Two websites that I highly recommend for weekly reading: LensCulture and Dennis Dunleavy's The Big Picture?
Lights Out
In Paris, the city of lights, you are going to have to think twice about photographing the Eiffel Tower. This isn't some half-baked French attempt to ape the New York City MTA. No, this is pure capitalism at work. This is copyright law run amuck. Lights out!
The Banning of Photography One, Two, Three
Via John Laxmi
“Nobody is looking to violate anybody's civil rights or deny anybody's constitutional rights,” Mr. Kelly said. “But when you check with law enforcement agencies, they have uncovered photographs of subway and rail systems from various terrorist organizations. And I don't believe they were going into somebody's scrapbook.”
The New York Times reported recently that photographers have once again been banned from making images near or on subway trains or the bus system that supports most of New York life.
If you are a “serious” photographer, though, you could always apply for a permit. How ridiculous is that? Despite what Mr. Kelly says, I say our rights are being hijacked.
Hey Mr. DJ, “eff you too!”
A few years back I got robbed in Philly. So, it's not a city that I look to fondly and I dread hearing it mentioned every time my wife talks about her time at UPENN. Perhaps it is a latent form of post-traumatic stress disorder?
Anyway, now this brouhaha that is brewing over a Philadelphia radio station DJ spitting invectives – racist and misogynistic garbage – at a poor woman in “East India” who was only following a script and doing her job at a call center. If you must listen to this diatribe click here. If you want to skip the download, here is a transcript of that ugly exchange.
Anna, MoorishGirl, Turbanhead and SideAngleSide have all covered this well enough so, please click on those links to find out more.
Parroting their sentiments for raising hell, I say PLEASE use the following information as ammo and dive into action:
Below is the contact information to Power 99 (the radio station)
Station Address:
Power99 WUSL-FM
440 Domino Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19128General/Business Line: 215.483.8900
Studio Hotlines:
Philly Area & Local: 215.263.6699
Worldwide: 800.669.99FM
Star & Buc: 1-860-247-1041Programming:
Director of Urban Programming/Program Director: Thea Mitchem
Music Director: Coka Lani
Morning Show Producer: Sonjie DeCaires
News & Public Affairs Director: Loraine Ballard Morrill
Try this number too – 215-482-7936
As Side.Angle.Side says:
paper letters and faxes go much farther than emails which are easier to ignore, so if you haven't already, please write a physical letter. advertising revenue is more important to radio stations than listeners, so i would recommend making mention of a boycott against the station and their advertisers. you may also want to mention in your letter that you will be filing a complaint with the fcc, which you can do by writing to the following address:
federal communications commission
enforcement bureau
investigations & hearing division
445 12th street, sw
washington dc, 20554
fax 866.418.0232chairman michael k. powell
commissioner kathleen q. abernathy
commissioner michael j. copps
commissioner kevin j. martin
commissioner jonathan s. adelstein
The loss of material goods is one thing. Loss of one's dignity quite another. There is really no two ways about it. Having suffered through several episodes of racial epithets here in the US, I find no humor in one of my own being treated this way. Some on this site say that this is a “crank” call. Fine. Don't come moaning to me when you get your ass whupped over being called a “dirty rat-eater.” It's neither funny nor cool then is it?
Time to step up and set the record straight. These DJ's were wrong, even in jest, to berate the woman. She didn't deserve to be treated that way. She bore no ill-will towards these DJs and quite likely didn't even know that she was unwittingly a participant in their prank, if it was that. A simple question to you folks – would you want your mother, your sister, your wife or your girlfriend to pick up the phone one day and have @$$&%*! like DJ Star and Buc talk to her like that? I think not.
Wise up – Voice up!
Under Her Skin
Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America is a book that Pooja Makhijani edited and Seal Press published recently.
The blurb from the publicist reads thus:
“This astounding collection explores racial awakening with a delicate clarity reminiscent of the innocent, yet stark narration of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Including the perspectives of women of color, white women, and those caught between two worlds, Under Her Skin traces themes related to double lives, fear, envy, lineage, and family, expanding the often painful exploration of difference. Essays include the reflections of a woman whose girlhood is spent deciphering levels of oppression.from her Jewish family's past and internment in Nazi camps to her own spiteful treatment of their African-American maids; brutal memories of ”Beat the Buddha Day,“ – a tradition of schoolyard violence that transfers discrimination from one group to another; and an unexpected contrast in how one childhood racial incident is recalled by two women, both challenging and complicating the notion of ”victim“! The first book of its kind to include the impact of racial awareness on women of all colors, Under Her Skin embodies a vital and unique contribution to the national discussion on race.”
Pooja Makhijani and many of the contributors of Under Her Skin will be reading in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, Boston and DC in the months of January, February and March. Check out the complete schedule here.
Pooja Makhijani is an essayist, journalist and writer of children's literature. Her bylines have appeared in in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Newark Star-Ledger, The Indian Express, Time Out New York, NY ARTS Magazine India Today and Time Out New York Kids among others. Her first picture book, Mama's Saris, is forthcoming from Little, Brown & Company Books for Young Readers. Currently at work on a collection of essays, she lives with her husband in New York City.
I do hope you will check this book out and also attend one of the many book readings across the country. Some day I just might tell you about my experiences as an immigrant; this notion of “difference” was pounded into me as an adolescent. I am not terribly sure if it has stuck, though. We all have a variety of positive and negative experiences and somehow we make the choice of clinging to either or both and making the best of it. I would welcome a discussion here on how you have approached this topic. How has your identity been defined? Is it based on “sameness” or “difference”?
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 13
- Next Page »