cute but prickly

Jean Louis Sabaji | Spring/Summer 2014

Thinking cat sculpture //  Realnaturepure

A story that the Jews tell each other is that when the slaves were fleeing Egypt they came to the edge of the Red Sea and thought: well, fuck, this is it. Water in front of them and enemies behind. They had escaped, sure, but all this meant was that they were going to die free instead of in chains. A meaningful distinction in an abstract sense, but the Jews are a practical people, and mostly what they were concerned with in that moment was: they would be equally dead either way.

A man stepped out from the group. He stepped into the water. He said: mi chamocha ba’eilim adonai? Who is like you Adonai, among the gods who are worshipped? He sang that verse over and over again. He sang it as he waded into the sea. He gave his body over to his faith as he walked. There was nowhere to go but forward. If he was going to die, he figured, and be equally dead either way, he was not going to die in slavery and he was not going to die at the hands of the Egyptians, either. He was going to die walking and singing, believing, trying to find progress in the chaos, in the waves. 

In the story, the water laps first at his feet, then his knees, his thighs, his ribs, his neck, finally flowing into his mouth as he sings and sings and sings. The words get choked, mispronounced: the hard cha of mi chamocha becomes mi kamoka, strangled but still certain. 

In the story, this man is why the people get their miracle, the waters parting to let them cross through on dry land. It is an act of divine intervention, but it only comes because someone is willing to put his life on the line to make it happen. I keep thinking about him this week, that apocryphal man and how it is a story we make sure to keep telling each other: when there is water in front of you and enemies behind, you do not wait for your god, or a sign. You trust in something larger than yourself and open your mouth to sing about it. You put your feet on the ground and walk forward. 

His name was Nahshon ben Aminadav. Descended directly from Judah, he fathered a line of kings. We tell his story to remind ourselves that God does not act in isolation. Humans are not just participants in holy work - we are vital to its success.

1926 c. Paul Poiret evening gown of gold silk chiffon, rhinestones and beads. The beadwork resembles the “fountain” motif, but turned upside down, evoking trompe l’oeil fringe. From Fashion of Bygone Days, FB

Thoughts that are mutual between cats and their people:

The door to the dining area of the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal was made narrow so that monks who got too fat were forced to go into fasting. XII century

Read more: https://thetravelbible.com/top-artifacts-from-the-medieval-period/

Their Yelp review is going to incinerate this place. Source.

Fashion designs by James Galanos in the 1950s.

I'm trying to see something

I feel like some nuance is needed here. Or a decent representation of people who write Something Other Than the Fandom OTP. Because I suspect the voting would be a little different if it included the alternatives (3) You will be ignored by lots of people but can tell yourself you're a small fish in a giant pond without a hype squad and (4) You will be ignored by a small group that is tightly bound together and super active and you will feel it much more acutely.

(signed, that Fandom Old Genficcer who has been both)

When you think of sea slugs, you may think of drab, bottom-dwelling ocean creatures. But look at this beauty. It's known as Chromodoris willani. (Photo by Samantha Craven.)

SEVENTIES MEN FASHION 

~WKRP in Cincinnati, Turkeys Away

“As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

*dies*

this never stops being hilarious.

Just this one Yid’s elaboration… it’s not Kanye or Kyrie Irving or Mel Gibson or John Galliano or whichever celebrity is being a freak on main today that’s scary or unsettling. It’s the groundswell of public support for their antisemitism that’s actually frightening. It’s #IStandWithKyrie trending when he got suspended and the in-front-of-the-arena protests in support of his antisemitic statements. It’s every genuinely funny or insightful social media post about Kanye being swamped in the comments about how he’s actually right about the Jews. I’m not afraid of some celebrity who thinks my family should’ve gotten shoved in an oven – if such a thing even happened because the Holocaust was a lie! I’m afraid of the guy sitting next to me on the subway liking those posts and how many there are around me I won’t see coming.

Jews live with remarkable freedom in the US, with remarkable safety. But we enjoy this freedom and safety with the knowledge that both the far left (”Jews can’t be victims, they can only be white oppressors”) and the far right (the xenophobes, religious fundamentalists of many faiths, etc.) would be happy if we were gone. It’s a precarious existence, even if it’s the best we’ve ever had. And that’s what makes this very casual devaluation – people with their pictures as their social media avatars, people using their real names in their bios, people who aren’t worried about the ramifications of jumping on the antisemitism train – so frightening.

Cooper Union barricades Jewish students inside library as pro-Palestinian protesters bang on doors

NYC public school students brandish antisemitic signs, call for Israel to be eradicated

Man allegedly invades Studio City home, threatens Jewish family, yells ‘Free Palestine’

Just this one Yid’s elaboration… it’s not Kanye or Kyrie Irving or Mel Gibson or John Galliano or whichever celebrity is being a freak on main today that’s scary or unsettling. It’s the groundswell of public support for their antisemitism that’s actually frightening. It’s #IStandWithKyrie trending when he got suspended and the in-front-of-the-arena protests in support of his antisemitic statements. It’s every genuinely funny or insightful social media post about Kanye being swamped in the comments about how he’s actually right about the Jews. I’m not afraid of some celebrity who thinks my family should’ve gotten shoved in an oven – if such a thing even happened because the Holocaust was a lie! I’m afraid of the guy sitting next to me on the subway liking those posts and how many there are around me I won’t see coming.

Jews live with remarkable freedom in the US, with remarkable safety. But we enjoy this freedom and safety with the knowledge that both the far left (”Jews can’t be victims, they can only be white oppressors”) and the far right (the xenophobes, religious fundamentalists of many faiths, etc.) would be happy if we were gone. It’s a precarious existence, even if it’s the best we’ve ever had. And that’s what makes this very casual devaluation – people with their pictures as their social media avatars, people using their real names in their bios, people who aren’t worried about the ramifications of jumping on the antisemitism train – so frightening.

Cooper Union barricades Jewish students inside library as pro-Palestinian protesters bang on doors

NYC public school students brandish antisemitic signs, call for Israel to be eradicated

Man allegedly invades Studio City home, threatens Jewish family, yells ‘Free Palestine’