Anti-Trans/Anti-Gay Assault in Jackson Heights.

MY POST on my own Facebook wall: Elyaqim was horrified to learn today of a trans-woman beaten in a bias attack a few blocks from his home. When we are still being bludgeoned in the streets, the top issues of the gay movement’s self-appointed leaders (e.g., marriage, children, military) seem less relevant. —1 July, 22:31 (SFBG, Fb.|FF)

The assault on Leslie Mora occurred 19 June in front of 72-11 Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, about three blocks from my building. As is my style, I present a bibliography below of the first articles about it I encountered online. As is also my style, I took it as an opportunity to rail against the highest-profile bourgeois gay organizations that might feel this brutal incident should take a back seat to the Gay Marriage Machine which seeks to ensure that same-sex partners will get benefits at the racquet club.

• “Transgender Woman Brutally Beaten in Queens Bias Attack - TLDEF Demands Full Investigation into Hate Crime,” Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund Web site, 30 June 2009. Reproduced with minor changes at transgenderlegal.org/​headline_show.php?​id=120. Also reproduced as “Transgender Woman Brutally Beaten in Queens Bias Attack,” The Angels, 30 June 2009.
• Kat Long, “Transgender Woman Attacked in Queens,” New York Blade, 30 June 2009.
• Helen Boyd [Gail Kramer], “TLDEF: Queens (Trans) Woman Beaten in Bias Crime,” en|Gender, 30 June 2009.
• “Why Is One of These Attacks a Hate Crime, While the Other One Isn’t?,” Queerty, 30 June 2009.
• CaitieCat a.k.a twice_immigrant, “Another Sister Attacked,” Shakesville, 30 June 2009.
• Miranda, “Read This: Another Sister Attacked,” Women’s Glib, 30 June 2009.
• Justine Nicholas Valinotti, “Leslie Mora and Jackson Heights,” Transwoman Times, 30 June 2009.
• Rachel, “Transgender Woman Attacked in Queens,” The Feminist Agenda, 1 July 2009.
• Mixed Queer, “Trans Woman Attacked in Queens NY,” Mixed Queer (..] |V| [] [} : {] :{] D )…( Q {( U [] :{] :{] R {..), 1 July 2009.
• David Yale Mailloux, “#176: I Just Don’t Understand…,” DYM Sum, 1 July 2009.

(And don’t forget to read the article to which I originally linked: Tommi Avicolli Mecca, “The Price of Normal,” San Francisco Bay Guardian Online, 24 June 2009.)

Photo: Laura Vogel.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5kYwAk57c.

From Facebook Wall to Surface Web, 18–31 May 2009.

Compiled below are my writings on my own and others’ Facebook walls 18–31 May 2009. My comments on other users’ posts are presented here out of context.

☞ Like Facebook but unlike Twitter, FriendFeed and Jaiku allow threads of comments on micro-blog posts. —19 May, 12:17 (MP¹, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

✝ Quirky religious music video. (Thanks to Bunny’s ’blog: http://www.ladybunny.net/blog/2009/04/god-will-fuck-you-up.html .) —20 May, 10:15 (YT via LBB², Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim thinks this Jewish birthday party got completely out of control, and is exhausted just having watched the video. —20 May, 17:56 (YT³, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

▴ I had not seen this cartoon in years. I love the way Bea Benaderet screams her head off. This must have been fun in the recording studio. —20 May, 22:36 (YT⁴, J.O. on Fb.)

✡ While I may not agree with every last point made, an interesting article about the marginalization of Mizraḥim in the absorption of Jewish immigrants to Israel. {Israeli Policies of Immigration and Immigrant Absorption: The Role of the Institutional System in the Social, Economic, and Cultural Integration of the Mizrahim, by Ksenia Polouektova.} —22 May, 11:31 (CEU⁵, Fb.|FF)

✴ Five words: “Marie’s creamy Italian garlic dressing.” —22 May, 13:34 (Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)
• I was buying jar after jar of the blue cheese, but Met Food was out of it today, and I noticed the Italian garlic has only one gram of carbohydrates per serving. And green salads have so few Calories compared to almost any side dish or main dish that having a high-calorie dressing almost seems reasonable. —15:34

▴ 今日 Anyone else want to go? —24 May, 08:00 (PT on Fb.⁶, Fb.)

[After a friend commented on my pictures of architectural sculpture in Jackson Heights.]
▴ If you mean the ones in front of the house on 72^nd Street, I’m not sure. They could be flower bulbs, cabbages or even acorns. The ones in front of the building on 35^th Avenue are gargoyles. —24 May, 21:14 (Fb.)

▴ On my recent trip to the New York Botanical Garden, I had such fun with the word “rotunda.” —25 May, 13:32 (YT⁷, S.W.S. on Fb.)

▴ We can commandeer a table in a JH restaurant. النعمت has great albeit bland food. ڈیرہ has spicier food, but it’s a little loud. —25 May, 23:44 (Fb.)

▴ Elyaqim Mosheh Adam could have sworn the sign hanging on the bank said “Free chicken” instead of “Free checking.” “Always thinking of something to eat!” —26 May, 13:36 (Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

❖ If rendered in Katakana, the slogan of a theoretical airline, “The right way to fly,” would be identical to that of a theoretical cooking oil, “The light way to fry.” —26 May, 18:41 (Fb.|FF)

[After a friend commented on my picture of the Jackson Heights Food Group.]
▴ We all decided to go out for dessert, but by the time we made it to Lety’s, there were only three of us (Karen, Rachel and I). One by one or two by two, everybody else…deserted us. —29 May, 11:18 (Fb.)

