Writing, Editing & Creative Media Consulting
Online Clips Archive
Video Workshop: “Leadership in the Digital Age”
010 years ago
In May, I was invited to London to speak as part of the Jewish Leadership Council’s Lead Division’s newest initiative, Leading In which was created in response to the desire and need for more leadership skills training, expressed by alumni of Lead’s programmes as well as employers within the community. The JLC, in a blog post about the program, explained:
We believe that Jewish communal leaders need both a deep understanding and knowledge of the UK Jewish Community as well as a core range of leadership skills. Leading In consists of regular bi-monthly evening sessions, open to all who are in a leadership position in the community, both lay and professional. Each session will include a leadership skills based session (a choice of three with the option to participate in a fundraising series over several sessions), an opportunity to network and a masterclass with an inspirational, visionary leader.
The event, held at the London Jewish Museum, was attended by 60 lay and professional leaders from more than 30 Jewish communal organizations. Debbie Klein, chair of JW3 (the about-to-launch Jewish Community Centre), gave the opening keynote discussing leadership tips, and participants chose from workshops like, “Inside the mind of a leader” with Jeff Wolfin, “Fundraising” with Jeff Shear (the second in the series), and my session, “Leadership in the Digital Age: Conversing, Commenting and Creating Meaningful Relationships” (available in its entirety – 1 hour, 22 minutes – below.
“Leadership in the Digital Age” – Esther Kustanowitz, May 2013
Fall Schedule and New Links
012 years ago
More posts available at http://myurbankvetch.com
Greetings, readers. Apologies to you all for the delay in posting – my mother fell ill in April, and passed away in May. Since then, I’ve been making my way back, slowly, into a new reality, trying to get back to normal. So here I am, accepting offers for speaking engagements and setting my travel schedule for fall 2011. I’ll be in San Francisco and Berkeley (September); New York City, New Jersey and Oakland, CA (October); Denver, CO (November); and London, UK (December). Contact me for details, or stay tuned to this space or to MyUrbanKvetch.com for updates and details.
Also, I’ve published a number of pieces that might be of interest – most of the posts are from my own blog focus on my processing the loss of my mother, but one continues to explore the Jewish innovation scene.
“Innovation at Any Age” (eJewishPhilanthropy)
“Eulogy for My Mother” (My Urban Kvetch)
“E-Ma’ariv: Contemplating the Evening Prayers” (My Urban Kvetch)
“Marzipan and Meaning: Jerusalem Reflections” (My Urban Kvetch)
Recent Publications: Opinionated Jewish Women, Innovation and more…
013 years ago
“ROI Lights”: Introducing a series of Hanukkah posts about innovation and creativity (ROI Community)
“Where Are All the Opinionated Jewish Women?”: An op-ed submissions imbalance at the Forward leads to a larger discussion about Jewish women and our opinions (MyUrbanKvetch, reprinted in eJewishPhilanthropy)
“Young Professionals/Singles/Young Leaders” – What’s in a Name? (MyUrbanKvetch)
“The Future of Jewish Journalism, Or Anything Else” (MyUrbanKvetch, reprinted in eJewishPhilanthropy)
Casting Call – The Rite of Tashlich (Jewish Journal)
013 years ago
Casting Call: A Tashlich Meditation
(The Jewish Journal, September 8, 2010)
My shoes slip off, my feet sink into soft sand and then approach the sea, where they submerge and are washed. But even freshly emerged from water, they remind me that just because you’ve washed something doesn’t mean it’s truly clean.
Rosh Hashanah marks the world’s birth — a new year, a new circle of Jewish holidays about to begin. The 10 days of repentance, which create the structure for apologies to self, neighbor and to God. Tashlich, the ritual in which bread is cast as sin and then cast out of us and into the water, is part of the preparation for Yom Kippur. It is Tashlich, this opportunity to make physical the act of rejecting iniquity, that draws me to the edge of the Pacific Ocean, steps away from the frivolity and fun of the Santa Monica Pier.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
Wishing all my friends and readers a wonderful new Jewish year.
Jewish Blogging 101 and 201 Now Online
013 years ago
I recently concluded a three-part webinar series on social media and blogging for the Jewish Communal Professionals of Southern California. My presentations from those webinars are now available online. See the “Social Media Basics” webinar here.
Newly uploaded on Slideshare is “Jewish Blogging 101” and “Jewish Blogging 201,” both below.
Jcpsc blogging 201
View more presentations from Esther Kustanowitz.
November and December: Idol Chatterin’
014 years ago
When it comes to the intersection between pop culture and spirituality (which sometimes means Judaism, specifically), my posts at Idol Chatter on Beliefnet run the gamut: from TV to music, from books to movies, from the Holocaust to the Family Guy to ABBA. Seriously.
After my making a case in October for Don Draper being a vampire, November brought a slew of varied stories. Ian McKellen started ripping pages out of hotel Bibles, Comedy Central expanded to Abu Dhabi, and that “Family Guy” live special offended lots of people. Reading and watching movies about Anne Frank – and presenting on Jewish pop culture at a local high school – led to both reviews and contemplations of what constitutes teen theology. The Macaroons, a new kids’ band, brought catchy rock hooks to Jewish subjects, just in time for Hanukkah.
