man, i hate overheardnewyork. so fucking racist.

I've noticed that and wondered, but thought maybe my Canadian sensibilities were too delicate? That maybe it was done in a tone I wasn't reading right.

No, those people are racists.

Is it really racism when they laugh at everyone equally? I mean the particular one that our dear Jhayne referenced was making fun of wasps. Even if it is racism, when everyone is treated equally to the derision no one gets singled out, thus minimizing the impact of any potentially racist tendencies.

Its no more or less racist than this.

that argument might, might have validity, if there weren't an undeniable real world power dynamic underlying it. making fun of the people with all the social advantages ("can you believe my poodle muffy diddled on the floor?") is a different animal than the flip-flop. especially considering the bias of reporting. having read a lot of them, i came away with the strong opinion that what is "funny" in overheard new york is "urban girls" talking to "hip-hop boys."

FWIW, every OHINY I have submitted has been printed unedited. The only editorial aspect is the subject headings and they tend to be a lot tamer/more PC than much of the content.

The content varies so wildly on that site that if you took away such a strong impression of a particular bias it may be more valid to look inwards than outwards. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

that is a pretty big load of cop-out. sure-- the racial bias on the page reflects the racial bias of the population, but that doesn't excuse it. i'm not arguing the editorial control is somehow skewing it towards racism, but rather that the population surrounding the site, contributing to the site, has a lot of twist to it. the book, from what i've flipped through of it, is much less offensive.

also, i think your statement closing your comment implies pretty strongly an ad hominem argument, which isn't ever good rhetoric. but then, ah, that is what the internet is here for, isn't it.

OK. But "Some American's are Racist" and "OHINY is Racist" are two different arguments. I would certainly agree with the former, but don't see any basis in the later.

If any group is singled out with actual hatred and derision it would be tourists.

singling out tourists is something that has always brought new yorkers together! a time honored tradition that inspires civic pride in the city of gotham.

i don't really have a good statistical argument to make re: overheard, just my impression of having the feed on my blogroll for a while. i guess my statement would fall between the "some americans are racist" & "overheard in new york is racist" poles-- i'd say "the community of readers & contributers surrounding overheard in new york tends to be racist" if i was actually spitting out an opinion. not that there aren't funny things i see quoted from there? or that every post is somehow laden was race based assumptions, but just a disturbing tendency i noticed.

YEAH!

i know just what you mean! btw, what theater(s) do you work at? the creon pic tickled something in the back of my head.

All over New York City. Some regional, VA and CA primarily. Some international. Depends on the week.

i'm trying to remember where i saw iphegenia (the one with kate mulgrew) 'cause i think that might be what it reminded me of.

Now you two totally have to go for cheesecake.

whaaaaaaaaat?

Isn't NYC famous for cheesecake?

new york is famous for everything, baby.

Don't claim L.A.'s hookers and blow.

la barely exists.

Actually, I am in the middle of a mad, desperate hunt today to find something utterly fabulous to deliver to the love of my life, who currently lives in L.A. It's his birthday today. last year I tried sending flowers, but it got all muddled. Instead of flowers, they delivered a tree with a note signed MOTHER.

way better than flowers.

also, send coke?

The most hilarious one I've found so far is a delivered bottle of chocolate dipped wine of champagne. And yes, it is the bottle they dip.

also, i'd be way more comfortable with "stuff white people like" if it had a better demographic in the info-- "by white people i mean like, upper tax bracket college educated people"-- which, actually, is one of the more disturbing things about the site-- that by saying white, it implies upper-middle class, collegiate mofos. not that it isn't occasionally funny? but poking fun at "white people" for liking things like--oh, going to expensive restaurants? or expensive colleges (just scrolling down the page) isn't really a "gotcha!" hey, white people! you are burdened with tremendous economic advantages by the accident of your birth! LAMEEEEEE.

i do appreciate the fact that "getting offended" is on the list. though i prefer to think of it as being aware.

That's a pretty interesting reaction, one I can identify with.

"I do this already"

Is this to say that "free" life resembles imprisonment in some respects, where you do what you're told, at roughly the same risks of exposure, humiliation, and abandonment?

I still wonder exactly how bad criminal incarceration could be, when I consider the difference between having to work for all the things they give you prison, in exchange for all the things they keep from you, and keep you from.

Knowing there are laws governing your imprisonment is a comfort, unless you're in Gitmo, where we've learned that laws mean nothing. I doubt art could imitate life that closely.

