Reboot is a catalyst to catalysts – a growing network of thought-leaders and tastemakers who work toward a common goal: to “reboot” the culture, rituals, and traditions we’ve inherited and make them vital and resonant in our own lives. In partnership with the Reboot network, we create opportunities for our peers to gather, engage, question, and self-organize with their own networks, in their own way, in their own time, using the magazines, books, films, records, local salons, gatherings, and events we develop together.
News
Friends Don’t Let Friends Overuse TechnologyThe National Day of Unplugging 2012 is over but we’re encouraging everyone to continue taking a regular respite from the relentless deluge of technology and information. With roots in Jewish tradition, this idea of taking a tech detox as a modern day of rest was developed by Reboot as a way to bring some balance to our increasingly fast-paced way of life and to reclaim time to connect with family, friends, the community and ourselves. Shut down your computer. Turn off your cell phone. Stop the constant emailing, texting, Tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you. Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat Together. Join us in taking the pledge to unplug from technology regularly. Take the pledge on Causes.com and then easily share it with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge
This year, Reboot also took the unplugging movement to the most plugged-in place on the planet—the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, TX! With both an official panel on unplugging and SXSW’s First Ever Unplugging Party, Reboot spread the word about the value of creating sacred “no connection” time regularly and set the RecordSetter.com world record for the most people to shut off their cell phones at once. More details here. The National Day of Unplugging was inspired by our ongoing Sabbath Manifesto project, a creative effort designed to slow down lives in an increasingly hectic world. The Sabbath Manifesto’s 10 principles were created for individual styling. Once you take on the challenge of Principle Number 1: AVOID TECHNOLOGY, you can more easily embrace the other principles, such as connect with loved ones, nurture your health and get outside. We welcome you to join us as we carve a weekly timeout into our lives and to continue the momentum of the National Day of Unplugging throughout the year. Need some help? Sign up for The Undo List at www.theundolist.com and get the Sabbath Manifesto Smartphone app to shut down technology with technology. The free application allows users to post a Twitter and Facebook message announcing when they are “unplugging” from their digital communities. Now available through the iTunes App Store and the Android market. Or download and install the app on other smartphones by texting REBOOT to 738674 or visiting www.sabbathmanifesto.org/unplug. Explore the other Sabbath Manifesto principles at www.sabbathmanifesto.org and check out our video testimonials about unplugging at www.sabbathmanifesto.org/unplug. Let us know how you unplug: www.sabbathmanifesto.org/community www.facebook.com/SabbathManifesto www.twitter.com/SabbathManifest Check out some of the Sabbath Manifesto Press Coverage…The Today Show — Talking Unplugging with Kelli Pickler Mashable – NDU Wants You to Power Down for 24 Hours LA Times – Step Away From The Tech — Just for a Day CNET – Can You Go 24 Hours Without Any Tech? |
For Press Inquires, contact Reboot Communications Coordinator Tanya Schevitz at 415-322-0981 or tanya@rebooters.net
UNDO: What To Do When You Unplug
UNDO is what to do when you unplug. Looking to make unplugging part of your weekly routine? A new Reboot initiative – UNDO – has been created to help people do just that. UNDO is a tip sheet of ideas and activities for people taking a 24-hour break from technology. To become an UNDOer, the first step is to subscribe. Then, on Friday afternoon you’ll receive the weekly UNDO List newsletter filled with ideas for conversation topics, readings, local outings and creative endeavors to ease the time away from technology.
UNDOers are also invited to join the UNDO page on Facebook, where on Saturday evening, people can share stories, feedback, photos and experiences from their day. UNDO was created by people attempting to set aside a day apart from the rest of the week, taking inspiration from the National Day of Unplugging and the Sabbath Manifesto. Everyone is invited to participate in this growing community. To learn more, visit http://www.theundolist.com
10Q Reflect. React. Renew.
We will be back in September – along with your answers.
10Q 2011 was a great success and we are looking forward to the start of 10Q 2012 on Sept. 16. Last year, we had participants from around the world and coverage by the the Wall Street Journal’s Digits blog. Read the post here.
From its online headquarters at www.doyou10Q.com, Reboot’s 10Q project gives you an opportunity to answer 10 questions about the year that has just passed and the year to come, creating a new way to engage in reflection during the High Holidays. Fusing modern technologies and ancient customs, 10Q attracts a multi-generational audience with participants ranging from teenagers to grandparents.
Participants receive a question a day online for 10 days during the High Holidays. The answers go into a secure, digital vault after the 10 days and are returned via email to participants one year later when the process begins again. The idea is for participants to make an annual tradition out of answering the questions, building up an archive for future years to come.
