This is a list Leviathan’s Winter 2011 staff.
Archive for the ‘Spring 2011 Issue’ Category
Leviathan Staff – Spring 2011
In Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:53 amRandom Ramblings X: The Friendly Neighborhood Jew’s Farewell
In Personal Interest, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:45 amBy Robbie Pleasant
Well, dear readers, this is it. This is the last Random Ramblings From Your Friendly Neighborhood Jew that I’ll write. It’s amazing how what started out in my first issue as a quick way to fill my article quota turned into an editorial that I enjoyed writing every quarter, and to those of you who were along for the ride, I hope you enjoyed it too. Read the rest of this entry »
Golem Dreams
In Literature, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:42 amBy Megan Susman
I dreamt of a golem, once.
In the pre-dawn light, spires of a skeletal city rose above my head, the wind shrieking through gaps of tortured metal and crumbled concrete. On empty streets, roots burst through asphalt and clung to deflated tires. The world sparkled with broken glass. I was alone. Or rather, I was nearly alone. Sparrows flitted through half-opened windows and bowed acacia trees, mice climbed along distended rainspouts, and a lone tomcat watched me from the gum-stained sidewalk. My breath came ragged and fast. All of man’s creations were lost to the wild patience of nature. Read the rest of this entry »
Short Attention Span Poetry
In Poetry, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:39 amBy Noah Miska
Being an Individual (dedicated to you)
Individual
is having physical form
and Your unique thoughts Read the rest of this entry »
Jewish Xylem and Academic Phloem: My Life as a Plant Physiologist
In Personal Interest, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:37 amBy Lauren Spitz
After living my entire life in or around Philadelphia (and college in upstate New York), I got accepted to graduate school at UC Santa Cruz. I was excited to relive the epic tale of the forefathers of this country, “Go west!” I had no idea that California was going to be so different from Philadelphia. It’s the same country. We eat the same food and drive the same cars. We’re all Americans, right?! Yet I had no idea how far apart the east and west coasts of this country actually were until I drove the entire length last September. Read the rest of this entry »
My Jewish Grandfather: The Life of Leo
In Personal Interest, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:35 amBy Robbie Pleasant
Take a moment to think of some historically influential Jews. You may think of Woody Allen, Elie Wiesel, or Albert Einstein. The first person I think of, however, is not anyone you’ll see in history books, but someone whose story is still worth telling; someone who has had a personal and important impact on my life. I’m talking about none other than my grandfather, Leo Schweitzer. Read the rest of this entry »
(Explanations Are For Cowards)
In Poetry, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:33 amBy Brian Nickerson
come up for air together
steel toes pickax our shins
elbows jackhammer our spines
limelight blinding like a prison break
teeth grit throat squeeze howl like
you mean it and submerge again
taste that sweat swamp kick stomp
every body one flexed muscle
clasped hands into balled fists Read the rest of this entry »
Klezmer Revival
In Reviews, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:30 amBy Aaron White
An Introduction
Klezmer’s Not Dead! It’s merely laying, a beat-up invalid somewhere in a small Jewish neighborhood in New York City. Or so I thought up until about two and a half years ago, when strange whispers of a revival led me to an emerging klezmer music scene. This isn’t the klezmer of the workers’ Bund a century ago, or that of Israel, or aging musicians. It’s a youthful new mix of klezmer, punk, gypsy (Roma), and pure rock n’ roll. Klezmer isn’t like other traditional music that has fallen by the wayside, or lives on in the minds of the infirm in far-off places. Instead it has evolved, as any music or people must to stay relevant or survive. So what if one of the musicians put down their clarinet and picked up a synthesizer?1 These new groups playing Jewish music are keeping it relevant and enjoyable to younger generations (and as I type this out, there’s a classically-trained musical organization putting a hit out on me). What’s really lost? Nothing, in my opinion. If anything, it adds to the volume and the range of the genre. Some of the bands blowing up the scene and making klezmer a threat again are: Oy Division, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Golem, Can!!Can, and Oi Va Voi (klezmer/world/trip-hop). I’m going to focus on two of my favorite bands in this emerging scene, Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird and Di Nigunim, two very different bands with a common connection- Klezmer.
Native Americans and the Jews
In Essays, Judaism and Society, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:24 amBy Ethan Tratner
The Mel Brooks comedy film Blazing Saddles (1974) features a Native American chief (played by Brooks) speaking Yiddish. Although this scene is used for comic effect, some people believe that the Native Americans are descended from the Ancient Hebrews. This belief recently resurfaced when the History Channel aired a special entitled Who Really Discovered America?(2010)1 which they questioned whether Christopher Columbus was the first person to stumble upon the Americas on his way to Asia. They propose many new theories about who may have first landed in the Americas ranging from the Welsh to the Indonesians. In one segment, the special proposes that the ancient Hebrews discovered America first. Unlike many of the other theories, the basis for the theory of the Native Americans’ Jewish origins has had deep roots in European Jewish and Christian thought for hundreds of years and continues to this day. Read the rest of this entry »
Maccabiah Games
In Campus, Israel, Jewish Culture, Reviews, Spring 2011 Issue on May 21, 2011 at 12:21 amBy Oren Gotesman & Prescott Watson
“Hello, and prepare to be defeated,” Erez Shachar, Israel fellow to Santa Cruz Hillel, announced to visiting teams in Hebrew. Sporting an Israeli flag as a cape, he pointed to the Santa Cruz team. “Let’s get started, Jews!” he yelled in English. And so began the first Bay Area Maccabiah Games hosted by Santa Cruz Hillel. Modeled after the official Maccabiah Games held in Israel, the local version is an athletic and cultural celebration open to all Jews and Israelis. Often called the “Jewish Olympics,” the Games are held every four years in Tel Aviv and draw a worldwide audience. Read the rest of this entry »