Today’s ceremony was awash with big headliner names. President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and the President of Israel spoke via satellite and President Clinton headlined the event giving a speech about genocide – with particular focus on the Holocaust, Rwanda, and the Balkans.

Despite the impressive ranks of the aforementioned speakers, the speakers who impacted me the most were the survivors themselves. They put a living face to the stories of millions of dead. One of the speakers was part of the initial group who conceived of the Holocaust Museum idea. Relocating to Skokie after the war, this gentleman became very involved with other survivors in his area. He and his contemporaries started to talk about their experiences and teach others about the Holocaust. Through their stories and teachings, these survivors touched other community members and a core group of dedicated people emerged to share survivors’ stories with a greater audience. Through the efforts of this devoted group, the Museum project came to life. This particular speaker’s name escapes me, as I have now lost the program, but his message was strangely positive for such a somber day. He was almost so positive that it seemed out of place. After thinking about this, I realized that today’s museum opening is quite a positive thing to be celebrating. The subject matter is of course hard to comprehend from a humanity standpoint, but the chance for these survivors to be heard and to educate others is such a gift. This is probably why the latter, but prominent half of the Museum’s name is “Education Center”.

And education and knowledge are key. The second speaker that impacted me, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, spoke of his time in a concentration camp. He said the Holocaust started to boil over into his native Hungary quite late in the war, but that Hungarians had been left in the dark about the “final solution”. It was 1944 that Nazis entered his village and started to deport Jews. He said had they known the fate that would await them at the concentration camps, these Hungarian Jews would have fled. Elie Wiesel repeated, had they known, they would have left. He scolded the Western media, in particular the New York Times, for putting reports of concentration death camps on inner pages of their newspapers and not the front cover. Had they taken the camps as seriously as they should have at the time, the New York Times could have influenced other media and the word could have gotten out to a lot more people and perhaps saved more lives. The Hungarian townspeople simply did not know. This makes me feel horrible about the lack of media coverage in other genocides or mass killings – namely Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur.

Information is so powerful – and in Dr. Wiesel’s and other Holocaust victims and survivors’ cases, a matter of life and death. Given the age of most of the survivors, time has become a pressing issue in terms of sharing information about the Holocaust. What is special about this museum is that we thankfully can dedicate it during the lifetimes of survivors, but as the Holocaust falls father into our history and we lose survivors to old age, their stories are lost with them. Now is the time to get involved if you care to learn about, understand, and stand up against these types of atrocities. I strongly recommend you visit the Museum and meet survivors in the Education Center while you can.

The first time I saw this ad, I donated some money.  Now it seems like all I ever see are these disturbing ads and they really make me queasy.  I asked Billy and Josh to do a “New York Times advertisement test” and neither of the two get these ads on their NYT (strangely, they get credit score ads…got financial troubles, fellas?).

Am I being targeted for specific ads?

I know that Google has targeted ads based on words that appear in your google searches or in emails in gmail.  I wonder if the NYTs has caught on to this strategy, too.

If it is true that I am somehow being targeted for ads based on my spending habits (donating) or any other source of information, I am extremely irritated by this.  For me, these ads and seeing animals being tortured is incredibly disturbing.  To illustrate, I once was out with Brenda in Vienna and we walked past an animal torture movie.  I had to run down the street with my ears plugged because it hurts me emotionally to see and hear this sort of thing.  She mentioned that she did not know how much that actually disturbed me before.

Is it right that these advertisers get to constantly throw items of pain in my face?  Can we extrapolate what it means for me to see tortured animals to something other people are strongly concerned about…say…abortion?  Would it be right to constantly bombard a pro-life person with grusome photos of abortions?

Do you think it is okay to have such targeted ads online?  How are the advertising companies getting their information to target me in the first place?  Does anyone know how targeting ads work and how I can guard against them?  Is deleting my “cookies” good enough?

I looked up the numbers of drivers arrested for DUI in Cook, DuPage, and Kane Counties. These three counties’ DUI arrests combined amounted to 43% of the state’s DUI arrests between 2004 and 2006. (I do realize that these particular counties have large populations compared to the rest of the state and have not run numbers on DUI arrests compared to population yet.)