Well, it was meant to bring home the atrocities of Abu Ghraib, and taking away the basic liberties of sight and sound are a good way to remind people how much they take for granted.

I close them sometimes when I walk with people to discover how far I can get only listening for the ends of sidewalks, for traffic, for other pedestrians and bumps in the road.

I do that, but not when I walk with people. Another one is walking with your eyes almost closed, so you can see your feet down at the bottom of your peripheral vision, but not much else. (I don't recommend doing this on a bicycle.) I'm long-sighted and it's only going to get worse with age, so at least I get to see the world at large even if I may eventually wish for longer arms to read by.

Then again, I'm more likely to go deaf than blind. My father's line tends to have problems with filtering and distinguishing sounds from each other as we get older, as much much as a raw acuity issue.

Perhaps I should be bringing more kinaesthesis to my day.

I do that sometimes as well, actually, though never on a bicycle. I'm near-sighted, terrifically so, to the point when I finally got some new glasses, my eyes kept tearing up, because I could do simple things like see my lover's face from across a room or recognize a friend across the street.

Whereas I sometimes have to explain to a lover that when I pull my head back and look at her, it's because I want to focus on her eyes rather than just staring dreamily into the darker parts of the blurs that make up her face at close range. Otherwise, that far-away look may be because my nearest focal point is around the back of your skull.

An extra foot or so of distance really does lend enchantment to the view.

I feel very lucky when I find people who instinctively understand about glasses. There's a way to hand them to the blind person, there's a way to put them down..

I remember walking out of the glasses store with Jhayne after she got her new pair and she clutched my arm in panic. I asked what was wrong and she replied "Vertigo. Usually, if I can see the sidewalk that well it is 2" from my nose."

I am blessed with excellent eyesight and I cannot understand why it was not passed to all my children. I still do not understand why Jhayne is so accepting of the idea that she is progressively loosing her sight. I would fight it with every medical, technological and herbal remedy I could get.

Talk to me about this.

Love Mum

Have you read Aldous Huxley's The Art of Seeing? He struggled with very bad vision and faced possible blindness, but through visual exercises managed to keep it from getting worse. It's an interesting read, at the very least.

No, I hadn't. I'll look into it, if you'll excuse the pun.

I am lost here....is this fiction or are you really having issues with your sight?

I thought you mostly wrote fiction on this blog, but its hard to tell the difference, actually.

Be well

You have it backward. I very rarely write fiction. When I do, it's generally well marked.

I might have started when I was 19, practising after my ophthalmologist told me I was probably going to get glaucoma before the age of 25, but even now I still walk blind along corridors and sidewalks for fun, long after beating those particular odds. I tell myself it's insurance. I can't imagine a life without music, and so someday when I'm captured by evil torturers who say, "Osmie, tell us where the secret plans are hidden or we'll puncture your eardrums!" I can respond with a steady voice, "No, take my eyes instead!"

I'm curious, now, how many people have this odd, defensive habit.

I recognize this. Every time I go to get my eyes tested, they're worse - to the point where I am scared to go anymore, at least not as often as I should. When I go to a proper optometrist, rather then just a vision test, they make noises about my macular degeneration and tell me it's nothing to worry about....yet. Even if I could afford laser eye surgery (which I could, I suppose, if I kept my soul sucking management job rather then going to journalism school come fall...score one for me on sensible financial decisions....) I can't get it yet, as my understanding is your prescription has to remain constant for awhile, which I presume is more stable then changing every 6 months. In the meantime I quietly wait for the optometrist to one day tell me we have a problem.

If I could afford the hard lenses, my eyes would get better, but they're 150$ each for a fitting and need to be replaced every six months. Bah.

Oh, I really like that kitty pic.

Finally in a spot where I had insurance and could save up for getting Laser Eyes, so that's how I'll be spending my 4th of July weekend. No fireworks for me!

That's my Tanaqiul, that kitty, sleek sister to my Tanith, my non-pictured cat.

Having been to jail, I will say only this: the problem isn't the prison, it's the prisoners.

Which begs the question, why were you in jail?

Rape, murder, arson, and rape.

I didn't ask your qualifications.

Eh, whatever it was, I'm sure I had it comin'. I had it comin'. I had it comin', all along.

You only had yourself to blame. If I'd have been there, if I'd have seen it, I betcha I would have done the same?

Remember the "Save Jhayne from Jhayle" party/fundraiser?

Transit vandal ..... destroying busses with your bare feet. (OK woven straw sandals)

Mum again