"This Year we are slaves. Next year may we be Free Men." This quote has been part of every traditional Jewish Passover Seder I've ever been to (with the occasional language-adjustment for gender) and I always wonder what it means. Of course, we could take it literally and say "these were words uttered by former slaves, and we repeat them so as to honor them, as a matter of tradition." and that would still be cool and meaningful, since now we're goin on the chronological equivalent of 6 Stacks worth of Jewish muthahf*ckn history. #chea. #we still here.
But I think another perspective is to see it as a challenge to who we are as people TADAY. I think of the Buddha, and the idea of "liberation from suffering." Enlightenment is supposed to be freedom, so non-enlightenment must be slavery, albeit a form of slavery that is shared by nearly everybody. #"health consists in having the same diseases as one's neighbors" #the Matrix. in other words, we are still slaves in the Scarface sense: "you know why? bcuz you don't have the guts to be who you wanna be." #that's the bad guy.
so every Passover Seder, we acknowledge that we are less than free. but what is freedom? what is enlightenment? iono. but i think it's like the lyrics from the theme song from "Grease": "I solve my problems and i see the light...we start believing now that we can be who we are." (other deceptively deep lyrics from this underrated song include "only real is real...we got to be what we feel....this is the life of illusion.")
in conclu, at this time of year J-Crews everywhere gather to, at the very least, articulate that we aspire to something more. Or, at the very, very least, that we are aware that there is something more than our lives as we are currently living them.
there's another quote that's part of every traditional Seder: "In every Generation, each person is obligated to view themselves as if they personally had come out of Egypt [and from slavery]." why's that? bcuz only a former slave can understand the importance of being free.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Started From the Bottom
This song has been on my mind a lot lately, and not just bcuz Drake looks like a young Ben Stiller in the video. I went to White Plains Family Court last week to help a client file for a "Guardianship petition" to have his sister named his legal guardian (his moms either doesn't know how to / won't take him for doctor's appointments, haircuts, etc.). While we were filling out the paperwork a teenager walked by singin "started from the bottom now we up..."
the only reason I didn't finish the line was cuz I was like "Brett, you're at work, maintain professionality," but then we kinda caught caught eyes for a sec--I was checkin out this gray Phoenix Suns' hat he had on--and then he was like "what the f*ck you lookin at cracker"?!?!
that may be a first for me, but it also got me wonderin if I woulda been less of a cracker if I had said the line. Now, I can't make too much of it bcuz knowing a Drake song is not like hood credibility or anything, but maybe it would've made me more relateable, and less like a hostile, foreign whiteman.
Either way, I didn't take it personal. if he's wandering around White Plains Family Court by himself at 11 AM on a Friday, chances are he's goin thru some tough times right now. as I left the courthouse, I saw a gun tossed on the traintracks and told the conductor, who called it in to the po-lice. typical cracker.
the last thing I was kinda thinkin about was Drake's cross-class trajectory. as the video makes clear, his "momma's house" is not the same "everything in my momma's name" type situation that we usually see in rap. in fact, rap is one of the very few places where people cross class lines regularly. for all our terrible history it's still easier to cross racial lines in America than class ones (in my experience). and yet there is one section of our popular culture that does it regularly: rappers.
Ironically, Drake prolly isn't one of them. "started from the top, now at a totally different place but still also at the top." not as catchy. nobody gonna be singin that at White Plains Family Court.
the only reason I didn't finish the line was cuz I was like "Brett, you're at work, maintain professionality," but then we kinda caught caught eyes for a sec--I was checkin out this gray Phoenix Suns' hat he had on--and then he was like "what the f*ck you lookin at cracker"?!?!
that may be a first for me, but it also got me wonderin if I woulda been less of a cracker if I had said the line. Now, I can't make too much of it bcuz knowing a Drake song is not like hood credibility or anything, but maybe it would've made me more relateable, and less like a hostile, foreign whiteman.