Here are the numbers from the 2008 Illinois DUI Fact Book (interesting read, by the way)

Drivers Arrested in Illinois for DUI

Cook County: 15,219 (2004) — 15,258 (2005) — 14,144 (2006)

DuPage County: 5,254 (2004) — 5,166 (2005) — 5,285 (2006)

Kane County: 1,240 (2004) — 1,497 (2005) — 1,702 (2006)

Cook, DuPage, & Kane: 21,713 (2004) – 21,921 (2005) – 21,131 (2006)

% of DUI of state totals: 43% 44% 42%

State-wide: 50,147 (2004) — 50,192 (2005) — 50,109 (2006)

I think the high prevalence of drunk driving in the Chicago suburbs is a by-product of not having reliable or accessible public transportation. (Sure, there are taxis, but I honestly only know one person who actually calls one when he has had a few too many.) Illinois has tough DUI laws like revoking licenses and my favorite—a new law requiring first-time DUI offenders to install a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device in their cars starting 1 January 2009. A DUI is embarrassing—there are clear stakes at hand. I think if potential drunk drivers had a choice to take public transportation or face a DUI, they would take the public transit.

My question is: where are the “late night” or “all-night” busses that stop at a variety of suburban locations or the inexpensive or free “impaired driver” taxi cab ride? Should the local government offer transportation assistance to those under the influence? Should places that serve liquor band together and create some safe transportation network for their patrons?

Highlights from this article addressing the topic:

“Baby boys born to women exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy are born with smaller penises and feminized genitals.”

“Half the male fish in British lowland rivers have been found to be developing eggs in their testes; in some stretches all male roaches have been found to be changing sex in this way.”

“Male alligators exposed to pesticides in Florida have suffered from lower testosterone and higher oestrogen levels, abnormal testes, smaller penises and reproductive failures. Male snapping turtles have been found with female characteristics in the same state and around the Great Lakes, where wildlife has been found to be contaminated with more than 400 different chemicals. Male herring gulls and peregrine falcons have produced the female protein used to make egg yolks, while bald eagles have had difficulty reproducing in areas highly contaminated with chemicals.”

“Two-thirds of male Sitka black-tailed deer in Alaska have been found to have undescended testes and deformed antler growth, and roughly the same proportion of white-tailed deer in Montana were discovered to have genital abnormalities.”

“At the other end of the world, hermaphrodite polar bears – with penises and vaginas – have been discovered and gender-benders have been found to reduce sperm counts and penis lengths in those that remained male.”

What are examples of “gender bending” chemicals?

• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
• Pesticides
• Flame Retardants
• Phthalates (plasticising chemicals)
• Organochlorines
• Dioxins
• Alkylphenols

In what products are these chemicals found?

• Cosmetics, shampoos, and toiletry products
• Cleaning products
• Pesticides, insecticides, herbicides
• Plastics
• Processed food
• Pharmaceuticals
• Chemicals for industrial use

This scares me. ~Segen

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Many Europeans accept nudity as natural. Many Europeans also say that nudity and sex on television is totally okay. Sex is human. Bodies are ordinary—even naked ones. They do not understand Americans preoccupation of censoring all nudity on TV, while Americans allowing so much violence on television. (Child movie censors in Europe censor for violence, not nudity, while in the US, it is often the reverse. The movie “Chronicles of Narnia” in Germany is rated equivalent to the US’s PG13). The European illustration about TV censorship makes sense to me. Why DO we care so much about nudity? Why DO I feel bashful about being in the buff around others? Why wouldn’t I trust my friends and family to see me naked?

I think my shame of being nude stems from our culture. But why is it shameful to be nude in our culture? Why is it in some cases illegal to be nude in our culture? I’m tired of being prude. And I just decided that I will walk from the shower to my room in the morning without clothes or a towel on regardless of what the members of my household think.

A very crude personal illustration:

I was walking in Central Park with my German friend, when I found myself suffering from a wedgie. I asked him if we could stop a moment so I could pick it. Puzzled, he asked what a wedgie was. My explanation began, “Well, a wedgie is when your underwear gets shoved up your ass—and it usually happens while you are walking.” He paused a moment and then a lightbulb went off: “Oh, you mean, ‘Arsch frisst Hose!’” I then paused a moment, and said, “Yes, yes. ‘Ass eats pants.’” What was really astounding to me was that my whole life I considered the underwear as the “actor” in the wedgie process—the underwear shoves itself up the ass—, whereas my German friend saw the ass as the cause of the wedgie, while the underwear passively shoved by…

Moral of the story: the word “wedgie” is very limiting to explain the phenomenon of underwear being eaten by your ass.

**Shoutout to Billy Joe—who is finally getting his passport stamped for the first time this winter. I’m so happy for you!

]]> http://www.urbanagora.com/2008/11/wedgies-and-words.html/feed 4 http://www.urbanagora.com/2008/10/berlin-street-art.html http://www.urbanagora.com/2008/10/berlin-street-art.html#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:38:28 +0000 Segen http://www.urbanagora.com/?p=1394

Berlin is one of the most “bombed” cities in the world. (“Bombed” meaning “covered with graffiti”). Almost every corner of Berlin is tagged—no matter if the neighborhood is rich or poor. The wealthy, posh neighborhood of Mitte is plastered with street art from artists like XOOOOX, while poor, immigrant neighborhoods like Kreuzberg are battle grounds for street gangs and also the preferred canvases of famous international graffiti artists like the Italian artist Blu and the French artist JR.

