Oftentimes, fico scores is assigned to show ones creditworthiness numerically
Oftentimes, fico scores is assigned to show ones creditworthiness numerically The latest 5 Cs away from Borrowing is a common words regularly determine the 5 biggest issues regularly influence a possible borrowers creditworthiness. Financial institutions explore credit scores so you can assess and decide if an applicant is approved to own credit and discover the interest costs and you can borrowing from the bank constraints getting current borrowers. A credit file provides an intensive membership of your own borrowers overall debt, most recent stability, credit limits, and history of defaults and you may bankruptcies, if any. Summary: The fresh new 5 Cs out-of Borrowing is a type of statement regularly explain the 5 significant issues familiar with influence a potential borrowers creditworthiness. The 5 Cs out-of Borrowing from the bank consider Profile, Skill, Equity, Financing, and you will easy loans in Coffeeville Alabama Requirements. Creditors use fico scores so you’re able to measure and decide if or not an applicant is approved to have borrowing from the bank also to determine the eye rates and you can credit restrictions getting established borrowers. 5 Cs out of Borrowing Profile Profile is the most total aspect of the research off creditworthiness. The fresh premise would be the fact an individuals history of managing credit and you can making money implies their character given that relevant to the financial institution, i.elizabeth., its tendency to possess paying down a loan promptly. Prior defaults indicate carelessness or irresponsibility, which happen to be undesirable personality traits. Compliment of the amount of expertise needed in producing reveal set of an individuals credit rating, economic intermediaries particularly credit score agencies or finance companies render score properties. There is a particular level of difference into the records accumulated by the additional teams. They are the names away from earlier in the day loan providers, types of borrowing from the bank offered, commission timeline, the liabilities, and the like. A common practical was a good FICO Get hence consolidates study of credit reporting bureaus, i.e., Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion and you will computes a people credit rating. A premier score means faster chance towards the bank. 5 Cs out of Borrowing Capabilities An individuals capacity to pay the loan try an important foundation to have determining the chance publicity for the bank. Of these income count, reputation for a position, and you will current jobs balances suggest the capacity to repay an excellent personal debt. Like, small enterprises with unsteady cash streams can be felt low skill borrowers. Most other duties, for example school-bound pupils otherwise terminally ill relatives, are taken into account to test of these future fee loans. A keen entitys Personal debt-to-Income (DTI) Proportion, the new ratio of its newest obligations to current income (ahead of tax), may be examined. Guarantee is not sensed a good metric to have quantifying of these capacity since it is simply liquidated if the borrower does not pay off the principal level of a loan, i.age., about worst-case situation from a credit exchange. Additionally, zero equity are announced during the instances of unsecured loans eg playing cards. 5 Cs of Borrowing Security Whenever are assessed to own a protected product for example a car or truck mortgage or home financing, consumers must vow specific property less than their identity as collateral. They may were repaired possessions such as the identity regarding an effective plot of land otherwise financial assets and you can bonds such as securities. The worth of the brand new security try examined by the subtracting the importance out of current funds secure from exact same investment. The...
Read MoreWhat can You use Home Security Financing and you may HELOCs To have?
What can You use Home Security Financing and you may HELOCs To have? For all those with variable costs, whether it be good HELOC otherwise a house guarantee mortgage, i create predict people to improve just like the Fed expands their cost, Walsh claims. Those individuals interest rates are based on the prime speed, that is basically the Given finance price as well as 3%. Since Provided money price increases because of the 75 foundation things, we possibly may predict brand new prices on the HELOCs to go up by the 75 base factors. Pro Suggestion HELOCs with variable prices will see that rates raise following the current Fed rates walk and for the near future. Keep you to definitely in mind since you regulate how far in order to use and you may things to invest they on the. If you are a mortgage is used primarily to pay for property, you are able to a home security financing or HELOC to possess basically one thing. But just since you may does not always mean you ought to. Widely known play with is actually for renovations, specifically those which can be expected to raise your home’s well worth. To the economy’s close-title coming uncertain, Walsh recommends which you be mindful when you obtain. Consider the reasoning we need to utilize your residence guarantee and determine when it is well worth exactly what will likely be highest appeal will set you back. We don’t wanted individuals to enter the brand new behavior where it beat their home collateral for example a piggy-bank otherwise such as for example a beneficial bank card to possess discretionary purposes, he says. Home equity financing can be useful getting consolidating high appeal debt, including handmade cards, that also have more costly if Given nature hikes cost. Gurus suggest caution whenever flipping unsecured debt into secured loans you are in danger regarding losing your residence if you’re unable to repay it. Should you opt for a house collateral mortgage otherwise HELOC to assist get out of an opening off borrowing from the bank credit obligations, Walsh claims it is important would be to be sure to dont remain searching oneself a further gap at the same time. When you’re having fun with a good HELOC otherwise a house collateral mortgage to combine personal credit card debt, I wish it would you should be mandatory which you prevent purchasing into credit cards, Walsh says. Just what looks like happening is actually people consolidates the personal credit card debt after which 2 yrs later, today he’s got their residence guarantee loan or HELOC on the top of brand new personal credit card debt as they did not target the root condition you to definitely had him or her for the personal credit card debt before everything else. A legitimate email is required. You need to take a look at container in order to agree to the latest conditions and you will criteria. You ought to examine at least one of your packages to go-ahead. Just how Have a tendency to the brand new Sep Fed Walk Apply at Existing House Equity Fund and you may HELOCs? For people who curently have a house guarantee mortgage that have a predetermined price, ??truth be told precisely what the Given does doesn’t matter, Walsh claims. The brand new Provided matters a great deal to possess HELOCs and you may funds which have changeable rates of interest. Since those people prices will increase, and will more than likely remain ascending towards the foreseeable future, you will want to think about how...
