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mariacallous · 6 months

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(New York Jewish Week) — Throughout his nearly 50 years living in Forest Hills, Queens, Gavriel Davidov was the unofficial mayor of the borough’s Bukharian Jewish community. He was widely known a peacekeeper, and the first person someone could turn to for help.

The owner of Gavriel Davidov Jewelry, a fine jeweler in Manhattan’s Diamond District on 47th Street, Davidov was among the first members of the Bukharian community — mostly Russian-speakers from Central Asia — to resettle in New York City. Seeking to escape Soviet restrictions on religious Jewish life and expression, Davidov, his wife Zoya and their four daughters — Ninel, Susan, Stella and Zhanna — immigrated from Tajikistan to New York in 1976.

By the time Davidov died in April 2020 at 85, the number of Bukharian Jews in New York had grown to over 50,000 people. And many of them had Davidov to thank for the strength of their community: Over the course of his life in the United States, he helped establish dozens of yeshivas, synagogues and community centers in Forest Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Last month, Davidov’s dedication to the Bukharian community — and his legacy of humility, leadership and honesty — was honored by the City of New York with the co-naming of the corner of 64th Road and 108th Street, near the epicenter of Bukharian life in New York, as Gavriel Davidov Corner.

“He was the patriarch of our family and he was a pillar in the community,” Gabriella Kaplan, one of Davidov’s nine grandchildren, told the New York Jewish Week in a recent phone interview. “Whenever I’d walk down the street with him, everyone was his very best friend. You couldn’t get two feet because everyone had to stop him to say hello. It was so cool to see how much respect he had in the community and how much everyone loved him.”

“He is finally getting the recognition that he deserved,” said Kaplan, 28, who was one of about 10 people who spoke at the unveiling ceremony on Oct. 22.

According to Manashe Khaimov, an adjunct professor at Queens College specializing in Bukharian Jewish history and the founder of the Sephardic American Mizrahi Initiative, the city’s recognition of Davidov is a major step in acknowledging and celebrating Bukharian life in the United States. “It leaves our footprint on the history of New York,” he said.

“For the Bukharian youth and for the Bukharian people as a community, this is a big deal,” he added. “Living in Forest Hills, walking down the street in Forest Hills, to have a street named after a Bukharian person is an empowering moment.”

For Davidov’s family, which also includes 11 great-grandchildren, the ceremony provided a bit of much-needed closure. Davidov died just as COVID-19 took hold in New York City and last month’s ceremony, said Kaplan, was “a celebration of his life that we didn’t necessarily get to have in the way that we should have when he passed.”

A prominent lawyer in Tajikistan, Davidov arrived with his family in the U.S. via Vienna and Israel. The family settled in a two-bedroom apartment in Forest Hills — the same apartment Davidov inhabited for the rest of his life.

According to his daughter Susan Davidov Hod, they were the tenth Bukharian family to make their home in the neighborhood, which is now home to thousands of Bukharian Jews and dozens of synagogues.

Upon arriving in New York, despite being well-educated and fairly well-off in Tajikistan, Davidov found work as a taxi driver, a job he held for three years to support his family while learning English. According to favorite story passed down by the family, Davidov picked up a man from JFK Airport and told the passenger in broken English about his journey to the United States and his four girls at home. At the end of the day, he was cleaning out his car and realized the man had left his suitcase in the cab.

“We opened it up — it was full of cash,” Hod recalled. Her father insisted he had to return it.

Hod found a business card in the suitcase and they called the passenger. “My father didn’t speak English very well, so I talked,” Hod said. “My father drove back to him the next morning and gave him the full case. A week later, we got four or five boxes of clothing because the man knew that he had four daughters. He sent us the most fashionable clothes at the time.”

This type of honesty was typical of her father, Hod said, who was 18 when he opened his jewelry business in 1980 and she started working with him — an experience she describes as “amazing.”

Hod recalled how her father would help others get started in the jewelry business, sometimes signing on as a guarantor for loans. “People still owe him a lot of money,” she said. “But he never chased that. Not that he was a millionaire, believe me. But his heart was of gold.”

Davidov also quietly worked throughout his life to boost the Bukharian community, helping to establish two Orthodox synagogues, the Bukharian Jewish Community Center and Beth Gavriel Synagogue, as well as multiple yeshivas in the neighborhood.

“He planted the seeds for 35 Bukharian synagogues in New York City and united thousands of congregants,” said City Council member Lynn Schulman, who represents Forest Hills and its environs and who sponsored the legislation to co-name the street. “As a leader in the Bukharian community, Gavriel always gave of himself, never asking for anything in return. He has left an indelible mark in Forest Hills and throughout our city.”

“He was really the person that so many people in the Bukharian community came to. He was very quiet about it. He wasn’t public. He wasn’t looking for name recognition. But helped so many people that were new to the Bukharian community and Queens, whether they needed money or had a family emergency,” said Assembly Member David Weprin, who knew Davidov personally. “He was the person that people said: Go see Gavriel Davidov. He will help you.”

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totallyhussein-blog · 5 months

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The lasting legacies of Iraqi Jewish traditions

The Baghdadi Jewish community in India may only be around 50 strong today, as documented by the Jewish Women’s Archive, but the larger diaspora is holding on to their history, as Barry Rodgers describes in The Hindu.

“My community [also called Mizrahi Jews, as they are from the Middle East and North Africa] embodies many diverse identities and has made significant contributions within India, despite often being overlooked in discussions,” says Ciara Shalome, 25, a London-based content creator.

She and a few others in the U.K. are doing their bit to chronicle their culture, especially through food.

Shalome has been documenting the lived history of the community — most of whom called Bombay and Calcutta home — through her TikTok channel Chaidentity (and more recently, on Instagram).

When she first started sharing content in 2022, she had noticed a recurring theme: an abundance of material related to Jewish culture, but with a focus on Ashkenazi Jews.

“I couldn’t help but see the glaring absence of representation for Mizrahi Jews. This realisation struck me particularly when I came across a video by an Ashkenazi content creator, where various individuals were sharing their favourite dishes.

As I awaited the inclusion of voices from the Mizrahi, I was met with absence.” So, she took up the challenge to bridge the divide.

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sammizrahi · 12 days

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#Sam Mizrahi

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bisluthq · 2 months

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Lebanese anon here, totally agree with you and wanted to chime in to say that Nasser’s probably biggest contribution was just that he inspired the Arab people. Like he definitely created a template that caused a lot of damage but my parents are of the Nasser generation kinda and his biggest legacy to the average person was just encouraging Arab culture to develop and grow with education, art, music, he was a devout Muslim but anti-Islamist and advocated a mostly secular society. He sold a dream to the ordinary people and the 67 war was basically like the Middle East’s 9/11, the dream died and everything changed. That’s when the Islamist groups started to rise in power and we saw these extremely conservative forms of Islam become widespread whereas before they’d been more niche. I really appreciate your discussion and knowledge of this btw!!!

I loved your contributions too and I love that we can have these conversations openly and freely and shit! I know I’ve had them irl with people who are from the MENA region and I always just… learn because I’m NOT Israeli and I’m an Ashkenazi Jew with some Sephardim (southern Europe) mixed in. However, I do have family in Israel (many of whom fled Soviet antisemitic persecution and then this cousin recently who tried to not see combat which like… lol idk sometimes the universe has a plan sorry sucks for that kid tho). I also have family and friends that are married to Mizrahis and as I say like idk where people want them to go? Again, not defending Bibi’s government at all but where must those people go?

tl;dr I’ve agreed with everything you’ve said because it’s been extremely historically accurate and like I am glad I grew the balls to have this conversation on the blog lol.

ps my parents went on honeymoon to Lebanon and Iran and their marriage ended badly but they still say it was an amazing trip lol.

