Arts & Culture

Music that entertains, heals

photo - Bob Reid and Judi Jaeger

(photo from jaegerreidmusic.com) An unexpected kindness reignites a passion for music, which offers an outlet for grief, as well as a new career path. A chance meeting turns into a mutually supportive, productive and enduring musical collaboration. We often forget…

A grandfather’s sins

image - Prof. Roger Frie’s  Not in My Family rises above the merely personal

Prof. Roger Frie’s  Not in My Family rises above the merely personal (image from cenes.ubc.ca) Forty-three years ago, at Vancouver’s first Holocaust Symposium, for which I was the chair, the keynote speaker was the Lithuanian partisan fighter Leon Kahn. His presentation to…

Londres foresaw fate of Jews

image - The Wandering Jew Has Arrived book cover cropped

Albert Londres was a Parisian journalist born in 1884. He became an international reporter who chose to chronicle human suffering and expose injustice and cruelty. He denounced inhuman conditions in mental asylums, the ordeals of black workers, conditions in a…

The telling of stories

photo - Left to right: Yoo Ra Ka (Asaka, Mother of the Earth), Ricardo Pequenino (Agwe, God of Water), Alexandra Quispe (Erzulie, Goddess of Love) and Sari Rosofsky (Papa Ge, Sly Demon of Death) in Fabulist Theatre’s production of Once On This Island, which opens April 6

Left to right: Yoo Ra Kang (Asaka, Mother of the Earth), Ricardo Pequenino (Agwe, God of Water), Alexandra Quispe (Erzulie, Goddess of Love) and Sari Rosofsky (Papa Ge, Sly Demon of Death) in Fabulist Theatre’s production of Once On This…

Foxtrot steps on toes

photo - Itay Exlroad as Dancer Soldier

Itay Exlroad as Dancer Soldier. (photo by Giora Bejach, Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics) An audacious work of art that melds raw emotion and absurdist allegory into a blistering assessment of contemporary Israel, Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot deserves to be seen and…

Exploring the science of life

photo - Amy Amantea and Jake Anthony in Sequence, which runs March 14-24 at Presentation House Theatre

Amy Amantea and Jake Anthony in Sequence, which runs March 14-24 at Presentation House Theatre. (photo by Tim Matheson) “To direct this play requires a willingness to grapple with the concepts, to accept that sometimes questions are more important than…

Combining love of music, art

photo - Ava Lee Millman Fisher at the opening of her solo exhibit, I See Music, on March 1

Ava Lee Millman Fisher at the opening of her solo exhibit, I See Music, on March 1. (photo by Olga Livshin) The new solo exhibit by Ava Lee Millman Fisher, which opened at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery on…

The wrap dress began it all

photo - Diane von Furstenberg was born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin in Brussels, Belgium

Diane von Furstenberg was born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin in Brussels, Belgium. (PR photo) Character. Intelligence. Strength. Style. That makes beauty.” These timeless words of wisdom were expressed by the iconic Diane von Furstenberg. Born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin in…

VR is coming to your home

photo - Inception’s collaboration with FashionTV brings viewers backstage

Inception’s collaboration with FashionTV brings viewers backstage. (photo from Inception) Netflix has become the go-to service for finding the latest and greatest movie and television programming. An Israeli startup called Inception wants to do the same for virtual reality. The…

Finding the future in the past

photo - Left to right: Michael Rubenfeld, Mary Berchard and Katka Reszke in We Keep Coming Back, which plays March 13 and 14 as part of the Chutzpah! Festival

Left to right: Michael Rubenfeld, Mary Berchard and Katka Reszke in We Keep Coming Back, which plays March 13 and 14 as part of the Chutzpah! Festival. (photo by Jeremy Mimnaugh) At first, we expected the piece to focus mainly…