Read MoreHow exactly to Discharge Guarantee getting Renovations? 2022 Book
How exactly to Discharge Guarantee getting Renovations? 2022 Book Starting collateral having home improvements try an attractive question nowadays and you can we have registered the newest argument. This article will explain just what releasing collateral to own home improvements are everything about, the ways to get to it and also the risks. For those who have your own eyes towards a unique home, expansion, attic transformation or other recovery suggestion, you really need to know about releasing guarantee having house renovations. What exactly is family guarantee and guarantee discharge? House guarantee try an expression regularly make reference to the significance of your home you possess without the personal debt connected. A lot of people purchase a home playing with home financing, and up until the financial is very paid off they do not very own the house outright. Because month-to-month mortgage repayments are created, the house or property is slower becoming the fresh client’s. Family guarantee is a means of deciding exactly how much of residence’s value you possess and you will/or a portion of the house you individual in the place of obligations affixed. You could potentially estimate home collateral of the subtracting their financial balance regarding just how much your home is worth. Such as for example, a property worthy of ?220,one hundred thousand having a left home loan regarding ?150,one hundred thousand manage equivalent ?70,000 home based collateral. Collateral normally increased by the ascending assets cost on the city. Thus, precisely what does that make house security release? Opening collateral from your home happens when you borrow against their amassed guarantee. Eg, for those who have ?70,one hundred thousand domestic security you could potentially sign up for an economic equipment such as for example that loan enabling one to acquire that with your house guarantee as the guarantee about arrangement. For this reason, domestic security can be used to safe credit and view how far you could potentially borrow at the most subject to borrowing monitors and the lender’s mortgage to help you really worth ratio. Must i launch equity of my home to possess renovations? If you have house security, you might be able to utilize it to gain access to credit and fund home improvements. There are various methods and you will things i did which, which can be discussed quickly within book. In fact, do it yourself plans are among the most common grounds if not the preferred cause having introducing equity. It could be a smart choice while the this can increase the worth of your property. Most other common reasons to release security should be consolidate established costs, pick several other assets in britain or overseas, or even buy expensive cars, personal medical costs and getaways. How can you launch equity to help you redesign? To discharge equity so you can upgrade you must borrow against a number of their offered guarantee. It means taking out fully borrowing from the bank and you will protecting the financing arrangement with your own equity. There are several credit possibilities whenever borrowing facing your house security (pick less than). Programs to own facts to produce equity relies upon simply how much guarantee you have and your credit rating. loans in Chunchula Just because you have got household collateral cannot automatically verify you have access to borrowing that is shielded up against it. A affairs and earnings would-be carefully examined. By using household security because security from inside the agreement the financial institution can bring a reduced interest. If you do not pay the financing since the consented then the lender can be cause...