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undermilkwood-sims · 6 years

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Second generation. I panicked as Simon was ageing up into elder status, remembering that I hadn’t taken any pictures of him, so here he is on the left, literally in the middle of ageing up.

His much prettier wife Mika on the right and bottom. They met in university, which is such a horrific grind that I’m never doing it again. Idk what that town’s problem is (the bikes?) but it runs like frozen molasses on my computer. Simon founded the hospital and became a doctor, and Mika is a successful science-fiction author who founded the bookstore, which is why I gave her a giant amber necklace. Writers and substitute teachers wear those.

Their house is all white tile because in the beginning I was (a) lazy about building and made every room look the same, (b) pretending it was a lab experiment to raise children in a cruel, clinical, antiseptic environment. Then I got bored with that, so a regular house will be seen in future pictures.

Simon is dead now, Mika lives on in her old age. They have two kids, Levi and Devorah, who are both arty hippies.

#mizrahi legacy #I loved ts2 university but good jesus god #better pictures to come I promise

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womenfrommars · 3 years

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Debunking myths about Jewish history

1. ‘’Ashkenazi Jews are white Europeans’’

Let’s start with the claim that’s been propagated the most on the Internet. The claim is that some ethnic Jews are indeed Middle-Eastern (e.g. Sephardi and Mizrahi), but that the Ashkenazi Jews specifically are (white) Europeans. This claim simply isn’t supported by scientific evidence.

The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring nonJewish communities during and after the Diaspora.

(...)

The m values based on haplotypes Med and 1L were ~13% ± 10%, suggesting a rather small European contribution to the Ashkenazi paternal gene pool. When all haplotypes were included in the analysis, m increased to 23% ± 7%. This value was similar to the estimated Italian contribution to the Roman Jewish paternal gene pool. (Hammer et al. 2000)

About 80 Sephardim, 80 Ashkenazim and 100 Czechoslovaks were examined for the Yspecific RFLPs revealed by the probes p12f2 and p40a,f on TaqI DNA digests. The aim of the study was to investigate the origin of the Ashkenazi gene pool through the analysis of markers which, having an exclusively holoandric transmission, are useful to estimate paternal gene flow. The comparison of the two groups of Jews with each other and with Czechoslovaks (which have been taken as a representative source of foreign Y-chromosomes for Ashkenazim) shows a great similarity between Sephardim and Ashkenazim who are very different from Czechoslovaks. On the other hand both groups of Jews appear to be closely related to Lebanese. A preliminary evaluation suggests that the contribution of foreign males to the Ashkenazi gene pool has been very low (1 % or less per generation). (Benerecetti et al. 1993)

A sample of 526 Y chromosomes representing six Middle Eastern populations (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Kurdish Jews from Israel; Muslim Kurds; Muslim Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Authority Area; and Bedouin from the Negev) was analyzed for 13 binary polymorphisms and six microsatellite loci. The investigation of the genetic relationship among three Jewish communities revealed that Kurdish and Sephardic Jews were indistinguishable from one another, whereas both differed slightly, yet significantly, from Ashkenazi Jews. The differences among Ashkenazim may be a result of low-level gene flow from European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation. (Nebel et al. 2001)

Here, genome-wide analysis of seven Jewish groups (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek, and Ashkenazi) and comparison with non-Jewish groups demonstrated distinctive Jewish population clusters, each with shared Middle Eastern ancestry, proximity to contemporary Middle Eastern populations, and variable degrees of European and North African admixture. Two major groups were identified by principal component, phylogenetic, and identity by descent (IBD) analysis: Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews. The IBD segment sharing and the proximity of European Jews to each other and to southern European populations suggested similar origins for European Jewry and refuted large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry. Rapid decay of IBD in Ashkenazi Jewish genomes was consistent with a severe bottleneck followed by large expansion, such as occurred with the so-called demographic miracle of population expansion from 50,000 people at the beginning of the 15th century to 5,000,000 people at the beginning of the 19th century. Thus, this study demonstrates that European/Syrian and Middle Eastern Jews represent a series of geographical isolates or clusters woven together by shared IBD genetic threads. (Atzmon et al. 2010)

2. '’Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of the Khazars’’

Another popular idea on the Internet, which is also associated with the alt-right, is that Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of the Khazar people, from the Khazar empire (roughly 600-1000). This culture completely died out and there are no direct descendants, so genetic testing is a bit difficult.

However, there still has been done genetic testing that confirms this hypothesis to be false.

Employing a variety of standard techniques for the analysis of population-genetic structure, we find that Ashkenazi Jews share the greatest genetic ancestry with other Jewish populations, and among non-Jewish populations, with groups from Europe and the Middle East. No particular similarity of Ashkenazi Jews with populations from the Caucasus is evident, particularly with the populations that most closely represent the Khazar region. Thus, analysis of Ashkenazi Jews together with a large sample from the region of the Khazar Khaganate corroborates the earlier results that Ashkenazi Jews derive their ancestry primarily from populations of the Middle East and Europe, that they possess considerable shared ancestry with other Jewish populations, and that there is no indication of a significant genetic contribution either from within or from north of the Caucasus region. (Behar et al. 2013)

However, if the R-M17 chromosomes in Ashkenazi Jews do indeed represent the vestiges of the mysterious Khazars then, according to our data, this contribution was limited to either a single founder or a few closely related men, and does not exceed ∼12% of the present-day Ashkenazim. (Nebel et al. 2005)

3. '’Palestinians are indigenous to the land of Israel, so the Jews can’t be indigenous’’

First off, it has been established that Jews and Palestinians share the same ancestry:

Archaeologic and genetic data support that both Jews and Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites, who extensively mixed with Egyptians, Mesopotamian and Anatolian peoples in ancient times. Thus, Palestinian-Jewish rivalry is based in cultural and religious, but not in genetic, differences. (Arnaiz-Villena et al. 2001)

If Palestinians are considered native, then so should Jews, since both descend from the ancient Canaanites.

Furthermore, the Hebrew Bible states that Philistines (’’Palestinians’’) came from Caphtor, which has been identified as modern-day Crete, an island that is part of Greece (see also Finkelstein 2002). Other contestants for Caphtor include Cyprus and Cilicia (modern-day Turkey).

Archeological evidence also supports this theory:

Modern archaeologists agree that the Philistines were different from their neighbors: Their arrival on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in the early 12th century B.C. is marked by pottery with close parallels to the ancient Greek world, the use of an Aegean—instead of a Semitic—script, and the consumption of pork. (National Geographic)

This was more recently confirmed by DNA evidence:

Now, a study published today in the journal Science Advances, prompted by the unprecedented 2016 discovery of a cemetery at the ancient Philistine city of Ashkelon on the southern coast of Israel, provides an intriguing look into the genetic origins and legacy of the Philistines. The research appears to support their foreign origin, but reveals that the reviled outsiders were soon marrying into the local populations. (...) The four early Iron Age DNA samples, all from infants buried beneath the floors of Philistine houses, include proportionally more “additional European ancestry” in their genetic signatures (roughly 14%) than in the pre-Philistine Bronze Age samples (2% to 9%), according to the researchers. While the origins of this additional “European ancestry” are not conclusive, the most plausible models point to Greece, Crete, Sardinia, and the Iberian peninsula. (Idem)

Now, this doesn’t mean that modern-day Palestinians are mostly European, as the research also found that the Philistines were mixing with the local populations. This also explains why modern-day Jews and modern-day Palestinians are genetically very similar (see above). It is highly unlikely that modern-day Palestinians are the direct descendants of the ancient Philistines.

