How to Raise Successful People
August 18 at 11 a.m. PDT

Join the San Francisco-Kraków Sister Cities Association for a special webinar discussion of the acclaimed book How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results with its author Esther Wojcicki, award-winning journalist, educator, founder of the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Program, and vice chair of the Creative Commons advisory council. Along with her latest book, she is the author of “Moonshots in Education: Launching Blended Learning in the Classroom.” Joining the author and moderating the conversation will be Dariusz Stola, the former director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a scholar of 20th-century Polish history and the 2020 recipient of the Taube Philanthropies’ Irena Sendler Memorial Award. “Esther Wojcicki is leading a revolution,” says Arianna Huffington. “How to Raise Successful People shows us how to be our best so our children can be their best.” About the San Francisco-Kraków Sister Cities Association (SFKSCA): In 2009, the mayors of Kraków, Poland, and San Francisco, California, established a sister city relationship to foster international friendship and understanding through cultural and educational exchanges and the facilitating of personal, business, and governmental ties between their citizens. For more than a decade, SFKSCA has hosted symposia, meetings, conferences, performances, and festivals in the fields of technology, business-development, the arts, education, and international diplomacy. The organization has established a Polish American Women Chapter in Silicon Valley. The SFKSCA is committed to deepening the relationships with regular online events during the pandemic.

Information
You must register to attend this webinar
sfksca.org

Photo courtesy of SFKSCA

“Rise Up! The Fight for Women’s Suffrage” Exhibit
Opening August 20

In honor of August 26th, National Women’s Equality Day and the 100th anniversary of the Constitutional Amendment, the Los Altos History Museum celebrates the centennial of women’s right to vote by showcasing an outdoor exhibit beginning on August 20, 2020. Originally slated as a larger exhibition in the main gallery of the Museum, a mini-version of “Rise Up!” will be mounted on the wrap-around porch of the J. Gilbert Smith House. Set up as a self-guided tour, visitors may safely browse the large panels of historic photographs while wearing masks and practicing social distancing with others. When Santa Clara County allows the Museum to reopen, the outdoor exhibit will be consolidated with the main exhibition. “Rise Up! The Fight for Women’s Suffrage” explores the history of the suffrage movement at the national level, but also focuses on how Bay Area suffragists played an important role in winning the right to vote. It points out the obstacles women faced and the tools they used to drum up support, as well as the shortcomings of the movement and who was left out. The Museum’s outdoor agricultural exhibition renovation was recently completed and is open for visitors. Los Altos History Museum began in 1977 with the opening of the J. Gilbert Smith House historic farmhouse, built in 1905. In 2001, the Los Altos History Museum opened its modern building next door, which houses the Museum’s collections, permanent and changing exhibits. The museum’s garden and the picnic area are a picturesque and a lovely place to relax, sip a glass of wine and reminisce about the treasured history of Los Altos, a jewel of Silicon Valley.

Information
650-948-9427
losaltoshistory.org

Smuin Extends Virtual Dance Classes
August 10 through September 4; Class for a Cause August 11 and 28

Clear your basement and turn it into a dance studio and become a virtual superstar thanks to the great teachers and dance instructors of the world-renowned Smuin Contemporary Ballet company. Providing all levels of at-home dancers with Zoom-based drop-in lessons in ballet, tap, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop is a dream come true during the Covid-19 cocooning time. The addition of Smuin’s Class for a Cause program, including Hamilton-inspired hip-hop, will benefit organizations supporting important needs in the community. Classes are offered on a sliding scale from $5 – $20, and students must register 30 minutes in advance to receive a Zoom link to participate.

Information
Register by visiting smuinclasses.org

Photos courtesy of Smuin

Music in the Vineyards via Virtual Trip to Napa Valley
August 5 through August 23

Courtesy of KDFC, the Bay Area classical music radio station, Napa Valley’s Music in the Vineyards is now available at your computer. The chamber music festival is celebrating its 26th season with a dozen free virtual performances over the next three weeks. They’ll be introduced from the wineries where they would have taken place, by festival co-artistic directors Michael Adams and Daria Tedeschi Adams. This is a debut of the videos which will stream for the first time at the scheduled start of the concerts, and remain viewable on their website and YouTube channel through the end of August. The programming will include self-filmed solo and duet works as well as concert videos of ensembles (the Pacifica, Escher, Thalea, and Maxwell String Quartets) recorded before the COVID-19 era. Included with the concert materials are interview segments with musicians and the winemakers. The performances are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday at 7:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 5pm, from August 5th through the 23rd.

Information
KDFC.org

Photo courtesy of KDFC Radio

Lina Broydo immigrated from Russia, then the Soviet Union, to Israel where she was educated and got married. After working at the University in Birmingham, England, she and her husband immigrated to the United States. She lives in Los Altos Hills, CA and writes about travel, art, style, entertainment, and sports. She hardly cooks or bakes, with no borsch or piroshky on her home cooking menu. Therefore, she makes reservations and enjoys dining out, mostly sushi.