The traumatic life of ;
It divides yet simultaneously unites. It calmly separates between two independent entities; yet it subtly points out that they are not as independent as they may think. It has a history dating back over 400 years; yet it is unappreciated, regularly forgotten and, sadly, thoroughly misunderstood by most. It is, my friends, the semicolon, a form of punctuation receiving volumes of long overdue positive press this week. Read more
Filed Under History & traditions, Media & Society
Power to the people
“What’s the difference between the Titanic and South Africa,” my aunt in Johannesburg recently asked me over the phone. “At least the lights were on when the Titanic went down.”
Perhaps not the deepest social analysis of South Africa’s rather sudden electricity shortage, but the glum gag speaks of a crises which has come to symbolize a growing panic over the country’s future. Read more
Filed Under Environment, Events, Politics
Arabs enter Israeli homes, and make them laugh
The presence of Arabs in Jewish Israeli homes is rare, and their representation in those homes is often, in the least, problematic. A new sitcom, Arab Work, has received extensive praise in the press as a transformation in popular culture and groundbreaking sign of Jews opening their homes to Arabs. Read more
Filed Under Media & Society
Who’s electing the Us president?
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama will be the next US president. Let’s also say that neither of them prevails as the clear winner in the Democratic party’s elections currently winding up across the country. In such a situation, the nominee for the Democratic party, whom for the moment seems the most likely to win the US presidency, will be chosen by what are called “superdelegates”, a mixture of democratic congressmen, governors and party officials. Read more
Filed Under Events, Politics, Uncategorized
US politics gets sexy
“I like it when you get hard
On Hillary in debate…
Universal healthcare reform
it makes me warm…
‘Cause I’ve got a crush on Obama…”
It would seem, at first glance, that a model singing such lyrics of Barak Obama on a video seen by over 100 million people globally, would actually vote for him. But despite her tender admiration - “So black and sexy, you’re so fine” and “B to the A to the R-A-C-K-O-B-A-M-A” repeated eight times - the “Obama girl” reportedly did not vote for the Democratic presidential candidate last week, nor did she even show up at the polls. Read more
Filed Under Events, Media & Society, Modern Life, Politics, Technology
American armies in American cities
Is it unpatriotic to tell one’s army to get the hell out of town? What, exactly, does it mean to be patriotic? These are among the many provocative questions being thrown around in a rather frenzied and aggressive American cultural debate over a recent Berkeley City Council decision to tell the US Armed Forces that their recruiters are “unwelcome”. Read more
Filed Under Events, Modern Life, Politics
N’Djawhat?
A column of smoke flutters into the distance from central Havana. Gunshots, the twirling of attack helicopters and the rumble from tanks echoes through the walls of the city. Rebels – poor, angry young men from the country’s periphery and numbering in the thousands – storm into the city on hundreds of pickup trucks with rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine guns. Read more
Filed Under Events, Media & Society, Politics