geo/graphi/culture

The World's Biggest Spectacle

2009-10-11T01:11:00.003+05:30

100,000 North Koreans dazzle at mass games spectacle on Worldfocus

Filmed at the August 17, 2009, Arirang Games in Pyongyang, North Korea, with a point-and-shoot camera. The socialist mass games performance features 100,000 performers and runs six nights a week for over two months.

Hoardhouse Launch

2009-03-25T16:49:00.000+05:30

Hoardhouse.com is a NYC-based project on hoarding and cluttering that Karn Dhingra, Jacquelyn Kasuya, and Ben Piven produced as our 2009 multimedia master's project at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. The Debugging and Decluttering video below is one of the premier elements of the Hoardhouse project. The completely Flash-based site launched 03/23/09.

Phillybeard.com presents: The Sunni Beard

2009-01-29T09:28:00.004+05:30

Phillybeard.com presents: The Sunni Beard

Featured on Philadelphia Weekly!

by Chikodi Chima, Justin Colvin, and me

Philadelphia is known as "the city of brotherly love" and these brothas' love their beards.

The beard has a special significance in Philadelphia culture and it is unlike any other city in America. In Philadelphia the beard is an expression of individuality, religious observance and civic pride.

"That's what God gave us, hair on the face," said Leroy Robinson Jr., a barber at New Identity Barbershop who has been cutting heads and beards in Philadelphia for 33 years.

Each man possesses the capability to grow a beard, and for each man, there is a reason motivating his choice to grow or to shave, to groom, trim or leave alone.

The Sunni Beard is the story of one such beard, which is worn by many of Philadelphia's Muslim converts, and is a prominent feature of chins, cheeks, and jowls throughout town.

Harlem's Catharsis: 1968 to 2008

2009-01-19T09:54:00.004+05:30

The days of darkest despair following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. pitted the American ghetto against itself. Inner city neighborhoods in over 50 cities burned to the ground, as rioters sought to avenge the death of the century's most powerful black American leader.

While this tragic climax of the civil rights movement in April 1968 was a spasm of understandable rage, the destruction wrought was sometimes counterproductive, as black-owned homes and businesses were also indiscriminately targeted. Although merchants suffered extensive property damage, black neighborhoods ultimately paid the highest price for the arson, looting, and violence.

Forty years after the nadir of racial conflict in which Harlem suffered less than many other inner-city places, Harlem erupted in ecstasy after the election of the first American president of African descent. Across Harlem, the night of Nov. 4, 2008, was cause for some of the nation's most cathartic celebration.

Election night was a frenzy of pent-up patriotism, communal bonding, and political redemption. The evening of Barack Obama's inauguration promises to be even more triumphant on the streets of Harlem, U.S.A. Memories of racial strife are supplanted by a newfound optimism in the black ghetto - even if there are no guarantees about how Obama will govern.

"This is the manifestation of so many dreams that were deferred. So many people who came before us died, were lynched, faced dogs and hoses. They went through all of that so that we could enjoy tonight - Barack Obama being named the president of the United States," said Renee Wright-Woodside, 36, a teacher from East New York, who gathered with friends in front of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building on election night to watch the results on the big screen.

“We're gonna celebrate tomorrow. Words can't explain how it's going to feel tomorrow when I wake up. It will be a brand new day for America, for all Americans. Sorely needed change is here,” she said.

"I'm moved to tears when I think about all that we've overcome. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event for all of us. Who knows when this is going to happen again, and look how long it took for it to happen," Wright-Woodside added.

Rewind to Apr. 4, 1968. New York was one of a few cities with a large African-American population that was spared catastrophic damage after King was assassinated. Harlem emerged relatively unscathed, with two riot-related deaths and $3 million in property damage. Central Brooklyn, the city's other major African-American area, also remained relatively calm.

Harlem's toll of destruction pales in comparison to a nationwide total of 43 deaths, 23,987 arrests, 5,117 acts of arson, 1,928 homes and shops wrecked, and $39.5 million in property damage - as 72,800 Army and National Guard troops were called up during four days of rioting.

Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Chicago saw the worst destruction. In the nation's capital, Shaw, H Street, and Columbia Heights were among the worst hit areas. The remnants of that fateful aftermath are still abundantly visible in those neighborhoods.

"Fires crackled three blocks from the White House and from the air the capital looked like a bombed city," read a Time magazine editorial dated Apr. 12, 1968. Light machine gun posts defended the Capitol, and the helmets and bayoneted rifles of National Guard troops became indelible images of the soldiers who tried in vain to save vast African-American sections of the city.

Baltimore, placed under martial law by Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew, had 3,000 rioters, mostly teenagers. The final toll there was six dead, 700 injured, 4,500 arrested and over 1,000 fires set. More than a thousand businesses were looted and burned. Many of them never reopened. The total property damage, in 1968 dollars, was around $13.5 million - more than double the damage by the Hurricane Gladys, the worst storm of 1968.

Trenton, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and other urban centers also saw their black ghettos implode in racially motivated rioting.

The New York Times of Apr. 7, 1968, assessed the logic of despair: "In sullen corners of the country, revenge was sought in the name of the man who preached against it...Moses who would lead them out of the wilderness...was universally hailed by almost all as the man who represented their aspirations."

A Newsweek editorial from Apr. 15 labeled the riots "a black rampage that subjected the U.S. to the most widespread spasm of racial disorder in its violent history."

"For every Martin Luther King who falls, 10 white racists will go down with him," said Lincoln Lynch, the chairman of the radical United Black Front, in rejecting King's strategy of nonviolence during the immediate aftermath of the assassination.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey sought to placate a torn society: "This nation of law and order, which has its Presidents shot down in cold murder, its spiritual leaders assassinated, and has those who walk and speak and work for human rights beaten and killed. My fellow Americans, every one of us must resolve that we will never, never, never let it happen again."

The 20th century's urban race riots expressed the stifled political power of black communities. They began with Atlanta in 1905 and then continued with East St. Louis in 1917; Charleston, Chicago, Washington, Boston, and Knoxville rioted in 1919; Harlem was set off in both 1935 and 1943; Detroit also burned in 1943. Then, beginning in 1964, the riots became much more severe across the country. Detroit and Watts burned most intensely in 1967.

In 1968, Harlem did not suffer to the same extent as many other urban centers because of the rapport that Mayor John Lindsay enjoyed with the city's African-American communities. Lindsay's liberal Republican bent facilitated relations with civil rights groups.
The night that King was shot down on the balcony of the Hotel Lorraine in Memphis, the sage mayor rushed from Manhattan's Theater District to West 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard to calm the frenzied crowd. Lindsay was politically astute, and many of the city's African-Americans believed that the racism they experienced was not as severe as in many other metropolises. Their rage was tempered by a belief in the egalitarian promise of New York City, according to sociologist Janet Abu-Lughod.

Her 2007 book Race, Space, and Riots in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles analyzes the impact of the riots in light of the federal government's Kerner report on the riots. She argues that New York's political culture was much more responsive to black grievances than other cities. The former New School for Social Research professor also attributes the city's relatively calm reaction to New York's racial tolerance, an ethnically diverse black population, less intense housing segregation, and accessible mass transit.

"Harlem got off lightly in the back draft of the slaying that ignited racial explosions elsewhere. This is attributed to the good works of Mayor Lindsay," reported the Amsterdam News, the primary New York African-American weekly, in its Apr. 13, 1968 edition.

Mayor Lindsay, as well as New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, went to King's memorial service in Atlanta. Several hundred thousand marchers followed behind a denim-clad Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee honor guard, two mules, and a rustic wooden hearse-cart.

"With all New Yorkers, I hope that calm will continue. No serious disorders have taken place...It depends on us," said Mayor Lindsay, during the tense weekend after the assassination.

In Harlem, as elsewhere, rioters did not refrain from attacking black-owned businesses, such as Davega Sporting Goods Store and Unique Records and Gift Store.

One Amsterdam News headline read: "Mini Riots Fail to Clip Easter Sales on 125th Street." Lindsay had successfully pacified the city with his good looks, WASP charm, and conciliatory sensibility.

"That happened with every riot in Harlem. Politicians were always eager to make change seem less severe than it was," said Michael Henry Adams, the author of the 2001 book Harlem: Lost and Found.

"But, all it would take would be another Rodney King or Amadou Diallo incident to set off a riot in Harlem," added Adams.

"Blacks aren't as oppressed here as they are in other cities. New York was never as racist. That's why they didn't burn the city down in '68," said Tom, a 69-year-old tee-shirt and DVD vendor on 125th Street, who was living in Berlin in 1968.

"But, the mentality was, white people killed King, so you kill white folk. That's the way black people in America were thinking then," he added. Tom does not see Obama's election as a sign of change, due to the "unseen hands" that he said still control American politics. However, other merchants on 125th Street disagreed.

"Obama's election is a celebration of humanity, not just of black people. Humanity has stepped into line, not just Harlem," said Scarecrow Anonymous, 43, a Harlem-based artist.

"As a three-year-old in 1968, I saw my mother and grandmother crying and everybody holding each other. But I didn't understand at the time," he said.

Scarecrow attributes Harlem's appeasement at the time to Mayor Lindsay's ability to show the black community that segregation was changing. He also cites James Brown's legendary performance of "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" in Boston on the night of Apr. 4. The VH1 documentary "The Night James Brown Saved Boston" depicts how Boston's city government, with a political shrewdness not unlike New York's, enlisted Brown's help in pacifying the predominantly black Roxbury neighborhood.

Oddly enough, according to Amsterdam News columnist Les Matthews, King had faced a string of trouble in Harlem during the last decade of his life.

In 1958, he was stabbed in the chest with a Japanese penknife by mentally unstable African-American woman, Izola Ware Curry. The next morning, the New York Times reported that, if King had sneezed afterwards, he would have died from a punctured aorta. In 1965, he was egged at Salem Methodist Church by radical black nationalists. And just three weeks before his death, he was ridiculed as he preached at the New Canaan Baptist Church on 116th Street.

Regardless, the Civil Rights movement had invested in the future - until April 4, when King's assassination plunged the nation into an abyss of racial anguish.

Middle-class blacks began to flee from many inner-city neighborhoods, leaving mere shells of communities, with high concentrations of elderly, impoverished, and uneducated residents in many once-vibrant urban cores.

1968 unleashed a generation of economic decay and stagnation, whose scars are still vivid in vast swaths of inner-city America. In most cities, white flight accelerated, and decades-old businesses closed shop for good. The monumental year was a watershed one for America and for the rest of the world.

Radical social movements saw sexual liberation, feminist agitation, ecological activism, and drug experimentation offend the sensibilities of the old guard.

Just up the hill from Harlem in Morningside Heights, anti-war and anti-racism activists clashed with the establishment at Columbia University in the most violent encounters that the 200-year-old institution has experienced.

Anti-war protests rocked the nation at Harvard, Boston University, Orangeburg, and Catonsville, as the Tet Offensive sacrificed American lives.

In the same year, student uprisings also paralyzed Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires, and West Berlin. Elsewhere, the Prague Spring challenged the yoke of Soviet domination.

Generalized protests hit France, Spain, Poland, and Brazil. Religious conflict stewed in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

Robert F. Kennedy's assassination on June 6 further shocked the nation.

In August, protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago provoked some of the worst political violence that Americans had ever witnessed.

Then in October, racial tensions stewed at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where black American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their Black Power fists.

And now, 40 years after a pivotal year at the abyss of racial strife, a pinnacle of reconciliation and rejuvenation has uplifted many Harlem residents.

Although some Harlemites fear that Obama could suffer the same fate as King, America's black mecca remains optimistic about the 44th president.

Brazilian Adventures

2009-01-12T02:58:00.001+05:30

Check out the photos from our trip to the land of cachaca and favela funk!

Maximum City Under Seige

2008-11-27T10:51:00.004+05:30

The terrorists have struck again in Mumbai. The city has been under seige for almost twelve hours, as gunmen armed with AK-47s and grenades have stormed close to a dozen targets throughout India's largest city.

Among the notable locations attacked allegedly by the Deccan Mujahideen are the monumental Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus) train station, the iconic Taj Palace hotel, and popular Leopold's Cafe. These symbolic sites were struck because they represent the centers of elite life in Mumbai, where wealthy Mumbaikars, tourists, and Western expatriates mingle. The unprecedented scope of the attacks caught the city completely off-guard, as the gunmen entered into the city from boats that docked next to the Gateway of India.

VT station is where two million commuters come and go every day of the week. This is the primary transit hub for the residents of India's financial capital. The assaults inside this station come two years after a series of six blasts in the first class compartments on trains across Mumbai killed 200 people.

But the scale of last night's attacks went far beyond the crowded railways. Attacking tourist haunts, the Cama Hospital, a movie theater, and the creme de la creme hotels make this strike the most bloody and unusual series of coordinated terrorist actions that India has ever experienced.

Mumbai awoke Thursday morning to the shocking sight of the Taj Mahal Hotel burning and army snipers waiting atop the adjacent Gateway of India for the terrorists to emerge. Commandos attempted to end hostage situations at several locales across South Mumbai. Jamshetji Tata's jewel was crackling with the flames of a war initiated by a mysterious terrorist organization. Along with the Trident Oberoi hotel, the Taj is truly a landmark of opulence. Striking at this symbol of affluence makes an enormous statement. Combating so many centers of power with this new kind of terror sets a horrific precedent for the future.

Mumbai is a powder keg, and this explosive series of actions has shocked anti-terror security forces, whose leader was actually killed in gun battles with the terrorists. The level of planning that went into this operation is astounding, and the security forces need to bone up on their intelligence gathering.

Whether the goal of this multi-faceted operation was to destabilize Indian society, kill Westerners, or free Islamic prisoners, terrorism in India has been taken to the next level. It is baffling to try piecing together images of blood splattered across the floor of VT and multiple reports of middle-class, uncharacteristic hostage-takers. Although Western expatriates are disproportionately represented among the victims of the prolonged agony, many questions have yet to be answered.

Does this operation emerge in the anti-Western ideas of Pakistani madrasas? Has it boiled over from the deep poverty of Mumbai's overcrowded slums? How wide is the terror network that carried out the attack? What is the essence of their message?

My home for nine months has been victimized by political violence. But, my hope is that fear and hatred will not prevail in the city of dreams. While train services are running, stock exchanges, schools, and offices will remain closed on Thursday. The young perpetrators of these acts have caught a city that was not well-equipped enough for attacks of this scope, but the city will quickly rebuild.

Jai Mumbai!

Veteran's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue

2008-11-17T07:21:00.002+05:30

On November 11th, the Veteran's Day Parade marched northward on Fifth Avenue, in a patriotic display of support for the various branches of the U.S. armed forces.

Got Khat?

2008-11-15T09:06:00.000+05:30

Americans chew tobacco. Indians chew paan. Yemenis chew khat.

Ethiopians, Somalis, and a host of other East African peoples also chew the leafy substance. But, Yemenis are the most hooked – two-thirds are said to be khat consumers.

Khat is a mild stimulant stronger than caffeine but less potent than cocaine. Users feel a buzz that decreases appetite, increases sexual stamina, and hones concentration. It was carelessly enjoyed during wedding parties and holiday celebrations among Yemeni immigrants to the U.S. - from Dearborn, Mich. to New York City.

But that all changed, when federal drug authorities began treating khat users, growers, and dealers as criminals on the opposing side of the drug war. The subculture has been under siege by zero tolerance policies, but the Yemeni community is eager to appear unbothered by changes in law enforcement.

"We don't do that around here. We have come to this country to work 12 hours a day, and there is no time for that. Only back in Yemen, it’s different there," said Mohammed Abdu, 21, who manages an East Harlem deli at East 117th Street and Madison Avenue.

"We used to chew in Michigan, but I haven't chewed khat since 2005. It's hard to get and too expensive," said Abdu. "Plus, it's not even worth chewing if it's dried. In Cali and Detroit, you can't even grow it anymore," Abdu added, mentioning a friend in Michigan jailed for growing.

“If we Yemenis didn't have khat, we'd have other drugs. Better khat than something worse," he said.

The five to six hour khat-chewing cycle is typically enjoyed in the afternoon. The drug induces a comfortable and relaxed buzz. "If you bad in the morning, then you good by the afternoon," said Abdu.

Khat is against the law in the U.S., and a crackdown by authorities makes consumption of the drug exceedingly difficult. But, the many Yemeni immigrants surveyed for this article were loath to suggest that they enjoyed consumption of the drug, for fear of legal repercussions.

Prior to the stricter enforcement, khat was sold freely, in bodegas and cafes from East Harlem to Boerum Hill. Immigrant communities continue to chew, albeit behind closed doors. And peddling the drug has been driven deep underground, conducted by dealers who risk significant jail time.

The drug has disappeared from places such as the Yemen Cafe on Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue, where construction workers, travel agents, and shopkeepers mingle over chicken loubia and lamb zorbian. Pictures of Yemeni villages and ceremonial daggers on the wall remind patrons of the old country. But, none of the two dozen customers were chewing khat on a recent Monday afternoon.

The manager, who would not give his real name, said that even chewers know their mild addiction is a waste of time. He added that the subject was very sensitive because neighborhood residents were afraid of being arrested.

In 2000, seizures of the product and arrests of the khat dealers in Cobble Hill began hampering consumption.

A rough year for khat importers was 2003, when U.S. drug authorities seized over 45 tons of khat in the New York metro area. According to Erin Mulvey, spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Agency, the seizures have continued, leading to Somalia Express, the biggest New York anti-khat operation in 2006, which netted 44 arrests.

"The khat crackdown has resulted in a decrease in consumption, especially in New York, which is a hub of khat distribution. Due to law enforcement efforts, a majority of users now understand the drug's illegality," Mulvey said.

Eradication efforts have driven khat prices higher, resulting in a market price that has more than doubled since 2000.

A bundle of fresh leaves includes about a dozen stems and costs about $50. But fresh leaves are hard to find in the U.S. The dried leaves, of inferior quality, are much more common.

Mahmoud, 48, is a Yemeni immigrant from the city of Ibb who works at the same East Harlem bodega as Abdu. He said that khat makes people loquacious but forgetful. Mahmoud also said that abstainers in his hometown are stigmatized as too shy or too poor to afford the daily chewing session.

“I used to chew khat to take tests better and retain information. It's like coffee but stronger," said Mahmoud. "Here in New York, people don't mind the government crackdown. Some people even move to the U.S. to get away from khat, but the last time I chewed, I was 16. When I go back, I'd rather buy toys for my kids or take trips to the mountains than buy khat."

Sitting on a 36-pack of Coors Light, Mahmoud demonstrated how Yemenis relax to the drug and discuss poetry and politics. "If I chew here, I gonna be crazy. You need time to rest afterwards. Working 12 hours a day here, you can't do that," Mahmoud said.

The drug is legal in much of Europe, including the United Kingdom, which has a vibrant khat-chewing community in London. But, it is considered a Schedule 2 controlled substance in the United States, as illegal as oxycontin and hydrocodone.

Many critics believe that khat is a waste of time and money. Khat is often associated with chronic underemployment. While it is only mildly addictive, it can cause gum disease.

The debate over khat in East Africa and the Middle East focuses on both the economic and social costs of the drug. Opponents argue that agricultural resources would be better utilized growing other plants.

Khat cultivation uses an estimated 40% of Yemen’s country’s water supply, but one can hardly blame farmers, who yield up to five times more from khat cultivation than from any other crop.

“Nowadays, khat is just something that you do while watching TV. You do it with your friends at home instead of going to a bar. It’s just like eating these chips,” said Ahmed Jahm, 37, a Yemeni immigrant who works at Wahidah restaurant in Boerum Hill, who was munching on vegetable root chips from the Trader Joe’s on the other side of Court Street.

“People just talk about their store’s problems and whose kids are going to this or that college. But, I don’t chew, ‘cause I have a 14-year-old son, and I have to be a good role model.”

Letter to Obama

2008-11-09T01:48:00.000+05:30

A Letter to Obama by Joe Jackson and me on Vimeo.

Election Day 2008 in Manhattan

2008-11-05T14:56:00.000+05:30

Election Enclave: the Hasidic Vote in Crown Heights

2008-11-04T12:46:00.005+05:30

Audio Slideshow by Gaia Pianigiani and me.

Two days before the election, the Hasidic Jewish community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is strongly leaning towards John McCain, in contrast with predominantly Democratic New York City. Many members of the Lubavitch community expressed concerns about foreign policy, school vouchers, and social conservatism. Barack Obama's perceived lack of experience and weakness in the war on terror have contributed to the community's overwhelming support for McCain. However, some voters stated ambivalence or indifference towards the presidential race.

Decision NYC link

Selling Obama: Vendors Peddle Politics on the Streets of Manhattan

2008-11-04T12:38:00.004+05:30

Audio slideshow by Joe Jackson and me.

Street vendors in Manhattan have been cashing in on Barack Obama's iconic image for months, selling a wide variety of merchandise from t-shirts to posters. November 4 heralds the official end of the election season, but these salesmen are expecting business to continue - regardless of the outcome of the presidential race.

Decision NYC link

Aggregatr - All The Media That's Fit To Aggregate

2008-11-02T12:15:00.001+05:30

Knight News Challenge Project Title: Aggregatr - All The Media That's Fit To Aggregate

Click on the link above to read and rate the proposal that Stefan De Clercq and I submitted for this digital media grant.

