two teens for sbhf35 and sjcaf

I do get tired of being in the choir at some of these events, but it's nice that I was not alone.

Kaye was with me during the performance, and we joined Barbara for the question session.

I also saw Penny and Lonnie and Cindy, fellow volunteer ushers from my days at the Lucas and Trustees Theatres.

Even so, it had been a difficult play to witness on its premier in Savannah.

"Anne & Emmett" was centered on two youths in a place called Memory, which they could only inhabit when someone remembered them.

That was the first truly sad part of the play by Janet Langhart Cohen.

She had been a teenaged girl herself when the concept had first come to her, having been studying about Anne Frank's life when she heard about Emmett Till.

I can certainly understand that.

Perspective makes a difference, and she was right place, right time for the stories of the 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy, teenagers like herself, who died simply for being born the way they were...

as if they had any choice in that.

That truly is the evil root of prejudice and of hate crimes: people being bullied and persecuted and tortured and killed, for something they could not change.

We cannot change our skin color, we cannot change our cultural identity, we cannot change our gender identity, we cannot change the family we were born into.

I don't understand why some people choose hate on such a basis.

"Different" doesn't mean "bad" and certainly does not mean "must be destroyed."

Honestly, how could anyone justify what was done to those children?

 

For children Anne and Emmett certainly were.

Even the two who played them were teens.

There were three adults: one for her father, one for his mother, and one to represent the haters.

Why Otto Frank and Mamie Till?

Because they made sure that others knew what had happened to their children, in hopes of making sure others' children would not die.

And now, here we are in the 21st century, several generations later, and the message still needs to be preached, here in the United States, over in Europe, all around the world: stop killing people on the basis of things they cannot change.

I do hope the four other scheduled performances will be as well attended as the one here at the JEA.

Thanks, Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival for bringing this play during the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, for the stories of these two children, with the painting in the backdrop of her chestnut tree conjoined with his.

Yes, it was a hard message, but it was well told.

according to brendan murphy...

Never, ever, would I have expected to hear such talk at the SJCAF3.

Here I was for "Why The Jews?", held at the JEA, and for more than two hours the guest speaker flung image after image of hatred of the Jews on the screen.

[The link is for the same talk, given earlier elsewhere.]

Brendan Murphy, is Catholic by faith and a history professor in Atlanta by trade.

He is on tour with this history lecture which he has prepared from carved and painted images, as well as written manuscripts throughout more than two millennia of human history.

His talk is meant to debunk the myth that Christians started the hatred of the Jews.

Well, he certainly convinced me of that.

However, he also convinced me of who did begin that bias toward members of Judaism.

 

The source of that hatred is the group of Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah.

That would include his Disciples, especially Matthew and John.

Picture this: three generations have passed since Jesus died.

That's sixty years, or so, of one group of people trying to convince others of the elevated standing and importance of one individual.

Got the picture?

After that time, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have been written, using the vernacular of the day, and written to intentionally demean disbelievers, written to encourage others of the validity of their stance on Jesus being the Messiah.

[I immediately could relate that to the virulent language used today in political ads.]

Years pass, the subtext behind the words used in that language have been forgotten...

but the words remain, having been written for future readers, who will be people who do not remember or understand that the words were rhetoric, not intended to be taken verbatim hundreds of years later.

As they were, and have been ever since.

Within 300 years after Jesus was crucified, hatred of the Jews - specifically of the Pharisees, as they are the only Jewish tribe (of the six extant before the time of Jesus' birth) still living - had become a way of life, a matter of fact, the status quo.

All because people misinterpreted the language used for the Gospels, and their purpose.

 

He held a question and answer session after he was done.

He had told us that he usually gives this talk to all-Jewish or all-Christian audiences.

I don't think he was aware that this audience had a mixture of followers of both faiths.

My question to him: "I'm a member of Asbury Memorial Church and I have attended several tri-faith services. Have you ever presented this talk to a Muslim audience?"

His response was that he had not yet been invited to talk at a mosque, only at synagogues and churches, and that he went only when invited.

I found that interesting, that he only went when sought out.

Several members from other churches came up and spoke to me afterward, asking about various aspects of the early part of the talk, which they had missed.

No one had missed any of the talk about the Jews for Jesus, as that began just before the second hour of his multimedia presentation.

Jackie and I talked about the new two figures in the sculpture displayed behind Brendan Murphy, in above photo.

Throughout much of history involving these two female figures, Ecclesia has been shown standing, clad in regal garments, with Synagoga cringing beside her and blind.

