que sera, sra

Long live Nick West

2009-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

Nick West was my ITP thesis adviser and my friend. We worked together on several amazing projects and he opened up my eyes to very positive alternate futures that could be created with the same technology that can seem so stupefyingly awful.

He put me up in Austin for a few days in his and Liz's amazing little art cottage a few years back. He gave me the most wonderful introduction to that city's shops and theaters and weirdos and I will always associate it with him. Nick also took me to my first gastropub in London a few years ago. Although we had what I thought would be the awkward experience of hanging out with a 3rd party friend of mine - a London banker whom I figured would have nothing to talk about with Nick (I only had one night in town so I sort of awkwardly double booked) - Nick totally just dazzled her and befriended her immediately. I was amazed at how his wonderful pure open heart just makes it impossible to not love him.

Here's a funny photo of our ride between nightspots:

I last saw Nick about 5 months ago in Berkeley; we met at the utterly loathsome Cafe Gratitude, which Nick loved because he could eat healthily there. I made a big groan when he insisted we eat there but then he dropped the mobm on me about the severity of his illness and I decided to, well, be grateful. :-) He was on an extremely restrictive diet of millet and greens and just about nothing else. We had a great reunion and I had hoped to see him again soon. I dropped him a note just last week to try to make a plan to stop by. I'm so sad that he must never have even been able to read it.

He will be sorely missed by so many people.

Parshat Mishpatim

2009-02-16T01:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks, David!!! I love this one sooo much.

Parshat Mishpatim from G-dcast.com

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

i was a prescient 9 year old

2009-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

I hear voices...

2009-01-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

This week�s G-dcast is written, narrated, voiced and so forth by the multitalented Marcus Freed. He�s in LA right now so watch out for his fro, his wicked warrior 2, and of course, his aura�

Parshat Vayechi from G-dcast.com.

Tobin Belzer's G-dcast is positively dreamy

2008-12-22T19:22:00.001-08:00

Parshat Miketz from G-dcast.com.

Bible soap opera....

2008-11-30T23:12:00.001-08:00

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

Y-Love rocks parshat Toldot

2008-11-24T09:14:00.001-08:00

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

G-dcast is live

2008-10-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

My baby is finally live, three years in the making...welcome to the first episode in the Torah: Parshat Bereshit.

G-dcast: Parshat Bereshit from g-dcast on Vimeo.

More cartoons weekly at www.g-dcast.com

Post debate schmooze

2008-10-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hats off to Wonkette for picking up on this. After last night's debate, the Obamas hung out for twenty minutes schmoozing the crowd, shaking hands and taking photos that made the Tennessee folks squeal, literally, with pleasure. The McCains beat it out of the room after 1:35.

Circumsupersized

2008-09-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Seen in New York: Blair Waldorf and Pleo the robotic dinosaur

2008-09-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

Leighton Meester meets Pleo
Originally uploaded by sarahlefton

OMG! Leighton Meester meets Pleo! XOXO

What's your Palin name?

2008-09-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

Snort.
Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator

Rewarding teachers who care

2008-09-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

My dad's new initiative at Kent State has hit about 120 news outlets today:

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Kent State University is offering financial bonuses to professors if they help student retention numbers and attract more research dollars, an incentive usually given to school presidents and top administrators.

Beginning this semester, 864 faculty members at Kent State stand to gain from a ''success pool'' if university goals are met for student retention and landing research grants and foundation money. The university, about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland, has eight campuses and 34,000 students.

''This is America. We live in a country that suggests extra effort should be rewarded,'' Kent State President Lester A. Lefton said Tuesday.

Kent State faculty get bonuses for meeting goals

F U ATT

2008-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

The US Senate antitrust panel queried cell phone firms today on the puzzling rise in the cost of text messages to consumers, seeing as the cost of sending them hasn't changed a cent. Why it should cost me $20 a month to send tiny packets of data is, I suppose the firms figure, beyond my limited understanding of technology.

160 characters must be a lotta data for that kind of money! Math sure is hard.

Cell Phone Firms Queried on Rising Texting Rates

Fellow liberal arts softy

2008-09-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like Barack is kicking it in Lefton-town. My dad has been sending me a barrage of photos from a Kent State appearance. Neato.

Put it back on, gray lady

2008-08-31T14:27:00.001-07:00

One Day 1 of Sarah Palin's candidacy for the Vice Presidency, was it really necessary for the New York Times to use a photo cropped such that the Governor appears nude? (And no, I'm not going to give it more traction here.)

