i'm sorry, prep was a best book of 2005

the rest of the field must really have been crap!

someone signed an email to me today PL&A which i can only assume means: peace love and anarchism. ok dude.

what the fuck happened to blind tiger ale house?

i was walking to the train from wxou/a 30th b;day party and taking a little trip down my first year/month in new york memory lane-which involves the blind tiger when i looked over to see it is closed. what the fuck?!

also. had a celebrity sighting where i even saw the celebrity but someone had to point it out to me-um yeah pretty much she's my favorite and the only one i'm interested in seeing-julia stiles!

the sun also rises/got asked to play by a multi-lingual jewish guy with great eyes***

reading it, not loving it. supposedly it gave voice to the lost generation. but since that time i think there has eternally been a lost generation, its ses level has just widened a bit to include those a bit farther down the rung in the upper middle class lifestyle. and it has been written about continually ever since. the beat generation, brett easton ellis, every author today, although i am having trouble picking a specific one. but i thought a good comp lit paper would be comparing the sun also rises, on the road, and a red light winter (play by adam rapp) and basically saying how they are all the same. but maybe that's not what comparative lit does, i have never really been sure. but in any case it feels good to have read two books in a week, since i can't tell you the last time i read a book at all. and the sun also rises was referenced in the last book i read (fun house by alison bedchell- didn't love the spiraling it kept doing. laying out the plot and then coming back and filling in details fine, but it didn't need to spiral so much, each circle could have been more filled out. and it was just another showing that everyone's story is worth telling its just a matter if you are a decent writer if it gets put to paper or not. the advent of the printing press helping along the great american novel or in the case of these days, memoir) and there was a believer article about it. so i picked it up. in the immortal utterance of brand ave-meh.

thinking about killing this site. there are about 4 people who use it for updates on my life (maybe more, but 4 in my mind) that it seems worth keeping it up for, but really i should just be in better contact with them anyway. and do i need to let the rest of world into my life and thoughts. of course its not me passively letting them in, by writing and posting and telling people the url i am actively inviting them in. but maybe not in a healthy way. and maybe its not great that this can be found on google. and the discourse about all of my ideas is so much clearer and more poetic in my head than it turns out in these series of translated 1's and 0's. i dunno, do those of you out there that read this that i don;t know about, i'm not being vain in assuming that happens right? what do you kids think. keep it, or i reveal too much.


***he of course happens to be 3.5 years old and obsessed with the fact that he can go to the bathroom on his own now. still a little sad i couldn't stay and have a play date.

foiled

in my attempts to be arty. the galleries i went to in dumbo yesterday-powerhouse arena and smack mellon-were both closed for installation of new shows (one of which i already know i don't want to see, video is so not my thing) and i've missed the ny art book fair. sad.
off to give a tour of the synagogue and then coffee with dr dr.
and a serious paper fuck me.

now spitzer watches over me literally and figuratively

thanks to a post card from slip and slide buddy on my newly installed magnetic bulletin board.

i'm not into the proposed burka ban in the netherlands. this doesn't seem like the answer to me.

i really like the smell of old spice deodorant. yum. i miss knowing a guy's smell. my roommate gave me a shirt which i've been wearing today and quite pleased with my smell.

the going just got tough

and unsurprisingly i want to get going...out of the situation. i hate being asked fair questions for which i don't know the answer. but i should. esp when they are hard questions and i should have had the answer already.
arg.

poll

this didn't happen to me-that would involve there being some guy in my life- but to a friend's sister. would you be offended at this comparison? i was. my friend didn't take it like that at all.


she's a van gogh, but i'm looking for a Rembrandt

in nyc there is no tax on periodicals

but there is a tax on books. i don't get it. i'm also having a hell of a time finding an immiscible liquid puzzle to use as a prop for my classes. hello people-density and displacement at work in a visual.

picked up the latest believer at blue stockings today. i'm not loving this month's color scheme. or that they put a price tag on it that could have blemished my cover. i keep believers the way that other people keep national geographics.

