View this and other views of Windsor Terrace in the aftermath of the blizzard of 2010 on our Flickr album.
View more photos of Prospect Park after the blizzard of 2010 on our Flickr album.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Art 101: Tabla Rasa Gallery's backroom art sale - New York NY
Art works in Tabla Rasa's ongoing exhibits in the front of the gallery are more expensive, but after viewing those exhibits continue to the backroom (where art works are stored and packed for shipping and the gallery owners have their office) for an art sale in which all art works have prices no greater than $400.
View the slideshow and read the entire article on examiner.com
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tonight 12/21/10: Heeb Storytelling: The Live Comics Edition - New York NY
Eight extraordinary comics creators will project their smart, funny and sexy comics on a big screen, accompanied by a soundtrack and shenanigans.
Read the entire article on examiner.com
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Medical update
This is an update to two separate posts from last spring about my prostate cancer. Despite PSA scores that continued to be lower than the one that lead to the previous biopsies, my most recent biopsy revealed two additional tumors that like the first one are also 6 on the Gleason scale. The tumors are small, but since there are more of them it might be wise to consider treatment. My cancer is still stage one, and since I'm also slim I might be a candidate for nerve sparing robotic surgery (for which only stage one patients with BMIs of <25 whose tumors are not on the surface of the prostate qualify) from which odds are excellent that I would recover with full control of my bladder (after 3-6 months of post-operative incontinence) and no loss of sexual potency (though it will take between 6-12 months post-surgery to get that part of my anatomy working to its current capability). I'll have an MRI at the end of the month to determine whether any of the three tumors are on the surface of my prostate; if none of them are I'll have the surgery in early February.
If on the other hand the MRI reveals a surface location of any of the tumors I'll revert to active surveillance in the short run and consider other treatments in the intermediate run, including some that look promising but will not be available for a few years. Since I'm stage one there is no urgency to beginning treatment. I'm only considering surgery now because robotic surgery has excellent outcomes for stage one patients, especially younger sexually virile patients with no prior history of incontinence (the average age of patients is 65--nine years older than me). Meanwhile I'm keeping a positive attitude and increasing my exercise regimen to prepare for surgery should my MRI allow me to proceed.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Beyond Understanding
Do the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein suggest that the autistic mind and the philosophical mind have something in common?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Seth Walsh 1997-2010
via youtube.com
Wendy Walsh tells the story of how her gay thirteen year-old son, Seth, took his life after his school failed to keep other students from bullying him because of his sexual orientation. The ACLU and Wendy Walsh are asking Seth's School, and all schools, to take steps to stop anti-LGBT harassment.
hips.org , HIPS recognizes International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, December 17
HIPS recognizes International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, December 17
15.12.2010
This Friday is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Conceived of by Annie Sprinkle and the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA, in response to the Green River Killer, who killed at least 48 sex workers in Washington state. He said “I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught”. The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers is both a memorial vigil recognizing victims of violence and a protest to fight human rights offenses against sex workers.
For many engaged in sex work, violence is considered an occupational hazard. Each night in our city, hundreds of women, men and transgender individuals trade sex to pay bills, support a partner or children, for drugs, or survival. Regardless of the reason they do sex work, one thing is clear: sex workers experience astounding rates of violence.
Every year HIPS receives nearly 100 reports of abuse or assault from the sex workers we work with and answers over 75 hotline calls from sex workers seeking assistance after being the victim of a violent crime. Many of these crimes are not reported due to fear of law enforcement. In 2003, our community was devastated when Bella Evangelista was shot to death by a man who had paid her for a sex act and later found out she was transgender. Two separate women reported this year they had been kidnapped by a man and held in a basement overnight. One caller to the HIPS hotline said “Because of what I do, no one would believe that I have been raped.”
In preparation for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, HIPS hosted the Red Umbrella Project’s Audacia Ray, who led a workshop on storytelling. HIPS will recognize December 17 by creating an art piece with the names of sex workers who were victims of violence. Anyone who would like to contribute a name or a story can email HIPS@HIPS.org, call our hotline 800-676-4477, or post a remembrance the HIPS Facebook page. That night, HIPS volunteers will offer red candy canes to sex workers we meet during our evening outreach activities as a reminder of those friends and loved ones we’ve lost, and asked to share their stories, and will be distributing copies of our “Bad Date Sheet” which provides a way for sex workers to share information about violence against them.
For all sex workers, especially those who are victims of violence, HIPS offers a 24-hour-hotline, access to resources, counseling, support groups, and friendly faces. At HIPS, we believe that what you do for a living should not mean you deserve violence. No one deserves violence.
