Mois : janvier 2008

Linked with 9/11’s history of tragic events, and with AIDS estimates surge in America.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer living in New York.

He writes: … I mean, who loves a loser? Really. And who loves a winner? I saw most of my generation in the ad business get blotto at lunch on whatever came out of a bottle, or what you could roll up in a little cigarette, or cut up into lines on your desk and snort. And it wasn’t just the creative guys. It was the suits. They were even worse. But to all, it was about having the performance-winning edge, the big idea that led to cold hard cash, the biggest office, the best babe, the biggest pad on Park Avenue, the biggest house in Scarsdale, etc. It was about winning. Winnnnnn-ing, you dumb mo-fo! The cash, the awards, the whole enchilada. Was it crazy? Yes, of course. Did it go away when I did? No. Of course not … (full text, December 17, 2007).

Jerry Mazza’s Professional Profile.

The Star Chamber: Shedding light on today, Dec. 12, 2007.

..

More of 9/11’s amazing history, Dec. 24, 2007.

Wealth and Hellness© — the Bush years, Dec. 21, 2007.

We don’t know until detainees are tried whether they are guilty or not. Some may be and some may not. By dismissing due process summarily we suspend the liberties which we claim to be fighting to protect. But these are old, almost tedious arguments, though their challengers have provided the insidious intent to repeat them until they are heard and understood. That is, given the record of torture at Abu Ghraib, the humiliating human experiences of Guantanamo, the slow and steady decent into the pits of ethical and moral depravity. (full text, October 2, 2006).

If you see something, say something … , July 26, 2007.

Continuer la lecture de « Jerry Mazza – USA »

Linked with Back and Fort.

Sheridan Prasso is a writer, editor, and Asia specialist with more than 15 years of experience in the region. She focuses on global issues from cultural, economic, and business perspectives – with topics ranging from the glamour of chief executives and exotic travel destinations to the grit of red light districts and garment factories. Her reportage has taken her across the breadth of Asia, from Dhaka to Hanoi, Beijing to Jakarta; her expertise in the region has led to guest lectures at the world’s top universities, appearances on television networks such as CNN and ABC of Australia, and interviews with notable figures including Nobel Peace Prize winners Aung San Suu Kyi and Muhammad Yunus. Sheridan’s articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, The Los Angeles Times, and The World Policy Journal, among other publications. The South China Morning Post has called her « the new face of the old Asia hand » … (full text).

She says: « (We need) … more stories about the realities of Asia, and fewer about the exotic nature of travel and adventure and the “Wild, Wild East.” There is a real craving for knowledge about what’s going on in Asia today, and the media –of which I am a part— is not satisfying it, but instead offering stories that continue to play into our preconceived expectations. The desire is there; now if only editors would realize the need to fulfill it. (full interview text).

..

Sheridan Prasso – USA

A stock crash is just what China needs, by Sheridan Prasso, Dec 15, 2007.

She says also: « As I explain in the chapter of my book called Matters of Men and Country, The Unbearable Lightness of Being Portrayed, in Hollywood movies, over and over again, action heroes such as Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat save the girl but don’t even get a romantic kiss at the end. I have read that in the finale of ‘Romeo Must Die’, the kiss scene between Jet Li and Aaliyah was cut after it fared badly in front of test audiences, and the director decided that American audiences weren’t ready yet to see an Asian man acting the same way that a white hero would. There is no such prohibition between white men and Asian women on screen (witness « Sideways » as the most recent example). These images from Hollywood need to change before male sex symbols from Asia can be fully regarded as masculine heroes in the eyes of Hollywood and in Western culture in general. I argue that such images – of Asian males as asexual and/or emasculated in Hollywood movies – have an impact on interpersonal relations, such as the low prevalence of Asian male/Caucasian female couples in the West » … (full interview text).

Continuer la lecture de « Sheridan Prasso – USA »