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The problem with the Happy Nakba Day joke was not that a white non-Muslim Canadian told it. The problem was that it was told at all. In Qatar, as in other Arab countries, the “catastrophe” is a crime against humanity that cannot be joked about. Halal Bilal, however, has found a way to weave an Israel joke into his routine. At the Katara show, Bilal riffed on trying to get into the Palestinian territories:
“Any Palestinians here? I wanted to go to Palestine, but to get there I had to go through Israel. I get to the border, and the Israeli soldier says to me, ‘What are you doing here?’ I was like, ‘Dude, I could ask you the same question!’ ” Then he paused. (In his notebook, Bilal had instructions to himself to look for someone in the crowd who was not laughing and make a joke about that.) Then he went on: “I lie — I actually said I’m Jewish! You’re shocked? So was he! He didn’t believe me. I said: ‘Dude, I am Jewish. I have evidence, but it’s circum-stantial.’ Get it?”
Yes, There Are Comedians in Qatar - NYTimes.com
There isn’t just one comedy. What works here doesn’t work everywhere. Starting a stand-up comedy scene from almost nothing in Qatar.
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As the cameraman, Richard Butler, was swapping out a battery, Egyptian colleagues who were accompanying the camera crew heard men nearby talking about wanting to take Ms. Logan’s pants off. She said: “Our local people with us said, ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’
That was literally the moment the mob set on me.” Mr. Butler, Ms. Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, and two locally hired drivers were “helpless,” Mr. Fager said, “because the mob was just so powerful.” A bodyguard who had been hired to accompany the team was able to stay with Ms. Logan for a brief period of time. “For Max to see the bodyguard come out of the pile without her, that was one of the worst parts,” Mr. Fager said. He said Ms. Logan “described how her hand was sore for days after — and the she realized it was from holding on so tight” to the bodyguard’s hand.
Lara Logan of CBS Talks About Her Assault in Egypt - NYTimes.com
CBS journalist Lara Logan opens up about the sexual assault she faced in Egypt during the celebration after Hosni Mubarak’s exit. They estimate there were 2-300 men in the mob that attacked her.
Talking about sexual assault is difficult enough, but this is talking about sexual assault across cultural lines. In America and in Egypt, attitudes toward women and sex are vastly different, as are definitions of assault, much less sexual assault. While there’s no excusing what happened to Logan in Egypt, I don’t think this article covered this all-important cultural context.
Without such a context, I can’t help but think this discussion reflects mildly the central paranoia in Birth of a Nation—an extreme example for sure, but hasn’t America always felt the need to protect its white women from men of color? It’s important for Lara Logan to move past this assault, while it’s imperative for the world to understand why it happened, how it happened, and how we can protect women in volatile public situations. But how can we look ahead if we’re still superimposing D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation over the birth of new Egypt?
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That cursive-challenged class included Alex Heck, 22, who said she barely remembered how to read or write cursive. Ms. Heck and a cousin leafed through their grandmother’s journal shortly after she died, but could barely read her cursive handwriting.
“It was kind of cryptic,” Ms. Heck said. She and the cousin tried to decipher it like one might a code, reading passages back and forth. “I’m not used to reading cursive or writing it myself.”
The Case for Cursive - NYTimes.com
The death rattles of cursive? Kids these days can’t read grandma’s diaries, nor do they have a forge-proof signature because they don’t know cursive. What a strange world we live in. Will we soon wonder what it really means to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s” because we don’t write by hand? I still believe in handwritten notes. I do write in cursive.
Posted on May 3, 2011 with 5 notes
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Thirty years ago, Mr. Colon — better known as the B-boy, or break dancer, Crazy Legs — propelled hip-hop culture to the world stage as a member of the seminal dance troupe known as the Rock Steady Crew. Today, he remains a global ambassador for B-boying, and his kitchen here is the embassy.
Webcast by a Hip-Hopper Who Cooks - NYTimes.com
Grey Lady, sometimes, you are so fucking white. Hip-Hopper? What, are we talking about? Frogs?
And a note to the copy desk: this headline is unbelievably weaksauce I can’t stand it.
Please, put this shit behind your paywall where I won’t see it.
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When meeting Mexicans it is best not to discuss poverty, illegal aliens, earthquakes or their 1845-6 war with America.
Polite topics of conversation would be Mexican culture, history, art and museums instead.welcome : VisitBritain Corporate site
Actual tips for the British on how to deal with foreigners during the 2012 London Olympics. It’s click-through worthy to find out what they say about your people.
I was laid off 2 days before my birthday in 2009, a dismal blessing. I miss health insurance and payroll, but I haven't bought bread since the pink slip because I have time to bake.
Sometimes I'm a serious job hunter, sometimes a serious slacker, but mostly, I'm an underemployed, freelance Jaqueline of many trades including writing and dogsitting. Either way, I scrapbook my finds and activities here for your benefit and amusement.
Follow me on Twitter if tv/movie/pro-cycling spoilers and unplanned live tweets won't hail on your parade. And yes, I do work blue so don't be huffy with me if you don't like cursing or merciless roasting of public figures.
You can look at my other blog Fashion Corpuscle if you like fashion. The ruins of my crumbling Tumblr blog empire awaits internet archaeologists.
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