§ After a friend of mine said he thought the Bukhari Jews were from someplace near Hungary, I wanted to promote the awareness that Buxoro (Bukhara بخارا) is in fact in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. —29 May, 12:31 (Wikipedia⁸, Fb.|FF)

[After a friend commented on my link.]
▴ There is certainly some rhetoric in that particular article, but not as much as your summary suggests. If you “have never read such hyperbole,” I suspect you’re immune to the outlandish hyperbole coming from the liberal/centrist homophile groups like LLDEF and HRC. Have you seen their gay marriage statements?! They conflate gay marriage with the very survival of our community and its interpersonal relationships. They state gay marriage is our ultimate issue to rationalize the obscene amounts of money being funneled into it when gays are still losing jobs, facing homelessness and drug addiction, and losing our lives. Hyperbole is not just the domain of the left and right. —29 May, 13:53 (LaGAI⁹, FF)
▴ If it is symbolic and not actual, bourgeois gays need to be told what they’re doing wrong. If they are defining their politics so individualistically as to marginalize huge segments of their own community, they should not make a movement out of it, least of all not one filled with so many lies that are needed to make it smell good. —14:19

◍ My likely destination tonight. Anyone want to come with? —30 May, 19:18 (DHD on Fb.¹⁰, Fb.)

▴ Elyaqim Mosheh Adam was nearly busted by the disco police. —31 May, 15:42 (Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

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1. Steve Rubel, “Friendfeed Is the Next Great Blogging Platform, Here’s Why…,” Micro Persuasion, 23 January 2009.
2. John R. Butler, “The Hand of the Almighty,” Surprise!, self-published, 2003, reproduced as the soundtrack of “God Will Fuck You Up!,” Turpis Haereticum channel of You Tube, 3 September 2007. Thanks to Lady Bunny, “God Will Fuck You Up!,” Lady Bunny Blog, 21 April 2009.
3. Performance by Avrom Tolmasov, Rustam Samarkandi and Yasha Barayev of the song “Sarı köynək,” as “Avram Tolmas, Rustam, Yasha Baraev,” MIKEPRODJ77 channel of YouTube, 11 February 2008.
4. Little Red Riding Rabbit, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1944, reproduced as “Little Red Riding Rabbit Video by Crystal MySpace Video,” gdrobert channel of YouTube, 2 March 2009. Thanks to J.O.’s posting on Facebook.
5. Ksenia Polouektova, Israeli Policies of Immigration and Immigrant Absorption: The Role of the Institutional System in the Social, Economic, and Cultural Integration of the Mizrahim (MA thesis, Jewish Studies Program, Central European University, 2001).
6. Event page for “Passport to Taiwan 2009,” New York, 24 May 2009, created by the group Passport to Taiwan, Facebook. The earliest recorded activity on the page was 20 May 2009. I wound up not attending the event.
7. Radio Free Vestibule, “Bulbous Bouffant,” Sketches Songs and Shoes, Borpo, 1994, reproduced as soundtrack of “Bulbous Bouffant—The Vestibules” with cartoon animation by Spencer James Parks, 2006, spejampar channel of YouTube, 11 September 2007. Thanks to S.W.S.’s posting on Facebook.
8. Wikipedia, s.v. “Bukhara,” 23 May 2009 revision of the article.
9. Kate Raphael and Deeg Gold, “Gay Marriage: Civil Right or Civil Wrong?” (a.k.a. “Gay Marriage Opiate of Masses”), Lesbians and Gays Against Intervention (LaGAI) Web site, April 2004. Reproduced as “Marriage Is Still the Opiate of the Queers,” UltraViolet, April–May 2004.
10. Event page for “Double Headed Disco,” New York, 30–31 May 2009, created by Double Headed Disco, Facebook. The earliest recorded activity on the page was 13 May 2009.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5hcFqQPtD.

The Importance of Protein in Evolution.

I was thinking about how human actions affected our evolution. Persons born with beneficial mutations or adaptations were more likely to survive and pass on those genes to successive generations. If it is in fact of genetic origin, a preference for the taste of cooked food seems to have protected certain humans from deadly microbes and hence led to the possession of those genes by a larger segment of the population.

Consequently, could a liking of the taste of meat have impacted human evolution irrevocably, whether positively or negatively? A little research seems to have borne out that eating meat has indeed had a dramatic effect on our evolution, although whether the taste itself contributed to it still eluded me. The increased amounts of protein had a beneficial effect on our brains, and our bodies also increased their ability to digest fats and cholesterol. This may seem like an endorsement of eating meat in modern times, but it is rather a recognition of the importance of diets that are high in protein and presumably low in sugar. While an omnivorous diet would meet those criteria, modern‐day vegetarians can consume large amounts of légumes, nuts and seeds as protein sources.

• Bernard Campbell, Human Evolution: An Introduction to Man’s Adaptations, 4^th ed. (Piscataway: Aldine Transaction, 1998), 277. “Meat is a concentrated form of food comparable to seeds, which have been exploited by the rodents and are no doubt a contributory factor to their great success. Meat contains a high percentage of protein and, when digested, will release a whole range of amino acids necessary for the synthesis of body tissues. … Meat also contains vitamins (particularly in the liver) that are not readily available in a vegetable diet. There is little doubt that the final stage in human evolution was correlated with the exploitation of the large terrestrial mammals. … Our immensely successful evolutionary radiation must be associated, then,…with an important change in emphasis from a diet that was mainly vegetarian to one that was increasingly omnivorous.”

• Anna Gosline, “Taste for Meat Made Humans Early Weaners,” New Scientist, 29 January 2005. “[T]he nutritional benefit of eating meat at a younger age would have helped children’s brains to grow and develop more quickly. Human brains grow three times quicker than those of chimpanzees.” The article also states however that eating meat may have made human lives shorter: “[A] branch of hominids began to eat animal carcasses—a risky activity that would have brought them into contact with other predators and significantly raised mortality rates for the hunters. This would have created a selection pressure to wean infants earlier and earlier, since those no longer dependent on breast milk would have been more likely to survive their mother’s death….”

