tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5981206735185766962024-03-13T22:49:05.324-04:00LilaTovCocktailA blog about northeast Ohio; new & old media; high, low & pop culture; urban family life; Jewish community.LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-12619490062490522662013-11-05T12:49:00.002-05:002013-11-05T12:50:52.183-05:00Thanksgivukkah <br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iu5KGByM5zQ/Unkq-JVO69I/AAAAAAAAD-o/jhcWxr33HgA/s1600/1157648_518618441551870_1820085155_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iu5KGByM5zQ/Unkq-JVO69I/AAAAAAAAD-o/jhcWxr33HgA/s320/1157648_518618441551870_1820085155_n.jpg" width="254" /></a><br />
If you've been online at all this month, you can't have missed reading about Thanksgivukkah -- the newly-minted holiday located at the freak intersection of Thanksgiving and <u>H</u>anukkah this Nov. 28. <br />
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Last year, <a href="http://jonathanmizrahi.blogspot.com/2013/01/hanukkah-and-thanksgiving-once-in.html" target="_blank">Jonathan Mizrahi, a quantum physicist</a> in Albuquerque, did the math and demonstrated (with graphs!) that the coincidence of Hanukkah on the lunar Hebrew calender and Thanksgiving on the solar Gregorian calendar is so rare that it will not happen again until the year 79,811 — and then only if the Jewish calendar is not somehow reset to ensure that Passover remains a springtime holiday. (yes, the Hebrew calendar is slipping, as this <a href="http://jewschool.com/2013/01/17/30051/thanksgivukkah-faq/" target="_blank">Jewschool post</a> explains, in some detail).<br />
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It's all sort of silly, with a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Thanksgivukkah" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> dedicated to the faux holiday and widely-publicized foodie celebrations across the country creating Thanksgivukkah menus -- pumpkin-filled sufganiot in <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/lifestyle/20131027/thanksgivukkah-fever-hits-southern-california" target="_blank">L.A</a>., latke-encrusted turkey cutlets in <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Thanksgiving-and-Hanukkah-together-at-the-4914211.php#src=fb" target="_blank">San Francisco</a>, and online recipes for kasha with smoked turkey, butternut squash in bourbon (<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/modern-manna/.premium-1.553820http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/modern-manna/.premium-1.553820" target="_blank">Haaretz</a>), latkes with cranberry applesauce, Maneschewitz-brined roast turkey, challah-apple stuffing, and roasted brussels sprouts with pastrami and pickled red onion. (<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/thanksgivukkah" target="_blank">Buzzfeed.com</a>).<br />
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The most Thanksgivukkah-est city ever is Boston, where marketing specialist Dana Gitell first coined the term (if you need proof, just visit <a href="http://thanksgivukkahboston.com/" target="_blank">thanksgivukkahboston.com</a>); Boston Mayor Thomas Menino <a href="http://www.jta.org/2013/10/23/news-opinion/video-boston-mayor-pledges-to-issue-thanksgivukkah-proclamation#ixzz2jXAD2436" target="_blank">has promised to proclaim</a> Nov. 28 “Thanksgivukkah Day" throughout the city.<br />
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New England Jews can claim some interesting parallels between the the Pilgrims who settled their part of the country and the Maccabees -- both were, after all, activitists willing to risk their lives for religious freedom. Kol HaLev Education Director Robyn Novick pointed me in the direction of Deanna Mirsky's "<a href="http://thanksgivukkahboston.com/the-truth-about-pilgrims-and-maccabees/" target="_blank">The Truth About Pilgrims and Maccabees</a>," which argues while the Plymouth Pilgrims didn't celebrate <u>H</u>anukkah, they certainly knew about the Maccabees because the Pilgrims as dedicated scholars of Hebrew and Judaica. Mirsky asks us to think beyond turkey and cranberries this Thanksgiving: "Ask <i>'Mi yemalel?</i>' ('Who can recount the brave deeds of Israel?'). And answer: 'They could and did at Plymouth.'"<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1TK0QhayW0w/UnkrROxT0GI/AAAAAAAAD-8/blVgV0nW1Uk/s1600/tee+image+for+fb.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1TK0QhayW0w/UnkrROxT0GI/AAAAAAAAD-8/blVgV0nW1Uk/s200/tee+image+for+fb.jpg" width="200" /></a>Is there something more serious than humor and hype hiding behind this giddy explosion of culinary, scholarly and entrepreneurial energy? (Did I mention the kid who raised money on Kickstarter to produce a turkey-shaped <u>h</u>anukkiah called the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/830273895/the-menurkey" target="_blank">menurkey</a>?)<br />
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I'm thinking that there is, if only because the excitement which has bubbled up spontaneously around a more-or-less random mash-up of Jewish and American cultural narratives feels real. Joking aside, there's a reason Thanksgivukkah has fueled the imagination of Jewish America: it's because it expresses our legitimate pleasure in the good forturne of being a Jew in America, the one place in the Diaspora -- and arguably in the entire Jewish world -- where, it is relatively safe -- OK, even a blessing! -- to be Jewish. <br />
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I'll say it: The U.S. is still one of the best places in the world to be if you're a Jew-- otherwise, we'd all be lining up on the runway to make aliyah, and we're not. And yet, it's no longer really OK to express this degree of unambivalent pleasure in being an American Jew. We're all supposed to want to end the diaspora and go "home" to a place the vast majority of us haven't come from, urged on by an unfortunate trend in the larger Jewish world to characterize American Jews as cowards who lack the commitment to live as Jews in the place where it's really tough to be Jewish -- in Israel. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IFTkZ63geIM/UnkrT9-r61I/AAAAAAAAD_E/fbkA-2pb30g/s1600/63726_402614996485549_749868243_n.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IFTkZ63geIM/UnkrT9-r61I/AAAAAAAAD_E/fbkA-2pb30g/s200/63726_402614996485549_749868243_n.png" width="133" /></a>For generations, the de facto meme of Yiddish and Jewish-American song and literature was the celebration of American as the <i>goldene medina </i>(the golden country, though perhaps it never turned out to be golden in exactly the way one imagined back in the shtetl). In recent decades, however, songs of the golden streets of America have been drowned out by a different tune -- the cultural myth of the State of Israel as the only true apotheosis of modern Jewish life. <br />
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I'm not trying to be controversial, really. All I'm suggesting, is that the wildfire popularity of Thanksgivukkah among American Jews reveals our secret wish to be allowed to be American, to take a break from "Next year in Jerusalem" and celebrate the the fact that right here, right now -- and for some of us, going back several generations -- the land of the Pilgrims has been pretty good to us.LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-4943490898669854012009-10-21T14:20:00.000-04:002009-10-21T14:20:22.629-04:00Public Option: Competition that's as American as apple pie<i>Heather Graham stars as the Public Option in this funny ad, showing how she'll force the lazy, bloated private insurance companies to get back in the game and compete. After all, competition is as American as apple pie. ...</i><br />
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H/T <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=850185704&ref=nf">Mati Senerchia</a>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-16966717575407604272009-09-22T13:20:00.001-04:002009-09-22T13:21:40.336-04:00Public Service Announcement: Will Ferrell & friends tell us why insurance company executives deserve our support!<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" height="400" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf"><param name="flashvars" value="key=041b5acaf5"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><embed flashvars="key=041b5acaf5" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" src="http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="480"></embed></object><div style="text-align: center; width: 480px;"><a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/041b5acaf5/protect-insurance-companies-psa" title="from FOD Team, Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Donald Faison, Linda Cardellini, Masi Oka, Ben Garant, Jordana Spiro, lauren, Drew, and chad_carter">Protect Insurance Companies PSA</a> from <a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/will_ferrell">Will Ferrell</a></div><br />"And I'm NOT being sarcastic."<br /><div class="tag_list"><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Technorati tags: </span><span class="tags" style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/healthcare+debate" rel="tag">healthcare debate</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/public+option" rel="tag">public option</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/consumer+protection" rel="tag">consumer protection</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/economy" rel="tag">economy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/family" rel="tag">family</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/humor-parody-absurdities" rel="tag">humor-parody-absurdities</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/unemployment" rel="tag">unemployment</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Barack+Obama" rel="tag">Barack Obama</a></span></div>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-7620326225712012782009-07-24T19:43:00.013-04:002009-09-22T13:24:27.598-04:00Prof. Gates: A surprising, unlikely arrest suspect<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpZ70CJcNI/AAAAAAAACN8/-OHFKLSZfHg/s1600-h/_46111025_gates_ap226b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpZ70CJcNI/AAAAAAAACN8/-OHFKLSZfHg/s400/_46111025_gates_ap226b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362197190452801746" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpajI9jcRI/AAAAAAAACOE/ayKlTjRGQDw/s1600-h/10-gates-450.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 147px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpajI9jcRI/AAAAAAAACOE/ayKlTjRGQDw/s400/10-gates-450.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362197866085576978" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;"> Gates in a photo in the Harvard Crimson, 2002</span><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><br />Skip Gates' arrest 7/21/09</span> <br /><br />Henry Louis ("Skip") Gates is not a man you'd expect to be in the middle of a confrontation with police, let alone the old-fashioned, unreconstructed "race war" which the wingnuts in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/politics/25gatesblogs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">white blogosphere</a> keep predicting.<br /><br />Read his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates,_Jr.">Wikipedia</a> entry, which rightly describes Gates as a "public intellectual."