Cherry Blossom Special.

HOPE WON. Yes We Did. Now the real work begins.

2008-11-05T14:33:34-08:00

I wanted to sit down and write some epic thing about yesterday’s historic election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, how much it has changed me as a person in a short time. I wanted to try and express how I was touched by the moving images of Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his face, of all those hopeful faces in Grant Park of all races and nationalities. I wanted to describe how going out in Memphis today, I could see the spring in some people’s step and the unconscionable bitterness on the faces of others.

What is most beautiful about who each of us is became a little brighter today, and what is ugliest about who each of us is became, simultaneously, magnified. I realized that while I should be proud and take pride in what has happened, I should refrain from reveling in this victory in a way that those who disagree with me have done in the past.

Reveling in our own successes as to rub it in the faces of others is what got us to the place where we are today. The amount of grace with which one accepts victory must be equal to that with which each of us deals with the challenge of defeat. It defines our character as individuals, how we behave in the shadow of changes yet to come.

This is the challenge of hope’s victory in this election. There are those who want to own this victory for their own selfish reasons. If it inspires us to see what is greatest within ourselves, I see nothing wrong with that. It is when it encourages us to embrace what is ugliest about our nature, the need to say and do things which would make us separate or apart from each other, that owning this victory in such a way becomes detrimental to us all.

I am enthusiastic in my exhaustion now. I am cried out. I am determined and focused. I see things with a clarity that I have not in quite some time. I want to capture this feeling and hang on to it forever, for all the days of my life. I want to encourage others to find that feeling within themselves.

Whatever seemed so impossible before now seems so possible. Whatever fear I may have seems so far away. My personal bon mot for many years has been (and those who know me well can testify to this) a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.”

Let us heal and begin the work we have started.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Memphis: Remember to vote YES on Amendment 5 when you vote | Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) is the way to vote.

2008-10-16T13:19:55-07:00

Click here for more information on Amendment Five and see the list of people who endorse and support Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Language & Culture: Celebs star in ads geared to dissuade teens usage of the phrase “That’s so gay”.

2008-10-16T11:17:39-07:00

I admit it: I have been one of those people who has so frequently used the phrase “That’s so gay” to describe a variety of things over the last several years, it’s hard to know how many times I’ve said it or how many people I’ve managed to offend by doing so.

I remember, even, the first time I heard someone use the phrase. It was back in 2001 and my friend Malik described a mess someone had left in the kitchen in our house this way. “That shit is so gay,” he said, and I kind of got this creeping, gross feeling in my stomach after I heard him say it. My mind got glued to this concept — was that shit “gay”? Is this really an okay and acceptable phrase? Something inside of me, my instinct told me this probably wasn’t okay.

But as people who want to fit in are likely to do, I caught myself starting to use this phrase in my own daily conversations. If I’ve used the phrase 500 times, I’ve used it once, never thinking about how my gay brothers and sisters would experience that same creeping, gross feeling or, worse, be drawn back into feelings of anxiety brought on by a lifetime of harassment and homophobia.

Now, the Ad Council has worked with some well-known actors like Hillary Duff and Wanda Sykes to create a series of print and television ads (along with this website, thinkb4youspeak.com)that they hope will convince people to discontinue using the phrase because of its homophobic overtones and its hurtful implications. The ads, which began running last week, encourage people to recognize the damages and the danger of homophobia, particularly in our schools.

Almost 90% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students report being verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation. LGBT teens experience homophobic remarks and harassment throughout the school day, creating an atmosphere where they feel disrespected, unwanted and unsafe. Homophobic remarks such as thats so gay are the most commonly heard; these slurs are often unintentional and a common part of teens vernacular. Most do not recognize the consequences, but the casual use of this language often carries over into more overt harassment.

The uses of language are something that fascinate me: the way that we educate others through our daily speech, how we culturally develop our incendiary remarks through some evolutionary process, that we hand down our catch phrases in secret codes between generations — brothers and sisters to their siblings, from popular culture to music and entertainment. As a cultural sponge, I’m as guilty as anyone. I never took the time to really think about how totally irresponsible the usage of the phrase is & now that I think about it, it’s probably as good of a time as any to kick that phrase to the curb where it belongs.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

I wish Glenn Beck would just come out and say “The ‘n’ word” and get it over with.

2008-10-09T11:37:33-07:00

Reading this unintelligible and unfunny screed from conservative talk show host Glenn Beck gave me renewed hope for Barack Obama. Glenn seems to think that it’s not racist to vote against Barack Obama and, further, that all of these right wingers who keep taking jabs at his character (through allusive catch phrases, making fun of Senator Obama’s middle name) aren’t demonstrating any racial bias either.

Here’s my favorite piece of Glenn Beck’s half-cocked argument.

I didn’t know about the secret white person code language, but I’m hoping there’s a secret handshake too.

I’d like to suggest to Glenn Beck that he actually do some reading about this thing called “semantics” and understand that yes, in fact, there is a tendency to use secret codes in order to avoid stating the obvious. You’re so scared someone is going to figure out that you have a deep ceded hatred of people for the color of their skin, you won’t say what is really on your mind.

Glenn, it would be nice to hear you simply call Senator Obama “the ‘n’ word” and get it over with. Anyone reading this column from you already knows you want to. Just do it and end your career for us all, nice and clean.

Commentary: Voting against Obama doesn’t make you a racist - CNN.com.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Yom Kippur Morning Service will be broadcast live at 8am and 11 am CST from Temple Emanu-El

2008-10-09T07:36:35-07:00

EDITED: Thank you for visiting. The Yom Kippur morning service broadcast has completed. To watch the Yizkor service webcast starting at 2:15pm CST, please visit OurTemple.org.