Describe your project:

Currently in beta version, Aggregatr.com is a website that enables users simultaneously to produce and consume all the media that's fit to aggregate. With a customizable one-size-fits-all template, any citizen editor with access to the internet can arrange media topically or geographically on an interactive Drudge-type report. Select, click, drag, and publish news content on the user-friendly layout. With bookmarklets, the site also allows users to send hyperlinks conveniently to contacts on discrete buddy lists.

Aggregatr's strength is in tailor-made reports on whatever domain of news the citizen editor distributes to her readers, friends, or employees. A user's unique amalgamation of links, photos, and videos caters to any issue: African geopolitics, pharmaceutical research, or educational advocacy. One can simultaneously curate multiple reports on different subjects and then distribute the reports to targeted consumers. User-generated examples of news aggregation are the Persian Post, Joe the Plumber's Report, and The Word on Main Street, which reflect the citizen editor's worldview, preferences, and reflexivity within the Aggregatr community.

Beyond a report's URL and RSS feed, news distribution will also be achieved with the PublishNow button, which will embed the report into an convenient email newsletter format automatically sent out daily, weekly, or monthly. The scalable niche markets that are reachable with this technology are endless. Citizen editors can deliver publications in domains where no news compilation existed previously, and the portal's popular Drudge reference appeals to a broad demographic range. On the Aggregatr home page, which is still being developed, users will view stats on the most viewed, most notable, and most recent reports.

How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities?

Heralding the advent of the citizen editor, Web 2.0 has changed the way we communicate news. While transcending the limits of geographically-bound media businesses, Aggregatr best serves under-covered communities in places like the Middle East, India, and China. With Aggregatr, a user can distribute news links from media that are blocked or banned. This delivery package is also critical when there is a lack of news dissemination by the press in restricted areas, complementing the work of citizen journalists as part of hyperlocal news outlets. Often, grassroots media in these international areas lack the tools to be effective as news gatherers and distributors, especially of homegrown news.

How is your idea innovative? (new or different from what already exists)

Aggregatr is a fusion of Drudge Report, Publish2, Daily Beast, and Delicious, with immediately recognizable visual appeal. Today's citizen editor is tomorrow's Huffington guru. Aggregatr is not a mechanical news selection algorithm like Google News. Rather, the application's customized aggregation harnesses the value of human editorial intelligence in the construction of a democratized infrastructure for specialized news. Aggregatr tears down the wall between editor and audience, while synchronizing production and consumption. This completely free way to disseminate news via the link economy epitomizes the power-to-the-people approach. Unique user reports are the primary, distinctive focus - making Aggregatr more than a social news site.

What experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project?

The co-founders of Aggregatr began planning the concept as students at the University of Pennsylvania five years ago. Their goal was to produce a web application that would allow every news consumer to publish a personalized aggregation of stories that could be viewed from anywhere in the world. Hence the birth of the citizen editor.

News-junkie Stefan De Clercq is the technical brain behind Aggregatr, which he created as the optimal way for people to share news. Having lived equal parts of his life in three nations, Stefan has honed his software development skills at two start-up firms in Philadelphia. He continues to develop trailblazing interactive features on Aggregatr.

Currently a New Media student at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Ben Piven was recently a Fulbright scholar in Mumbai, India. He has reported for the Baltimore Sun and Haaretz and has covered Hurricane Katrina, Hezbollah, and the caste system. Ben focuses on the business and marketing aspects of Aggregatr.

Tour de Bronx 2008

2008-11-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

These pics by Chikodi Chima and I are from the October 19th bike ride through the BX!

Burning Man Decompression 2008

2008-10-30T02:09:00.003+05:30

The fire jockeys slap the pads of ignition systems connected to four vertical flame-throwing propane tanks. The crowd erupts in a paroxysm of pyromania.

As Promethean mavens perform the Flaming Simon, flames waltz and woo in a percussive display of upwardly explosive heat energy. The gods of Burning Man are aroused by the fire-based version of the late 1970’s electronic game “Simon.”

“Step right up. The fire demons are breathing,” says ringleader Eric Singer, who teaches pyrotechnics at Brooklyn musical robot collective LEMURplex.

But the setting is not the alkali flats of northwestern Nevada's Black Rock desert, the Burning Man locale where impervious Paiutes repelled pioneering white men seven score and eight years ago.

This is Burning Man's New York City Decompression 2008 at Aviator Sports on South Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett field. And, to mesh with the place where aviatrix Amelia Earhart broke several flight records, the theme of the costumes and art is “Flying Laboratory.”

"There was a time when Burning Man was thought of as counter-cultural," said Steven Raspa, lifetime burner and special events coordinator for Burning Man NYC Decompression. "We don't think of it as counter-cultural any more. We think of it as culture, and of New York as a hub of the community.”

The music, art, and pyrotechnic Labor Day weekend festival of Burning Man is about 20 times larger than the NYC Decompression version, but the latter strives to maintain the same emphasis radical self-expression, anti-commercialism, community, and spontaneity.

Although the ferocious rains on the eve of the October 25th Decompression rivaled some of the worst dust storms on the Burning Man playa, some participants doubted whether the annual main event at Black Rock City could be replicated by one of many satellite “decompression” gatherings across the country.

Veteran, virgin, and future Burners had mixed perspectives on their assimilation into the ethos of NYC Decompression and the broader Burning Man culture.

Some participants questioned the decision to hold the diet Burning Man at a philistine, Chelsea Piers-type recreational facility in Brooklyn.

Thirty feet from the pyrotechnic delights, six young Brooklynites raved about the displays, though they stood on the other side of the Aviator Sports fence on Flatbush Avenue.

Max Yablonovskiy, 21, is a student at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU who was passing by with fellow Brighton Beach residents, three on top and three inside his friend Ilya’s green Ford Explorer. They stopped on a whim to witness the fire games.

"There's just one lonely fire marshal,” said Yablonovskiy, eyes ablaze and entertained as if the pyromaniacs were circus clowns. “With that twirling fire, I expected to see the fire department everywhere.”

“I had never heard about Burning Man before, but the fire musical chairs is cool because non-pyros actually got to set off the fire too,” Yablonovskiy said. “I’m absolutely going to Decompression next year. I’ve been converted.”

Supervising the dance of fire was O Man, whose real name is Oscar Yong. He is a lifetime burner who raved about the "most ambitious fire project for Burning Man so far," a giant plywood rat’s nest built in 2006 by 79 Belgians called the Uchronians.

"The heat energy from the ‘Belgian Waffle’ was incredible. The fire here doesn't compare to the waffle," said O Man, as pyrotechnicians lit up the scene. "Even so," he continued, pointing towards a burly, white-bearded man in a black fleece, "He's our man at the fire department. It's his fourth year doing Decompression, but he's nervous about this one!"

Inside the Aviator Sports complex, kaleidoscopic video mash-ups generated by a NuVJ controller captivated passers-by. Two-time burners from New York Jeff Schram and Holly Danger toyed with archival Burning Man footage mixed with 1978 Sesame Street counting lessons, where pinballs blasted off from castle cannons. Until their set in the corner of the indoor soccer pitch lost power, and .5% of Decompression was temporarily out of order.

"People dig the visuals, especially when synchronized with the sonic stuff,” Schram said, reveling in his visceral connection to the video controller.

"Decompression has a lot of Burning Man elements, even if it doesn't take you out of reality. We’re still in the ‘default world,’ but it’s as close as you can get,” said Schram, referring to the contrast with non-Burning Man society.

"It's very Zen-like," said Danger, whose video toy was then generating a collage of moon and playa images. The psychedelic clips of a Black Rock City map hypnotically merged with a paraglider’s descent onto the sand. But, this contrasted with pastiche stencil prints on an adjacent wall of Marilyn Monroe, Geronimo, and Jimmy Hendrix.

Walking past a dormant LED-covered windmill, a glowing orb-bearing warrior peered at the prints as if rejecting what might now sell as Ikea artifice. He then frolicked with giant dominos on the floor, which looked like they had dropped down from the hangar ceiling above, where Tracey Real Estate and Nantucket Nectars banners were hoisted.

This was a reminder that the organizers were challenged to find an appropriate space for the 2000-plus revelers, away from the perceived commercial profligacy of the “default world.”

Another Decompression attendee was Korean-born Jiyoon Yeom, who arrived in midtown Manhattan 15 months ago seeking to study graphic design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In August, she went under the knife to remove a stomach growth and two days later left for Burning Man 2008.

"The different energy with the desert air cured me when I was on top of a steel tower 11 stories high. We could see the whole playa,” said Yeom. “After Burning Man, I came back perfect even though the doctor said it would take two weeks to heal."

For Yeom, the NYC Decompression had a similar energy to Burning Man - just without the inspirational art cars. Next year, Yeom plans to bring friends from Korea to stay once more at Burning Man’s Geisha Camp - the community known for giving out free sake.

She has already started planning the Geisha Camp vehicle, replete with Asian-themed decor, flaming dragons, and mobile sake distribution. Yeom’s worst fear is that fellow burners will lose control and make trouble with their art car. She also hopes that the whiteouts will simmer down at Burning Man 2009.

Outside the Disorient tent where Funk and Drum ‘n’ Bass coalesce, Rachael Moore was swaying in the chilly October air. She was taking a break from the night’s most sweaty dance affair, where guests dressed as a toucan, rocket man, exterminator, and spider were among the flight-themed creatures lurking.

The 30-year-old Williamsburg resident, originally from Australia’s bush, arrived in Los Angeles on Aug. 18. Having given away most of her possessions before leaving the land down under, she packed just two suitcases for her voyage to America and subsequent journey to Burning Man - one with regular clothes and the other with costumes and accessories.

“When you enter the gates of Burning Man, they say, ‘Welcome home!’ As I left Black Rock City at the end, it was like leaving home, because I literally had no other house,” said Moore, who stayed at Camp Straya with 25 people, mostly fellow Australians.

“Since there’s no money exchanged, there’s no fear that you can't afford something or have a bag stolen. Outside of Burning Man, people are afraid of the recession, afraid of Obama, McCain, of being ugly, growing old, afraid of their boyfriend or girlfriend cheating. You just forget about those things, but it's not really an escape or a tease. It would be a tease if there were no way to take Burning Man lessons back to the default world.”

“You can experience a little Burning Man here and there everywhere in New York,” said Moore, who is currently looking for an event-planning job.

“I could do 8 weeks of Burning Man a year. But I would need a good showering device. And maybe an RV next time. Our tent got destroyed in a dust storm the first night. The rest of the time, it was pretty much collapsed on our face.”

A visitor from the “default world” was gawking at the Smooch Dome’s nine enmeshed couples, one six-way caress group, and a single man licking his lips alone.

"It reminds me of the old Loft and the Garage clubs in Manhattan. You can just bring pillows and be yourself," said ice cream distributor Penny Monge, 34, who was with her son, Sonny, from Ridgewood, Queens.

"We never knew about Burning Man culture before. We came to Scary House at Aviator Sports and then sneaked into this party, which is much more exciting," said Monge.

She said she preferred the Decompression folks to the rowdy Brooklyn crowd of normal
Saturday nights.

"Too bad it ain't every weekend," Monge declared.

The 12-hour Decompression event wound down around 4 a.m. Nicole Mucciolo headed towards the Flatbush-bound shuttle buses, donning a blue wig with authority.

"I had a fabulous time, both at Decom and at the Burn. I even became more comfortable living in my East Harlem community after I got back from Nevada,” said Mucciolo, 27, who works for Phillips de Pury auction house.

“I found out about Burning Man on the Internet and then made the pilgrimage,” she said. “I flew from NYC to Denver, via Minneapolis, then drove 18 hours with my aunt in a Euro van from Denver to Burning Man.”

“On the way back, the clutch started to go. We were dirty, tired and hung over. Our car broke down on 80 then AAA came, we got towed to Reno and were stuck at a casino. Then flew to Denver, via Salt Lake City, and then flew to NYC, via Minneapolis."

Mucciolo’s journey to Decompression had a similar number of legs. “From East Harlem, I took the 6, the L to work, then the A, an MTA shuttle, a cab, the 2, and then car service to Aviator Sports.”

“The radical self-expression and explosive sense of community tickled my fancy. There is definitely a sense of escapism for anybody who goes. Anyone denying that is kidding themselves. You go to get away from whatever you're used to doing,” Mucciolo said.

“Burning Man is like picking up a musical instrument for the first time and just playing.”

Waiting for Ninguno: Puerto Rican Nationalism in 2008

2008-10-23T07:21:00.007+05:30

In the scorching August sun of his home state, John McCain stumped with Puerto Rican reggaetonero Daddy Yankee, introducing his “special friend” as the megastar famous for delivering gasolina.

The double entendre on Daddy Yankee’s hit single, whose chorus is “dame mas gasolina,” implied an endorsement of McCain’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill.”

On board the Arizona senator’s plane after their joint appearance at Phoenix’s Central High School, the top-of-the-charts musician told the media with a straight face that his hit song was about energy independence.

Ironically, Daddy Yankee (Raymond Ayala) cannot even vote in the presidential election, since he resides in Puerto Rico.

The pop icon’s endorsement, which was apparently based on McCain’s war record, anti-terror stance, and immigration plan, raised the ire of staunch Puerto Rican nationalists, including many in the five boroughs.

Puerto Rican nationalists have counted 21 presidential elections since their movement was born in 1922. Yet, this 2008 election is no different. Puerto Rico is just waiting for Ninguno.

Both candidates in this otherwise historic presidential election have supported the status quo on the unresolved political status of Puerto Rico. And that means supporting indecision - waiting for Puerto Rico to decide for herself.

The three options in this lingering Caribbean saga are full independence, maintenance or enhancement of commonwealth status, and full statehood.

“Even if a majority of Puerto Ricans are not supportive of independence, the Puerto Rican community is still sympathetic to Vieques, the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, and the prisoner issue,” said Hiram Rivera, an active member of the Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico (PNPR) who lives in the Bronx.

A poll conducted in May by Kaagan Research Associates of New York found that 57 percent of Puerto Ricans on the island supported statehood, 34 percent supported the status quo, and a mere 5 percent supported full independence.

Plebiscites on the status question were held in 1967, 1993, and 1998 saw strong majorities vote against independence. In 1998, 50.3 percent voted write-in for “none of the above,” while 46.7 percent were for statehood, 2.5 percent for independence and a mere 0.1 percent for the status quo. Puerto Rico keeps waiting for Ninguno.

The day that over 120 million mainland Americans pull the lever for 44th president, Puertorriquenos vote for governor, non-voting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in Congress, and a number of local offices.

Enter Ninguno. For the gubernatorial race, political theater group Papel Machete launched a satirical write-in campaign in September called “Ninguno pa’ Gobernador” or “Nobody for Governor.” They have advocated voting for an ironic puppet named Ninguno: “Everyone makes promises, but Ninguno delivers.”

Other slogans include Ninguno favorece la libertad de los prisioneros politicos (Nobody wants freedom for the political prisoners) and Ninguno respecta a las periodistas (Nobody respects journalists). Ningunistas represent la quinta (the fifth) – in opposition to the four main Puerto Rican political parties.

In this odd political limbo, an acute case of indecision plagues the 110-year-old colony of four million people with a gross domestic product per capita of $18,400.
The populations aqui y alla are growing steadily, and the stateside population of Puerto Ricans is also nearly four million.

“For folks who are born here and have never been there, the flag, food, drink, and the music are about pride. But, the average young Puerto Rican does not learn much history about Puerto Rico,” said Rivera, a PNPR member who also works as a youth organizer for Brown University’s Urban Youth Collaborative.

The U.S.-based nationalist party is most closely linked to the green-hued Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP), whose members - pipiolos - are the most numerous pro-independence group on the island.

Rivera, who wore a black hoodie with “Sucka Free” scrawled across the front, discussed the party’s concerns about the island being used as a springboard for U.S. military interventions in Latin America.

Since World War II, the island has had more casualties per capita than any of the 50 states, and the Puerto Rican casualty rate is also among the highest in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon statistics.

The list of complaints by nationalist groups includes concerns about the carcinogenic effects of U.S. Navy weapons testing at Vieques and a myriad of economic woes.

“While full independence for Puerto Rico is a noble ideal, integration as an equal state of the union with all the rights of U.S. citizenship is best,” said Justin O’Brien, executive director of the United States Council for Puerto Rican Statehood.

O’Brien said that support for full independence has waned, with notable public figures such as Brooklyn-born actress Rosie Perez now partial to statehood.

Divisions between the three main factions are expressed by the three versions of the Puerto Rican flag. Although the horizontal bands are always red, the triangle color varies with ideological stance.

Navy blue for statehooders. Sky blue for nationalists. And royal blue for proponents of the status quo.

Although Puerto Rico retains a significant amount of autonomy, ultimate authority is vested in the U.S. president and Congress.

While all eight million Puerto Ricans on both the island and the mainland are U.S. citizens, island residents cannot vote in the general election – like residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.

This year, for the June 1 Democratic primary, both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama visited the territory.

Clinton won by more than a 2-to-1 margin. According to CNN exit polls, Clinton supporters were much more likely to be pro-statehood.

President Clinton formed the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, which culminated in the publication of two reports by the Bush administration in 2005 and 2007. To mixed reviews by the two main political parties in Puerto Rico, it concluded that the island remains a territory of the U.S. under the plenary powers of Congress.

On June 14, 2007, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization urged the U.S. to “expedite a process that will allow the Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.”

While the armed resistance peaked in a series of violent confrontations in the early 1970’s, there are still core supporters of independence both in the Puerto Rican diaspora and in the motherland.

In what critics alleged was a bid to garner Puerto Rican support for his wife’s Senate campaign in New York state, President Bill Clinton issued clemency to 11 jailed independentistas in 1999. One of the nationalists’ primary goals is liberation of the three remaining prisoners.

Nuyoricans, centered in East Harlem, constitute the most numerous of the diasporic communities. But, the swing state of Florida has attracted significant attention for its growing community of Puerto Rican origin around Orlando.

“The PNPR does not officially take a stand on elections here in the U.S.,” said 28-year-old East Harlem resident Camilo Matos, also an active member of PNPR and sales rep for the San Juan-based newspaper Claridad, formerly the mouthpiece of the pro-independence movement.

“We consider the elections a colonial game set up by the colonizers to keep Puerto Rican colonized. We call for an abstention so as not to give the election credibility,” he added.

Although PNPR officially stays out of electoral politics, dues-paying members vote for a variety of presidential candidates, including some from third parties such as the Green Party and the Socialist Workers Party.

On the one hand, the Democratic Party’s 2008 platform states: “The people of Puerto Rico have the right to the political status of their choice…to be resolved during the next four years.”

The G.O.P.’s 2008 platform is almost indistinguishable in advocating “the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine.”

However, Cynthia McKinney’s running mate on the Green Party ticket is Rosa Clemente, a South Bronx-born activist and independentista who was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a pro-independence organization.

Regardless, both major parties and their candidates for president endorse the status quo, recommending that further popular referendums determine the island’s status.

“John McCain was among the 14 Senate co-sponsors of the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007, which was introduced by Sen. Salazar and Rep. Serrano,” said O’Brien, of the non-partisan U.S. Council for Puerto Rico Statehood.

The bill would mandate the first Congress—sanctioned popular referendum on whether Puerto Rico would end up as an independent country or as a state with two senators and six members of the House.

O’Brien, whose organization arose in the wake of the last failed status vote in 1998, said that the issue is not likely to be resolved anytime soon.

“Resident Commissioner Fortuno supports permanent union with the U.S. but ultimately believes that the decision should be in the hands of the Puerto Rican people,” said Audrey Sotolongo, spokesperson for the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to Congress.

“The best outcome is to be state,” she added.

Luis Fortuno is the Resident Commissioner as well as the New Progressive Party’s pro-statehood candidate for governor. He spoke during prime time for McCain at the Republican National Convention.

However, stateside Puerto Ricans were about 3-to-1 for John Kerry in the last election. One of poorest communities in the U.S. is likely to vote Obama by about that ratio.

Although residents of the island cannot vote for president, conventional wisdom would suggest that they are largely pro-Obama, since the Illinois senator promised to “keep the checks coming,” said Hiram Rivera, the PNPR activist, who calls for the island to wean itself off of U.S. economic assistance.

The ideal for nationalists is a fully independent and sovereign island with a spot on the U.N. General Assembly.

“If you support the nationalist cause in Puerto Rico, you get blacklisted. You can’t get a job. We’re facing the same sorts of classism and racism that are in the U.S.,” added Rivera.

He continued: “You’re constantly reminded of what you’re not. Real American - not. Other category? Latin immigrants? Caribbean? West Indian? Outside of the U.S., they sees us as American, but we have an identity crisis.”

“Puerto Rico has a Fidel scare, and the anti-left propaganda says that independence equals bread lines, totalitarianism, and the equivalent of the Dominican Republic,” said Matos, also a nationalist party member.

Matos tells a poignant story about his two six-year-old nieces in the Bronx, who asked their mother why there were U.S. flags all over their block after September 11th. They were accustomed to seeing only Puerto Rican flags and could not make sense of the 13 stars and 50 stripes.

Daddy Yankee may have surprised his fans by pumping gasolina for John McCain, but nationalists have the unlikely support of Pat Buchanan.

Yet, with a stagnant movement that refuses to budge in either the statehood or independence directions, mas gasolina for unfinished political business is not forthcoming from either presidential candidate this pivotal election year. Puerto Rico is still waiting for Ninguno.

”Even though I wasn’t born in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico was born in me. If I was born on the moon, I’d still be Puerto Rican,” declared Rivera.

He added, “Republicans and Democrats are two wings of the same bird. Obama is not the savior of Puerto Rico. No U.S. president could ever be our savior.”

