by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
A little late in the evening, but never too late to wish everyone a happy national coming out day, as I received the following email reminder today from the National Center for Transgender Equality, (of which I’ll add the disclaimer that I’m on the Board of Advisors):
On October 11, 1987, about 500,000 people marched on Washington to raise awareness around the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. Since that historic March on Washington, October 11 has been celebrated as National Coming Out Day, with events organized around the country that encourage people to “come out†as LGBT in their neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and places of worship to put a human face on our civil rights movement.
“National Coming Out Day is a great time to consider the different ways that we can all come out and live openly in our communities. Transgender people are increasingly choosing to live openly in regards to our gender identity and expression,†said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). “However, it is important to remember that being out as trans is still potentially risky, with job loss, harassment and hate violence still all too prevalent.â€
There has been a striking increase in transgender media visibility in the last decade, with movies like Transamerica, Boys Don’t Cry, and Ma Vie en Rose making successful runs on the big screen. Court cases dealing with the intersection of transgender people and employment discrimination and family law have also made print and broadcast national news. Transgender activists have won major legislative victories as well, with the passage of transgender-inclusive anti-discrimination bills in eight states (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington) and the District of Columbia.
If you do decide to come out this National Coming Out Day, please use your best judgment to keep yourself safe and sound. To find more information on transgender-specific coming out resources, visit NCTE Web site at: www.nctequality.org/NCOD
For more resources for and on LGBT Jews, as a place to begin, visit the resource page on JVoices.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Monday, October 9th, 2006
OK, random I know, but it fits within the theme of Sukkot right? Sure, why not–I’m sure some of you cooking enthusiasts will enjoy:
When’s the last time you sank your spoon into a finely wrought pumpkin Crème Brulee? Or woke to a steaming plate of pumpkin pancakes? Whether you have or haven’t, we’re sure you’ll find something new to devour in this list of the top 30 pumpkin recipes, as cooked up by Search…
1. Pumpkin Recipes
2. Pumpkin Pie
3. Pumpkin Cookies
4. Pumpkin Bread
5. Pumpkin Soup
6. Pumpkin Seeds
7. Pumpkin Cheesecake
8. Pumpkin Muffins
9. Pumpkin Roll Recipe
10. Pumpkin Cake
11. Canned Pumpkin Recipes
12. Pumpkin Pancakes
13. Pumpkin Bars Recipe
14. Pumpkin Jam
15. Pumpkin Dip
16. Pumpkin Spice Cake
17. Pumpkin Butter Recipe
18. Pumpkin Spice Coffee
19. Pumpkin Ice Cream
20. Pumpkin Brownies
21. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll
22. Pumpkin Dump Cake
23. Pumpkin Ale
24. Pumpkin Desserts
25. Pumpkin Cupcakes
26. Pumpkin Crème Brulee
27. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
28. Pumpkin Ravioli Recipe
29. Pumpkin Fudge
30. Pumpkin Beer
Mmm…pumpkins 
indeed, pumpkin creme brulee is a good way way into my heart — you gotta admit if someone makes you pumpkin creme brulee that’s just sexy. lol
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, October 7th, 2006
For your weekend pleasure, interesting stories in the media:
- Rep. Barney Frank talks about the Foley scandal
- Review of Encounter Point, a documentary film about Israelis and Palestinians
- Stifling debate? The Jewish week reviews challenges to discussing Israel and Palestine
- Poll sites in churches–Orthodox Jews call for changes
- Penises dominating politics
- We had abortions
- White blight
- Dismantling childcare
- Columbia students protest an appearance by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, the racist and xenophobic border vigilante group–more here
[Update] The students are facing heat from Columbia’s administration, including potential disciplinary charges. You can support them by signing the online petition. The students are also soliciting letters of support and solidarity, which can be sent to them at nominutemen@gmail.com.
Statement of the Student Protestors:
We celebrate free speech: for that reason we allowed the Minutemen to speak, and for that same reason we peacefully occupied the stage and spoke ourselves. Our peaceful protest was violently attacked by members of the College Republicans and their supporters, who are the very same people who invited the Minutemen to our campus in the first place. The Minutemen are not a legitimate voice in the debate on immigration. They are a racist, armed militia who have declared open hunting season on immigrants, causing countless hate crimes and over 3000 deaths on the border. Why should exploitative corporations have free passes between nations, but individual people not? No human being is illegal.
