Last Thursday, Hillel hosted our second annual Treasured Trash Art Exhibition! The event aimed to show others how much trash goes to waste each year and how creatively that waste can be recycled into beautiful works of art. We had some wonderful entries this year, many of which I have highlighted with pictures below 

Of note are some of our winners and honorable mentions, including “Valsa,” the red dress made entirely out of recycled pamphlets and newspaper by Missy Baddin, as well as a beautiful collage of the Cherry Spoon from the Walker Sculpture Garden, made out of recycled art magazines by Rebecca Huffman.

Congratulations to everyone who participated. The event was a great success, with many thanks to Sarah Routman, our dedicated director, and Katayoun Amadji, my partner in crime in planning and designing the exhibition. I would also like to note that our musical accompaniment for the night was fantastic, and I highly recommend the band King Fish Crow to all. I will include a link to their band page at the end of this post. Check them out!

The artists who were featured in our exhibition truly took this message of recycling and sustainability to heart. Their pieces were creative, thoughtful, and pointed. Many were made from objects I never would have considered artistic. The transformations achieved were truly incredible. 

The works shown below, as well as many of the pieces featured in Thursday’s Treasured Trash Exhibition will be on display for the next few weeks. Please stop by Hillel anytime to see them for yourself. My pictures don’t do them justice, and many are still available for purchase.

Thanks to everyone involved! Hopefully we’ll see you at the exhibition next year!

Always,
Lila

**King Fish Crow – check out their band page and their facebook page! Great folk and rock music, I highly recommend them. 

I’m currently studying horticulture and forestry at the U. I’ve previously studied at Brandeis University in Boston and City University in London.

My goal this semester is not only to make Hillel a more sustainable place on the university campus, but to show others that being sustainable is possible at a time when the natural environment is in constant danger of disappearing. My major themes will come from my background in the sciences and my travels, which have taught me a lot about being sustainable in the center of the city. I would like this blog to be a place where you can come to learn what is going on in the environmental community in your own backyard, and be able to take away a part of it to create your own sustainable goals.

But what does living sustainably really mean in the 21st century? Sustainability has become a buzzword in our society. We attribute it to not watering the lawn, composting our old tomatoes, and planting trees. In reality, sustainability means living within our means. It means trying not to make an impact on the world that may damage it or take its beauty and diversity of life away from others.

But sustainability is harder than it sounds. When the apple at the lunch counter was flown halfway across the world, shipped across the country, and driven hundreds of miles to your local market, you cannot accept that it is a “green” apple. If we all had the time, space, and climate to grow apple trees in our backyard, we would. Today it is simply not an option.

That being said, we can still make the choice to do as much as we can for our environment. Buying apples from a family farm, walking when we don’t need to drive, giving up a few degrees of heat in the winter or a/c in the summer, or using less water can all help in small ways.

Even so, there is a large group within the environmental community who doubt that these small changes will impact the future of our environment enough to be worthwhile.

I recently took a trek across St. Paul to hear a man named Bill McKibben give a talk at Macalester. McKibben is a writer, professor, newspaper columnist contributor, and the leader and founder of the climate activist group 350.org. The group, which derives its namesake from the number of parts per million of carbon necessary in our atmosphere to raise the temperature of the entire earth by 1 degree Fahrenheit (350 parts per million of carbon), inspires activists and environmentalists around the world to make an uproar and promote big change in environmental politics.

In 2011 and 2012, Bill McKibben and 64 fellow protestors began a two-week sit in at the White House, with more than 2,000 people set to join in the coming weeks. That day Bill was arrested for disturbing the peace. A week after he was released from jail, he was inducted into the prestigious Academy of Arts and Sciences, and today travels extensively to get out the message about making a change to our political system.

350.org recently organized a march on Washington in February, where an estimated 40,000 climate activists protested the Keystone XL pipeline extension, which would carry crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast.

Bill calls for grand, sweeping changes to the way our world works, and a takedown of the political ideologies controlling the direction of that change. He doesn’t really care a whole lot about whether you turn off the light when you leave the room or keep the water on while brushing your teeth. He calls for divestment from all fossil fuels, a stop to all oil drilling, and an end to our dependence on foreign energy.

Hearing him speak is inspiring, but it’s also depressing. I have little hope that we can stop our dependence on oil and natural gas. I don’t believe we can change the way Bill wants us to change.

But when posed this question during a panel of students:

“How do you keep getting up every morning and facing this world?”

Bill answered defiantly:

“I can keep getting out of bed every morning because I see people like you, trying to make a difference in the world. I go to colleges to speak, and there are a hundred students willing to listen. I announce a march on Washington, and 40,000 people come out in the frigid cold to stand up and say that they’re willing to make a difference. That’s what keeps me up here.”