The Yom Kippur morning service is being broadcast live both at 8am and 11am CST from Temple Emanu-El. Watching this morning’s Yom Kippur morning service requires Windows Media Player be installed on your computer. Thank you to Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Alabama for providing this stream.

Remember folks: streaming isn’t free for the temple. You can make donations to Temple Emanu-El here to show your appreciation for their webcasting.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Good Yom Tov: Kol Nidre Webcast Begins October 8th at 9pm EST on JewishTVNetwork.Com

2008-10-08T17:17:35-07:00

Kol Nidre (Prayer for Yom Kippur) in my Father's Shul by Israel Birnbaum

There are those out there who are unable to attend Yom Kippur/Kol Nidre services for one reason or another. For those who find themselves unable to physically attend Kol Nidre services tonight, October 8th, you have the opportunity to still hear Kol Nidre thanks to JewishTVNetwork.com.

To all those who visit, I wish each of you an easy fast, a good Yom Tov and L’Shana Tovah for Tishri 5769.

Click here to be taken to the live webcast of Kol Nidre, beginning at 9pm EST (6pm PST), service to be rebroadcast on-demand after the initial broadcast.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Sarah Palin’s connection to the Alaska Independence Party: The real “Swift Boat”.

2008-10-05T20:59:23-07:00

Since Sarah Palin wants to engage in “Swift Boat” politics, can we so quickly forget her connection to the Alaska Independence Party? Perhaps in light of her husband’s membership in said party, she and Senator McCain should probably reconsider highlighting this talking point. Unlike Obama, the Governor’s husband was actually a member of the party. More thanks to Talking Points Memo’s Election Central.

If Palin is going to say this, it is now perfectly legitimate to point out that she repeatedly courted a secessionist group founded by someone who openly professed hatred of the American government, cursed our flag, and wanted to secede from the Union. Sarah’s husband, Todd Palin, was a member of this group, which continues to venerate that founder to this day, for years.

As you already know, the group is the Alaska Independence Party, which sees as its ultimate goal seceding from the union. Todd was a member, with a brief exception, from 1995 until 2002, according to the Division of Elections in Alaska.

And though Sarah Palin herself was apparently not a member of this group, there’s no doubt that she repeatedly courted this secessionist organization over the years. In 1994, Palin attended the group’s annual convention, according to witnesses who spoke to ABC News’ Jake Tapper. The McCain campaign has confirmed she visited the group’s 2000 convention, and she addressed its convention this year, as an incumbent governor whose oath of office includes upholding the Constitution of the United States.

(Palin’s Attack On Obama’s Patriotism Legitimizes Questions About The Palins’ Association With Group Founded By America-Hating Secessionist)

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Obama accuses McCain of looking for distractions

2008-10-05T17:48:24-07:00

In a city like Washington D.C., filled with a mixture of people seeking to help their constituents and those involved in their own selfish ends, it seems fairly obvious that those who are running out of time and ideas are digging for dirt that isn’t there. I read this story and I was shocked, not only at the accusations of impropriety (where simple fact-checking has proven none exists) but the presumptive nature that merely crossing paths with a person who has done something wrong makes you guilty by association.

I would ask that before the McCain-Palin campaign begin pointing fingers at an individual who casually supported Barack Obama on his political rise, they should go ahead and embrace their connections to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Here are two people whom it could be argued have mishandled the powers vested in them by the people who elected them, using those powers to commit acts of white-collar terrorism against their own people for the purposes of shuffling monetary controls and power to themselves (and to their cronies and allies) — individuals and corporations whose actions have crippled our country’s economic infrastructure and cost people their life savings more than once — remember Enron?

You can’t put Obama in bed with a bad guy and at the same time pretend you’re not in bed with the two baddest guys of them all.

Let’s talk about the issues. People who have nothing to add to the discussion about issues talk badly about other people to distract the American people from what matters to us. “Swift Boating” must end now.

Obama accuses McCain of looking for distractions - CNN.com.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Ooooh Sarah Cuda.

2008-10-02T12:28:57-07:00

Bookmark This

Hide Sites

Screen Actors Guild close to strike vote

2008-10-02T08:17:56-07:00

Oh goody. I really needed to wake up to this news today. Its bad enough that work is sparse right now — on top of it all, the Screen Actors Guild (the film actors union) is preparing to vote on October 18th regarding whether or not the union should go on strike. It would be the second such strike this year in my industry, a strike which has been looming for many months as talks continue to break down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said the economy is in trouble and urged actors not to strike.

“It is unrealistic for SAG negotiators now to expect even better terms during this grim financial climate,” the AMPTP said in a statement. “This is the harsh economic reality, and no strike will change that reality.”

The SAG’s national board, a 71-member body, is scheduled to meet Oct. 18. A simple majority is needed to approve the call for a strike vote.

On the flip side, can I really blame the union for wanting to strike? The AMPTP is now attempting to pressure the union, using the economic crisis as a reason not to re-negotiate their terms. Um, okay, so…what about your other contract agreements? Are you saying that you won’t be able to honor them because the economy is in trouble?

The guild wants union coverage of all shows made for the Internet, regardless of budget, and residual payments for actors on made-for-Internet shows that are reused on the Internet. It also demands protections for actors during work stoppages.

The alliance has stuck by a final offer it made June 30, which it said mirrored deals accepted by directors, a smaller actors union called the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and writers following their strike.

Oh okay. So, AFTRA gets theirs, and DGA members (directors) get theirs, but actors don’t? That’s great for me, but not so great for our actors. I’m sorry but um…that dog won’t hunt.

I support the union in their negotiating position & hope a strike will be averted. If not, it’s going to be a bumpy autumn.

The Associated Press: Actors union moves closer to strike vote.

Bookmark This

Hide Sites