<br /><br />T<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpdfD3ReUI/AAAAAAAACOU/KrI3hLYV8mY/s1600-h/bondwoman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 132px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpdfD3ReUI/AAAAAAAACOU/KrI3hLYV8mY/s200/bondwoman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362201094532462914" border="0" /></a>he foremost scholar of African-American literature in the U.S., his career has been studded with achievements: he was the first African-American Mellon Fellow; he was the recipient of a MacArthur ("Genius") Award; he revived scholarly and public interest in long-lost slave narratives and began a movement to preserve and archive literary artifacts of African-American life; he's built African-American studies departments at major universities and guided the careers of the specialty's most prominent teachers and scholars.<br /><br /><br />His hallmark has been his subtle and sophisticated explications of race in America and, in particular, in academia:<br /><blockquote>"Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes and maintains that it is 'ridiculous' to think that only blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. He argues, 'It can't be real as a subject if you have to look like the subject to be an expert in the subject,<span style="text-decoration: underline;">'</span><sup id="cite_ref-ref01_0-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates,_Jr.#cite_note-ref01-0"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> adding, 'It's as ridiculous as if someone said I couldn't appreciate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare" title="William Shakespeare">Shakespeare</a> because I'm not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon" title="Anglo-Saxon" class="mw-redirect">Anglo-Saxon</a>. I think it's vulgar and racist whether it comes out of a black mouth or a white mouth.'"<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates,_Jr.#cite_note-3"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates,_Jr.">Wikipedia</a>)</blockquote>Physically, Gates is a small man, dapper, witty, and likable. In public intellectual debate, he typically exemplifies the triumph of reasonable discussion and humor over dogmatism and piety.<br /><br />You can see what he's like if you you watch the PBS miniseries he <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpeW2DwksI/AAAAAAAACOc/r6jimyirFsw/s1600-h/lives.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 96px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SmpeW2DwksI/AAAAAAAACOc/r6jimyirFsw/s200/lives.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362202052899410626" border="0" /></a>co-produced and hosted, <i><a style="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Lives" title="African American Lives">African American Lives</a></i> (2006) and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Lives_2" title="African American Lives 2" class="mw-redirect">African American Lives 2</a></i> (2008). (Gates learns through genealogical research and DNA testing that his ancestry is half white-<span class="mw-redirect">European</span> and also that he is descended from an Irish king called Niall of the Nine Hostages and from the Yoruba people of Nigeria.)<br /><br />In a graduate seminar I sat in on when he taught at Cornell, there were among us two students named Phil, one white, one African-American. On the first day, he turns to one of them and says, "I bet in all your classes you're always though of as 'Black Phil.' Well in here," he turns toward the other Phil with a smile, "you're going to be thought of as 'White Phil' and he's going to be just 'Phil.'" It was subtle, it was funny and everybody loved it, in particular White Phil for whom, I imagine, this acknowledgement of racial dynamics was a relief.<br /><br />I'm sure that there are times when Skip Gates can be as nasty, grumpy, petulant and selfish as the next academic superstar. Especially when he's jet-lagged and locked out of his house. And one of his neighbors calls the police because she thinks he's breaking into his own house (good community watchdogging, but it's too bad she doesn't recognize her neighbors on sight.)<span id="fullpost"><br /><br />For the vast majority of us who only read about the incident -- i.e. everyone who wasn't there -- it's absurd to cast this single incident as a barometer of racial tensions in this country.<br /><br />The online response to the incident from bloggers and anonymous posters on major newspapers' sites has been revealing, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/politics/25gatesblogs.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss">NYTimes</a> reports:<br /><blockquote>Many of the commentators identify themselves by race. Their remarks — raw, heartfelt, confused, and some perhaps offensive — are a remarkable snapshot of how people are viewing the same event through a racial lens.<br /></blockquote>One online response I find particularly baffling is white people <a href="http://www.femisex.com/content/henry-louis-gates-jr-cries-racism-amanda-just-cried">recounting of their own stories of police hostility and harassment</a> as proof that the incident had nothing to do with race. Since they were falsely arrested and are white, they argue, false arrest is a universal American experience (um, scary, very scary) with no racial implications. Thus, they claim, by bringing race into the issue, Gates, and in turn President Obama, "played the race card," by which they mean that they spuriously brought race into an issue with divisive and demogogic intent.<br /><blockquote>"I believe Gates was disorderly and he is making this a racist issue. I find blacks far more racist than whites and will never miss a chance to play the race card." <span style="font-size:85%;">— "Pip", Reader Comments, <i>The Boston Globe</i> July 21, 2009, reported in <a href="http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Arrest_of_Henry_Louis_Gates_Jr_in_Boston_Massachusetts_stirs_up_feelings">WikiNews</a></span><br /><br />"I hate the race card just as much as anyone else..."-- "bill," <span style="font-size:85%;">a <i>Boston Globe</i> reader who went on to say that he did think Gates was the victim of racial profiling. July 21, 2009, </span><span style="font-size:85%;"> reported in <a href="http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Arrest_of_Henry_Louis_Gates_Jr_in_Boston_Massachusetts_stirs_up_feelings">WikiNews</a></span><br /></blockquote>As a white person, I find these white people incredibly scary. They're akin to Holocaust deniers -- how, in the face of so much empirical documentation and moving personal testimony, can they claim that race isn't a genuinely ever-present issue in the lives of African-Americans?<br /><br />They're like the people in that old diversity-training joke who say that we (our company, our country, our country club, etc.) had no problems with discrimination until they (Jews, people of color, queers, etc.) showed up. Or, as a commenter to The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/24/AR2009072400451_Comments.html" title="Washington Post comments">named ravitchn</a> wrote: <blockquote>“O’Bama [sic] he has gone too far in being black; we whites will never trust him again.”</blockquote>The underlying assumptions about race in that statement are just f*cked on so many levels.<br /><br />What's really shocking is the endless supply of incredibly racist comments posted anonymously -- and preserved for posterity -- on the websites of every major newspaper in the country. (The Plain Dealer's are atrocious.)<br /><br />Why are some white people so afraid talking about race out loud, preferring to type out furtive insults at the tail end of any article about an African-American?<br /><br />And why do we (other white people, people of color, journalists, newspaper advertisers, any other interested party) let them get away with it? But's that's a post for another day.<br /><br />Meanwhile, it's ironic that Gates, a man whose professional achievements include conquering a prevailing academic shibboleth of racial determinism and preserving the multiplicity of African-American idea against reductivism, should be at the starting point of all of this.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Smpb-JYdLeI/AAAAAAAACOM/ipGsjya1WLA/s1600-h/Henry_Louis_Gates.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 138px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Smpb-JYdLeI/AAAAAAAACOM/ipGsjya1WLA/s200/Henry_Louis_Gates.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362199429566508514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Gates looked much like this when he was at Cornell in the mid-80s.</span><br /></div><div class="tag_list"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br />Technorati tags: <span class="tags"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Henry+Louis+Gates" rel="tag">Henry Louis Gates</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Harvard" rel="tag">Harvard</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Barack+Obama" rel="tag">Barack Obama</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/online+news" rel="tag">online news</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/racial+profiling" rel="tag">racial profiling</a></span></span></div></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-60345871551538371662009-06-18T11:57:00.001-04:002009-06-18T12:03:50.713-04:00Cleveland Housing Court calls banks to account for absentee landlordism<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Photo: Judge Ray Pianka and his personal bailiff Miriam Ortiz-Rush at a celebration held by ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People),which advocates for homeowners in or on the verge of foreclosure.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3385706412_a79086bc33_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3385706412_a79086bc33_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I first heard about the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court back in 1992, when the current judge, Ray Pianka, was a Cleveland City Councilman and my husband, now a magistrate in Housing Court, was a Housing Court Prosecutor for the Cleveland Law Department.<br /><br />The court in those days was much smaller, and the problems more plebian than they are today. His caseload consisted mainly of landlord-tenant disputes, evictions, people who let their grass grow too long or whose garages were collapsing, and "collectors," those puzzling folk who hoard so much stuff their homes become a hazard. Likewise, there were the "cat people," people who had so many cats --30, 40 -- that their homes became giant litter boxes, to their neighbors' dismay.<br /><br />Once he prosecuted a guy who was keeping a pig in his yard -- and large livestock are forbidden by city codes.<br /><blockquote>"Why, sir, do you keep a pig?" my husband asked the defendant.<br />"Something to do," the urban pig farmer replied, shrugging.</blockquote> Oh, but that was during the reign of Mayor Michael R. White, when Cleveland's neighborhoods were more stable, its housing stock more valuable, and restoration of old houses at its height.