How Dare You Sing For Co-Existence?

Last week I was like, "awww, that's heart warming." I'm a sucker for feel-good stories, especially when it seems there's only chaos and bullshit happening in the world. So when I read this article, I thought that maybe, on some small scale, it's possible to change things, affect some people, spark a little compassion and mutual understanding amidst the unsolvable riddle that is the "Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" or the "Jewish-Arab Conflict," or whatever you want to call it. One major issue I have with the current state of affairs is the obvious indoctrination of children who grow up in the West Bank and in Gaza (and throughout the Arab/Muslim world). We've all heard the stories about the crazy textbooks that teach children to count based on killing Jews and which constantly promote continued "resistance" and the eventual creation of a Palestinian state that encompasses all of modern-day Israel. And fine, we look at everything with a skeptical eye, and despite the hateful things anti-West, anti-Semitic things they show on TV in that part of the world (you can watch a few clips from memritv.org to get an idea of what it looks like), we still wonder about how much hate incitement and brainwashing and indoctrination actually happens.

Well this adds a little peg to the "I told you so" pile. A bunch of these kids went from Jenin to play for a group of holocaust survivors and here I am thinking it's really nice and sweet and an amazing show of humanity, and what happens less than a week later? You get this - the total condemning of the concert and the "banning" of the Israeli Arab woman who planned it from entering Jenin. Of course I can understand this response of a people who call the Holocaust a "political issue" and who said that the participation of the children was a "dangerous matter" because it was directed against the cultural and national identity of the Palestinians and because it might "impact the national culture of the young generation and cast doubt about the heroism and resistance of the residents of the camp during the Israeli invasion in April 2002." Yeah, we wouldn't want to create any doubt in the minds of children about these "heroes" now would we.

The thing that scares the leaders in Jenin and in the Palestinian Authority about something like this is precisely the idea that doing things like this might, just might, help contribute to a "normalization" of relations with Israel, something no leader on the Palestinian side really wants because that might mean a true two-state solution where Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace rather than the continuing plan of having Israel disappear altogether. Think about it - you undermine the refugee camp system, you undermine the root hatred that Palestinians have for Israelis, and you undermine the grand objective of removing the "Zionist epidemic," of destroying Israel, of creating a Palestine that stretches from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. The elements of moderation and of peace who would see a true two-state solution and a normalization of relations between Israel and a future Palestine, elements that include women like Wafa Younis, the conductor of the orchestra, are shunned and silenced in favor of those who would prefer to continue the 60+ year status quo of "resistance" and hatred. Maybe people like living for generations in a refugee camp system, in a bubble, I don't know. Maybe it creates a sense of worth and purpose that might not otherwise be found in the "boredom" of peaceful co-existence. This is not to lay full blame on Palestinians or on Arab leaders for all that has not come about in the last 60+ years, but only to highlight a simple little event that, at least for me, underlines the entire problem - you can't have peace if you don't have a partner who's interested in peace.

That's also why on some level, I can agree with at least some of Netanyahu's direction even while I totally shun any racist policy that might have, in the past, been suggested by some of the members of the coalition that is emerging to run the government. The parts that I like recognize that there is no current partner for peace with the Palestinians, that Hamas is useless and that the PA is corrupt and weak and unrepresentative of the Palestinians and just as hateful towards Jews and Israel as the most extreme elements, and that as a result we must focus first on the building of Palestinian civic society, an infrastructure, an economy that can support its own people and bring them some prosperity and investment in the world outside of the refugee camps, and of an educational system that does not direct Palestine's children towards a culture of death and martyrdom. Maybe then a partner for peace may emerge, maybe then people can get serious about compromising on true borders that involve a little less of some and a little more of something else than they might have originally liked or wanted.

Monologues in Sarasota

So here I am, sitting in the "green" room (which is something I don't get because they're almost never green and I know I've been meaning to look it up but I still haven't so the name continues to not make sense to me) of a theater in Sarasota, Florida. I'm out here with my show "Monologues" performing for the community. Can you believe? We came out for a one-night stay so we could do the performance tonight and then we're back in town tomorrow. I feel like such a jet setter.

I have to say, this group of people I do the show with are an amazing bunch. I was the first to go, so I have the good fortune of being able to sit back here and BS with you guys while I hear my fellow Monologuers doing their pieces. This is a big deal for us, being able to travel like this, bring the show to new people who wouldn't otherwise see it. We have high hopes for the direction of this thing. I mean, already, we went from a small, 3-show open in the LES back in November 2007 and now we've got a consistent run on the UWS and some travel opportunities. Next on the agenda are two more NYC shows on March 31 and April 1, followed by a trip down to Miami for two shows at the end of April, back to NYC for two more shows on April 30 and May 1, and then to Chicago for one show on May 7th.

So, this is where I say "if you haven't seen it, you gotta come out!" You'll forgive me this cheesy post saturated with self-promotion but I'm in Monologues mode because of where I am and what's going on around me. It's not an exaggeration for me to say that this is, hands down, the single most rewarding thing I've done in the last 1-1.5 years. And if you know me, you know how ridiculously hard it is for me to describe something like that. I think that comes from my emotionally detached Aquarian nature, at least that's what the horoscopes tell me. In any case, see the show, tell your friends, make love not war.