Read MoreWhen to Use a corporate Credit line vs. a corporate Mastercard
When to Use a corporate Credit line vs. a corporate Mastercard Effortless business loans try easy to own an explanation. Such as handmade cards, they are able to hold increased interest rate than simply traditional loan providers. More notice form you only pay significantly more to borrow the cash. All things considered, for those who have exhausted all of your current other options and you are sure you need investment, a straightforward team loan can give you ideal amount of cash move when you look at the a primary amount of time. Simple loans are fantastic car to own small enterprises which have used any avenues however, do not get the bucks it must work on otherwise develop the organizations. What is ARV within the Home? Possess at they! We’d choose to listen to away from you and you will encourage a dynamic conversation certainly the pages. Please help us continue the site clean and include yourself. Abstain from send overtly advertisements articles, and get away from exposing information that is personal eg bank account otherwise cellular telephone number. Studies Disclosure: The answers here are not provided otherwise commissioned from the borrowing from the bank credit, investment and service companies that appear on your website. Solutions have not been analyzed, acknowledged or else supported from the bank card, financial support and you will service organizations and is also not its obligation to help you verify every posts and you will/or concerns try replied. The credit card, money and you will services items that appear on this site are from charge card, capital and you can service enterprises at which the website gets payment. It payment may effect exactly how and you may in which facts appear on it website (and, such as for example, the transaction in which they appear). The site does not include every credit card, money and solution situations or every offered charge card, investment and you can solution things. All the images and trademarks may be the assets of their respective residents. Article and comment stuff ‘s the property of Nav, and also perhaps not been approved, given, otherwise analyzed of the organization providing the credit card, funding, otherwise solution. To own done guidance, see the terms and conditions for the credit card, financial support and you may provider issuer’s website. In most cases, once you mouse click implement today, you may be redirected to the issuer’s web site for which you get remark the latest terms and conditions of the product in advance of proceeding. When you’re Nav always strives presenting the most direct recommendations, we inform you an overview to like a product or service, not the full legal conditions and you may before you apply you will know the full regards to situations as stated because of the issuer in itself. Private FICO fico scores and other fico scores are used to portray the brand new creditworthiness away from a guy and might end up being that indication towards borrowing from the bank otherwise money method of you are eligible for. Nav uses this new Vantage 3.0 credit score to determine and therefore credit even offers was demanded which can vary from the credit score used by loan providers and you can solution business. But not, credit history alone will not verify or suggest recognition for the credit card, capital, or solution render. One individual opinions and you can feedback indicated try author’s by yourself, and do not always echo the newest opinion off Nav. Editorial articles isnt that from the businesses stated, and also maybe not already been assessed, acknowledged otherwise...
Read MoreWhat ought i think about with regards to an opposing home loan?
What ought i think about with regards to an opposing home loan? The fresh comment figured of a lot Australians have “substantially” most useful life-style in the old age by the launching guarantee (i.age. currency derived from the value) using their homes. Although this choice may not be for everybody, its worthwhile considering. Regarding the best facts, it can enable you to make use of the new empty property value the domestic and savor more money on the old-age ages. It could be such as for instance beneficial while you are asset rich and cash bad that’s, in the event the residence is value a fortune, nevertheless have little bucks that one can in reality spend. What is actually a face-to-face mortgage? This involves providing various other cluster (such as a lender or financial vendor) an element of the guarantee of your property. Moneysmart represent ‘equity’ here once the “the worth of your property, quicker any cash your debt with it.’ In return, you can aquire a frequent money commission, an expense into the credit, or a lump sum payment. You can also prefer a variety of these costs. You don’t need to create repayments if you don’t offer our house or get out. Essentially, you are able to very early costs whether it suits you. You should use the bucks you are able to security your own can cost you, repair your residence and you can tailor it towards the latest life. Certain reverse mortgages are created to help you pay money for aged proper care. Brand new percentage of the value of your property you could potentially bring for the bank is determined by how old you are along with your house’s worth. How it functions: Rose’s story Rose is actually just one pensioner who owns property worth $five-hundred,one hundred thousand. She desires to earn some home improvements so you can the lady assets to match the lady needs and take a trip overseas to see household members. To fund this lady agreements, she removes a contrary home loan to own $50,100000 and decides to receive it a lump sum. Throughout the years, the worth of her house rises and you may, whenever she becomes deceased, her children (their beneficiaries) sell our house to own $700,100. The bank try owed brand new $fifty,000 and also the focus you to accumulated since the she got from contrary home loan. Just what try a property reversion? It involves attempting to sell an element of the guarantee in your home downright at a low price. ASIC’s Moneysmart webpages claims you can get simply twenty-five% of your market price off whichever show on your property your promote. How it functions: Bob’s story In the place of having the ‘market rate’ regarding $a hundred,100, Bob gets a diminished speed in such a case, 25%, to possess his guarantee. Which quantity in order to a lump sum away from $twenty five,100000 to pay inside retirement. He has no to expend notice about share. Whenever Bob passes away, the guy renders his home in order to his children, exactly who intend to promote. By this date, their family has gone upwards when you look at the well worth so you’re able to $650,000. However, due to their home reversion, the bank is still due 20% of your own home’s guarantee (that has their rise in well worth). When Bob’s children promote his https://paydayloancolorado.net/rocky-ford/ house, they need to repay the lending company 20% out-of $650,one hundred thousand, that comes so you can $130,100000. As you can see, a huge drawback of those schemes is that...