• Hillary Mayell, “‘Evolving to Eat Mush’: How Meat Changed Our Bodies,” National Geographic News, 18 February 2005, 2. “When humans switched to meat-eating, they triggered a genetic change that enabled better processing of fats…. [A]s a species we are relatively immune to the harmful effects of fat and cholesterol. Compared to the great apes, we can handle a diet that’s high in fat and cholesterol, and the great apes cannot.”

Photo credit: Matt Lewkowicz (Horsefeathered).

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5kYw1atS3.

From Facebook Wall to Surface Web, 11–17 May 2009.

Compiled below are my writings on my own Facebook wall 11–17 May 2009, as well as anything else that might be construed as an example of micro-blogging.

▴ Elyaqim is a Brokeback “Mountain Jew.” —11 May, 03:38 (Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)▴ It’s a blend of “Brokeback Mountain” and “Mountain Jew,” and an attempt at gay Jewish humor. —07:21
▴ I recommend looking up “Mountain Jews” in Wikipedia for more information, but they are a particular group of Persian-speaking Jews of the Caucasus Mountains. I am partly of Mountain Jewish origin on my father’s mother’s side, but I am not averse to other Jews (from the Catskills, for example) adopting the name. —12:08
▴ You can always drink the beverage that rhymes with “Mountain Jew,” but personally I prefer Fresca. —17:32

✡ I am very willing and able to hug and be hugged today. —11 May, 12:59 (BJWU on Fb.¹, Fb.)

♫ A music video with an Indian theme performed in Russian by a Jewish singer (with a Persian name) featuring African-American–, Indian- and Near Eastern–influenced dance moves as well as a fantastic plot line. This video has it all. Did I mention shirtless men? —14 May, 09:36 (YT², Fb.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim dreamed he had a second apartment down the hallway, about which he’d apparently forgotten. Stepping into it and looking around, he determined it would be his “love den.” —15 May, 11:27 (Fb.|FF)

❂ If you’re interested, two ’blogs with pictures of attractive mens. —16 May, 13:38 (EMAWL³|FF, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim is excited to have seen the Acne Lions truck again today. It’s like spotting a celebrity. —16 May, 14:59 (EMAWL⁴|FF, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim is awake early on Sunday and can hear the birds twirping. —17 May, 05:30 (Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)▴ I heard the beads twirting when I wrote my status (and I still hear them now), and I’m sticking with that story.

▴ Elyaqim wonders why Google doesn’t pay him for coming up with such good suggestions for improving their services. —17 May, 14:41 (EMAWL⁵|FF, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

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1. Event page for “Hug-a-Sephardi Day,” 11 May 2009, created by the group Brown Jews of the World, Unite!, Facebook. The earliest recorded activity on the page was 29 January 2009.
2. “Индийское Диско,” music video, performed by Жасмин (Jasmin), [2005,] reproduced as “Жасмин/Zhasmin,” gucio21 channel of YouTube, 1 June 2007. The video credits И. Постоев and И[горь] Логинов with composing the music and Л. Постоева with writing the lyric. The recording includes phrases from Bappi Lahiri’s 1982 song “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy aaja” from the film Disco Dancer, which in turn is essentially a Hindi version of the 1980 song “You’re OK,” a.k.a. “T’es OK, t’es bath, t’es in,” by Jean Kluger and Daniel Vangarde, originally recorded by Ottawan.
3. Elyaqim Mosheh Adam, “My Kind of Objectification,” Elyaqim Mosheh Adam’s Web Log • רשומון אליקים משה אדם‎, 16 May 2009.
4. Elyaqim Mosheh Adam, “The Acne Lions Truck,” Elyaqim Mosheh Adam’s Web Log • רשומון אליקים משה אדם‎, 17 January 2009.
5. Elyaqim Mosheh Adam, “My Google Service Wish List,” Elyaqim Mosheh Adam’s Web Log • רשומון אליקים משה אדם‎, 17 May 2009.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5hKu1o2Mx.

From Facebook Wall to Surface Web, 1–10 May 2009.

 Compiled below are my writings on my own Facebook wall 1–10 May 2009, as well as anything else that might be construed as an example of micro-blogging.

▴ Elyaqim is willing to walk quite the distance for the right salad. —2 May, 01:53 (Fb.|FF|FF, Jk.|FF)▴ It’s a Jackson Heights situation comedy: The Trade Fair at 75^th Street usually doesn’t have the store-made prepared green salads I like (with red cabbage, bell pepper and shredded carrot), so I walk all the way over to the Trade Fair at 89^th Street. I am further encouraged by often bumping into interesting supporting cast members along the way. —2 May, 02:10

♐ “Carl Sagan on Astrology,” critical thinking about astrology combined with scenes of Manhattan in the late 1970s, from the PBS mini-series Cosmos, episode “The Harmony of the Worlds,” 12 October 1980. —2 May, 16:24 (YT¹, Fb.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim ate at a restaurant near a young woman who limits her male Facebook friends so they don’t see her pictures without hijab {حجاب}, and then a gay man who said he kissed his male friend because he was horny. “What are friends for?” (I agree.) Such is Jackson Heights life. —2 May, 22:23 (Fb.|FF|FF)

▴ Elyaqim is drooling over the new character blocks in Unicode 5.2, due in autumn, including ☥Egyptian hieroglyphs☥. —5 May, 12:28 (BS², Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