Blogging From The Berry

I figured that since I've been unable to find time to blog from home or whenever I'm in front of a computer, I might as well try blogging from the road. The "road" in this case is while sitting on the bench outside of my favorite coffee shop in the West Village (a coffee shop and bench that was featured in the only song I ever wrote in my life, a collaboration with the best guitar player I know - Carlos). Gotta tell ya - it's really freaking nice to be out of work by 4pm on Fridays, coffee in hand, weekend to look forward to. I deserve it though, because I have been a work horse lately, so this is my little respite.

Today, since I'm writing all this on my Blackberry, I want to discuss Blackberries for a minute (or "BB"s as I'm going to call them throughout so as to save my poor thumbs). Damn it's getting cold out here; it was so nice a second ago! Anyway, I've had one since the firm days, so like 2.5 years now, and its gotten to the point where I couldn't imagine how much more complicated life would be without one. I just think of all those emails I'm able to deal with at random times so that when I come into work, I'm not swamped by everything I wasn't able to take care of. Yeah, that's right, I rather be able to do stuff on my own time rather than just when I'm in the office. The only problem is that the other side of the equation isn't common yet - a less office-centric workplace. If I'm able to deal with so much after work and during my weekend and from my own computer, then there should be a corresponding decentralization of work so that I'm able to work from wherever and whenever I'm most efficient and only actually show up to an office for necessary meetings and to touch base with people. I'm thinking the new future, coming shortly I hope, will feature an expectation of only 20 hours in-office time with the remaining 20+ hours of full-time work being reserved for you to accomplish as you see fit. I mean, so long as you get your stuff done, why should it matter how or when or where you do it? That's what always bothered me about the firm - face time. They'll tell you "oh no, we dont care about that," but that's a big lie. True, face-time is a lot less important these days, and limited face time is necessary for the feeling of corporate unity, but the extent to which it is still demanded these days is a little behind the times and the direction of technology. If I'm most efficient working at 1pm from my bed, then why deny me that efficiency? I'm telling you guys, we need to get over this office thing.

That said, there's something scary about the blurring of personal and worklife that is happening. I mean, I watch myself on my BB and I realice I'm kind of addicted. I check my email or the news whenever I'm bored or sense a lull in whatever ectivity I'm involved in. I'm addicted to dealing with things immediately. I walk down the freaking street holding the thing up in front of me so I can read/type while moving. My peripheral vision picks up on the person directly in front of me and their movements guide my own.

It's when I'm not behaving in this way that I notice how damaging it is to society. I'm on the subway and everyone's head is bowed as they type away or play with their iphone. No one notices anyone else anymore. No one notices anything going on around them. I thought people stuck to their little bubble before because New Yorkers by nature are skeptical of others and suspicious of interacting with strangers, but this is a whole new level of reclusiveness. Everyone sits in their little virtual cocoons while the world spins around them. Even right now, as write this from the bench, who knows how many things I've missed out on? A funny looking kid I could have laughed at or a dog in a mini-wheelchair or a skateboarder falling on his ass while attempting a trick. Just thinking about it makes me regret sitting on this thing for so long.

Additional note because I just have to mention this - the dude next to me on the bench (playing with his iphone mind you) totally farted. I think it was one of those "it's ok, I'm outside and it's windy, so no one will know" farts, but no, the fumes totally hit me just now.

Yeah OK so I'm kind of turned off from continuing and I think I said everything I wanted to say, so I'll sign off for now. Enjoy your weekends and don't fart next to other people even if you're outside.

On a Cold Vermont Afternoon

Over a year ago I was walking around in Woodstock, Vermont, slowly recovering from the shock of discovering a town named "Woodstock" that existed in a place other than New York and was actually less hippy and more cool than the "original" namesake. We had just popped out from a shee-shee chocolataire place and had finished exploring the graphic novels in the independent bookstore when we decided to make a little stop at the local mom-and-pop grocery store. Amidst the hanging salamis and Vermont-jarred preserves, a friend of mine made happened across a distinguished gentleman with white hair who had a familiar air about him.

"I know that guy," he whispered to me, all undercover-like, making sideways glances at the guy who was now speaking with an older woman we assumed was his wife, as they considered cakes and muffins and croissants.

I looked towards him, I stared actually, because I assumed his advanced years would prevent him from noticing a gawker. It was the kind of move my brother would have yelled at me for, furrowing his brow in anger and saying something like "what the hell!? I'm never telling you anything again!" But I was right, and he didn't notice me, so I continued the unabashed observation.

Who was this mysterious man with the aristocratic air? I too sensed that I knew him from somewhere.

"He's in movies," my friend said, "he's a character actor. What the heck's his name?"

My friend left to walk around the tiny store, to grab another angle, to have a better look. Each time he repositioned himself he would glance up momentarily, continuing with the sneaky vibe that was really just making him more obvious than he would have otherwise been. But still, no luck.

"I can't stand this," he told me as we left the character actor back at the store and proceeded towards the car because the 2-hour parking allotment was about to run out, "I have to remember who he is."

And so for months, for over a year, it was a running joke. Sometimes I'd randomly ask my friend, "so did you figure out who that guy in Vermont was?" He'd always toss me a look of pure disappointment; clearly this was something he thought a lot about, maybe even something that kept him up at nights. I wondered about the dark circles under his eyes.

All of this was the status quo until, that is, last week, when out of the blue, and without prompting, I got an email from him titled - "The actor we saw in Vermont." The rest of the email consisted of just a name and two simple links:

Robert Vaughn - http://serialy.mirekholy.net/data/hustle/wallpapery/robert_vaughn.jpg

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001816/

Thank you Robert Vaughn for bringing us to the brink of madness.