Read MoreAbout Me
What’s Susan up to?
Penn State Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies will host me as I present a solo program of song and history focusing on the roots of Eastern European Jewish music and related songs.
I have the honor of presenting this year at the annual American Folklore Society's conference. A lecture on papercut arts around the world and a demonstration of my own work will take place during the conference on October 22, 2021!
ELEVEN languages and counting! Over the years, I've crafted ketubot that honor many cultures. In addition to the expected Aramaic, modern Hebrew, English, and even Yiddish, I have included Korean, Kannada, Latin, Arabic, and even the Telugu seen in the cropped image above! What a joy this has been!
What a wonderful experience I shared with the community of Las Cruces, NM and the Guild of American Papercutters when I presented an hour-long lecture on the worldwide history of papercut arts on March 16, 2021. This was in conjunction with the museum's show of Islamic papercut art. We looked at tools, traditions, and especially shared visual vocabularies from India to Mexico, from Persia to China and beyond!
February 18, 2018 - Susan will be hosted by the Sholem Aleichem Center in the Bronx for a concert. Come for a shmuez (a chat) and stay for the music!https://www.pineclubgolf.com/best-electrical-push-carts/
As part of the Sacred: Image, Text, Ritual exhibit at Lebanon Valley College, Susan will be presenting a lecture recital titled "Words as Homeland: Where Jewish Text, Art, and Song Converge to Express a Culture." Thursday, February 8, 2018, 5 pm at the Zimmerman Recital Hall.
A wonderful arts residency in Teaneck, NJ at Congregation Beth Sholom concluded with a full concert, accompanied by Adrian Banner on Piano. Enthusiasm and learning flowed back and forth the entire time. Fabulous community!
What a great night at the Jalopy in Brooklyn on June 16, 2016 as my new trio with Lauren Brody and Jake Shulman-Ment stepped out to strut our stuff! Many languages, many musical cultures, and great joy in blending our voices and instruments.
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In the beautiful summer landscape of Rindge, New Hampshire, I was privileged to teach traditional Jewish papercut arts at the annual National Havurah Committee's Summer Institute. We turned a large, sunny room into an art studio, and the class burst into enthusiastic art creation. I love the celebratory greeting of everyone's creations as skills and appreciation deepen over four days of classes. I'll come to you! Just ask!
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Back to the Catskills, this time teaching for HAZAK, a group under the umbrella of United Synagogue that offers among its programs an annual summer week of learning and camaraderie. I used my lecture/recital format to widen the world of Yiddish song for about 150 life-long learners as we studied, laughed, sang a bit, and grew to know one another in Kerhonkson, NY.
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When Nancy Spielberg screened her film Above and Beyond in Harrisburg's Chisuk Emuna Congregation, I was tapped to create a papercut gift for her. I chose the color scheme of her promotional material and the Hebrew words which translate into "Be strong... and strengthen one another." The filmmaker and I are shown here. (photo by Josh Damrauer)
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Each year the myriad of faith communities in the Harrisburg region come together to celebrate in song. Here's an image of my participation, sharing the beauty of Yiddish song at the Pine Street Presbyterian Church.
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One of three children's programs to wind up a hectic and marvelous Scholar in Residence program at Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, CT. Lectures, singing programs, explorations of Yiddishkayt - and a debut concert of the new Leviton/Brody duo in concert! I'll happily come to your community, too!
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Yiddish Culture on St. Croix! I received the warmest welcome all across the island where I had the opportunities to teach a vocal arts class in a school, offer an adult papercutting workshop, lecture in the synagogue, and get the whole audience at the Reformed Church singing along in multiple languages! Cultural seeds planted and the smiles, voices, and hugs still linger in memory!
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The Judson Church off Washington Square was packed with well over 300 people on December 30, 2014, to honor the memory and brilliance of Adrienne Cooper, and to award Michael Wex with this year's Dreaming in Yiddish prize. Below is an image of the finale of the musical performance of the Kanonen song from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera, translated from the German into Yiddish by Wex himself. An all-star band backed us as we belted out the Army Song and others, accompanied by the brilliant puppetry and staging of Great Small Works and Power Point translations which made the text a little less inscrutable! What a night! Singers below include Sarah Gordon, Eleanor Reissa, Tine Kindermann, Dan Kahn, myself, and others.
