Now that you’ve polished off the last of the turkey leftovers, it’s probably time to think about rolling your catatonic body off to find a Christmas tree. Unfortunately, that also means trying to untangle the seven miles of tree lights, a solid 50 percent of which will have broken in the last year.
I’m just taking it as read by this stage that you’ve seen the trailer for the new Star Wars movie . But you can’t claim true nerddom until you’ve seen this incredible Lego recreation.
By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Missouri, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Activists gathered in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday to begin a 120-mile march to the state capital Jefferson City to protest the killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer, a case that has rekindled a national debate over U.S. race relations.
About 100 people were expected to take part in the seven-day march organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), with more joining segments of the long walk, NAACP staff member Jamiah Adams told Reuters.
The march, which is reminiscent of the civil rights marches of the 1960’s, was set to begin at midday on Saturday at the Canfield Green Apartments, the residential complex near where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson.
A grand jury’s decision on Monday not to charge Wilson ignited protests in Ferguson and a riot that left buildings torched and stores looted.
Demonstrations spread to major cities across the United States, resulting in hundreds of arrests during the week.
Protests in Ferguson had dwindled in size and intensity in the days after the grand jury decision, then gained renewed energy on Friday as demonstrators temporarily shut down a St. Louis-area mall and turned up in force at other shopping areas across the country.
In Ferguson, there were at least 16 arrests overnight, police said, and dozens of others in other cities.
The NAACP expects about 1,000 people to be part of the final leg of the “Journey for Justice” march, said Adams, who will participate in the march along with other NAACP staff members and the organization’s president, Cornell William Brooks.
“We are resolute and excited to get started and moving forward in something that’s positive, a nonviolent demonstration toward criminal justice reform and police reform,” Adams said.
The civil rights group is asking participants to protect themselves against icy conditions expected along the route by wearing hand warmers and wool socks.
The NAACP is also calling for a new police chief in Ferguson and a national law to prevent racial profiling by police.
Marchers will be able to shuttle back and forth between the walk and their residences in the St. Louis area, by taking a bus back to a staging area, Adams said. (Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Frank McGurty and Clelia Oziel)
The book of Genesis is replete with sibling rivalry — Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, all struggle with each other in different ways.
Cain murders Abel in the first murder in Biblical history and the text challenges us with classic questions that ought to disturb us to this day: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain asks. And God responds: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”(Genesis 49-10).
Isaac and Ishmael don’t exactly get along either. In the text of the Hebrew Bible, the Isaac story dominates, and the Ishmael story fades out. In the end, hey both go their separate ways.
The same is true about Jacob and Esau. They struggle with each other even in the womb of their mother! They quarrel over the birthright. Jacob tricks Esau. Esau gets angry. Jacob runs away to Haran for a long time.
And then, in the Torah portion which Jews around the world will ready in our synagogues on this coming Shabbat, known as Va’Yishlach, (Genesis chapters 32 to 36:43), we find the fascinating story of momentary reconciliation between brothers. At the beginning of chapter 33, Jacob sees Esau coming, accompanied by 400 men! So he is naturally afraid. He divides the children among his wives, Leah and Rachel, and prepares for the worst. Yet, he goes to greet Esau and bows 7 times, out of fear or out of respect, we don’t quite know. And then, all of a sudden, we are surprised by the big moment of the encounter between them.
Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him, and falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept.
In the Torah scroll, from which we read in our synagogues, the word for “he kissed him” is marked with four asterisks on the parchment. This, of course, has led classical commentators to offer various interpretations of this puzzling text.
Was Esau’s kiss genuine? Did he mean it? Was his purpose in coming to meet his estranged brother to repair their relationship after so many years? These are the questions that disturb our commentators as well as us today.
According to the greatest Jewish medieval commentator, Rashi:
There is a difference of opinion in this matter. Some interpret the asterisks to mean that he (Esau) did not kiss him wholeheartedly. (But there is another opinion). Rabbi Shimon Ben Yohai said: It is well known that Esau hated Jacob; however, his compassion was moved at the moment and he kisses him wholeheartedly.
Another classic commentary, Bereshit Rabbah (a classical rabbinical commentary on the book of Genesis), agrees that Esau’s motives were not pure and does so by using a pun on the Hebrew word “to kiss”. Instead of coming to kiss him, the Midrash argues, Esau came to bite him, since this man Esau is essentially an evil person, and therefore he certainly cannot be trusted.
But another famous midrash, Avot D’ Rabbi Natan, takes issue with the interpretation of Bereshit Rabbah and says: “Everything Esau ever did was motivated by hatred, except for this one occasion which was motivated by love.”