Target This: East Harlem

2008-10-17T23:20:00.005+05:30

The avenues of El Barrio constitute a retail desert, where shops charge unwarranted prices for goods of dubious quality. But, with Target on tap, soon there may be higher caliber doormats, cutlery, and Halloween costumes galore for East Harlemites.

Sandwiched up against FDR Drive at the site of the old Washburn Wire factory, the 1.2 million square foot East River Plaza on East 116th Street is under construction at a time when the credit crunch and the equities nosedive present exceptionally unfavorable market conditions.

But, the reality of the economic downturn presents an opportunity for retailers that offer higher-quality goods at consistently low prices.

“Target is a perfect store to open up here in this type of economic situation. It’s not like they’re Neiman Marcus,” said Mark Olson, construction manager for RC Dolner, which is building the East River Plaza complex.

Olson estimated that the Target’s grand opening would take place around October 2009.
Target’s breakneck expansion across America seems undaunted by dismal economic forecasts.

From Wasilla, Alaska, to Alpharetta, Georgia, the Minneapolis-based Target chain opened 45 stores last Sunday alone, following news that September sales were up 2.5% - when the rest of the retail sector had its biggest contraction in three years.

With a total of 1,685 stores in 48 states, “Target offers a strong brand and value message, with high-quality products at affordable prices,” said spokesperson Anna Anderson.

At East River Plaza, the mega-retailer looks to transplant suburbia into the ghetto by sublimating local infrastructure into its voguish bulls-eye.

Generating new tax monies at a time when the city is becoming increasingly cash-strapped, East River Plaza promises to be a “unique shopping experience…and a catalyst for future economic development,” according to the developer, Blumenfeld Development Group, a Syosset N.Y.-based company that is partnering with Forest City Ratner on the project.

“I am always willing to reach out to make developers and those businesses coming into the area be more responsive to the community,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, councilwoman from East Harlem.

According to the developer, the project is generating 2,000 permanent retail jobs and 2,000 construction jobs.

Target promises around 200 jobs, which will be opened up first to area residents via local media, said spokesperson Anna Anderson.

Moreover, through its charitable wing, the corporation said that it gives more than $3 million per week to local communities for grants and special programs.

Last Thursday, Target awarded $14.9 million to schools nationwide, a small chunk of which was reaped by dozens of East Harlem schools who are participating in the Take Charge of Education program, according to spokesperson Harold Reid.

The company also has honed its community relations with the October 4th dedication of the Target East Harlem Community Garden, in conjunction with Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project.

Giant red metal umbrellas covered with solar panels greet green-seekers who enter the East 117th Street garden. In addition to the solar energy, giraffe-like steel masts can be cranked out to harness wind power. The electricity then powers the light bulbs of a community gardening shed, as well as the irrigation system that uses harvested rainwater.

While the goal was to open the space to anyone, head gardener Callie Yarbrough stated the need to keep out riff-raff from the unspoiled, corporate-financed plot.
On Sunday, the Diaz family elected to continue their weekly domino game in the non-Target park down the street. The son littered his Lays bag, and the grandfather stumbled to and fro with a Bud Light, both of which would not mesh well with the Target garden or its stewardess.

“The New York Restoration Project’s vision is to create a more aesthetic and neutral place. They argue that this is more appealing to a wider audience but I have spoken to them and told them that I disagree with this perspective,” said Councilwoman Mark-Viverito.

“I want to ensure that the organization is respectful of the existing residents and making the place a welcoming environment for them and that the garden is not seen as one that is only for the new residents arriving into the community,” she added.

The cushy Target garden space will be used to display Target lawn furniture starting in December, according to Yarbough.

The success of the Target garden has inspired Yarbough and her gardening friends to work with Home Depot on another garden on the same block.

“I’m looking forward to Costco, because then we won’t have to go all the way to Jersey or the Bronx,” said Yarbrough, who lives next to the Target garden.

Originally, Target was expected to fill the second story of the East River Plaza building anchored by Home Depot. However, there is rampant speculation in the neighborhood that the home improvement giant is seeking to exit its 30-year lease, leaving the project with a gaping 110,000 square foot hole.

While Best Buy and Marshalls are expected to round out the project, rumors abound that Costco will fill the Home Depot slot. Sources that wished not to be revealed also mentioned the possibility of Home Depot subletting their space to another tenant, such as Loews. Blumenfeld Development Group principal David Blumenfeld would not comment on the issue.

The nearest existing Marshalls is nine blocks north from East River Plaza on East 125th Street, and the nearest Best Buy is 30 blocks south on East 86th Street.

Although Target already operates stores in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, the East River Plaza store will be the first in Manhattan – albeit in an area in dire need of decent retail.

With 485,000 square feet of prime retail space and a 1,248-space parking garage, the project will contribute traffic to a community with already congested and polluted arterial roadways and one of the highest asthma rates in the country.

Until the 2nd Avenue subway line opens around 2020, automobiles will be the main way to access East River Plaza.

“The more people they bring in, the better for us. Traffic is what we need,” said Gordon Telford, an employee at Benjamin Moore paints on First Avenue.

“It behooves Target to have easy and convenient access to the site. We are committed to where we build and take pride in the location that we select,” said Target spokeswoman Anna Anderson. She added, “Redevelopment in this community is drawing eyes and ears to the area, making it a great opportunity for a longstanding partnership.”

With a lack of sympathy for retailers that over-charge for clothes, chips, and cigarettes, Target is sprucing up retail options where worthy shops are few and far between.

With the sluggish tide of the area’s transformation, Target represents a thrifty and Bohemian turn for El Barrio.

Although some residents bemoan the tide of gentrification, many wonder if this will slow due to Wall Street woes. Less upward pressure on housing costs might please an area that remains skeptical of bourgeois delights and urbane big box retail, even if offered up at low prices.

“It used to be such a quiet neighborhood,” said Columbia Altieri, a retired teacher at P.S. 112.

“But who knows when they'll be finished Target. I probably will be gone by then.”

Al Jazeera Election Coverage

2008-10-14T03:45:00.001+05:30

Here's a news report by Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman, who traveled to eastern Ohio for a Palin rally. The attendees reveal startling opinions about Barack Obama and the election. Excellent report by the burgeoning station. This sort of material is scarcely found in American media.

The Reincarnation of Exodus House: East Harlem School

2008-10-13T22:56:00.004+05:30

On a formerly downtrodden stretch of East 103rd Street next to 2nd Avenue, the Arcs construction crew hastily finished sidewalk digging for fiber optic cables and hauling off chunks of concrete. An irate blond driver of a shiny Lexus SUV several vehicles into the queue yelled, “Come on, man. Let us through.”

The motorist’s view was blocked by another SUV in front of her, so she could not see the futuristic phoenix that has risen from the site of the erstwhile Exodus House drug rehab clinic.

The current avatar, East Harlem School at Exodus House, will provide similarly beneficent services to the blighted neighborhood, upon relocation in under a month.

These are the last days that the 106-pupil school will spend at St. Lucy’s Church, one block from its nearly complete new digs at East 103rd Street.

Co-founder and Principal Ivan Hageman’s family history will have come full circle when his school moves back to the Exodus House site. He was born and raised in the rehab clinic, which his parents Lynn and Leola Hageman founded in 1963.

The Exodus House became an after-school program in 1984 and subsequently a school in 1993.

While his upbringing and professional success may not be typical for a neighborhood of ubiquitous public housing and fast-food eateries, Hageman was always exposed to the substance abuse and indigence that plague East Harlem.

“It’s been a pleasure to build for Ivan and his group of kids, who will truly appreciate this,” said Marc Gee, the construction manager for Arcs. The company did a design-build with architect Peter Gluck, who has done non-profits such as Harlem RBI and Bronx Charter Prep, in addition to projects in Westchester County and Aspen, Colo.

“Most of these nonprofits are just getting by. They still think they’ll just be bringing the old building’s furniture over,” said Gee. “So this project hits home.”

While the East Harlem School’s new building was expected to open at the start of this school year, administrators had to settle for a November grand opening, the exact date of which has not yet been announced.

Gee said that the city was dragging its feet in issuing permits, due to backlog in the aftermath of several crane accidents.

In the meantime, the school is readying for an October 28th benefit at Chelsea Piers, which will attempt to generate the final $700,000 of the $12 million capital campaign that began over 10 years ago to raise funds for the school’s new home.

Around the corner in the well-worn stairwell of the school’s temporary home, a stern Grace Eagar said, “You all are never going to do that again,” as she scolds her humanities class for having broken a cardinal class rule.

Eagar, like most of the über-attentive staff, has multiple roles in ensuring that the strict academic and disciplinary policies are enforced. As the development director and a teacher, she said that the last days at the St. Lucy’s building have been hectic.

“Yet, I’m not shocked that people say this is a great school. Students are always our top priority, and the average class size is just 15 students,” she said.

In a city where 84% of minority high-school students attend dropout factories, Exodus House has a stellar record of graduates matriculating in some of the city’s best private high schools.

“The East Harlem School’s new building is beautiful for the area,” said 61-year-old Esther Rodriguez Hill, who lives in the St. Lucy’s Apartments next door. Hill’s mother was a community organizer who worked with Principal Hageman’s father.

“I have four cousins who went to the old Exodus House. Although the center really helped them, two died from heroin overdose and the other two from AIDS,” she added.

“You see those Exodus House kids walking in straight lines? That shows the progress of our neighborhood,” said Hill, after she scolded one-year-old Skyla Boldon, for whom she babysits.

“I’ve seen the Exodus House built, knocked down, and rebuilt. Ivan better send me an invitation for the grand opening!” she declared.

The new four-story avant-garde structure with Ikea-inspired 1960’s minimalism contrasts with the tenements nearby. With black, white, and grey rectangular trespa panels, the façade looks more Malmö tech park than East Harlem middle school.

Locals stroll by toting their laundry in handcarts and clutching 32 oz. Styrofoam cups of watered-down Mug root beer from the JFK Fried Chicken restaurant on the corner. Though incredulous about the new structure, they seem to betray a sense of delight in its visual novelty.

“The new facility is pretty much like a regular school, except for the front,” said 8th grader Daniel Lucero, who recounts the full-sized gym, science labs, smart boards, and spaciousness.

The building is consistent with the educational philosophy that some parents described as “New Age,” including vegetarian food and an annual spring poetry slam. Yet, passing the high-demand school’s entrance test places applicants, who must live nearby, into a competitive lottery system.

In the neighborhood, criticism of the school was scant, but Marisa Steffers, a resident of 1199 1st Ave., said that the mandatory summer classes and over-emphasis on test preparation were not ideal for her 11-year-old son Jude, who attends P.S. 3 in the West Village.

Fausto Lopez recently moved from a building down the street from Exodus House to the Bronx because of rent increases. Yet he feels blessed that his 6th grade son Richard can still attend the East Harlem School.

“This school has the highest standard, no negatives, and is so far so good. We want to send him to a New England boarding school later,” said Lopez.

“The school helps me out where I’m weak. It’s like a total support system,” said Elaine Grubbs, a West Harlem resident and mother of 6th grader Evan. She speculated that the program would help her son end up at either a private school or the new Columbia Secondary School.

Grubbs added that a hiking trip and jaunt to Christodora were among her son’s favorite activities in the month since he began at the school. However, she said that her son was previously in a District 4 gifted and talented section and consequently was not yet challenged by his new school’s curriculum.

“This is a huge step up for kids who used to have torn textbooks,” said Karen Ayala, 35, whom Hageman taught at University Heights Secondary School in the early 1990’s.

“Before he was my homeroom teacher, I was a hot mess. Look where I am now,” said Ayala, a teacher at the Head Start across 2nd Avenue from Exodus House.

“The school and its new building are not the norm for this neighborhood,” said Ayala. “But they try to show the children that there is something better. An opportunity of this magnitude is a beautiful thing.”

“If Ivan’s gonna do it, then he’s gonna do it big.”

America Mountain Multimedia Slideshow

2008-10-12T21:45:00.005+05:30

America Mountain audio slideshow by Chikodi Chima and me on Vimeo.

As part of an Obama fundraiser, kids and families frolic on a giant American flag in Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

For more info on the organizers, visit mendingbeeforchange.org

New York Rents: Interactive Graphic

2008-10-09T09:25:00.005+05:30

This interactive flash graphic (by Malia Politzer and me) depicts the jump in NYC rents over the past two decades. Click on the buttons above!

East Harlem Public Housing and Homicides (2008)

2008-10-09T09:00:00.005+05:30

View Larger Map

This map shows the location of public housing projects and murders in 2008 within Manhattan Community District 11, which encompasses NYPD precincts 23 (East Harlem South) and 25 (East Harlem North).

The 23rd Precinct went from 31 murders in 1990 to 2 thus far in 2008. There are 23,028 public housing units in Community District 11, the largest number in any NYC district.

Only two of the six murders in East Harlem are marked. The locations of the other four have not yet been found...Any and all tips are welcome...

(Sources: New York City Housing Authority, Emporis, NYPD's 23rd Precinct, and Wikipedia)

One Semitistan: Mixtape 2008

2008-10-06T21:43:00.020+05:30

This album will be released on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at the One Semitistan Uptown NYC Party.

Please contact OneSemitistan@gmail.com for more information.

One Semitistan شلميستان وحاد שמיסטן אחד

1. Tamer Hosny – Arrab Habibi (Egypt) / تامر حسني - قرب حبيبي
2. Tomer Yosef – Al Tatusi (Israel) / תומר יוסף – אל תטוסי
3. Amr Diab – Mayal (Egypt) / عمرو دياب - مايال
4. Hanan - Dahilak (Israel) / חנן – דאחילק
5. Cheikha Remitti - Sidi Mansour Ya Baba (Algeria) / شيخه رميتي - سيدي منصور يا بابا
6. Zohar Argov – Perach B'Gani (Israel) / זוהר ארגוב – פרח בגני
7. Khaled - Didi (Algeria) / خالد - ديدي
8. HaDag Nachash – Shirat Ha-Sticker (Israel) / הדג נחש – שירת הסטיקר
9. Samira Said – Youm Wara Youm (Morocco) / سميره سعيد وشاب مامي - يوم ورا يوم
10. Shotei Hanvuah – Ein Ani (Israel) / שוטי הנבואה – אין אני
11. Amr Diab & Cheb Khaled – Qalbi (Egypt) / عمرو دياب وشاب خالد - قلبي
12. Samir Shukri – Rona (Israel) / סמיר שוקרי – רונה
13. Cheb Khaled & R. Taha – Abdel Kader (Algeria) / شاب خالد ورشيد طه - عبد القدر
14. Zion Golan - Yom El Ehad (Israel) / ציון גולן – יום אל אחד
15. Cheb Jalal - Sidi Habibi (Algeria) / شاب جلال - سيدي حبيبي
16. Shotei Hanvuah – Dakah B'Pardes (Israel) / שוטי הנבואה – דקה בפרדס
17. Cheb Mami - Rani Maak El Youm (Algeria) / شاب مامي - راني معاك اليوم
18. Tomer Yosef - Avarti Rak Kdai Lirot (Israel) / תומר יוסף - עברתי רק כדי לראות

This album is a compilation of songs from the Arab/Arabic and Israeli/Hebrew cultural spheres and thus constitutes an expression of the cultural, linguistic, and geographic unity of the Semitic world.

While the philosophy of this 2008 mixtape supports every step towards a viable and lasting peace in the Middle East, this album refrains from proposing any specific political solutions.

Semitic music and culture are shared by multitudes, despite the boundaries of nation-states and the ongoing ideological conflict.

One Love / One People / One Semitistan
שמיסטן אחד / עם אחד / אהבה אחת
شلميستان وحاد / أمة واحدة / حب واحد

NMN Soundslide: Meta @ Farmer's Market

2008-10-03T18:55:00.004+05:30

This is the audio soundslide that Malia Politzer and I did for our New Media Newsroom class. The project features our profile character Meta Bodewes shopping at the Union Square Farmer's Market.

King Towers Homicide

2008-10-01T23:27:00.001+05:30

On day two of a likely month-long murder trial, a confident key witness testified that he saw the defendant pull the trigger just before nightfall on April 6, 2006. As part of a bargain with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Harlem resident Eric Calvin offered his account Monday in exchange for exoneration from a string of drug crimes.

The defendant, Travis “Trav-Ice” Woods, lives down the street from Calvin in the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers and faces a possible life sentence for his role in the murder of Barry “B-Low” Miller, among other charges, including attempted murder, drug conspiracy, and weapons violations.

The Woods case is one of several cases that resulted from Operation All the King’s Men, a police investigation that began in early 2005. The original watershed indictment from December 2006 charged 43 suspected drug dealers and three suspected gun dealers. The suspects were associated with two rival gangs in Central Harlem, the King Towers Gang and the Schomburg Crew, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

“The King Towers Gang’s PCP product was well-known in the area because the defendants sometimes sold the drug packaged in empty baby food jars,” according to the D.A. Moreover, the gang grossed over $1 million annually in dealing PCP and crack cocaine around 115th Street and Lenox Avenue next to the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers.

Manhattan assistant district attorneys Christopher Conroy and Eric Arnone are prosecuting the Woods case before Judge Bruce Allen of the New York State Supreme Court. Arnone quizzed the case’s key witness, Calvin, who appeared alternatively discombobulated and composed in articulating his account of the murder, as well as in explaining his own checkered history of drug dealing.

“After approaching B-Low from the back, Trav Ice looked straight at him, raised both hands on fired four shots,” said Calvin, who identified Woods as having worn a black thermal hoodie, black jeans, and black Nike ACG boots on the night of the murder.

Both Arnone and Williams attempted partial reenactments of the murder, using cartographic and photographic evidence, but Calvin’s responses about sequence and direction somewhat seemed to confuse the jurors. The 16-member jury also appeared perplexed by a seemingly endless array of drug dealer street names, including “Leather,” “Playboy,” “Foot,” and “Ant.”

Calvin, a 21-year-old 10th-grade dropout, said he started robbing drug dealers at gunpoint with his friends and dealing PCP, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine in his early teens.

Calvin also discussed the logistics of dealing PCP, which is also known as angel dust, embalming fluid, wet, and sherm. He stated that a $50 investment in PCP “juice” could result in a $500 profit for a street level dealer.

Woods, who wore a white dress shirt and a striped blue tie, appeared unconcerned by Calvin’s incriminating words.

According to prosecutors, Miller was the ringleader and chief drug supplier of the King Towers Gang. They said that Woods, a gang manager and enforcer, killed Miller so he could take over.

"It is easy to say he did it, but it doesn't mean he did it. We're being tried by association," said court-appointed defense attorney Norman Williams, before poking holes in Calvin’s statements during an awkward cross-examination that included questions about Calvin’s consumption of marijuana, relationship with the D.A., and geographic details of the crime scene.

“Ultimately, the success of Calvin’s testimony depends on how much the jury believes him,” said Williams. Having represented Woods for 10 years, Williams added that he hoped Calvin’s testimony was not too damaging in bringing about “the best possible result: a full acquittal.”

Kevin “JD Black“ Harris and Terry “JB“ Patterson, two additional defendants named in the original grand jury indictment, both pleaded guilty, according to Williams.
Jurors’ ears perked up when prosecutor Arnone asked Calvin how he was perceived in his community for having agreed to testify as a crucial witness in the murder trial of a fellow King Towers resident.

“I’m viewed as a snitch - a rat,” said Calvin, who could barely look at the defendant after identifying him by name.

“You know that where I’m from it don’t work like that. I grew up with these people. What happens to snitches is you get shot,” said Calvin.

“But, I have more things to live for. My five-month-old girl and other kids are why I’m cooperating,” added Calvin, who testified that he would receive $500 and reimbursement for cab fare and meals for his testimony, in addition to vindication from several drug charges.

Defense attorney Williams acknowledged safety concerns in an urban environment that often brutally enforces the “Stop Snitching” dictum. Calvin’s attorney, Gabriel Tapalaga, declined to comment.

Woods is also charged with the attempted murder of Germaine “Maine” Gordon, who Williams expects to testify against his client.

Later in the week, a doctor, chemist, and more cops will be testifying. On Monday, the medical examiner will take the stand, said Jennifer Kushner, spokesperson for the District Attorney. Kushner would not say whether the District Attorney had ironed out cooperation agreements for any other members of the King Towers Gang to testify.

عيد مبارك and שנה טובה ומתוקה

2008-10-01T13:02:00.004+05:30

Reflections excerpted from the New Year's sagacity of Unetaneh Tokef:

When we really begin a new year it is decided,
And when we actually repent it is determined;

Who shall be truly alive, and who shall merely exist,
Who shall be happy, and who shall be miserable;

Who shall attain fulfillment,
And who shall not attain fulfillment;

Who shall be tormented by the fire of ambition,
And whose hopes shall be quenched by the waters of failure;

Who shall be pierced by the sharp sword of envy,
And who shall be torn by the wild beasts of resentment;

Who shall hunger for companionship ,
And who shall thirst for approval;

Who shall be shattered by the earth quake of social change,
And who shall be plagued by the pressures of conformity;

Who shall be strangled by insecurity,
And who shall be stoned into submission;

Who shall be content,
And who shall go wandering in search of satisfaction;

Who shall be serene and who shall be distraught,
Who shall be at ease, and who shall be afflicted with anxiety;

Who shall be poor in spirit,
And who shall be rich in tranquility;

Who shall be brought low with futility,
And who shall become exalted through achievement.

