San Diego County

Mayor of San Diego’s Israeli Partner Region Killed in Hamas Attack

(SDJW Staff Report) Ofir Libstein, the mayor of San Diego’s longtime partner region of Sha’ar HaNegev, was among more than 700 Israelis murdered in the Hamas surprise attack during Simchat Torah. He was killed while defending his kibbutz. “We were beyond devastated to learn of the death of Mayor Ofir Libstein, who was killed in […]

Mayor of San Diego’s Israeli Partner Region Killed in Hamas Attack Read More »

Israel, San Diego County

Former Solana Beach School Board Member Advanced to Chair of the University of California Board of Regents

Rich Leib knows a thing or two about chairing meetings. He was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in 1998 to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, serving as its president from 2001 to 2003. In 2008, he was elected to the Solana Beach School Board, where he served for nearly 12 years, part of that time as that body’s president. In 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown named him to the UC Board of Regents. When the chair of that board, Cecilia V. Estolano, was not reappointed, Leib moved up from vice chair to chair.  In July 2022, he was formally appointed to a one-year term as the Regents’ chairman. [Donald H. Harrison]

Former Solana Beach School Board Member Advanced to Chair of the University of California Board of Regents Read More »

California, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Technology

New Village Arts’ ‘Doubt’ Channels What May Be an Old Jewish Parable

The play is set in 1964 in a small Catholic boys’ school. The opening is a sermon on Doubt by Father Flynn (Dr. AJ Knox). New teacher Sister James (Juliana Scheding) is called to the principal’s office so that she can report on the progress of the new student, Donald, who also happens to be the first Black student in the school. [Sandi Masori]

New Village Arts’ ‘Doubt’ Channels What May Be an Old Jewish Parable Read More »

San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Rep. Sara Jacobs: Why I Voted to Remove the Speaker of the House

(Press Release) San Diego County’s U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), who is Jewish, on Wednesday issued the following statement on the removal of U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) as Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dear Friend, By now, you’ve probably heard that Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Sara Jacobs: Why I Voted to Remove the Speaker of the House Read More »

Opinion, San Diego County, USA

Les Mis’ Stunning Sets Bring You Into Revolutionary France

The acting was superb and I’ll come back to that, but I really have to talk about the sets.  I have never in my life seen such elaborate and I know I said it above, but cinematic sets.  The way that the stage and sets were built, the lighting effects, and the scenes staged to keep most of the action towards the back of the stage, the effect was almost more like watching a movie than a play.  [Sandi Masori]

Les Mis’ Stunning Sets Bring You Into Revolutionary France Read More »

San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Ceramicist Herman’s Works are ‘Intentionally Not Conceptual’

Ceramicist Josh Herman’s tile work is on display throughout the upscale Paridisea Restaurant in the remodeled interior of the Piano Building in La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood. His “modern, sensual, organic” ceramic sculptures made the cover of the French edition of Architectural Digest in July 2016 when the authoritative magazine profiled the La Jolla Farms Road home known as the Razor House, now owned by singer Alicia Keys. [Donald H. Harrison and Emily Scalmanini}

Ceramicist Herman’s Works are ‘Intentionally Not Conceptual’ Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Mishegoss

By Barrett Holman Leak SAN DIEGO — I have always appreciated Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a British comedy series which delivers skits of surreal humor. As you watch, you know the sketches are packed with a form of humor grounded in incongruity, non-sequiturs, irrational or absurd situations and other intentional violations of causal reasoning —

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Mishegoss Read More »

Barrett Holman Leak, Opinion, San Diego County

San Diego International Film Festival to Feature Story of Holocaust Survivor’s Courage

By Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — I always find myself looking forward to mid-September as I eagerly anticipate my phone interview with Tonya Mantooth, CEO and Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the San Diego International Film Festival. Our conversations are always fun, eye-opening, inspired and while we’ve never had the chance to meet, extremely personal.

San Diego International Film Festival to Feature Story of Holocaust Survivor’s Courage Read More »

Eva Trieger, Holocaust, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Once a Place of Exile, La Colonia de Eden Gardens is a Beautiful, Thriving Community

Among the laboring families, there were numerous marriage that today, many people who live in La Colonia de Eden Gardens are married to each other. As the community developed, laborers’ families bought property, built homes on tree-lined streets, and created a pleasant, well-shaded, middle-class, hillside community. Streets were named for early residents of La Colonia including Castro, Gonzales, Granados, Hernandez, Ida, Junita, Vera, and Viva. [Donald H. Harrison]

Once a Place of Exile, La Colonia de Eden Gardens is a Beautiful, Thriving Community Read More »

Ben Dishman, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food