The Social Network features famous Jew Mark Zuckerberg being a pseudo-jerk as he invents Facebook.
The movie poses lots of important questions about the hollowness of modern times, the fragile nature of friendships in business, blah blah blah. The important thing is that Mark Zuckerberg is Jewish and there are two important Jewish-centric questions.
1.Is AEPi really that nerdy?
2.Is it true that there is an actual trend of Jewish men dating/marrying Asian women? "There's an algorithm for the connection between Jewish guys and Asian girls...They're hot, smart, not Jewish and can dance."
Last night, I saw Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work about the career of the groundbreaking comedian Joan Rivers, which reminded some JFSJ staff members of another documentary about a brilliant Jewish comedian who redefined comedy and television, Gertrude Berg. Berg was one of the first women to create, write, produce and star in a long-running hit" and if she wasn't the absolute first she did it better than those suckers, anyway.
So, question for the audience...why are Jewish women so damn funny? (And, "they are not inherently funny" or "that's a ridiculous generalization" are obviously not the answer to this question...)
If you're a social justice-minded Jew, are you concerned that although Jews make up only about 2% of the US population, with Elena Kagan's appointment, Jews will make up 1/3 of the Supreme Court?
If you're cool with that fact, is it because: she's Jewish and you're Jewish or because you think Jews are smarter/more fair than the general population or because you think Jews are morally superior to other white people?
Do your grandparents have the internet? Do they send you every Jewish themed forwarded chain letter that they receive no matter how unfunny/stupid/xenophobic?
1. Yesterday I went to a large demonstration at Trader Joes in Union Square for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), demanding Trader Joes to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked in their fields. So inspiring to go to a demo when you know there's precedent and power to actually make it happen.Trader Joes should agree now and move on, cause it's in the bag.
2. The first five people who showed up- Jews! Timely and concerned...two awesome qualitiies. Go Jews!
3.There were awesome musicians playing Son Jarocho...definitely a crowd pleaser. Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. Lots of Son Jarocho players seem to love the CIW and social justice. Here's a video of some CIW loving musicians based in Santa Ana that I've come to know through the CIW.
John Mayer is a famous musician. Here is one of his most popular romantic songs. Here’s his song about how everyone in "our generation" (whatever that means) are hopeless and waiting for someone else to do something. This song is literally an anti-anthem for any social change movement.
He’s also a known womanizer and “half” Jewish:
"PLAYBOY: Is your heritage Jewish?
MAYER: I’m half Jewish. People say, “Well, which side of your family is Jewish?” I say, “My dad’s.” And they always say it doesn’t count. But I will say I keep my pool at 92 degrees, so you do the math. I find myself relating to Judaism. One of my best friends is Jewish beyond all Jews—I went to my first Passover seder at his house—and I train in Krav Maga with a lot of Israelis." *this is from the newest Playboy magazine, but I'm not going to link to it.
Besides wishing that he wasn’t any percent Jewish, his response makes me think about my reaction when people tell me they only have one Jewish parent. I know someone whose grandmother was born Jewish, converted to Catholicism and raised his mother as Catholic. He has no connection to Jewish community or activities. Is he “more” Jewish than someone who has only a Jewish dad, but participates in many aspects of organized Jewish life? Even though John Mayer is gross, it sucks that he’s spent his whole life telling people he’s Jewish to have them correct him, even though he feels a connection to Judaism.
How many John Mayers are Jews pushing away? Would John Mayer be less of a jerk if Jews would have accepted him? How many free concerts could we (Jews) be getting right now, if we would have let him hang out like fifteen years ago?
Three weeks ago, I wrote about the Matzah Ball, the “revolutionary” Jewish singles party on Christmas Eve aka the sleaziest Jewish themed event I’ve ever been to. At the Matzah Ball, as I wrote, there was a table offering plastic surgery advice and coupons.
Yesterday, after I had finally got the grime of the event off of my skin, I got a call from the plastic surgery clinic that the organizers of the Matzah Ball had given my contact information to (WTF Matzah Ball organizers?) “Congratulations,” a cheery voice told me, “you didn’t win the drawing, but you were a runner up.” She offered me $500 off of any “cosmetic procedure”. When I told her I wasn’t interested, she offered it to any of my family members, as long as they called back within 24-hours. “This is special for you, because you attended the Matzah Ball.”
As disgusted as I am, I can’t say I’m surprised. Cosmetic surgery has been a not-very-secret secret of mainstream Jewish American culture for a few generations now. Two of my three grandmothers (yes, I said three) had nose jobs by the time they were 18. Grandma Esther got a nose job in a small town in Ohio in the 1930’s. Could that sound any more painful?
And by the time I was 12, Bubbe Debbie made it clear that she would pay for a nose job. By the time I was 18, I had to directly tell her to stop talking about my nose. I’d love to say my grandmothers or the Matzah Ball is an exception, but unfortunately they aren’t. Is looking "like a Jew" still such a bad thing?
I went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The term "coastie" is used all the time. People use it to refer to people from the East or West Coast of the US, but a lot of times people from the Midwest are also called Coasties. Coastie is code/another name for Jewish, though I'm not sure that everyone in Madison realizes they're talking in code when they say it. I think coasties are gilded ghetto Jewish women who never felt pressure to not be themselves- loud, cliquey, wealthy, dressed in designer clothes, sorority members with raspy cigarette voices. These Jews live in private dorms which are not exclusively but majority Jews.
The Coastie conversation, to me, is just a further extension of the complicated relationship that dominant society has had with Jews for all of history- we're insiders and outsiders, like the dominant group, but not quite and not ashamed of it. We create our own support networks and systems that help us thrive in the dominant society.
I never quite fit in with the Coastie scene and I would love if the anti-sweatshop, questioners of authority, pursuers of justice Jews were the primary group of Jews on campus that were making a splash. And maybe it's time for those who identify with that Judaism to redefine what it means to be a Coastie.
This is a music video that's raised a lot of controversy on campus lately and it's been called anti-Jewish.
I went with an unnamed co-worker to the Matzohball, the Jewish singles party that happens every Christmas Eve so Jews have something to do after they eat Chinese food. Their website calls the party "a holiday revolution." There were hundreds of people there. My review follows via text messags with my mother.
Mom cell: How was the 'ball'? Me: Eh sorta sleazy and desperate feeling Mom cell: Yuck Me: And overpriced and there was a plastic surgery info booth Mom cell: R u kidding? Me: I wish I was Mom cell: Oy