Foreclosures Skyrocket in Queens and the Bronx

2008-09-29T19:01:00.001+05:30

View Larger Map

This Google Map (by Malia Politzer and me) depicts the percentage increase between 2004 and 2008* in the number of foreclosed homes in the 12 neighborhoods of the Bronx (total 113% increase) and the 14 neighborhoods of Queens (total 225% increase).

The four colors represent the following ranges in foreclosure increase: blue (0% - 99%), green (100% - 199%), yellow (200% - 299%), and red (300% - 399%).

Foreclosure data is courtesy of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

*The figures for 2008 are projected by doubling the sum of the figures for the first two quarters.

The Danish Prime Minister's Dream

2008-09-28T21:28:00.002+05:30

The Danish Prime Minister has summoned world business and political leaders to the bargaining table. Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants the citizens of the gradually greening globe to know that something is quite right in Denmark, although certain rotten states are working against his perspicacious vision.

Employing his time-tested charisma, starry-eyed rhetoric, and free-market antics, the Liberal Danish Premier delivered a climate change address Friday at the Columbia University World Leaders Forum. Rasmussen's three-part speech presented the global energy dilemma, his multifaceted proposal, and his assessment of the prospects for striking a climate change deal when leaders converge upon Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change conference in December 2009.

“If American per capita oil consumption were the same as Denmark's, American oil imports would be reduced by 80%,” argued Rasmussen. Moreover, he stated, the U.S. would save $300 billion per year – instead of transferring this wealth to foreign lands and regimes. While this hypothetical banks upon the nullification of a key difference between the U.S. and Denmark – much larger transport distances – the argument still holds water.

With dwindling energy supplies and quickening global warming, Rasmussen said that one major goal is to keep the global temperature increase at less than 2 degrees Celsius. According to this aim, preemptive measures will ultimately reduce the cost of corrective actions later on. This entails fostering a low carbon economy defined by more stable energy prices and a reliable, secure supply regime.

“Long term costs of inaction outweigh the costs of action now,” said Rasmussen. For the ambitious Dane, a complete overhaul of the energy sector would mean massive shifts in power production, building technology, and transport – which are generally considered the three most power-greedy sectors of the economy. It would also necessitate switching over to an intelligent electricity grid that can draw from a variety of power sources.

But, many skeptics doubt the potential of Rasmussen's proposal. The ornery American energy tendencies could prove to be most insurmountable in the run-up to Copenhagen 2009, which is a key step in the evolution of a globally accepted energy regime. Denmark is expected to establish an ambitious global climate agreement to take effect in 2012, when the the Kyoto Protocol's first 15-year commitment period expires. In the aftermath of the Kyoto Protocol's momentous pronouncements, the world watched as the U.S. buried itself in an energy purgatory. While Al Gore and his partisans have relentlessly been driving for key reforms to American energy policy, the nay-sayers have been all but halting America's progress on this front.

“Those who lead the way will be the industrial icons of the 21st century,” declared Rasmussen, who candidly stated his willingness to work with whoever wins the election on November 4th. He also extolled California's ability to maintain consistent energy consumption over the course of the last three decades, while the U.S.'s overall consumption jumped 60%. Rasmussen heartily encouraged the U.S. to spur on the energy revolution.

Rasmussen claims that the Danish economy has grown by 75% in the past 25 years but experienced no concurrent increase in energy consumption. If only the U.S. could reproduce this feat over the next 25 years!

The affable PM's pitch draws its vitality from the impressive Danish example. Having heavily taxed fossil fuel consumption, cut electricity usage, decreased carbon emissions, and established a carbon trading market, the country will likely remain energy self-sufficient for a generation, according to Columbia President Lee Bollinger, who introduced Prime Minister Rasmussen.

“The American government should lend a helping hand in providing subsidies for the development of wind farms,” said Rasmussen. T. Boone Pickens' American wind power plan is a way for the U.S. to regain its position of leadership in the world, suggested the PM. He said that subsidies for alternative energy development and higher taxes on fossil fuel consumption clearly provide more of an incentive for innovators in the alternative energy field. While the Liberal Rasmussen does not suppose that Smith's Invisible Hand will swat the Pickensian wind mills into action up and down America's prairie, the PM realizes the all governments need to hasten green action in a major way.

Perhaps a far cry from truly “liberal” policy, this center-right baron of Danish-inspired globalization (i.e. Carlsberg, lego, and Skype) is known for paring down the welfare state, de-funding education, and cutting back on immigration. But he sees government as integral to the establishment of a robust and secure energy future. He exhorts the U.S. to take an emboldened role in this evolution of the global energy regime.

In terms of the overall viability of Rasmussen's plan, another concern centers on the funding for decreasing carbon emissions in developing nations. Even pro-globalization development theorists (such as Jagdish Bhagwati, who conducted the Q&A after the Danish PM's speech) point to the reluctance on the part of both 1st World and 3rd World governments to pick up the tab for greening dirty developing economies. Even if developing countries contribute less to global warming, they ought not be given a free ride in the transition to a low carbon world, argued Rasmussen.

Next, questions remain about Europe's ability to consolidate its energy markets in opposition to the eagerly confrontational Russians, who seem bent on withholding gas supplies from Europe as a political weapon. Rasmussen advocates the energy diversification initiatives that would allow northern Europe's wind power and southern Europe's solar power to be exchanged in an elaborate trading system that aims to lower the costs of energy and ensure stability and security in the long-term.

Despite the cultural and social problems that have plagued Rasmussen – most notoriously the Mohammed cartoons and an anti-integrationist Islamism – the Danish premier may be able to transcend these issues in the interest of formulating a globally beneficial energy policy. (After his speech at Columbia, Rasmussen both wished Muslims a “happy Ramadan” and defended the Danish publications' right to free speech in printing the politically incorrect cartoons).

As for the his energy promises, in eight years as Bush's best buddy in Europe, Rasmussen has not managed to persuade Bush to get behind the Danish energy plan. He praised the steps that some American states have taken, including stricter emissions targets, high fuel efficiency standards, carbon trading markets - but emphasized that the U.S. needs to do much better.

Denmark is a respected leader in tech and innovation, partially because of the dismantling of the socialist regulatory framework. As a pioneer of the clean energy movement, especially in wind power generation, Denmark seeks to advertise the business opportunities that abound in the course of preserving the environment. The ultimate message is that, if the U.S. does not heed Rasmussen's advice, enormous wealth transfer out of the U.S. will continue, and unstable oil prices and supply will burden long-term economic growth.

UN General Assumbly 2008: Day 1

2008-09-24T21:27:00.000+05:30

Homicide on the West Side

2008-09-23T23:12:00.001+05:30

Parents anxiously dropped their children off at Trinity School and Goddard-Riverside preschool early Monday morning and exchanged scant information available on the brutal killing of a Pennsylvania man in a car parked between the two schools on West 91st Street.

No trace of the carnage remained by the time the school bells chimed, after NYPD had pulled an all-nighter gathering evidence, beginning at 10:15 p.m. Sunday night when 24th Precinct officers responded to the scene.

Police found Marvin Stevens, the 38-year-old victim, being clutched by a 22-year-old female friend. Stevens was pronounced dead on arrival from one bullet wound to the face at St. Luke’s Hospital twenty-five minutes later, according to NYPD officials.

“Central Park Police stopped a suspicious vehicle traveling through the park, but it was not the suspects, who are still loose,” said John Harrison, a law enforcement official who was doing security detail for a Trinity School student on Monday.

According to Harrison, the initial police chase of the three suspects, two in a green van and one on foot, yielded no results. The female friend also did not initially provide any information, said Harrison.

He added that police might be able to identify the suspects based on fingerprints left on either the single shell casing found at the scene or on the wallet that a suspect allegedly dropped nearby.

“As I was waiting outside for my daughter to be dropped off, I heard one shot and then ran up the ramp of my building. My heart started pounding because I thought she might have been out there,” said resident Esther Gross, vice president of the Wise Towers housing board and former chair of the New York City Public Housing Resident Alliance.

“The victim and his female friend were either caught in a love quarrel or a drug deal gone wrong,” said Zoraida Bonilla, 46, supervisor of the Wise Towers tenant patrol, which aids Housing Authority police in securing the Wise Towers, four public housing buildings on the south side of West 91st Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

“The cops had been here three hours before because we had a jumper on the roof of [117 W. 91st St.], and they inflated landing pads around the whole building,” added Bonilla, about an apparently unrelated incident.

Sunday night’s killing occurred in front of the Goddard-Riverside preschool at 114 W. 91st St., which is directly across the street from where an Allied Barton security guard was sitting at Trinity School. Trinity School’s spokesman did not comment on the incident.

“Our book keeper, who opened up the facility at 8 a.m. Monday morning, was the first person here since Friday. So, thankfully none of us were affected,” said Pedro Cordero, Director of Early Childhood Services at Goddard-Riverside Children’s Center.

“The old ladies know what color drawers you’re wearing before you even put them on, but they don’t know about this one yet,” said Mookie Negron, 33, as she and other Wise Towers residents speculated whether the victim and his female friend had ties to the area.

Police spokesman Anthony Battaglia said that the ongoing police investigation has yet to yield any arrests. Authorities are trying to determine whether the incident was linked to a spate of six Harlem shootings that also occurred Sunday night, several hours after Harlem’s African American Day Parade.

The murder is the third this year in the 24th Precinct, according to NYPD CompStat data.

...at a Gas Station Near You

2008-09-20T12:27:00.001+05:30

Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com

Click here to add this map to your website.

The Evolution of East Harlem

2008-09-17T11:08:00.001+05:30

The seeds of big box development are painstakingly being sown in East Harlem, to the chagrin of some residents present at Community Board 11’s Land Use Committee meeting last Monday night in the basement cafeteria of North General Hospital.

While the massive development promises to bring jobs and tenants to a blighted section of East Harlem, residents fear that the project could result in less green space, squeezed out local retail, less affordable housing, and a parking nightmare.

Almost two years after the city first issued a request for development proposals, the East 125th Street Development plan is slouching forward. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber, District Eight Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Manhattan Community Board 11’s East 125th Street Taskforce are ironing out an agreement to select one out of three developers being considered for the mixed-use 1.7 million square foot project.

“Developer E, the presumed favorite in the ongoing blind selection process, is real estate mogul Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities, which is also redeveloping Coney Island,” said Robert Rodriguez, Manhattan Community Board 11 Chair. Vornado Realty Trust and General Growth Properties are the other two developers in the bidding to build the combination of retail, office, residential, and cultural space – and even a 180-room hotel.

“Our goals and priorities focus on affordable housing, jobs, a cultural center, public space, and small businesses,” said Rodriguez, who sought to make the plan’s $100 million in expected community benefits “accountable to the people of East Harlem.”

The proposed six-acre East Harlem site contains three parcels located between Second and Third Avenues and East 125th and East 127th Streets. The Economic Development Corporation, the city’s development wing, has spearheaded the stalled East 125th Street plan as an integral part of the broader Harlem renaissance and the river-to-river rezoning effort.

The East 125th Street development, which may take over a decade to materialize, includes up to 300,000 square feet of anchor retail space for national tenants such as JC Penny, BJ’s, Lowe’s, and Regal Cinema. The plan is also slated to have up to 140,000 square feet for specialty retail such as restaurants and nightclubs.

Meanwhile, at the 485,000 square foot East River Plaza project already under construction at East 116th Street, Target, Best Buy, and Marshalls are still expected, but Costco may replace Home Depot, which is no longer interested. Community Board Chair Rodriguez said he aimed not to see a repeat of the scenario in which East River Plaza construction jobs were promised but never delivered for neighborhood residents.
In addition to concerns over gentrification, community members also expressed doubts whether the proposal was competitive enough to take advantage of Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone funds.

“In this credit market, I doubt that these national tenants could work out financing for the East 125th Street project,” said Garry Johnson, president of Johnson Design Consulting Inc., an East Harlem-based company. “Look at the East River Plaza’s [Home Depot]. That will happen to these guys later too,” said Johnson. Johnson also doubted whether the 50,000 square feet of local retail would be fairly accommodated in the East 125th Street redevelopment.

“The city has promised not to use eminent domain to remove tenants, but Fancy Cleaners, Midas, and a gas station at 126th Street and Third Avenue are concerned that they might not receive market value for their properties,” said Rodriguez.

The East 125th Street plan also includes around 900 units of mixed-income housing, about half of which is slated to be owner-occupied. There would likely be one residential tower and one mixed-use tower, including over 150,000 square feet of office space. Also planned are 300,000 square feet of cultural and media space, which would include 30,000 square feet for non-profit performance space, where groups such as PR Dreams and the Caribbean Cultural Center would pay below market rent, according to the current plan.

“We don’t have to develop everything. We can leave some areas to nature,” said Francis, an East Harlem resident who doubted that the plan’s minimum requirement for open space would ultimately be fulfilled. Additionally, the plan aims to include over 600 new parking spots, and some residents worried that their neighborhood would turn into a giant parking lot.

“We cannot get [Councilmember Mark-Viverito] to back us on major land use issues...to stand up to the city and fight for this neighborhood. She always folds. Now we’re under the gun again due to her inadequacies,” said Johnson. He added, “Melissa, we got you in, and we can get you out.” The councilmember did not return phone calls for comment.

“There should be a citizen review process and [Community Benefits Agreement] equal to the ones for Columbia University’s expansion plan in Manhattanville and for Hunts Point in the Bronx,” said Lee Shan, an East Harlem resident and city employee. Board chair Rodriguez countered that a more comparable review process in terms of community feedback occurred with the 125th Street Corridor Rezoning, which has already been approved by the New York City Planning Commission.

“In this process, we should be responsive and reactive but also progressive in expressing the vision for what we want,” said Matthew Washington, co-chair of the Community Board 11 Land Use Committee and Deputy Director of Friends of Hudson River Park. “The city has not done a good job in addressing these concerns, and the people who represent us are not listening. We’re shooting full force for the community and for our families,” added Washington.

“We need to take a more active role in selecting the developer and creating a decent vision before October 7th, when the City Council votes to approve the plan,” said Rodriguez, on the East 125th Street Development’s impending Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).

Monday night’s meeting also addressed the snail’s pace of other construction projects in the area, as well as the planned pedestrian and bike connector from East Harlem to Randall’s Island.

“We must ensure that future developments adhere to what we want before we begin them, since our children will have to live with the results. Developers want your land, labor, and the tax benefits,” said Johnson, who urged that the incipient East Harlem Local Development Corporation take heed of these concerns.

The American Ballroom Theater’s Dancing Classrooms and Hunter College’s Center for Puerto Rican Studies and are two non-profit organizations listed as possible tenants for the East 125th Street development’s 30,000 square feet of cultural space.

“We would be happy to serve the East Harlem community,” said Pierre Dulaine, founder and executive director of Dancing Classrooms. “But we were not even aware that this development is still going forward.”

Swiss Solar Taxi in NYC

2008-09-13T10:25:00.003+05:30

The rain flaps clap against the sides of the futuristic, blue electric low-rider, and West Side Highway drivers crane their necks to make out the origin of the odd automobile, with its solar panel trailer in tow. As the passenger raises his right arm to signal a lane change, the driver sounds the giddy, high-decibel horn.

“New Yorkers love it,” said Palmer. “They all want to trade cars with me.”

This week, America’s largest metropolis is graced by the presence of the Solar Taxi, and the inventor-cum-driver, Louis Palmer, is more than happy to enlighten auto mavens, alternative energy aficionados, and naysayers about his creation.

Solar Taxi’s historic around-the-world journey thus far has encountered only a few minor breakdowns and just two small accidents, when cars collided with the solar panel trailer in Syria and India.

“Having driven over 1000 passengers, this little car is still running like a Swiss clock,” said Palmer.

With a start and finish in Palmer’s hometown of Lucerne, Switzerland, the Solar Taxi has already driven through 28 countries in 14 months. So far, 36-year-old Palmer’s adventure has traversed 5 continents, and he promised his mother that the zero-emissions vehicle would be home by Christmas.

“Palmer has a bold, idealistic vision,” said Johann Aeschlimann, spokesman for the Swiss Consulate in New York.

Half of the Solar Taxi’s power actually comes from the solar panels on the trailer, while the other half is taken from the power grid when Palmer charges up at night, using whichever adapter is necessary in the host country.

The Solar Taxi is a concept that represents the tremendous promise of alternative energy, said Palmer, who acknowledges that he is not advocating for impractical solar powered cars. He refers to it as a taxi so that bystanders feel free to ride along.

Through the solar car concept, Palmer projects a future in which electric cars plug into the power grid and take power drawn predominantly from solar, wind, and biomass sources. He believes this sort of technology will most quickly materialize in places like Mazdar, a zero-carbon city in Abu Dhabi.

Palmer said that his solar-electric concept hybrid vehicle cost $10,000 to build, while the solar panel trailer was an additional $5,000.

He calculates his energy balance sheet every year with the diligence of the most prudent accountant and likens it to an energy bank from which he can withdraw power with his debit card.

With the car’s electric meter, Palmer always makes sure never to exceed the annual amount generated by the solar cells on his rooftop in Lucerne, which last year harnessed a surplus of 2000 kilowatt-hours in excess of the 3000 kwh used by the Solar Taxi.

The vehicle has a 130-mile-range and maximum speed of 55mph. When the solar panel trailer is attached, the car can run over 300 miles.

“He’s combined technology and innovation to come up with renewable energy solutions, providing us with the inspiration to create scalable solutions,” said Cynthia Smith, a curator at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which hosted the official New York welcoming of the Solar Taxi.

Palmer, who works as a substitute teacher, dreamt up the concept as a 14-year-old in homeroom, as classmates were chatting about ski trips and knives. After his teacher warned him of the dangers of carbon emissions, Palmer conjured up several plans to travel the world - each designed to promote a distinct vision of greener, zero-carbon transport.

A six-language polyglot, Hungarian-born Palmer traveled Africa on a bike in 1994, Asia by car in 2001, and was a development aid worker in Afghanistan in 2002.

“Now, the goal is to promote solar energy. It’s here, and it’s just a matter of applying it,” said Palmer.

The main sponsor of the Solar Taxi’s maiden voyage is Q Cells, a German solar panel manufacturer that contributed the solar panel trailer, travel funds, and the car’s blue and black color scheme. A smattering of Swiss crests on the car’s exterior indicates the national origin of most of the car’s parts.

The voyage included the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, where the Solar Taxi scooped up Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a ride. The car will be in Poznan, Poland for the next U.N Climate Change Conference on December 3rd.

Jay Leno and Larry Hagman have been two other notable passengers in the U.S. Although Leno compared the present incarnations of the electric car to veggie burgers, he ended up plugging the Solar Taxi on his personal website, according to the Solar Taxi film crew from Berlin who spent three hours with Leno around his L.A. mansion.

“The craziest times were in India, where we broke down for 10 minutes down the street from the Taj Mahal,” said Thomas Gottschalk, the team’s mechanical engineer. “A group of over 50 Indians crowded around to gawk at us and our alien vehicle. The traffic was also the most dangerous there,” he said.

Palmer recalled spectacular police escorts in Syria and Saudi Arabia. Also astounded by the amount of attention received in the United Arab Emirates and China, Palmer said, “Every government official was like an Al Gore.” Palmer reported the coldest reaction was in Australia, where he encountered surprisingly little enthusiasm for green technology.

“We have a tradition of alternative energy in Switzerland, a country where things are really moving,” said Christoph Bubb, Consul General of Switzerland in New York.

Bubb continued, “From Switzerland, the sun21 solar-powered catamaran has already taken Columbus’ route to the New World. Bernard Piccard circumnavigated the globe in a balloon and is currently developing a solar plane with the same wingspan as an Airbus 380, which should be ready by 2011.”

Palmer plans to segue the Solar Taxi into his next project by the end of 2009, an around-the-world-in-80-days trip with a fleet of electric cars.

“I’m playing it safe in the Manhattan rain just because we have only a few months before reaching home,” said Palmer, before backing the Solar Taxi into a parking spot in front of the eco-friendly Solaire building next to Battery Park.

Palmer said, “We know the petroleum party is over 20 years from now. If this Solar Taxi is not the future, then there is no future.”

Bollinger: Columbia ROTC Open for Debate

2008-09-12T10:28:00.001+05:30

"Whether to have ROTC on the [Columbia University] campus...is an issue that's been debated in the University...and it's always open for debate," said Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, as he was interviewed by Columbia j-schooler Alex Lowther immediately following the September 11th ServiceNation event.

Columbia's Obama-McCain Service Nation 9-11 Event

2008-09-11T19:22:00.001+05:30

Preparation for the September 11th Public Service Discussion

2008-09-10T14:31:00.000+05:30

Clockwise from the top left photo: the big screen is prepared for the main event; tech staff comply with a Secret Service request to seal off visibility from Broadway; workers prepare the stage for the main event; Columbia students walk towards the Journalism building through the limited access gates, which will be manned by security on Thursday.

Italian Harlem: Claudio's Barbershop

2008-09-10T11:15:00.012+05:30

Claudio Caponigro is one of the last relics of a bygone era. Yet, almost 60 years of snipping the locks of East Harlem residents might come to an end. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next year.

But, the mercurial steward of erstwhile Italian Harlem’s East 116th Street hub is still anchored firmly at Claudio’s Barber Shop.

In contrast, the old Delightful coffee shop on 1st Avenue, where Caponigro used to get coffee every morning at 7 a.m., is now a “classy Dunkin Donuts,” said 79-year-old Caponigro, who added, “Colonial Tavern is now a gay and lesbian bar.” Community fixture Morrone Bakery closed one year ago, after 50 years in business.

