by Mel Weiss

Movin' On Up

Well, the primaries are a-passin’, and while the outcome’s definitely still up for grabs, it sure feels like a picture is coming into focus, doesn’t it? Some candidates are movin’ on up a little bit faster than others, I think. And so we, the nation, must move our thoughts along as well. I enjoyed the constant infighting and logarithmic calculations provided by such a large initial number of candidates, but the focus keeps telescoping, and now we’ve got columns in the NYTimes advising Obama and McCain on how to attack each other,
and a piece by Camille Paglia at Salon.com about the meta-attacks happening in each party. (Also? I know I just linked, without irony, to something Camille Paglia wrote. The next time I claim any level of inclusivity, I’m holding this up as evidence.)

Apparently the news about Kosovo’s independence caused a lot of public celebration in New York today. Of course, the opposition stepped it up as well, as Serbian youth rioted in Belgrade. Last night, a friend and I saw the truly excellent “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”, a Romanian film that deals with a needed abortion in the Nicolae Ceauºescu era, so that part of the world was on my mind anyway. Although I refuse flat-out optimism right now, that film reminded me both that there are revolutions worth having, and also that they don’t always work out perfectly. I will try to remain hopeful that Kosovo really is moving up.

And, just when I was feeling that all this political stuff was so removed from me, I discovered that I heart Hannah Farber. Her post on jspot, Jewish Funds For Justice’s blog, calling out both the Atlantic and the rabbinical council (and, really, much of the Jewish establishment) for the ridiculous marry-and-reproduce pressure facing Jewish women is awesome. The personal is damn well political, and I was so pleased to hear an intelligent and articulate Jewish woman throw down like that. Unfortunately, I have since been reminded that the well-worded arguments she makes are in no way new—that this pressure has been something Jewish feminists, and others, have been attacking for some time. Who’s ready to move on up from here?

–Mel Weiss