<br /><br />That was before Cleveland became "ground zero" for the national mortgage crisis. Before Judge Ray Pianka, longtime advocate for the city's neighborhoods, became judge and expanded the Housing Courts services. As the Plain Dealer explains,<br /><br /><blockquote>Judge Raymond Pianka is at the center of the area's mortgage crisis as presiding judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court's Housing Division. He has made the job into a nationally prominent position, whether he's <a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/cleveland_housing_judge_raymon.html">ordering Wells Fargo to stop selling foreclosed homes</a> or <a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/06/cleveland_housing_court_judge.html">fining companies $1,000 a day</a> when they fail to appear in his court on charges of neglecting their properties.</blockquote>Today's PD offers video of Plain Dealer reporter Sandra Livingston talking with Michael McIntyre about Pianka's actions and the housing crisis. You can watch it <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/news-videos/">here</a>.<br /><br />In addition to the PD, Pianka and the Housing Court's determined, innovative approaches to the problems brought on by the mortgage crisis have featured prominently in the national press.<br /><ul><li> "<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_02/b4066046083770.htm?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories">Dirty Deeds</a>," in BusinessWeek, Jan. 2008</li><li>"<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E5DD1F3FF93BA35750C0A96F9C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=8">All Boarded Up</a>" in the New York Times, March 2009<br /></li></ul>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-19242170172821733372009-06-06T21:25:00.000-04:002009-06-06T21:25:03.403-04:00GD TXTS 10 CMNDMNTS (God Texts the Ten Commandments)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SisWgEXHTJI/AAAAAAAAB6Y/iGxTSeJCAGQ/s1600-h/sistine-txt-msg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SisWgEXHTJI/AAAAAAAAB6Y/iGxTSeJCAGQ/s400/sistine-txt-msg.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photoshopped by LilatTovCocktail</span></i></div><br />
From <a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/6/3quatro.html">McSweeney's </a>Internet Tendency comes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><h1 class="title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times,times new roman; font-size: large;">GOD TEXTS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.</span></h1><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times,times new roman;">BY <a href="mailto:jamiequatro@comcast.net">JAMIE QUATRO</a></span></div><div align="center"></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><div align="center"><span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: times,times new roman;">1. no1 b4 me. srsly. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 2. dnt wrshp pix/idols</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 3. no omg's</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 6. dnt kill ppl </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 7. :-X only w/ m8</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 8. dnt steal</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 9. dnt lie re: bf</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> 10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: times,times new roman;"> </span><span style="font-family: times,times new roman;">M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl. <br />
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ttyl, JHWH. <br />
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ps. wwjd? </span></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-25546048850241683952009-05-20T12:27:00.001-04:002009-06-06T21:27:22.509-04:00New media presents new opportunities: cardsofchange.com<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQsUMzVzSI/AAAAAAAAB5k/6X8wFlFFxTM/s1600-h/cardshare+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQsUMzVzSI/AAAAAAAAB5k/6X8wFlFFxTM/s400/cardshare+copy.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQs_cDrRQI/AAAAAAAAB5s/_iC0HLm8gFU/s1600-h/cardsofchange_beta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQs_cDrRQI/AAAAAAAAB5s/_iC0HLm8gFU/s320/cardsofchange_beta.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://cardsofchange.com/">Cardsofchange.com</a> is sure to be a cheering sight for the recently laid off. It's also a cheering site: a place to share new projects and accomplishments that came into being only because the unthinkable -- unemployment -- happened. The site's founders explain that:<br /><blockquote>Cardsofchange is a place where the glass is always half-full. A destination where all the bad news of the day takes a back seat to stories of individual success.<br /><br />Our mission is to collect as many business cards and stories of positive change of people who have recently been laid off and connect them with new opportunities from potential employers, business partners and people who make the effort to look on the bright side of life.</blockquote>The recently downsized (RIFfed, laid off, terminated) are invited to<br /><blockquote><span style="color:black;">Take your old business card and scratch out your old contact info. Then write in your new email address along with 1 positive change that happened in your life as a result of being downsized. Take a landscape photo and upload it here.</span></blockquote> The collection of cards is just beginning, but there are quite a few creative entries. Some of my favorites:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQvKtGYWtI/AAAAAAAAB6M/CiHwuyfsSo0/s1600-h/change+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQvKtGYWtI/AAAAAAAAB6M/CiHwuyfsSo0/s320/change+4.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQvDKxEI-I/AAAAAAAAB6E/pQa46b9f_Ks/s1600-h/change+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQvDKxEI-I/AAAAAAAAB6E/pQa46b9f_Ks/s320/change+3.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQuyjp84zI/AAAAAAAAB50/314K2B2F3rY/s1600-h/change+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/ShQuyjp84zI/AAAAAAAAB50/314K2B2F3rY/s320/change+1.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><blockquote> </blockquote></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-1115407483337964042009-05-08T23:45:00.003-04:002009-05-20T12:32:56.743-04:00Yo' (Jewish) Mama: Jewish Women's Archive starts Mother's Day image pool on FlikrOn Jewschool today <a href="http://danyaruttenberg.net/">Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg</a> (author/editor of Yentl's Revenge, Surprised by God, and The Passionate Torah) posted a call for user contributions to a new <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewishmothers">Flikr</a> photostream of images of "Jewish Mothers."<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewishmothers">Flikr</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SgT6m7MN8bI/AAAAAAAAB5E/yN8WAHnmzgs/s1600-h/judith+and+the+twins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SgT6m7MN8bI/AAAAAAAAB5E/yN8WAHnmzgs/s400/judith+and+the+twins.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:x-small;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/8431451@N08/">Joyous Jewess</a></span></div><span id="fullpost"><blockquote><h3>About Jewish Mothers: The Way We Were, the Way We Are</h3>In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month and in celebration of Mother's Day, the <a href="http://jwa.org/"> Jewish Women’s Archive</a> is creating a special photo collection on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewishmothers">Flikr</a> about "Jewish Mothers."<br /><br />Photos can show a Jewish mother, now or in the past, in any context -- mothers at home or at work; mothers in the family and in the community; mothers of different generations and family constellations; formal portraits or candid snapshots.<br /><br />How would you like to represent Jewish mothers?</blockquote>Go <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/jewishmothers/pool/">here</a> to see the set and to add images of your own.<br /></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-39948250446323223922009-05-05T12:22:00.005-04:002009-05-05T13:13:11.580-04:00Not too accurate: Fox News now claims it is "fair, balanced, and ACCURATE"(File under: Methinks they doth protest too much)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rmfcfertility.com/files/u1/FoxNews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 70px; height: 68px;" src="http://www.rmfcfertility.com/files/u1/FoxNews.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />It stretches credulity, but Fox News has indeed added "accurate" to the claims of "fairness" and "balance" in its slogan.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ediablo.com/small_art/Faux-News-poster.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 74px; height: 77px;" src="http://www.ediablo.com/small_art/Faux-News-poster.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/4/727832/-Fox-adds-accurate-to-fairslogan">The Daily Kos</a> caught the new slogan in <a href="http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001277/">this new Fox ad</a>. The ad, they say, is genuine (so no, it was not made by <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/index">The Onion</a> or <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/">the Daily Show</a> for laughs).<br /><br />Fox's claim to fairness and balance was already profoundly inaccurate. Add in the claim of accuracy and that makes them, well, just plain old big fat liars.<br /><br /><br /><object height="368" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailykostv.com/flv/player.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="flashvars" value="config=http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001277/vxml.php?448"><embed src="http://www.dailykostv.com/flv/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="config=http://www.dailykostv.com/w/001277/vxml.php?448" height="368" width="448"></embed></object>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-59646068772449311522009-04-30T23:25:00.006-04:002009-05-01T00:04:54.676-04:00Obama's first 100 days: the Facebook feedThe Facebook feed and the twitterstream are a real boon to parodists everywhere. Nothing deflates an important topic quicker than reducing it to one-liners and interpersonal relationships. Poke!<br /><br />Slate.com offers this "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=98720578824&h=x40JC&u=Hf4EL&ref=nf">100 days of Obama's Facebook news feed</a>" by Slate political reporter <a href="mailto:jcbeam@gmail.com">Christopher Beam</a> and assistant editor <a href="mailto:christopher.e.wilson+slate@gmail.com">Chris Wilson</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfpu7zZxhlI/AAAAAAAAB4k/hWDlSIVO4KU/s1600-h/100+yr+facebook+feed1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; height: 439px; width: 462px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfpu7zZxhlI/AAAAAAAAB4k/hWDlSIVO4KU/s320/100+yr+facebook+feed1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330695082636052050" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfpu74DUEZI/AAAAAAAAB40/xK70EQpyGKk/s1600-h/100+yr+facebook+feed3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 461px; height: 180px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfpu74DUEZI/AAAAAAAAB40/xK70EQpyGKk/s320/100+yr+facebook+feed3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330695083884024210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Sorry if these snippets are too blurry to read: take a quick hop over to the <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2217225/">Slate.com</a> to read the entire piece without squinting.LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-82236307851506105052009-04-29T23:25:00.004-04:002009-05-01T00:07:01.569-04:00Sins of Omission: Without any pretense of objectivity, Fox News ignores Obama's presser<span style="font-style: italic;">What I did with Photoshop today ...