Despite some signs of resurgence, Italian Harlem’s Old World charm continues to fade. As the last bastions of this immigrant culture disappear from the cityscape, the virtues of certainty, simplicity, and loyalty lose some of their most faithful beholders.

Still, Caponigro’s favorite Italian wall-hanging adage resonates from his stalwart barbershop throughout the lost blocks of El Barrio: “My grandpa lived so long because he minded his own f***in business.”

The tightlipped barber recently finished a yearlong probation term for refusing to reveal the names of his Genovese crime family customers to police. In the case, Caponigro’s alias was given simply as “Claudio the Barber.”

Joey, an Italian Harlem resident who did not want to appear to be “ratting,” said that Claudio’s Barber Shop was the place where wiseguys always got their haircuts. Notable customers have included comedian Jimmy Durante and the last Tammany Hall bosses, Carmine DeSapio and Frank Rossetti, who ruled in the 1950’s and 1960’s, respectively.

“Almost a dozen films, including Carlito’s Way: the Beginning, been shot here, and also Law and Order and Third Watch,” said Claudio. Jennifer Lopez used Claudio’s Barber Shop as a backdrop for a music video.

Most of Caponigro’s customers are much younger than the kitschy tchotchkes that line the peppermint-green walls of his one-room shop - a fin-de-siècle cash register, hunting paraphernalia, September 11th tributes, and a 2002 Sports Illustrated magazine photo of a supermodel clad in a rose-red bikini while sprawled on Claudio’s barber chair. Figurines adorned with Puerto Rican colors complement the dusty red, white, and green flags.

While the Puerto Rican community has dominated the area since the 1950’s, Mexican immigrants have recently changed the fabric of the neighborhood. Also, white New Yorkers in search of lower rents have begun to flock to the parts of East Harlem not covered with public housing.

Caponigro jokes that he speaks enough Spanish to know what haircut his Mexican clients want. He also says that his favorite lunch is rice and beans with pork at Sandy’s, a Dominican restaurant on 2nd Avenue.

Indeed, Caponigro’s professional gusto has not waned since he cut the locks of wealthy Doctor’s Row residents, who resided on the stretch of 116th Street that is now Little Mexico. Caponigro said that he is busiest just after the first day of every month, when public assistance checks are mailed out.

The neighborhood was formerly host to the largest concentration of Italian-Americans in the five boroughs. The nearly extinct Italian community’s largest annual celebration is the July 16th Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Caponigro is the pivotal figure in Chapter 3 of New York Times writer Joseph Berger’s multi-cultural odyssey through New York, The World in a City, which states that there were 80,000 Italians in East Harlem through the 1930’s. Residents estimate that there are now around 1,000 Italian-Americans left in East Harlem, less than 1% of the area’s population. Yet, between Pleasant and 2nd Avenues are vestiges of the amiable past.

Although the early immigrants from South Italy and Sicily crammed into the basements of Irish Catholic churches upon their arrival, they created a thriving hub of New York Italian culture. Al Pacino was born in East Harlem; Fiorello LaGuardia lived there until 1943, when the area began its precipitous decline. Born into a family of barbers in Campania, Italy, Caponigro immigrated to Italian Harlem in the early 1950’s.

Urban renewal brought down many of the community’s main establishments, including coffee shops, bakeries, and delis on 1st Avenue. Claudio’s Barber Shop, Patsy’s, and uber-exclusive Rao’s are among the last to remain.

“Rao’s used to be my hangout 50 years ago, but now Rao’s high class. I remember Frankie Pellegrino was a little boy,” says Caponigro, whose crisp, silvery hair is impeccably slicked back.

Patsy’s Pizzeria is one of the few Italian Harlem restaurants still afloat. Caponigro giddily recalls Patsy’s 75th Anniversary celebration on August 19th, when prices reverted to the 1933 level. Customers both old and new enjoyed 90-cent steak and 35-cent tiramisu.

Brother William Sherlog, a teacher and athletic director at nearby Rice High school, has been Claudio's customer for 13 years. “I don’t know how Claudio puts the hours in, seven days a week,” said Sherlog.

Another customer, Vinny, is a 49-year-old Upper East Side doorman and lifetime resident of Italian Harlem.

“I didn’t know you were a brother. I wouldn’t have used foul language,” said Vinny, to Brother Sherlog, as they exchanged thoughts about the latter’s contention that global warming allows street crime to last even longer into the winter. Vinny declares, “It used to be that the neighborhood protected itself, but now there is no more neighborhood.”

Vinny can no longer speak Italian but remembers purposefully infrequent conversations as an adolescent - for fear of being mocked. Yet, he extols his barber’s mantra, in Neapolitan dialect, which hangs next to the door: “O barbiere, te fa bello / O vino, te fa guappo / A femmena, te fa fesso.” (“Barber, you make me pretty / Wine, you make me drunk / Woman, you make me lovey-dovey”).

“Sometimes I don’t even bother to clean anymore,” said Caponigro, who gruffly laments the decline in steady, loyal clientele in colorful Neapolitan-accented phrases. His pastel green tiled floor is covered with many more shades of hair than were sheared from the heads of that day’s customers.

The same three barber chairs remain in his shop, yet his three co-workers – all his senior – passed away over 30 years ago. Caponigro still has no telephone in his barbershop.

“All my friends around here dead. I buried ‘em all,” said Caponigro, shuffling through a stack of mass cards for his deceased customers, which are neatly stowed away in a narrow drawer of a rickety chest otherwise reserved for haircutting equipment.

Tony Ascione, who owns the pharmacy at 2268 1st Ave., suggests that the best strategy to leave the area would be speedy retirement. Eddie Trongone, a retired bailiff for the New York State Court of Claims, disagreed: “I still like it here.”

Having moved from the neighborhood in 1969, Caponigro lives with his wife in the Pelham Gardens area of the Bronx, and their three daughters and two grandchildren live in Scarsdale.

Caponigro’s business is day-by-day. “If I had a son who wanted to become a barber, I’d choke him,” said a jocular Caponigro, showing off a photo of his oldest daughter with Rudy Giuliani, taken during a fundraiser for the ex-mayor’s 2008 Presidential bid.

“Here’s the bullet hole in the storefront’s side window, which also shattered part of that inside mirror,” said 28-year-old customer Brent Lamberti, a bartender at Corner Bistro in the West Village. He is one of a growing number of third generation Italian-Americans who have returned to live in Italian Harlem.

“I’ve never had a problem with anyone around here. My main window is the original and the only one in all of East Harlem without a gate or bars on it,” said Caponigro.

“Claudio is the best barber in El Barrio,” said customer Jimmy Horacio, a 70-year-old retired reporter for El Diario.

Horacio and his neighbors at El Boricua apartments on 117th Street, Jimmy Diaz, 66, and Jimmy Rodriguez Negron, 75, recall how Claudio’s haircuts – now $10 - were only 50 cents when the shop opened in the 1950’s – and that included a shave.

Obama McCain in Harlem

2008-09-09T05:47:00.007+05:30

Campaign Contributions in 10027

2008-09-08T10:33:00.001+05:30

Here is the breakdown of the contributions from Columbia University's zip code, 10027, in the current election cycle. 10027 has contributed about 9 times as much as the average zip code, and 2008 contributions total $369,182, according to OpenSecrets. The average 10027 household income is $41,307.

Here is a list of the donation totals for this election cycle, by recipient and amount.

Obama, Barack (D): $160,840
Clinton, Hillary (D): $68,329
EMILY's List: $14,450
DNC Services Corp: $11,100
Republican Nat'l Cmte: $10,250
Giuliani, Rudolph W (R): $9,700
National Leadership PAC: $6,750
Generation Blue: $6,480
Richardson, Bill (D): $5,800
Edwards, John (D): $5,250

*The data and images above are courtesy of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama McCain at Columbia

2008-09-08T08:20:00.002+05:30

Mo the Mayor

2008-08-29T11:03:00.001+05:30

Mo is the affable, unofficial mayor of his public housing project. Having transformed himself from high school basketball star to feared street legend to inspirational East Harlem community leader, Mo embodies the gritty paradoxes of his environs.

Having lived in the same 8th floor apartment at 1641 Madison Ave. virtually his entire life, Mo routinely asks neighborhood residents “You aight?” with an unshakable confidence that he will be able to respond accordingly even if the answer is “no.” Mo conveys the impression that his power extends well beyond his building, one of four towers in the Lehman Village Houses, spanning from 110th St. to 107th St.

When Mo drives across 110th Street, neighbors approach his vehicle to inquire about the affairs of the block on the other side of the Metro North viaduct. Mo responds, “I have the situation under control.”

Mo’s neighborhood is composed of virtuous souls and unsavory characters. Since gregarious Mo learned how to hustle, he has been ambitiously multi-tasking. “I’m an ex-drug dealer who never went to prison,” says Mo, whose real name is Malik Jenkins.

“Mo is known everywhere,” said Ansar “Pacino” Bing, a film editor at Universal Remote Productions who is a longtime friend of Mo’s. “We have the same ‘862’ tattoo on our forearms.”

Mo says this number represents a pact that a group of Harlem men formed in the late 1990’s, involving gang activities around 143rd St. and Convent Ave. Mo will not comment on the record about the extent of the group.

Mo feels comfortable mentioning that, by his 16th birthday, he drove luxury sedans and earned his father’s bi-weekly paycheck in 36 hours. But, his demeanor is perpetually nonchalant, with an alternatively boyish grin and intent stare. Sometimes he betrays an almost Southern charm that derives from his parents’ Carolinian origin.

34 year-old Mo grew up in a two-parent household, but his parents both passed away in 2007. Mo has a seemingly wholesome relationship with his gentle wife Kendra, a public school teacher. Mo’s most recent birthday was celebrated by renting out a party bus for his 15 year-old son Madison and his teenaged pals.

He is dedicated to fostering a positive climate for his son and stresses his penchant for sponsoring youth basketball, film, and music programs. He is also on his building’s housing board. Although Mo seems to have a new cell number every week, he says he is fully extricated from the urban pharmaceutical industry. Regardless, the mayor never stops serving his constituents.

“I’m here for a reason - my story has to be told,” says Mo, adjusting the three rosaries around his bulky neck. “Some of the things in my life were meant to be done. Yet, I’m a young, black man with no felonies – how is that?”

Sam, the DJ at one of Mo’s recent parties for neighborhood adolescents, said, “God has a cloud around this man, but stop me there, I don’t want to start preaching about Mo.”

Ludacris: Paint the White House Black

2008-08-21T16:09:00.000+05:30

Two politically-inclined rappers give their 2 cents on the candidate who is likely to be the next American Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama. Ludacris video "Politics (Obama Is Here)" at top and Nas video "Black President" on bottom.

Maps of America

2008-08-21T01:24:00.003+05:30

Check out this map of dominant ethnicities by county!

And here is a map of the dominant Christian denominations by county.

And here is my 2005 Penn Honors Senior Thesis, which dealt with similar issues of political and cultural geography in the 2004 presidential election: Feeling Blue and Bleeding Red: the American Ideological Cleavage

The Hood of Bandra

2008-08-07T06:49:00.001+05:30

Caste in the City: The Dynamics of Class-Caste Mobility in Mumbai

2008-07-18T10:23:00.004+05:30

Here is my final Fulbright report, the culmination of 9 months of caste research at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India.

Mumbai Metro to the Fore

2008-06-11T09:53:00.003+05:30

Mumbai's urban railway network is notoriously clogged with bodies. While around 13 people die every day from accidents, the city strives less-than-wholeheartedly to construct a thorough metro system. I wish India's largest urban agglomeration the best of luck in this enterprise, but I am fairly certain that the metro will not be completed for many years. I'll be supremely gladdened when the system finally does take off the ground. For the 6+ million people who grace the rails each waking day, any and every improvement is overdue.

Here are some links that deal with the Mumbai train system and the construction progress. This process surely takes some time!

Death Trains

mumbaimetro1

Mumbai Matters

Two conferences that I attended in Bombay, Urban Age Mumbai and the 5th International Conference of Critical Geography, presented very different approaches to urban development, but both undoubtedly would laud the speedy completion of the planned Mumbai metro. While neoliberal development advocates might be more at peace with the rapid influx of motor vehicles, the automobile's pathways cannot keep pace with the increase in car ownership. The public infrastructure of Mumbai just cannot meet the demands of the demographic increases that will not cease at any point in the near future.

There is no practical way of capping the density of Mumbai, but this should not discourage critical investments in infrastructure. It's just that the burden on any new infrastructure quickly wears away at the newness. There's no end in sight to the population explosion in 3rd World cities such as Mumbai. We can merely hope and beg for more expedient development of public transport so that the morass of motoring metal, bodies, and fumes does not spontaneously combust...

Top 10s

2008-06-04T14:51:00.003+05:30

Here are a few Top 10 lists that I've generated. Thoughts?

Most attractive people:

1. Venezuela
2. Italy
3. Thailand
4. Lebanon
5. Israel
6. Brazil
7. Czech Republic
8. India
9. Ethiopia
10. Sweden

Best Indian States:

1. Kerala
2. Rajasthan
3. Jammu & Kashmir
4. Tamil Nadu
5. Maharashtra
6. Himachal Pradesh
7. Goa
8. Uttaranchal
9. Mizoram
10. Pondicherry

Favorite Indian Gods & Quasi-Deities

1. Ganesh
2. Buddha
3. Nandi
4. Shiva
5. Durga
6. Gangamma
7. Brahma
8. Ahura
9. Garuda
10. Satya Sai Baba

Most Agreeable Religious Denominations:

1. Mine
2. Buddhist
3. Rastafarian
4. Unitarian
5. Bahai
6. Sufi
7. Jain
8. Quaker
9. Shamanist
10. Druze

State of the Strong Union

2008-06-03T01:59:00.006+05:30

This is the new South America. No longer will South America will be the bastion of just the drug barons, petro-hombres, and beautyqueens. This is the new half of the western hemisphere, and the northern parts of the New World aren't expecting that the South Americans can pull through with this type of unity. When it comes to freedom of movement, customs union, energy cooperation, and diplomatic unity, this supranational federation just might come together enough to send shock waves into the dis-unified international community.

This time around, the unified bloc will take some time to ensure that the countries involved truly want to create the sort of union that can not only last but that can be a formidable player on the international circuit. But, the union must stand up to the competing supranational blocs - in the sense that some pundits could be expecting the union to swing too far pro-Yankee, while others would expect the Chavista section to dominate. But, the Andean and Mercosur components will likely balance out to produce a more or less even union of more pro-"Western" countries and the more rebellious lefty regimes that continue to believe earnestly in the Bolivarian dream. Though French Guyana cannot take part and Suriname & Guyana seem only to be able to participate as associate members, this club is well-rounded and destined for greatness.

The Bolivarian dream has not died. This newborn South America is an ethnically heterogeneous amalgam of nation-states that bring to the table a Latin paradigm for the future. Futbol, Spano-Portugese, and ceviche will triumph over the demons of the hegemonic norte. Hasta siempre el UNASUR!!!

Gypsies Are From India

2008-05-27T02:54:00.002+05:30

Historians generally argue that Gypsies originate on the Indian subcontinent. It appears that Northwest India is indubitably the universal Gypsy homeland. While there are dozens of verifiably legitimate Gypsy groups around the world who speak Romani or other Gypsy languages and continue to live the Gypsy dream, there is no type of united Gypsy consciousness about their origins. While there are currently more Gypsies in India than in any other country, it is not frequently acknowledged that all of these authentic Gypsy groups actually descend from the same original Gypsy stock that lived around what is now Rajasthan, Punjab, and northern Pakistan sometime around a millennium ago. Yet, recent genetic evidence showing the prevalence of yDNA haplogroup M among Gypsies confirms their common origins in South Asia.

Number of Gypsies in the Diaspora

Overall, it is thought that there are around 12-15 million Gypsies in the world. It is believed that Indian has the largest number of Roma people, with around 2.2 million. Romania and Turkey have rather sizable Gypsy populations, both somewhere around 1.5 million, although these figures are estimates. The numbers are basically all guesses, since many Gypsies do not self-identify as such for fear of persecution by authorities. Official stats on Gypsy populations are generally not reliable. The U.S. apparently has about 1 million Gypsies, with Spain, Egypt, and Brazil both at around 750,000. While most people believe that Gypsies are limited to the Euro-sphere, Gypsies can be found in Palestine, Iran, Iraq, and even Kazakhstan. Gypsies have many different regional categories, the most numerous being Kalderash, Sinti, Gitano, Romnichal, and Romani. In much of the Middle East, they are known as Domari. They are known as Nawar and Ghajar in Arabic, Tzo'ani in Hebrew, and in India - Banjara, Wanjara, Lambadi, Lambani - as well as many other names.

Reasons for Departure from India

There are several hypotheses for why the Roma people left South Asia around a thousand years ago, traveling through Iran to the Middle East, and then the Mediterranean Basin and the Balkans. One theory posits that they were commissioned to fight against invading Muslim armies and never returned to their homeland. Another theory holds that they were low-caste Hindu musicians hired by royal courts. Yet others posit that they were taken captive and transported westward. Perhaps it is most likely the the ancestors of today's Roma people departed for many of these reasons - at different times. Ian Hancock, today's premier scholar in the nascent field of Romani Studies, suggests that the Dom may have even left India about four centuries prior to the Roma. It seems most likely that the westward migrations occurred with a few different groups who spoke similar Indo-Aryan dialects and who ultimately mixed ethnically, religiously, and culturally to a limited degree with other local populations but who preserved many basic elements of the Roma nation.

Occupations & Hustles

Most European Roma groups are known for particular skills, such as bear-training, fortune-telling, coppersmithery, music, and a few more unsavory roles. Perhaps Gypsy music has been the most permanent influence of Gypsy culture on other non-Roma societies. Flamenco owes most of its magic to Gitano traditions. Liszt and Brahms incorporated Gypsy themes into their compositions. Django Reinhardt left a lasting mark on the world of jazz. Today's most notable Gypsy musicians include Goran Bregovic (Serbia), Boban Markovic (Serbia), Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania), Taraf de Haidouks (Romania), and Beirut (non-Gypsy Americans who play Gypsy music). The Gypsy brass band plays on, without a motherland to call home...

Europe's Other Other & Antiziganism

In most European societies, Gypsies seem to be considered still the most socially and economically backward group, and they fall prey to labor discrimination, residential segregation (both urban Gypsy ghettos and rural Gypsy camps), and general miseducation. Porajmos is the Romani term used to describe the Holocaust, during which about a quarter of a million Gypsies were killed. Europe generally has not been the most tolerant place for Gypsies, one of Europe's largest ethnic minority groups. Borat's choice of a Romani village in Romania to simulate his mythical nation of Kazakhstan is reflective of the plight of many predominantly Roma towns in Europe. While there is some humor in their marginalization and ignorance, there is not much development going on in the Gypsy populations of Europe. Perhaps this is indicative of a reluctance to join the mainstream and could thus be considered a positive thing. While certain pursuits bring the Gypsies considerable infamy the world around, there is undeniable charm in their nomadic, mystical, and largely unWestern existence. Perhaps we should be thankful that the Gypsy diaspora has generally not assimilated into surrounding cultures.

Rajasthani Repatriation

There are a host of reasons why the establishment of a Gypsy nation in the Roma homeland would be a just, desirable, and fruitful event. First, the most numerous Gypsy population on earth today is already in India. The Banjara/Lambani people are spread throughout Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and other states. They were previously known to provide crucial trade links via their caravans in northern India, prior to the arrival of the British. They retain many cultural similarities with groups still living in the Rajasthani homeland from where they originally migrated. The creation of the sovereign state of Romanistan and the reclamation of their ancestral Hinduism would be an unlikely historical outcome, but it is something worth imagining.

Tecktonik Craze

2008-05-25T15:53:00.004+05:30

Yelle - Je Veux Te Voir

These videos are examples of an embryonic form of dance music called Tecktonik, which is also alternatively known as electro-dance, tck, and hardstyle. Predominantly evolved in Paris, the dance form has also been influenced by various types of electronic music being produced in Brussels and Amsterdam, as well as New Rave music (Cansei de Ser Sexy, MIA, Hot Chip), with the fashion mainly taking off with all types of neon in London. It's got a futuristic punk sensibility with heavily hip-hop overtones.

Yelle - Je Veux Te Voir (Remix)

The neon color schemes and attitude that Yelle takes on are quite similar to those of MIA (who needs to visit Mumbai sometime soon by the way - or, for that matter, any New Raver who stays popping, locking, vogueing, and wacking will do).

Yelle - A Cause des Garcons

These dance moves are relatively simple, but the style is killer. Not sure that I could pull of these hipster fashions any more than I could several years back when I first caught wind of hipsternation. But, all that needs to be said is that the Tecktonik movement is on.

Mera Bharat Mahan

2008-05-24T02:52:00.000+05:30

This density map shows how great India is in the domain of population. The nation is bursting at the seams, especially in the Indo-Gangetic plain that spans the north of the nation. The world's tallest mountains separate this area of massively dense human settlement from the world's most populous nation - China. Nepal and its gargantuan peaks are the buffer zone between India's masses and the Chinese frontier, which begins first and foremost with the high-altitude Tibetan plateau. India is currently struggling with these masses of people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who are not accustomed to a very modern sort of law and order but who are seeking job opportunities all over India as laborers. This has bred the freshest of India's communal conflicts, a disgusting disgrace of a communal dispute between migrant labor from the North and the so-called natives of the cities in Maharashtra.

