I usually try to reserve upbeat local events for my blog. Unfortunately, an upsetting, appalling event occurred last night at Rutgers University.
To quote Aaron Marcus, Rutgers student leader: “”We wanted to protest this event because as the children and grandchildren of victims of the Holocaust we believed it to be absolutely absurd to compare Israeli act of self defense to the viscous, systematic murder of millions of Jews, Catholics, Gays, Gypsies, Russians and others.”
Rutgers student organization BAKA (Students United for Middle Eastern Justice) sponsored the presumably public event, but when it became apparent that pro-Israel attendees would outnumber BAKA sympathizers by almost four to one, the organizers became alarmed. “There are so many Jews here,” exclaimed one BAKA member who was wearing a “Smash Israeli Apartheid” T-shirt.
To end this post with an upbeat, local event, here’s one of my son the filmmaker’s videos that may appear in the Highland Park Public Library Teen Film Festival on February 6:
Pierre sneaks into a warehouse and steals a suitcase. I love how the filmmaker depicted “alarm.” He enjoyed concocting the credits. If you have never met Pierre before, perhaps you would like to get acquainted in his reckless adventure.
This and other teen films will be screened at the Highland Park Library Teen Film Festival on February 6, 2011.
The Highland Park Teen Film Festival will be at the Highland Park Public Library on February 6, 2011. I have been told that you will be able to meet the creator of Pierre in person. In this reckless adventure, Pierre (white shirt) hides in shipping cargo to escape a couple of angry thugs. Before he knows it, the cargo is loaded on to the ship, and the ship sails off to sea…
From the title, perhaps you were expecting something biblical? Or about American history? Sorry to disappoint, but this is a post of my son’s latest episode of Motor Wars. Enjoy.
Enjoy this film about time travel “In Between Times” written and directed by my middle son. Michelle Reasso, the fabulous teen librarian at the Highland Park Public Library, put this up last night (and she will be putting up the other films that were part of the Library’s teen film festival, too). Michelle has a major role in the movie as Miss Puffin the librarian. The main character is played by two different teenage girls, because the first one had midterms and couldn’t continue to show up on Sunday afternoons.
The Highland Park Library Teen Film Festival screened a variety of movies by local teens today. Some movies, like my son’s, were fiction mysteries. One well-executed film by a Franklin Township teen was about community efforts to stop local violence. A few of the Highland Park teens have been taking a film class in Princeton, and their films were highly edited and quite artsy. The range of creativity one can produce with a camera is striking. Michelle Reasso, the hard-working, encouraging teen librarian, worked with her son and another teen to create a trailer for a zombie movie. She remarked how difficult it was to produce a film. First one had to come up with a plot, then one had to decide where and when to film and find others to be characters in the film, then one had to edit the film. She said everyone wanted to be a zombie, but when the time came to actually shoot the movie, no one was available (except for a teen filmmaker’s father, who reluctantly took on the role).
Here’s a picture of one of my son’s films, with his main character Professor Quack, who solves mysteries complete with British accent somewhere in London (actual filming is done in my basement):
With the full audience in the room, there was lots of enthusiasm for a teen film festival next year. After all, the zombie movie is so far only a trailer…
If you are lucky enough to live in Central New Jersey, there will be a great Teen Film Festival at the Highland Park Public Library on January 27, 2008 at 1 pm. One of the film producers is a certain talented offspring of mine who has produced a series of murder mysteries with hilarious British accents for your entertainment. Also featured will be zombies and a pipe cleaner dude. Buy a t-shirt and support teen programming. Michelle Reasso, the teen librarian, works hard to channel the outstanding creativity of our local teens.
While the New Jersey legislature has spent time recently on flu vaccines for pre-schoolers (grrr!), last summer they cut many a library budget across New Jersey.
So our local Highland Park Public Library has been coming up with creative ways to fund books, public programs and general library expenses. If you visit the website, you will find a mail-in donation form, which is the most basic way you can support the library. One benefit to businesses for supporting the library may be a link to your website. For example, Turtle Light Press has a link on the Contributors’ page for all the great work Rick Black has done for the library.
Another fundraiser will be the Highland Park Teen Film Festival on January 27. T-shirts from the film festival will be available for purchase, a great way to support the wonderful teen programs at the library. The film festival itself is free. And a certain talented offspring of mine will debut his mystery movies.
Can you tell us any unique ways your library has raised funds? Thanks!
If you are lucky enough to live in Central New Jersey, there will be a great Teen Film Festival at the Highland Park Public Library on January 27, 2008 at 1 pm. One of the film producers is a certain talented offspring of mine who has produced a series of murder mysteries with hilarious British accents for your entertainment. Also featured will be zombies and a pipe cleaner dude. Buy a t-shirt and support teen programming. Michelle Reasso, the teen librarian, works hard to channel the outstanding creativity of our local teens.