</span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center; font-style: italic;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkMQCa6q1I/AAAAAAAAB4E/k2jcH5dofTA/s1600-h/fox-rejects-obama-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img style="width: 463px; height: 308px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkMQCa6q1I/AAAAAAAAB4E/k2jcH5dofTA/s400/fox-rejects-obama-web.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />In the same way the GOP seems to be knowingly turning its back on mainstream America, Fox gave the White House the cold shoulder today, <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002894.html?categoryid=14&cs=1">declining to broadcast</a> Pres. Obama's press conference marking 100 days in office. (They chose instead to enrich our cultural landscape with episodes of "American Idol" and "Lie to Me.")<br /><br />It's the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/27/fox-not-airing-obama-pres_n_191954.html">first time</a> that a major news agency declined to air a prime-time presidential press conference. Fox News did send reporters to the presser, but coincidentally, I'm sure, no members of the Fox press were invited to ask the president a question.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfke_ZaT1iI/AAAAAAAAB4M/On8OtefOptY/s1600-h/extramonthly.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 95px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sfke_ZaT1iI/AAAAAAAAB4M/On8OtefOptY/s200/extramonthly.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330325708471522850" border="0" /></a>In the last 100 days, Fox has provided a forum for any vituperative wingnut desirous of attacking Obama, no matter how unfounded the accusation, unproven the conspiracy, or unkind the personal insult. (Take a look at <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php">FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting</a> and their monthly magazine, <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=110">Extra!</a>, for sustained and in-depth criticism of Fox News' tactics.)<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />You can see numerous examples of Fox-sponsored mudslinging over the past 100 days in this video made by <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/29/100-days-of-opposition/">ThinkProgress.org</a>. As the video's creators explain:<br /><blockquote>"On the first 100 days of the Obama presidency, the conservative movement has undergone a period of radicalization. From knee-jerk opposition to the President's policies, to petty insults and conspiracy theories aimed at smearing Obama, to the embrace of the radical tea party protests, the Republican party has responded by lurching further to the right."</blockquote><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xhAanlsKR6I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xhAanlsKR6I&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Where are the Republicans headed with all the demagoguery? Nowhere good. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huffingtonpost/obamas-first-100-days-rep_b_192515.html">During the last 100 days</a>, as the Obama administration worked on bailouts and foreclosures and health care and equal pay and foreign policy <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/29/obamas-first-100-days-10_n_192603.html">and more</a>, the GOP has decreased its support base and the damaged Americans' opinion of the Republican Party.<br /><br />Still, in a two party system, lack of overall equilibrium is disturbing. If Republicans continue to stampede, frenzied as lemmings by paranoia and knee-jerk opposition to anything they didn't think of first, will they take the rest of the country with them of the cliff?<br /><ul><li>The <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/poll.democrats/">CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey </a>released today showed that only 31 percent of Americans approve of how Republican leaders in Congress are handling their jobs, down 13 percent from February.</li><li>Millions of whites who voted against President Obama in November have changed their minds and now support him, according to a <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama/2009/04/29/208882.html">new national poll </a>from Quinnipiac University. </li><li>In a poll of registered voters conducted by the <a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/773/fewer-voters-identify-as-republicans">Pew Research Center for the People & the Press</a> during the first two months of 2008, just 27% identified themselves as Republicans, the lowest percentage of self-identified Republican voters in 16 years of polling by the Center. </li></ul>You wouldn't know any of this from watching Fox News, which is living in a fantasy world of its own making. Media watchdogs like <a href="http://www.mediamatters.org/">MediaMatters.org</a> have a full-time job keeping track of the falsehoods streaming out of Fox News on practically an hourly basis, as demonstrated by the list of MediaMatters.org stories in the category <a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/attacks_on_barack_obama?f=h_hot">Attacks on Barack Obama</a> from just the past <i><b>two days</b></i>:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904290036"> The "<i>Worst Media Moment of Obama's First 100 Days</i>" is...</a> Wednesday, April 29, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904290023"> Rush calls Obama "cold" and "partisan" for commenting on Fox-sponsored tea parties</a> Wednesday, April 29, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904280036"> Limbaugh on Obama's view of American values: "We're not gonna waterboard Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, we're going to murder a million babies a year"</a> Tuesday, April 28, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904280026"> Limbaugh on Obama comment that Al Qaeda not constrained by constitution: "he's basically again saying 'Look, I kind of envy al Qaeda' "</a> Tuesday, April 28, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904280022"> Limbaugh on auto bailout: "Don Obama has made Don Corleone look like Daffy Duck"</a> Tuesday, April 28, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904270039">Limbaugh, Beck assign political motives to response to swine flu</a> Monday, April 27, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904270025"> Limbaugh: Obama is "poison to prosperity"</a> Monday, April 27, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904270023"> Limbaugh says his friend believes "Obama is terrorist attack number 2; Obama is the follow-up to 9-11"</a> Monday, April 27, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904270013"> Limbaugh and friends speculate on who's really "running the show": Axelrod, Soros, King Abdullah, or Alinski?</a> Monday, April 27, 2009 </li><li><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200904270011"> Limbaugh on swine flu: "President Bamster is going to exploit it"</a> Monday, April 27, 2009 </li></ul>Astounding, isn't it?<br />(For more links to media watchdogs and critics, visit <a href="http://stephen.macek.faculty.noctrl.edu/media_criticism_links.htm">Stephen Macek's Media Criticism</a> page. For more on Fox, see Robert Greenwald's "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outfoxed-Rupert-Murdochs-War-Journalism/dp/B0002HDXTQ/ref=pd_cp_d_1/187-7118137-8869549?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=1NYAD6E7PR8GR71FND7F&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=413864101&pf_rd_i=B0017LIDVO">Out-Foxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism</a>.")<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkfLIGTeII/AAAAAAAAB4U/ydd9iGWOMyU/s1600-h/fox+issue.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkfLIGTeII/AAAAAAAAB4U/ydd9iGWOMyU/s200/fox+issue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330325909982640258" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkkZpAJayI/AAAAAAAAB4c/Ail6OVFW4wo/s1600-h/519MGXATKEL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfkkZpAJayI/AAAAAAAAB4c/Ail6OVFW4wo/s320/519MGXATKEL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330331656891493154" border="0" /></a> </span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-85313828316264378952009-04-23T07:00:00.006-04:002009-04-29T23:27:44.465-04:00The future of writing in a readerless world: two takes<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfII1PybhxI/AAAAAAAAB30/KwWVG61cqks/s1600-h/teletype.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfII1PybhxI/AAAAAAAAB30/KwWVG61cqks/s400/teletype.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfBVCIaLXjI/AAAAAAAAB3k/9GX3v8iSvyE/s1600-h/tt28_1_625.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /></a><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Change in language is, however, inevitable, just as it is in all other aspects of reality. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/ruining/#myth"><br /></a><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/ruining/#myth">John Algeo</a>, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/speak/">Do You Speak American?</a> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/ruining/">Language Myth #21 (PBS)<br /></a></div><br />Technology is just evolution by non-biological means.<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://xark.typepad.com/my_weblog/">Dan Conover</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Axioms%20for%2021st%20Century%20Media">Axioms for 21st Century Media</a><i></i><br /><i></i></div></blockquote><br /><br />Before I wrote "<a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfj9f973_13g2mgc7cw">Writing Well for Social Media</a>" (a chapter for the <a href="http://clevelandsmc.ning.com/">Cleveland Social Media Club</a>'s ebook) I began been tracking the jokes about, polemics against, and advice for writing online.<br /><br />Let's leave aside the cranks who claim that "<a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20020919/0157252_F.shtml">Generation Text</a>" is "<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2815461.stm">ruining English</a>" by (wittingly or unwittingly) using texting shorthand in their <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/19/technology/circuits/19MESS.html">term papers</a>. (The <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030303/0155222.shtml">term paper written entirely in "txt spk"</a> and posted to the internet turned out to be a <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080916/1957542289.shtml">hoax</a>.) The research shows that in fact <kids are="" message="" text="" who=""></kids><a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20051031/1836235.shtml"> better writers</a> than those in the past ("using far more complex sentence structures, a wider vocabulary and a more accurate use of capital letters, punctuation and spelling").<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfBVmscKxwI/AAAAAAAAB3s/CRDgduuR8KU/s1600-h/underwood5small.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327852482431993602" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfBVmscKxwI/AAAAAAAAB3s/CRDgduuR8KU/s200/underwood5small.