saw one of the bait (Buenos aries in translation) plays this afternoon. it was good and well done, although i didn't totally get some scenes and even though the two characters left alive at the end were wildly optimistic about the possibilities of sibling love and living out in the woods it was rather depressing. but it felt good to see a performance, it had been way to long.

parent teacher conferences tomorrow. i'm intimidated. ouch.

last night's itunes purchases: you spin me round, funkytown, carry on wayward son, and tainted love

yesterday at lunch looking at a friend's bookshelf full of books, i've read, chosen not to read, heard of and had no idea about including several that i had serious feelings about i thought i should start a project where i wrote down the titles on random shelves of people i come in contact with and my initial reactions to each title. but even i would be bored and wouldn't care about that project.

oh yeah, i'm on a satmar boycott

because if you are going to be willing to break, and call on others to break one of the big 10 commandments (though shalt not kill) and spit on my roommate because she is queer than your businesses do not deserve my money. (as i rarely go to williamsburg, by cameras, or diamonds this should be easy, but still) so not fucking ok. and why does a group that doesn't even believe in the state of israel care if there is a pride march in jerusalem?

the annie lebowitz retrospective was REALLY disappointing

she is possible my fav photographer ever, i have loved her for eons. and the photographs are great and can almost speak for themselves. but the show had no curatorial voice and gave me no insight into her, her process or her works. it didn't get a good review in the times and i can see why. she wrote almost all the wall text and i don't know that i would have arranged the photos in the same way. but the ron mueck exhibit was fabulous. his sculptures are so eerily lifelike sometimes even though it is impossible they could be, like like 1.5 ft tall old ladies in fabulous coats. the wall text commented on how we usually 'look' at sculpture, but these pieces we 'watch' because we are mesmerized and are waiting for them to move or communicate with us. its a crazy meticulous process of making them too. he used to make puppets for jim hensen and sesame street.

have you heard about the 365 thing for the susan lori-parks plays and premieres happening Simultaneous all over the country for the next year starting today. she wrote a play a day for a year and now 52 companies on each of the hub areas and there are a bunch are putting them all on for free. certainly most of the plays will suck, but i think it is a fabulous idea. sometimes the public still puts out some cool stuff

was so not into being at the service i was at today, but was invited to lunch afterwards and felt i should go b/c this is the one saturday i have off til may basically, at least when i'll be in town.

i've had other things to say this week but i can't remember. i had my first confrontation with a parent over a kid's behavior. its not yet over, we'll see how it end. parent conferences start monday. yikes. i wish i could get a haircut on monday but they are closed. i will need one before i see my mom again. no word from the israeli so i guess i'm not extending my ticket.

santorum is gone

i kinda can't believe it! PA i may have faith in you again.

my man spitzer won unsurprisingly.

VOTE!!

[as an aside M.K. called dave egger's new book, "a startling act of literary ventriloquism" what does that mean? as much as i heart mcsweeneys or at least some of their stuff i'm uncomfortable with M.K. loving the post-modern self-referentialist so much]

GO VOTE! polls in new york state are open 6am-9pm.
despite the fact that he may have knowingly broke the law, many many politicians do, i am voting for alan hevesi 5 years ago he got my vote for mayor and i think he has a pretty good record and is into good causes.

November 2, 2006
11 Cheshvan 5767


Dear Friends,

We are writing to you about an urgent situation. As many of you may know, the Gay Pride March in Jerusalem in June 20005 was marred by violence when a member of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community broke into the march and stabbed three participants. This individual been put behind bars but the larger Orthodox community is now threatening more widespread violence as this year's march approaches on November 10th. Our partner agency, the Jerusalem Open House (JOH) is the guiding force behind this event of pride and tolerance. The police in Jerusalem have said that this will be the most heavily secured event in the history of the state of Israel. Over 7000 policemen are being called upon to protect members of the LGBT community.