I appreciate the fact that Ms. Palin was once known as Miss Wasilla, and as such was probably photographed in many a strapless dress. But I'll hazard a guess that newspaper wouldn't dream of running a topless shot of Joe Biden.

Our candidates for public office deserve at least a day of dignity. There is more to examine in a candidate than her bare shoulders or her pantsuit, but apparently the photo desk hasn't caught on.

MADE YA LOOK!

2008-08-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

Sexxy

2008-07-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

I swear, everyone looks good in a kippah. (Barry at Yad Vashem.)

coming out

2008-04-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I don't like Pesach.

zeve says fork you!

2008-04-01T00:24:00.001-07:00

zeve says fork you!
Originally uploaded by sarahlefton

The new mob lynchings

2008-03-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't go to SXSW Interactive due to my honeymoon, which was a much better conference with more interesting participants and panels. I did pay attention to some extent to panel write ups, and some of the backchannel communications via Twitter. They often annoyed me, sine I wasn't there but most of my Twitter pals were.

I have followed the Zuckerberg/Lacey story (too many links to bother finding the best one here, sorry) with avid interest. It has seemed more and more clear to me that SXSW played host to a lynching via social media. I am worried about lynchings of public women (I cannot find the Slate - or was it Salon - story about how the public fascination with Britney/Paris/Lindsay amounts to child abuse). This lynching in particular was awful because the woman in question isn't even setting herself up as an object. She's just a mediocre business journalist.

Here's a great statistical analysis of the Zuckerberg/Lacey interview that really adds something to this conversation and gives us reasons to worry about social neworking and backchannels. I really, really recommend that you read it, as it has something important to say about mob behavior. We online elites are not immune to it. I wish I had time to write a feature length magazine article about the new mob lynchings, maybe Kee Hinckley does. This is a major piece of thinking - my congrats.

Matthue's toast

2008-03-14T00:31:00.000-07:00

Dan Sieradski read this on behalf of Matthue at my wedding, and I thought everyone should get a chance to read it...it was so special to us.

Hey, Bill and Sarah!

Right now I'm sitting at my desk at home, beaming the message to Dan -- thank you, Dan -- and the only reason in the world I wouldn't come to your wedding is on my lap. She is 20 inches long, drooling something white, and has the most amazing glass-blue eyes in the world -- and her name is Yalta, and one day you're gonna see her.

Not to sound like too much of a traditionalist, but dudes, this is why people get married. Not to have babies -- although, hey, bring it on -- but because we're going about our lives, doing our little writing and printing up our little t-shirts and learning about medieval rabbis arguing, we lose sight of the reason we're doing it. Because there's a planet that's bigger than we are, and there's a whole future beyond what we can see, and, one way or another, we're going to be a part of it.

It might be the big things we do -- starting minyans, putting on plays -- but it's also the small ones. The conversations we share. The people we inspire.

This Shabbos was Parshas Titsaveh. It's the only parsha since Moses's birth that his name's not mentioned, and it's one of the more halachically tedious ones -- it deals with the priests' service in the Tabernacle, how they're supposed to get dressed, the order of the stones on the breastplate. These are the things that deal with the smallest details, the intermediary things, and the everyday rituals that lead up to the important stuff -- the metaphysical paperwork, I guess, before we get to talk to God.

Marriage is a lot like that. There are the big times -- you're in the middle of one of the biggest times right now, and, G*d willing, you're going to get a lot more big times soon. But it's the small times, the looks that you give each other, the way you say "good morning" or "you're wearing THAT to synagogue?", that end up being the biggest parts of marriage. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Both of you helped me through difficult parts in my life, and gave me this exact same advice, but better. I'm sure a lot of people in the room can say the same thing.

But remind each other. Talk to each other as much as you can. Keep the little things going, and the big ones will grow out of them. You guys are the most giving, creative and wonderful people that Itta and I have had the privilege of kicking it with. Hopefully, what we've already experienced is nothing compared to the future.

So keep it coming, guys. And mazel fricking tov.

CBS thanks me (and you)

2008-03-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

In 2007, I basically saved Jericho for a living. CBS sent a shout out. And some of the guys are wearing my shirt in it. Cool!

Thanks from the CBS Jericho team

My wedding cake

2008-03-05T15:32:00.001-08:00

Bill and Sarah's deconstructed cake
Originally uploaded by rennemy

All hail Tim, king of the bakeries...

don't ever burst my bubble

2008-02-19T18:39:00.001-08:00

it's too fun floating...

Sarah Lefton + William Selig