Currently Browsing: March 2011

Triangle Fire Centennial

From April ’11 Spotlight: At approximately 4:30pm on March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan burst into flames. Of the 146 people who died that day, most were young Jewish women, recent immigrants to America. Both of the factory owners were Jewish, and so were many of the labor union leaders (like […]

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Stephanie Coontz Visit

From April ’11 Spotlight: Professor Stephanie Coontz has scheduled a book signing event at KAM Isaiah Israel in Hyde Park at 4pm on Sunday, April 10. After watching her speak about her new book A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s on The Colbert Report, I called […]

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Balkano at Martyr’s

3/30 Update: Klezmer music group Balkano performs a free lunchtime concert on Friday April 1st @ Noon @ the Chicago Cultural Center.  And no, this is NOT an April Fools Day Joke 😉 From April ’11 Spotlight: I finally caught up with Balkano (one of Chicago’s best homegrown Klezmorim) at a rompin’ stompin’ late night show […]

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BiC’s New Merchant

From April ’11 Spotlight: Going into Broadway in Chicago’s new production of The Merchant of Venice on Opening Night (March 15), I knew my Shakespeare backwards and forwards, but I still left the theatre in tears. According to the playbill, director Darko Tresnjak intends his version to be set in “the near future,” so he […]

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April ’11 Spotlight

At approximately 4:30pm on March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan burst into flames. Of the 146 people who died that day, most were young Jewish women, recent immigrants to America. Both of the factory owners were Jewish, and so were many of the labor union leaders (like Rose Schneiderman) and politicians […]

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See “Mamadrama” from NCJF

From Tzivi’s March ’11 Spotlight: The Chicago YIVO Society is hosting three local screenings of Monique Schwarz’s fascinating documentary Mamadrama this month. Screenings on Wednesday, March 23 (6:30 p.m. at Harold Washington Library Center in the Chicago Loop) and Thursday, March 24 (1 p.m. at Northbrook Public Library) are free and open to the public. A […]

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Aviya’s Summer

From March ’11 Spotlight: ARZA and AZM will co-host a screening of Aviya’s Summer (Ha Kayitz Shel Aviya) on Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m. as part of their “Israeli Movie Night” series. I saw Aviya’s Summer years ago at the 1989 Chicago International Film Festival, and it made an indelible impression. Winner of multiple […]

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Yasmin Levy

From March ’11 Spotlight: Yasmin Levy returns to the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square on Wednesday, March 16 to sing from her newest collection of Sephardic songs. Speaking of Levy’s first Chicago appearance in 2009, OTSFM programmer Alisa Baum told me: “Everyone who was here said she was one of the […]

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The Holy Land Revealed

From March ’11 Spotlight: Stuck inside during February’s “snowpocalypse”, my husband and I turned to The Teaching Company, spending many happy hours learning about the Dead Sea Scrolls from Jodi Magness, one of their newest professors. The Holy Land Revealed is the first set of lectures I’ve done on DVD. (The other three Teaching Company […]

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March ’11 Spotlight

The Chicago YIVO Society is hosting three local screenings of Monique Schwarz’s fascinating documentary Mamadrama this month. Screenings on Wednesday, March 23 (6:30 p.m. at Harold Washington Library Center in the Chicago Loop) and Thursday, March 24 (1 p.m. at Northbrook Public Library) are free and open to the public. A third screening on Sunday, […]

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