The new statue is a variation of Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time, the one designed by Joshua Koffman in 2015 for the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate.

[That was the Declaration of the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions put forth on October 28, 1965, by the Vatican under Pope Paul VI.]

In the statue by Hoffman, both figures are sitting side by side, each with their religious tomes held open for the other to read, with Synagoga on the left and Ecclesia on the right.

Brendan Murphy had liked that bronze statue so much when he'd visited St. Joseph's University, in Philadelphia, that he spearheaded a movement to obtain a copy for the Marist School, where he teaches.

Their sculpture of Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time was installed in 2021, at the side entrance to the Wooldridge Center and facing the arcade, so plenty of students will be able to admire it, and learn from it, as they enjoy life on campus.

Perhaps every campus should have such an enlightened statue for inspiration.

more bfe at sjcaf this week!

I was so glad to see him, too!

The earlier event ran quite long, so he had to meet me at the JEA after his Buddhist sit-in was done.

Good to see the J-Dawg's smiling face after such a serious lecture by Brendan Murphy...

but more on that later.

First, happy stuff!

Like this fun documentary - "The Catskills" - about the Jewish summer resorts up in the mountains.

At one point, there were over 500 of them in the Borscht Belt, there in the southeastern part of New York.

That would be the state, not the city.

(smile!)

Its heyday was in the 1940's and 1950's, hence the reason for the physicist's interest, as he watched old TV shows from that time.

Speaking of him, he told me that Buddhists are now taking over those old resorts.

They're nice and isolated, so they're a good place for meditation outings.

I could see that being a thing!

He and I had a nice discussion during our dinner 

at Bonefish Grill.

He even reminded me of our visit in the parking lot

during the pandemic - very sweet!

Anyway, he's apparently on a fish kick, and I always 

enjoy seafood, so it was purr-fect.

(smile!)

I shared with him this delightful short I'd seen!

No, I didn't show him the actual video, right?

My phone doesn't do those kinds of tricks.

(smile!)

But I did describe in glowing detail "Zoe's Dumpling Crisis"!

I'd stumbled upon it by accident and found a youTube channel that features a new short film every month!

Yes, train has jumped the track, hasn't it?

(smile!) 

Where was I... oh, yes... Zoe and her battling babcias.

See, Zoe is a student at an international school and was tasked with bringing a dish from "her family's home country" to share with the class.

But therein lay the dilemma.

One parent was from Turkey; the other, from Russia.

So, which type of food should she make for school?

And of course both babcias wanted to help...

with the Turkish grandma insisting that Zoe take Manti...

and the Russian grandma determined she take Pelmeni...

whatever would the girl do?

I'll tell you what she did!

When the babcias weren't looking, she mixed together the container of Manti with the container of Pelmena and threw on little American flags for color!

The babcias didn't know until Zoe's Asian-Australian friend came by to pick her up and opened the container to see inside.

"Oh, you made dimsum!", he said!

Hahahaha!

Such a delightful ending!

Apparently, every country has their version of a dumpling...

just like so many have their version of a mint-infused cocktail...

meaning we have more things in common than we give credit.

(smile!)

He had a fun topic for  me, too!

He's going to a lecture by a Nobel Laureate on "background photons"...

which are also known as Cosmic Microwave Background...

which are remnants of the real Big Bang that formed the universe.

Pretty cool, right?

But here's the coolest part of all: remember the static that would appear on the old cathode-ray tube television screens when the TV station would sign off transmitting for the day?

That static was from the background photons all around us.

Hey, ask your grandma, she'll tell you about it, okay?

it was pretty cool science stuff...

(smile!)

bfe at sjcaf, but not sbhf35

"omG, g'friend! What's up with all the acronyms?"

The J-Dawg was with me tonight for the second event at the JEA for this year's 3rd annual Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival! That's because they screened "Remembering Gene Wilder", a brand-new documentary. I do believe that is his favorite genre of movie!

"Documentaries are all they are showing this year, right?"

That's correct! I loved that this one had narration from Gene Wilder throughout much of it, as well as input from his friend Mel Blanc and from Richard Pryor's daughter. As well as discussing his movies and marriages, the film included his art and his books. Yes, that would be plural "books", though I had only ever read the one found in the bookmine during the pandemic. That had truly been a grand coincidence, a moment of right place, right time.

"Yes, I remember "What's Love Got To Do With It?" as one you savored during several mornings in the groove in the sunroom."

Most def! And here's how I knew I was in the right place, right time, on this chilly Thursday: the book was featured prominently on screen TWICE during the film. TWICE!!! As if I might have missed it the first time! (smile!)