-Those who occupied the stage
crossposted from JVoices
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006
crossposted to JVoices
In returning to our regular routine post-Yom Kippur, I know I am emotionally and spiritually inspired by the holidays, and feeling the impact of the work a bit on my body.
I also feel the presence of the many conversations and discussions I didn’t have.
Many (and I do think this is the majority of people these days) know how hard it is for most synagogue leaders to discuss Israel and Palestine with congregants where it is not only an unconditional support for Israel. I know for myself, even at shuls where I am used to hearing the Rabbis talk about human rights for Israelis and Palestinians, these past few days the only refrain and atonement I heard from the bima was of not doing enough to support Israel.
So I am grateful that post Yom Kippur, those of us in New York are offered another opportunity–an extension if you will–to look at the Israeli occupation with other Jews and to stretch ourselves once again for the silences that we have maintained and for the many times we have looked away from the occupation.
The play, An Olive on the Seder Plate, is a multimedia performance about how American Jews wrestle with the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
I have seen the play before when it was originally produced around the time of the Passover. Indeed that is where the name of the play comes from, as many Jews now include an olive on their seder plate as a symbol for the ongoing occupation of Palestine, or more specifically for some, for the olive groves that have been destroyed during the occupation.
What I really love about this play is that is written by and for Jews, and it is written to reach Jewish audiences using art, humor, song and humility to talk about a difficult subject with audiences that often do not know how to begin having these discussions.
This play has traveled throughout the country, visiting numerous communities and synagogues and hebrew schools to not only put on a great show, but to also have in-depth, heartfelt discussions afterwards with audience members and to try to move dialogue in places and in hearts where the issue has sat stifled, stagnated or silenced.
In a review of the play, director Deb Shoval said that: the words spoken on stage during her latest creation aren’t as important as the dialogue she hopes to spark once the curtain falls. “I needed to speak directly to my own community, the Jewish community,” Shoval says. “The play is a tool to create dialogue and to get people thinking about the issues.”
Indeed, I will be there this weekend with my family members, some of whom I have barely been able to have conversations with because it is such a loaded conversation. I look forward to this opportunity, for the discussions I didn’t have, for the many discussions I imagine many of us didn’t have during the High Holidays. I hope many of you will join me this weekend and that you will also bring at least one other person who you wish you had talked to about Israel and Palestine.
An Olive on the Seder Plate: High Holiday Edition 5767
* Friday, Oct 6, 8pm
* Saturday, Oct 7, 8pm
* Sunday, Oct 8, 2pm & 7pm
at the Times Square Arts Center located at 300 W 43rd St.
Below is some of their promotional material. Visit the website to view a trailer and to buy tickets. Undoubtedly, it’s worth it.
This revised and expanded High Holiday Edition responds to present-day issues of the meaning of security, as well as Israel’s relations with neighbors.
An Olive on the Seder Plate is a collaboration between over a dozen Jewish musicians, performers, and artists. The play doesn’t end when the cast takes their final bows, but continues with an optional post-performance dialogue.
An Olive on the Seder Plate presents history, humor, politics and Midrash through a collection of Jewish voices. The production aims to speak to a wide spectrum of audience members, and addresses the realities of anti-Semitism.
An Olive on the Seder Plate is a creative, innovative contribution to ongoing peace and justice work within Jewish communities and beyond. Please join us for a show after this year’s Days of Awe.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, September 30th, 2006
As our elected officials leave DC to hit the campaign trail, late Friday Republican controlled Congress succeeded in pushing enforcement-only immigration legislation to build a 700 mile fence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico through the Senate (after being passed in the House and Bush has agreed to sign) in an attempt to demonstrate why people should feel sound about re-electing them to office.
I worry that they have won over many more than I care to think.
This weekend we prepare for Yom Kippur, and I know this will be heavy on my mind and heart as I move between evaluating my own life, and my relationship to my community and the world–as Rabbi Jill Jacobs eloquently detailed.
On Tuesday, an interfaith coalition of religious leaders, including Rabbi David Saperstein, along with hundreds of Jewish community leaders who sent letters to Representatives across the country, denounced passing enforcement-only legislation.
“People of faith across the country have called for an immigration policy that remembers that each of the 12 million men, women and children who seek a better life in our nation is created in the image of the divine,†Rabbi David Saperstein, who directs Reform’s Religious Action Center, said Tuesday at a news conference in a Senate office building.
He added, “No legislation is better than bad legislation, but just and fair legislation is what is best for all those who live here.†Joining Saperstein were top Christian clerics and senators from both parties.
