Author: Saratoga TODAY

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Domestic violence and abuse is so prominent in cosplay culture and comics, especially in the origins of Harley Quinn. 

Some fans and readers look past the abuse she has gone through and choose to ignore it, because ignoring it is better than facing the reality of violence. As a Harley Quinn cosplayer who is a survivor of domestic violence, I would be doing the character an injustice if I turned the other cheek. 

Twenty people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner and over 10 million people yearly suffer from domestic violence. 

To bring awareness to the issue, I am holding a raffle to raise funds for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence which helps people escape tormented situations as well as rehabilitating to stop the cycle of violence. 

Stephanie Phillips, the current Harley Quinn Future State and Infinite Frontier author, donated signed issues of DC Presents: Harley Quinn Future State. 

There will be two raffle winners, each receiving issue 1 and issue 2 of Harley Quinn Future State signed by the author. 

The raffle runs until 11:59 p.m. EST on Feb. 28, and $10 is 10 entries.  Link to raffle: go.rallyup.com/comicsagainstdomsticviolence

For more information about the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, go to: ncadv.org

Whether you know someone who has suffered or you yourself have suffered, this is one step to helping stop the cycle so no one has to live through what survivors have.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Northshire Bookstore Saratoga presents two Northshire Live events this week. 

At 6 p.m. on Feb. 23, Ali Benjamin presents The Smash-Up in a conversation with Steve Sheinkin, to celebrate the publication of “The Smash-Up,” celebrating the debut adult novel Ali Benjamin in a wide-ranging literary conversation with NYTimes bestselling author Steve Sheinkin.

Benjamin is the author of the young adult novel “The Thing About Jellyfish,” an international bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. This is her first adult novel.

At 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, Theo Padnos presents Blindfold: A Memoir Of Capture, Torture, And Enlightenment. 

Northshire Bookstore to celebrate the publication of Woodstock, Vermont author and award-winning journalist Theo Padnos’s revelatory memoir about war, human nature, and endurance Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture and Enlightenment, the searing, extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years. Joining us for this conversation is New Yorker staff writer and author John Seabrook.

In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians—who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives—and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold—a grime-stained scrap of fabric—that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal.

Both live events will be on Zoom, and a link is available upon Eventbrite registration. For more information on the events, go to: northshire.com. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, in partnership with Temple Sinai and with a grant from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, presents its seventh Annual Jewish Storytelling Event featuring both local and regional storytellers at 7 p.m. on Feb. 21. 

Experience the storytelling program by Zoom this season.

For the Jewish people, “Storytelling has been a means of defining the Jewish identity, the ethnic distinctiveness as a Jew,” said Phyllis Wang, Coordinator of the Saratoga Jewish Community Arts. “To hear a Jewish story is to share the humor, wisdom and angst, earthiness and Spirituality of an ancient and thoroughly modern, diverse, and irrepressible group of people bearing an extraordinary history.” 

Included in the storytellers for the event are Shawn Banner, artist, teacher of art, and educator; Sylvia Bloom, educator, professor of voice, actress, opera singer, and recitalist; Jeanine Laverty, teacher of ESL and Storytelling; David Liebschutz, management consultant, life coach, and college professor; Beth Sabo Novik, facilitator, teacher, and transformational speaker; Sandy (Sandor) Shuman, storyteller, musician and educator; and Martina Zobel, Jewish educator. 

This Annual Saratoga Jewish Community Arts Storytelling program has been renamed in memory of Matthew M. Neugroschel, a frequent contributor to Community Arts and the Saratoga Jewish Cultural Festival, and whose life was cut short this past year. 

To register and access the Zoom link, email sjca.sjcf@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and www.saratogajewishculturalfestival.org  or www.saratogasinai.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — From creative and personal highs to extreme lows, the documentary “Making and Unmaking” chronicles several years in the life of filmmaker Shaun Rose.

Born in Saratoga Springs and currently a resident of Ballston Spa, Rose co-directed the 60-minute documentary with partner Andrea Stangle. 

“It took four years to make,” Rose says. “It’s a detailed film covering the difficulties making my previous film ‘Upstate Story.’ It has won 8 awards at festivals/ award venues thus far and I’ve just been trying to get it out there more.”

You can view the 60-minute doc on YouTube, and find it via a search for “Making and Unmaking.” 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Yaddo hosts an evening of conversation featuring writer, artist, and filmmaker Tanya Selvaratnam, in discussion about her new book, “Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence,” with acclaimed writer Andrew Solomon. The event, free via Zoom, takes place 7 p.m. Tuesday. Go to: yaddo.org.