‎٭ Gays are organizing in Morocco! A nascent group called Kifkif (كيفكيف) planned a conference in Marrakech {مراكش} last month. I have been informed it did indeed take place: “The conference was held on the 15^th in Marrakech and a few brave souls gathered outside to lend their support. It was a much more sedate event then promised, but a huge first steep for gay rights here. That’s what I keep telling myself to remember.” —5 May, 21:17 (F24³, Fb.|FF)▴ New York City is the greatest city on earth, but Marrakech is like my second home. It’s beautiful and friendly. I have not been back in about five years, and the things that are happening there now would probably not have been possible then.—7 May, 00:18

▴ Elyaqim misses three people whom he admits he didn’t know very well, but of whom he was quite fond and who dropped him as Facebook friend. :`( —6 May, 23:53 (Fb.|FF|FF, Jk.|FF)▴ …Look at the emoticon and see how they made me so sad that I shed a grave accent from my colon. (I of course mean the typographical, not the anatomical, colon.) —7 May, 00:35
▴ …Different folks have accounts for different reasons. I’m sure some people feel overwhelmed, or even that their privacy is compromised, if they have too many Facebook friends. Having over 600 friends, I am nearly immune to occasionally being dropped by some people I barely know. When I come home from a party, my friend list will increase dramatically, but two of the three to whom I refer in this status update were “stars” of the respective parties at which I met them, people who really contributed to making a memorable time for me and with whom I certainly wanted to maintain contact. —7 May, 17:17

☤ This is outstanding news. My father and his mother were destroyed by Alzheimer’s, so maybe there’ll be a cure should I develop the illness. —7 May, 09:47 (BBCN⁴, Fb.|FF)

▴ Elyaqim notes that the Persian suffix “-stān” (ـستان), as in the names of so many countries and regions, comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root (*stā-) as the Yiddish word “ştetl” (שטעטל), a small Eastern European town with a large Jewish population. —7 May, 17:40 (Fb.|FF|FF)▴ The English “-stead” and “stand” came from the same root. —7 May, 17:57

▴ Elyaqim sat next to super-villain Firebrand (a.k.a. Gary Gilbert) at a Jackson Heights pizzeria last night. Firebrand’s fights with Iron Man in the 1970s and ’80s did not come up in conversation. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebrand_(Marvel_Comics). —8 May, 05:13 (Fb.|FF|FF)

⚘ It would be my first time back in the Bronx in over a year! —8 May, 08:12 (PGM on MU, Fb.)

▴ Elyaqim ordered food from Maharaja (ਮਹਾਰਾਜਾ) on 37^th Avenue, and the toothpick holder was labeled “Objects of domestic utility.” —8 May, 22:52 (SC⁵, Fb.|FF, Jk.|FF)

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 1. Carl Sagan, writer, “The Harmony of the Worlds,” episode of télévision series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, 12 October 1980, excerpt duplicated as “Carl Sagan on Astrology,” undercoverkptic channel of YouTube, 16 November 2006.
 2. Andrew West, “What’s New in Unicode 5.2 ?,” BabelStone, 27 April 2008.
 3. Samir Barkachi, “Morocco’s Gays Come out of the Shadows,” The Observers (France 24), 26 March 2009.
 4. “Trial Drugs ‘Reverse’ Alzheimer’s: US Scientists Say They Have Successfully Reversed the Effects of Alzheimer’s with Experimental Drugs,” BBC News, 6 May 2009.
 5. Anna Broadway [Christi Foist], “Objects of Domestic Utility,” Sexless in the City, 25 April 2005.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5h1BaTm4r.

From Facebook Wall to Surface Web, April 2009.

 Compiled below are my writings (excluding comments) on my own Facebook wall in April 2009, as well as anything else that might be construed as an example of micro-blogging.

