(no subject)
I was at the Jerusalem Pride March on Thursday and while I don't really know where to start talking about it, it deserves that I write something. In case anyone missed it, here is my entry where I wrote about issues they've had in past years. Also, to clarify, because it's come up a couple times, what took place in Jerusalem was a Pride March, not a Pride Parade. It wasn't a commercialized spectacle full of half-naked men that a lot of people apparently think is equivalent with the word "pride". The 2008 Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance was a political statement that Jerusalem (and by extension both Israel and the Jewish people, since Jerusalem is often referred to as the soul of both) is not just for straight people. Some of the most well-organized groups that participated were left-wing political groups (the communists, the anarchists, Meretz, and the youth movement), and as a result a quite high percentage of the participants, including the friend with whom I went, were straight allies.
Compared to previous years in Jerusalem, this year's march was quiet. The march organizers and the ultra-orthodox essentially agreed to disagree, so the protesters stayed a few blocks away and the march stayed on side streets. So while there were a crazy number of police officers there (around 2,000 for 3,000 people marching a little over a kilometer), that's a fraction as many as last year. As a result of the agreement between the ultra-orthodox and the march organizers I only saw a couple of counter-protesters. On the other hand, the only spectators I saw cheering on us marchers were United Statesian tourists in front of the King David hotel.
The march pretty explicitly advocated the separation of church and state (i.e. religiously-motivated homophobia shouldn't prevent the rights to free speech and assembly of the marchers). One of the speeches at the beginning also mentioned another recent event in Jerusalem that touches on the issue - ultra-orthodox influence forced a bunch of teenage girls to have to "cover up" at public ceremony (and parents are complaining that the outfits are something the Taliban would have made women wear). For me, though, the most emotional part of it wasn't about reclaiming public space but about reclaiming Jewishness - we burst into Kol Ha'Olam Kolo (a song linked with one of the most famous Rabbis of Jewish history, Nachman of Breslov, that I associate with celebrating Shabbat, and whose lyrics translate to "The whole world is a very narrow bridge and the the main thing is not to be afraid."). I've been in queer Jewish settings before, but this was several thousand people all saying, "We are here, this is our city, too [this is our religion, too].", and all within a few hundred meters of the heart of Judaism, the old city of Jerusalem.
I purchased a rainbow bandanna before the march part because it's pride, you ought to have something rainbowy, and part because I forgot to bring a hat and wanted to have my head covered against the sun (though it wasn't as bad as I'd expected). And I refused to take it off when we left the closing rally/celebration, because dammit, effectively closeting myself as soon as I leave the gay enclave defeats the purpose. And I definitely got looks, and frankly was petrified one of the orthodox guys was going to pull a knife on me or something, but nothing bad happened. But once we got on the bus I took it off, and it was a relief to be able to be a person instead of an "other" getting unfriendly looks and afraid of worse. But like I said, the whole point of the march was for people to be able to be out like that without fear. And as I was walking back to my apartment in Beer Sheva, I realized that it's not just an issue in Jerusalem - I really am kind of closeted here, too. I'm out to friends and anyone in my program who has Facebook and isn't completely unobservant. And I'm out to one of my neighbors 'cause he asked me to coffee and when he wouldn't take no for an answer when I gave him multiple other true reasons that I didn't want to go finally just came out to him (it didn't go particularly well...he apparently is under the misapprehension that you can talk people out of being queer by explaining that men and women are "natural" together because one has a penis and the other a vagina...I told him I thought he was wrong but lacked the vocabulary to get into it, and we've actually been on reasonably good terms since, complete with helping his friend study for a test at one point). And while I don't really want to declare my sexual orientation to everyone I meet, the heteronormativity is getting to me. On the night of my birthday, for example, I went out to coffee the same friend who then came to pride, mostly because we hadn't hung out in a while and it was an excuse to catch up. And the waitress clearly thought it was a date (complete with brining a candle to the table). So anyway, prompted by the post-Pride realization, while it's been years since I regularly wore my rainbow necklace (and honestly it's small enough most people don't pick up on it anyway), today I wore it and I think I might make a habit of it again.
Meanwhile, in other Israel-is-polarized news, Breaking the Silence once again had one of their tours interrupted. Incidentally one of their harassers, Baruch Marzel, was also heavily involved in the protests against Pride the previous day. An Israeli soldier and a Border Police officer were lightly hurt by stones thrown by people protesting the separation barrier and the tactics used in response wounded fourteen protesters.
As for my life, papers (or finding all sorts of creative ways in which to procrastinate on them) have been occupying most of my time. I now have a reasonably polished draft of my literature paper on how authors use messed up binaries in Season of Migration to the North and The Tent and a rough draft of my conflict resolution paper on religion as a peacemaker. If you're interested in either topic, I could use someone to proofread so would be happy to send 'em your way.
And on a lighter note, I was close to getting some red-headed pussy loving but scared her away. I think I mentioned that there's this gingey cat that occasionally climbs through the window into our (fourth-floor) apartment, and she did it again on Saturday and even meowed at me. But when I got up to get her something to eat, she freaked out and ran away (sad sad). At first I thought she was the same as another "red head" that lives with my downstairs neighbor, but that cat, now that he's understood that I'm one of those people who recognizes that he deserves to be petted and not chased away, is a total attention-whore and not a scaredy-cat like my shy visitor.
