sundries

[rm]

If you're in the Boston-area, here's a new burlesque troupe to watch. They're having a big debut soon, and I've had the pleasure to see several of their dancers before. Check it out. They know their stuff, and have a better sense of the history of teh art than many, many other groups I've seen.

It's Nutcracker season! The Klezmer Nutcracker, that is. The Klezmer Nutcracker is ellen_kushner's holiday show for young audiences (although there's plenty of cool stuff for grownups so you won't be bored) that combines Jewish mythology, klezmer music and dancing en poite (that's new this year). Not just for kids, and not just for Jewish kids. Also, there's a peacock. Look, just trust me on this, okay? Tickets tend to sell out a few days before each performance, so book now.

A Jew in London.

Walking into work this morning I saw a well-dressed man in a suit talking in a men-explain-it-all way to a well-dressed woman in a suit. The conversation? "They have horns, they drink the blood of babies." I have to assume/hope he was talking about anti-Semitism as opposed to being anti-Semitic.

This was all over Twitter yesterday: Little Green Footballs, apparently a conservative site, has a piece up called Why I Parted Ways With the Right. It's like a voice in the wilderness.

dsmoen has some good thoughts on the grieving process. kyburg also offers comment.

verasteine has written a long meta on heteronormative sexual/relationship dynamics in slash fiction that I haven't had time to read yet (it's been a rough week), but is surely worthy of discussion. I'll catch up soon!

On that note, Torchwood fen may want to take a look at blue_fjords's Torchwoo AU that begins with Dr. Harkness and Nurse Jones: Kenya (it later moves on to both Ghana and India). What's interesting is that it takes romance novel tropes that are so often a part of the "heteronormative sexual/relationship dymamics" mentioned above, and, despite them being central to the story, refuses to bow to them. People get hurt and people get rescued, but there are no damsels in distress here. At all. It's worth reading to see how she does it.

When you keep talking about how sick and wrong you are for writing slash, even when you're doing it playfully, you may be unintentionally sending an unpleasant message to your queer friends both in fandom and not.

You have heard about the proposed law in Uganda that would punish 'aggravated homosexuality' with the death penalty, right? In case you missed it, this isn't just Uganda's outrage. It's ours. Prominent American conservatives are tied to the thing. It's stuff like this that means it's always risky for anyone to be out ever, because these people have power here, want more power here, and you never know when or how you're going to lose your safety. That's the problem with paranoia, that's why it's impossible to excise: sometimes, you think, it will keep you alive.

Apparently the legislative clusterfuck in NY State and the ensuing low-level of coverage on equal marriage rights in the state may just make everything work out. The Assembly passed the bill last night. The Senate is voting today. And things look... possible.

Hey, it turns out that Meredith Baxter is gay.

An interesting piece about the Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club which I was actually once in for a day for a marketing event. It's a pretty amazing space, and it's a pretty amazing thing that they've been doing there for 90 years.

I am participating in the fanfiction love meme.

Take a look at this gorgeous bit of steampunk art. It's a kid's push toy.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Happened to me at Yale in 1987. Actually, I got told I must be a convert because I didn't have horn-removal scars.

[marcmagus]

Astounding.

Almost makes me wish I shaved my head so I could post a photo and try to get it passed around the internet: this is what the head of a full-blooded Jewish man looks like; observe the lack of either horns or scars.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

"It's a shop! I can tell from some of the pixels, and from having seen quite a few shops in my day." :P

((Also, next time I get my hands on your hair in its unbraided state, I am totally searching your head for such a thing. Largely because this is not a stereotype(?) that I have ever heard, and I think I am a little fascinated that people could be that dumb.))

~Sor

[marcmagus]

I'm not sure I'm actually ok with your doing that, dear. It's the "we, the oppressed, can joke about it to defuse it; you joking about it is very fraught with potential to either reinforce it or bring up the pain, even though you mean well" thing.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Meep, understood. No offense meant, and I apologize. Thanks for the clue, dear.

~Sor

[delchi.livejournal.com]

THIS is a topic of which I have much curiosity. I do not understand how it is possible to be able to say something without taking all possible actions, I also do not understand who makes the judgement.

Is it possible that you could joke about it - in an effort to defuse it, and yet also reinforce it, or cause pain as well?

I would think that it would be obvious when a non oppressed person jokes about it in an effort to defuse, vs deliberately trying to reinforce it.

My puzzlement comes because it seems to serve no purpose that to drive yet another barrier between people - saying " we can talk about it but you can't " ... not unlike " that is OUR word, and you can not use it " kind of thinking.

Now I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm not trying to be offensive, I watn to understand how this process works, and what logic is behind it.

This is, aside, the first timeI have heard about the stereotype. I googled thinking it might be something else, but behold it refers directly.

[marcmagus]

I'm sorry, but I find I have neither the time nor the energy to attempt a good explanation of everything you're asking right now. I'll just respond to your comment about driving a barrier between people.

When I say to my girlfriend that her identity would affect how I would read her action, I'm not doing it to erect a barrier between us, nor to create a class of people who are allowed to make a certain joke and a class of people who aren't. Rather, I observed my negative reaction to her saying she might do something and attempted to explain to her why that reaction was negative so we could avoid the potential situation of her actually taking an action which would result in my being upset.

The fact is, being checked for horns, even jokingly, would call up associations with my mother's story and rm's story above, and with the long history of people doing much worse things to people like me simply because we were born Jewish. And by long history, I mean it's been going on for a long time, not that it's only in the past.

So, no, it doesn't just drive a barrier between people. It describes the reality of the situation. I'd rather anybody could make the joke, say, about what those stupid people used to believe in the past, ha, ha, without worrying that it might reinforce the belief in the present, or that the person making it might think there's something vaguely true about it, or being reminded that there are people who believe it, still, right now.

P.S. While you're Googling, you might want to keep in mind that horns on humans/humanoids are typically associated by Christians with evil, and you might want to look up the Blood Libel we were also referring to. The two have a nasty tendency to go together.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Not at all! Thanks for indulging me this far. I had no intention on commenting on anything between you and your girlfriend ( didn't even know that was her. Hello! ).

I have a curiosity towards the origins of verbal abuse ( ever read "Maldicta" ? ) and I was curious about your point of view.

I'm curious of where the idea of horns and such came from. Like when I first heard the term " kyke " I was surprised to find that it's origin was the word " kikel " ( or so some people say ... there is debate ) meaning circle, which was the symbol drawn on paperwork for Jewish people being processed through Ellis Island, and for a time it was considered to be a term of unity and not offensive ( again, debated ).

I also wrote a bit about grade school rhymes and taunts , and their origins.

I'm just strange that way.

Sorry if this seems a bit out of phase, just getting home from a twelve hour work day.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Aside : http://www.amazon.com/Best-Maledicta-Reinhold-Aman/dp/0894714996

This is a compilation from the journal. It includes things like origins of Russian folk insults, the story of little red riding hood done in "'nam" era slang, and other bits.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

*blinks* Damn, there are no words...