▴ Brutal as it was, Saddam Hussein’s régime was at least secular. —1 April, 15:39 (UKGN, Fb.|FF)
▴ Elyaqim has never been there but thinks the view must be stunning if it’s called “the Eyeful Tower.” —1 April, 15:41. (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Elyaqim is greatly relieved the supermarket cashier on whom he has a crush had been on vacation rather than gone forever. Now bag my groceries! —3 April, 20:56 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ When religious people determine public mores, critical thinking goes out the window and gays die. Saddam Hussein’s régime was secular; then the US occupied ‘Iraq, and zealots gained control. —4 April, 23:23 (Reuters, Fb.|FF)
▴ After a rather intense argument among four gay men in a Jackson Heights restaurant last night, I offer this link as one of many that illustrate how the current Gay Marriage Machine steamrolls over and discriminates against all sorts of families that don’t fit the “nuclear” model. Nancy D. Polikoff has become one of my heroes. —6 April, 20:20 (LAT, Fb.|FF)
▴ “Six gay men confirmed killed in Iraq” in the past week alone. —7 April, 12:58 (GNZ, Fb.|FF)
▴ Elyaqim loved when his friend Glenn expressed pride in the borough of Queens by referring to one of our supermarkets’ selling “the bounty of the county.” —8 April, 14:10 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Elyaqim reminds all his friends to put blood on their doors tonight to avoid plague. Happy Pesaḥ to every-bloody! חג פסח שׂמח!‏ ‎—8 April, 19:02 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Passover song by the legendary Jo ‘Amar. —8 April, 20:19 (YT, Fb.|FF)
▴ A “Vigil of Remembrance and Solidarity” will occur tomorrow at noon at the UN Mission of ‘Iraq (iraqunmission.org), 14 East 79 Street in New York City, in protest of the anti-gay murders and arrests in Baghdad. —9 April, 18:39 (GWB, Fb.|FF)
▴ Elyaqim just returned home from a trans-folk concert (double entendre intended) in his neighborhood and particularly enjoyed the “dentures”/“oysters” rhyme, the drawing of the “impractical mermaid” and the puppet show that starred a platypus. Don’t you wish you had been there? —10 April, 21:42 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Elyaqim wishes that, in the spirit of sadism/masochism, he had been invited to a seder/massacre this Passover, but alas was not. —11 April, 19:37 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Elyaqim is appalled customers write on the wall of his local Japanese/ Chinese/ Thai restaurant, but one graffito does make for a good status update: “Girl you look good! Like turkey breast and Pepsi.” (If you don’t believe him, he’ll post the photograph.) —12 April, 18:02 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ Sounds like a nice Sunday afternoon, but I have a sneaky suspicion I have a schedule conflict. If only I could remember. —13 April, 22:57 (PGM, Fb.)
▴ Elyaqim went out Friday night in Astoria and met two great guys named Ken and Michael, and then went out Saturday afternoon in Elmhurst and met two great guys named Ken and Michael. —18 April, 18:37 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ I think I would prefer the horses do it than the traffic agents, but I admit it’s a tough call. —20 April, 00:50 (JHL|FF)
▴ I took gobs of pictures. See album number 1 and album number 2. (A Facebook account is not required to view the pictures.) —20 April, 04:43 (JHL|FF)
▴ How did I not know about this 2004 song sooner? Thanks to Avi for posting it. The title of the song (“Keep Your Jesus off My Penis”) reveals the lyric may be a little saucy for work. My favorite lines:
“So you’re screaming bloody murder ’bout the Taliban régime
Subjugating women and being too extreme
And basing legislation on some ancient holy book.
Does that sound a bit familiar? Here’s a mirror. Have a look!” —22 April, 19:44 (YT, Fb.|FF)
▴ What an odd autograph. “I LOVE CHILI! [Signed,] Phyllis Diller.” —23 April, 06:37 (TLL, Fb.|FF)
▴ Elyaqim shopped at the Queens Center Mall for the first time and enjoyed seeing the people far more than the merchandise in any store other than his destination. –24 April, 14:35 (Fb.|FF|FF)
▴ My closest friends know me as someone who doesn’t like children but who loves entertainment for children (so long as it was created by adults). I was still watching children’s télévision in the 1990s as this video shows. I miss Lynne Thigpen. —24 April, 14:48 (YT, Fb.|FF)
▴ Elyaqim heard his friends refer to “matzo pizza” and thought they were talking about the Peruvian city and tourist site. —24 April, 15:02 (Fb.|FF|FF, Jk.|FF)
▴ The musician Kip Attaway has a gay-themed song, “Mahu from Oahu.” (Working at Waikiki Wally’s and Lucky Cheng’s over three years, I learned what “mahu” means.) The song is not flattering, but not truly anti-gay either. (It also has some inaccuracies; it’s not likely a drag queen would use the men’s room.) What do you think? —26 April, 06:06 (K.A. on MS, Fb.|FF)
▴ “[Gays] have been forced to re-think the…notion of what a family is. ‘Through our success in creating different kinds of families, we have shown that groups of people can constitute a family without being heterosexual, biologically related, married, or functioning under a male head-of-household….’ [We] would be better off continuing to expand how family is defined ‘rather than confin[ing] ourselves to marriage.’” —27 April, 23:41 (Phœnix, Fb.|FF)

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5gtHLFYQi.

My Google Service Wish List.

 I have four wishes regarding the interaction of five Google services.

◘ One should be able to export items from Google Reader as they are (i.e., as rectangles with rounded corners) into Google Notebook. One would then be able to organize and arrange items in notebooks rather than having no other option for sharing them than their appearing in reverse chronological order among one’s shared items (or needing to be opened one by one to be added to notebooks). Google Notebook could then theoretically become an advanced version of Google Reader shared items.

◘ One should similarly be able to export items from Google Reader to Google Calendar. I subscribe to events listings and want to quickly and easily generate an item in Calendar for each event I plan to attend. As it is now, transferring information event by event from Reader to Calendar is quite tedious, and I usually do not bother doing it.

◘ Jaiku should be able to communicate better with Blogger, including being able to automatically generate articles on Blogger should a user desire. For example, one should be able to have all of one’s Jaiku posts for a day, week or month listed in an article on one’s Blogger Web log with links back to each individual Jaiku post.

◘ One should not need a Jaiku account to comment on Jaiku posts. The interface should be the same as on Blogger which has a pop-up menu to indicate with which identity one wishes to comment on an article. (The options currently are Google Account, LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, OpenID, Name/URL or Anonymous.)

 I also have a peeve about Blogger that is unrelated to its interaction with other Google services: When one publishes an article, one is then provided with links to view the blog in either the same or a new window. I would appreciate an additional link to the dedicated u.r.l. of that particular article, especially if I was updating an old one that would no longer be on the main page. As neither Google Notebook nor Jaiku are any longer in active development, I imagine most of these simple and straightforward ideas are nonetheless pipe dreams.

Graphic: LST.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5gqJM9mGd.

My Kind of Objectification.

 I recently discovered two ’blogs dedicated to the appreciation of male beauty from some of my favorite parts of the world.

❂ Briyanshu, “A white, American gay guy looking at Indian men (aka Briyanshu’s Bollywood Butt Blog),” dedicated to South Asian men.
❂ Chirayliq (Çıraylık, چىرايلىق) which is subtitled “Men of Central Asia” but really also includes West Asian, North Asian, Caucasian, South Asian, and even some East Asian men. “Chirayliq is the Uighur word for ‘handsome, pretty, beautiful, attractive’. This blog concerns itself with the handsomeness of Central Asian men, and not only. From the Black Sea to Kamchatka, from the Kara Sea to Himalaya, this is a gallery celebrating the rugged charm of the men from the steppes, mountains, deserts and taigas.”