However, the name ‘’Palestine’’ is derived from ‘’Philistia’’:

The first records of the Philistines are inscriptions and reliefs in the mortuary temple of Ramses III at Madinat Habu, where they appear under the name prst, as one of the Sea Peoples that invaded Egypt about 1190 BCE after ravaging Anatolia, Cyprus, and Syria. After being repulsed by the Egyptians, they settled—possibly with Egypt’s permission—on the coastal plain of Palestine from Joppa (modern Tel Aviv–Yafo) southward to Gaza. The area contained the five cities (the Pentapolis) of the Philistine confederacy (Gaza, Ashkelon [Ascalon], Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron) and was known as Philistia, or the Land of the Philistines. It was from this designation that the whole of the country was later called Palestine by the Greeks. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Modern-day Palestinians are the descendants of local populations who converted to Islam due to Islamic conquest. Likewise, Jews are the descendants of local populations who left the country. Despite this, both groups are genetically related to each other. This is because Jews have been a relatively isolated group of people, since the religion of Judaism doesn’t permit interfaith marriage (unless a non-Jew converts into the faith). In other words: the fact that the Palestinians may be indigenous to the land of Israel doesn’t negate the fact that the Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel.

Our findings corroborate previous studies that suggested a common origin for Jewish and non-Jewish populations living in the Middle East (Santachiara-Benerecetti et al. 1993; Peretz et al. 1997; Hammer et al. 2000).

(...)

According to historical records part, or perhaps the majority, of the Moslem Arabs in this country descended from local inhabitants, mainly Christians and Jews, who had converted after the Islamic conquest in the seventh century AD (Shaban 1971; Mc Graw Donner 1981). These local inhabitants, in turn, were descendants of the core population that had lived in the area for several centuries, some even since prehistorical times (Gil 1992). On the other hand, the ancestors of the great majority of present-day Jews lived outside this region for almost two millennia. Thus, our findings are in good agreement with historical evidence and suggest genetic continuity in both populations despite their long separation and the wide geographic dispersal of Jews. (Nebel et al. 2000)

4. ‘’Well, the Palestinians were there first’’

As discussed before, the ancient Philistines from the book of Deuteronomy are said to have immigrated from Caphtor, which has been identified as island in southern Europe. The ancient Philistines have no direct descendants because they mixed with local populations. The ancient Philistines are also mentioned in the book of Genesis, which mentions they came from Egypt. According to rabbinic sources, this refers to a different people from the Philistines mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy. As discussed before, modern-day Palestinians descend from neither of these people. Palestinians maintain they are the descendants of the ancient Canaanites:

Both Israeli and Palestinian politicians claim the region of Israel and the Palestinian territories is the ancestral home of their people, and maintain that the other group was a late arrival. “We are the Canaanites,” asserted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last year. “This land is for its people…who were here 5,000 years ago.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said recently that the ancestors of modern Palestinians “came from the Arabian peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years” after the Israelites. (National Geographic)

As discussed, modern-day Jews and modern-day Palestinians are genetically very similar. This was again established by a recent study:

Finally, we show that the genomes of present-day groups geographically and historically linked to the Bronze Age Levant, including the great majority of present-day Jewish groups and Levantine Arabic-speaking groups, are consistent with having 50% or more of their ancestry from people related to groups who lived in the Bronze Age Levant and the Chalcolithic Zagros. These present-day groups also show ancestries that cannot be modeled by the available ancient DNA data, highlighting the importance of additional major genetic effects on the region since the Bronze Age. (Agranat-Tamir et al. 2020)

According to the Bible, when the Israelites left Egypt, they conquered the Canaanites, who were already living in the land of Israel. Joshua 10:40 mentions there are no survivors of the ancient Canaanites. However, the Bible was written much later after these events took place. The study referenced above supports the hypothesis of continuity, i.e. the ancient Canaanites were not completely wiped out by the Israelites. Instead, Canaanite culture slowly morphed into other cultures, including the culture of the Israelites. As referenced under 3., it is likely both Jews and Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites.

The Bible itself also mentions the Canaanites continued to exist in Judges 3:1-3 and explains the command to the Israelites was only given to teach them warfare (not to actually annihilate the Canaanites). It is more likely the Canaanites indeed continued to exist:

We show that present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population, which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age. (Haber et al. 2017)

To put it differently, in the land of Israel, the ancient Canaanites were not destroyed, but rather subsumed by the Israelites. The Jews have maintained this culture and tradition. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have not. Palestinians didn’t maintain any tradition from the ancient Canaanites. Instead, their culture, tradition, and language can be traced back to the Hejaz, a region in the west of modern-day Saudi Arabia. This is also the birthplace of the religion of Islam.

Indeed, up until recently, Palestinians were not even called ‘’Palestinians’’. Instead, they were referred to as ‘’Palestinian Arabs’’. A report from 1946 gives more insight. In Chapter VI, titled ‘’The Arab Attitude’’, it states the following:

The Committee heard a brief presentation of the Arab case in Washington, statements made in London by delegates from the Arab States to the United Nations, a fuller statement from the Secretary General and other representatives of the Arab League in Cairo, and evidence given on behalf of the Arab Higher (committee and the Arab Office in Jerusalem). In addition, subcommittees visited Baghdad Riyadh, Damascus, Beirut and Amman, where they were informed of the views of Government and of unofficial spokesmen.

Stopped to the bare essentials, the Arab case is based upon the fact that Palestine is a country which the Arabs have occupied for more than a thousand years, and a denial of the Jewish historical claims to Palestine.

This report states Arabs have lived in Palestine ‘’for more than a thousand years’’, referring to the Islamic conquest of Palestine in the 7th century. Clearly, Palestinians are identified as Arabs here, by Palestinian leaders themselves.

Another report from the same year supports this view:

In addition to the question of right, the Arabs oppose the claims of political Zionism because of the effects which Zionist settlement has already had upon their situation and is likely to have to an even greater extent in the future. Negatively, it has diverted the whole course of their national development. Geographically Palestine is part of Syria; its indigenous inhabitants belong to the Syrian branch of the Arab family of nations; all their culture and tradition link them to other Arab peoples; and until 1917 Palestine formed part of the Ottoman Empire which included also several of the other Arab countries. The presence and claims of the Zionists, and the support given them by certain Western Powers have resulted in Palestine being cut off from other Arab countries and subjected to a regime, administrative, legal, fiscal and educational, different from that of the sister-countries. Quite apart from the inconvenience to individuals and the dislocation of trade which this separation has caused, it has prevented Palestine participating fully in the general development of the Arab world.

You can see the story changed overtime. The Palestinian claim to Canaanite blood is an ad hoc claim that is meant to predate the Jewish presence in Israel.

In general, the Palestinian claim to Canaanite roots also erases the fact that the Israelites drove the Canaanites out of Israel, to Lebanon. The remaining Canaanites were subsumed by the Israelites. Therefore, if Palestinians are native to the land of Israel, and if they descend from the Canaanites, then they must also descend from the Israelites. However, Palestinians attempt to bypass the Israelite link, claiming to not descend from the Israelites. I believe they likewise deny that the Jews descend from the Israelites, claiming that instead the Jews are just Europeans.