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A whirlwind arts week in Caldwell, NJ at Congregation Agudath Israel allowed me to open Jewish folk arts to energetic groups from preschoolers through elders. The tots sang and acted out Yiddish songs with costumes and props, the school students (4 larger groups) explored paper arts and traditional papercutting, and adults were treated to a series of lecture recitals, everything taking place in a large space where I hung over 35 works of framed art. What a fabulous arts residency for all of us together!
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Nearly 100 people attended a lecture/recital stitching together I. B. Singer's writing and the artists who illustrated his books as Susan sang her way through the bookshelves, Sunday, November 16, at Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, PA. This was the second event in the year's programming under a grant from the Koster Foundation.
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I was guest lecturer at Dickinson College today, October 6, singing my way through a program on Jews and Food. Unlike the light weight singalongs I often do on this topic, the class took food songs into the framework of Hasia Diner's examination of the place of food in Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement through acculturation in America. 15 songs unpacked! A great eye-opening experience for all!
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Heeding God's Call is a national organization working at a grassroots level to end gun violence and straw buying. On September 18, within days of two gun murders in Harrisburg, I participated in an interfaith program at the MLK Baptist Church in the heart of our city. We 'sang' Reisen's Dos Naye Lid together as the assembled crowd held colored cards with words in Yiddish and English.
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A happy bride at the huppah with her papercut ketubah! 'Tis the season, and I've been busy with commissions of all sorts!
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A full week of learning and teaching at the Havurah Summer Institute was a welcome experience again this year. Located at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, about 300 Havurahniks from infancy to elder sage-age filled days and nights with enthusiastic work, food, music, and exploration. I taught classes in Yiddish song and helped create a soundscape for Tisha B'Av this summer. Loved it!!!
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A lovely way to begin the summer's KlezKamp's Wisconsin adventure was a solo concert at Chai Point in Milwaukee. Jill Gellerman and were welcomed to the beautiful facility and then I sang for and with a great crowd of elders, eager to be part of the action!
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Quite a surprise when I met the truck from Welch Signage in Maine, carrying the massive synagogue feature wall I had designed, to see a piece of my own artwork prominently displayed on both sides of the vehicle!
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I performed for over 100 people at beautiful Maris Grove in Pennsylvania's Delaware County on May 13. As part of the PA Humanities Council's program of Commonwealth Speakers, I was able to bring the sound of Yiddish to an audience largely unfamiliar with the language and culture. As always, common threads were immediately found!
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Verrry busy these days creating a synagogue feature wall, but I took time last week to be interviewed for Ted Merwin's article "The Aesthetics of Judaism" in The New York Jewish Week. Here's a quote: "For Susan Leviton, a ketubah-maker, paper-cut artist and Yiddish folk song performer ..., it was during the 1960s and ’70s, when many Jews flocked back to their roots, that Jews... 'took Judaism back into their own hands' and began braiding challahs and tie-dying prayer shawls. Hiddur mitzvah 'alters us as we fulfill a mitzvah or perform a ritual,' she told me. A Midrash (Song of Songs Rabbah 1.15) suggests that observance of the commandments makes Jews beautiful, even as Jews glorify God through hiddur mitzvot."
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An outpouring of love and creativity filled the room as we honored the memory of Adrienne Cooper and saw Jenny Romaine accept the first Dreaming in Yiddish award for her visionary work. Here's Susan on stage with Alicia Svigals, Jake Shulman-Ment, Benjy Fox Rosen, Aaron Alexander, Michael Winograd, and Dan Blacksberg, 12/21/13. (Photo by Bob Blacksberg)
When Goucher College Hillel welcomed a gift of two Torah scrolls, I was honored to craft mantles and wimples. So much silk! Garnet polished to look like pomegranate seeds! Text and the visions of students to work with! A grand experience.
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A totally spectacular group of artists, writers, social activists, and even puppeteers joined me for a week of creative work as I served as Artist in Residence at the 2013 National Havurah Conference Summer Institute in Rindge, NH. In 4 days of intense collective learning and creating, we built a musical theater production in a box (a cranky) and shared the story of the plight of needleworkers, past and present, with 300 others in a rapt audience!
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It was a beautiful day in Baltimore as the Jewish Museum of Maryland presented its annual Risch Memorial Program. I was delighted to be the featured performer, following brief, powerful presentations by Andres Salguero, Ssuuna, and the DC Turkish Folk Music Group. It always touches me to rediscover the points of connection among immigrant communities, regardless of geographic homes, cultures, and reasons for relocation. A brilliant celebration of cultures!