This cultural conflagration does not bode well for the state of Maharashtra. While there are undoubtedly some legitimate criticisms of the migrant folks, this tension is a despicable manifestation of regionalist chauvinisms. I also see the migrants as bringing many problems to the areas where they have settled, and in this regards, these laborers are so similar to Mexicans in the U.S., Algerians in France, Turks in Germany...It's just that these migrants are Indian too, albeit with a completely different cultural and linguistic history and background. This tension could spin out of control in no time, leaving places like Mumbai with an intractable regional conflict at its doorstop. In order to preserve social harmony in Mumbai and accentuate the feeling that Indian-ness trumps all types of regional, ethnic, religious, and caste identities, this conflict should be squashed.
Some of the greatness of Indian derives from its communion with the spiritual levels of consciousness. India's charm is also a function of the most staggering linguistic and racial diversity found on earth, which makes for a polyglot and melting pot-cum-tossed salad population mix. The sublime becomes all churned up with the ridiculous in this land of sacred wanderers, crazed snack vendors, and untouchable sweepers.

India is a super-national enterprise, since it represents the collective political will of so many distinct yet fluid nations within, each with seemingly definable characteristics but ultimately ambiguous and impossible to pigeonhole. The logic of illogic reigns supreme in India. The survival of India for 61 years as a sovereign nation-state has been nothing short of a miraculous triumph of remarkable inter-group cohesion and some dumb luck that is much more powerful than the ephemeral strokes of constitutional framers, planners-extraordinaire, and corrupt-wallahs. Jai Bharat!

Holy Bombs & Heffers

2008-05-23T23:30:00.000+05:30

Just a few short days ago, some fellows associated with a terror org called Indian Mujahedeen struck 8 different locales in the city of Jaipur, located in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. This so-called Pink City was the unfortunate victim of an ongoing and rather obscure campaign to create a more religiously polarized subcontinent. Dozens of people, representing at least three faiths, died in the blasts. These pictures are a tribute to the Jaipur that I visited, months before these attacks transpired.
To what end? What nihilistic purpose did these cycle bombs serve? Whose ego was stroked by these acts of destruction and rage? Whose mental flames were stoked by carnage and grief and ire? Responsibility is diffused. Law enforcement cannot quite grapple with the consequences and the necessary preventative measures. And another tier-two Indian city will fall prey to the same story in just a few months.
Holi in Rajasthan is a holiday for all. Or at least almost all. Color squirting galore renders the place a veritable bath of orgiastic hues, distributed alternatively by sadistic, egalitarian, and fraternal means. The act of dousing a stranger in sharp tones is cathartic to the max. Holidays that involve any means of connection with absolute strangers in a visceral, sincere, and vibrant experience are the best. Every day is a Holi day!
These Jaipur bombers must have missed out on Holi. Or, maybe they have had too many bad Holi experiences. Perhaps, as many allege, they are from elsewhere and never had the good fortune to engage in the glorious Rajasthani Holi festivities. Nihilism need not be channeled into creating combustible devices that wreak havoc on body parts and other contiguous matter. Use Holi for moderately outrageous but ultimately harmless color wars, stop the senseless terrorizing, and Jai Jaipur!

Videos from Amrikastan

2008-04-21T15:39:00.003+05:30

U.S. Military Personnel Ghostriding Hyphy Style in the Desert

Barack Obama Gets the Dirt off his Shoulders

The Anti-Atlas of Strange Maps

2008-03-16T00:54:00.009+05:30

Strange Maps is a phenomenal blog that compiles eclectic maps from an extraordinary range of sources. I have posted a map from StrangeMaps once before, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to show off a few more of the dazzling cartographies that the site has exposed to the wider world of the internets.

Atlas of Strange Maps is the planned book version of perhaps hundreds of these brilliant maps, many of which are on the blog already.

The three maps that I have selected all pertain to music, which I thought might was a fitting way to group them. The first is a representation of the continents with musical notes and other notation. The second reflects the numerous area codes where Bill O'Reilly's favorite rapper Ludacris purports to have female friends. And the third reflects the dominant country-music states in the Union.

I'm lining up for my pre-ordered copy of this Atlas of Strange Maps. This is revolutionary, irreverent, and clever geography at its finest. The anti-atlas (mountain range) is currently in Morocco but will be coming to a bookseller near you by next year.

YOUR Political Donations Map

2008-03-06T02:49:00.009+05:30

Check this map (courtesy of FundRace/EYEBEAM, via Huffington Post) to see who is giving to whom in your part of the US of A.

The Blogospheric Mirror

2008-02-22T01:13:00.010+05:30

This entry presents some graphs and charts from SiteMeter that reveal some information about all of YOU who visit(ed) this blog, as of February 22, 2008. I figured it would be good to divulge some of the more interesting ones that I found among an assortment of different figures on my SiteMeter page.

The 1st chart of continental representation shows a lack of South Americans and Africans who visit my blog. Also, remember that the Middle East and South Asia are part of "Asia," making that the second continent after North America.

I suppose it's no coincidence that the 3 countries I have lived in recently comprise 84% of this blog's audience. Azerbaijan might be the oddest/most unlikely of the many countries that were "1%" of the total viewers.

As for the language chart, the various languages represent the internet browser setting and not the actual mother tongue or even primary word processing language. The Hebrew-speaking nation is a distant second to English, and the primacy of English on the internets is readily apparent. However, perhaps I should consider blogging in other tongues at some point. Farsi is perhaps not too surprising of a presence, due to the fact that Iran contributes an inordinate number of bloggers to the blogosphere.

In terms of Operating System, the minority players Mac OS X and Linux came in at 29% and 2%, respectively. These percentages seem to be slightly higher than those operating systems' share of the total number of operating systems used by all blog viewers worldwide.

As for the internet browsers, Firefox 1 comes in well ahead of IE 7, with 39% and 29%, respectively. However, Firefox 2 and IE 6 are tied at 15%, perhaps suggesting that a significant number of Firefox loyalists simply haven't switched to the newer version of their preferred browser. Netscape's browser, at 2%, seems to be a thing of the past. Safari (the browser that I will be switching to if this Firefox 2 keeps having bugs) was also at 2%.

Misc = Primaries, Schmap, Clock, and Map

2008-02-17T04:17:00.009+05:30

This map and graph, courtesy of Wikimedia and the U of Iowa, respectively, depict the current status of the contest to select the Democratic nominee for this fall's American Presidential election. Barack Obama is currently leading according to the futures chart at bottom by a margin of over 2 to 1, after having criss-crossed with Hillary Clinton just over two weeks ago. As of now, Obama is leading by about 64 delegates. With almost half of the delegates not yet tallied, there is still a long way to go in this historic contest.

I did indeed vote for one of these two candidates, as part of the Democrats Abroad primary (which amounts to a total of 11 delegates that are sent to the Democratic National Convention in Denver starting on August 25th). In the map at left, these expat votes are shown in grey next to those for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Obama = blue, Clinton = Red, Edwards = green, stripped of delegates = black, and not yet assigned = grey. So, the 11 expat delegates have not yet been won. I must say that at this point, I am essentially indifferent to whichever candidate ends up as the Democratic front-runner, as long as the party successfully unites behind the chosen nominee and ushers him/her to the White House.

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Next of these several miscellaneous things - this phenomenal World Clock gizmo is one of the most interesting things I've seen on the internets in a while. You can set the timer by year, month, week, day, and "now," so play around with the different settings to see how fast the tallies rise and how many of the given events have occurred already in those 5 categories. I find it most fulfilling to press "now" repeatedly in order to constantly be aware of how much of each event happens every instant, even after you reset the clock. AIDS, oil, computers, births, species, etc...and after you play around with this world clock, check out the other "clocks" of time zone, U.S. crime, Christmas countdown, etc...This is a great resource.

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Schmap is a solid resource for finding information on activities in urban areas throughout the world. Check it out!

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Mal-connected:

If your computer's internet connection is as slow as mine at the moment (perhaps due to a cut cable thousands of kilometers away at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea), then you might want to perform a speed check on your connection. Hopefully, your bytes are flowing faster than mine were when this test was logged.

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Next is an enlightening map sequence from Maps of War that depicts the succession of empires that have ruled over the Middle East. It's rather insightful.

Travel Tips for Voyages to India

2008-01-26T15:58:00.001+05:30

This entry is excerpted from an email I crafted to my auspicious first visitors from my motherland to my new home in Mumbai. Perhaps it's some useful advice for anyone visiting.

So as you get ready for your first trip to India, your first trip to Asia, and your first trip to the real 3rd world, here are a few ideas and suggestions! As for poverty, hustle/bustle, and street chaos, though I can't speak for the places that I've not yet visited, I can elaborate on the nature of Mumbai and on my general impressions of travel within India.

Loads of People!

This country is teeming with bodies. You may very well be taken aback by the sheer number of human beings walking, talking, and sharing the same public spaces as you. Along with this volume of people, it is crucial to appreciate the way Indian society is organized and how the people must act in order to get along day in, day out. If 1.1 billion Americans were pushed into a country 1/3 the size of the U.S., they wouldn't last more than a few days. Indians are not only surviving, but they thrive in many ways. The vibrancy of the masses is something worth trying to comprehend, even though there is the latent fear of being caught up in the chaos of the crowds from time to time. While there are unfortunate mob incidents infrequently, Indian mobs are also often known for chasing down criminals and enforcing positive street justice. But, generally, learn to love the smells and the noises, the salwar-kameez and the turbans. Some of the ethnic garb, especially in Rajasthan, is bound to be absolutely enthralling. If the masses are difficult to appreciate, it is at least possible to be captivated by their colorful vestments and dynamic interations...Regardless, you will surely appreciate the private space of your lodgings even more upon emerging from the public domain in which you are swimming in a sea of sarees.

Simple Gestures Mean Much

With this juxtaposition of calm private space in which we are privileged to enjoy the luxury of many square meters exclusively cordoned off for our own activities and relaxation comes the issue of perspective. We have, and most Indians have not. There are small things that you can do here and there that will mean a lot to the strangers you meet. You cannot save India from its grueling poverty. You cannot uplift hundreds of millions. But, you can strive to make individual connections, if you are so inclined, by picking a few small items to bring that would make someone's day. Also, Indian people can often be so appreciative of a seemingly unimportant smile, wave, or nod, but these reactions to your presence will in turn evoke your warmest sentiments, allowing you to appreciate how they've made you feel welcome. Sometimes, it's not even worth contemplating the big picture or the scope of negative issues which you witness. Put yourself in perspective, and then try not to dwell too excessively on the negatives. People will appreciate you when you reach out and merely say your name or country of origin. These simple declarations will almost always evoke tens of grins, head wiggles, inquisitive gazes...
People are Puzzles

Since I am inclined to study people, I am rather acutely aware of how people go about their business in the context of their personal lives and in broader social, economic, and political networks. From a social science perspective, this country is unbelievably complex. Caste, ethnicity, language, and politics are vast categories that cannot be fully understood so quickly. Yet, there are so many fascinating aspects of how occupational groups function, how culture and caste intertwine, who speaks which language in which situations, and how you feel you could become a part of the society that you are observing. Think a little bit beforehand about which of these things you are interested in exploring so that you have some idea of what you want to come away with in terms of knowledge. You'll pick up a few phrases in Hinglish! You'll also learn a few bizarre caste details that will baffle you! You'll also be amazed by the way that it all comes together...

Spiritual Phenomena Deciphered

We have all had quite in-depth conversations about spirituality, but you will undoubtedly have ample time to explore this domain during your time on the subcontinent. You may be awed by the sense of serenity that pervades in Hindu temples and Sufi shrines. There is a good chance that you will feel soothed by the visuals, sandalwood scents, and ritual activities of these sites. You will come across so many gods and goddesses that you might fill up your Blackberry's memory with all the deity nomenclature. However, these are all just earthly representations of forces, visions, dimensions. The human form and the images of the deities overlap a great deal here. Indian society has the ability to deify virtually any person who has spiritual sway for a given group. Certain of these deities might win over your allegiances, but most importantly, you will find some peace in the atmosphere of concentration and devotion that exists in most spiritual space here. Spirituality is also to be grasped in nature, since natural space away from commotion is often hard to come by. Nature can be found just beside a stunning monument to some dead maharaja or far off in some woods where sadhus and sanyasins wander. Yet, the monumentality of human creation can create a spiritual feeling indeed, and we will likely be struck by the grandeur of many of the historical sites.

Fun and Relaxation are Key Elements

At the end of the day, you will be traveling as tourists for the purpose of enjoying some quality leisure time. It is very worthwhile to leave plenty of room for laughing and singing, bonding and frolicking. You will have lots to do and too much to see, but just remember that you should leave some time for simple enjoyment, whether in the context of an interaction with a rickshaw driver or while watching Hindi soaps in the hotel room. Dining, strolling, and viewing are part of your learning experience, but they also should be an opportunity to absorb yourselves in a whole different place and forget about being productive or busy or meaningful. Fun in India definitely does involve some planning and organization, but that being said, we've got lots of room for entertaining ourselves!

Travel Health is Integral

You will be most at ease if you calmly think about how much time you want to spend in transit, what foods you are comfortable eating, and when to sit back and relax after a tiring adventure. The food is to be enjoyed hedonistically, and we will probably be eating most of our meals in clean establishments that are recommended by other folks who've traveled in India. You might have some digestive issues, but it is all about being comfortable with the eating experience. Just be mindful of what is clean and what is not. In terms of travel distances, it is crucial to rest during in between times so that these inter-city voyages don't tire excessively. We can't see everything in the several weeks that you're here, and so we have to fit a reasonable amount into each of the days. It's great to be ambitious about the number of sites you have on your list, but we should always be mindful that stuff in India can take a long time. Lines, bureaucracies, decisions, negotiations...All of these things can be taxing to the Nth degree when involving local, parochial, outdated procedures. But, remaining mentally unbothered by these obstacles is key.

Stuff to Buy

It will be more than plentiful. It will be ubiquitous. You will find so much to purchase that you won't know which consumption bug hit you. Take it slow on the buying, since we will have time to pick up the goodies. Get a sense for how much an Indian would pay for something - and how much it is truly worth to you - and then go into the bargaining process prepared to come away only with the result that you desire. We will surely happen upon saffron treasure after sapphire nugget after elephant sculpture. Go all out if you know how much you will be content to spend. There will be tchotchkes of all sorts to bring back, and so get excited about this ethnic shoppers' paradise.

Photographer's Shangri-La

This is one of the most practical ways of capturing the memories that we will want to bring home. You will be able to take away a lot of visual evidence of your voyage, and the vast majority of your photo subjects will appreciate your desire to photograph them. Just be mindful that this technology does not rule over your other senses to the extent that you experience things predominantly through your camera. But, the photos will be supreme. You will indeed snap some of the best shots you've ever laid eyes upon.

Bon voyage et a bientot!

In sum, this expedition to the Hindustani heartland will be extraordinary. I'm enthralled to be embarking with you on a trip to the real Hindi belt, and Rajasthan & Varanasi in particular will be incredible to experience for me. I've just listed a few (hopefully not too many) things above that recently came to mind, and I hope they are useful for readying yourselves for a profound trip.

Zero Denominated Bills

2008-01-19T02:33:00.000+05:30

Zeros are held to represent the complete lack of value. With respect to the currencies to the left that have been copied directly from other websites, the notion of currency without merit conveys a significant level of irreverence. This is tied into a general lack of respect for pecuniary traditions or some broader political critique. Such graphic representations also might come in handy when attempting to show that economic distress has ruined a currency/economy. In the case of these three, the main idea differs in each. The three men depicted in the currencies also are tied into the particular message that each is communicating. It is worth exploring why each of these notes was created and what overall purpose is served by the particular currency rendering.

The zero rupee note is the bearer of a political sort of message, implying that corruption carries a huge cost and there is no bakhsheesh involved in withholding a bribe. See this NGO's site for more info about the campaign to end corruption on the subcontinent: 5th Pillar.

Next is the American commander-in-chief who was rather demonized by pro-immigration folks, among others. This note was popularized in May 2006 during the massive immigration rallies that sprung up across the United States in order to show support for over 10 million ostensibly illegal immigrants residing on American soil. Check Hot Air for your zero peso fix.

Lastly, the zero currency most economically, monetarily, and financially apt in the current geopolitical period depicts Uncle Sam on the face of a devalued American bill. The assumption, perhaps, is that the currency has been gravely affected by the most famous American military recruiter and the consequences of his boss's overseas activities.

Thus, all three notes symbolize the power of currency, as well as the ephemeral value of money - once you account for the unstable vacillations of world capital flows and geopolitical strife.

Yay or No, Tata Nano?

2008-01-12T01:36:00.000+05:30

Tata Motors has just unleashed a beast of a vehicle. Their new People's Car is bite-size but packs a punch for the roaring Indian economy. While the release of this four-wheeler will clog roadways and gulp gazillions of pint-sized gas jugs, the Nano offers many folks the first car they could never before afford. This thusly presents a double-edged sword. Like much technology that is introduced to the market before the true impact can be gauged, this 1 lakh (100,000 rupees = $2,500) car will make waves.

This car is undoubtedly a safe alternative for millions of Indians who have been riding perilously along on two-wheelers with toddlers hanging off the sides and a stack of plywood strapped to the back rack. It is a rather affordable opportunity to jump into a vehicle that will protect human bodies from the rough and tumble of non-stop congestion on the pavement. Safety for bodies and affordability for pocketbooks are certainly top priorities, but it behooves us to understand the long-term effects of this vehicle.

But, it is first necessary to reiterate how the 1 lakh Nano is a simple machine. It has none of the following: AC, power windows, power steering, keyless entry, radio. It also has only one windshield wiper. We indeed must admire the simplicity of this miniature automobile and the truly impressive aesthetic that it embodies. Semi-Luddite tendencies aside, the low cost of this vehicle and its inherent Nano coolness make it an attractive buy for many people who are in the market for bigger and better ways of living their quotidian existences.

Back to the costs, ecologically and transportationally speaking. This car promotes the consumption of ever more fossil fuels, at a time when Indian corporations need to be investing in public transport infrastructure rather than in these Nano vehicles. Instead of pumping capital into the marketing of Nanos and ensuring their eventual proliferation, money would be infinitely better spent on unclogging roads. This could be achieved, in a dream world, by laying down more railroad tracks, creating workable high-speed bus lanes, and providing incentives for municipalities to charge a congestion tax for car commuters (who cannot really be blamed for avoiding the mayhem of bus/train travel in cities like Mumbai). Yet, this eternally increasing number of drivers mercilessly and exponentially drive us all into transportation hell on a daily basis. In an ideal world, we would not want more cars on the road.

Yet, let's not kid ourselves here. This is India, and there are bohut bohut bucks to be made from this Tata Nano. Hate it or love it, the Nano represents both the best of India's dreams and the worst of its shortcomings. It delivers on the promise for each and every deserving soul to ride around in a Nano car. It also contributes to the quickening disintegration of roadway sanity and well-being. Ratanji, this car has got to be, the symbol of the new Bharat. Shall it be Yay or No to your Tata Nano? Na, no? Ha, ji?

Tata Motors Press Release

Stop Snitching II and Schengen II

2007-12-21T01:32:00.000+05:30

Two dyed-in-the-wool causes are celebrating the inception of Round II. While one of these involves witness intimidation, a murder rate in Baltimore that just topped 300 thus far in 2007, and kids with big guns, the other celebrates expansion of the pan-Euro safety zone and the solidification of a unified European continent.

<(courtesy of BBC)

Stop Snitching in its 2nd avatar is now bigger and badder. The subject matter remains the same, but the stakes have climbed higher, since the original's makers mostly went to jail for crimes related to what they discussed openly in the ghettocumentary. This time around, the Baltimore Police Department ain't even playing no games.

Due to the cultural fallout from the first Stop Snitching, the 5-0 in Baltimore have no intention of ceding any ground to the thugs and/or film-makers, whom most mainstream Baltimorons groups together with the actual criminals, a mistake which may or may not be merely a strategic decision aimed at simplifying the equation.

The unbearable truth for many law-abiding citizens is that there is a culture of cool surrounding the culture of actual thuggery. While there is a diehard core of dealers, sellers, and support staff who actually engage in the urban pharmaceutical business, there is a much larger group of citizens who revere the cultural aura surrounding Stop Snitching but do not actually adhere to its titular mantra.

As such, the terrain has become rockier for the fans and the foes. While I have not yet purchased the new dvd, which is on sale for 14.95 on select websites, it appears that production values are a bit more high-octane this time around. Judging by the silvery Mac with which the director gracefully toys in the clip above, I would say that the sequel probably outdoes the original in cosmopolitanism, finesse, and perhaps even rawness. "Like Part 1 on steroids," this realer than reality tv material is a much more potent cultural statement than most people understand. Part 2 appears more intellectual and nuanced than the silly original. Or perhaps not everyone agrees that showing footage of kids toting guns and puffing Js is not sophisticated or novel. The director claims he is just holding a mirror up to society. And, for all we know, maybe he does indeed provide an accurate depiction of the double-edged sword that thugs and police loathe and love: snitching!

If the movie does a satisfactory job of defining snitching, then it might end up defending the cause of snitch prevention. In the first film, Skinny Suge made a concerted effort to talk about the extent of his snitch prevention movement and how he intended to start a foundation to oppose this insidious form of anti-criminal criminality. He swore to exact vengeance on those criminals who used the system as long as they could profit from it, and then turned against that same system once they opportunistically realized a new avenue of snitchery might better suit their tastes. I'm curious whether or not the new ghettocumentary lives up to expectations. I also am uncertain about whether the film will further marginalize the Stop Snitching movement or whether both sides in this cultural battle will become more entrenched to the extent that Stop Snitching becomes immortalized as not just one part of the holistic ghetto philosophy but as the cardinal rule.

Schengen II, on the other hand, celebrates progress, order, and continuity, rather than devolution, chaos, and uncertainty. The new concept of Europe that is embodied by the increasingly porous set of nation-states that comprise the continent continues to define itself in unprecedented ways. While much of the rest of the world is erecting concrete slabs and uber high-tech barriers to border-crossing, Europe has been chugging along on this path to cohesion, cooperation, and convergence. While Europe has its problems (high unemployment, ethnic tensions, and swollen welfare coffers), the European course of development leaves the U.S. (Jah bless) in the dust in certain key areas. Perhaps I am just bitter about my country's lack of agreement on environmental and healthcare issues. Maybe I have a naive view of contemporary security imperatives and the often jingoistic tone of American foreign policy, but we are seeing the results of ill-advised policies. The rapidly falling dollar perhaps best demonstrates the current President's various ingenious activities, and expats are more keenly aware of how foreign policy decisions impact the American relationship with the rest of the world in both the financial and cultural domains.

While I don't want to sound like Michael Moore by praising an undoubtedly positive feature of European life and speaking ill of American phenomena (oh how I love apple pie with American cheese melted on top!), I cannot cease comparing my homeland to our buddies across the Atlantic. The EU is incredible in its ability to solidify this notion of European-ness. Although the folks in Brussels need to work out lots of Constitutional issues, immigration laws, and final borders, this supra-national entity is unbelievable. I shall not express too fawning of an attitude towards the EU, but I sure do admire its level of geopolitical achievement. One may now walk/drive/bike across Europe from Estonia to Portugal without being stopped at any borders or being checked for a passport. The pace at which Europe has become integrated continues to amaze. One day, perhaps the Arabic Gulf Union, South American Union, and a few other supra-national unions might accomplish the same things, but for now, Schengen II is superfly!

Fantasy Realms Bequeathed

2007-12-18T01:13:00.000+05:30

As I write these bloglines from my Bombay abode, I relate to thee as a neo-Mumbaikar. I have only recently arrived in this urban agglomeration of around 18 million people. As such, I fit right into the landscape of the city, for I am a migrant in a city of migrants. One might call me a nomad, as I've lived in a significant variety of cities over the last few years. Nomads in fact generally fall under the Nomadic Tribes category here in India, but I most likely would not be characterized by the same (please note my liberal use of non-American anglicisms that are newly acquired from Indian-English). Anyway, one might properly label me an expatriate, as I belong to the spectacularly virtual online consortium otherwise known as BombayExpats. Furthermore, my demographic affiliation in this town would readily be identifiable as expat.

Santa's Ghetto
I-Look Israeli Street Fashion
the street's walker

All of the above being said, I pasted the above links and pics (both courtesy of Jah's army) in order to transport thee to a prior station in my life, that of the Semitic variety. As we reach the last days of the Gregorian year 2007, I ponder the events of the first six months of this wild year. I was living in a cosmopolitan bubble at the heart of a conflict zone. Tel Aviv was my city of residence for a meaningful chunk of my life, albeit a short period of time. My experiences at the core of Semitic civilization (P.B.U.H., H=Shem) englightened me in countless ways about the workings of this troubled universe that we inhabit.

Despite the violent character that pervades much of Semitic civilization today, why not hark back to the times I spent in an edgy place with all sorts of avant-garde problems, idiosyncrasies, and fashions. My longing for just a night in Florentine getting busy to B-More club spun by Botanika is indescribable. It is imperative that I can experience this sphere at least vicariously, lest I lose touch with where I laid down roots, albeit temporarily and/or hastily. I love Kna'an in all its manifestations. The land of milk and honey comes in many flavors, and I have savored many of these tastes.

Kna'an is a land of rebellion. Stubborn invaders meet tribal partisans who are hellbent on the hegemony of their deities and culture. The dialectic continues, as peoples always try to claim that they were the original inhabitants (known as adivasis on the sub-continent). However, the truth is that most of today's supposedly native peoples, first nations, and aboriginals were not the original inhabitants of the lands over which they seek further dominion. The map-crafting game is all about convincing a critical mass of laypeople, bureaucrats, academics that your group has legitimate historical control over a significant enough swath of territory. This in turn credits your people with some form of ideological land deed, which itself transforms into a birthright that can be inherited by future generations.

In the case of the warring parties in Kna'an, it is my belief that neither side had arrived in the Holy Land much prior to the 14th Century BC. It is clear that both sides have ancestors who hailed from somewhere very close to the Holy Land, but at some point, through a melange of benevolent migration and brutal invasion, the various peoples made their way into the Promised Land.

Therefore, since one people "originally" came from the seas to the west and the other people "originally" came from the deserts to the northeast and southwest, neither can claim exclusive privileges over the land, water, or airspace. There is one remaining year of Mr. Bush's reign, and Jah willing there will be some earth-shattering deals struck at the eastern shores of the potentially pacifying Mediterranean Sea.

^^^^(Shout-out to my home-dog Ditto!!!)^^^^

The maps below from Strange Maps deserve some blogspace due to their geographical splendor. The first one is infinitely scintillating for anyone who is fascinated by maps of metros, undergrounds, trams, monorails, or other public transit. The concept of symbolically linking together all of the disparate international metro systems (built, under construction, and/or planned) is a radical step. Check out the creators at Metro Maps of the World.

Next, the blondes of Europe map (courtesy of the le mec and originally from EUpedia) will stimulate anyone who is turned on by cartography, blondes, and/or genetics.

I hope these diversions are enjoyed as situationist spectacle. Jai Jai Jai!

Abrahamic-Brahmanic Linkages

2007-12-11T09:27:00.000+05:30

I have read up on numerous theorists who posit bizarre and often dubious links between the Abrahamic and Brahmanic traditions. Some of the overlapping themes that remain scholarly questionable include: various Semitic-sounding place-names in India that are attributed to Hebraic rather than Arabic roots, particular Hindu castes/communities (Yadavs, Kashmiris) for whom some sort of distant Jewish origin is claimed, and a number of liturgical references in prayers, songs, and scriptures that ostensibly point to common origins. Another common theme for such Indo-Judaic researchers is A-braham's purported a-Brahmanism, which would explain the derivation of his name. Such folks argue that Abraham originated somewhere in the Indo-Aryan homeland and migrated westward towards Canaan because he rejected the precepts of Brahmanism.

These speculations arise in a time when increasing knowledge is being revealed about the history of the 5 groups from India who practice actual Judaism in various ways (Cochini, Bene Israel, Baghdadi, Bnei Menashe, and Bene Ephraim-Telugu) and whose descent from "real" Jews ranges from literal to far-fetched (see link below).

Regardless, in recent years, there has been a tremendous warming of relations between Jews/Israel and Indians/India, with America more or less providing a conduit. The increased linkages have taken on business, tourism, military, and geopolitical dimensions. The extent of these connections is beyond the scope of this commentary, but suffice it to say that relations are more intimate than ever between these two people-groupings, for a plethora of reasons. The end of the Cold War meant a significant shift in alliances, especially with regards to the rise of Islamism. Moreover, the Indian economy liberalized and the Indian government has generally been moving even closer to the US on the global spectrum of geopolitical actors. Aside from the government, I have noticed that all types of Indians have reacted with exceptional glee when I identified my country of origin. So, the connections are intensifying with regards to neo-liberal economic ties, ballooning tourism exchange, and increased cross-cultural understanding.

From a rather basic perspective, many ordinary Indians simply view America as being an incredibly alluring and free land of opportunity, while Americans often see India as curiously exotic.
I will allow Wiki to do all the explaining about the nature of the 5 Indian Jewish communities, since it can do so rather comprehensively: Wikipedia entry on Indian Jews There is also a very profound Israeli obsession with India that I have not fully witnessed due to my lack of time on the tourist circuit thus far. But, there is a multitude of connections on this front that might be much better explained by those who are well-versed on the subject.

One additional area of common interest lies in the priestly caste, which exists in both Hinduism and Judaism. While there is significant difference between Kohens and Brahmins, there is a bizarre linkage between the two traditions. While there are many more vestiges of Brahminical privilege extant in contemporary Hinduism, some features of Kohen status still serve to differentiate and elevate the priests of the ancient Hebrew temple from the commoners. Judaic society was never stratified in the same way as Hindu society has been, but there is nonetheless an ongoing reverence for Kohen lineage within the Jewish tradition, and descent from the mythological-historical figure of Aaron is a major source of pride for modern-day bearers of this (genetic) marker of priestliness. Regardless, the priests of yesteryear retain special distinction in both cultural spheres.

Next, due to the controversy involved in various political issues, I will not delve deeply into the issues addressed in the two news articles below. However, I present them as examples of two opposite perspectives on the contemporary relationship between American Jews and upper-caste Indians. There are undoubtedly various similarities between anti-Brahminism and anti-Semitism, which both have varied avatars.

NYTimes perspective
Dalit Voice perspective

The flagship publication of the American media has an uncritical perspective on what the fiery Dalit Voice terms a rather unholy alliance between American Jews and Brahmins. Brahmins are viewed as being a similar tribe in their way of attaining economic resources and courting political influence, both in India and abroad. The tone of the latter article is rather conspiratorial and incendiary. The divergent stylistic approaches are duly noted, and the irate subaltern journalism is contrasted with the professional, hegemonic U.S. media outlet's confident, bourgeois voice. The connections between Abrahamic and Dharmic faiths nonetheless blur many of the distinctions that were traditionally thought to exist between East and West.

Dalit Dreams

2007-12-10T23:26:00.000+05:30

My seven weeks thus far on the subcontinent have brought me into close proximity with more human beings than I have ever seen, smelled, or touched. This India is teeming with bodies. More than anything else, what differentiates one's experiences with the Indian masses from experiences with masses of people in other countries is the extent to which the Indian masses are so severely downtrodden. The Britishers used to call these folks the depressed classes of Indian society.

At times, they have been labeled backwards, indigent, or primitive. While those who formerly were considered untouchables constitute about 16% of India's population, around 2/3 of the country's inhabitants are considered backwards. This term is not considered offensive or even politically incorrect here. It is not suggestive of one's political inclination or ideological bent. Dalit is the term used for "broken" people, and although it is generally limited to those who are termed Scheduled Castes (former untouchables), it is a word that encompasses a much broader movement and a much larger amalgamation of downtrodden groups. So, I believe that it can be effectively applied to the better portion of this country's people. This would include all of the originally low-caste people who currently self-identify with either Hinduism or any of the other various faiths that have absorbed large numbers of former untouchables.

Either way, I must first make clear that I have no intention of presenting my political views herein. Due to the nature of my research activities in Mumbai, I refrain from political participation to the best of my ability. While this is difficult to do when researching Dalit issues, it is necessary to do so in order to present impartial findings on the subject after fair evaluation of sources, scope, and eventual utilization of resource outputs after the project's completion.

So, regardless of political orientation, all those who understand India's workings realize that the vast majority of her people are struggling, impoverished, and lacking in material resources. I offer no assessment of whether such material dearth is better or worse for satisfaction levels over the course of a lifetime.

Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to observe many aspects of the Indian social structure. While studying the various forms of cultural organization that keep Indian society severely stratified, I have embarked on a mission to document and describe, understand and enlighten. I do my best to maintain neutrality, and I avoid political engagement. Perhaps some folks see that this is not even possible given the nature of social science and human geography research. But, my goal is certainly to maintain as unbiased a stance as possible.

That being said, I have observed whom some may refer to as the dregs of the earth. Dalits are the throngs of human beings that arouse feelings of insecurity in those who fear overpopulation with masses of uneducated, un-Westernized, and unchanged persons. These folks have not much evolved due to how they have been disconnected from many possible channels to advancement. Yet, opportunities exist that may be availed by these populations.

Despite their hunger and pain, their madness and degradation, these are pure human beings. Gandhi called them children of God: Harijans. They are beautiful despite their ignorance and seemingly permanent state of severe defeat. They are emerging. They swear never to remain broken, devalued, downtrodden.

One caste/one tribe. One earth/one love.

Auroville's Aura

2007-12-02T00:06:00.000+05:30

I am very often captivated by certain types of autonomous communities that attempt to create a way of life that is separated in some significant fashion from mainstream Western society. Whether avant-garde/progressive or reactionary/neo-traditional in nature, groups who establish sovereignty over their own cultural space and economic livelihoods in some separate locale are scintillating. Prior to spending two days at Auroville, the most major of such communities that I explored was Christiania, in the middle of Copenhagen, DK. I've also had the luck of happening upon several other counter-cultural hamlets that attempt in one form or another to foster a mode of communal or collectivist action. These communities include squatter camps in Berlin and Berkeley (Albany landfill - extinct community), various Israeli kibbutzim, and Amish townships in Pennsylvania.

While perhaps it is a stretch to group these disparate types of communities together, there is some similarly accentuated type of community bond that unifies these micro-societies, whether involving futuristic aesthetics, Luddite ideology, or pragmatic small-scale socialism.

There is some basic recuperation of the village motif in all of these communities, which involve the re-creation and reclamation of village moeurs for a group of folks who have intentionally either always remained out ovside of or have fled from chaotic, anonymous urbanized civilization. The return to nature in the context of small-town living is a romanticized ideal for many ideologues, nature-lovers, and closet city-haters. I myself have somewhat given up on my desire to reside at least temporarily in some form of rural settlement, although previously I harbored various wishes to submerge myself in such a community at some point in my life. I once believed that I should devote myself to the crunchy/earthen/earthbound life on a kibbutz in the Galilee, Midwestern hippie commune, or South American organic farm. However, this desire has now somewhat subsided, and perhaps I have substituted merely an interest in documenting such hamlets of alternative savoir-vivre and idealistic serenity. Perhaps I decided not to pursue this type of experience, if even for several months, because citylife courses through my veins. Perhaps I realized that these places are fantasy realms, devoid of honest assessments of how the real world works.

Or perhaps I have merely postponed my urge to live in such a counter-cultural place until I am ready for more permanent connection with nature, more visceral laboring, and more intimate community relations. It is definitely possible that I am in city mode at this ripe age and will eventually tire of the constant gridlock of the urban grind. It is also possible that I will remain most interested in permanent city settlement along with relatively frequent escapes to other locales where quotidian life takes on a more communal, natural, and rural flavor.

That being said, I learned a rather substantial amount during just over 48 hours in Auroville (located 8 kilometers north of Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu state, India). On numerous fronts, I found that the lifestyle in Auroville challenged my usual assumptions about community and livelihood. It is comforting to avail oneself of the luxuries of communal living, the joys of true sharing, and the dedication to political/spiritual/humanitarian oneness. Yet, it is impossible to ignore certain highly critical gut reactions that I entertained upon visiting this bastion of Western counter-culture in a backwards, backwoods region of Tamil Nadu (which, although one of India's most industrialized states, has backward areas that remain supremely medieval).

I will summarize my experiences in Auroville by elaborating on two positive aspects of the community with which I appreciated a unique alter-mondialist community. In so many ways, it is incredible how Auroville really exists as a cosmopolitan society composed of people from many different countries. The community seems to have transcended so many traditional divisions between human beings. Yet, I shall also cite two reasons why I am not so sure all you see is all you get with Auroville.

Firstly, the conscientious environmental policies and inclinations, combined with a set of economic relations defined primarily by interdependence, ensure that Aurovillians can continue living off of the land with a sense of purity and sincerity that scarcely exists elsewhere in 1st World locales. I observed countless examples of highly progressive practices in this area. There were water systems that recycle monsoon water to the extent that some buildings are almost self-sufficient in this regard. The Solar Kitchen community enjoys the world's largest solar cooker, many other camps are powered by the sun, and energy use is monitored in a very responsible way. Furthermore, the generally high level of respect for natural and human resources leads me to believe that Auroville is on the right track.

Second, the Aurovillian pathways to spirituality are manifold and reflect the most humanistic, universalistic, and pacifistic strains of religion in existence, to the extent that Aurovillian faith is explicitly beyond sectarian loyalties and inter-faith strife. By following a unique creed that is perhaps some sort of fusion of Bahai, Buddhist, and Unitarian philosophies, Aurovillian spirituality takes the Mother and Sri Aurobindo into an ethereal state of meditative calm.

On the other hand, my criticisms are essentially the flip side of my two main sources of praise. This community of approximately 1,800 Westerners lives amongst 40,000 Tamil villagers, of whom approximately 5,000 work for Aurovillian businesses. This rather successful coexistence thus far is nonetheless a double-edged sword. As Auroville has attempted to consolidate its territory and create a contiguous township, it has been careful not to overtake the Tamil villages in its midst. While it does not want to exercise undue sovereignty over its neighbors. It also would not wish to confront the demographic demon (i.e. the constant struggle to maintain sufficient and consistent population figures). Therefore, absorbing large quantities Tamil villagers is out of the question. However, economic growth continues for Auroville, and its infrastructure continues to improve. From media and medicine, to technology and the Tamil language, community-wide initiatives appear to be making considerable progress.

Even so, here are the most glaring negatives. First, the true tone of interaction between local Tamil villagers and Aurovillians, while complex, rings true on a rather superficial level. At best, the relations are pleasant yet stale. At worst, Auroville is comprised of a colonialist core with settlement outposts and an extraordinary supply of subdued colonial peasant subjects to employ. Although Auroville has helped out the surrounding Indian citizens in many different contexts (farming, tsunami aide, English lessons), it appeared that relations were frequently strained. I should hope that relations ultimately are marked by well-intentioned outreach and genuinely caring folks on both sides of the civilizational divide. One should not harbor illusions about the irreconcilable gulf that divides hyper-modern Auroville with backwards surrounding towns such as Kottakarai, Kuilapalayam, and Alankuppam. Yet, I reserve a hearty and hopeful belief that such cynical perspectives on the nature of post-colonial interaction do not interfere with the lofty goals of the Aurovillian program. Zindabaad Aurorashtra!

Lastly, as for the tendencies of the Aurovillian non-religion, exclusive membership policies, combined with rather aloof spiritual access guidelines make for a somewhat tough sell. One must be rather educated, Westernized, and conversant in the proper discourses to qualify. While Bohemian-inspired meditation with an authentic Brahminical streak make for a well-endowed spiritual dimension, there is an undeniably inane and idolatrous deification of the Mother and of Sri Aurobindo himself. The naivete that feeds Aurovillian spiritual practice is perhaps refreshing precisely because it seeks to deny both the deleterious and typical barriers that divide mind from matter. However, the unremitting process of spiritual cultivation that defines the Aurovillian aura risks losing itself in a haze of chants emanating from the Matrimandir and slokas carelessly slingshotted forth from the hybrid Hindu-Western foundation of the community's religious practice. Nevertheless, I recommend experiencing Auroville firsthand and learning more about this alternative community's approach to contemporary knowledge, lifestyle, and production. Om Auro ka Shanti aur Auro Om!

Crank Dat Soulja Boy (B-Club Remix)

2007-12-01T04:20:00.000+05:30

For all y'all soulja slims, whodisans, bamas, b-more club heads, and 215 jawns, here is your b-more club fix. Though I presently be rather far from the epicenter of the b-more club universe, we can all build mega-mecca-monuments to the gods of thine sacred bawlemer anthems...

Black Gold Magic=Blue Magic

2007-11-21T22:57:00.000+05:30

What used to be greenback magic is no longer. Jay-Z now has incorporated a plain and simple truth into his post-retirement MO. Flossing a phat wad of 500 Euro notes, he too realizes what most truly astute financial gurus acknowledged long ago. The dollar's supremacy as the world's top foreign reserve currency is fast fading. In his Blue Magic video, Jay-Z reiterates a truth that I revealed one year ago after having read a fabulous book called Petrodollar Warfare, which had typically been labeled as a collection of conspiracy theories.

The slippage in the value of the dollar has been long awaited in many economic circles. Due to irresponsible tax cuts pushed through by the Bush administration and due to a fiscally reckless war machine, America is pissing away its financial health. We used to be a sound fiscal entity with a decent credit rating. W has done a far worse job than even the average American (with horrendously bad judgment in the credit department) would do. While the debt may eventually be easier to pay off, and while the sinking dollar may help out the gargantuan trade deficit, it will serve ultimately to decrease the overall standard of living in the US because it diminishes our capacity to purchase goods produced in other countries. Since demand for dollars is a huge part of why the US indeed has such a high standard of living in the first place, this whole mess is irreversible. The vicious cycle is unleashed.

Petrodollars in decline
There are voices on the geopolitical circuit demanding that oil no longer simply be denominated in dollars. Iran and Venezuela are leading this anti-petrodollar charge. Ultimately, pricing oil with a basket of currencies would tremendously decrease the demand for dollars, pushing the currency even further into the ground. Reserve banks throughout the world now believe that holding a basket of currencies will best insulate them from the risk associated with putting all their pennies/centimes in one basket. While I know whom to blame for horrendous fiscal mismanagement in my country, I, along with every other American who relies on the strength of the dollar to sustain purchasing power, will suffer the harsh consequences. The oil companies, on the other hand, are laughing at Blue Magic all the way to the bank.

MTV Arabia
For his part, Jay-Z deserves some air time on MTV's new Arabic language channel, which just went on the air this past weekend! Audiences in the Middle East will better understand the extent to which cultural norms reflect geopolitical truths. Jay-Z may be no Ben Bernanke, but his dough stacks speak far louder than any Fed Chairman's voicebox.

Multihued Multitudes of Mumbaikars

2007-11-09T01:52:00.000+05:30

My experience thus far in Mumbai has encouraged me to ponder and act in ways that I have not previously been compelled to comport myself. The brazen attitude that one must adopt in order to board a second-class coach during rush hour is something that you cannot develop prior to actually being here. The adjustment to sheer volume of human beings takes some time. In fact, perhaps living in such a congested, clogged, and crowded metropolis might not be at all desirable in the long term. However, the human truths that can be accumulated by living the metropolitan grind are so far worth the struggle.

Density...is the first reality with which one must become accustomed in this town. With a metro population of around 18 million bodies, that's something like 36 million each of ears, eyes, and kidneys. 180 million toes and fingers. 18 million souls. The average density in Greater Mumbai, which is the name given to the city itself and which does not include the population of the whole urban agglomeration, is something like 40,000 inhabitants per square kilometer. This absolutely staggering density of human habitation, while not close to the 170,000 inhabitants per square kilometer in the Lower East Side of NY in 1905, is considerably higher than 50,000 people per sqkm in many parts of the city. While sheer volume of people is no way to judge quality of life or ease of transport throughout a city, the congestion that plagues Mumbai is a function of a vast inability to cope with staggering population growth.

Map of Population Density by Country
Selected Urban Population Densities

Of three other world cities whose population densities in certain incredibly packed areas rival Mumbai's (Hong Kong, Cairo, and Shanghai), perhaps only Cairo would strike the average visitor as more overwhelming, due to a number of factors, including poverty stats, crime, and general overcrowding. Yet, Mumbai does not have a crime problem. Crime is a subject that will be dealt with in later entries, but for all intents and purposes, crime is not on the short list of perennial urban difficulties in India. Poverty and general overcrowding top the list of most daunting urban challenges in this Island City. Mumbai is strikingly civil, despite its chaotic traffic interchanges, overflowing trains, and reckless rickshaws. The humans who inhabit this dazzling metropolis do not carry on with the sort of anger and embitterment that would characterize a city inhabited by New Yorker-Americans in a town almost 1/4 the size of New York, at the gateway to a country with well over 3X the population of the United States, with an area less than 1/3 the size of the continental US. Americans would kill each other if they were confined to conditions that Indians tolerate. Period. A tiny fraction of the space. A tiny fraction of the wealth. Yet, Indians get by, eking out lives with their big hearts and impossibly charming demeanors.

Divisions...by caste and religion, age and gender, language and education are astounding. Indians, contrary to what foreigners usually expect when coming to India, are of a range of divergent types. The demographic divisions that separate Indians from each other are on a level that Westerners often cannot appreciate. The endless list of tribes (7% of the overall population), formerly untouchable "Dalit" castes (16%) are positively endless. The manner with which a woman folds her saree and how a man conducts his head wiggle and where one goes to acknowledge humility before a higher power are things that vary with inconceivable range.

Diversity...is a gift and a curse. While Indians have experienced a horrific calamity several times - first and most notably during the Partition with Pakistan in 1947, the dream of a unified cultural whole lives on. Whether unified behind the notion of Hindutva or behind the national cricketeer squad, somehow the nation clunks along as a mostly coherent amalgamation of socio-linguistic communities. The several thousands of caste groups (jatis) retain the sense of tribal distinctiveness that was more or less always a part of life on the subcontinent, yet this ancestral heritage is in certain key ways losing its grip on the modernizing, globalizing, and Indianizing system. India works. India works hard. She works hard to make progress as a cohesive expression of national will. I have no concept of how this is possible. What sort of cultural constitution makes this possible at such a grand scale? Although China has several hundred million more people, I dare say India's task of keeping its far more variegated communities unified is a far more improbable task.

Disparity...is a concept that Thomas Friedman recently attempted to address in a recent column on the release of a cheap new Tata motor vehicle that will aim to inundate first-time car purchasers with an unbeatable bargain. At a mere 1 lakh (100,000 Rupees = $2,500), this vehicle will permit masses of middle-class Indians to drive to work, drive to class, drive to the collective neoliberal paradise, which in other words, is a congested ecological catastrophe. While I have not always agreed with Friedman's often neocon and/or neoliberal tendencies, I found that his green streaks shone through on this piece. No, No, Tata

His fundamental point was that clean mass mobility must trump over the near-term rush to develop, market, and compete. Without more concern for the long-term consequences of increasingly clogged roadways, railways, and sidewalks, Mumbai will begin to burst. Cheaper cars will mean more demand for petroleum, more pollution, and more traffic. Although the egalitarian impulse embedded in all of us would have us believe that all Indians have the right to drive their own cars 25 miles a day wherever they please in the same careless way that Americans parade their motor vehicles around asphalt mazes. But, the plain truth is that if all Indians were granted this so-called right to own a car, India would cease to be. I agree with Friedman's assertion that Indians must somehow jump over the car step in the evolution of transport. Build more rail lines, enact legislation to decrease the number of vehicles permitted into the city, and reverse densification-redevelopment policies that threaten to destroy any remaining semblance of urban sanity.

Dolor, depravity, destruction, delapidation...find their way into Dharavi's complex existence because this heart-shaped area of the city is Asia's biggest slum, by most estimates. Slum life is a mode of survival, reproduction, and employment unto itself - entirely the topic of another entry. But, the dreadful extremes that exist in Mumbai are embodied by the continued prosperity of its notoriously gargantuan slum. After two visits to this vibrant disaster, I have simply become more confused about human suffering and about man's capacity to cope with the most disgusting and degraded circumstances. Dharavi is Mumbai at its best and its worst. Mumbai gone horribly wrong yet Mumbai that tries, triumphs, and turns over. Another day, another dollar and a dream.

Greetings from Hindustan & Updates!!!

2007-11-07T17:33:00.000+05:30

After a significant respite from these bloglines, this scribe is now back at the silver-tinged keyboard. I arrived three and a half weeks ago in Mumbai and have been settling down here since then to do research on caste mobility issues in this metropolis as part of a Fulbright grant. I am doing my project in conjunction with folks at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Before I jump into issues of vital concern to the subcontinent, I will devote a few paragraphs to thoughts I contemplated over the course of the past few months...

Burning Man Redux
Although I enjoyed a highly transformative experience at last year's Burning Man, I did not have the opportunity to attend the 2007 event at Black Rock City in the northwestern corner of Nevada. Ultimately, this year I am better off not having invested the spiritual, fiscal, and physical resources necessary to participate in the festival of countercultural self-reliance and psychedelic madness. I decided that, after having listening to accounts by several friends who did indeed make it to the playa, that my virgin burner experience was more or less like a virgin sex fling or a virgin cocaine ride. The first time always seems to be the most supreme. Two virgin burners reported times of their lives, much the same as I experienced last year. However, a trustworthy 2nd time burner reminded me that ecologically and musically, Burning Man has a long way to go.

The ecological category is the most errant for a festival which pretends to highlight not just the philosophical subtleties of nature parties and the aesthetic richness of contemporary psychedelic art. The shameful reality of the festival is that attendees believe that politically and socially, they are engaging in a revolutionary critique about man and his environment. In truth, man is at least as wasteful at Burning Man as elsewhere, despite the fact that this year's was not-so-aptly titled Green Man. Although corporate green interests had the chance to display their products (admittedly in a very modest Burning Man fashion), the rampant waste of fuel continues. The most conspicuous example of this profligacy was the true finale of the festival, in which the Uchronians wasted a massive oil derrick in a barrage of crackers and glee. Ostensibly, the fuel burnt was not capable of being used for practical purposes AND the organizers "offset" their otherwise unthinkable wastefulness with the purchase of carbon credits. Yet, I don't buy into this ridiculous thinking. The fire and apocalypse produced by the explosion was a pyromaniac's paradise, but I do not see how this activity fits into the Green Man theme. Burning Man should try for a less hypocritical theme next year by opting for one that is more in keeping with the true purpose of the festival.

My second criticism pertains to the range of musical selection. I should really first state that I did genuinely adore Burning Man last year. My feelings are not borne out of some entrenched bitter attitude towards the event. However, I realize that there are these two major gripes I have with how Burning Man is practiced. Musically, the variety is sickeningly finite. Psych trance and other modifications of banal house are the norm. Live music and real dance music are rare at the Burn. I won't spend any more words on negative aspects of Burning Man, since I do really see this culture as worthy and ultimately profound in many ways. But, these two major criticisms stand.

blackH2O
This private security company is a disgrace. I learnt of the outfit's brutish disdain for civil behavior during a stint in New Orleans with the American Red Cross post-Katrina. A Blackwater security agent humiliated one mentally disabled fellow who had unknowingly ignored some of the site policies. As if to informally present his case for why he should be doing real security work in Mesopotamia rather than in the Garden District of Nawlins, the irate Blackwater chump, who had no jurisdiction over clients at our site, proceeded to threaten immense injury upon this sorry fellow. Due to a series of auspicious moves, the testy interaction eventually cooled, and the Blackwater thug ultimately proved his worth as a mercenary and his failure as a human being.

Recent events in Iraq show Blackwater to be calloused beyond sanity. Their foot soldiers will kill without skipping a beat and without proper legal recourse. While I have no problem, in theory, of private security firms that are accountable ultimately to the public, the current situation in Iraq renders these firms virtually entirely unaccountable, reckless, and shortsighted. This despicable expression of American military ambition and unilateralism is the way of the future. Privatization of war so that it can be better controlled by the oligarchs of the world is an increasingly unstoppable phenom. These firms will continue to operate beyond the pale of international law and even of responsible warmongering, whatever that oxymoron would truly encompass.

Sicko Transformed
Michael Moore twists reality. He is no documentary film maker, but he well deserves the moniker of propagandist. In an effort to impartially judge the merit of his cinematic creation, I will carefully lay out the reasoning behind my conclusion. His film Sicko is a thorough indictment of the American health care system. As such, it scathingly critiques the most heinous aspects of the American system, while lauding the best possible aspects of 4 other health care systems: Canadian, English, French, and Cuban. By pointing out the worst failures of our health care establishment, he undoubtedly lays blame on many of the rightly usual suspects. I fundamentally agree with his overall message. However, I object to the notion that he produces documentaries that are at all even-handed. Moore is utter propagandist in the best sense of the term.

We all know that the American system has resulted in the denial of coverage to up to a sixth of US citizens. This is disgraceful. I cannot agree more with Moore on this basic premise, that universal coverage is the best way to ensure a healthy citizenry. Yet, Moore would more successfully win over his audience if he were more earnest in his assessments. Let's be frank - Moore ignores all of the truly novel innovations of health care in America. I am no apologist for the system as it currently exists, but in any objective rendering of the health care delivery network would include the many unique and cutting-edge technologies, surgeries, and drugs that have been churned out in the US. That being said, the system needs reform. This reform needs to be drastic. I just disagree with Moore's framing of the debate. Obviously, he's not really pretending to tell the whole story, but it just becomes cinema of the absurd when he launches a postmodernist crusade into the hospitals and fire departments of Havana - in a bizarro comparison between policies that have neglected to cover the casualties of Americans who are still reeling from the September 11th attacks and the stellar Cuban health care system. Moore's hyperbolic assault technique would be comical were it not for the terrible nature of what actually transpired with his subjects.

Either way, Moore paints the rosiest possible picture of the foreign societies and the most ominous possible picture of the American. This lopsided coverage deserves a bit more balance. The ridiculously extreme nature of the exaggeration makes the entire effort a bit less appealing.

This brings me to my current predicament. India is perfect. It is also a disaster. To label in such a reductionist manner at either extreme is hyperbole. Michael Moore might as well have included the benefits of the Indian health care system in his film for the sake of even more extreme comparison. And he most certainly would have fully ignored any of its failings, since his film serves only to underscore the pathetic attributes of the American system.

Middle East to South Asia
I've now switched from Semitic culture to Indo-Aryan-Dravidian civilization. All my obsessions with UN OCHA maps & separation fence geography will be the basis for later research on many significant topics (including Arabic language, geopolitical conflict, and hegemonic religion). But, this will have to wait. Moreover, my more leisurely interest in Jewish neo-paganism and the multihued collage of Northwest Semitic godheads did not yet bear ripe fruit. At some point in the future I intend to dig this subject up once again.

For now, I am stationed willingly, wildly and wholeheartedly in the Island City of Bombay. My activities here will surely generate an infinitude of bloglines topics. Chala!

B-more Club Scarface: where YOU from?

2007-09-27T00:50:00.000+05:30

The Goddesses of Psych Trance

2007-08-18T22:09:00.000+05:30

Not since the heights of Burning Man have I frolicked in luscious layers of psychedelic madness.

The hallu- cinogenic intensity of the PsyTrance phenom is of far-reaching popularity in certain corners of the world. The Morning Glory party that I recently attended with two members of the tribe was on the slopes of Mt. Galboa, where King Saul was brutally slaughtered by the Philistines. The site seemed perfect for a nature party, set in a fertile meadow overlooking the Jezreel Valley in one of the Levant's primary agricultural breadboxes.

The party touched on the same Burning Man themes. While I am not able to attend Burning Man this year due to my present location 5000 kilometers from Black Rock City and a clear lack of sufficient energy, fiscal, and temporal resources, I had a satisfactory annual dose of PsyTrance at Morning Glory. The Semitic gods and goddesses who came forth to offer their souls to the supreme deity of nature took many forms. Namely, most of the attendees took on the roles of forest gnome, elfin wanderer, mountain warrior, and mermaid mistress. The level of spiritual consciousness that was attained by the sum-total of PsyTrance energy auras rendered the experience incredibly surrealistic.

Although I must admit that PsyTrance in any or all of its formats as Goa, Psychedelic, etc is not my musical favorite, the scene associated with this musical genre is appealing in its stylistic and experiential dimensions. Even if the music's pounding is not ideal for the tastiest cup of mushroom tea, it does produce a vibe that cannot be found elsewhere. Generally, nature parties truly do achieve a sense of communion with the natural environ in such a manner that is nature attained at other sorts of parties. Overall, the accoutrements of nature parties are the most aesthetically alluring. Personally, due to an overwhelming obsession with Canaanite hair texture and shape, perhaps the most memorable aspect of these festivals are the tribal doos. I've encountered many folks who have similar infatuations with the profusion of such hairstyles. Voluminous locks and thick manes prevail at nature parties. They complement the presence neon psychedelic art and objects. Furthermore, their proudly natural quality communicates a profound relationship with the primal human environ.

May the God of Psych Trance reign forever in the Holy Land, Black Rock City, and beyond. Please holler this way for any questions about Burning Man or tips on how to maximize this year's psychedelia!

Origin of the Hebrew Man

2007-08-07T02:16:00.000+05:30

Generally, the subject of national origin for any people is shrouded in myth, fantasy, and a slight modicum of fact. The modern-day Jewish-Israeli-Hebrew nation in all of its varied constitutions, has origins recorded in biblical narratives. However, the chronology and accuracy of this narrative must be checked by scholarly research and reasonable assessment of the chains of events that led to invasion after invasion, constant cultural and genetic evolution, and the creation of several diasporas.

The history and origin of this people is unique among the histories of peoples due to the uncanny persistence of the nation - despite the lack of a homeland for so many years. Moreover, this history is exceptional due to its disproportionate influence on the cultural, economic, and intellectual processes of human civilization. This nation has taken on different forms throughout its nearly 4,000 year history. Yet, the people remain, and the modern expression of this nation is an attempt to recreate the ancient state of affairs. While literal replication in all aspects would not be desirable, a veritable renaissance of this people is undeniable. The confederation of Northwest Semitic nomads who became the Hebrews commenced a history that is still being lived today. Indubitably, there has been assimilation of much foreign culture, genetic material, and intellectual ideas, yet the fundamentals remain continuous to a great degree.

It is indisputable that no ethnic group has absolutely certain origins. Roman, Indian, and Incan civilization have all posited that their societies originated in this or that mythological cradle. While each extrapolates its own narrative based on a limited understanding of chronology and history. Hebrew origins are no different. While Hebrews did not suckle on mother-wolf or descend from the moon, they have indeed created a coherent account of their beginnings that can be at least partially corroborated by many historical accounts. Like the French, Egyptian, and Babylonian peoples, the Jewish-Israeli-Hebrew nation draws on a multiplicity of ethno-linguistic origins. Beginning as an amalgam of Semitic-speaking tribes in northern Mesopotamia (around southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq), there is certainly some Caucasian (Hurrian) influence on the peopling of the early Hebrews. Overall, what are called Habirus or Apirus in Egyptian, Canaanite, Phoenician, Babylonian, and Hittite sources (first notably in the Amarna Letters from around 1330 BCE) are apparently assorted drop-outs from more urbanized, agricultural civilizations who became nomadic, war-like, and barbaric.

These early folks likely started off somewhere around Ur in southeastern Turkey (near the ancestral center of Kurdish civilization) and proceeded to migrate southwest and to pick up more nomads along the way who shared their cultural inclinations but who did not necessarily speak the same language, worship the same god, or even have the same ethnic origins. So, alas, it is from this melange of ethno-linguistic roots that the Habirus became the various Hebrew tribes sometime towards the middle of the 2nd Millennium BCE. It is recorded that these wanderers ravaged many settled societies and exercised mercenary disdain for the other groups they encountered. It seems that by 1600 BCE, many of the Habirus had reached Egypt with their fellow Semites the Hyksos. By 1400, a certain confederation of Hebrews had conquered the northern part of Israel (including Jericho, Shechem, and Sebastya), while other Hebrews (most certainly members of different tribes) were relegated to slave duties in Egypt.

The northern alliance achieved political unity and cemented Hebraic bonds in a process that culminated in the creation of the Kingdom of Israel. Dedicated to worship of the Levantine deity known as El, this confederation included the vast majority of the Hebrew tribes who would later compose the United Monarchy. However, the Hebrews had not yet vanquished the whole of the Promised Land. Neither had this divine Promise been offered unto the Hebrews. While the northerners established a stronghold in all of Samaria, the Canaanites, Jebusites, and Kenites in the south around Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron were not conquered until after the exodus of the Levite, Judean, and perhaps also Benjamite tribes from Pharaonic Egypt around 1250, after which Judean entity was established, and an overwhelmingly monotheistic cult of Yahweh was established after these Judeans had been influenced by Egyptian monotheism, as well as perhaps the nascent monotheisms of certain tribes in the Sinai desert and northern Arabian peninsula. Upon the establishment of this second Hebrew political entity in the south, the majority of the Hebrew tribes had a new homeland. The habitation of this slice of territory begs the question: did the Hebrews create justification for their settlement of this land after it had been conquered, or had something occurred to them prior to their migration that had truly inspired their flight to the Holy Land?

Regardless, the Hebrews had wandered for many years, in search of food, booty, and bounty. The way they laid down roots in what was previously known as Canaan was not too different than the way that most other tribes settled territory that had prior occupants.

More on the Hebrews' religion, priesthood, and gods will be addressed at a later date...

Regardless, what began as an amalgamation of Mesopotamian tribes who spoke different languages and possessed divergent ethnic backgrounds became a confederation whose self-imposed series of covenants encouraged people to remain endogamous, law-abiding, and culturally homogeneous. The ground-breaking set of laws that began to characterize this Hebrew Israelite nation eventually received a following throughout the tribal confederation. Soon enough, the experiences and the mythologies of each tribe became the experiences and the mythologies of the entire Hebrew Israelite nation. The formation of this entity resulted eventually in the United Monarchy that combined northern Israel and southern Judea.

Upon the Assyrian conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th Century BCE, many Israelites fled to the south. Yet, some 30,000 became "Samaritans" and also the ostensibly lost tribes of Israel. Thus, most of what became known to the modern world about the Hebrews was handed down via the scholars, scribes, and priests of Judea. The religion and ethnic identity of the inheritors of this tradition took on the Judean culture as their dominant influence.

Judeans are thus the descendants of Jews, while the Samaritans of the north are the ancestors of the modern day Samaritans on Mount Gerizim, who are perhaps the only living remnants of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Jerusalem was the undisputed center of the Judean polity and therefore became the focal point of worship in the Judean religion. However, the Samaritan Israelites of the north continued to focus their spiritual energies at the site of the major Israelite temple to El on Mount Gerizim.

The scope of the rest of Jewish history is too broad to be included in this essay. Yet, the destruction of 1st Temple and the subsequent Babylonian captivity resulted in the tremendous influence of Aramaic neo-Babylonian civilization on the language, script, and calendar of the exiled Judeans. When the Persians allowed these captives to return to their homeland, they retained much of the Aramaic culture.

After the tribulations of the Judeans during the alternatively glorious and traumatic Roman period, the bulk of the nation was significantly dispersed in 70 CE, forming the basis of the modern Jewish-Israeli-Hebrew nation. The in-gathering of the exiles was not to take place for almost 19 centuries, yet the foundations had been built for a nation without a shared geographical space. In addition to the conversion of several significant groups (among other smaller scale conversions), including the Himyarites in Yemen, the Adiabenes in Kurdistan, and the Khazars in Turkic southern Russia, these diaspora Judeans inherited the Hebrew culture and language and were the last Judeans (during the Bar Kokhba Revolt) to possess a state in the Promised Land until the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948.

Here is Mark Twain's assessment of Hebrew origins and history: "It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of...His contributions to the world's list of great names are way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose... the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone...The Jew saw them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no dulling of his alert mind. All things are mortal but the Jew...What is the secret of his immortality?"