Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

Yes, but what happens in the locker room?

This print ad is part of a campaign for a modeling agency. What is odd however is that so many male models today could very well have come from a soccer (or rugby) team (what do I know about these sports anyway?) since the trend is for highly athletic bodies and men who look straight (whatever that means). The stereotype of the posing fey gay boy does not really represent the models used by most men’s fashion houses nowadays, or for that matter, this modeling agency. So why a modeling agency would make fun of the very people they are trying to attract is beyond me.

On a personal note, I prefer a fey boy to a rugby player any day.

Those campy lesbians at Olivia

From an ad agency in Helsinki (via the site Ads of the World) comes this advertising campaign for Olivia Magazine (brought to you by the company that started as a lesbian record label and grew to encompass a travel agency, a community website, an Olivia branded credit card and real estate holdings that are being developed into lesbian retirement housing) using campy 50s style imagery of housewives does this woman to the left remind you of Julianne Moore in The Hours?). Perhaps I should run a poll about my use of parenthetical statements.

In any case, not only are Judy Dlugacz and Amy Errett (founder and CEO of Olivia respectively and I might add, respectfully) way successful (consider how PlanetOut has managed to mismanage what ought to be a cash machine) they clearly have a sense of humor. There goes another stereotype.

However I do find myself asking a couple of questions. Is this really the Olivia Magazine for the lesbian community? If so, is there really enough of a Finnish lesbian demographic to warrant publication of same much less a paid advertising campaign? And why, given that the publication itself is in Finnish, is the headline in English? As Stuart Elliot ritually ends his 20 questions column (and I feel free enough to do this given that we went to high school together in Canarsie), “You ask a lot of questions for someone from Brooklyn.”

Random Drag In Advertising and the Archaeology of Links

Checking the industry blogs this morning I came across a truly odd bit of local TV advertising from Detroit for a cross-dressing exterminator on Adfreak. Now there have been many local spots that feature the business owner. Here in New York, Tom Carvel’s hard as gravel voice was the perfect foil for his soft ice cream. Mrs. Potamkin in her furs just dripped nouveau riche as she, and the family, appeared in spots for their Cadillac dealership (speaking of Cadillac, Republic of T has a recent post on their advertising that while lengthy, is quite interesting even if as an ad exec I don't believe it captures either the reality or the true madness of the business).

In any case, here we have the distinct pleasure of Mr. Harris, owner of this pest control service, selling his services while appearing in drag. In a way that appears completely random. No connection to the sell at all. And no connection to the call to action at the end of the spot. That said, here I am not only writing about it, but linking to it, which is something any advertiser wants — free additional publicity that stems from paid advertising. Of course, the problem for Mr. Harris is that I don’t believe I have any readers in Detroit. And since I live in NYC I  cannot avail myself of his services or his fashion advice. 

As I mentioned, I came across this spot on Adfreak, which is a blog I check regularly as a creative advertising professional. But Adfreak found the spot on Consumerist (a site I ought to be looking at regularly) which in turn found it on YouTube (of course). Such is the archaeology of this particular link. A sort of 6 degrees of link separation on the web can connect you to anyone on the planet now. This continues to amaze me on a daily basis regardless of how commonplace it is. My reaction is probably a function of my generational cohort, which is a euphemistic way of saying I’m old.

Virgin copywriters rule

Over at Joe My God the Chelsea Rules version of the Virgin Mobile ad was posted in a photo big enough to read the full copy. And Joe is quite right, it was witty enough indeed to give Virgin the free ride (the goal of every adman and client). That said, the copy was rather stereotyping of the men of that nabe (then again I can't complain because every one of the ads play with stereotypes of the nabe it's in or for that matter, the group, since there is also a Taxi Drivers Rule version of the ad that mentions everything from cel phone use to incense).

This may sound like sour grapes of course. As a creative director/copywriter I seethe with envy — not of the writing but of the client. When you see a terrible ad, it is often the client. And when you see great work, it is almost always the client. Yes, creative people do the work, but it's clients who approve it, change it, set the terms. Yes, creative people all have to live with restrictions, but clients whose work isn't talked about usually only have themselves to blame. Oh, and while the Virgin writer was simply genius, the media buyer could use some help. Here on the UWS there were ads for the UES. No thank you. However...

That said, there was an even more amazing Virgin ad -- snipe -- the  advertising that goes up on construction sites and is generally illegal, promoting Virgin Airlines. But it wasn't a one dimensional ad. It was a barf bag about 3 feet long and 1 foot deep protruding off the side of the wall.

The headline? HOW DID AIR TRAVEL BECOME SO BLOODY AWFUL?