Listening to his full testimony, and reading letters from Jewish leaders I was moved that so many stand justly on this issue, recognizing how our histories are tied, and continue to be tied to immigration, and how this legislation panders to the worst of electoral politics.
As Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, testified, the fence is “a bumper sticker solution for a complex problem. It’s a feel-good plan that will have little effect in the real world,” he said. “We all know what this is about. It may be good politics, but it’s bad immigration policy. That’s not what Americans want.”
Now I know why I don’t do bumper stickers, and let me tell you, I’m still not sure who is supposed to be feeling good about building a wall that will do nothing except harm more people.
The passage of this legislation is nothing more than false security–a false sense of control. The idea that we must construct large walls that will only continue to breed more hate and violence, rather than honestly reflect on how we are apart of the problem and take steps and measures that acknowledge our involvement in creating a global economy where people must cross borders, with or without papers, in order to feed their families–in order to stay live–is the antithesis, to me, of the spirit of these Days of Awe.
Much to do in the new year–much to do indeed. Much to build–and I don’t mean border fences. Rather, Congress should take cues from groups like PJA who lobbied in support of household workers and support SB 1322–a bill that requires cities and counties in California to identify sites for homeless shelters and transitional housing facilities and remove zoning laws that exclude the building of homeless shelters, transitional housing and special needs facilities in CA’s local communities. While the bill failed passage early in the week, it was passed by the Assembly on reconsideration and then by the Senate and now goes to the Governor.
More to this type of building in the new year.
crossposted to jspot
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
crossposted from JVoices
One of the reasons I love going to CBST is that there is always another perspective, if not from congregants or clergy leaders, than in the various texts that are offered on the holidays. One that I have enjoyed, and that my sister upon visiting for Rosh Hashanah immediately turned to copy, is an interpretive vision of Unetaneh Tokef by Jack Riemer.
Let us ask ourselves hard questions
For this is the time for truth.
How much time did we waste
In the year that is now gone?
Did we fill our days with life
Or were they dull and empty?
Was there love inside our home
Or was the affectionate word left unsaid?
Was there a real companionship with our children
Or was there a living together and a growing apart?
Were we a help to our mates
Or did we take them for granted?
How was it with our friends:
Were we there when they needed us or not?
The kind deed: did we perform it or postpone it?
The unnecessary gibe: did we say it or hold it back?
Did we live by false values?
Did we deceive others?
Did we deceive ourselves?
More »
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Friday, September 22nd, 2006
Fresh commentary coming at you as we bring in a sweet sweet new year.
- Read Daniel’s historical account of the yom kippur ball
- Ariel talks about the difference between living in Seattle and New York for Jewish holidays
- Aaron hits us with humor again in The Akeda
Shana Tovah everyone–a sweet new year to you all!
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
I received many notes today wishing me the coming of a sweet new year–I wish Congress had sent the same.
Rather, it was an atrocious day today on the Hill, as The House voted in support of a federal voter ID bill, H.R. 4844, also known by the PR spin as the “Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006,” and the Senate has moved to build a 700-mile fence along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Why am I not surprised that only 25% of the US population approves of Congress?
I can’t tell you how bad both of these bills are, so let me start first with the twisted attempt at easing the American publics fears of voter fraud, which is really more myth than reality, by instilling the idea that we need to police people at the polls to have integrity in our elections. As the Republican Congress tries to win over voters in pre-election season by being “tough on immigration” through legislation they deem will help prevent undocumented immigrants from casting ballots H.R. 4844 will more likely block eligible citizens from voting.
This actually goes against the grain of many good election reforms that have been won lately on the state level on voter ID, including both Missouri state court Judge Richard Callahan who ruled that the state’s newly-enacted voter identification statute violated the state constitution and enjoined its implementation, recognizing that “the elderly, the poor, the under-educated and those otherwise disadvantaged would confront great, if not insurmountable costs and bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining the documents required to vote.” While Georgia also passed voter ID laws, this is also being challenged in the courts, as judges and advocates alike are aware of the far greater realities in everyday Americans being barred from the ballot box by these measures. The legislation around voter ID all leads up to enactment of the REAL ID legislation by states in 2008.
The facts:
- The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio and the League of Women Voters Coalition found that, while more than 9,078,728 votes were cast in Ohio during the 2002 and 2004 elections, there were only four instances of ineligible people voting or attempting to vote in the state—approximately 0.000044 percent of the total number of votes cast.