This wouldn’t be the first time the Palestinians changed their narrative either. They used to claim they descend from the ancient Philistines, referring to Genesis 21:34 as proof:

And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. (New International Version)

As such, the Palestinian PM argued they have lived in the land of Palestine before Abraham. (Video is in the article.)

As explained earlier, the Philistines immigrated from southern Europe, and the Palestinians are not directly descended from them, given the DNA evidence. The ancient Philistines have disappeared as a people, because they mixed with local populations. That also explains why modern-day Palestinian DNA is not mostly European, as would be the case if they directly descended from the Philistines.

Recommended further reading

‘’Are Jews Indigenous to the Land of Israel?’’

‘‘Jews and Arabs Share Genetic Link to Ancient Canaanites, Study Finds‘‘

‘‘The Canaanites weren’t annihilated, they just ‘moved’ to Lebanon‘‘

#juno speaks #jewish history #history #jewish #judaism #israel #palestine #israel-palestine conflict #israel-palestine #palestinian #israeli #politics

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gnattyplayssims · 2 months

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1962 Pt2 - Come Back to Me

"Ok what's going on? You've been moping ever since I got in yesterday."

"I'm not moping."

"Okay pining then. Did you meet a girl?"

"You know I don't meet girls."

"So this is about my sister then."

Nikolas fell silent, confirming Stefan's suspicion.

A gentle smile played on Nik's lips without him noticing. "Oh now I know something happened! Spill it."

Nikolas sighed, "We kissed or she kissed me...I don't know it was confusing."

"Uh huh and? Don't tell me you didn't like it?"

"Of course not! It was incredible!"

"But?"

"But...you didn't see her eyes Stefan. It wasn't real. I don't know why I'm telling you this. You've never even been in a relationship."

Stefan cleared his throat and grabbed his coffee. "Let me get this straight: Sofia kissed you in a clear cry for help and you...ran?"

Stefan stirred his coffee as his words settled over Nikolas. "I...I didn't run! I'm giving her space. She's confused and I don't know if I'm strong enough."

Stefan shook his head in mild annoyance. "My sister is going through hell and you don't think YOU'RE strong enough?"

"I don't expect you to understand."

"Why? Because I've never been in a relationship?"

"Well yeah. You just don't understand how hard it is to love someone this much and not be able to be together."

"I have a pretty good imagination. You do what needs to be done."

"Yeah which is why I'm staying away."

"You're an idiot. For as much as you claim to know my sister you've forgotten, Sofia self-sabotages when she feels alone. You're so worried about hurting her you abandoned her...just like our mother."

"Don't say that..."

"Prove I'm a liar"

Stefan was still irritated as he left Nik's apartment. "You've never been in a relationship," He mocked, "You don't know how hard it is." He flopped onto the bench in exasperation. "No, YOU don't know how hard it is. At least you can get advice. At least you have support."

He heard footsteps behind him and his heart leapt. Not from fear but in anticipation. He felt a hand brush his hair gently then his head was tilting back so he was looking into Estaban's eyes, "Talking to yourself?"

Stefan breathed Estaban in as he was greeted with a chaste kiss.

Estaban came to sit beside him cupping his face and peering into his eyes questioningly. "What is wrong Nae Lee?"

"It's just been a rough week. I don't want to talk about it yet."

Estaban smiled and took his hand. "I want to show you something."

"Wait."

"What is it?"

Stefan hesitated, thinking about Nikolas' words.

"You're doing that thing again aren't you? Someone said something and it got you thinking...about us."

"I'm just so scared Estaban. My family would have me locked up if they knew."

"You're cute when you worry"

"I wish you'd worry a little more."

"Well I was worried enough to check that the park is empty. And the patrols don't come by for another hour. And...we're just friends...right?"

Stefan nodded and Estaban took his hand again covering his eyes before they rounded a corner.

"Are you ready?"

Stefan laughed, "Just show me." Estaban lowered his hands and Stefan let out a barely perceptible gasp. "Estaban, it's...amazing!"

"I found it last time I came to the city and knew you would love it. I used to climb trees like that big one when I was little."

Estaban nuzzled his neck his hands travelling lower and Stefan gasped moving Estaban's hands up again. "Not yet. I'm...I'm still not ready."

Estaban kissed his shoulder "Okay Nae Lee."

"I wish you would tell me what that means."

Estaban hummed in his ear but didn't answer.

Stefan took his hand and they walked into the greenhouse together. "There is still something on your mind."

"I'm fine Estaban. I don't want to ruin our evening."

"It's ruining my evening to see you upset."

"I'll tell you...But I want to enjoy just being together first."

They walked slowly through the greenhouse. Stefan shared useless facts about some of the plants they passed and Estaban just listened holding him close. "This one's native to Sulani..." He faltered "They...they're going extinct because of...pollution and..."

"Hey! What's wrong?"

Estaban led them back outside. "Okay, no more stalling. What is going on?"

"It's about Sulani."

"I got that..."

"You've heard what's happening?"

"Yes."

"I...I...I got drafted"

"Drafted?"

"Yeah. I have to fight Estaban. I have to go away for two years and fight a stupid war"

Estaban pulled away.

"It's not my choice. If I refuse I would lose everything." Estaban looked down at his hand, tracing the lines like Stefan often did. "It'll only be two years and I'll probably just be in a boat...shooting into the trees-"

"Stop. I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?"

Estaban turned fiercely. "Why would I be mad at you for things you can't control?"

"Then why are you upset?"

Estaban brushed Stefan's cheek, "I like when you braid your hair like this. I don't know if I ever told you that."

Stefan collapsed into his warm embrace.

For a moment Estaban just held him but after a moment he pulled back. "I'm upset because if the military were to find out about us it would ruin you and I refuse to allow that. You cannot write me. Not like you do now."

"We're...just friends right?"

"Yeah...just friends."

Estaban's arms came around him, pulling him close. They'd never kissed before. Not really. Not any differently then how Estaban kissed others in his Home World. But this...this was different.

Estaban pulled him close and whispered against his lips. "Just come back to me Nae Lee."

#mizrahi legacy #dandy generation #decades challenge #sims 4 storytelling #ts4 storytelling #ts4 legacy

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fandom-oracle · 3 years

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Man wouldn’t it be great if the increased attention on jewishness, race, and the importance of the voices of jews of color weren’t so centered on a white goyish american understanding of race and ethnicity : ^ )

while the legacy of black jews is receiving very important attention lately it’s really fucking annoying how pervasive the idea that jews of color are somehow an “outgroup” or an American phenomenon when black african jews exist and have a rich tradition - and, OF FUCKING COURSE, people forget that not all Jews are ashkenazi and that mizrahi Jews are, you know, a thing.

and that’s not to mention the gross politics of categorizing ashkenazi jews as “white jews” uncritically.

#rant #antisemitism #race politics #jumblr

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rumandtimes · 3 years

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Does Cultural Appropriation Apply to Natalie Portman?

Sean Ezersky

Assoc. Fantasy Contributor

Does appropriation apply to the worst parts of European cultures?

Today, I want to discuss cultural appropriation. Yes, the issue of the times. But what exactly is cultural appropriation? Well, nobody knows. Starting at the first word, it claims to be some kind of appropriation. And it has something to do with culture.