The copy is just as witty as the cel phone ads, though not so different an idea from the excellent Continental Airlines commercial "Take Away" is the very same concept and has been running for quite a while. It's beautifully executed: the music, timing, copy, acting all work to capture the feeling of being held captive on an airline that no longer delivers any human service at all. The Virgin barf bag is the same concept, different execution, in the Virgin voice, which is a voice that is a pleasure to read, so that I was happy to stand there and read the entire bag from top to bottom. And having a unique voice in the marketplace rather than the corporate blather that passes for copy in most advertising makes Virgin a praiseworthy client. Bravo Virgin.

Pottery Blog: Cornwall Bridge and Bernard Leach

It's Memorial Day Weekend and there's a sale at Cornwall Bridge Pottery. I remember the first time I visited the studio near Kent, Connecticut. I was staying with friends at their 18th Century farmhouse, decorated with traditional Japanese antiques. The combination was perfect. I was visiting on my annual trip back home from Tokyo at the time, and I had already started my ceramic addiction in Japan, having first visited Mashiko in 1981, where I learned all about Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach. What I did not know is that eventually of course, Leach returned to Britain, where other potters served as his apprentice. Much as in Buddhist and Hasidic schools there are lineages.

So when I got to Cornwall Bridge I recognized Hamada and Leach instantly, and it was no surprise to learn that indeed some of the potters in this group got the Japanese influence by way of Leach and his students in England. The pitcher and matching tumbler you see here I got on that first trip in '81, and they exhibit the tradition "tombo" or dragonfly design so popular in Japanese folk ceramics.

Last weekend when I was up at the Nehirim retreat in CT, I was perilously close to Cornwall Bridge. I have enough table ceramic ware to serve a 6 course dinner for 12 easily, with plates and vessels from kilns all over those horned isles. So good thing I didn't stop in. But there is a sale on this weekend, so if you're anywhere nearby, you should go and experience tableware as it was meant to be — simple and beautiful. When you touch it you feel the hands of the potter who formed it.

The Seductiveness of Words: Poetry, Fiction, Memoir and Perry Brass

Back in the '70s there was a gay men's poetry journal called Mouth Of The Dragon. It published young unknowns and Frank O'Hara. It introduced me to incantatory ruminations of Joe Brainard and to the quietly sexy poetry of Ian Young. Among the writers I discovered in those pages was Perry Brass. It was odd I hadn't actually met him since I'd been at GLF meetings at Alternate U., but then those meetings were often so chaotic (and at 18 years of age, I wasn't interested in speaking to anyone over the age of 21) that the memory is still a blur of arguments about consciousness-raising groups and whether the men should all shave their beards in solidarity with the women (who obviously didn't have beards). All this is a roundabout way of saying that I finally met Perry at a party at the LGBT Center a few weeks back to honor Mark Thompson for his photo exhibit on Queer Spiritual Leaders (Men's division). I was happy to meet two men whose work has guided me in my spiritual growth as a gay man (Perry and Mark together on the right).

And then, a week later, Perry was back at the Center, along with a group of other writers, all there to read their contributions to an anthology called Identity Envy. It was an intense evening, with a most affecting reading by Rosebud Ben-Ami, a story called Mishmumken: For Those Who Cannot Choose. This was the story of a lesbian relationship between an Israeli-American Jew and a Palestinian-Israeli Christian. There was a wild story by an exciting young writer named JDGuilford about the meaning of dreadlocks to black men, and what happens when a gay black man takes on this style so filled with sexual-political meaning. And then there was Perry, reading his memories of growing up Jewish in the South with the fantasy of being a blond Christian girl (this reminded me of Katherine Kurs' memoir in Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery, in which she recounts growing up a Jewish girl who wants to become a nun and dressed her dolls as nuns).

Yes, Identity Envy is about how we all harbor the desire not only for the Other, but often the desire to be the Other. It's a rich collection well worth reading. As is Searching For Your Soul, which I will have to write about at length another time.

One reason I was particularly happy to meet Perry and Mark at the party those weeks back is that the three of us can now be found under one cover. We three all have work published in another anthology, Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit In Storytelling, which has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award (ceremony is next Thursday and the burning question of the moment is, should I go to the awards or go to the opening night film at the NewFestival? I have tickets to both! WIll words seduce me,or will it be the image on the screen?) I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to be in print besides these men I so admire — and in fact, you'll also find in Charmed Lives stories by Jay Michaelson and Andrew Ramer, two queer jubu heroes of mine. 