A version of this article is preserved at webcitation.org/5gooyIF0D.

Gregarious Gregorian New Year.

Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.Johnny, Tatiana and J.P. rang in the new year Nowhere.
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New Year’s Eve 2008–09 was spent at “A Func­tion” at Dou­ble-Headed Dis­co, Nowhere (Goo­gle group, Face­book, MySpace, Yelp, Web log), 322 East Four­teenth Street, Man­hat­tan, with Garth, Charles שת, Mara מרה, İlker and a gag­gle of new friends. One of the new friends told me I was “meant for lov­ing” and kept try­ing to embrace me all night. Unfor­tu­nately, pay­ing atten­tion to me meant tak­ing his atten­tion away from his coat which was sto­len on such a bit­terly cold night. He should have checked it with Paul, the friendly cloak­room atten­dant. More pic­tures can be viewed in my Face­book photo album “New Year’s Eve 2008–09,” as well as in DHD’s photo album, “A Func­tion—New Year’s Eve.”

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Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.Quality control: İlker and J.P. tested the horns.
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Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.Paul, the friendly cloak­room atten­dant. Note the warn­ing on the wall: “Nowhere is not respon­si­ble for lost or sto­len items.”
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Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.A new year’s scandal! One can only assume the sign was supposed to say “coat check.”

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✴ Elyaqim wishes all his friends and acquain­tan­ces a heal­thy, peace­ful new year. May its days be pleas­ant ones, unlike our pres­ent ones. —1 January, 20:35

A ver­sion of this arti­cle is repro­duced at webcitation.org/5eTPhizPV, as well as on Face­book.

Chinese New Year in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Mott Street between Canal and Bayard streets. Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.

 I have been a little sick recently, so I wasn’t able to get to the Chinese new year festivities until around 15:00 when almost everything seemed to have finished. However, according to About.com’s article on the subject, “The parade is expected to conclude at 3:00 pm, at which time an outdoor cultural festival will take place on Bayard Street featuring more performances by musicians, dancers and martial artists.”¹ In other words, I had missed the parade but was right on time for the cultural festival, but yet I never found it. In retrospect, the festival may have been closer to Mulberry and Baxter streets, possibly at Columbus Park, but, with the exception of my walks to and from the subway station, I spent my time in Chinatown entirely on or east of Mott Street.

Mott Street between Canal and Bayard streets. Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.

 I did, however bump right into a lion dance troupe, that of 金獅團 Golden Lion Club², that I was able to follow around eastern Chinatown as they performed in front of various storefronts and collected their extortion donations from the management. The dancers would perform in front of businesses and even enter some of them. Most of the businesses were tiny, but others were not; the lions ascended the escalator into 金豐大酒樓 Jing Fong Restaurant, and the crowd of onlookers patiently waited on the street for them to finish dancing and then come back down and continue the tour.

De-escalating at 金豐大酒樓 Jing Fong Restaurant, 20 Elizabeth Street. Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.

 All my pictures of the day can be viewed in my Facebook photo albums “January 2009, part III” and “January 2009, part IV.” The route we took can be seen on the map I created.

In front of East Ocean, 53 Bayard Street. Photo: Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.

Notes

 1. Heather Cross, “Chinese Lunar New Year in New York City: 2009,” New York City Travel, About.com Web site, January 2009.
 2. There are also three Facebook groups devoted to the Golden Lion Club: Golden Lion Club [no. 1], GLC babyyy and Golden Lion Club [no. 2]. A private MySpace profile also exists with an accompanying video page.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5eHcH3KzK.

The Acne Lions Truck.

Photograph by Elyaqim Mosheh Adam.

On 8 October 2008, I used my broken-down, misbehaving camera to snap the above photograph of a truck parked in front of Apna Bazar Cash & Carry, 72-20 37^th Avenue, Jackson Heights, a market I curiously and unrelatedly mentioned in my last article. In bright sunlight, my camera tends to turn skies pink, and it also tends to make straight lines wavy near the edges of the images. (Note the awning.) The pretty graffiti on the truck said something rather unusual, “Acne Lions,” so I wondered if I might find better pictures of it online. My search was surprisingly fruitful, and I turned up six other pictures of it, spaced in time so the development of the different graffiti is somewhat demonstrated.

The second earliest was the picture above, embedded here with a link to the page on which I found it, taken by Robert K. Chin on East Broadway, Manhattan, on 2 November 2006 when some of the upper graffiti had not yet been painted.

I found all of the remaining five images on Flickr. There may be yet more pictures to be found, but I do not know like what the other side of the truck looks.

Photographs by (left to right, top to bottom) Nate Dorr, C-Monster, No. 3 Killer, Brendan Smith, Bodybuilding Liondancer.

Update, 8 January 2010: Indeed, I have turned up three more pictures of the truck. See “More of the Acne Lions Truck,” 7 January 2010.

• Versions of this article are reproduced at webcitation.org/5dtXsZHEW and webcitation.org/5md6igdFs and on Facebook.
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Ḥabîbî to mohabbat: Egyptian pop song to Bollywood filmī song.

 On Thursday, 13 March, I was in Apna Bazar Cash and Carry, a market here in Jackson Heights, and I was surprised to hear a Hindi/Urdu version of the 1996 Egyptian song “Nûru‐l‐ʻayin” (نور العين), composed by Nasser el-Mizdawi (ناصر المزداوي). The video of the recording by Amr Diab (عمرو دياب), with the original Arabic lyric by Ahmed Sheta (أحمد شتا), can be seen on YouTube here, here, here, here and elsewhere.