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 82px; width: 83px;" border="0" /></a>Yes, Virginia, the world still does need writers, although the nature of the writing they produce continues to change to meet the needs of the people formerly known as "readers" and now known as "scanners," "<a href="http://www.twitter.com/">followers</a>" (twitter), "recipients" (email), "<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">connections</a>" (LinkedIn) or "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/">friends</a> (Facebook)."<br /><br />Whether the redefined future of the online writer excites or horrifies you depends entirely on your faith in the potential of links, interrelated data sets, mashups and other nonlinguistic tools to provide the depth that bullet points and 140-characters sound bites obviously cannot.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfIJciyfqpI/AAAAAAAAB38/gmwqATev6QQ/s1600-h/newspaperdude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SfIJciyfqpI/AAAAAAAAB38/gmwqATev6QQ/s200/newspaperdude.jpg" border="0" height="70" width="94" /></a>Two recent blogs posts depict the future of writing in a world of scanners. In "<a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/4/20lanham.html">Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era</a>, Robert Lanham mocks new developments, while in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Axioms%20for%2021st%20Century%20Media">"Axioms for 21st Century Media</a>," Dan Conover embraces them. But their visions of the written word's future are remarkably similar. In the future, the word will be referential, decentralized, truncated, and yoked to other media, other ways of conveying information.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />From <a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/4/20lanham.html">McSweeney's Internet Tendency</a> (all emphases are mine):<br /><blockquote>INTERNET-AGE WRITING SYLLABUS AND COURSE OVERVIEW.<br />BY <a href="http://www.robertlanham.com/">ROBERT LANHAM</a><br /><br />ENG 371WR:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era</span><br />Instructor: Robert Lanham<br /><snip><br />Students will acquire the tools needed to make their<span style="font-weight: bold;"> tweets glimmer with a complete lack of forethought, their Facebook updates ring with self-importance</span>, and their blog entries shimmer with literary pithiness. <span style="font-weight: bold;">All without the restraints of writing in complete sentences. w00t! w00t! </span>Throughout the course, a further paring down of the Hemingway/Stein school of minimalism will be emphasized, limiting the superfluous use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, and other literary pitfalls.</snip></blockquote>Among the prerequisites:<br /><blockquote>ENG: 232WR—Advanced Tweeting: The Elements of Droll<br />LIT: 223—Early-21st-Century Literature: 140 Characters or Less<br />ENG: 231WR—Facebook Wall Alliteration and Assonance<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LIT: 202—The Literary Merits of Lolcats</span><br />LIT: 209—Internet-Age Surrealistic Narcissism and Self-Absorption</blockquote>Required Reading: "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Literary works, including the online table of contents of the Huffington Post's Complete Guide to Blogging</span>, will serve as models to be skimmed for thorough analysis. Also, Perez Hilton's Twitter feed." A typical unit:<br /><blockquote>Week 6: 140 Characters or Less<br /><br />Students will acquire the tools needed to make their tweets come alive with <span style="font-weight: bold;">shallow wit. They'll learn how to construct Facebook status updates that glitter with irony, absurdity, and dramatic glibness</span>.<br /><snip><br />Attendance: Unnecessary, but students should be signed onto IM and/or have their phones turned on.<br /></snip></blockquote>Dan Conover's insights in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Axioms%20for%2021st%20Century%20Media">"Xark! Axioms for 21st Century Media</a>" is very Web 2.0, boiled down to pithy axioms presented in a numbered list:<br /><blockqutoe></blockqutoe><br /><ol><li>The present is functionally obsolete.</li><li>For planning purposes, the short-term future <i>IS</i> the present.</li><li>Planning for the short-term is not a strategy. It's like navigating solely by what you can see. </li><li>There is no map, and the future is not predictable. Consequently, <span style="font-weight: bold;">shoot for standard formats (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML" style="font-weight: bold;">XML</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework" style="font-weight: bold;">RDF</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">, etc.) and build products and systems to be adaptable and inter-operable.</span></li><li>Don't build your future on a rock. Build your future on a surfboard. We're not on dry land anymore.</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">Proprietary systems are rocks. Open Source systems are surfboards.</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">Own your data.</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">Think databases, not documents.</li><li><a href="http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/%7Eptw/teaching/ssd/slide1.html">Unstructured data</a> has a value that approaches zero as it ages.</li><li><a href="http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/%7Eptw/teaching/ssd/slide2.html">Structured data</a> is too formal to describe the messy world around us.</li><li style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/%7Eptw/teaching/ssd/slide3.html">Semi-structured data</a> looks like the Goldilocks Zone for news media.</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">The One With The Best Tools Wins.</li><li>Web 1.0 is to the Web as rotary phones are to telecommunication: Rotary phones still work, but they're irrelevant to what comes next.</li><li>The challenge is: Build tools that give humans superhuman abilities.</li><li>Technology is just evolution by non-biological means.</li></ol><br /></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-62430969692664092472009-04-21T13:43:00.014-04:002009-04-24T17:24:10.230-04:00If you've never heard of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), you have now<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6O6Cm0WxEZA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6O6Cm0WxEZA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />My sister said something to me the other day, one of those things that stops you dead and makes you say, "Oh my god, she's right!"<br /><br />What she said was actually commonplace: that most people don't realize how much a special needs child taxes a family's emotional and financial resources.<br /><br />What was earth-shattering was the fact that she was referring to my situation. And she was right.<br /><br />You can't tell from meeting them that my sons have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_processing_disorder">Sensory Processing Disorder</a> (SPD).<br /><br />They're not "special needs" in the sense of having cognitive delays, language deficits or physical disabilities. In fact, they're unusually bright and creative.<br /><br />But at their worst -- that is, at the moments when they're most overwhelmed by their sensory environments -- their behavior becomes disruptive and dysfunctional. They have meltdowns and tantrums, grow irritable, refuse to make eye contact, run away and even, at their most frustrated and overwhelmed, lash out with feet and fists.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />To many people, they appear to be merely extremely ill-behaved boys. Some casual observers conclude that the problem is indulgent parenting. We need to be stricter with them. If we'd just punish them when they run around the store, they'd learn to stay at our side, we're told.<br /><br />And that's how we know our children are not simply badly-behaved: no amount of reward or punishment can persuade them to behave the way we want them to when they're in such moments. Because they really aren't in control of this behavior. In the face of overwhelming physical stimuli, they respond from the autonomic nerve system, going quickly into fight or flight mode.<br /><br />Here's the other way we know that our sons aren't spoiled, undisciplined, and disobedient: when you treat the sensory symptoms, the unwanted behaviors go away. You can do this by changing the environment or by desensitizing the child to the stimuli -- for example, the large echoing auditorium where S. often had tantrums became tolerable with the introduction of earplugs that reduced background noise.<br /><br />The trouble is that it's hard to get people to <a href="http://www.spdfoundation.net/">recognize SPD</a> and to convince the other adults in their lives -- grandparents, teachers, babysitters -- that accommodations, not punishment, is what's needed.<br /><br />For one thing, few people have heard of it. <a href="http://www.spdfoundation.net/aboutspd.html">SPD</a> is sometimes called a "hidden" syndrome because it's not in the DSM-IV (although it's being considered for inclusion in the next DSM).<br /><br />As a result, pediatricians don't look for it and insurance companies don't want to pay to treat it. (The diagnosis is accepted by the <span style="font-style: italic;">Diagnostic Manual for Infancy and <span style="font-style: italic;">Early Childhood Disabilities</span> (2007) and Diagnostic Classification: Zero to Three: Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health in Developmental Disorders in Infancy and Early Childhood</span> (2006).)<br /><br />SPD was the topic of Marguerite Kelly's Family Almanac column in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500938.html">Washington Post</a> with the headline "Neurological Problems May Underlie Behavior":<br /><br /><blockquote>This neurological problem is often inherited, affects one in 20 children and may wreck a child's behavior, her disposition and her relationships with others because SPD can make a child overreact -- or underreact -- to a sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, movement or pain. Her brain simply can't respond to all the messages it gets from the sensory receptors that are in her skin, in and around her mouth and in her inner ear, and this makes her act in ways that annoy others as well as herself.<br /><br />Some SPD children don't know where their bodies are in space, so they are clingy or they hate to be touched or they stand too close to their friends. Others bite holes in their shirts, walk on their tiptoes, talk loudly but hate to hear loud talk from anyone else, or act like they've been bopped with a bat when someone has only given them a light pat on the back.