But back to Perry, who has been quite busy since his poems appeared in that little zine 30 plus years ago. He has quite a literary oeuvre, and I urge you to check it out. Not  to mention his  seduction advice.

What Do New Yorkers Line Up For At The Start Of Memorial Day Weekend?

Two photos snapped at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 40th Street at 9am on Friday, May 25th. A line of people going up the avenue and snaking around the corner onto East 40th. What were these good folks waiting on line for? The opening of the Mid Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library. The sheer variety of people, old and young, native and foreign born, in suit and tie or in workman's overalls and cap (how cute is that?) the democracy of desire for the printed word provided for the public, by the public and for free fills be with joy. And who was it who gave the United States its first public library?  Our founding grandfather, Ben Franklin. Hooray for books and booklovers!

Today is the 49th day of the counting of the Omer: Malkhut of Malkhut

The quality of Malkhut is that it received all that flows from above. It opens to the flow. And so it is associated with the Divine Feminine, the feminine aspect of the godhead, the Shekhinah. And today, as the last day of the count, having purified one's own spiritual receiver as best as one can, one opens to the flow of the Creator to receive one's revelation on the night of Shavuot, tomorrow.

As a queer man, I have always appreciated the odd feminizing of the "body of Israel" which has traditionally been defined as all the Jewish men of age. In this world, the body of Israel becomes the Bride of God on the night of Shavuot, opening to God the way a bride opens to her husband on the night they consummate their wedding. I love this, not only because of the queer implications, but because it recognizes that we must integrate the feminine, the divine marriage must happen within before the Holy One-ness will rest within the Mishkan of our body. This whole process of the count has been a journey towards wholeness, oneness within. And that only happens when we no longer reject the Goddess that live in all of us, but embody her as a way of receiving and loving the male god as well, since of course, originally we were created male and female.

So tune in your receivers. Or as the old bluegrass  tune goes:

Come and listen in to a radio station,
Where the mighty host of Heaven sing,
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on),
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on),
If you want to want to hear the songs of Zion,
Coming from the land of endless spring,
Get in touch with God  (get in touch with God)
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on).



Chorus
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
And listen to the music in the air,
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
And glory to share  (glory share)
Turn the lights down low  (lights down low)
And listen to the Master's Radio,
Get in touch with God  (get in touch with God)
Turn your radio on.

Brother, listen in to the gloryland chorus,
Listen to the glad hosannahs roll,
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
If you want to feel those good vibrations
Coming from the joy God's love can bring,
Get in touch with God  (get in touch with God)
Turn your radio on.

Chorus
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
And listen to the music in the air,
Turn your radio on  (turn your radio on)
And glory to share  (glory share)
Turn the lights down low  (lights down low)
And listen to the Master's Radio,
Get in touch with God  (get in touch with God)
Turn your radio on.

Rabbi Steve Greenberg on Queer Kiddushin

Last weekend at the Nehirim retreat Rabbi Steve Greenberg gave a talk on what Jewish same-sex marriage ceremonies might look like. I was not as interested in the halakhic reasoning to read this into the tradition because as you might guess if you read this blog with any regularity, you'll know that while I consider myself an observant Jew, it's because I observe from a distance. However, I was very interested in his search for a Jewish mythic metaphor to give meaning and resonance to our relationships in a particular way, finding a place for our relationships within the work of tikkun olam.

I took a very shaky video of the talk. If you're interested, it's a little more than an hour. But it is rich with provocative and thoughtful ideas. I don't necessarily come out in the same place he does, but I feel enormous gratitude to him for leading the way in this area. The file takes a while to load because it's a big file. Be patient, and be sure to double click on the box to start the quicktime vid.

Today is the 48th day of the counting of the Omer: Yesod of Malchut

All of the energies from above pour through Yesod into Malchut. So it should be no surprise that Yesod is often imagined as the male sexual organ and Malchut as the female sexual organ. And this is the day we focus the generative energy of receptivity, on the way in which opening to the flow of the Divine makes us pregnant with possibilities.

It's interesting that Malchut is called sovereignty when you consider that it is the sefirot that receives all from above.

How does one make a deep connection with another, how does one connect within to the creative energy than come through us when we are in a place of receptivity? Clearly this is when deep connection and creativity can happen. The real question is, how receptive can anyone be? This is the question that's up for me today? How open and receptive can I be to the Divine energy that surrounds me. A good question, since I spent the weekend surrounded by intense Divine Energy at Elat Chayyim's Nehirim retreat of queer Jews. And a good weekend it was. But it was hard to stay as open as I would have liked. But no self criticism here. Just awareness. And a growing anticipation for the final day and the day of revelation.