Firstly, it should be said that this article has nothing to actually do with cultural appropriation. That is because cultural appropriation is essentially defined by racism. The term first appears, so it goes, as a description of how racist citizens of England marginalised and exploited the peoples of the Caribbean, and attacked sections of the working class schtick, for fun. Sounds evil enough.

The term cultural appropriation cannot be used as a mild term or played around with much, because it is by definition a form of misconduct. The term cultural appropriation is defined by the words “inappropriate,” “racist,” and “commercialist.” There is no redeeming quality to cultural appropriation because cultural appropriation is used to describe exclusively irredeemable activity, markedly opposite to cultural exchange or respect.

Consider the worst perpetrator in the United Kingdom and the United States: hip-hop / rap music, curly hair, or a summer tan. Racists always attack these music genres and human characteristics un-European, placing them into the same box on the fringes of their minds, but at the same time view themselves as ‘cultured’ for dipping into the same music, view themselves as ‘interesting’ for factory curling their hair, or view themselves as ‘unique’ for getting a spray-on tan. There is a murderous and delirious sense of bad irony, that racists altogether marginalise, demonise, and lust after perfectly normal traits and human practices, which the racist calls exotic, for fear of being labelled as freaks themselves. That is cultural appropriation.

Another bad actor is the billion-dollar yoga industry in Western nations as well, which attempts at every corner to steal Indian culture then mutilate the original concept, taking the yoga gurus off the cover and planting in some body-bleaching whores, or some wavy Italian guy, to appeal to the racist American, à la youth female target audience. All the while, Hinduism, inextricable from yoga’s origins while not necessarily the same as yoga in any way, is viewed as a false and inexpiable religion by most people in the West. Yoga was not learned from the Hindu, it was looted, and replaced with a shallow, cruel, commercial, and disgraceful attempt to Europeanise and trivialise the hobby while selling it the crude sex markets. That is a form of cultural genocide and religion-sacking. That is cultural appropriation.

But this article is not about cultural appropriation, in a way. The distinction was only added to please those offended by the comparison. This article is about movies, as part of a series of Star Wars critiques, and it’s about Natalie Portman.

Long have I harboured a question about Natalie Portman’s career, as it is so vapid yet so prolific, so vain yet so ubiquitous. This is just the opportunity. Natalie Portman got her start in acting as a 16-year-old leading actress on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. She returned three years later as a 19-year-old lead on Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, where her character dies. After moving on from the Star Wars prequels, she used that resume to enrol at Harvard University to study psychology.

She has actually commented on this, as all Harvard associates eventually do, saying she and her peers felt she was only enrolled because she was in Star Wars, and this insecurity led her to push harder than her friends in her classes and challenge herself by picking ‘harder-than-necessary’ classes. Still, psychology is the most common undergraduate degree major among women, so hardly original. Whether or not Natalie invites the assessment or feels it is correct, this is undoubtedly true; She, as most people, never would have been looked at by Harvard if she did not have some kind of bank of riches or wealth of limelight that could be mined by the admissions board. Natalie might want to be viewed as a genius of “Hebrew literature” who stood out among the crowd, but that is just impossible parlour speak. Not that she deserves to go to Harvard any less than anyone else, no one deserves to go to Harvard, as Harvard in the 20th Century existed for the sole purpose of excluding people who were not rich, famous, or connected: not academics, so Natalie’s lie to herself merely parrots Harvard’s lie to the world.

But I want to go back just a second. Yes, Natalie Portman said she studied Hebrew at Harvard, even if not intensely enough to double-major in it. That is because her name is not actually Natalie Portman. Her name is Neta-Li Herschlag, and she is Jewish. So, studying Hebrew isn’t impressive knowing she speaks fluent Hebrew at home. That is not to undermine literature, as English-speakers still study English literature, but it’s hardly extraordinary. Hershlag, as I will now be exclusively referring to her, is using her association to Harvard, Judaism, and other, lesser, things to seem smart, yet all of those were gifted to her by either birth or Star Wars.

Now comes the question of cultural appropriation. Neta-Li started her acting footprint as an understudy for the part of Elle Woods in Broadway plays. Yes, that Elle Woods, aside Britney Spears no less. It hardly seems like the right role for a good Jewish girl. But lo, there are some who might point out that Hershlag is an Ashkenazi, and therefore not actually Jewish, that is, not a Semitic person. This is a touchy subject for the Jewish community, particularly since the establishment of Israel: Who actually is Jewish, by means of ethnicity or heritage, and not just language and religion? Is there a meaningful distinction between the Semitic Jewish culture that remained in the Levant, the Sephardic Jewish culture that emigrated to Africa and Iberia, the Mizrahi Jewish culture in Iran and Arabia, the Yiddish Jewish culture that stuck around in Germany, and the Ashkenazi Jewish culture that settled Eastern Europe? Really, who knows, and that is a deeper question; a question, perhaps, for a student of Hebrew literature, wherever we should find one.

Nonetheless, Hershlag is most certainly not British. That Israeli-American nuance is fine for the world of “Naboo” in Star Wars, which ideally would defy every concept of the term “ethnicity,” but works less congruously for Elle Woods. In Star Wars, Hershlag was a doppelganger of Keira Knightly, a dyad which has persisted the entirety of Netali’s 30-year-long career. Here too, we find questions.

Netali gave an interview, which I discuss almost on a daily basis among my social circle, where she firmly wanted to establish herself as a kind of British legacy. She said, of herself, “I iron out my Jew curls” and bleaches/dyes her hair, for no particular reason other than she wants to, and thinks it will make her fit in. Netali also went on to say that no one has naturally yellow hair — which is true, they don’t — implying that a non-Jewish, European actress would not face the same questions about her hair she did. Because the concept of hair straightening and hair bleaching are Nazi holdovers in British and American culture, and as someone who personally hates Nazis, this endlessly infuriates me. All the more so because Hershlag identifies as Jewish!

If Hershlag thinks modifying her hair to make it look ‘more European,’ or, more correctly (since almost all young Europeans have brown hair), to make it look more Hitlerite, more ‘Arianised,’ is acceptable, then she must either view herself as European first and Jewish second, or just care very little about the legacy of antisemitic racism. Why else would a person who calls herself Jewish want to alter her appearance so drastically, in order to look like a posterchild for one of the Hitler Youth?

Many Jewish-Americans feel pressures of Nazi antisemitism and colonial racism in the United States, and many Ashkenazim respond to that by changing their names, Nazifying their looks, and abandoning the Jewish religion. Netali retains a veneer of her Jewishness on the inside, within her own self-perception, while turning into the Arianised version of the Elle Woods archetype on the outside, for the world to see. Is she just playing a part? Is there a real difference in the personality and values of Netali Hershlag vs. Natalie Portman?

People don’t treat her as such. Keira Knightly, for instance, is an Englishwoman. Knightly claims she is ‘British,’ not English, but she is definitely English. Intriguingly, Knightly never went to school, reportedly a dyslexic, while Hershlag, in the Jewish stereotype, went straight to Harvard College. I wouldn’t say Hershlag seems like a nice person, she seems like an ordinary person. Remember that she is part of the Star Wars pantheon of small-time actors who were lifted by George Lucas to notoriety, like Mark Hamill (despite him being my favourite Star Wars actor, I can never remember his name), Harrison Ford, and of course, Sir Alec Guinness CBE.

Jokes aside, with all the classically-trained, upper-class, heavy-hitters from Britain — Peter Cushing OBE, Sir Christopher Lee CBE, and Sir Alec — not to mention the affable nobodies from Hamill to Ford, most Star Wars people are considered likable, especially by fans of nerdom.

