Culture Mavens

A writer, feminist and activist, Rebecca Walker is the author of Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, her account of growing up as the only child of Jewish civil rights lawyer Mel Leventhal and Black writer Alice Walker. Most recently, she’s an author and designer of the podcast and interactive journal What’s Your Story? A Journal for Everyday Evolution.

The winner of an Oscar and two Golden Globes, Natalie Portman recently released Natalie Portman’s Fables – her debut picture book where three classic fables are retold with wit and wisdom, and is a long-time activist on behalf of animals, anti-poverty initiatives and women’s rights. In conversation with Abigail Pogrebin.

Jewish resistance during the Holocaust is still understood mostly in terms of rare armed group activities which included ghetto uprisings or partisan activities.  This talk will focus on forgotten individual acts of resistance, such as the case of Hertha Reis, who protested in plain daylight against the persecution in 1941-- a few months before the mass deportation started in the capital of the Third Reich. 

In this deep and moving conversation, Rabbi Leder speaks to his good friend Bob Saget. Known to the world as a comedian, actor, television host and director, Bob has powerful, firsthand experience when it comes to death and its meaning for life. Along with Rabbi Leder, his astute observations made with candor, seriousness and laughter offer unique insights into the many ways death teaches us to live more fully.   

UCLA has several pioneering digital projects that map Los Angeles and enable people to visualize and interact with the city’s layered histories of humanity, from sacred burial sites to beloved corner delis. The goal is to share the results of these digital projects; to better understand the city’s cultural and spiritual geographies; and ultimately to explore how this knowledge might inform museum practices.