- The American Association of People with Disabilities estimates that more than 3 million Americans with disabilities do not possess a driver’s license or state-issued photo ID, the most commonly-accepted forms of identification.
-
AARP of Georgia estimates that about 153,000 Georgia seniors who voted in 2004 do not possess a government-issued photo ID. These Georgians could not have voted had the 2005 ID law been in effect.
- In 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice found that African Americans living in Louisiana were four to five times less likely to have government-issued photo ID than whites. These numbers are likely to have grown in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A large percentage of those victimized by the storm have lost birth certificates, social security cards and all other governmentissued documentation.
And the list goes on and on of point after point which demonstrates how the requirement of a state ID is truly a bad idea, an issuing of a modern day poll tax that will inevitably harbor more harm than good to the state of our democracy today.
So what about the border? Well, I think Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said it best in the article, “We can build the tallest fence in the world and it won’t fix our broken immigration system.” To do that, he said, “we need the kind of comprehensive reform that the Senate passed earlier this year.” And truth remains that until the US takes a good look in the mirror at its international economic and political policies, the waves of people who are forced to migrate due to harsh economic conditions brought on by policies we advocate, including free trade globalization, means this issue isn’t going anywhere.
This is a sad day indeed for a Congress and a nation that believes that safety comes in narrowness, in raising walls on borders, in further policing, in ID cards that will bar potentially millions of eligible voters from the ballot box–looks like this year (not really unlike any other year, but still) Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur should be in the streets.
crossposted to jspot
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, September 16th, 2006
crossposted to JVoices
A personal bend:
I received an email this morning from my mom that was incredibly moving. She told me the synagogue I grew up in and still in many ways consider my shul, Rodeph Sholom, a Conservative Shul in Bridgeport, CT is going to be screening Hineini this evening before the Selihot service. I see this in the larger context, with the change in JTS’ chancellor, and the potential passage of an ordinance for gays and lesbians (yes just gays and lesbians–no BT on this one, partly because it’s different halachically and that’s a lot of what they are looking at and partly because, well that’s how people do incremental reform work and it’s flawed for many reasons on this issue, but anyway) to be ordained this December.
Many synagogues have moving sermons on the night of Selihot to remind us as we move into this time of Elul to think about ourselves and about change. In fact, if you’re in New York, B’nai Jeshurun is having a discussion called “Forgiveness in Extraordinary Times” with South African poet and novelist and poet Antjie Krog According to the website, “Her best-known book, Country of My Skull deals with the Truth & Reconciliation Committee that provided amnesty for perpetrators of crimes committed on all sides during the years of Apartheid.”
So why is this moving for me? Because I didn’t expect it, and honestly didn’t think it would happen any time soon. I knew the potential reach of the film, but still never thought it would cross my childhood shul’s door–not because they aren’t good people, and not because it isn’t an issue, but because it is so invisible there. When I go back to Connecticut, I am usually the only visibly queer person in a large congregation. Not surprisingly, I stand out. This isn’t unique to Connecticut. I still get this in many shuls and, yes, even in many independent minyanim in New York. OK maybe there are five of us, but really unless I go to a specifically gay, and yes I say gay for a reason, shul in NY, it’s the reality.
In many ways, like Shulamit Izen, who is featured in Hineini, I didn’t know that there was a community for me, that there were people like me, and that I would come, in later years, to find much more than just a redefinition or a desire to be seen in my community, but rather a long, deep history of queer and transgender Jews who have been at the center of building Jewish life.
This year my Rabbi is retiring–in fact he has to, the shul requires rabbi’s to retire by a certain time (I can’t remember if it’s because of age or years served). I know that in the past years, he has struggled to move the synagogue to be more egalitarian amidst an old guard that couldn’t deal with seeing women counted as apart of a minyan or wearing tallit. My mom sees this as his attempt to talk with the synagogue about being open to the realities that in their halls are young LGBTQ Jews who want to be there–and because I love my rabbi, I love him for doing it, even as my time has passed and even if it is only a step, a screening since for this shul it is a big step. Even though we disagree on issues like Israel and Palestine and even if I do not know where he stands on the issue of JTS and ordination, I love him because he is where he is, he struggles where he is, he doesn’t pretend otherwise and he meets people where they are to move them–(and an aside he’s always been fiery around issues of poverty and economic justice).
