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On February 22, the AFSD welcomes three authors: Vanina Joulin-Batejat, Claude Koehl, and Kitty Morse, whose diverse backgrounds and literary styles promise a rich and engaging experience for attendees. The event will be animated by Daria Samokhina, our book club coordinator. Program: 2 p.m.: Q&A session animated by Daria Samokhina 3 p.m.: book signing and meet the authors Light refreshments will be served. RSVP to attend. Free for members, $5 donation for non members to support our association. The event can be attended with minors. They remain under the responsibility of the parents at all times. Address: 6390 Greenwich Dr, #185, San Diego, CA 92122 More about the authors - Vanina Joulin-Batejat brings her expertise as an international consultant and Executive Coach to her first novel “A la Recherche du Sens Perdu”, blending personal experiences and her experiences in intercultural business development with her passion for storytelling. Vanina explores universal themes with great sensitivity, while offering a hard-hitting reflection on the human condition and contemporary challenges. Through these interwoven narratives, the novel offers a veritable autopsy of our societies, questioning notions of resilience, identity and the quest for meaning. Her work reflects her deep understanding of human connections and cultural dynamics. - Claude Koehl, a trailblazer in intercultural communication, will discuss her book The American Way of Life: The Foreigners’ Perspective. Drawing on over 20 years of experience, Claude founded Intercultural Services in 1994 to enhance cross-cultural leadership and communication skills, aiding global employees in navigating cultural differences and adapting to new environments. Her book reflects her personal journey and professional insights, offering a unique perspective on life in a new country. With a Master’s in Social Psychology and degrees in Teaching, Health Promotion, and Organizational Development, Claude is fluent in English, French, German, and Italian, and continues to perfect her Spanish. - Kitty Morse, an award-winning author born in Casablanca, Morocco, intertwines personal history and culinary heritage in Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France. Inspired by family documents discovered after her mother’s passing in 2017, the memoir delves into her great-grandfather’s journal detailing the German advance in Le Grand Est (Alsace/Lorraine) in 1940, and her great-grandmother’s notebooks containing 65 heirloom recipes. The story unfolds in Nancy and "Châlons-en-Champagne," blending the cuisine bourgeoise of her Ashkenazi ancestors with poignant family history. Kitty’s maternal great-grandmother, Blanche Lévy-Neymarck, perished in Auschwitz, leaving a legacy of resilience, memory, and culinary artistry. More about Daria Samokhina Daria graduated in French literature at Notre Dame (MA) and Stanford (Ph.D.). In 2008, she moved to San Diego, where she currently lives, sharing her love for French language, culture, and literature with her students, family, and friends. Visit: https://www.afsandiego.org/events-1/rencontre-dauteurs-et-dedicaces-2 Alliance Francais San Diego on Instagram and Facebook

The Salty Series: Estate Sale is an interactive and immersive installation and performance curated by filmmaker and multimedia artist Valerie Jackson. Conceived and created by Jackson in collaboration with composer Sebastian Sack and animator Kai Tattersall, “Estate Sale” is a multimedia installation that combines video, music, live performance, photography, and personal memorabilia to create a surreal reconstruction of the artist’s apartment in Los Angeles, immersing the audience in an intimate experience of memory. The installation is open from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m., and audience members are invited to come, explore at their own pace, enjoy a beverage, and immerse themselves in a world of nostalgia, reflection, and discovery. Influenced by her work in the film industry and the creative culture of young filmmakers in Los Angeles, Jackson blends illustration, collage, and photography to explore the blurred lines between fiction and reality in everyday life. “Estate Sale” presents city scenes and characters through a cartoonish lens, using iconic American imagery and accessible materials like acrylic paint, cardboard, and digital photography to evoke familiarity. Collaborating with Kai Tattersall, she incorporated personal photos and textures to build the world of the apartment, while Sebastian Sack’s music, featuring samples and pop references, creates an intimate sound environment. Sack will perform live in the space at 8 p.m., with guests invited to explore the artwork and socialize before and after the performance. Visit: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/54834841/the-salty-seriesvalerie-jackson-san-diego-bread-salt

Friday, September 27, 2024 from 4–6 p.m. Jean Krumbein (life drawing) PEEC for TEENS (13–18 years old) PEEC is a free program for teens, who are interested in art-making as an enrichment activity that goes beyond making crafts. The aim of the program is to provide a space for youth to create art, share stories, collaborate, explore, and identify new ways to use art in their lives. The Athenaeum offers facilities, resources, guidance, instruction, and support. The open studio program includes a rotation of multidisciplinary art instructors offering workshops in their respective fields, as well as curricular activities that involve the use of the Athenaeum library resources as a starting point for projects. Activities include drawing, painting, research, and introduction to various media. The program is free and teens can register. For additional information, please call (858) 454-5872 or email us at peec@ljathenaeum.org. The main venue for the program is the Athenaeum’s art studio at 1008 Wall Street, entrance on Girard Avenue.

