Jenny Levine-Smith
An intelligently written Tribune commentary by a woman I’d never heard of caught my eye a few weeks ago, so I decided to meet her.
Jenny tells me of a family history of starting from nothing, working hard and thinking of others. Her great-grandparents were murdered in an anti-Jewish pogrom in the 1920s. In Manhattan, her parents created a Yiddish school associated with the labor movement and standing up for marginalized people.
Jenny grew up in a Jewish community in 1980s-90s Upper West Side Manhattan. She attended Brown University in Rhode Island, studying journalism and education, with a special interest in child development. Writing for the newspaper and working at a radio station, she wanted to be a sports announcer.
Upon graduation, Jenny applied to 200 newspapers all around the country. Her first job was as a sportswriter in Arcata, where she moved just prior to 9/11. On that fateful day she awoke to the horrific news. But, to Jenny, everything here in California seemed to return to normal within two days, and she felt completely alone.
Jenny met her husband-to-be in the summer of 2002 and they stayed in touch after she moved back to NYC.
“I’m from an apartment of 500 and he’s from a town of 500,” Jenny laughs. “I worked for ESPN Magazine in New York, grew to dislike the elitism of sports figures and left sports writing.”
In January 2004 Jenny and Bryan moved to Los Angeles and then to Sonoma County after marrying here. Jenny began attending SSU for her teaching credential. They bought a house in Hidden Valley Lake, spending weekends exploring various wine country towns. In 2008 they moved to Healdsburg where Bryan began working as an operating engineer and two children were born.
Exploring the landscape on foot is in Jenny’s DNA. “There are a million neighborhoods in New York, but I only need one. I had seven restaurants I liked in New York and seven I like here. I love the food, ambience, shopping and the diversity of people. Before here, I felt like more of my life was in New York, but now I cannot imagine us living anywhere else together.”
Jenny’s professional life is in Santa Rosa. She taught at Roseland Accelerated Middle School for six years. When daughter Hannah was preschool age, Jenny realized how she wanted Hannah to “not only be a Jewish kid, but to love being Jewish.” Hannah began attending Beth Ami Community Nursery School, and by 2014 Jenny was the school’s director – a job she finds very fulfilling.
Jenny tells me, “I sorta did appear out of nowhere in Healdsburg. I’m passionate about social justice issues and fairness. Last summer when two black men were killed within a week of each other, I woke up. I wanted to help people see what I didn’t see with regard to racial and gender equality. Offending someone is not a place I want to operate from, so how I say it matters, but I can disagree.
“The election also woke me up. The national election was crushing. I sobbed when I told my daughter and I wrote to the parents (of Beth Ami): ‘It’s okay for kids to see you cry. Don’t demonize anyone. Teach respect by modeling to kids to stand up for themselves and others.’
Jenny also wrote, “My children have heard throughout the campaign the marginalizing, the dehumanizing, the mockery. We’ve talked about why we are not okay with this kind of talk … Of all the dreams that I have for my children, the one I value most is that they be advocates … I want them to stand tall in the face of those who would wish to silence them, to never be complicit in cruelty, hate, or divisiveness. I want them to come from a place of compassion and empathy, and to be an example to others to do so as well.
“I woke up on November 9 with a sense of urgency to effect change,” Jenny continues. “I care deeply about this town and I want it to be everything it can be. I believe we need more diverse representation that reflects our population in race and gender.
“What really matters is integrating our town. We need to be more actively connecting. We need a community calendar. When a few of us held a Chabad Candle-Lighting downtown on a Friday evening, it looked like the lonely Jews on the dark corner.”
Jenny is also passionate about affordable housing and seeking engagement with the Latino community. “Pick the thing that moves you,” she says. “The justice piece is mine.”
Shonnie Brown is a local author and memoirist who is interested in fostering connections between people and their community. Shonnie writes personal and family histories through her business, Sonoma LifeStories, and is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She can be reached by email at sh*****@so***.net or on the web at www.sonomalifestories.com.