</blockquote><br /><br />And on YouTube, here are more descriptions:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/H0TcXVyORxg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/H0TcXVyORxg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AMTxViXh64w&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AMTxViXh64w&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QDaj4daRWJc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QDaj4daRWJc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oXxWMjPziZs&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oXxWMjPziZs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></span></span><br /><div class="tag_list"><span style="font-size:85%;">Technorati tags: </span><span class="tags" style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/sensory+processing+disorder" rel="tag">sensory processing disorder</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/SPD" rel="tag">SPD</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/sensory+integration+disorder" rel="tag">sensory integration disorder</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/SID" rel="tag">SID</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/autism" rel="tag">autism</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/aspergers" rel="tag">aspergers</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/OT" rel="tag">OT</a></div>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-30944737051624031972009-04-20T11:19:00.010-04:002009-04-21T17:19:09.976-04:00'Insularity and Arrogance' in Northeast Ohio: Has the region's brand gone sour?<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeywT_1RfYI/AAAAAAAAB3I/NL7ls5GjUqk/s1600-h/clevelandskyline.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px auto; text-align: left; cursor: pointer; width: 338px; height: 130px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeywT_1RfYI/AAAAAAAAB3I/NL7ls5GjUqk/s400/clevelandskyline.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326826316871335298" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><blockquote>"Outside an orbit of about 40 miles from Tower City, no one seriously considers <a href="http://www.clevelandplus.com/indexcz.asp">Cleveland+</a> to be a regional brand. People in Akron and Yongstown joke about it, though."<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.i-open.org/">Ed Morrison</a> · <a href="http://www.brewedfreshdaily.com/2009/clevecentrism" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Clevecentrism">Clevecentrism</a><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/Brewed%20Fresh%20Daily">Brewed Fresh Daily</a><br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Maybe I'm the wrong audience, but I've never liked the <a href="http://www.clevelandplus.com/indexcz.asp">Cleveland+</a> brand.<br /><br />For one thing, it had to be explained to me. No, it's not like HIV+, which is pronounced HIV positive. It's pronounced Cleveland PLUS. Plus what? Apparently plus all those other less important cities that don't bear mentioning ...<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />The branding is explained at length on the website.<br /><blockquote>Cleveland+ is an entirely new way to look at Northeast Ohio — as one<br />united region leveraging all of our strengths.<br /></blockquote><br />Focus group testing "in multiple markets and included regular leisure travelers, business site selectors and C-level executives" found that:<br /><ul><li>Cleveland+ works for marketing Northeast Ohio for travel, meetings and conventions, and business. Many of the other names did not.</li><li>Cleveland+ leverages the most recognized city in the region.</li><li>Cleveland+ allows for the linking of our other major cities.</li><li>Cleveland+ provides a memorable icon for marketing materials.</li><li>Cleveland+ has a positive connotation to it. </li></ul>And yet ....<br /><br />The phrase boils Akron, Canton, and Youngstown -- and all the small towns and suburbs in between -- down to a footnote on the main attraction: Cleveland. The implication is that Cleveland will be the epicenter of northeast Ohio's economic future, which directly contradicts the idea of regionalism.<br /><br />I'm sure it was tough to find a good name for the northeast Ohio brand (although Northeast Ohio isn't that bad, is it?) The problem is that regionalism is a complicated concept, involving countless resources and relationships. How to come up with a brand that indicates the richness of the region? And at a moment when regional connections are still in their infancy?<br /><br />I don't know the answer, but I'm certain that Cleveland+ is not the solution. The brand reduces the region down to less than the sum of its parts.<br /><br />And the flawed brand has become an emblem of Clevecentrism: an implicit and unchanging focus on Cleveland as the locus of the area's future.<br /><br />According to <a href="http://edpro-weblog.net/news">community development guru</a> Ed Morrison, reducing the region to nothing more than Cleveland plus enhancements to be named later is arrogant and insular. And insularity is detrimental to the whole idea of creating a region strong enough to compete in a global economy.<br /><br />Morrison comes to the topic by way of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://burghdiaspora.blogspot.com/2009/04/geography-of-cleveburgh-making.html">R2P: Return to Pittsburgh</a> blog by Jim Miller, who argues that TeamNEO's competitiveness with other rust belt regions (like Pittsburgh) weakens northeast Ohio's ability to recognize and nurture existing regional relationships:<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I'm still angry about </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://burghdiaspora.blogspot.com/2009/04/zero-sum-thinking-in-northeast-ohio.html">Team NEO's ignorance</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/16chinaloan.html">the economic challenges facing Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. Team NEO is reinforcing the same dysfunctional geography that birthed the </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://politicsandplace.blogspot.com/2009/04/laying-groundwork.html">obvious gap between Pittsburgh and Cleveland</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> in <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09107/963476-147.stm">President Obama's proposed high speed rail initiative</a>. Framing Pittsburgh as competition ultimately hurts other Northeast Ohio communities, particularly Youngstown.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Surprisingly, at least to me, Pittsburgh leadership seems to appreciate Youngstown's plight better than Cleveland does. </span></blockquote>Morrison agrees and offers as proof the ever-widening gap in per capita income between Cleveland and Pittsburgh over the last decade. He concludes:<br /><blockquote>"Insularity and arrogance impose costs. These costs rise as regional and global economies become more inter-connected.<br /><br />The legacy of this generation of Cleveland’s business leadership is already being written, and the picture is not pretty."</blockquote><br /></div></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-84276828130826310612009-04-15T09:29:00.004-04:002009-04-20T13:51:18.559-04:00Easter / Passover Mashups, Part II: Barbie buys matzah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS5oRmmnOI/AAAAAAAAB2I/WicbK9vmIw0/s1600-h/passoverbarbie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS5oRmmnOI/AAAAAAAAB2I/WicbK9vmIw0/s320/passoverbarbie.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>As I wrote in <a href="http://www.lilatovcocktail.org/2009/04/easter-passover-mashups-part-i-passover.html">Easter / Passover Mashups, Part I: Passover Peep Panoramas</a>, I've always liked the hands-on craftiness of coloring Easter eggs, and although I don't celebrate Easter, I have been known to put out on my seder table a plate of hard boiled eggs bearing brightly-colored eggs shells.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS5vHr3ObI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/2XNECDdQ0o0/s1600-h/streitsmatzos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS5vHr3ObI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/2XNECDdQ0o0/s320/streitsmatzos.jpg" border="0" /></a>So naturally I'm a fan of other mashups of seasonal Jewish and Christian cultural vocabularies, like the <a href="http://jewschool.com/2009/04/13/15880/15880/">DIY Tiny Matzah</a> box for Barbie which<b><a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/"> Hatam Soferet</a> </b>posted on <b><a href="http://jewschool.com/2009/04/13/15880/15880/">Jewschool</a>.<br /></b><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />She writes:<br /><blockquote>To make your own box of Barbie matzah you will need:<br /><ul><li>corrugated cardboard</li><li>ruler</li><li>scissors</li><li>glue</li><li>tape</li><li>pencil</li><li><a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/crafts/matzos.jpg">this scan of a box of matzah</a> (print it at 300dpi)<br /></li></ul>Measure, mark, and cut four pieces of corrugated cardboard 30mm*27mm. Tape them together in a bundle. These are your matzot (hahaha, insert matzah/cardboard joke of choice here).</blockquote>For the complete directions, you must visit <a href="http://jewschool.com/2009/04/13/15880/15880/">her post</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS75UXnZgI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/j2kD7ojPfzo/s1600-h/barbie4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS75UXnZgI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/j2kD7ojPfzo/s200/barbie4.jpg" border="0" /></a><b><a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/">Hatam Soferet</a></b>, aka <a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/about/index.shtml">Jen Taylor Friedman</a> by the way, is the creative mind behind <b><a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/bar/barbie.shtml">Tefillin Barbie</a></b>. A sofer, she's the first woman known to have written a sefer Torah.<br /><br />Take a look at <a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/bar/barbie.shtml">her project</a> and what she has to say about being a <a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/ritual/women.shtml">female sofer</a>. It's all on her <a href="http://www.hasoferet.com/">website</a>:<br /><br />"Tefillin Barbie generated an extraordinary amount of feedback. She featured on <a href="http://jewschool.com/?p=11332">Jewschool</a> and <a href="http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=2789">Jewlicious</a>, on <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/22/orthodox_jewish_pray.html">BoingBoing</a>, in the <a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16696">Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles</a>, on <a href="http://www.ritualwell.org/shabbat/daily/">Ritualwell</a>, <a href="http://www.lilith.org/">Lilith magazine</a> (Winter '06-'07 issue), <a href="http://newvoices.org/cgi-bin/home.cgi?issue=45">New Voices</a>, the London Jewish Chronicle, <a href="http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/columnists/fasman/?content_id=2177">The Jewish Advocate</a>, the <a href="http://www.pjvoice.com/v18/18800parenting.aspx">Philadelphia Jewish Voice</a>, the New Jersey Jewish News, the <a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/between-us-girls/">Forward</a>, the <a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13692">Jewish Week</a>..."</span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-32684581350910405252009-04-14T13:31:00.001-04:002009-04-14T13:37:24.428-04:00Easter / Passover Mashups, Part I: Passover Peep Panoramas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTAXmQw2LI/AAAAAAAAB2g/D1UWiu0DYFo/s1600-h/peeps+seder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTAXmQw2LI/AAAAAAAAB2g/D1UWiu0DYFo/s400/peeps+seder.