"Sweet! And didn't you give that book to the physicist? Has he enjoyed it?"

Sadly, he has not had a chance to indulge. I get that. He's still working full-time, with lots of his would-be free time spent on the road twixt here and Statesboro. Plus, he and the 'Cole have a life, too. I know he'll bet a round tuit when he can.

"Hahahaha! I saw that pun you slipped in there!"

Thought that'd give you a giggle!

"It did! Now, what about the SBHF35? Did you go to one of those events today, too?"

Nope! I partook of that film festival from my abode! I meant to go to the "Shadows Of Immortality" talk by the grandson of Henrietta Lacks, but I was busy with little blondes that day. So, today, I pulled up "The Way Of All Flesh: Immortal HeLa Cells", an excellent 1977 documentary on youTube, of all places. That talked of the search for a cell line to use for research, with her cancerous uterine cells proving to be the first to not only live outside the body, but to thrive. In fact, those cells were so successful at survival that they were found to have contaminated all other cell lines that had been established twenty years later, all over the world. How was that scientific gaff discovered? Apparently, those cells from that black woman manufacture a protein that is -only- found in people of African descent. The other cell lines which had been founded, even those in Russia, were from Caucasians.

"Oh, my. That truly was a major mistake."

Indeed. To me, it was terrifying to think of how prolific those cancerous cells have been at persisting. Their prevalence all over the world made me wonder about their presence everywhere now. Have they contributed to the predominance of cancer as a cause of death? Can any cancerous tissue now be found to still make that protein that HeLa cells create?

"That is a disturbing thought. I do hope someone, somewhere, is studying that. They probably would not want to splash it about in the news, though. That could cause a panic."

Yes, I agree.

"So, you're calling that one youTube film a festival? Is that right?"

Actually, I'm just saying it's part of the SBHF35, which is a festival. But, now that you mention it, I have seen a film festival that ties in with that, too! All the films were from 2015 and all were part of the free streaming services Comcast had for this week. The Africa Channel gave me "Before The Border", a pretty good film about a college student recreating Harriet Tubman's journey to Canada, to win a bet, and some school funds, from a rich kid; that pitted black against black.

"That sounds like it was pretty good."

It was! Then I watched two courtesy of Brown Sugar, a streaming service from Bounce. "Lucky Number" was a lot of fun! A guy loses his job, his girlfriend, and his home due to bad choices. His mom makes him get a new phone, as his was held together by duct tape! But he ends up with the 'old' phone number of his favorite basketball star when he gets the new phone, and that leads to lots of swag for him and his two buddies - lol! Then things turn sour again when the basketball star finds out the guy has been taking advantage of his name. Really was very funny, and well made!

"Very cool! And the other film from Brown Sugar?"

That was "People Places Things" and was also very funny and well made! It featured an Australian comic as a 40-year-old, recently divorced, professor and father of twin girls, with his adventures in dating. The funniest part was when he took the girls camping!

"Hahaha! What a silly sap!"

Yeah, he was, but it all felt quite real and natural. I very much liked it.

"And those were all released in 2015?"

I know, right? What a coincidence! Right time, right place! Speaking of, it's time for me to turn the mattress pad on so I'll have a toasty bed. Bye, chica!"

"Sweet dreams!"

too young, i was, for an abzug

 

I was just starting middle school - that would be 7th grade - when 50-year-old Bella Abzug was elected as a New York Representative to the US Congress in 1970.

I was far too young to care about politics, much less those in a northeastern state. 

However, I'm sure Mama was paying attention to the changes in the air.

After watching the documentary, I very much wished I could discuss it with her.

So many changes while I was in high school, thanks to Abzug.

Equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender, was one of those changes.

Equal rights for all, regardless of race, was another.

Equal rights for all, regardless of sexual identity, was yet another.

Bella Abzug was fighting for all of it, and doing so loudly...

and doing so while wearing feminine hats, to accentuate that she was a woman.

 

The woman hosting this first event, from a group called Hadassah, also wore a hat.

Hers was a striking red one, very nice, and she made sure to greet everyone there.

Everyone.

That was a lot of people.

Apparently, many were interested in this inaugural film, "Bella! This Woman's Place Is In The House", of the 3rd annual Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival.

I was familiar with the followup slogan Bella Abzug used when she ran for a different seat: "This woman's place is in the House... and in the Senate!"

I was just graduated from high school, in 1976, and had many debates with my Grandpa about women's rights and LGBT rights and civil rights.

