Monthly Archives: May 2014

(Israel) Binational Fascist Simulacral (Response to Ze’ev Tammuz)

Posted on May 30, 2014 by zjb

I posted the article yesterday about architectural plans to split Jerusalem, knowing that my old friend Ze’ev was not going to like it. He was anti-Zionist before it came into vogue, at least over here in the United States. You … Continue reading →

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(Recognition) Little Jewish Neo-Nazis (Jerusalem Day)

Posted on May 30, 2014 by zjb

This is how a country turns itself inside out. This is how religion turns a country inside out. Bit by bit and year after year a country can lose its right to a place that its people are unable to share … Continue reading →

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One City-Two Cities (Jerusalem Partitions)

Posted on May 29, 2014 by zjb

I know my friend Ze’ev is going to hate this, but I wanted to share and comment upon this piece in Haaretz about technical plans to partition Jerusalem by architects Yehuda Greefield-Gilat and Karen Lee Bar-Sinai. They run an architectural firm … Continue reading →

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Spring Ivy (Morningside Heights)

Posted on May 28, 2014 by zjb

The fresh spring ivy on Morningside Drive was a bright green in the sun. Not overgrown yet, I like how it hugs tightly the side of the building up the brickwork and ironwork like a five o’clock shadow. In the … Continue reading →

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(Photographic Portraits) Grand Dames New York (Wit and Privilege)

Posted on May 28, 2014 by zjb

This photo spread in the May 5, 2014 issue of New York Magazine caught my attention. Alongside the power of the close-framed photographic portraits, I think it is the combination of cossetted privilege and deep, knowing human wit and intelligence that … Continue reading →

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Garden of Love (W 116th St)

Posted on May 27, 2014 by zjb

Is this garden and others like it too big to call a pocket garden? Lovingly cared for by neighborhood volunteers, these public green spaces are all over Harlem where they take up empty building lots. This one’s on 116th St. between … Continue reading →

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(Art Underground) Artemis, Acrobats, Divas and Dancers, (Nancy Spero)

Posted on May 27, 2014 by zjb

A little bit of myth in the big city. With great drama, the number 1 train, which travels aboveground through a stretch of northern Manhattan, returns to its underground life right around the Jewish Theological Seminary on W.122nd Street. Viewed … Continue reading →

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(No) One State Solution (Europe & Israel)

Posted on May 26, 2014 by zjb

Among a certain smart set, talk about a One State Solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict was launched by Tony Judt’s article here in the New York Review of Books comparing Israel and the Zionism to the European Union.  It seemed … Continue reading →

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(Photographs) Daughters of the King (Federica Valabrega)

Posted on May 25, 2014 by zjb

Very cool pictures of orthodox women by Italian born, Brooklyn based photographer Federica Valabrega. Based on the traditionalist notion that the “kavod” of the King’s daughters is inside, the idea was to get at what Valbrega saw as the spiritual … Continue reading →

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Random Porcelain Monkeys

Posted on May 24, 2014 by zjb

Saw these guys gracing the window of I forget which florist on the Upper East Side. I think it’s the utter randomness of their appearance.

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