That is not to say anyone was struggling, as every lead character in Star Wars was already documented as rich and famous by the time they were cast, but they were “nobodies” in the sense they were not household names until after the film became one of the first Hollywood summer “blockbusters” in history.

Most of all, it is undeniable that, other than Lucas, no one defined the Star Wars films as much as Carrie Fisher, if not for a want of contrast. Fisher was the only female character in all three of the movies, and both the predecessor and counterpart to Hershlag’s character in the Star Wars prequels. Does Hershlag meet the comparison?

The two are very different, both personally and on-screen. Fisher at the age of 19 had sex with numerous middle-aged members of the cast, often the only female and only teenager in a room of dozens of men, forbidden to wear a bra or choose her own hairstyle but allowed to partake in the rumoured plethora of drugs on the set. Hershlag, part of Star Wars from 16 to 19, was entirely unremarkable, both in life and profession, not a very impressive actor or much of a hoot. Again, the good Jewish girl. Some blame Netali’s poorly role on the weakness of the prequels compared to the originals, just as some blame Carrie’s bipolar diagnosis for her eccentricity. Both of these are half-truths, as personality and talent can never be substituted for anything other than what they are. Nonetheless, Fisher and Hershlag were both made rich and famous. While Hershlag is the lesser in terms of her performance, she probably got in the end a much better long-term deal.

A boring role meant Netali would not be immediately typecast, though she went on to play exclusively the girl-next-door leading female interest for a male protagonist, much the same as in Star Wars: Episode II. Coming into acting younger meant she could largely leave acting after childhood, then return to it later as an adult experience. Moreover, we never got to see teenage Netali chained to a bed in a gold bikini.

Our good, Jewish girl.

So, if Hershlag is playing roles given mostly to British, or Hitlerite, actresses, is she not taking away from the British actor? There are too many actors in the world. They are overexposed and over paid, seen too much and given too much, as they are in the same camp as clowns, entertainers, and comedians. But, people like to be entertained, and in the world of capitalism where only money is worship in lapse of dignity, anything people like sells, and anything that sells can make people rich, and riches are a substitute for class, if only a thin one. Just as the weak-minded can be fooled by the Force, so are they easily bought and sold. The British or American actor suffers for nothing, and there are too many of them as it is.

But, does Hershlag have a place in displacing them, or moulding in to become one of them? And would it be cultural appropriation? Undeniably, Netali is conforming to something objectionable when she plays simple roles as sex objects and Hitlerite women, embracing if not embodying the racism and problematic nature of Hollywood casting. But then again, it is with her very body that she represents this trend. One could defend Hershlag, saying she is made to do these things, that she is not so much appropriating Western culture for her ends, but more so that Western culture is stifling her true self, at least if she wants to continue to have a role in acting.

An interesting counter-point, but undermined by Hershlag’s particular brand of coy self-promotion, and eagerness in taking on such roles. And are the Jewish people entirely exploited by Hollywood? In many respects, so-called Europeans are exploited by powerful Jewish moguls in media more often than the other way around, even if they are Jewish Europeans themselves. Harvey Weinstein, a Jewish millionaire who sexually assaulted non-Jewish Western women in order to get them roles, his Jewishness hardly made a ripple.

The biggest names in Hollywood: Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Rudd, Marta Kauffman, J.J. Abrams, Scarlett Johansson, Harrison Ford, John Stewart, Louis Szekely, Mila Kunis, Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel Weisz, Gal Gadot, Roseanne Barr, Judd Apatow, Marcus Loew, Lauren Bacall, Adam Sandler, Amy Schumer, Larry David, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cassidy Freeman, Stanley Kubrick, Jennifer Connelly, Richard Dreyfuss, Samuel Goldwyn, Julia Garner, Elijah Allan-Blitz, Kirk Douglas, Ellen Barkin, Ingrid Pitt, Darren Aronofsky, Eva Green, David Geffen, Lesley Ann Warren, Paul Newman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ben Stiller, Louis B. Mayer, Alison Brie, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chuck Lorre.

As Conan O’Brien jokingly stated: “The Cash-ews run Hollywood.” Almost every major production in Hollywood has a massive Jewish section of development. The United States, for whatever reason, is a majority “Christian-identifying” country, but Judaism plays a much more massive role in the culture than Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism combined. Even most of the agnosticism in ‘progressive’ Hollywood values comes largely from material secularism, or Jewish incredulity of Christianity, not an ideological pull towards atheism. Is this cultural reproachment why Jewish people are pulled towards media and entertainment, theatre being a known haven for outcasts and oddballs? The Judeo-Protestant alliance of the Hollywood ilk would seem to disqualify the established Jewish community — rich, interconnected, secular Jewish communities of New York, Los Angeles, and DC — from being an oppressed mass.

An important editor’s note is that the actors listed are: Jewish people who adopt non-Jewish appearances or non-Jewish values to a borderline-racist degree (i.e. Eva Green: Jewish actress who plays roles bookmarked for non-Jewish Europeans), thoroughly Jewish people who refuse to identify as Jewish (i.e. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Jewish billionaire heiress who plays Jewish characters on TV), or regular observers of Judaism who are really, really famous (i.e. J.J. Abrams: co-director of the controversial Star Wars reboot).

More often behind the scenes than on-screen, but usually leading the show when taking a starring role, the Jewish imprint is inseparable from American movies, media production, television, the comedy scene, finance, and screenwriting. Is Jewish not the ruling order of Hollywood? And then would Europeans be the group on the margins? But why, if Jewish people write, pay for, and put on the shows, are there so few Jewish actors, and of those who are, why do they not look Jewish, or a better question would be, why do they try to avoid looking Jewish, and actively attempt to look Western European? That gives the impression that Jewish people are still marginalised in media, even if they are overrepresented in media, and generally more affluent, interconnected, and educated than those non-Jewish counterparts. Why do Jewish people go out of their way to appeal to racist audiences, and in the process erase their own Jewishness.

Maybe it is because the Hollywood Jewry isn’t actually Jewish. Nothing about their jobs or their behaviours embodies the Jewish religion. Most people in Hollywood in general consider themselves as nonreligious, yet that too, might be an influence of a markedly Jewish trait. Non-Christians in the United States are much more likely to turn to atheism and agnosticism on the one hand or fanatical extremism, likely due to being outcast by the mainstream Protestant dialogue, with liberal Jewish people often going agnostic and conservative Catholics often going supercharged while Muslims live on somewhere off in the shadows of public perception.

Yet nonreligious Jewish people still identify as Jewish, separating the religion of Judaism from the ethnic mark. Faith has nothing to do with appearance, and appearance is the base of antisemitism. Enter non-Jewish-looking Jewish people, usually women with heat-flattened hair, like Netali Hershlag and Gal Greenstein Godot. That is not to say they don’t look Jewish, as in an equal measure they all do and at the same time no one does, since what a Jewish person “looks like” is a narrow heuristic based on problematic cultural expectation. That is not to say they are or aren’t Jewish. But are Jewish people like Natalie Portman being forced to conform to racist society, or are they jumping on the bandwagon of racist society and using it to their advantage? Is there actually a difference between the two?

There is a deeper question lying beneath the surface here: The questions of “Jewish complicity in racism?,” “Jewish participation in neo-Nazism?,” and “If ‘Jew’ is a ‘race’ and ‘White’ is a ‘race’ then why are there ‘White’ and ‘non-White’ Jews?,” which other people have asked before. This article is not to address those questions, but they are acknowledged.

