New Year, Old World

Many years ago, I was talking to a student from Bosnia who had fled the war at home.

leadershipBarbara ViniarDecember 31, 2022 Comment

"Wind Chill Politics."

I can remember the days before the “wind chill factor.” I would listen to the radio (those were also the days before cell phones and weather apps) to learn the temperature and plan accordingly.

leadershipBarbara ViniarJuly 31, 2022 Comment

"Hello, Bookstore"

Last week, however, I saw a film, “Hello, Bookstore,” that went a long way toward restoring my faith in humanity.

leadershipBarbara ViniarJuly 24, 2022 Comment

Rolling Up My Sleeves

Last night I was elected president of my temple. The most common reaction I get when I share this news is, “Are you crazy? Why are you doing that? It’s so much work.

leadershipBarbara ViniarJune 17, 2022 Comments

Fight for the Living

At the beginning of a lecture I saw yesterday, Congressman Jamie Raskin, whose most recent book is Unthinkable. Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy, said that by the end of his talk he hoped to offer a more apt version of a quote from Mother Jones:

Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.

leadershipBarbara ViniarMay 29, 2022Comment

Generations

The Board of Trustees of my temple met last week. As I looked around the table, I realized there was approximately a 60-year age difference between the eldest member and the youngest!

leadershipBarbara ViniarMay 15, 2022Comment

Directing is Asking Questions

I had not intended to write more about questions, but then I attended a talk featuring Tina Packer and Mark Farrell, the co-directors of The Approach, a forthcoming production at Shakespeare and Company.

leadershipBarbara ViniarApril 23, 2022 Comment

Asking Questions

The Spring 2022 issue of “Moment Magazine” is devoted to education. One of the articles is “What Is the One Thing Students Should Leave College Knowing?”

During my 40 year career in higher education the question of what students should know and be able to do was one my colleagues and I considered often.

leadershipBarbara ViniarApril 10, 2022Comment

Daylight Savings Time

Today is the vernal equinox; day and night are almost exactly equal. Here in the northern hemisphere, it’s the first day of spring. The good news is that days will get longer and warmer.

leadershipBarbara ViniarMarch 20, 2022Comment

"Learn by Going Where I Have to Go."

A friend of mine just sent me copy of a book, What Falls Away, Writers over 60 on Writing and Death. The title of the book comes from a poem by Theodore Roethke, “The Waking,” the last line of which is “I learn by going where I have to go.”

leadershipBarbara ViniarMarch 12, 2022 Comments

Fear

When I was a little girl, I was afraid of “the bomb.” I didn’t exactly know what “the bomb” was, other than it was certain to destroy me, my family and everything I cared about.

leadershipBarbara ViniarMarch 5, 2022 Comments

Righteous Indignation

On January 27, I read the obituary of Rabbi Israel Dresner in the New York Times. A “Civil Rights Champion and King Ally,” he was 92 when he died. His son had this to say about him:

leadershipBarbara ViniarFebruary 19, 2022 Comments

Moral Cowardice

Footage from last year’s insurrection has been hard to watch. The events of a year ago, and even more the moral cowardice on prominent display since then, pains me physically.

leadershipBarbara ViniarJanuary 9, 2022 Comments

Seeing

leadershipBarbara ViniarNovember 7, 2021Comment

Saying Yes

One of the speakers during the recent Jewish Women’s Archive “Global Day of Learning” was Alice Shalvi, a professor, lifelong advocate for women’s rights, and founder of

women, leadershipBarbara ViniarJuly 10, 2021Comment