In December, ABBA was named to the list of future inductees for the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, leading people to say, “um, is ABBA really rock?” But forget Swedish pop music and senatorial musical submissions: what’s new with Jewish music this Hanukkah? The NY Times did a short piece, but I had a few suggestions of my own. Also, in the wake of Orrin Hatch’s musical Hanukkah present to the Jews, Conan’s Jewish cast member – Max Weinberg – sang back with a Christmas song for Mormons set to “I Have a Little Dreidel.” Meantime, those creative folks over at G-dcast created a special animated episode for Hanukkah.
And just yesterday, Roy Disney died, reminding everyone how much of an impact Disney has had on the cultural landscape.
Celebrity Obituaries: John Hughes, Patrick Swayze
014 years ago
Over the past few months, pop culturistas like me lost pieces of our cultural childhoods one at a time, each one adding to the devastation: no sooner were we moving past Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, that we lost writer/director John Hughes and dancer/actor/not putting Baby in a cornerer Patrick Swayze. Hughes and Swayze, were two linchpins of my cultural adolescence, sculpting the landscape of expectation for me and countless others in my generation, as we moved forward into an uncertain future.
John Hughes went first, in August, and I thought in movie quotes for days. “Demented and sad, but social.” “Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?” And of course, every single line from my beloved mantra of a movie, “Sixteen Candles.” (“Jake Ryan? But he’s a senior, and he’s taken…I mean, REALLY taken.”) But I felt I had to write about him: this post at Beliefnet’s Idol Chatter is the result.
Then we lost Swayze, and I didn’t have the energy to plumb my own depths for reactions: instead, I went to social media, relying on Facebook status updates and Twitter messages to express the collective sense of mourning.
These pieces were sad to write, but as a writer, I appreciate the opportunity to mourn with thousands of others, virtually, through words, over the internet, because together, we are a community of the affected – in our union over a career’s end, we celebrate the work of the artists and their undeniable impact.
March: LAist, Facebook, Twitter, Celebrities, and more!
015 years ago
March has been a bit more eclectic, thanks to my first-ever piece on LAist — I guess this makes me an official Angeleno now:
“Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook – Meet the Local Ladies Behind the Hilarious Website” (LAist.com)
In addition, we’ve got a bunch of pieces in some of the usual places.
On Beliefnet’s Idol Chatter, I reported on Heroes’ actor Greg Grunberg’s use of Twitter; Harry Potter’s suspected position as a “tool of the Ziono-Hollywoodists“‘; big trouble for “Big Love“; Paul Rudd on what must have been the best seder ever; Alice Walker going to Gaza; the Spinal Tap tour; what Jewish Scots wear to shul; and, of course, Homer Simpson attempting to make peace in the Middle East.
Blog highlights include:
* What happens if Crocs go out of business
* My experience at Social Media Jungle NYC
and…
* Jewish continuity vs. environmental activism
Check them out, leave your comments, or inquire about hiring me for writing, editing or consulting purposes…
2009: January’s Work
015 years ago
I’ve been hard at work this month, helping ROI prepare to relaunch their website (coming soon), preparing for upcoming conferences (LimmudLA and Jewlicious Festival 5.0, I’m looking at you), conducting private blogging workshops, and of course posting pieces on topics like Lost and Bible Study, religious and pop culture lenses on dating, a review of the new documentary “Blessed is the Match,” and others over at Idol Chatter (click here for the January archives).
I also spoke on “Jewish Dating Ethics” at a private home in Los Angeles, as part of a mini-conference sponsored by LimmudLA, and debriefed from the speech I gave in December as part of the “Sex and Relationships” panel convened in New York by Zeek Magazine at the 92Y Tribeca.
I also found time to cover the “Women to Watch” conference for the Jewish Journal in LA.
In the coming months, I hope to finalize summer plans as well as line up speaking engagements and writing/editing jobs in LA, New York, Jerusalem and many other places. Want to be on my itinerary? Book now: esther.kustanowitz at gmail.com.
My Past at PresenTense: The Articles
015 years ago
by Esther
in Online Clips Archive
I recently left my position as senior editor at PresenTense to concentrate on other projects. But in the first moments of the new year, I thought it might be interesting to see where I’ve been article-wise during my tenure:
Two Jews, Three Blogs: Inside Jokes, Inner Dissent and Inner Life from Bloggers of the Tribe (PDF, page 13)
Zionism and Me: Wrestling With Israel
The Hebrew Slanguage: Unpacking the Junk from Israel’s Trunk (with Jacob Shwirtz)
Man With a Plan: Avi Liberman (profile)
Jews’ Line Is It Anyway? Why the Chosen People Choose Improv
Every article I wrote there was about something important to me, and it was a real treat to be able to explore those issues in print, for an audience of my peers. Interested in reprints? Contact me and we’ll talk about the possibilities…