Monthly Archives: August 2013

Catastrophe Photography & Palestine Agonistes (The Civil Contract of Photography)

Posted on August 26, 2013 by zjb

I finished reading Ariella Azoulay’s The Civil Contract of Photography, an excellent and exhausting study that attends to the civic function of photography, to the photograph as a space of appearance (Arendt) for the forging of a common citizenship binding … Continue reading →

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(Liberalism) Together with Strangers (Movie Night, Brooklyn Bridge Park)

Posted on August 25, 2013 by zjb

Liberal public space is built upon the togetherness of strangers, who gather for no greater reason or purpose apart from the simple pleasure of coming together in public to look at something. The lower the common denominator, the better. All … Continue reading →

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Freedom Tower Minaret

Posted on August 23, 2013 by zjb

Would someone please contact Pamela Geller? I don’t think anyone has noticed that the spire of the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Site in Lower Manhattan looks like the minaret of a really big mosque.

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Separation Wall & Volkswagen Beetle (rt. 6) (Israeli Landscape)

Posted on August 20, 2013 by zjb

I took these shots along rt. 6 while in Israel. On my return to the States, I read this post at +972. The author is critical of the way in which the Separation Barrier snaking along and over the Green … Continue reading →

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Carl Schurz Defender of Liberty

Posted on August 19, 2013 by zjb

Carl Schurz joined the German Revolution of 1848, and then emigrated to the United States where he became a very important person in the Republican Party of Lincoln. Anti-slavery and anti-imperialist, his record on Native American affairs remained more mixed. … Continue reading →

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Agrarian Landscape Old Modern Israel (rt. 4)

Posted on August 19, 2013 by zjb

I always appreciate the experience of moving at high speed, but I wistfully recall how the Israeli coastal plane between Haifa down to Tel Aviv was once upon a time full of orange and grapefruit orchards. For all its many … Continue reading →

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Nakba Parking Lot (Ramle)

Posted on August 18, 2013 by zjb

Old Nakba ruins from 1948/9 are all over the place in Israel, barely off the beaten track. I have known for years and years now about the expulsion of the Palestinian-Arab citizens of Ramle during the Israel War of Independence. … Continue reading →

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(Knowing) Egypt Chaos (Leon Wieseltier)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by zjb

I don’t understand how and on what basis Leon Wieseltier comes here to such an immediate comprehension and determinations of the so-called “facts” caught up in the confusing whorl that is Egypt after Mubarak and right now. From Washington D.C., … Continue reading →

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Egyptian Chaos & Popular Will (Political Theology)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by zjb

I’m trying to make sense of the chaos and carnage in Egypt, especially in response to Egyptian public opinion. This opening paragraph from this recent  article NYT says worlds:  Gathering Thursday morning around a mosque used as a morgue for … Continue reading →

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Security Camera Playground Age of Surveillance (New York)

Posted on August 15, 2013 by zjb

Under surveillance while sitting at a playground in Morningside Park in New York, I was very anxious taking these pictures. And then I figured, why not? Is it against the law? Solar powered (?), the technological eye blends into the … Continue reading →

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