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size:x-small;">A Very Peeps Passover by Nycole Klein and Chris Patton, placed 32nd in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post</a>'s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2009/04/10/GA2009041001969.html#">3rd Annual Peep Show</a>. "Our Peeps have sat down to a traditional Passover Seder, complete with the requisite Passover Haggada (prayer book), Seder plate, candles, matzo and lots of wine. As an added bonus, the Afikomen is hidden somewhere in the room!" says Klein. </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTB3Ukdj5I/AAAAAAAAB2o/-0whToRnCxI/s1600-h/IlluminatedI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 0.5em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTB3Ukdj5I/AAAAAAAAB2o/-0whToRnCxI/s200/IlluminatedI.jpg" border="0" width="39" height="57" /></a>'ve always liked the hands-on craftiness of coloring Easter eggs, and although I don't celebrate Easter, I have been known to put out on my seder table a plate of hard boiled eggs bearing brightly-colored eggs shells.<br /><br />So naturally I'm a fan of other mashups of seasonal Jewish and Christian cultural vocabularies, like the above panorama of a Pesach dinner attended by Peeps<span style="font-size:small;">®</span>. (Gives the expression "my peeps" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?) <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peeps">Peeps</a></span><span style="font-size:small;">®</span>, if you don't know, are bizarre little marshmallow candies traditionally shaped like little yellow chicks and popular at Easter.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS2iPkoppI/AAAAAAAAB14/knrNZDPyOtQ/s1600-h/peeps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeS2iPkoppI/AAAAAAAAB14/knrNZDPyOtQ/s200/peeps.jpg" border="0" width="148" height="111" /></a><br /><br />According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peeps">Wikipedia</a>, they</span>are made from marshmallow, sugar, gelatin, and carnauba wax, but they have a distinctly unfoodlike texture. In 1999, scientists at Emory University performed experiments on batches of Peeps® to see if they really are indestructable: "They claimed that the eyes of the confectionery 'wouldn't dissolve in anything.'"<br /><br />Their apparent indestructability and their excessive cuteness challenges people to desecrate them, and so many <i>bricoleurs </i>have tried their hands at making Peeps<span style="font-size:small;">®</span> dioramas that newspapers now hold <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2009/04/10/GA2009041001969.html#">annual contests</a>. (These are not to be confused with "<a href="http://peep.peril.org/peepoff.html">Peep Offs</a>," where contestants compete to choke down the greatest number of stale Peeps.)<br /><br /><br />Writing on <a href="http://jewschool.com/2009/04/13/15889/passover-peeps/"><b> Jewschool</b></a>,<b><a href="http://feygele.wordpress.com/">feygele</a></b> called our attention to flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stylecouncil/"><b>stylecouncil1</b></a>'s wonderful <b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17025280@N00/sets/72157600038845249/detail/">Peeps for Passover</a>,</b> a series of photos of the ten plagues as performed by Peeps<span style="font-size:small;">®</span>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTHFntNDKI/AAAAAAAAB2w/qietePwSbDg/s1600-h/blood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTHFntNDKI/AAAAAAAAB2w/qietePwSbDg/s400/blood.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/"></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTHWJ5HuGI/AAAAAAAAB3A/3ThYDAu1toI/s1600-h/locusts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeTHWJ5HuGI/AAAAAAAAB3A/3ThYDAu1toI/s400/locusts.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Chag Sameach Pesach!LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-7341088267345444782009-04-11T12:26:00.003-04:002009-04-14T13:39:23.100-04:00Seder at the White House / Seder b'beit h'levonFrom the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/09/A-Seder-at-the-White-House/">White House blog</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeC836yW10I/AAAAAAAAB1Y/vIa_J5lopKs/s1600-h/seder_hi-res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeC836yW10I/AAAAAAAAB1Y/vIa_J5lopKs/s400/seder_hi-res.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>"President Obama hosts a traditional Seder dinner in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House on Thursday night, April 9, 2009. Some friends and White House employees and their families joined the Obama family. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)."<br /><br />NB: to find out who was gathered around the Obama's seder table, see Chicago Sun-Times columnist L<a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/04/ma_nishtaneh_in_the_white_hous.html">ynn Sweet's "Ma Nishtanah in the White House</a>."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tip o' the kippah to</span> <a href="http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2009/04/10/photo-obama-seder-uses-maxwell-house-haggadah-very-kosher-indeed/"><b>Jill</b> at <b>Writes Like She Talks</b></a> for pointing out that the Obamas and their guests are using the trusty old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_House#Advertising">Maxwell House Haggadah</a>. Used by millions of American Jews over the years, the free Maxwell House Haggadah began in the early 1920s to promote Maxwell House coffee when it became certified Kosher for Passover.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeC-hpgH6pI/AAAAAAAAB1g/G9WC5ORVkUU/s1600-h/maxwellhse.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SeC-hpgH6pI/AAAAAAAAB1g/G9WC5ORVkUU/s320/maxwellhse.png" border="0" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The seder at the White House appears to have been a somber, respectful, traditional seder.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But maybe next year, the Obamas could join the trend and host a more playful, child-oriented seder. Then Sasha and Malia can enjoy acting out the 10 Plagues with plastic frogs, fake blood, sunglasses (darkness) and marshmallows (hail). Like my kids. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><a href="http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs009.snc1/2867_63632977861_661942861_1579455_5540688_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs009.snc1/2867_63632977861_661942861_1579455_5540688_n.jpg" border="0" width="420" height="258" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />Sure, it's goofy. But we had a good time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />And I did <b><i>set a very nice table</i></b>, as my mother would have said, with the nice china and tulips from my own garden. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br /></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-92104746213217373432009-04-08T18:00:00.006-04:002009-04-11T12:38:59.054-04:00Ohio's stimulus & unemployment, visualizedThe brilliant folks at <a href="http://www.mint.com/">Mint.com</a> were looking at the map and tables at <a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/mint-map-stimulus-job-creation/www.propublica.org">ProPublica</a> and started wondering "exactly what percentage of each state’s unemployment problem would be hypothetically solved by the total stimulus package."<br /><br />They came up with <a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/mint-map-stimulus-job-creation/">this map</a>. (Click on images to go to the full-size version on <a href="http://www.mint.com/">Mint.com</a>'s website.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/mint-map-stimulus-job-creation/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 532px; height: 299px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SdyzJhMhyRI/AAAAAAAAB1A/V3MHHrhllRo/s400/stim+by+state.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322325835756194066" border="0" /></a><br /><br />They do warn it is difficult to peg down the actual unemployment rates, referring reader to a previous posting, the recent <a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/a-visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis-unemployment-rates/">Visual Guide to Unemployment</a>. It's entertaining as well as informative, particularly if you fall into the category of underemployed or discouraged workers.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/a-visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis-unemployment-rates/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 512px; height: 495px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sdy0BbumldI/AAAAAAAAB1I/uEsqVm8ZAhU/s400/current+unemployment.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322326796361176530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />According to the graph, Ohio stands to recoup 31% of its lost jobs. If, that is, the laid off auto workers and waitresses and lawyers and journalists can be retrained to lay blacktop.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/mint-map-stimulus-job-creation/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 231px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sdy0lczex9I/AAAAAAAAB1Q/AOZvmzFp7DA/s400/stim+by+state2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322327415125362642" border="0" /></a></span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-64513523321744775632009-04-08T09:58:00.004-04:002009-04-08T10:13:02.395-04:00This morning's Birkat Hahama (blessing of the sun)<span style="font-style: italic;">Birkat Hahama</span> is a rarely talked-about (and rarely occurring) blessing that gives thanks for the creation of the world. It occurs every 28 years when, the Talmud says, the sun reaches the same spot in the firmament as when it was created.<br /><br />In Cleveland, at 6:30 a.m. this morning, Kol HaLev held a The Blessing of the Sun on the grounds of the Mandel Jewish Community Center. I couldn't go, but I hope someone posts photos soon.<br /><br />In Israel this morning, 50,000 people took part in <span style="font-style: italic;">Birkat </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Hahama</span> at Jerusalem's Western Wall. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SdyufnPCRmI/AAAAAAAAB04/e90xkIardmw/s1600-h/Satellite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 526px; height: 649px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SdyufnPCRmI/AAAAAAAAB04/e90xkIardmw/s400/Satellite.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322320717776307810" border="0" /></a>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-49213823703717605962009-04-06T18:00:00.000-04:002009-04-07T12:51:37.180-04:00Your caption here.Can anyone provide a caption for this photo?<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sdp6eUNjTvI/AAAAAAAAB0w/3VATIYke96s/s1600-h/bush+in+satin.php"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sdp6eUNjTvI/AAAAAAAAB0w/3VATIYke96s/s400/bush+in+satin.php" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321700570931875570" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br/><br /><br />H/t to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=569116338&ref=nf">Alvis Dunn</a> and photo credit to <a href="http://letsgoeverywhere.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/silkysmooth.jpg">letsgoeverywhere.</a>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-64020047911158656562009-04-06T11:13:00.002-04:002009-04-06T11:22:54.592-04:00Parody: "Flutter" is like Twitter, bt shrtr.A short parody of precocious attention-disabled geeks explaining their new social media company, Flutter.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BeLZCy-_m3s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BeLZCy-_m3s&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />h/t to Jack Humphrey at <a href="http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/twitter-is-dead/">Friday Traffic Report</a>.LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-66254464375598492172009-04-04T21:00:00.002-04:002009-04-11T12:29:02.017-04:00Passover song gets whimsical with matzah<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xMSEFCQCKPo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xMSEFCQCKPo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Tip of the kippah to Jill at <a href="http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2009/04/03/video-what-do-jews-do-passover-2009/">Writes Like She Talks</a>.LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-74157083151061160092009-04-03T21:19:00.000-04:002009-04-11T12:33:13.306-04:00Facebook Haggadah<div style="text-align: left;"></div><br />