So even if the public doesn’t believe we can change our oil dependence, lower the temperature of the earth, or save the polar bears, there is still hope for the cause. If we turn off the lights, shut off the water, plant a garden or replace an LED light bulb, we’re standing up and saying: “I have hope for this world, for the future, and I’m willing to stand up and saying something.”

Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t change the world by focusing on only grand sweeping gestures. It took a little bit of everything to make a change, and most of all it took time. You may not be making a huge difference in the short run, but you’re standing up for your generation in the long run. So turn off the lights, water the plants, don’t let the water run too long, and have hope for the future.

Always,
Lila

A few co-ops to consider:

The Wedge Natural Foods Co-op

Mississippi Market Natural Foods Co-op

Linden Hills Co-op Grocery and Deli

Did you know there’s a handy little wheel you can buy that can tell you what foods are in season in your area? It’s called the Local Foods Wheel, and it’s fantastic – and sustainable!
You can also check out the local Minneapolis Farmers Market website to see what’s in season – and what’s being offered!

 

 70th Anniversary of the saving of Bulgaria’s Jews 

(Click logo above to watch inspiring 2 minute videos of Jewish Bulgarian citizens & hear their stories)

Get ready for Hillel’s ULTIMATE BASH!

WHO: You & Anyone and Everyone!

WHAT: Hillel’s ULTIMATE bash! FREE for everyone (EVERYTHING is FREE)! We’re going to the Mill City Museum to celebrate the end of Passover and the (almost) end of the year! Food, museum tours, music, and more!

WHERE: Mill City Museum-Directions

WHEN: April 4th 7:30pm-10pm

HOW (to get there and back): FREE transportation leaving from Hillel at 7:15pm and 7:40pm and departing from the Museum at 9:35pm and 10pm.

If you have any questions, please contact Sam Berenson at bere0133@umn.edu

AND THE WINNERS ARE….

Melissa Baddin-1st place  

Jesus J. Hernandez-2nd place

Paul R Gill-3^rd place

Honorable mention to: Rebecca Huffman and David S. Reimann

CONGRATULATIONS to our winner and thanks to all who participated!!!

Stop by Hillel to see the whole show on display now through May 1

A BIG THANK YOU to…Katayoun Amjadi and  Lila Westreich for planning this great program and….thanks to our judges:  Cindy Cribbs, Susan Gainen and Thomas Lane

Are you the next Judd Apatow or Steven Spielberg?
Are you a college film student or recent grad?

Enter a short film with a Jewish theme and you can win $2500

Submission Period Opens: December 15th
Submission Deadline: February 15th

ABOUT THE STUDENT INTERNATIONAL JEWISH FILM COMPETITION

The Student International Jewish Film Competition is a joint project sponsored by University of Southern California Hillel, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Bronfman Center at NYU, Tel Aviv University and Jewlicious to promote films that explore the The Jewish Experience.  Films will be judged by an esteemed panel of judges from the film and television industry.

CLICK HERE to like our Facebook page

PRIZES:

Best Film Grand Prize is $2500

Best Comedy, Drama, Documentary and Animation each come with a $500 prize.
Audience choice awards are presented to the most popular films by your peers and the community and will be considered for screenings at local Jewish Film Festivals in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and in Israel.

All winning films will be submitted to Jewish Film Festivals around the country and screened at showings on campus in LA, New York, and Tel Aviv.

COST:

FREE! – limit one film per filmmaker.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Current students (undergraduate or graduate) with a 2 year grace period.
• Films may not exceed 18 minutes.
• All foreign language films should be submitted with English subtitles.
• Film’s subject must pertain to Judaism, Jewish Identity or the “Jewish Experience.”

ENTRY:

Submissions will be accepted until February 15th

TO ENTER:

• Go to www.studentfilmcomp.com
• Finalists Selected: End of February, 2013
• Winners Selected: Mid-March, 2013
• Awards and Screenings: date TBD in the spring of 2013

COMMUNITY SUPPORT:

If you are an individual or a company that would like to support this initiative or serve as a volunteer, contact Michael Jeser at 213-973-1203 or email mjeser@uschillel.org

MISSION STATEMENT:

The Global Jewish Student Film Competition is intended to promote and encourage the use of film and animation to explore and articulate the scope, humor and complexities of Judaism, Jewish Identity and/or the Jewish Experience. Through partnerships with film schools at USC, NYU, and Tel Aviv University, the JSGFC aims to promote Jewish unity and mutual understanding.