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Over 350 pieces of beautiful Youghiogheny Art Glass hand-cut, and now I'm on to wet-grinding the edges! It's a new skill that I'm happy to add to my resume as I take on the responsibility to create a soaring double wall of glass above the Torah ark for Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, building anew after a destructive fire in 2009. Check back in mid-May for a look at the completed wall!
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Getting closer to a new recording! Michael Winograd spent a day in the studio on March 28 with Frank London, Dan Blacksberg, Hadar Noiberg, and Alec Speigelman to lay down horn tracks for my as-yet-unnamed CD. Dan Kahn joined in as a special guest vocalist. Next will come strings and soon after that the mixing and mastering, printing and artwork, and OT AZOY! A new Yiddish recording!
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A whirl of creative activity has sent me to the sewing machine to craft two Torah mantles for Goucher College Hillel. One of the scrolls is a rescued Torah from Czechoslovakia, so armed with a palette of palest greys, golds, silvers, and ivories, I headed to Chinatown in NYC on a rainy day to seek silks! What a delight to discover Belraf Fabrics, owned by an Uzbeki couple. A trip around the world in fabric! Take a peek here are the first days' construction.
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I'll be guest lecturing at Dickinson College in Professor Ted Merwin's class during the week that we commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. My program on the fire in words and Yiddish song continues to grow as I learn, and to sadly resonate as we all ponder how little has changed in global workplace safely in the last century. See "Upcoming Events" for details.
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Each year as KlezKamp ends, I proclaim, "This was the best ever!" And every year I mean it. And this year I mean it more! The staff concert nearly lifted the roof off what had been, in its glory days The Granite Hotel in the Catskills. My classes (traditional papercutting and "Our Lives are in our Songs") were filled with curious, thoughtful participants who challenged one another to take each idea to a new level. What an experience. Do not miss this next December!! (sneak peek? Check out the KlezKamp post under Upcoming Events for a video clip!)
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December 22, 2012. Kaye Theater in Manhattan. I soared on the energy of dozens of the finest performers of Yiddish song and Klezmer as we paid tribute to Adrienne Cooper's memory in a three-hour concert of the songs she most loved. What a thrill to sing 'Di Arbuzn' a cappella, in three parts with women performers including Alicia Svigals, Lauren Brody, Shura Lipovsky, and Marsha Gildin. It was both a humbling and energizing evening. Sing out!
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I've just been selected as one of ten 2013 Guild of American Papercutters/X-acto Masters. This means over the course of the coming year I will be testing tools and materials and interacting with other artists to hone our skills and increase interest in papercutting arts. Very exciting!
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Are you aware of the Commonwealth Speakers program under the PA Humanities Commission? Every two years, a roster of artists, story-tellers, historians, and musicians selected by the PHC are able to travel the state offering specific programs at no cost to groups (schools, libraries, state parks, etc.!) other than a basic application fee. I just returned from Ohev Sholom in Williamsport and will head to Reading on Thursday to bring Women's Voices in Yiddish Song to the Federation's Friendship Circle there. Visit the website at www.pahumanities.org and check it out! Free programming! What are you waiting for???
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It's been a long time coming, but here I am, immersed in the joy of working in collaboration with brilliant musicians as I prepare a new recording! Production is in the fine hands of Michael Winograd, and the initial tracks have been laid down with David Licht, Jake Shulman-Ment, Carmen Staaf, Garth Stevenson, and Avi Fox-Rosen, with Lauren Brody and others joining in soon! Hmm... mostly Yiddish, with some surprises mixed in, and everything from spare acoustic accompaniment to over-the-top orchestrations. There'll be more and more about the project as it emerges from its infancy, so watch for news! Perhaps a concert or cd release party in your neighborhood down the line...
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Kesher Zion Congregation in Reading, PA welcomed me as artist-in-residence for the weekend of November 9, 2012, as the congregation honored the memories of Dr. Robert Greenberg and Evelyn Blumberg. I was delighted to find myself in the company of the congregation's brilliant Rabbi Minna Bromberg and rooms full of enthusiastic people hungry to experience new 'takes' on Jewish culture. My programming included a presentation of Yiddish songs of spiritual yearning, a lecture on contemporary Jewish ritual art, and then a rollicking concert on Saturday night with the newly expanded Old World Folk Band! Be sure to check the "Upcoming Events" tab to see where else I'm scheduled to spread YIddish culture!