And it is, indeed, a moving reminder of change and growth moving into Elul. I hope all of you have many moments (personal, communal, political and all) like these in coming weeks, months and years.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, September 16th, 2006
Sue Fishkoff JTA has released quite a spread today on how “in order for shuls to “prosper [they] must become more than a glorified bar mitzvah factory,” that includes seven articles discussing the wide varieties of ways people are doing the work today, including bringing the shul to the people in Boston , the question of whether Orthodox shuls are just revitalizing to rethinking the mission of shuls today. Enjoy!
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Monday, September 11th, 2006
crossposted from JVoices.com
Life has been full, but here are a few slices of my favorite media picks as of late:
- Chris Rabb on his genealogical quest to untangle ancestry and heritage.
- Chip Berlet tackles the continued rise of white supremacist groups around immigration
- Guiliani cashing in on 9/11
- wireless feminism?
- I wonder what Blogs of Zion will think of this? Jewish Agency aids Israeli Arabs
- The New York Times had a great editorial today on restoring the right to vote in Alabama
- And speaking of prisons, follow the prison money trail
- Robert Jenson tackles the costs of manliness, but I think Paul Kivel does it better
- Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler, editors of Bitchfest, are on tour this fall–preview Bitchfest by listening to an interview with the editors.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
A little cultural highlight from The Forward:
“At this year’s technical awards ceremony, history was made when Lila Yomtoob, a sound editor on the HBO documentary “Baghdad ER,†became the first Iranian Jew to win an Emmy…
Yomtoob is one of a growing number of young Iranian Jews who — contrary to familial expectations — have made a go of it in show biz…
Yomtoob’s win comes at a time when other Iranian Jews in the United States are also being recognized for their achievements in the industry. Earlier this year, Iranian Jewish film producer Bob Yari’s independent film “Crash†won the Oscar for best picture and generated $93 million in worldwide sales.”
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
From JTA Breaking News:
Activist: ‘Crusaders’ inappropriate in military
A Jewish activist seeking to contain the promotion of Christianity in the U.S. military complained about a fighter squadron that calls itself “The Crusaders.â€
Airmen of the 523rd Fighter Squadron, based at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, “not only have invoked the term ‘Crusaders’ to describe their unit, they use blatantly sectarian religious symbolism on the patches they affix to their uniforms and the official logo of their unit,†retired Air Force officer Mikey Weinstein wrote in a letter to be published this Monday in military newspapers.
The emblem features a cross, sword and armored helmet. Weinstein leads the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which combats evangelism in the military.
Read an interview with Mikey Weinstein on JewsonFirst.org here
Weinstein also brought forward a suit against the Air Force on October 2005. I wasn’t able to find the status of this case in the courts, so if others know, please share in the comment rolls.
{update} i’ve been meaning to find a good way to name drop people for the american way’s new blog called “right wing watch” and then forgot about it…a new blog “where you can stay up to date on the latest tactics and from the Right.”
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Thursday, August 31st, 2006
For those of you who love text study, or just enjoy reading different interpretations of Torah, JVoices has three different readings on this week’s Parasha, which examines the Torah’s prohibition on cross-dressing. For Rabbi Eli Kukla and Reuben Zellman, prohibitions are not always as they appear. Jill Weiss gives a personal account of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish commmunity and coming to understand her identity as a transgender woman and Aaron Freeman provides a little comic relief.
Enjoy!
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
Following on Ruby K’s great post below, the JTA syndicated a piece that recently ran in Lilith magazine called, “Who cleans your home?“:
I am sitting in a Brooklyn diner, having breakfast with Marlene Champion, 61, a tall, striking woman from Barbados. Champion makes her living as a domestic worker, and right now she works as a nanny caring for a 4-year-old girl in Brooklyn Heights. Champion is also an active member of Domestic Workers United, a Bronx-based organization fighting for domestic workers’ rights. In the 16 years since she immigrated here, Champion has worked in four households, all Jewish. With the exception of one family which treated her badly, she says she’s had good relations with all of them…
Some bosses, in flagrant disregard of Jewish teachings and basic consideration, don’t pay their domestic workers on time. “Do not withhold the pay of your workers overnight,†it says in Leviticus 19:13. Or, in a striking lack of empathy, some employers don’t recognize the dire financial consequences to a day worker who may be counting on the next day’s wages to pay the rent, or feed her kids, who gets a call the night before, announcing “I don’t need you tomorrow….
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann of the Brooklyn congregation Kolot Chayeinu devoted last year’s Rosh Hashanah sermon to employing domestic workers, not a usual High Holidays theme. Lippmann cited the story of Sarah and Hagar, whom the infertile Sarah mistreats when Hagar conceives. The Ramban, Lippman said, “says Sarah sinned when she did this and so did Abraham by letting it happen.â€
She added: “When we hire someone to work in our homes, we must see that person as fully human, seen by God. 
