Read the article “8 Things NEVER to Say to a Mixed-Race Colleague” and then you’ll understand my 8 responses. 1. Do people actually ask this directly? Jesus! 2. I look foreign as compared to what? 3. See? I don’t make this stuff up. Apparently, mixed race people get told they’ll make beautiful babies all the… Continue reading Did you really just say that?
Black people love Sally and Johnny! Ah, satire when done right can be utterly unpleasant and terribly funny. At least, that’s how it seems the site Black People Love Us, the tales of “a fictional white couple and their failed attempts to relate to black people,” have been taken by viewers. People can’t decide whether… Continue reading Black People Love Us!
My cousin O. wants to know how I’m making so much money talking about myself. But the answer to this question and similar mysteries can only be answered by G-d. And if G-d started talking directly to either of us, we’d probably be filthy rich (or locked up in Arkham Asylum). In the meantime, I… Continue reading My Second Shabbaton: Ruminations on speaking at Brandeis University
“Latino Radio Show Stirs Concern Over Views on Jews”, featured in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, is an ugly read. The story focuses on a Latino radio show that consistently trash talks Israel in vitriolic statements that often boil over into blatant anti-Semitism. Is this a symptom of a larger rift between the… Continue reading Latinos against Jews
“No one should again have to wear a yellow star,” fumed Fadela Amara, France’s Secretary of State for Urban Affairs. She is so strongly opposed to a move that France might make to collect data on its minority population that she likened this move to a notable Nazi practice during the Holocaust. “Even if it’s… Continue reading Yellow Star Bites Back
West Side Story’s on Broadway and Vanity Fair has done a photo spread for the classic film by recasting the parts with some fresh blood. So Jennifer Lopez as Rita? Camilla Belle as Maria? Sexy Rodrigo Santoro as Bernardo and hotties Robert Pattinson, Chris Evans and Jay Hernandez round out the mix.
A Binary Soul is a really evocative piece at Racialious.com but then most of the posts there often are. In the piece, an Asian American talks about feeling like his two identities are tearing him in part. He doesn’t feel Asian American, he’s either wholly Asian or wholly American and the dominant identity depends on… Continue reading Binary Soul (Responding at Racialicious)
(Ah, the little headband/hair scarf. Works sort of like a thong but for my head.) “You’re a hypocrite,” he said but he didn’t use those words exactly. He tried to be polite about it even though it was obvious from his tone that every single hair on my head had offended his sensibilities. How could… Continue reading The Many Stages of Getting Pissed
I probably started drinking coffee out of a baby bottle. As a kid, I drank it after meals and mixed it in my milk for breakfast after late nights. When I discovered Starbucks as an adult, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get a caffeine fix from it. That’s when someone tipped me off that… Continue reading Cafe con leche, por favor!
My energy level is dropping quickly but I hate to finish the day without remarking on my talks at Brooklyn College today. A really cool professor there had me come in to speak to his students, another professor’s students and the broader Brooklyn College audience. Incredibly, I was representing the Judaic Studies, Latino Studies and… Continue reading Brooklyn College Take Two: Ruminations on my latest talk
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 