Noa Sattath, Executive Director of the Jerusalem Open House, has told us:
“An organized campaign led by (mainly Jewish, but not only) fundamentalist religious leaders is well under way. The riots against the march have already begun as thousands of Ultra-Orthodox extremists are blocking roads, torching tires, and throwing stones. The riots continue daily and are expected to get worse as the March approaches. The current situation, in which a violent group is pulling all of its weight in order to silence and deny the basic rights of another group may set an extremely dangerous precedent for freedom of speech and the rule of law in Israel.”

In light of the extremely volatile situation, the police requirements for private security measures (security measures that must be funded by the Jerusalem Open House) have increased dramatically. These security measures include fencing of the route of the march, establishment of a field hospital to treat participants who might be injured by extremists, a large private security force, and many other aspects. The huge security costs have completely exhausted the budget of the Open House. We, as Jews, cannot stand by while our sisters and brothers at the Jerusalem Open House are forced to the edge of bankruptcy for trying to fulfill the basic right to safety, dignity and freedom of speech in their homeland.

In the next week, CBST is launching an urgent fundraising drive to raise $25,000 for the Jerusalem Open House. The only way to raise such a significant amount of money in such a short period of time is bit by bit. Whether you can contribute $100 dollars individually, or join with others to raise $100 collectively, every donation is crucial in our drive to ensure the survival of the Jerusalem Open House in these dire times. Donations to our "Jerusalem Open House Emergency Fund" can be made via this link or by sending a check to the CBST office with the designation "JOH Emergency Fund". 100% of the funds raised will be used for costs generated by the anti-gay rioters November 10th.

Thank you for your support of the Jerusalem Open House, freedom of speech and the rights of all people to peacefully assemble. Your support can make a difference in the world right now.

B’virkat shalom,



Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum Eric Rosenbaum, CBST President
www.cbst.org

For more information on the events unfolding in Israel, please see the links on the following page.

Links to articles about the Jerusalem Gay Pride March:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321178,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321454,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321676,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3322116,00.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=114225
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=114335
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3319767,00.html
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/11/01/2

wers children's hour is possibly the best radio show out there

the sunday midday mix on wyep is pretty good to. but the playground just makes me so happy.

its pretty great that i got paid to go and hike (although extremely baby hike) upstate on a gorgeous day today. i am doing what i said i wanted to be doing several years ago, that's pretty damn cool i think.

of course i have no real full day off until friday and am seriously behind in a class and not seeing my friends/getting enough sleep. but you know what i sleep and i'm not a total hermit, i just haven't been to a gallery in ages, and i'm pretty happy with where i am/what i'm doing. and i quit tutoring the brat. sad no more moolah from that.

um, who called me at 7:40 this morning?

dude, my one day to sleep and my alarm was set for 10 anyway...

funny and sad how quick i am to blame myself for shit that i don't even know what is up and assume its my fault.
i got two calls this week with unexpected i need to talk to you tone messages, and they had nothing to do with me, i mean they did but not in anyway that i was in trouble like i had assumed.

so much work, so little time and i;ve agreed to have a stupid one on one with this woman who i think is going to drive me crazy. i'm giving her 45 minutes max and then going to buy more hair gel, seriously in our phone conversations i've had to hold the phone away from my ear. and she is so chipper, i have no patience for chipper

got the paperwork for leading up north, yes i get its a trip for 400 college students and then some of us random people, but the contract is treating me like i'm 17.

my halloween was spent in an empty bar in times square tying to come up with art activites to be done in zoos

without supervision. to be honest that's ok with me. i kinda hate halloween. and yesterday on the train it felt like maybe the holiday just gives people an excuse to go over the top. it was nice to work in a school that doesn't recognize it. although i did want to strangle a student after she 'ta ta'ed me at the end of a conference.

today is hoya's bday. happy bday hoya. welcome to 28. it would also be frank little's b'day. except he's dead. shot by teenagers in squirrel hill walking home from the cage a couple of years ago. that is so crazy on so many levels. both frank and hoya were big people in my high school lives, in very different ways. i'm glad that hoya is still in my life, and i hadn't been in touch with frank for almost a decade but its crazy he's not even around to wonder about anymore.