Although the project is rooted in the Jewish idea of ethical wills and reflection, it has attracted people of all backgrounds and denominations. For more information, see our news release: 10Q 2011 News Release
Sign up to participate next year: http:DoYou10Q.com
And keep in touch throughout the year on our Facebook and Twitter:
• 10Q on Facebook
• 10Q Twitter Feed
Six Words on the Jewish Life
“Chosen for something, not sure what.”
“Found Jewish princess. Good-bye succulent pork.”
“Everything a question with us. Why?”
“Moved to Israel. Rest is history.”
Introducing, “Six Words on the Jewish life,” the newest project from
SMITH Magazine, home of the Six-Word Memoir®, and Reboot. On the web (http://smithmag.net/jewish), and then in book form (Feb. 2012), “Six Words on the Jewish Life” will offer thousands of ways of looking at
Judaism, six words at a time. http://smithmag.net/jewish
From mother issues to unfettered love of carbs to inner-conflict over Israel—and the sheer joy of discussing and debating everything—the Jewish life is a rich and storied one. And let’s face it: we’re a people of many words: a half-dozen well-chosen words is a perfect way to get to the essence of this weird, wonderful, funny, and complex
thing called the Jewish life — and a catalyst for thousands of conversations among Jews and non-Jews alike.
http://smithmag.net/jewish
Upcoming Events
Look for new releases coming out soon from the Reboot-powered Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation.
With a grant from the Jewish New Media Innovation Fund (a collaboration of the Jim Joseph Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation), the Idelsohn Society is creating a series of five “digital box-sets,” each exploring a different historical dimension of Jewish culture and music. These box sets will be developed for the open mobile web, iPhone and Android. Look for the first project in the fall.
With the support of the Righteous Persons Foundation, the Idelsohn Society is also entering the second phase of building a dynamic online archive to preserve the stories of the musicians who made Jewish music in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s. The ultimate goal is to make the stories, musicians, and music accessible to the general public, to the young and digitally literate audience, and to academics, scholars, and teachers who can study and teach it for generations to come. The website will launch this fall.
In November, the Idelsohn Society released “Songs of the Jewish-American Jet Set: The Tikva Records Story 1950-1973,” a selection of the dizzying catalog of Tikva Records, the flagship independent Jewish record label of the 20th century America.
The release was accompanied by a full color book exploring the issues behind the music — of the post-war American Jewish experience — and its release allowed us to discuss them on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross and the pages of the Wall Street Journal.
Founded in 1947, Tikva’s catalog was wide-ranging– everything from Israeli folk songs to Jewish-American swing, from klezmer pop to cantorial singing, from Catskills comedy to key political speeches of Jewish leaders– and it became something of a “Jewish Motown,” the home to the Jewish music world’s biggest names. Despite the fact that Tikva’s releases were a direct reflection of the major social themes and cultural shifts of Jewish America in the 50s and 60s, its contributions to American popular music more broadly and Jewish musical and cultural history more specifically, have been largely forgotten. In November 2011, this will change and the label’s sound and the stories behind it will be celebrated and re-appreciated.
The album release was accompanied by Tikva Records, the world’s first pop-up 1950s Jewish record store. Tikva Records filled San Francisco’s Mission district with the sound of lost Jewish vinyl, and hosted over 25,000 visitors to gigs by bands as diverse as Fool’s Gold, Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin who scored a 1920’s Yiddish silent film, and members of Dengue Fever. Read about all of our events here:
The Tikva Store Record Issue 1
The Tikva Store Record Issue 2
The Tikva Store Record Issue 3
The Tikva Store Record Issue 4
Go to the Idelsohn website to check out other Idelsohn projects, including the highly-acclaimed album released last winter: Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations. By popular demand, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco has reopened the exhibit. If you missed it the first time around, or are just eager to see it again, head over to the CJM and check it out.
Recent Happenings
“Thank you New York for hosting Sukkah City!”
See the People’s Choice Winner HERE
See all the designs HERE
More coverage in New York Magazine, the New York Times and the New Yorker
Union Square’s High-Concept Sukkahs from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.
‘Sukkah City: New York City’ — a national architecture competition to redesign the tradition of sukkah-building. Sukkah City re-imagined this ancient phenomenon, developed new methods of material practice and parametric design, and proposed radical possibilities for traditional design constraints in a contemporary urban site. Twelve finalists were selected by a panel of celebrated architects, designers, and critics and were constructed in a visionary village in Union Square Park from September 19-21, 2010.
Photo Credit: Nephi Niven
If you would like to make a donation specifically to support this project, just click below: