Obsessing over Michael Jackson

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/news/bal-jacksonasfather-0706,0,6030764.story
'since watching the MJ memorial service, I've been obssessing over Michael Jackson. As the white (Jewish) parent of two non-white children. I'm probably overly conscious of race. 'seems like Michael created his own "post-racial" identity/reality, but I wonder about his white children -- who biologically are almost certainly not his. I'd never seen or thought about his children before. My Google search brought this article my way -- interesting.

With My Students @ Seward Park HS, 1992

Scott Blakeman @ Pratt Manhattan Gallery

http://www.scottblakeman.com/

Scott Blakeman

I discovered Scott Blakeman -- who had the stage -- when I delivered postcards to Clark @ Pratt's Manhattan Gallery. I loved his political humor -- but his Jewish humor wasn't quite making it for me. I really can't laugh about the myth of Jewish power, when this so-called myth has been the guiding force behind so much anti-semitism. I did appreciate his references to Joe Lieberman, though. Joe's been looking so lost and pathetic lately. I can't believe that I supported him eight years ago.

Ed Koch and Me

I never thought I'd agree with Ed Koch on anything. I used to run into him all the time when we lived a block apart in the Village. I kept my distance. But now we actually have something in common: "She scares the hell out of me," Koch stated in reference to Sarah Palin. Me, too -- and probably for the same reasons.

Jamie Lynn Spears vs. Bristol Palin

Ms. Palin’s prism of God, Alaska and Country, in that order, obscures an irony. When 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney’s sister, shows up pregnant, it becomes one more example of permissiveness gone amok. But array those same circumstances over 17-year-old Bristol Palin, and it is received at the convention as one more example of steadfast prolife values.
When it comes to the culture wars, it all depends on where the baby bump lands.

David Carr, New York Times, September 7

I Just Don't Get It!

I just don't get it. I don't understand how conservative Republicans can so casually dismiss Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy. Something's wrong with the picture. The young couple should have been educated on how to avoid unwanted pregnancy -- even if their parents wanted to believe that their children would not engage in premarital sex. (So much for "abstinence only." ) And why weren't these teens practicing safe sex -- with STD's so prevelant among young people? And certainly getting married under these circumstances is absurd. What message are we sending young people? It makes a mockery of everything we educators have been teaching our students for years.