Either way, I didn't take it personal. if he's wandering around White Plains Family Court by himself at 11 AM on a Friday, chances are he's goin thru some tough times right now. as I left the courthouse, I saw a gun tossed on the traintracks and told the conductor, who called it in to the po-lice. typical cracker.
the last thing I was kinda thinkin about was Drake's cross-class trajectory. as the video makes clear, his "momma's house" is not the same "everything in my momma's name" type situation that we usually see in rap. in fact, rap is one of the very few places where people cross class lines regularly. for all our terrible history it's still easier to cross racial lines in America than class ones (in my experience). and yet there is one section of our popular culture that does it regularly: rappers.
Ironically, Drake prolly isn't one of them. "started from the top, now at a totally different place but still also at the top." not as catchy. nobody gonna be singin that at White Plains Family Court.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Firsts
Idono y but I started blogging again.
I usually only blog in foreign countries, but I guess New York is like living in a bunch of foreign countries at once. Since this post is inaugural I want to start it off w/ this article from the NYT via my Momma (luv u momma!) about immigrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers from Africa, who've been resettled in places like Maine and have to face New England winters as their first experiences with cold, snow, ice, etc. I kinda relate #UofR.
but for real this got me thinking about other "firsts" for new immigrants to the U.S., and just how new it really all can be. Dave Egger's "What Is the What" is good for this and I've also seen some firsts firsthand in my work with immigrants. Some highlights:
-immigrant kid gets in the elevator with me to come up to my office. Looks around nervously. Watches closely as I push the button for the floor. Takes my cue as we walk out. "Is this your first time in an elevator?" I ask. She nods.
-helping a client navigate the T in Boston. He is soooo interested in what lines go where and how you can get different places. "Did you know the Red Line goes to Ashmont?!?!" Yes i did, but i didn't find it so fascinating before.
-last summer in Kenya preparing a timeline of a client's life to help her apply for resettlement in the U.S. I ask, "did this happen in 2001 or 2002?" Her response: "which one is earlier?" Creating a timeline when you've never been taught time. I heard a colleague relate a similar story recently in which a client's life was constructed via world events. "Was this before or after the Americans came?"
I wonder how crazy hard a transition it must really be. Desert then blizzard. Vegetable markets then Wal-Mart. From feet to elevators. And no concept of the drastic nature of the change until you experience it. But I guess a lot of firsts are like that. It's like my Civil Procedure Professor said [and excuse me for paraphrasing shout out SECTION ONE]: "I could explain Civil Procedure to you, but it's like sex. You won't understand the words until you do it."
I usually only blog in foreign countries, but I guess New York is like living in a bunch of foreign countries at once. Since this post is inaugural I want to start it off w/ this article from the NYT via my Momma (luv u momma!) about immigrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers from Africa, who've been resettled in places like Maine and have to face New England winters as their first experiences with cold, snow, ice, etc. I kinda relate #UofR.
but for real this got me thinking about other "firsts" for new immigrants to the U.S., and just how new it really all can be. Dave Egger's "What Is the What" is good for this and I've also seen some firsts firsthand in my work with immigrants. Some highlights:
-immigrant kid gets in the elevator with me to come up to my office. Looks around nervously. Watches closely as I push the button for the floor. Takes my cue as we walk out. "Is this your first time in an elevator?" I ask. She nods.
-helping a client navigate the T in Boston. He is soooo interested in what lines go where and how you can get different places. "Did you know the Red Line goes to Ashmont?!?!" Yes i did, but i didn't find it so fascinating before.
-last summer in Kenya preparing a timeline of a client's life to help her apply for resettlement in the U.S. I ask, "did this happen in 2001 or 2002?" Her response: "which one is earlier?" Creating a timeline when you've never been taught time. I heard a colleague relate a similar story recently in which a client's life was constructed via world events. "Was this before or after the Americans came?"
I wonder how crazy hard a transition it must really be. Desert then blizzard. Vegetable markets then Wal-Mart. From feet to elevators. And no concept of the drastic nature of the change until you experience it. But I guess a lot of firsts are like that. It's like my Civil Procedure Professor said [and excuse me for paraphrasing shout out SECTION ONE]: "I could explain Civil Procedure to you, but it's like sex. You won't understand the words until you do it."
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