A simple gift of a book of poems has blossomed into an artistic project that is coming to San Francisco later this month, bringing together Sweet Can Productions, an S.F. circus company, and the Levins, a married folk-singing duo. The fruit of their collaboration, “My Friend Hafiz,” blends acrobatics, aerial dance and clowning with live…
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Culture
Celebrity Jews
Rachel Weisz up for Golden Globe! Philip Glass goes to Kennedy Center! Puppies!
A puppy and a Brit Keep your eyes open for “A Dog’s Way Home,” which is scheduled for a Jan. 11 opening. It’s a heartwarming story about Bella, an…
TV
In 'Mrs. Maisel,' independence is contagious
Jews have a complicated relationship with seeing ourselves on TV. “That’s not my kind of Judaism,” we might say. Or, “They pronounced those Hebrew phrases…
Off the Shelf
Sci-fi visions of future and alternate Israels
The quest for Jewish nationhood is entwined with the exercise of imagination. Theodor Herzl’s best-known words, “If you will it, it is no dream” (or,…
TV
‘Little Drummer Girl’ a worthy adaptation of offbeat le Carré thriller
It’s 1979, and the PLO is blowing up Jewish targets throughout Europe. Israeli intelligence, still smarting from the aftermath of the ’72 Munich Olympics,…
Photography
‘When Government Worked’: photographing the New Deal
Arthur Rothstein knew how to find the heart of a story. The son of Jewish immigrants, the late, great photographer used his lens to focus on the human…
Hanukkah
Pop Art Rabbi’s take on Pittsburgh
Check out the stunning, evocative art on the cover of this week’s Hanukkah issue of J. The Jewish News of Northern California by Yitzchok Moully. It…
Talking With ...
Q&A: A photographer who likes to watch accidents in art
Fine arts photographer Richard Nagler (no relation to this writer) has published four books, including “My Love Affair with Miami Beach” (1991), a visual…
Art
They migrated to paradise: painted photos animate stories of four families
San Francisco artist Heidi Hardin had serious problems with her family when she was growing up in Oklahoma in the ’50s and ’60s. So as soon as she…