Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
ZEEK: Articles: "We Are Not Like Them": Itamar Massacre Activates A Dangerous Israeli-Jewish Ethnocentrism
Roi Ben Yehuda demonstrates the rising racism expressed by mainstream Israeli authorities in the wake of the terrible Fogel tragedy. The quotations from Gilad Sharon are chilling and reminiscent of European racial anti-semitism from the previous century.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Needle | New York Journal of Books
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Amira Hass: The sanctity of the soaring Qassam - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
The Hamas authorities once again forgot that the neighbor/occupier to its east is crazy. Fact: Over Shabbat, Hamas' military wing fired more than 50 mortar shells at Israel. Or perhaps it didn't forget: Perhaps it merely thought the Palestinian people in Gaza were ready for another high-tech Israeli onslaught, for another Israel Defense Forces video game in which children playing on a roof are identified as lookouts and sentenced to death. ...
A Palestinian carries an injured boy into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after Israeli tank fire struck a home on March 22, 2011
Photo by: Reuters
Though they didn't denounce those 50 mortars, Palestinians who are not Hamas supporters did give them a political interpretation. This wasn't "the attacked party's right to respond" (or, more accurately, the fly's right to play Ping-Pong with the elephant ), but a clear message to young Palestinians, reinforced by the brutal suppression of their demonstrations: You aren't in Cairo or Tunis, so stop pestering us with theories about a smart popular struggle in our emirate.
But the neighbor/occupier to the east is crazy. It's wrong to provide it with pretexts that would enable it to once again put Gaza's children and old people through an ordeal like Cast Lead, or even one half as bad.
So for all those who demonstrated in support of the Gazans when they were trapped under Israeli fire, all those planners of past and future flotillas, this is your moment to raise your voices and say clearly: The Qassams merely feed Israel's madness. It is not the Qassams that will ensure the Palestinians, both in and out of Gaza, a life of dignity. It is not the Qassams that will topple the Israeli walls around the world's largest prison camp.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Self-Constraint Leads Us to Prefer Aggression: Scientific American Podcast
60-Second Mind | Mind & BrainSelf-Constraint Leads Us to Prefer Aggression
Research shows that when we practice self-constraint, we also tend to prefer aggressive messaging and movies. Christie Nicholson reports
| March 20, 2011 | 8
When making lifestyle changes take it slow or you may wind up with rage as a side-effect.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Encountering Peace: Abbas, man of peace
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
NY Times film critic A.O. Scott to teach Holocaust in film class - New York NY
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Great Wall of Vulva -- Brighton Bodycasting | Lifecasting | Plaster Casts | Sculptures
The Great Wall of Vagina
THE GREAT WALL OF VAGINA is FINISHED!!. The world Premiere will be in the Brighton Festival Fringe in May 2011
For this, my latest major sculpture, I cast, over the course of 5 years, the vaginas (well the vulva area in fact) of hundreds of volunteers. The Great Wall of Vagina is an exploration of women's relationships with their genitals. When I assembled the first panel of 40 casts in summer 2008, I stepped back disappointed. I realised the sculpture would need to be much bigger to have the impact I wanted. From this original piece (called Design A Vagina) has grown an epic sculpture. The final piece now has 400 casts arranged in 10 panels of 40.
"Why did I do it and what's it all about?" I hear you ask. Well, it became clear to me whilst working on a not dissimilar piece for a sex museum that many women have anxiety about their genital appearance. It appalled me that our society has created yet one more way to make women feel bad about themselves. I decided that I was uniquely placed to do something about it.
The sculpture comments on the trend for surgery to create the 'perfect' vagina. This modern day equivalent of female genital mutilation is a bizarre practice which suggests that one is better than another. Taste in nothing is universal and any desire for 'homogyny' could be very misguided. 400 casts arranged in this manner is in no way pornographic, as it might have been if photographs had been used. One is able to stare without shame but in wonder and amazement at this expos� of human variety. For the first time for many women they will be able to see their own genitals in relation to other women's. In doing so they may dispel many misconceptions they may have been carrying about what women look like 'down there'. The sculpture is serene and intricate and it works on many levels.
Included are identical twins, mothers and daughters and examples of male to female and female to male transsexuals. Ages range from 18 year old students to a grandmother of 76. I really wanted to include as many possibilities as I could. I spent the entire 5 years seeking a victim of female genital mutilation who would like to be included but sadly without success. The more inclusive and complete I could be in this survey the more power this sculpture would have.
***I will be creating one more panel of 40 casts to be auctioned for a women's charity. If you'd like to be cast for that please get in touch. NB Casting for the Great Wall of Vagina in now completed. ***
As featured in The Argus, You Tube, Channel 4's G-Spot and The Sun
For more info get in touch via the Contact page...
President Abraham Lincoln and Leadership - C-SPAN Video Library
President Abraham Lincoln and Leadership
Nov 18, 2002
Lincoln Forum
Mr. Perret talked about President Lincoln as a leader, and compared Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, and John F. Kennedy. Following prepared remarks, he responded to questions from the audience. This portion of the Lincoln Forum also featured a reading of the Gettysburg Address by .. Read MoreMr. Perret talked about President Lincoln as a leader, and compared Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, and John F. Kennedy. Following prepared remarks, he responded to questions from the audience. This portion of the Lincoln Forum also featured a reading of the Gettysburg Address by Lincoln impersonator James Getty.59 minutes | 111 Views
Fascinating talk: Geoffrey Perret compared Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, and John F. Kennedy. All four were writers who loved poetry (MacArthur as commandant of West Point made cadets read and write poetry). Just under an hour.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
How the human penis lost its spines
Other primates and earlier human species did not need condoms with ridges or bumps.
David Brooks on The New Humanism
I find it interesting that Brooks includes an expanded definition of limerence, which I've always understood to be an obsessive form of love sickness: Wiktionary (1 definition) –noun (neologism) An involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction for another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Marge Piercy's "The Hunger Moon: New and Selected Poems 1980-2010" arrives today
It is a fortunate coincidence that today is both International Women's Day and the release date of Marge Piercy's The Hunger Moon: New and Selected Poems 1980-2010 by New York publisher Alfred Knopf. Continue reading on Examiner.com: Marge Piercy's "The Hunger Moon: New and Selected Poems 1980-2010" arrives today - New York NY | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/ny-in-new-york/marge-piercy-s-the-hunger-moon-new-and-selected-poems-1980-2010-arrives-today#ixzz1G2Locgph
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire centennial anniversary - New York NY
At a time when collective bargaining rights of workers are being challenged and agencies responsible for regulating worker safety are being underfunded it is worth remembering what the absence of such rights and regulations resulted in one hundred years ago. Continue reading on Examiner.com: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire centennial anniversary - New York NY | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/ny-in-new-york/triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-centennial-anniversary#ixzz1FOnmFbOb