Certainly, there are some Jewish people who attach themselves to racist tendencies and Hitlerite habits out of personal advantage in the racist countries in which they might live. In this narrative, the notional collaborator Jewish community would blame the Europeans for racism and cast themselves as convenient survivors. That is not a uniquely Jewish trait, it is a flawed human trait, bystanderism, which defies religious teachings. Why there is such a prevalence among rich, secular Jewish people, of racism mixed with liberalism, is a concern. It could be as simple that, at a certain point, the trait “rich” might start to cancel out the trait “religious.” Old guard antisemites would be unforgiving regarding hatred towards ‘ethnic Judaism,’ and contemporary racist sentiments would reject Jewish people from the points of heritage and beliefs, but it is not immediately clear if Western neo-Nazis would target non-religious Jewish people who, quote, “pass” as Euro-Christians.

If Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Mizrahim join Western cultures, ideals, and appearances while abandoning the Jewish religion, are they functionally Jewish at all? In the absence of different brands of generational antisemitism, what is holding back an atheist Ashkenazi from becoming a Nazi themself? The Jewish community and Israel critics have been ablaze with debate about the Eurocentric, Ashkenazim-focused account of Judaism in the West, drawing attention to the issue of inter-Jewish racism and inequality among the diaspora of the Jewish faithful. This question is debated separately for Jewish communities because unity is their faith. Followers of Christianity have always cut one another down over heresies and infidelities, but discourse and diversity have defined the post-Rabbinic tradition. The notion of one Jewish diaspora being more powerful than another, based not even on secularism such as in Christianity, but based solely on racism and adjacency to Christian empires, causes non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities to question that proximity in values and appearance Western Ashkenazi populations have with the goyish counterparts. Even the terms Ashkenazi and Mizrahi have taken fundamentally racist connotations, particularly in the advent of Zionism, to separate the ‘European Jewish’ from the ‘Arabian Jewish,’ in a kind of wartime apartheid of academia; a conflict emblematic of larger paradoxes in modern Israel.

This is not the focus of this article. Obviously, Jewish people living in Western Europe and urban America are more “Western” than people who live somewhere else. And obviously, Western nations have a serious and prolonged issue with racism. However, welding those two facts together, then conflating them with Judaism in some sense, would be a mistake.

There are some racist people in Hollywood who identify as, or are identified as, Jewish. That is not the question. The question is: How does the concept of cultural appropriation contribute to that complex dynamic, of conformity and exploitation in Hollywood, even amongst the big names?

This all comes back to the perceptual balance of power. Just as the term cultural appropriation is defined as a group being in a oppressive position and exploiting something that that group itself has made derogatory.

Is Netali Hershlag appropriating Western culture? In a way, yes. As a rich, powerful Jewish actress, she could hardly be said to be put at a disadvantage to Keira Knightly (Harvard versus dropout, remember), or the millions of aspiring brown-haired actresses who are shunned from Hollywood castings. And yet, she decides to look more like them. Obviously, as an ordinary woman herself, she has been victim to the usual sexism and obsessive demands of producers and directors concerning appearances, but that is hardly so say she is a victim. At any moment, she could deign to take a different part or produce her own movies (I would balk to call them films), rather than be typecast as the sexy and innocent girl-next-door. She lives the life of the good Jewish, girl, but never takes on those types of roles, opting instead for Princess Amidala, ballerina Nina Sayers, valley girl Elle Woods, comic book Jane Foster, or Englishwoman Anne Boleyn. Hershlag could at any moment leave acting to climb the ladder a Harvard A.B. clears the way for. How could Harvard Law School, or subsequently the California Democratic caucus, say no? Who wouldn’t pay for a doctor’s visit with the woman from V For Vendetta?

This is not to say that Jewish people are appropriating or imposing themselves upon Westerners, but it is to say that there is a distinct group of Jewish people who draw from Western or Hitlerite practices while entirely avoiding ‘Juden-haus’ or ‘Euro-trash’ rhetoric that hampers people on both sides of the racist conflict. Portman is Netali’s grandmother’s name, so she does have some kind of loose claim to it, if her cousins are still go by that name and she is close with them, while Natalie is a form of the name Neta-Li, and plenty if not most actors use stage names. Many people do racist or questionable things because they are in fashion. But altogether, one must ask the question why the self ascribed curly-haired Netali Hershlag is appearing is French wig and makeup commercials. Is it raw, unidealistic money? Is it Maybelline? Or it is fake hair, fake lashes, and a fake identity?

Natalie Portman is hardly an inspiring figure for women, playing roles subservient to men, often murdered by her lovers or terribly afflicted herself. This is true in Star Wars, Black Swan, Thor, V For Vendetta, and when she played the wife of wife-killer Henry VIII. Where is the liberty in being bedded by an uxoricidal maniac, be it a tired British period piece, or the obsessive Anakin Skywalker? Body modification of any type is not the product or respect or exchange, and can only be looked down upon as unnecessary and insecure. Acting is lying, but that does not mean the actress must change their looks or change their self to read some lines to a camera.

#Natalie Portman #Hollywood #Judaism #Cultural Appropriation #Star Wars

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brooklynmuseum · 4 years

Video

KNOT combines many of the touchstones of Rashaad Newsome’s multidisciplinary practice: spinning decorative jewelry, lavish Gothic architecture, Black ballroom dancing, mathematical knot theories, and a frenetic energy that emerges from the extraordinary dancers and vocalists, as well as the artist’s surrealistic digital collaging techniques. Commissioned for the Brooklyn Museum’s 2014–15 exhibition Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe, the video heralds the legacy and longevity of Vogue Fem dance’s Black, Latinx, queer, and trans originators and innovators.

See KNOT in full as part of our Art on the Stoop: Sunset Screenings series, showing each Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday through October 11, starting at 6pm.

Rashaad Newsome (American, born 1979). Knot, 2014 [Excerpt]. Video installation: video, color and sound, and digital file for vinyl print wallpaper Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the artist and De Buck Gallery, 2018.49. © artist or artist's estate. Featured vocalists: Kevin Jz Prodigy, Cakes Da Killa, lan lsiah. Featured dancers: Omari Mizrahi, Justin Khan, Kasandra Ebony, Gee Prodigy, Tia Aaliyah Booker, Alex Mugler (@alexm718), Dawn Ebony, Star Revlon, Tornado, Kenya Robinson, Jackie, Hadji Jones, Kiyan Williams.

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mvllyii · 4 years

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( 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓲𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓻𝔂 ) they remind me of 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒕 & 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔, 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 & 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚 ( 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐 ) , 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓. ♛ 》MOLLY WEASLEY II, TWENTY-THREE, has been marked safe after the recent events. SHE/THEY are currently a PROFESSIONAL QUIDDITCH PLAYER (BEATER). to some, they are 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 + 𝒛𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 . for others, 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔 + 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍. check out her pinterest HERE & her full stats HERE.

triggers: war, death, anxiety ( lmk if i missed something !! )

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐒 !

FULL NAME molly cassandra weasley ( ii ).

MEANING OF NAMES diminutive of mary ; possibly meaning “ sea of bitterness ” & “ rebelliousness ” & “ wished for child. ” cassandra is greek meaning “ to excel, to shine. ” cassandra was a trojan princess who was given the gift of prophecy by apollo.

NICKNAMES molls, moll, mo/moe, molly jr, young molly.

BIRTHDATE + ZODIAC october 25, scorpio.

ETHNICITY iranian & mizrahi jewish, possibly some russian.