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I can't say enough about the wonderful Tree of Life Congregation in MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, where I just spent a weekend as scholar in residence. If you go to my 'coming events' tab, you may see the whole arc of the weekend, but I want to focus here on the response to my "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" presentation on Saturday night, October 27. Among the folks in attendance were physicians, attorneys, and workplace safety experts who each added to a passionate conversation about the effects of completely unregulated natural gas extraction on West Virginians, coal miners' safety issues, and even the plight of disabled people in sheltered workshops who, like the needle workers of 100 years ago, are largely groups without a voice. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' And yet we still find inspiration to act for social justice when we learn and sing the songs of our forebears. "Give us bread and give us roses!"
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A radio interview for a BALTIMORE station (WVIE 1370) allowed me to share some insights into the history of labor activism in the United States on September 2, 2012 - Labor Day weekend. So much more meaningful than running to sporting goods stores for sale items, this was a chance to engage listeners in anthemic Yiddish songs and their contexts. So many songs... so little time! But every time a Yiddish song is SUNG, it lives a new life.
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It's late summer, so a trip to the BLOCK AND HEXTER VACATION CENTER in Poyntelle, PA came around on my calendar. My teaching schedule allowed me to alternate sessions with fellow presenter Saul Silas Fahti, as we worked to expand the artistic, musical, polititcal, and in Saul's case, even cosmological horizons of the elders who flocked to the Poconos to participate, learn, and (it's a Jewish camp!) eat 3 squares a day. Whether singing, lecturing, or engaging in issues, I always learn from interactions with program participants. One highlight this year was meeting two Hungarian-born sisters who offered me a macaronic (mixed language) song that alternates lines between Hungarian and German/Yiddish. Will it make the cut on my upcoming recording? Stay tuned!
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A quick trip to MADISON, WISCONSIN as part of "A Bisele KlezKamp" on July 22 was a terrific bright spot in a busy summer season! Over 200 people buzzed around programming by some of the best teacher/artists in the Yiddish folk arts world as Michael Wex, Cookie Segelstein, Lauren Brody, Henry Sapoznik, Sherry Mayrent, Miriam Isaacs, David Spies, Sara Gordon, Kurt Bjorling, Steve Weintraub, and I managed to compress a week's worth of learning into one fabulous day. Keep up-to-date with U. OF WISCONSIN'S MAYRENT CENTER to find out what Yiddish programming will be offered throughout the year before our triumphant return next summer!
On Friday night prior to 'ABKK' I was hosted by Congregation Shaarei Shomayim where I presented an a cappella lecture/recital titled "Healing the World in Yiddish Song." Given the political upheavals and charged emotions in Madison these days, the program was a welcome one. The room was packed with people of all ages, and it was a special joy to me to be singing in a room within Frank Lloyd Wright's historic Unitarian Church, where the congregation meets regularly.
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Lauren Brody and I head to PITTSBURGH on June 3 for two concerts, a family event in the morning, and a full concert in the late afternoon at the JCC, in conjunction with the Jewish Museum's exhibit on the artists who illustrated the works of I.B. Singer. We're working up new material and are delighted that both PennPAT and the PA Humanities Council are supporting the program with generous grants. Come celebrate Yiddish culture!
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Healing the World in Yiddish - This lecture/recital program drew people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ages to a program sponsored but DICKINSON COLLEGE, the Literary Heritage Fund, Association for Jewish Studies, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg on April 24. With PowerPoint translations and even a visit from Dan Kahn and the Painted Bird on screen, we explored the drive for human rights that infuses Yiddish song, and the activism that the songs inspire. As part of a series titled "Telling Jewish Stories through the Arts," the evening's riches were obvious as participants lingered over tea and cake and shared the stories that bubbled up in response to the presentation. What a great night!
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On Sunday, April 1, the Jewish Federation of Greater DAYTON and the Lynda A. Cohen Yiddish Club welcomed Lauren Brody and me for a concert. It was the first time that Lauren and I had the opportunity to present a full concert and we felt like siblings on the stage, finding parallel expressions of meaning and intention in her accordion and my voice without even a nod or a word. Utilizing the full range of her instrument, Lauren crafted a unique setting for each song, and the 'whole cloth' was fantastic.
We're already warming up for an upcoming event in June, so stay tuned for details!!
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MAURICE SENDAK! I write this on the day of Maurice Sendak's passing. (If you haven't heard both the recent Fresh Air interview and the hilarious pair of Colbert interviews with the incomparable Mr. Sendak, go find them NOW and come back here in an hour...) I am grateful and humbled to have had the opportunity to spend several months immersed in the life and work of Mr. Sendak, preparing for a program built around the Rosenbach's exhibit of the influences of his Jewish world on his life's work. So on Sunday, April 15, the Haverford Public Library swelled with the sounds of Klezmer as I took over the children's wing of the library to present "Yiddish in the Nutshell" with Ken Ulansey on clarinet and Heath Allen on keyboard. Sendak's early life in a Yiddish-speaking immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn, the awareness of evil in the world, and the fears and bravery of children shaped much of his life's work, and I blended his personal life into songs and stories for a rollicking hour. The program was interactive, with sing-alongs, props, costumes, and wild Sendakian tales abounding. It was a Yiddishe Vilde 'Rumpus' for everyone's inner child! Pick up a book by Maurice Sendak and look deeply into it. You may be changed!
