Habitus Magazine: A Diaspora Journal
Habitus Magazine is a new, international journal of Diaspora literature and culture. Our focus is the Jewish experience in the Diaspora, and Diaspora as a universal experience that mirrors and invigorates our own. Emphasizing literature, photography, criticism and reportage, our goal is to explore the lives of Jews and others in various locales around the globe.”
For those readers in Israel, please come to Habitus’ release party on April 14th. Free drinks, music and readings.
The Habitus site was superbly designed by JewSchool’s own Mobius.
awesome awesome awesome
I think there is way too much attention on Israel (its almost a fetish). Focusing more on Jewish culture and lives around the world shows the international spirit of our people – not confined to states or borders.
ITs not a Fetish, its in your Soul, It is the Epi-center of Jewish life…Hence why this little strip of scrubland occupies so much of the worlds attention, and headlines…. I could easily name 10 conflicts of greater proportion yet the worlds attention lies in Israel…
There can be no greater proportion, to an ideological adherent of post-colonialism, than what they choose to perceive as the reversal of human progress away from colonialism. Cf the fear that a resurgence of state genocidal anti-semitism is harbored in three inches of graffitti, and someonbe saying, “come on, there’s bigger graffitti…”.
Also, once decades ago the Arabs got pissed enough to remind everybody about that black heroin they sit on: when did Tibet or Chiapas or the Sudanese do that?
And to be completely extraterrestrial: there is this chauvenist, paranoid streak which dictates (in keeping with Zionist and racist thinking) that people cannot be happy abroad, that everybody everywhere hates Jews and the answer is to bend to the hate and move away, assimilation can never work, etc, and one thing that is always a happy surprise is the sheer variety of places, like China and Central America and the Pacific, where one can find a minyan.
Jelly Man,
What exactly are you saying? What do you mean by “greater proportion” in that sentence? I’ve read a lot of your posts, and your diction and syntax always confound me.
As for your extraterrestrial comments – the Jews are truly damned whether they do or don’t. Even if you believe that anti-Semitism can be eradicated, I think it’s nice that we have another option available…you know, just in case. It’s not like we haven’t tried for an awfully long time to be “happy abroad.”
More importantly: the magazine looks good! Good luck with it and thanks for sharing the web preview.
What does DiGiTal mean by “proportion”? Sheer numbers? Strength of the respective sides, or the degree by which it is unfair?
I have to say, I concur with daniel. There is a bit of an Israel obsession in our community. I’m glad to see the launching of “a diaspora journal”. However, I do think its a bit ironic that the release party is in Israel. Unless of course, that is a statement about how Israel is also diaspora until the coming of the messianic age (but somehow I doubt thats what’s going on).
Er, it’s possible that having a release party in Israel and celebrating diaspora means that the folks involved don’t have a paranoid either/or axe to grind. This ain’t a zero-sum game, peoples.
what I meant was by proporition, is sheer numbers of people involved, higher death tolls, savagery of opposing side, etc. Ya I didn’t really get K&Y’s post either, glad I am not the only one hehe
I think having a diaspora Journal is great. And I think mobius did a *great* job with the design — it’s not 100% his sty-lo, but it definitely has a graphic design voice that’s unique and smart.
However, let me restate my sentence above: I think have a diaspora Journal with a SHORT TIME HORIZION is great. Because if your diaspora journal had a long time horizon, it’d have to include the many thousands of attrocities, both state-sanctioned and individual, inflicted upon the Jewish people. Sure, the diaspora created some great elements of Jewish culture: Yiddish, Chocolate covered Matzoh, Maimonides, and Shmuley Boteach. But most of those also come with the punchline of “and then they killed us…” The diaspora is great for the Jews, until it’s really really (“would you like to be expelled from your country or burned at the stake?! ok, bye!) bad for the Jews.
uhh, Zach, where does it say the Diaspora is over? Why would this not be a current-events thing?
But it is nice to see the ideology-dictated view of absolute paranoia we were not making any sense about really is all in our heads.
No, no, he’s saying it is a current-events thing. That’s what “short time horizon” means.