loveitallabove

Today's a Carnival... , originally uploaded by levenj .

Learning of the Genius of Mary Lou Williams @jeweum #wildwome... on Twitpic

My friend Adam got me to read The Ask by Sam Lipsyte , because it was about a guy who works in a Development office. It's pretty well written, really well written. It lead me to Shteyngart . Both works and authors are battling with satire and winning, but the work can be pretty depressing as a result, albeit truthful. Am I now stuck on this Jewish author trend for a while? I remember after reading Goodbye, Columbus in high school, I said I'd never do it again....at least 'til I was older. fin.

I just finished reading Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan . The book will stay with me for a long time, its truth and American English lyricism. The New York Times Review of Books was thrilled and emphatic about the book Why praise it first? Just quote from it — at random. Just unbutton its shirt and let it bare its chest. Like a victorious wrestler, this novel is so immodestly vigorous, so burstingly sure of its barbaric excellence, that simply by breathing, sweating and standing upright it exalts itself. And so: As depressed and immobile as a twenty-first-century Oblomov , I lay on my bed scrolling through the darkest corners of the Internet, the laptop whizzing and bleating atop the mound of my stomach. I watched all kinds of unfortunate women being degraded and humiliated, tied up, spat upon, forced to swallow gigantic penises, and I wished I could wipe off their dripping faces, whisk them away to some Minneapolis or Toronto, and teach them to take pleasure in a simple linear li...

Charles Schultz Museum (pic by Lil E!) , originally uploaded by levenj . We went up to Santa Rosa last weekend. I was giving a talk about the CJM at synagogue Shomrei Torah, for their Friday night service. It was great. The shul's new and beautiful. We stayed the night at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Sonoma County Airport then went to the Charles M Schultz on the way home -- first time I'd been. Lil E really didn't know Peanuts and it was sweet to watch Karen explain it to him, like it was part of now inactive cultural history. A lot started with Peanuts, and it was interesting to see it all in that context.

DSC_0067 , originally uploaded by simone.roark . I just love this picture -- maxxin' and relaxxin' with Lil E back in Boyds. Thanks, Simone!

...of the restitution of Nazi-looted art. This program took place at the Museum on November 2, 2010, in conjunction with Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker.

CJM Contemporaries Fisher Collection Visit , originally uploaded by levenj . I learned at the CJM Contemporaries Fisher Collection Visit that the Stone's Exile on Main Street cover is a Robert Frank photograph?! How come I never knew this? Warhol and the Stones? Richard Hamilton and the White Album?

Museums and I.C.V. View more presentations from James Leventhal . A colleague from many years ago was looking through old presentations I had up in slideshare and wrote the following: Among the many charms and pithy paradoxes of your slideshare presentations, today I enjoyed responding in a new and, I hope, insightful way to your slide that says "The Poetry of Process / The Beauty of Bureaucracy." That's one I would like to have heard your witty words on in the moment you put the slide up. Would I be right to take that as brightening the hue of Max Weber's sociological lament on the "iron cage" of bureacracy? As in, learn to work with it? Even, "Love it All?" Enjoy the art and craft in the human side of organizational life. Make a vigorous sport out of winding through mazes on tilting floors. Appreciate the complexity of forming alliances for shared and individual aims. Rather than whine about bureaucracy and "process", why not sing a s...

Now more Genesis P-Orridge! Now. More!

I can't believe I'd never heard this before. Shelley and Keats.

Ford Bell DVM and President AAM at the Portland Children's Museum , originally uploaded by levenj . Ford Bell, President of AAM and trained veterinarian at the Pet Hospital installation at the Portland Children's Museum as part of the Western Museums Association Annual Meeting 2010 in Portland, OR

I want you to take a look at: givezooks! - online fundraising for nonprofits and grassroots campaigns   Tehiyah Board President Adam Mizock writes: Marathon for Tehiyah My goal is to run the California International Marathon on December 5, 2010 in Sacramento and to raise $10,000 for Tehiyah Day School. I hope to encourage friends, family and the East Bay community to join me in giving to Tehiyah. Tehiyah has enriched my family's life through its education of our children and its impact on our community. I am currently in my fifth year as President of Tehiyah's Board of Trustees. I have been inspired by the way our students and graduates take the Tehiyah curriculum to heart as they engage in lifelong learning (l'midah), social justice and giving to those in need (tzedakah) and making the world a better place (tikkun olam). Tehiyah's curriculum is brought to life by our students and teachers through interactive experiential learning. This year I decided to stretch my own ...

Thanks to Theatre Bay Area , Alan Brown walked us through his study findings Stop Taking Attendance and Start Measuring the True Impacts of Your Programs Major University Presenters’ Value & Impact Study, Presentation by Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak at the Arts Presenters Conference (January 11, 2008) to download presentation click here . One of the primary messages is that you have to balance readiness and impact. Marketing can help create that level of anticipation. Captivation and Personal Involvement! The Hypothesis: “Readiness to Receive” + The Performance Experience = Intrinsic Impact Alan Brown draws our attention to the University of Florida's Performing Arts annual report, which actually includes intrinsic value in its annual report: UFPA INTRINSIC IMPACT RESEARCH SUMMARY Although our mission is not defined in terms of ticket sales and financial metrics, we previously reported only those figures to funders, foundations, university administrators, board members and...

Collecting the Impossible , originally uploaded by levenj . I was at ybca , because I've come ot know and really respect Catharine Clark. I got to know Catharine, because Ken Goldberg is doing an installation at the CJM to be entitled Are We There Yet? And Catharine represents Ken's work through the Catharine Clark Gallery . Initial funding for Are We There Yet? came in the form of one of those amazing collaborative grants from the Creative Work Fund . According to the Creative Work Fund web site, four principles guide the Fund: Artists’ creativity merits philanthropic support. Individual creativity is the source of cultural richness and diversity. The arts can be a powerful vehicle for problem solving and community renewal. Collaborative efforts among artists, organizations, and their constituents can generate a productive exchange of ideas and bring the arts to new audiences. How fantastic is that?! Well, anyhow, as part of getting to know Catharine Clark, she tells me s...

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Creative Commons Salon: Participatory Culture Offline View more presentations from Nina Simon .

Jumping at the Y , originally uploaded by levenj .

by James G. Leventhal Jaron Lanier came to speak at the Contemporary Jewish Museum as part of the Museum's LINK program,, a Jewish, Art, and Technology initiative at the CJM. Jaron Lanier purposefully positions himself as archaistic. He wants you to read a book. He wants you to think before you "tweet." He is also sometimes credited with inventing virtual reality . That's right, inventing virtual reality . And he has helped to craft some of the finest future visioning in a Philip K. Dick film, yet, as a creative consultant on Minority Report . He has jammed with "Q," Ornette Coleman, and been on tour with Yoko Ono. Jaron Lanier, Wild Thing , originally uploaded by levenj . Hearing Jaron Lanier speak at the CJM was a thrill for me. I'd been reading Lawrence Lessig and Chris Anderson , and was all excited about the 'wisdom of the crowds' and the potential of mass collaboration and social media's power to build networks and layers o...

Outside Berkeley Art Center , originally uploaded by levenj .

Basel Art , originally uploaded by levenj .