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LAFAYETTE COLLEGE Hillel hosted me on Tuesday night, March 20 for a program in song and story on the actual history of the Sarajevo Hagaddah. It was a real one-woman show as I demonstrated design, lettering, and gilding techniques of the centuries-old masterpiece, as well as recounted its improbable story interspersed with songs in the Sarajevo dialect of Judeo-Spanish, in Yiddish, and in Hebrew, along with a Moroccan chant - all related to the Hagaddah. The audience included students, college faculty, and local residents, and there was a lively Q and A at the conclusion of the program. Lafayette has a gorgeous old campus perched above the city of Easton at the confluence of the Delaware and Raritan rivers. I hope to return!
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LAUREN BRODY will join me in presenting a full concert in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, April 1 for the annual event honoring the memory of Lynda A. Cohen. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share the stage and have been working up two terrific sets for the Yiddish club and expected gathered throngs!
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A presentation of my concert "Women's Voices in Yiddish Song" at Penn State University in Middletown, PA on February 23 drew people from Lancaster, York, Lebanon, and the greater Harrisburg area. Having been interviewed for an upcoming article in a Dayton, Ohio paper the night before, I kept thinking during the concert of a particular question I was asked: "What do you want people to take away from your performance?" So I'll tell you: I want people to be so surprised and touched that they come away with a desire to dig a little deeper into Yiddish culture and discover something about themselves. The values and history that are packed into our songs go far in teaching us how to know ourselves if we just open our hearts a bit. That's why I sing. Oh, and also, I sing because I can't NOT sing!!
Only a week to go before Kerhonkson, NY becomes the temporary capital of Yiddishland! This year at KlezKamp I'll be teaching the hands-on papercutting course and a four-session a capella lecture/recital course.
I'm especially looking forward to the time I'll be carving out with fellow PennPAT artist SUSAN WATTS to work on some vocal duets and arrangements, and to begin taking concrete steps towards my NEW RECORDING, which will be produced by the amazing MICHAEL WINOGRAD! Check this website regularly for announcements, too, of a new duo in the works featuring MICHAEL WEX and Susan Leviton. Use your imagination for now - details to follow soon!
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On Sunday, November 20, 2011, I presented a "Conversation with the Artist" in conjunction with the "Making it Better: Folk Art in Pennsylvania Today" exhibit in which one of my papercuts is featured. I demonstrated the art of Jewish papercutting and shared insights into its history and contemporary expressions with about 30 museum-goers. On exhibit through April 29, 2012, Making It Better tells the stories of over 30 master artists whose works represent a wide array of traditions such as African dance, stone wall construction, Native American clay flutes, Pysanky eggs, contemporary blacksmith work, woodcarving, and Vietnamese funerary portraits. I'm honored to have been chosen to have my work represented among so many brilliant examples of folk arts.
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Groundbreaking for Chisuk Emuna Congregation's new synagogue took place in Harrisburg on Sunday, October 16, 2011, and over 350 people celebrated with a block party that featured kugel in a sukkah, carnival food, games and abundant crafts for children, and an afternoon of outstanding music: klezmer, jazz, and old-timey. Bands set up on a concrete pad at one end of the soon-to-be-a-shul property, and music filled the air! I had the pleasure of singing once again with the Old World Folk Band, which has recently welcomed several new musicians as regulars, and which added additional guest performers for the outdoor event.
The synagogue was destroyed by an accidental fire in 2009, and more recently was left homeless when The Flood of 2011 forced the congregation from temporary quarters in the JCC. The sense that the next plague was waiting in the wings was banished by the wonderful welcome to a new neighbrhood, and it looks like the block party may become an annual event!
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A whirlwind few days at the 14th annual IAYC (International Association of Yiddish Clubs) conference in Novi, Michigan offered me the opportunity to perform and teach, and to meet people from all over the country who gathered to celebrate Yiddish culture. Highlights for me were presenting my powerful lecure/recital, "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" in this 100th anniversary year following the Triangle Fire, and joining Dan Kahn on the bandstand following my solo concert.
To see parts of one of my programs at the conference, please visit www.yiddishlives.com/susanleviton
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