Monthly Archives: August 2014

New York State Fair (2014)

Posted on August 31, 2014 by zjb

The Great New York State Fair is a different kind of place. I am sure I was the only one there who ever heard of Steven Salaita. As you might have noted last year, I’m posted before, we’re there pretty much … Continue reading →

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Cartoonish Steven Salaita Tweets (Lose-Lose Zero-Sum)

Posted on August 28, 2014 by zjb

Apart from the BDS movement, which has acquired for itself a martyr, there are no obvious“winners” in the Steven Salaita dust-up at UIUC. It’s a strictly lose-lose deal. The offending tweets are just too stupid in character to justify the … Continue reading →

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Steven Salaita, Public Critique, and Academic Freedom

Posted on August 27, 2014 by zjb

The following paragraphs represent a composite correspondence taken from two FB exchanges with two different colleagues who are behind Steven Salaita in the collision at UIUC. The discussion touches upon two or three things regarding the poisoned politics of Israel … Continue reading →

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Steven Salaita (Uncivil Speech, Obnoxious Speech, Abusive Speech)

Posted on August 26, 2014 by zjb

Regarding the matter of Steven Salaita, I’ll agree that UIUC should have honored the contract with Steven Salaita and “welcome” him to campus, if only for the contractual reasons as argued by many faculty colleagues and friends. But the case is far … Continue reading →

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Artificial Mountain Rock (Zhan Wang)

Posted on August 23, 2014 by zjb

A couple of weeks back, I ran across these these two Fake Mountain Rocks enclosed in the glass atrium space at Madison Avenue. By Zhan Wang, they riff off the traditional, decorative rocks placed in scholars’ gardens. An excellent article, … Continue reading →

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War Memorial (Carrol Park, Brooklyn)

Posted on August 20, 2014 by zjb

Maybe I’m getting older, but I don’t find war memorials like this one in Carrol Park, Brooklyn jingoistic. Erected in 1921, now in the middle of a playground and public space, it has a common-man kind of feel. Local, it’s … Continue reading →

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Jewish Philosophy New York City Brisket

Posted on August 20, 2014 by zjb

The good news is that it may just be the case that there’s no need to go to Texas for Texas brisket. You can get it here and maybe even better in New York City, with more creative and lighter … Continue reading →

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Palestine & The Question of Israel

Posted on August 19, 2014 by zjb

In arguments about Israel, Palestine, the occupation, and the Palestinian Nakba and right of return little attention goes to assessing in a critical way assumptions about Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history that govern “the Palestinian perspective. While I think these … Continue reading →

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No “Root Cause” to the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Rhizome)

Posted on August 18, 2014 by zjb

What’s at the root of the Israel-Palestinian conflict? When people on the left want to talk about Gaza or the larger Israel-Palestine conflict they often say that you can’t solve this or that aspect of the problem, this or that … Continue reading →

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Americana (Christian New Jersey Turnpike Toxic)

Posted on August 16, 2014 by zjb

I was at the Woodrow Wilson rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike where I took these pictures, pretty far up north. I like the the rest stops named after native born American icons, like Wilson, and Walt Whitman, Vince Lombard, … Continue reading →

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