Lastly, if you're nerdy (or maybe even if you're not - the tune is just so upbeat), you'll probably get a kick out of this - it definitely brought a smile to my face.
I'm sure there's a lot more to say about Pride and other goings-on in Israel, and there's certainly more to say about events elsewhere in the world, but I should move on to my last paper so for now, that's it. Take care!
Compared to previous years in Jerusalem, this year's march was quiet. The march organizers and the ultra-orthodox essentially agreed to disagree, so the protesters stayed a few blocks away and the march stayed on side streets. So while there were a crazy number of police officers there (around 2,000 for 3,000 people marching a little over a kilometer), that's a fraction as many as last year. As a result of the agreement between the ultra-orthodox and the march organizers I only saw a couple of counter-protesters. On the other hand, the only spectators I saw cheering on us marchers were United Statesian tourists in front of the King David hotel.
The march pretty explicitly advocated the separation of church and state (i.e. religiously-motivated homophobia shouldn't prevent the rights to free speech and assembly of the marchers). One of the speeches at the beginning also mentioned another recent event in Jerusalem that touches on the issue - ultra-orthodox influence forced a bunch of teenage girls to have to "cover up" at public ceremony (and parents are complaining that the outfits are something the Taliban would have made women wear). For me, though, the most emotional part of it wasn't about reclaiming public space but about reclaiming Jewishness - we burst into Kol Ha'Olam Kolo (a song linked with one of the most famous Rabbis of Jewish history, Nachman of Breslov, that I associate with celebrating Shabbat, and whose lyrics translate to "The whole world is a very narrow bridge and the the main thing is not to be afraid."). I've been in queer Jewish settings before, but this was several thousand people all saying, "We are here, this is our city, too [this is our religion, too].", and all within a few hundred meters of the heart of Judaism, the old city of Jerusalem.
I purchased a rainbow bandanna before the march part because it's pride, you ought to have something rainbowy, and part because I forgot to bring a hat and wanted to have my head covered against the sun (though it wasn't as bad as I'd expected). And I refused to take it off when we left the closing rally/celebration, because dammit, effectively closeting myself as soon as I leave the gay enclave defeats the purpose. And I definitely got looks, and frankly was petrified one of the orthodox guys was going to pull a knife on me or something, but nothing bad happened. But once we got on the bus I took it off, and it was a relief to be able to be a person instead of an "other" getting unfriendly looks and afraid of worse. But like I said, the whole point of the march was for people to be able to be out like that without fear. And as I was walking back to my apartment in Beer Sheva, I realized that it's not just an issue in Jerusalem - I really am kind of closeted here, too. I'm out to friends and anyone in my program who has Facebook and isn't completely unobservant. And I'm out to one of my neighbors 'cause he asked me to coffee and when he wouldn't take no for an answer when I gave him multiple other true reasons that I didn't want to go finally just came out to him (it didn't go particularly well...he apparently is under the misapprehension that you can talk people out of being queer by explaining that men and women are "natural" together because one has a penis and the other a vagina...I told him I thought he was wrong but lacked the vocabulary to get into it, and we've actually been on reasonably good terms since, complete with helping his friend study for a test at one point). And while I don't really want to declare my sexual orientation to everyone I meet, the heteronormativity is getting to me. On the night of my birthday, for example, I went out to coffee the same friend who then came to pride, mostly because we hadn't hung out in a while and it was an excuse to catch up. And the waitress clearly thought it was a date (complete with brining a candle to the table). So anyway, prompted by the post-Pride realization, while it's been years since I regularly wore my rainbow necklace (and honestly it's small enough most people don't pick up on it anyway), today I wore it and I think I might make a habit of it again.
Meanwhile, in other Israel-is-polarized news, Breaking the Silence once again had one of their tours interrupted. Incidentally one of their harassers, Baruch Marzel, was also heavily involved in the protests against Pride the previous day. An Israeli soldier and a Border Police officer were lightly hurt by stones thrown by people protesting the separation barrier and the tactics used in response wounded fourteen protesters.
As for my life, papers (or finding all sorts of creative ways in which to procrastinate on them) have been occupying most of my time. I now have a reasonably polished draft of my literature paper on how authors use messed up binaries in Season of Migration to the North and The Tent and a rough draft of my conflict resolution paper on religion as a peacemaker. If you're interested in either topic, I could use someone to proofread so would be happy to send 'em your way.
And on a lighter note, I was close to getting some red-headed pussy loving but scared her away. I think I mentioned that there's this gingey cat that occasionally climbs through the window into our (fourth-floor) apartment, and she did it again on Saturday and even meowed at me. But when I got up to get her something to eat, she freaked out and ran away (sad sad). At first I thought she was the same as another "red head" that lives with my downstairs neighbor, but that cat, now that he's understood that I'm one of those people who recognizes that he deserves to be petted and not chased away, is a total attention-whore and not a scaredy-cat like my shy visitor.
Lastly, if you're nerdy (or maybe even if you're not - the tune is just so upbeat), you'll probably get a kick out of this - it definitely brought a smile to my face.
I'm sure there's a lot more to say about Pride and other goings-on in Israel, and there's certainly more to say about events elsewhere in the world, but I should move on to my last paper so for now, that's it. Take care!