HOUSE slytherin ( secondary being gryffindor???? unsure )

JOB professional quidditch player.

GENDER IDENTITY + PRONOUNS non-binary + she / they.

SEXUAL/ROMANTIC ORIENTATION bisexual biromantic.

ABILITIES exceptionally gifted on a broom as well as in transfiguration & charms. became an anigmagus during her 5th year.

GODLY PARENT athena ( wisdom, warfare, strategy ).

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 !

sivan najjar and mirza leon were still grieving everyone they had lost, including themselves, when sivan found out she was pregnant. they had just barely survived the war and were still rebuilding themselves - or what was left of themselves when the war ended. sivan was a strong-willed and fierce gryffindor who fought tooth and nail and would rather die than not be part of the battle. mirza was a quiet yet lethal hufflepuff who would do anything for his girlfriend. they both fought in the war and stayed at hogwarts despite, well, everything that was going on. today, they’re in their 40′s, but they were just teenagers when they became pregnant. they went through with it - parts of them wanted to raise this child. a child that was a small amount of joy after the war they thought. but they couldn’t raise this child and especially not when they were still repairing themselves. once the two of them realized this, they quickly found a couple to adopt. maybe this family would be able to give their child everything.

the couple was percy weasley and audrey weasley. they hadn’t planned on adopting so close after the war. they had wanted to adopt, though. they knew that. they were going to wait a few more years once they were more settled, but after filling out paperwork and hearing about sivan and mirza’s story they were sold.

percy and audrey named their first child molly cassandra weasley ii, after percy’s mother. cassandra is the greek form of KASSANDRA and means “to excel, to shine”. ( also in myth, cassandra was a trojan princess who was given the gift of prophecy. *wiggles eyebrows at lucy* )

molly was always a handful. she had an unlimited amount of energy and was always doing something that annoyed her parents. everytime her parents said something she’d counter with ‘ why? ‘ half because she wanted to know but also for fun. ‘ because i said so ‘ was never a good enough excuse for her either.

when molly got to hogwarts, she was sorted into slytherin ( technically the FIRST slytherin the weasley family has had in a long time since her name was called before roxanne’s ). molly was incredibly proud of her sorting. she had always been overly ambitious and to the extreme, so it wasn’t a surprise that she wasn’t a gryffindor like her father. she truly could have been in any of the houses. she valued loyalty above a lot of things like a hufflepuff - though she was selective about her loyalty, she had a bright mind and would have fit in well with ravenclaw, she valued courage like everyone else in her family and was an incredibly courageous person, but after a minute of deliberation the sorting hat decided on slytherin. molly really excelled in slytherin. she had heard the horror stories about slytherins and how it was a ‘ bad house ‘ to be in. how could a house be completely bad? all they did was value ambition. molly was still a clever, creative, loyal + courageous person.

molly made the quidditch team in her 3rd year as a ( reserve ) chaser but switched to beater in her 4th year. little did she know that she’d end up with a career in quidditch. molly was never confident in her quidditch abilities, despite how BRILLIANT she was. like many things, quidditch came natural to her. the first time she got on a broom she was six years old and spending the weekend at her aunt ginny’s & uncle harry’s. it was just the two of them throwing apples between them as they flew through the air before anyone else woke up.

she was also appointed as prefect during her fifth year, which made her parents INCREDIBLY PROUD. she was proud of herself, but not as much as they were.

molly always wanted to know where she came from. it was a MOSTLY CLOSED ADOPTION. audrey and percy knew of sivan & mirza’s involvement in the war as well as the battle and knew that they had attended hogwarts, but that was all. molly didn’t know her blood status ( that part wasn’t important ) but she also didn’t know where her biological parents came from, what houses they were in, if they were as good at quidditch as she was... etc. she never hated them for giving her up, she knew that times were incredibly hard after the war and she was so grateful for her parents and family. molly found her parents at the end of her 7th year, thinking that it would be some kind of “ healing “ but it didn’t. she thought it would be this huge step for her and she’d learn who she was by the meeting alone, but it did nothing for her.

at age sixteen, molly had what most would call a breakdown. she was overwhelmed with fear that the career path she was going towards wasn’t something that she’d like in the long term, or even in the short term. she was so TERRIFIED that she was choosing a simple and structured career because that’s what her parents did and the more she thought about it the more scared she became. molly burned all her internship papers and everything related to the career that she thought she wanted. she should’ve been grateful for the internship at such a young age, that’s what her father told her. he was the main reason why she was able to score the interview and internship so QUICKLY.

it was like something in molly changed. she changed everything about herself, including her future. she had this sudden realization that everything she was doing and everything she had done was for HER PARENTS and what they expected from her. there wasn’t a single thing she did for herself except for quidditch. they weren’t as into it as she was and the main reason why she kept up with it for so long was because her aunt had always supported her and gave her confidence she needed to continue past the first few years. molly had NO IDEA what she was going to do with her life and she was completely okay with going with the flow and letting things happen.

she pursued a career in quidditch, she was already one of the BEST on the slytherin quidditch team and was rumored to be taking over as captain, which was simply a rumor. she was more like a co-captain since she was always bugging the captain and had so many ideas of her own that they ended up using. she was simply a pain in the ass. and by her 6th year she was already being scouted by various quidditch teams across europe. she’d never play for someone out of the english league, but they tried. she was supposed to be THE quidditch player to get. the harpies wanted her, puddlmere... the list went on. she turned down the harpies almost right away. while she loved the team and she loved her aunt, she didn’t want to live in the shadow of the GINNY WEASLEY. not after living in her families shadow / legacy for most of her life.

molly was made HEAD GIRL by mcgongall at the beginning of her 7th year and she couldn’t have been more proud of herself. just like her dad. she wanted to be separate from her father and do things for herself but she ended up being so much more like him. it’s why they’re always arguing, they’re just too similar and always think they’re right and can’t accept being wrong for once.

molly graduated hogwarts, became a beater for one of the professional quidditch teams,

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 !

molly is filled with a lot of anger and aggression. she started doing quidditch because it was a good outlet for her to put all of that pent up aggression in. it’s what made her the lethal and terrifying beater she is now. she’s never really felt like she “ fit in “ with her family. they all knew who they were and where they came from and molly had no idea. comments about how she’s not technically a weasley made her sad, instead of angry or upset. nowadays, she’d probably punch someone if they said it but as a teen / child she’d just agree with them. and even when she found her birth parents it did nothing to help that hole in her chest. molly is the eldest of audrey & percy’s kids so she has that typical “ i’m the older sibling so i have a lot on my shoulders and i have to be perfect and if you touch my sibling i’ll literally kill you “ vibe. less of a perfectionist now but it’s still there. she’s incredibly ambitious, also clever, creative, loyal ( to a select few ), brave ( at times ). she’s quickly angered and will rely on her fists before her wand. she thinks a punch is more personal. she’s very kind, but again, to a select few. straight forward. doesn’t beat around the bush - unless you’re lucy. you wouldn’t think it but she’s actually quite insecure and doesn’t always or ever know what she’s doing so she’s got a lot of false confidence and always looks like she knows what she doing. she’s very much controlled by her feelings of self doubt as well as feeling like she’s not living up her potential and can always be doing a lot better at everything. 100% ? she’s going for 200%. lots of anxiety, too, because of course a percy kid isn’t complete without overwhelming anxiety and perfectionism.

#inomniaintro

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greenelijah76181 · 4 years

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DUVET COVER

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