loveitallabove

Magnes Museum Moves Ahead With Relocation Plans By Riya Bhattacharjee Monday June 30, 2008 The Judah L. Magnes Museum will ask the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission Thursday to approve a structural alteration permit to rehabilitate the landmarked Armstrong College at 2222 Harold Way, where it plans to relocate in spring 2010. Armstrong College was designated as a City of Berkeley landmark in September 1994 and notable structures include large arched windows located on the second floor of the Kittredge Street and Harold facades, entrance and main lobbies, a 5,000-square-foot auditorium, and an entrance sheltered by a Baroque-style balcony. The museum which is the Bay Area's oldest museum and archive dedicated to Jewish history, is proposing some changes to the former business educational school's exterior, including altering two windows on either side of the Kittredge Street entrance and replacing the wooden door with glass. The Magnes hopes to raise $36 million through...

JTA is a national Jewish news service . In 1917, during the waning days of World War I, a 25-year-old journalist named Jacob Landau had a vision...And so, Landau founded the Jewish Correspondence Bureau, later renamed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. JTA recently started a blog on philanthropy . It's a nice resource... And in a recent article distributed by JTA about the opening of the Contemporary Jewish Museum , I was quoted: Another defining characteristic is that the museum will maintain no permanent collection, but will host temporary and traveling exhibitions. That’s partly due to its proximity to Berkeley’s Judah L. Magnes Museum, which owns the country’s third largest Judaica collection. The two institutions are still smarting from an abortive merger effort that collapsed several years ago, and are eager not to step on each other’s toes. In fact, one of the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s opening exhibits is on loan from the Magnes, highlighting what both institutions envision...

WHAT A GREAT DAY! Tom came over around nine and played with li'l E, wearing him down with joy and delight -- trains and cars. We didn't leave Oakland until about ten-thirty o'clock. Li'l E was already on his way to napping. Then a long drive, so he is all the more tuckered out. THEN we get to Pixieland, so by then my little boy E is on the brink of sleep, like Little Nemo with visions of Slumberland, but his slumberland is real -- it is Pixieland . Between rides he cries for the next one -- out of character and part of the wonderous delirium of joy....sheer ec·sta·sy. And y'know what -- it wasn't so much Pixieland. Pixieland ain't much bigger than most large mall parking lots. It was about us, then, today . Can it, people. Put it in a jar. Let more people feel better.

MAGNES might be doin' Djerassi. We're talking about a collaboration w/Jewlia Eisenberg, possibly with support from the Creative Works Fund-a highly competitive grant program. Rock on, people, rock on!

...looking good at Israel in the Gardens , S.F. -- the major, yearly Bay Area outdoor Jewish festival in downtown San Francisco. Over 500 MAGNES bags were distributed, I hear...

Lil E starts at the synagogue preschool in the fall. He went to a meet-and-greet picnic today at a local park with a playground. Highlights included: I was pushing him in the swing. Another Dad came along with his daughter and they started using the swing beside us. After a little time, we introduced ourselves and the one dad said his name was ______. And Lil E, right in time said, "Dad: Jim. Mommy: Karen," as if he was handling the introductions. And not "as if," he was. What a trip! Then he met these two boys and couldn't get their names out of his head and went all over looking for "J" and "S." Then he'd go play with them. Oh there was more...but lastly, we're on the way back, walking to the car and he reaches forward to grab the hand of the little girl we were walking out with. (Picture above.) This kid's alright and he's ready, right? And he ain't even two yet. Go, E! Go, my Lil E...