It was amazing to see so much graffiti in Berlin, especially considering that the prevailing stereotype of Germany is that it is a meticulously clean and orderly country. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the graffiti in Berlin, however, because of the rich history of graffiti on the Berlin Wall. The western side of the Berlin Wall was a gigantic slate for Berlin’s creative counterculture to express themselves for nearly three decades. When the wall fell, the graffiti artists sought new canvases to bomb on sides of buildings, subway seats, street signs, doorways, mailboxes, boats, and almost any other surface you can dream up.

Berlin is an ever-evolving city of culture. Streetscapes, architecture, and fashion are constantly changing. It was truly a pleasure to walk outside my DDR-style apartment building each morning to discover a freshly painted piece of art to ponder for the day.

For more information about Berlin’s street art, check out this New York Times video, the following books, or my online photo album.

During the reign of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the number of Stasi employees reached 91,000 full-time and 190,000 unofficial collaborators. With the official and unofficial employees combined, there was one Stasi informant for every 60 East German citizens. This is an extremely high proportion of Stasi in comparison their Soviet counterparts; the Soviet Union had one KGB officer for every 595 citizens. So basically, if you were an East German citizen and were even contemplating doing something against the law—you really better have been careful.*

Who went to Stasi prison? Basically anyone who resisted the GDR was a “hostile element” and was sent to prison. Not only were East Germans detained at the prison, but sometimes West Germans who denounced the GDR were kidnapped and brought to East Germany, and then imprisoned or killed. Many prisoners were journalists, authors, actors, and politicians who merely held beliefs against the government and did not necessarily act on those beliefs. In addition to these political opponents was your everyday, average Joe—(and Jane and her adolescent children, too). For example, my tour guide was a former prisoner. He was locked up in the Berlin prison for a year in 1985 for merely attempting to cross the Hungarian border into the West. He did not even get the opportunity to physically attempt to cross the border, as he was confiscated on the train from East Germany to Hungary; his foolishly purchased one-way ticket roused authorities’ suspicions and they apprehended him on the train. My tour guide was 18 years old at that time.

Life at Berlin’s Hohenschoenhausen Stasi Prison was grim. Up until the late 1950’s, all prisoners were locked up in the unheated basement cells of a former Nazi factory building. These cells were known as “U-Boots” (translated: submarines) because they were cold, damp, subterranean, and bunker-like. Cells varied greatly. There were single cells (about 4’ x 7’) with a wooden bed and a bucket for a toilet. There were 8-person cells (which were just a few feet wider than the single cells) equipped with a bigger wooden bed and a bucket. My tour guide said most prison new-comers waited days before they relieved themselves—as they were embarrassed to defecate in front of seven other people standing less than a foot away. In addition to these two cell types, were the water-torture cells. These cells were lined with water-proof rubber and slowly filled. Prisoners were kept in the pitch-black cells for days.

In the late 1950s, a new prison building with plumbing and heat was built around the old building using prisoner-labor. The new building marked the move from physical violence against the prisoners to psychological methods. Interrogation rooms replaced the 4’x 2’ x 1’ “rooms” in the U-Boots where prisoners had to “stand” for hours on end. In the new building, prisoners were isolated and subjected to the mercy of their captors. Expert interrogators would coerce prisoners to incriminate themselves and loved ones. The prisoners were left for years uncharged and awaiting their fate. In terms of the legality of this captivity, the saying at the prison went—“No person, no problem.” These people were erased.

When East and West Germany legally reunited in 1990, the prisons finally were closed. At the former prisoners urging, the site is now a memorial open to the public.

Aside from the terrible violence—both physical and psychological, what struck me the most about this prison was that truly common people were sent there. People were sent there for just believing in something the government did not. People were sent there just for merely wanting to leave. When I read the life-stories about various prisoners and especially the young journalists in their late teens and early twenties, I couldn’t help but to think that what we do right on this Urbanagora.com website would probably have landed us all in that abomination called Berlin-Hohenschoenhausen.

(*As an aside, it is now possible for former East German citizens to retrieve their Stasi files. My professor here in Germany did this and discovered that her best friend was a Stasi informant and had written many files on my professor and her family. Also, if you are looking for a movie that deals with the subject of Stasi surveillance, I highly recommend the movie “The Lives of Others” (Das Leben der Anderen).)