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via hips.org
Thursday, December 16, 2010
In God's name: hate is the abomination: rally and march tonight 12/16/10 - New York NY
The 10th of Tevet is the traditional day of remembrance for victims of violence whose death dates and/or burial places are unknown. Tonight, December 16, 2010 at 7:30 PM a memorial service and rally will be held at Brooklyn's Parade Grounds (adjacent to the Tennis Center across the street from Prospect Park) to remember all victims of violence as well as the recent suicides of gay young adults.
Read the entire article on examiner.com
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Hide/Seek' sponsor threatens to cut funding for Smithsonian
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, one of the principal sponsors of "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," demanded Monday that the Smithsonian restore the David Wojnarowicz video or the foundation would not fund future projects.
The Wojnarowicz work, "A Fire in My Belly," contains 11 seconds of an image of ants crawling on a crucifix and was removed after criticism from Capitol Hill and conservative groups. The Smithsonian said the uproar over the video from supporters of the artist's work and from opponents to his images was a distraction from the overall show of many masterpieces.
The Warhol Foundation is the first major funder to publicly voice outrage. "We strongly condemn the decision to remove David Wojnarowicz's video 'A Fire in My Belly' from the exhibition. Such blatant censorship is unconscionable. It is inimical to everything the Smithsonian Institution should stand for, and everything the Andy Warhol Foundation does stand for," Joel Wachs, the foundation's president, said in a letter Monday to Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough.
The fund's board voted unanimously Friday to condemn the Smithsonian action, Wachs said. The fund gave $100,000 to "Hide/Seek," one of the early donations that provided a catalyst for other fundraising. That donation is part of a total $375,000 given to the Smithsonian for recent shows.
"We cannot stand by and watch the Smithsonian bow to the demands of bigots who have attacked the exhibition out of ignorance, hatred and fear," said the letter.
Reached by telephone, Wachs said, "We felt serious about taking this action and decided to fight fire with fire."
Clough responded Monday in a statement: "While we regret the Foundation's action, the Smithsonian's decision to remove the video was a difficult one and we stand by it. The 104 works of the 'Hide/Seek' exhibition will remain on view at the National Portrait Gallery."
The exhibit is set to close Feb. 13.
Wachs, who attended the opening of the show in late October, said he found the exhibition, the largest in the gallery's history, to be "extraordinary. From a curatorial standpoint it was brilliant, revelatory and educational, I learned a lot from it. I went away wishing we had given them $200,000. To see it trivialized, it is really disheartening."
A forum on the controversy surrounding the show, including the removal of Wojnarowicz's video, will be the focus of a panel Wednesday night at the New York Public Library.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Porcelain Unicorn
The Porcelain Unicorn is a sensitive and moving tale of how a traumatic wartime encounter inspires a man in later life. Wilson cites his grandfather's war stories as inspiration for the short film, and the 'hero's journey' of a Joseph Conrad novel.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Edgar M. Bronfman: Opening Our Tent – Forward.com
Opening Our Tent
Opinion
By Edgar M. Bronfman
Published December 08, 2010, issue of December 17, 2010.In this article Bronfman argues that intermarriage presents an opportunity rather than a threat and advocates outreach to the intermarried. Several of the comments below the article provide anecdotal evidence that supports Bronfman's points.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Book Review: The Cosmopolitans by Nadia Kalman -- New York Journal of Books
"The Cosmopolitans, Nadia Kalman’s smart, funny, wise, and entertaining debut novel explores the relationships and dynamics of a contemporary Russian-Jewish immigrant family from the former Soviet Union, their acculturation in Stamford, CT, as well as the love lives and courtships of the three daughters."
Read the entire review on New York Journal of Books.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Unknown Philip Larkin poem found in shoebox | Books | guardian.co.uk
Read the article on guardian.co.uk
Address to the poet's secretary and lover Betty Mackereth surfaces among old university papers.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Joseph Mackin on the art of the book review
"Reviewers interpret, declare, dismiss and augment--creating the discussion space that books need in order to live. Reviews are the oxygen books breathe."--Joseph Mackin
Sunday, November 28, 2010
MFA vs. NYC: America now has two distinct literary cultures. Which one will last? - By Chad Harbach - Slate Magazine
The following article is excerpted from the latest issue of n+1 magazine. This article is available online only in Slate.
"No one with 'literary' aspirations will expect to earn a living by publishing books; the glory days when publishers still waffled between patronage and commerce will be much lamented. The lit-lovers who used to become editors and agents will direct MFA programs instead; the book industry will become as rational—that is, as single-mindedly devoted to profit—as every other capitalist industry."
Will? Is it not to a considerable extent already so?
The author marks the boundaries of literary Brooklyn as DUMBO and Prospect Heights, but it is more accurate to draw its boundaries as a triangle that goes from Greenpoint in the northwest to Victorian Flatbush in the east to Red Hook in the southwest.
