Lee Allen to host Party With a Purpose, Aug. 10
For one of Lee Allen’s bar mitzvah projects, he is hosting a Party With a Purpose on Monday, Aug. 10 at Adventure Landing on Coit from 6 to 8 p.m. For only $16 per person, you get two attractions and 20 tokens (note, the attractions have to be used by the same person). You can choose among laser tag, putt-putt, go-carts or bumper boats. Youngsters and oldsters can play as long as they like, but the special price will only be available from 6 to 8 p.m.
It’s a great deal plus giving to a great cause, since Lee is raising money for MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and for Ohel Ari, which sends care packages to Israeli soldiers serving in the field. Ohel Ari was created in loving memory of his cousin Ari Weiss, son of Rabbi Stuart and Susie Weiss, who grew up in Dallas.
Help Lee with his tzedakah project by telling your family, friends and neighbors to join in. RSVPs should be made to leezparty@yahoo.com (since Adventure Landing wants to know how many are coming) but you can just show up and look for the Party With a Purpose table.
Jewish college students, take note!
It’s that time again! Time to see your friends and catch up on all the latest news!
College Ties will have its summer get-together in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 4. College students are invited to come mingle and shmooze at Starbucks at Preston and Frankford, 9–11 p.m. Catch up on all the latest campus news, find out who is where and how they’re doing. In state, out of state, overseas — all Jewish college students ages 18–22 are welcome!
College Ties is a local initiative to bring Jewish college students together during summer, fall and winter breaks. There is no set agenda; just gather and talk with your fellow students. Sign in by the region of the country where you attend school. Incoming freshmen to recent graduates are welcome.
For more information, or to be added to the e-mail list (or to the list of parents of college students), contact Susie Avnery, susiedaltx@sbcglobal.net, 469-233-0222.
Tell your friends and spread the word!
Calling all ladies for a swap
Frocks and Frolics, a clothes and accessories exchange, will be hosted by Hadassah’s Professional Women’s Networking Group on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 7–9 p.m., at the home of Ruth Spirer, 7704 Turnberry Lane.
Here’s your chance to spice up your wardrobe while enjoying a fun ladies’ night out. Bring your gently used clothing and accessories: dresses, suits, sweaters, slacks, jackets, skirts, tops, coats, jewelry, handbags, shoes, etc. Clothes must be clean (dry-cleaned if applicable) and in excellent condition to swap.
There is an $18 cover fee (no other money will change hands). Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted. Wine and cheese will be served.
Private rooms will be available to try on clothes. You can select the same number of items you bring.
Items that are left will be donated to “Attitudes and Attire,” www.attitudesandattire.org.
RSVPs are required and should be made with tschepps@retentionrocks.com.
Chairs for the event are Ruth Spirer, ruth@weddingsnevents.com, 972-386-4519, and Nancy Gordon, ngordon@sbcglobal.net, 972-720-9966.
Lights, camera, action!
Award-winning filmmakers Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell were guest speakers at the University of North Texas’ prestigious Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference on Saturday, July 25.
In their award-winning documentary history about the Great State Fair of Texas, the Mondells take you on a journey through a corn-dog eating contest, a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1923, an Elvis Presley concert in 1956, a pig race and much more. “A Fair to Remember” takes you on a roller-coaster ride chronicling the history of the fair from its inception in 1886 to its destination today as the largest and longest-running one in the country. The fair remains an iconic and timeless tradition every year for Texans across the Lone Star State. A feast for the eyes and the imagination, “A Fair to Remember” captures the heart of Texas — big, spirited and brazenly proud!
The Mondells begin their trip using the same methods: interviews, research online and at the library and observation. Once the subject matter is gathered in their heads and on paper, the tools take them down different paths, but the common ground between storytelling in film and print might surprise you.
“A Fair to Remember” was the only Texas film chosen for the U. S. State Department’s 2009 American Documentary Showcase tour.
Previously honored with the 2008 Lone Star Emmy, a Silver Telly, a Cine Golden Eagle, a Silver Remi Award and as an Official Selection at the 2007 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the film was directed and produced by Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell, and co-produced by Phillip Allen.
Yiddish books, records needed for archives
You just might have a treasure in your attic or tucked away in a corner of your garage or perhaps even stuck in the bottom corner of a seldom-used closet. We’re referring specifically to Yiddish books, a cultural treasure of the Jewish people.
Yiddish books once captured the imagination of millions of readers; today they are largely forgotten, gathering dust in cellars and attics across America.
But times are changing. Yiddish studies are on the rise, and students and scholars need books.
Also know that Jewish music is archived at the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries in Boca Raton, Fla. They have been collecting, cleaning and digitizing fragile vintage phonograph records — 78s and LPs — since 2002 and are creating a huge digital database of Jewish music. The Yiddish Book Center has supported their efforts from the beginning, having donated their accumulated collection of over 3,000 records in their first year, and continues to send them the records they receive.
Their second project is specifically concerned with ­Sephardic recordings — 78s, LPs, and CDs — some of which originated in pre-World War I Turkey or interwar Europe, and some in the U.S. and in Israel. The older records were produced in small runs.
The National Yiddish Book Center is a nonprofit group working to save Yiddish culture. And they need your help! Check around your house, inquire among friends and relatives. In Dallas, you can call Miriam Creemer, 972-980-8981, for more information.
Yiddish books can be sent to the National Yiddish Book Center, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002.
Yiddish and other Ashkenazi records can be sent to the Judaica Sound Archives. Shipping instructions and the address are available on their Web site, http://faujsa.fau.edu, or contact the director, Nathan Tinanoff, 561-297-2207 or tinanoff@fau.edu.
Kudos for Valerie Grossman
SMU tells the TJP that Dallas resident Valerie Grossman, daughter of David and Connie Grossman, was named to Southern Methodist University undergraduate honor roll for the spring 2009 semester. Valerie, a sophomore was included on the honor roll with high distinction for the fall 2008 semester, which requires that a student be in the top five percent of their school of record.
SMU’s fall 2008 enrollment included 6,110 undergraduate students. A private university located in the heart of Dallas, SMU is building on the vision of its founders, who imagined a distinguished center for learning emerging from the spirit of the city. Today, 11,000 students benefit from the national opportunities and international reach afforded by the quality of SMU’s seven degree-granting schools.
State Sen. Florence Shapiro to speak to fellow Republicans
The first speaker for the Dallas County Republican Party’s “Rise & Shine” breakfast series featuring potential candidates for the U. S. Senate will be State Senator Florence Shapiro. The seat is now held by Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Shapiro, one of several local candidates interested in replacing Hutchison in either a special election or when the term expires in 2012, will address local Republicans at a breakfast on Aug. 6, at 1445 Ross Ave. on the 29th floor.
Upcoming participants include Texas Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams and former Secretary of State Roger Williams.