Were the embrace and the kiss genuine? Was this a real moment of brotherly reconciliation? Could it have led to a totally new relationship between the two estranged brothers?
Had the brothers changed?
Earlier in the Torah story, Jacob had struggled with God and become “Israel”? So, in this encounter, is he the old Jacob the trickster? Or Israel, the person who is genuinely prepared to struggle and live with God and his fellow human beings? And has Esau also gone through a transformation?
According to the great 19th century German rabbi, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, considered by many as the founder of Modern Orthodoxy, who authored his own fascinating commentary to the Torah:
This kiss and these tears show us that Esau was also a descendant of Abraham. In Esau, there must have been something more than just the wild hunter. But Esau, also, gradually lays the sword aside, turns gradually more and more towards humaneness, and not just Jacob on whom Esau has most opportunity to show that and how the principle of humaneness begins to affect him.
I find this to be a very helpful interpretation.
It seems that both Esau and Jacob have to change to make reconciliation possible. The same can probably be said for the current interlocutors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or in any conflict with estranged brothers or peoples.
Then and Now
Contemporary readers of the Biblical story can only wonder: Was reconciliation between Jacob and Esau only momentary? Could it have worked for the long haul?
In our contemporary situation, who is Jacob? And who is Esau? Who is the strong? And who is the weak? Or maybe we are both strong and weak at the same time?
In the Biblical story, they go their separate ways. So at least the war between them ended. No more fighting. You live here and I’ll live there. Separation becomes the operational modality. Not Peace. Just an armistice.
Some people today might call this “coexistence”. Each group lives separately. As long as you don’t shoot missiles at us, you can live over there in Gaza, or in Lebanon, or wherever. We can live our separate lives.
Or within Israel, the Arab minority and the Jewish majority live generally separately. Integration is not the model. Love and mutual understanding are really not needed for mere “Coexistence”. This is not an exciting solution, but it is better than killing one another.
Nevertheless, in our contemporary context, we have witnessed some remarkable processes of reconciliation!
The most important one is the great reconciliation between the Jewish People and the Catholic Church. (According to rabbinic thinking, the people of Israel are seen as formerly Jacob and the Christian world is represented by Esau, who becomes Edom.) This is one of the great reconciliations in human history. The religious leaders of Christianity and Judaism actually embraced and kissed at Vatican II in the 1960’s and since that time have been in genuine dialogue in a spirit of trust and mutual respect.
The second great act of reconciliation in our time was the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem, his speech in the Knesset, and his initiative to establish peace with Israel. This peace, even if it is very cold, has lasted for all these years.
The third act of reconciliation was perhaps the handshake (not an embrace or a kiss!!) between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, at the famous signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, on September 13, 1993. The intentions were honorable, but the reconciliation process has faded from sight, diminished greatly, and almost disappeared. Nevertheless, I believe that we must still hope that reconciliation between Israel and Palestine will still be possible in the not too distant future.
And last, will the followers of Judaism and Islam–the children of Isaac and Ishmael–be able to reconcile with each other in our time? The leaders of Islam will have to go through their own process of reformation (as the Catholic Church and other Christian Churches have done). But the religious leaders of Judaism will have to engage in this also, by working incessantly to reach out to moderate Muslims, who do exist, to engage in this process together. Some first steps have been made in this direction–I personally have been involved in some of them–but much more effort will be needed to pull off a serious reconciliation process by Jews and Muslims in the years and decades ahead.
So is reconciliation possible between brothers or peoples who have been in conflict for a long time? The answer is yes, but it requires maturity, wisdom and courage.
The November 24th grand jury decision to not file charges against Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown sent shockwaves across the nation and made me, like many others, angry, frustrated and heartbroken.
Although I was disappointed, I was not surprised. Historically, there has been no justice for unarmed black males killed by white police officers. There are numerous black men who have fallen victim to the “shoot first, ask questions later” practices of authorities who, after investigations, were not held accountable for their actions. Now we must add Michael Brown’s name to that list.
Many people took to the streets in and around Ferguson and in cities across the country to protest the grand jury decision. Most were peaceful in their response. However, a small group chose to vandalize, loot and set buildings ablaze. While I fully support peaceful protests, the destruction of property and endangering the lives of others is unacceptable.
All of us who value life and seek justice have an obligation to honor Michael Brown’s memory with peaceful demonstrations and community action. Anything less undercuts his memory in a way even harsher than last week’s decision.
Like many of you, I had hoped that Brown’s death would not be in vain and that it would lead to a national dialogue about how to reverse this trend of deadly police force that disproportionately impacts communities of color.