As a native New Yorker, Brooklynite, alumnus of a CCNY graduate creative writing program, poet/translator and fiction reviewer I am on the periphery of both literary cultures, and much of the article resonates with the ring of truth. However, in an era of government budget cuts I don't see MFA programs continuing to proliferate; indeed, they may prove vulnerable to the budget ax.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The Power Of Failure
William D. Cohan's NY Times Op-ed article The Power of Failure discusses the importance of learning the lessons of life's failures and not overvaluing success.
Friday, November 26, 2010
KinkyJews' Ha! Ha! Hanukkah Cocktails and Comedy Show!
This year KinkyJews is holding their annual Hanukkah party at a comedy club. Some things will be the different (comedy show) and some will be the same as in previous years (a game of strip dreidle, traditional candle lighting, and eight raffle prizes).
Read the article on examiner.com
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
Among the many things I am thankful for is the company and friendship of my friends both in real life and in cyberspace. Best wishes for a day of gratitude, feasting and families!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday afternoon 11/28 in Brooklyn: Jewish love songs with wine and chocolate - New York NY
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On Sunday afternoon, November 28th at 3pm Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn presents singer and pianist Lana Sokolov and saxophonist Sagit Zilberman in a performance of Jewish Love songs.
Read the article on examiner.com
One paragraph review of Erotomania: A Romance by Francis Levy
Erotomania: A Romance by Francis Levy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Judge Kimba Wood, Standing Up for Women - Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic
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Nov 19 2010, 3:39 PM ET
This is incredibly charming and progressive on Kimba Wood's part (and real; we checked):
Judge Kimba Wood was petitioned by an attorney for a “writ of possible simcha,” and had a superb response.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Pictures - Libeskind Hanukkah Lamp Exhibition - New York NY
Jewish Museum menorah pics from A Hanukkah Project: Daniel Libeskind s Line of Fire exhibit.
Hanukkah Lamp, Palestine (Israel) c. 1880-1930. Chiseled and painted limestone.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Jewish Museum 11/19/10-01/20/11: Daniel Libeskind does Hanukkah - New York NY
In "A Hanukkah Project: Daniel Libeskind's Line of Fire" 40 hanukkiot (Hanukkah menorahs) selected by curator Susan Braunstein from The Jewish Museum's permanent collection of over 500 hanukkiot are displayed on a stand designed by architect Daniel Libeskind.
Read the entire article and view a slideshow of the exhibited hanukkiot.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Apple - The Beatles - Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964
via apple.com
Apple has posted video of the Beatles' first ever U.S. concert in its entirety to celebrate their arrival on itunes.
In 1938, Nicholas Winton helped 669 Jewish kids escape certain death from the Nazis. He never told anyone that he did this. While on ski trip in Switzerland, Winton took a detour in Czechoslovakia to help the children of refugees. Nazi Germany had recent
via givesmehope.com
In 1938, Nicholas Winton helped 669 Jewish kids escape certain death from the Nazis. He never told anyone that he did this.
While on ski trip in Switzerland, Winton took a detour in Czechoslovakia to help the children of refugees. Nazi Germany had recently annexed a large part of Czechoslovakia and the news of Kristallnacht, a violent attack on Jews in Germany and Austria, had just reached Prague.
Winton set up a rescue operation for the children, filling out the required paperwork for them to be sent to homes in Sweden and Great Britain. He had to raise money to fund foster homes for all of them, and then he sent 669 children away from Czechoslovakia on trains before the Nazis closed down the borders.
Winton told no one that he did this, not even his wife. In 1988, his wife found a scrapbook full of pictures of the children and letters from parents in their attic. She arranged to have Winton's story appear in newspapers.
Many of the children Winton saved went on the BBC television program, That's Life, to meet him for the first time since the war. They refer to themselves as "Winton's children".
Winton is now 101 years old and has received awards from Israel and the Czech Republic as well as Knighthood from the Queen of England in 1993.
via givesmehope.com
Freshman GOPer: Hey, Where's My Health Care? | TPMDC
Maryland physician Andy Harris (R) just soundly defeated Frank Kratovil, one of the most endangered Democrats on Capitol Hill going into the November election. And he did it in large part by railing against 'Obamacare' and pledging to repeal Health Care Reform. But when he showed on Capitol Hill today for an orientation for incoming members of Congress and their staffs, he had a different question: Where's my government health care?
According to Glenn Thrush of Politico, Harris created a stir at the orientation meeting by demanding to know why he had to wait a month after he was sworn in in January for his government-subsidized health care to kick in. After responding in a huff, he even asked if there was some way he could buy into the government care in advance, seemingly thinking there might be a government program similar to the so-called 'public option' championed by progressive Democrats in 2009.