 The staff in the store were of no help identifying this later version for me even though they were playing it. A little research on the Internet revealed it was “Mohabbat hō nā jāyē,” a song from the 2001 Indian film Style. The Urdu/Hindi lyric, according to the Indian Movie Directory and Bollywoodlyrics.com, is by Abbas Tyrewala.

 The switch from Arabic to Urdu/Hindi was not only a change of language but of language family, from Afro-Asiatic to Indo-European, yet the first repeated word of the chorus manages to be from the same root in both. In the Arabic original, the chorus repeats “Ḥabîbî ḥabîbî ḥabîbî…” (حبيبي حبيبي حبيبي…‏), and in the Urdu/Hindi version, the chorus repeats “Mohabbat mohabbat mohabbat…” (محبت محبت محبت…‏), both of which come from the two-letter Semitic ḥ-b (حب، חב) root which refers to love. The Hebrew word for love, אהבה (ah^aḇâ), may come from the same root as well even though a hēʼ (ה، ه) is where the ḥêṯ (ח، ح) should be. According to Edward Horowitz, “Sounds made in the same part of the mouth or made in the same way, tend to change with one another” (How the Hebrew Language Grew, [New York: Jewish Education Committee Press, second printing 1961], 237, also available with Google Book Search). The ḥêṯ and hēʼ are both gutturals and prone to interchange. The example he gives is the Hebrew pair מחה (māḥâ, “wipe, rub”) and נמהה (nimhāh, “was worn out”) which are from the same root despite the ḥ/h exchange (246).

Versions of this article are reproduced at webcitation.org/5eUbMEWbi and 5eUcD08Sg.

U.S. Independence Day 2008

 I wrote on the GLYNY Again Reunion Board how I spent my Independence Day:

The fireworks were pretty blah this year. I viewed them from a rooftop party on the Lower East Side, but the windless, overcast weather meant the smoke from each burst stayed in its place and blocked the view of successive bursts. And it only lasted about twenty minutes with no spectacular finale. If the right-wing fanatics can blame gays for AIDS and the California earthquake because we supposedly incited God’s wrath, then I blame the U.S. government’s evil ways for inciting Mother Nature to remove the spectacle from the Independence Day festivities.
—Untitled post in thread “Happy 4^th of July Weekend,” The Official GLYNY Again Reunion Board, 5 July 2008

 Nonetheless, I had a great time. Thanks to Dr. Charles and APANY for the great party. I saw many old friends and met many new friends, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the Web log authors I met there: I Need You, Babe a.k.a. Greg, Richard and comedian Sean Graham: Leader of the Chucklenauts.

Update (9 July): My friend Andrew was also at a rooftop party on the Lower East Side, albeit a different one, and described the fireworks similarly:

it was amazing. we were seriously right under all the fireworks. all the car alarms on the street were going off from the loud noise. it was kool but the smoke from the fireworks wasnt clearing fast enough so it was alittle blocked. it still was amzing.
—Andrew Jonas, “And the Rockets Red Glare…,” Andrew MySpace Blog, 5 July 2008.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5kYviTskE.

Jewish roots of the song “Rich Girl.”

 I first noticed the 1993 recording “Rich Girl,” by British duo Louchie Lou & Michie One, when I heard it played at the Basement Bhangra parties I attended at the dance club S.O.B.’s in the late 1990s. I was immediately struck by the surprisingly Jewish elements of a West Indian dance hall record.

 The chorus, sung in an Oriental melisma, is to the tune of “If I Were a Rich Man” from the 1964 Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, composed by Jewish-American Jerry Bock. The lyric is changed but nonetheless patterned on the original lyric by (I assume) Jewish-American Sheldon Harnick which, according to Wikipedia, in turn was inspired by the 1902 Yiddish monologue “Ven ix bin Rotşild” (If I were Rothschild, װען איך בין ראָטשילד), written by Şolem Aleyxem (שלום עליכם). (The title of the Yiddish version of “If I Were a Rich Man” is “Ven ix bin a Rotşild” [If I were a Rothschild, װען איך בין אַ ראָטשילד], the extra word presumably added to fit the song’s meter.) What few other people seem to have noticed is that the additional “na na na” part is to the tune of “Hat-tiqwâ” (התקוה), the Israeli national anthem. (Gwen Stefani’s more popular cover version uses a different melody for the “na na na” part. Was that intentional based on the melody’s Zionist connection?)

 The only online acknowledgment I could find of the use of “Hat-tiqwâ” was James Lœffler, “Ethnic Sampling,” Nextbook: A New Read on Jewish Culture, 26 August 2005. Lœffler noted the borrowing of Jewish melodies “as part of an unlikely ode to social justice and community harmony.” Eric Schulmiller posted a comment on that article on 31 August refuting Lœffler’s interpretation: “…[T]he juxtaposition of the two most popularly recognizable Jewish melodies (outside of ‘Hava Nagilah’)…echoes the age-old antisemitic trope of the money-grubbing Jew as typified by the spoiled, materialistic Jewish American Princess (aka the ‘Rich Girl’).” Schulmiller’s accusations of anti-Semitism are unwarranted and unfounded. Louchie Lou & Michie One are a London group that was, again according to Wikipedia, exponents of a “rise of radio friendly reggae in Britain.” According to Michie One’s MySpace profile, the duo co-wrote “Rich Girl.” Listen to the recording: The performance contribution of Michie One, the black West Indian member, was toasting in a light West Indian créole. All the Jewish elements (the melisma and two Jewish melodies) were contributed by the other member, Louchie Lou, better known to her friends and family as Louise Gold. I have no direct documentation of her ethnic background, but the evidence suggests she is a British Jew rather than an anti-Semite.