Sadly, that campaign didn't pan out for her and led to a hiatus from politics for a while, as she had to relinquish being in the House of Representatives to run for the other position.

 

Many attendees were also interested in the special guest tonight.

The blonde on the right is Jill E. Steinberg, recently of the US Department of Justice.

She is now the US Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

What I most enjoyed was her explanation of the duties she has, with her emphasizing that her position is not tied to any political party, but to the federal government.

I also loved that she kept her discussion free of complicated jargon.

Very nice, very straighforward, just as I was with my students.

 

I was fortunate to be able to have a meal here this evening.

I knew there would be a reception for opening night of the SJCAF3, and I planned to have dinner after all was done.

No need for that!

The tables were loaded down with trays of vegetables...

with bowls of tomato-studded tabouli...

with bowls of parsley-decked hummus...

and plates of toasted pita triangles to scoop it up!

I had two heaping helpings and was generous with praise!

But was that all?

I heard several people complain of the lack of sweets usually at these free receptions.

No need for alarm!

The apple strudel and biscotti, as well as coffee and tea, were in the auditorium, awaiting our pleasure!

And we were free to eat it in there, too!

Yes, I said "free" yet again, to emphasize that all the events at this year's SJCAF3 are free - what a blessing!

i thank You, God!

a little bit of sbhf, a little bit of sjcaf, as fatboy slim would say

Not that "Weapon Of Choice" has any such acronyms in it, but you catch my drift?

Perhaps not quite yet.

Let's see if I can clear those up for you!

(smile!) 

The first was an annual concert - The Future Of Jazz - held at the Savannah JEA as part of the Savannah Black Heritage Festival.

The seven musicians were from Florida State University (go, 'Noles!), Florida A&M University, Georgia State University, and Albany State University.

The instruments were, from left to right, piano, bass, drums, guitar, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet.

I had obtained a seat just three rows from the front and stayed there for the first two numbers.

About that time, two yahoos came in and sat right behind me.

How did I know they were rednecks?

His first words to his date were, "So, this is a jazz concert?"

Seriously.

He's the fellow in the hat holding the phone up while he records.

His date, in a long, blonde wig, was wearing more perfume than the law should allow.

Seriously.

Even disregarding the fact that they chattered back and forth during each number, the smell alone forced me to move.

By that time, the auditorium had filled, of course, so I was relegated to the back row.

That meant my camera was set on 'zoom' for the photos thereafter.

No worries, though, as the music was just as sweet in every corner!

Two Ben Tucker songs were featured - "The Next Time You See Me" and "Doublet" - as well as two from the emcee, Teddy Adams.

Plus, two singers from Savannah State University were included for two songs each, with Joshua Elijah giving us a love song, then "What A Wonderful World"!

The young woman sang "Strange Fruit" and a song by Samara Joy.

Both were excellent singers!

"Joy Spring" was the last song for me, though not for others at the concert.

The 30-minute late start (so they think they are the O'Jays? That's an inside joke for Harry, from the concert in Charleston that began almost an hour late!) meant I had to leave before the show was over, as I had an 8 PM event already scheduled!

 

And just what was I in such a rush to be on time for?

A musical!!!

See those three fellows at the table?

That's Adam on the left, a music writer; Jerry in the middle, a designer, just out of the Army; and Henri, the sole Frenchman.

Poor saps, they're all in love with the same girl, a French dancer named Lise, with an Audrey Hepburn appeal.

Here she is, writing a letter.

To one of them?

Au contraire, mon frere!

She is writing to her parents, long gone.

She is in love she tells them, but she is promised to another.

Her foster parents want her to wed Henri, their son.

She wants to do as they wish, as does he, but...

she has met an American soldier and thinks he is the one.

What to do?

What else is there to do?

The show must go on!

So, she will dance to the music written for her by "An American in Paris" - that would be Adam!

And she would dance in the performance funded by her foster parents, even though she has decided not to marry their son - that would be Henri!

And she would pretend throughout the piece that her dance partner was the man she loved - that would be the other American, Jerry!

Ah, so lovely!

This scene immediately brought to mind the dance scene in the planetarium in "La La Land"!

That vast, blue, star-filled night...

her dress billowing and twirling...

his classic formal look...

my, oh my.

(smile!)

 

So, why did I claim this 2018 film of the musical to be an early offering by this year's Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival, even though it was viewed via AARP Theatre?

That's because Lise was Jewish, with her parents disappeared by the Nazis.

The foster parents who took her in pretended to be staunch fans of Hitler's regime, in order to protect her and themselves.

Delightful story!