakovich Competition in Moscow at the age of twelve. In the US, he has appeared on several TV shows including Beverly Hills 90210, and Late Night with David Letterman.
Gary Gould has lectured at universities and colleges for over ten years has led a clinic called "Gary Gould and Friends: A Klezmer Experience" introducing local music pros to the art of klezmer for the Orange County Musicians Union Bash.
Robert Zelickman is a Lecturer of Music at UC San Diego where he has taught since 1983. He conducts the UCSD Wind Ensemble and lectures on The Symphony and Jewish Music. He is a member of Orchestra Nova San Diego and has performed with the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera.
|
|