According to an unnamed congressional staffer quoted by Thrush, Harris stood up at the meeting "and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care."
During the campaign, Harris told voters, "the answer to the ever-rising cost of insurance is not the expansion of government-run or government-mandated insurance but, instead, common-sense market based solutions that ensure decisions are made by patients and their doctors."
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Fred Terna and Rebecca Shiffman: An oral history of a Jewish-American marriage
I interviewed Fred and Rebecca in August 2007 in their Clinton Hill, Brooklyn brownstone. I began the interview by asking how they met.
Read the entire interview on examiner.com
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
City Tech Marks Kristallnacht with author Ann Kirschner Thursday Nov 11
City Tech will mark the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht and the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII on Thursday, November 11, 1 p.m., with Ann Kirschner, PhD, author of Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story, and the presentation of humanitarian awards to Nobel Prize winner Günter Blobel, MD, PhD, and Interfaith Committee of Remembrance (ICOR) founder and chairman Jerry Jacobs.
Read the entire article on examiner.com
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
One-woman shows by Jewish dramatists Sivan Hadari and Mayo Simon - New York NY
New works by two young Jewish women dramatists will be performed at separate and unrelated Manhattan venues Thursday night November 11, 2010. Read more on examiner.com
Monday, November 8, 2010
Jewish education 101: 90@190: Open Beit Midrash Mondays at Mechon Hadar
Do you have ninety minutes a week to dedicate to Jewish study? For the next four Mondays Mechon Hadar offers free classes on Monday evenings:
Read the entire article and view a sample lecture on examiner.com.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Meet Jewish authors and artists at King Con, Brooklyn's comic convention - New York NY
This weekend enthusiasts and creators are gathering at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 Fourth Avenue between Union and President Streets in Park Slope, for King Con, the borough's first large comics convention, featuring fifty-plus exhibitors and top talent appearing in readings and panel discussions.
Read the entire examiner.com article and view a slideshow of illustrations and book covers by KingCon writers and illustrators.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Sunday 11/7/10: Taste of Limmud or Israel/Jewish-American relations panel - New York NY
NYC Jewish events Sunday Nov. 7, 2010: Global Day of Jewish Learning and panel discussion on Israel/Jewish American relations. For details read the article on examiner.com
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
What the fuck has Obama done so far
Check out this slideshow listing the accomplishments of the Obama administration I found at whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com
Monday, November 1, 2010
Don’t Watch Cable News
Jonah Lehrer's critique of pundits and their predictions.
“We need to cultivate the art of self-overhearing, to learn how to eavesdrop on the mental conversations we have with ourselves.”--Philip Tetlock
Read the article on wired.com
Passion: Erotic Romance for Women | New York Journal of Books
The subtitle of the book under review (in which the missing adjective “Heterosexual” should modify the noun “Women”) implies a question: How does erotic romance for women differ from the equivalent genre for men?
Read the entire review on nyjournalofbooks.com
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Jewish Museum 10/29/10-03/27/11: Houdini Art and Magic part 2 - New York NY | Examiner.com
That Houdini, who was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries continues to inspire twenty-first century visual artists such as Matthew Barney, Petah Coyne, Jane Hammond, Vik Muniz, Deborah Oropallo, and Raymond Pettibon speaks to his enduring power of his multi-dimensional prowess and personality.
Read the examiner.com article and view the slideshow.
Jewish Museum 10/29/10-03/27/11: Houdini Art and Magic part 1 - New York NY
On Friday October 29, 2010 The Jewish Museumwill present Houdini: Art and Magic, the first major art museum exhibition to examine the life, legend and enduring cultural influence of Harry Houdini. The exhibit will explore the career and lasting impact of the magician, escape artist, vaudeville entertainer, silent movie actor, author and lecturer through 163 objects including 26 recent works of art inspired by Houdini.
Read the entire examiner.com article and view the slideshow.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Despite pressure, Pete Seeger won’t cancel participation in Israeli-organized peace rally | JTA - Jewish & Israel News
Despite pressure, Pete Seeger won’t cancel participation in Israeli-organized peace rally
By Sue Fishkoff · October 14, 2010
Despite his opposition to Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, Seeger refuses to heed calls to boycott an upcoming peace event organized by an Israeli institution.
- Read the article on jta.org
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Feminism And Romance Go Hand In Hand
ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2007) — Contrary to popular opinion, feminism and romance are not incompatible and feminism may actually improve the quality of heterosexual relationships, according to Laurie Rudman and Julie Phelan, from Rutgers University in the US. Their study* also shows that unflattering feminist stereotypes, that tend to stigmatize feminists as unattractive and sexually unappealing, are unsupported.
Read the entire article on sciencedaily.com
Only insecure guys want to be with a partner they don't admire and respect as an equal.
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