 Perhaps my epiphany is common knowledge in Britain. For all I know, hundreds of magazine articles may have been published in the U.K. about how Louchie Lou & Michie One have a blend of Jewish and West Indian influences, but I never read any of them and I found none on the Web. I admittedly have not sought any print sources for information on the Jewish element of the group or the recording, instead relying solely on Internet sources. I would love citations of print sources that confirm or deny my suspicions about the group.

 On an unrelated, typically linguistic aspect of the record, Michie One’s toast curiously mixes verb tenses. The rich are perceived as singular, but the poor as plural: “Rich is getting richer, but the poor are getting sting.”

Update (11 June): “Rich Girl” (1993), by Louchie Lou & Michie One

Update (3 February 2009):
• “Rich Girl” (1993), by Louchie Lou & Michie One
• “Rich Girl” (1993), by Louchie Lou & Michie One

Versions of this article are reproduced at webcitation.org/5eJlAStJc and 5eJlkViv2, as well as on Facebook.

My friend Andrew was stabbed at Union Square.

 My thoughts keep returning to my friend Andrew who was mugged Thursday on the uptown 4-5-6 platform of Union Square station. He found himself in Brooklyn Hospital with a stab wound in his hip, a gash on his head and a broken pelvis. It’s particularly scary as I and many of my friends use that station frequently, and a particularly close friend uses that platform particularly often.

 Andrew is a fixture at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center’s Dance 208 series and can also be seen at numerous bear events and venues in New York City. (Although I first met him at Lucky Cheng’s through a mutual friend, I mostly know him from the Eagle and “Woof!” at View Bar.)

 (Andrew, I wish you the speediest possible recovery. החלמה מהירה ורפואה שלמה.‏)‎

 If you have not already done so, read the shocking story of the assault in Andrew’s own words.
• Andrew Jónás, “I’m a Statistic!,” Andrew MySpace Blog, 19 May 2008.
• Andrew Jónás, “Pain Is Not Even Close…,” Andrew MySpace Blog, 20 May 2008.

Update (21 May): I understand now that the title of this article is likely inaccurate. Andrew was assaulted at Union Square, and he was stabbed, but the police believe the actual stabbing occurred elsewhere. Also, he has published another article, this one about nightmares resulting from the attack: Andrew Jónás, “And Here We Go….Dreams and Stitches…,” Andrew MySpace Blog, 21 May 2008.

A version of this article is reproduced at webcitation.org/5eVG6nrtq, as well as on Facebook.

“The Mesopotamians,” by They Might Be Giants.

 This song from last year has been in my head and emitted by my computer speakers aplenty the past few days. I am very pleased that Sumerian and Akkadian names can be found in a popular song along with a reference to cuneiform. And yes, for the most part, Mesopotamia corresponds to modern Iraq (العراق).

Update (14 May): How unlike me to not cite my source! I had no idea this song existed until I read Justin Mansfield, “Another One for My ‘Ancient Themes’ Playlist,” The Mad Latinist’s Journal, 18 October 2007.

Jott’s error: “One drink with her to go necked(?).”

 Jott is funny. I recorded a message they interpreted to be “One drink with her to go necked(?).” I had actually said “Wondering whither to go next.”

Ḥāmēẓ vs. ḥummuṣ.

 Yes! Despite their appearing to be spelled identically and both referring to food, Hebrew חמץ (ḥāmēẓ, in Yiddish xomeʦ) unleavened bread, and Arabic حمص (ḥummuṣ) chickpeas are from two different roots. While it is true that the Hebrew letter צ (ṣāddî) corresponds to the Arabic letter ص (ṣâd), it also sometimes corresponds to the Arabic letter ض (ḍâd) which is the case here. חמץ comes from the ḥ-m-ḍ (חמץ׳، حمض) root meaning sour, and is thus cognate with the Arabic حامض (ḥâmiḍ) sour, حمض (ḥamḍ) “a bitter plant, sorrel” and حميض (ḥamîḍ) “tract of land abounding in bitter herbs.” (The quotes are from F. Steingass, A Learner’s Arabic-English Dictionary [Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1989]. Thanks also to John Wortabet and Harvey Porter, Hippocrene Standard Dictionary: Arabic-English English-Arabic [New York: Hippocrene Books, 2000].)

 Dave Curwin (DLC) suspected as much in his Web log article “chametz,” Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective, 12 April 2006. A comment on that article nearly a year later by Justin a.k.a. The Mad Latinist, 7 April 2007, confirms it. However, in his article “Chickpeas,” The Jewish Daily Forward, 21 October 2005, Philologos appears to be forcing a connection between ḥāmēẓ and ḥummuṣ where it doesn’t actually exist: “The reason for this, as you will know if you ever have left chickpeas or hummus paste in the refrigerator too long, is that both have a tendency to sour quickly.”

The 29th Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival.

Festival banner while Yosakoi Dance Project was performing. Photograph by William Eng (eggrollboy).

 I had a great time today at the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans’ 29^th Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza in Turtle Bay. Music, dance, cultural and political organizations, food and sexy men were in great abundance. I bumped into a number of friends including my neighbor and fellow GLYNY alumnus Glenn D. Magpantay who introduced me to a number of volunteers from Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY). Not only present but performing were Makalina and Virgil, my former co-workers at Waikiki Wally’s, together with the Lei Pasifika group. My other favorite performers of the day were DVL Dance Vietnam (who truly know what to do with hats), Yosakoi Dance Project, Caron Eule Dance (performing “The Crane Wife” featuring dancer Hasi as Kinzo) and Bollywood Axion. Kudos to Rainbow Yuen, Bibs Teh and the rest of CAPA for a smashing event, although the black ink on the covers of their programs was unstable, and both my copies have ugly smudges on them (as had also been on my fingers).

Media already online
• Photographs by William Eng (eggrollboy)
• Photographs by Ina Bixade
• Video by Ami (amilee2)