How long until Haggadah parodies outnumber serious ones?<br />
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<br />
My all-time favorite is still Michael Rubiner's <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2139601/">Two Minute Haggadah</a> (subtitle: A Passover Service for the Impatient).<br />
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But this <a href="http://9a4440c5.fb.joyent.us/haggadah/ultraModern2.php">Facebook Haggadah</a> is good too. Here are some screen shots:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda1AMqbDDI/AAAAAAAAB0o/6Mcxyo27oqE/s1600-h/Facebook+Haggadah3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda0c8FhgdI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/fxQr4g0PG-Y/s1600-h/Facebook+Haggadah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda0c8FhgdI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/fxQr4g0PG-Y/s1600/Facebook+Haggadah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda0c8FhgdI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/fxQr4g0PG-Y/s400/Facebook+Haggadah.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda1AMqbDDI/AAAAAAAAB0o/6Mcxyo27oqE/s1600/Facebook+Haggadah3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/Sda1AMqbDDI/AAAAAAAAB0o/6Mcxyo27oqE/s400/Facebook+Haggadah3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-56748021631245065082009-03-11T20:20:00.004-04:002009-03-11T20:45:37.731-04:00Newspapers: what happens when there's nothing left to cut?<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhRENlySDI/AAAAAAAABzo/g-p4mIcgQLY/s1600-h/newspaper+death2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312084893292972082" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhRENlySDI/AAAAAAAABzo/g-p4mIcgQLY/s400/newspaper+death2.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; height: 226px; text-align: left; width: 232px;" border="0" /></a></div>When the human body runs out of runs out of glucose and fat to burn, it will burn muscle, tissues and organs. While preferable to immediate death from starvation, this catabolic state is hardly ideal -- no one can get stronger, smarter or more efficient when they're losing crucial biological capital.<br /><br />And no media outlet has been able to put out a better newspaper once it began burning through crucial human capital.<br /><br />I can't fathom how industry executives could have expected any other <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhZCS9UyII/AAAAAAAAB0I/mArlMPLLsnA/s1600-h/when+newspapers+mattered+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 142px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhZCS9UyII/AAAAAAAAB0I/mArlMPLLsnA/s400/when+newspapers+mattered+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312093656467163266" border="0" /></a>outcome: if you have few writers and reporters, you have less time for in-depth coverage, fact-checking and polished writing. Reducing the editorial pool limits your outreach into the community you cover, so you miss more stories and disappoint more readers.<br /><br />Newspapers that cut editorial staff are slowly starving themselves to death. They'll still fail, but it will take longer and they will lose more money before it happens.<br /><br />And so I was delighted to read on the <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/03/los-angeles-times-editor-chats-about-cuts-in-his-newsroom-with-predecessor-who-resisted-them/">Neiman Journalism Lab</a> website this quote from Jim O’Shea, who was <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-oshea21jan21,1,362429.story">fired</a> as editor of The Los Angeles Times in January 2008 for resisting staff cuts.<br /><blockquote>I long thought that the only way that you’re going to survive in this is you have to invest something in journalism.<br />...<br /><br />You know, people have to understand something: newspapers are a manufacturing industry. And there’s just, at some point, you’re gonna cut it to the point where you won’t be able to get the thing out the door because you don’t have enough employees. And they’re getting dangerously close to that point right now, and I think that people like Russ have to struggle with that everyday. And it’s quite a struggle, but I think you’re getting to a point where, you know, newspapers are going to be a different industry, and they aren’t going to be able to produce the news that’s vital to a democracy if this continues.</blockquote><br />I'm not sure what kind of divine or karmic retribution is owed to newspaper CEOs, publishers and business managers who've spent the last five years ignoring their editorial and art staffs' input about new media.<br /><br />At the very least, they should lose their own jobs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div>But surprisingly, few have. Reporters, editors and designers have been laid off in the hundreds; newsrooms have been retrenched.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhSmEK87YI/AAAAAAAABz4/qdLPQwV0FrY/s1600-h/read+paper5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbhSmEK87YI/AAAAAAAABz4/qdLPQwV0FrY/s200/read+paper5.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />But most newspapers' executive structure and decision-making process remains unchanged, even as the papers stumble and fail, even until the day the presses shut down and the doors close.<br /><br />(To read the entire interview with John O'Shea -- and the editor who replaced him at the LA Times -- read <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/03/los-angeles-times-editor-chats-about-cuts-in-his-newsroom-with-predecessor-who-resisted-them/" target="_blank">O'Shea: "People have to understand something: newspapers are a manufacturing industry"</a><i> </i>at Nieman Journalism Lab)<br /><br />Related posts:<a href="http://www.lilatovcocktail.org/2008/10/newspapers-can-this-industry-be-saved.html"> Newspapers: 10 reasons they can't be saved</a><br /><i></i><div class="tag_list"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Technorati tags: <span class="tags"><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/newspapers" rel="tag">newspapers</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/fail" rel="tag">fail</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/journalism" rel="tag">journalism</a></span></span></div>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-598120673518576696.post-6217894030483783022009-03-09T19:21:00.007-04:002009-04-11T12:32:30.001-04:00Chocolate hamantaschen & other 21st century marvels<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >(A modified version of this post appeared in the <a href="http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2009/03/06/features/holidays/jewish/purim/doc49affba70c1a4063384790.txt">Cleveland Jewish News</a>, 03/06/09)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbW4y-aclUI/AAAAAAAABzg/cDeK8UUDXGg/s1600-h/max-as-haman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 186px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_op-mt1KWQDc/SbW4y-aclUI/AAAAAAAABzg/cDeK8UUDXGg/s400/max-as-haman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311354521440261442" border="0" /></a>For Jews of a certain age, hamantaschen – three-cornered cups of dry cookie dough traditionally filled with dollops of dense, sticky poppy, prune or apricot – are what <span style="font-style: italic;">madeleines</span> were to French novelist Marcel Proust: reminders of <span style="font-style: italic;">temps perdu</span>.<br /><br />I've always suspected that real pleasure found in hamantaschen was more nostalgic than culinary. For many Jews, hamantaschen remind us of a time when the Jewish community was more tightly knit, geographically, children grew up with nearby or live-in <span style="font-style: italic;">bubbes</span> who baked traditional foods for every Jewish holiday.<br /><br />Because the truth is this: there are some truly terrible hamantaschen out there. Dirt-dry, with filling that's too thick to chew. My own dear Grandma Gussie made a dirt-dry poppy hamantaschen that had to be washed down with a quart of milk.<br /><br />Today, Jewish children expect holiday sweets to be, well, sweet. Super sweet. And filled with chocolate.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />And so Jewish bakeries, preschool classes and hip grandmas started turning out hamantaschen filled with chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff or pieces of candy bars. A check of online cooking blogs and recipe archives will yield dozens of hamantaschen recipes so sweet they'll make grown-ups' teeth ache just think about them.<br /><br /><br />The recipe below is adapted from several found online. Sure, chocolate hamantaschen don't look like you'd expect a hamataschen to look, but they still provide an opportunity to talk to kids about Haman, Esther, and the rest of the Purim gang.<br /><br /><u>Chocolate Hamantaschen Dough </u><br /><br />3/4 C unsalted butter or pareve shortening<br />3/4 C sugar<br />2 large eggs<br />1 t vanilla<br />2-1/2 C flour<br />1 t baking powder<br />pinch salt<br />1/4 C cocoa powder<br /><br />In large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder and mix until a ball of dough forms.<br /><br />Divide the dough and shape into two logs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.<br /><br />Once the dough has chilled, roll out one section about 1/4” thick on a well-floured workspace. Use a cutter to cut approximately 3” circles.<br /><br />Place approximately 1 t of a filling of your choice in the center of each section. Bring three sides of the dough together to make a triangle. Pinch the three corners together and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.<br /><br />Place in a preheated 350° oven for 9-12 minutes, until the bottom turns golden.<br /><br /><u>Easy fillings for chocolate hamantaschen</u><br /><br /><ul><li>Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups</li><li>Hershey’s Kisses</li><li>Nutella spread</li><li>Marshmallow fluff <span style="font-style: italic;">(I confess I've never tried this)</span></li><li>Chips from the baking aisle: caramel, peanut butter, and white or dark chocolate</li><li>Slightly crushed M&Ms or Junior Mints</li></ul>I overheard kids talking about using crushed Pez for filling (they're kosher, you know), but surely they were only kidding -- right? </span>LilaTovCocktailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08815904535036159055noreply@blogger.com2