I wonder, will we look back on the Brown decision for years to come with regret over the missed opportunity to push for real changes in the way law enforcement officers engage in our communities, regard Black men and value life? Will we address the lack of economic opportunities, troubling public policies and lack of meaningful civic engagement that dominates life in Ferguson? Or will burnt-out properties and shuttered business corridors become landmarks for that community’s tragic shortcomings?
Where do we go from here to make sure these things don’t come to pass?
At the Chicago Urban League we believe that, out of every situation that seems hopeless, there is an opportunity to dig deeper and work harder to find solutions. In Ferguson and in Black communities everywhere, particularly those where the police force doesn’t mirror the community, we must demand that police officers treat everyone they encounter with basic human dignity, and enforce consequences against those who do not. We must tell our own stories and not leave them to individuals with unrighteous agendas and media outlets that are narrow-minded and limited in their thinking.
It’s time to set some ground rules for how we’re going to proceed going forward. First, if you’re at the table, you must come in peace, not simply in anger. We have to make room for young leaders. They deserve to be respected and to be heard. And finally, we must commit ourselves to turning our conversations into meaningful, strategic community action.
Here are some proposed outcomes that a solutions-driven conversation can be built around:
1) Establish a national network of organizations that stand for justice and equality to support communities in conflict. Let’s discuss ways we can bring together all groups who fight for equality, including the Latino community, the LGBT movement and women’s rights groups to create cross-sectional dialogue on how we can collectively respond to unfair treatment by those in power or anyone who dares to deny their human value.
2) Advocate for economic opportunities in underserved communities. Discontent in communities such as the one Brown lived in grows out of lack of access to a quality education and good-paying jobs. We can eliminate the societal ‘other’ by ensuring communities of mostly Black residents aren’t wanting for jobs and support for business ownership.
3) Encourage full civic engagement. When people don’t exercise their right to vote, they are more than likely to be disenfranchised and treated unfairly. The prosecutor in the Brown case ran unopposed, for instance. We must encourage African American voters to turn out for every election and support candidates that have their best interests at heart.
Where do we go from here? What has happened in Ferguson can either move us forward or push us back. Most of its residents are reasonable, peaceful people who want change. But right now, the fact is whatever happens in Ferguson affects black people everywhere as it relates to this singular issue of deadly police force. Police can either continue to act aggressively toward us, and the black community can remain distrustful and bitter toward law enforcement. Or we can use our collective voice, our vote and our right as citizens to peacefully assemble to make sure Michael Brown didn’t die in vain.
Andrea L. Zopp is president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League
I’ve had to entertain a good deal of talk about business school this year. My friends and I have ripened, both in age and experience, to the point at which most prospective students apply. We’re all four to six years into careers where we’ve tasted varying degrees of success. But we know there’s something greater around the corner. And business school is, for many, a land of greater promise than the one we inhabit now; a land that can restore us to the full glory that we were all raised to believe we’d have.
Now, my friends are a thoughtful bunch. They’re supremely educated, and they’ve done all the impressive things they need to do to become compelling candidates, even for elite schools like Harvard and Stanford. They justification business school with great conviction and this often spills over into evangelism. They point to the Wikipedia profiles of those who run our world, establishing the linear relationship between degree and power of decree. And they back-up their certainties through the liquidation of assets in preparation for tuition; a sacrifice that’s for many is dwarfed by the salary that they will forego for the next two years.
Yet for those I know, I’d say that business school is probably not the right path to pursue. I’d have that suspicion in the face of anyone trying to sell me something as confidently and aggressively as they do their own decision on this. But let’s look at what business school provides to an emerging leader. It’s hardly passion; passion can be innate, but for many it’s a hands-on process of trial-and-error. It could be the network, but is it really? If you’re already working at a top flight consulting firm or bank, you’ll have been surrounded by a phenomenal, expansive network for many years, particularly if you were funneled in from a leading academic institution. There’s a case that you’ll pick up skills, but if you’re the sort of self-motivated individual who can succeed at the numerous professional and academic hurdles that came before, you can also pretty easily teach yourself financial modeling, accounting, or whatever else you think you’re deficient in. And even more importantly, many former business school students will tell you that they did the majority of their skill learning on the job.
There are two other related justifications, which is often used by business school proponents as trump cards, but these too ultimately still rest on weak foundations. They are the notions that business school enables career switching, as well as providing a “stamp” that is increasingly necessary for being considered for many desirable jobs. My thoughts here are simple. Those who I know simply would not enjoy working for employers who are not capable of seeing round pegs and sanding off their square holes in response. Skills can be easily taught, but in a global war for talent, abilities – like those that these friends possess – are in short supply, and those who are winning that war are already seeing past the resume and designing highly-complex means to do so.