The La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, one of California's most treasured beachfront resorts for almost 88 years, will host the 136th Annual Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Tennis Championship, Friday, February 28 through Sunday, March 2, 2025. Many of the top NCAA Men's college teams in the country are expected to compete, including: Ball State University Bucknell University Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Pepperdine University Pomona-Pitzer Rice University San Diego State University UC Davis UC Los Angeles UC San Diego University of San Diego University of Southern California Villanova University (Entry List Subject to Change) Also entering this tournament will be top teaching pros, promising junior players, college coaches and former tour players, making this one of the most interesting and unusual competitor fields in the country. “We are very happy to host the top collegiate tennis players in the country for the 136th Annual Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship,” said Bill Kellogg, Tournament Director and President of La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. “This year’s tournament will feature a strong field of teams which includes USC, UCLA and Pepperdine, along with local teams from University of San Diego, San Diego State University and UC San Diego.” Named one of the “Top 50 Tennis Resorts in the World” by Tennis Resorts Online, the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club's reputation as a top tennis destination started when it attracted its first major tournament – the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship in 1942. The tournament is one of the five-oldest tennis events in the world and the second oldest tennis event in the United States. First held in 1890 at The Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California, the event was created to promote the sale of real estate on the Monterey peninsula. The original concept pitted the best players from the East versus those from the West. This coast-to-coast rivalry was the inspiration for the Davis Cup. Past winners of the Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship include some on the greatest names in tennis, including Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Don Budge, Tony Trabert, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Arthur Ashe, Dennis Ralston and John McEnroe. Visit: https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/LJBTC/Tournaments/Overview/e046be9d-68d1-4e3e-939f-123cf1a5122b La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club on Instagram and Facebook

Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 from 4–6 p.m. Kelvin Lopez (printmaking—relief) PEEC for TEENS (13–18 years old) PEEC is a free program for teens, who are interested in art-making as an enrichment activity that goes beyond making crafts. The aim of the program is to provide a space for youth to create art, share stories, collaborate, explore, and identify new ways to use art in their lives. The Athenaeum offers facilities, resources, guidance, instruction, and support. The open studio program includes a rotation of multidisciplinary art instructors offering workshops in their respective fields, as well as curricular activities that involve the use of the Athenaeum library resources as a starting point for projects. Activities include drawing, painting, research, and introduction to various media. The program is free and teens can register. For additional information, please call (858) 454-5872 or email us at peec@ljathenaeum.org. The main venue for the program is the Athenaeum’s art studio at 1008 Wall Street, entrance on Girard Avenue.

The 'RuPaul Drag Race' winner talks about drag and the world premiere of 'Velour: A Drag Spectacular' at La Jolla Playhouse.

Difficult Grace is a multimedia concert tour de force conceived by and featuring Seth Parker Woods in the triple role of cellist, narrator/guide and movement artist. Heightened by film, spoken text, dance and visual artwork, "Difficult Grace" is a semiautobiographical exploration of identity, past/present histories and personal growth that draws inspiration from the Great Migration, the historic newspaper The Chicago Defender, immigration and the poetry of Kemi Alabi and Dudley Randall. Please note: the San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program. Visit: https://www.sandiegosymphony.org/performances/difficult-grace/

South Korean composer Unsuk Chin has spent most of her working life in Germany where, as a young artist in Berlin, she absorbed many of the acoustic enthusiasms of European modernists in the late 20th century while swiftly building a distinctive language of her own. Her cello concerto, widely described as a triumph at its first appearance many years ago, has been taken up by many cellists and most recently by our own Alisa Weilerstein. Weilerstein’s mastery of drama and plangent lyricism is the perfect match for Unsuk Chin’s defiant and expressive music. Bruckner is one of the greatest one-offs in the history of music. The heir to Schubert and Wagner (but to hardly any other of the great composers!), he had a deep influence on Gustav Mahler, who loved and admired him passionately. But perhaps his deepest roots lay in the folk-music of the Austrian countryside where he grew up, and in the church music of centuries ago. He himself was an organist and church musician of great distinction, but – more than that – a man of deep religious feelings, and his music vividly reflects that. The Seventh, one of his later symphonies, often makes the orchestra sound like a colossal organ in an ancient medieval church. Indeed, this symphony has often been described as nothing short of a cathedral in sound. It would be hard to imagine music better suited to exploring the deepest resonances of our beautiful new hall, especially under the baton of music director Rafael Payare. Visit: https://www.sandiegosymphony.org/performances/weilerstein-and-payare-perform-chin-and-bruckner/ San Diego Symphony on Instagram and Facebook

The artistic collaboration between Duke Ellington and composer/ arranger Billy Strayhorn is one of the most important in the history of American music. Duke Ellington trusted Billy Strayhorn’s artistic gifts from the moment he joined the band in 1939, until Strayhorn’s death in 1967. Strayhorn wrote many of the songs we associate with the Duke Ellington Band today, including their theme song “Take the A Train”, “Satin Doll”, “Something to Live For” and many more. Visit: https://www.sandiegosymphony.org/performances/duke-ellington-and-billy-strayhorn/ San Diego Symphony on Instagram and Facebook

Our top picks for classical and jazz music in San Diego this season: Samara Joy; a binational jazz fest; legendary French band Cortex; folk-inspired compositions with the La Jolla Symphony; and contemporary, experimental composer Sarah Hennies.