“I could see people shifting categories, for the first time,” said Kirshenbaum. “It was like light bulbs going on. These women had thought of their domestic workers as casual babysitters, not as women who were counting on this salary to pay their own household bills. And now, they were suddenly realizing, ‘We are employers and they are our employees, and of course I get sick leave, so why shouldn’t they?’ â€
“There is no shame in hiring someone to work for us,†Kirshenbaum said. “The only shame is in not treating them well.â€
Jeremy Burton over at jspot also wrote on this piece.
Domestic Worker’s United just released an eye-opening study called “Home is Where the Work Is: Inside New York’s Domestic Industry”. The interviews, stories and facts are really a remarkable compilation that will be an invaluable resource for years to come. Both JFREJ and Brennan Center provided employer surveys and interviews for the report, and JFREJ has been working with DWU and is continuing to support DWU’s work in NYC synagogue communities “over the next 2 years through advocating for change in employment practices and educating and empowering members to speak out and educate other members and the community at large about Jewish values and domestic labor.”
If you are in New York, or are a member of a synagogue and would like to work with JFREJ in making this issue a part of the social action and dialogue of your congregation, get involved with JFREJ’s Shalom Bayit campaign. For resources on best employment practice, standard working contract, sample pay stubs or to learn more about Domestic Worker’s rights in New York City, visit JFREJ or DWU‘s website.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Sunday, August 27th, 2006
crossposted from jspot
For the 13th season of Survivor premiering Sept 14th, CBS has decided to split up the teams this year by race. As the Boston Globe so eloquently put, “Maybe they should call it “Survivor: The Race Riots.” Or “Survivor: Sharks vs. Jets.”"
According to Reality Blurred: “After Survivor decided to cast a more ethnically diverse group, and then split them into “tribes” by race (Asian, black, white and Hispanic), the show had to recruit most of the cast, Jeff Probst tells asap’s The Slug. That’s because of the traditionally low number of applications from non-whites that the show receives…We told them nothing about the way we were gonna group them because we didn’t even know that at the time.â€
Traditional media, activists and elected officials have already begun responding, all recognizing the serious problems that separating groups by races on Survivor will cause. A group of New York City officials blasted CBS saying that the setup will promote divisiveness, including City Councilman John Liu who is “launching a campaign urging CBS to pull the show because it could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts.”
And, a group called New Demographic, which “mobilizes people through a variety of media and in-person workshops to work towards an anti-racist future,” has been at the center of responding to this horrible idea by CBS producers to “diversify” the show by using such divisive tactics.
Watch interviews with co-founders of New Demographic Carmen Van Kerckhove and Jen Chau here and here.
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Saturday, August 26th, 2006
As I sat in shul this morning, it was helpful to reflect on the parasha of this week.
As we were called to the Torah for our various work in law, justice and healing, it was helpful to meditate and reflect on a number of things in my life, including the varying responses people had to posting a varied political perspective that was critical of the occupation and war in Lebanon.
Even with my own critiques of the actions, some of which I did include in the posts, some of which I did not, I think the majority response in the posts, which is almost always overwhelmingly negative on Jewschool, was both interesting and heartbreaking. Heartbreaking because I know that when I do sit and talk with many Jews, in varying ways, people in their hearts do not want wrongdoing to happen to others, and have concerns and critiques about the occupation, and of Israel’s policies, yet rarely, in fact hardly ever do mainstream Jewish organizations include these viewpoints.
More »
by Cole Krawitz [➚] · Thursday, August 24th, 2006
Attempting to speak to a broad audience, each of the actions had different target audiences, some of which weren’t Jewish, and therefore reached people differently–some more than others “where people are at”.
Reaching Jews where Jews are at is hard since Jews are all over the spectrum on this issue. The protesters in San Francisco wanted to speak to this. As covered in this article, the SF action was in front of the Jewish Community Federation.
“Samantha Litman, a spokeswoman for the demonstrators, said they were disputing a claim that all Bay Area Jewish organizations promote a blanket policy of supporting Israeli military action. “We’re appalled by what we’re seeing happening in Lebanon and Palestine,” Litman said. “Killing civilians, attacking government institutions and destroying the infrastructure of modern society is an immoral course of action that will ensure security for no one.”
More »
follow us on Twitter
follow us on Facebook
subscribe to our email