Business school may be the right decision for any one individual, but I find it increasingly hard to see why the real leaders of the future will continue to choose this path. An MBA is a form of insurance; a highly-conservative move to hedge against risk. It does establish a salary floor, and there’s certainly value in that. But let’s be honest about what it is: it’s a move for the individual who’s not confident enough that they possess what it takes to accelerate their career on their own.
The pursuit of higher education is more common in America today than in previous generations. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 41% of Americans aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in a two- or four-year degree-granting institution, far more than the 25.5% enrolled in 1967.
I have CRAP Disease, a malady that stands for Compulsive Reader of Angry Posts. I know that certain messages on social media will cause sniveling trolls to wake from their burrow in the basement to slobber over their keyboards, grunt with excitement, and feverishly hurl illiterate, nasty and incoherent comments. I start to read them anyway, even though I’ll regret seeing proof that colossal fools live among us and threaten to rot the fragile fabric of civilization.
CRAP disease can infest your soul and leave you a cynical, bitter wretch full of CRAP. Be careful, or you also could become a victim.
Here’s how to determine if you’re susceptible to becoming a Compulsive Reader of Angry Posts.
1. You read comments that others leave on online news articles. Big mistake. Trolls think they know more than elected officials, trained media personnel, and educated professionals. Facts aren’t necessary. They will write just to infect you because they love being full of CRAP and want to share.
2. You are uncontrollably attracted to comments that include multiple exclamation points!!! Yes, the writer really, really, really wants to shout at strangers. Fight the urge to debate or you’ll end up with CRAP.
3. You are fascinated with public display of ignorance. We’ve all chuckled at the vitriolic comment that says, “Your an idiot!” Proper grammar and maturity aren’t priorities to people full of CRAP.
4. You feel a need to help stupid people. Sometimes you’ll gently correct a grammatical or factual error written by someone with limited understanding of basic communication skills. That is another mistake. They will turn on you like a pack of rabid dogs and not let go until you are forced to destroy all your social media accounts, set fire to all your computers and Internet devices, move to a foreign country, and hang a CRAP quarantine sign on your door. If you have a door.
5. You are a blogger. Beware of the inherent dangers if you post a saucy, 600-word essay on a popular website. The trolls will foam at the mouth and you can almost feel the spray of spit as they pound out snarky remarks besmirching your character, your talent, and your ancestors. Reacting to these comments only will propel you onto the slippery slope toward the cesspool of CRAP.
If you need a CRAP fix, you can dabble in the occasional comment, but be ready to take some vomit-inducing drugs to purge your mind and body of the offensive swill. For example, recently a local television news station posted a Facebook message about a tragic accident where a bicyclist had been hit and killed in traffic. Here is an excerpt from one of the prolific commenters:
“This is the worst state in the united stares…i have been driving sense i was 17…man you people are dumb as a bag rocks were did you get your licenses again bahahahahahaha”
I shouldn’t be so critical, but it’s remarkable to have that many errors in such a short comment. And, as usual, the troll snorted that the rest of us were as “dumb as a bag rocks.” Obviously, my CRAP sensor intensified after reading this and I needed medication to recover. I shut down the computer, poured a glass of wine, and enjoyed a quiet evening free from trolls. Bahahahahahaha.
When you go around the table at Thanksgiving to see what everyone is thankful for, answers often include family and friends.
While all those traditional answers are great, Jimmy Fallon’s holiday-edition of “Thank You Notes” revealed the real reasons to be thankful this season. These include napping and football for making it easier to deal with all the family and friends.
To find out what other things you should be thankful for this year, check out the video above.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
Kendall Jenner has had a big year. Not only did the 19-year-old recently become the new face of Estée Lauder and make Time’s 2014 list of the 25 Most Influential Teens (with her sister Kylie), but now the model has topped the Dazed 100 list.
Even so, Jenner still has haters. After being named on Time’s list beside Malala Yousafzai and President Barack Obama’s daughters, the magazine received some backlash on Twitter. The “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star doesn’t care for the haters, though, and proved it with a new “Mean Girls” parody by Dazed Digital. In the video, Jenner makes her own Burn Book and fills it with all the hate comments and rumors that have circulated about her.
In Dazed’s winter 2014 issue, the model also opened up about rumors that other models have bullied her. “That has never happened, ever,” Kendall told the magazine. “I would see rumors of girls bullying me backstage and putting cigarettes out in my drink, and none of that has happened. Everyone’s been really cool to me. I’ve never had one girl be mean … so far.”
For the full interview, head to Dazed.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
