A night at a strip club…from the perspective of a nervous, moralistic, horny feminist male in the midst of a three-year stretch of externally-enforced celibacy

 

So...is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

How does a person appreciate the beautiful naked female form when it is writhing about an aluminum pole for the entertainment of hoards of horny men?

How does a person channel his moral guilt for enjoying a strip tease without having discussed it with the strippers themselves to find out the circumstances that led them to strip?

And how does a person hold that moral stand when sexual contact with the fairer sex has eluded him for three years and counting?

All of these conundrums and others are explored in an absorbing essay by Torff at the acclaimed Feminist blog That’s What She Said. Here is an excerpt from that essay, an absolutely fascinating POV account of the writer’s struggles to reconcile his guilt and his dick. Enjoying the exploits of dancing, stripping women is more complicated than you thought…

(For the entire essay at That’s What She Said, click here. And for more work from Torff, click here.)

On the John: The Birthday Column

On the John

Upon the midnight hour of his 28th birthday

1^st draft started November 5, 2009, 11:54 PM, final draft finished November 6, 2009, 1:06 AM

Originally published on the readjack.com blog November 6, 2009

The writer, as he looked the moment he crossed the lip of his 29th November 6th.

At 11:17 PM, the text arrived: 

            ONE MORE HOUR!!

…but my wonderful friend of seven years was wrong. Because I was born in New York. And so as far as my body and breath were concerned, it had been November 6^th for 17 minutes.

11 minutes earlier, I had picked up the phone to call a friend of 16 years. I had just finished reading a commentary he’d written about his very first strip club experience (the earlies of April, 2005, upon the eve of The Illini Loss), and I was filling a promise made earlier in the evening (“…and I will call you as soon as I finish it…”).

From rapreviews.com, critic Eric Sirota breaks down ‘The Process of Addiction Has Its Costs’ by Phillip Morris

Phillip Morris :: The Process of Addiction Has Its Costs :: Second Hand Music 
as reviewed by Eric Sirota

 

An aptly named album from a curiously named artist.

The corporate-bashing, ironically-named, nerdcore Chicago producer/MC, Phillip Morris, is not beyond comparison, but the comparisons will not be helpful to those lacking an unhealthy obsession with hip-hop. He’s a black Tim Fite, a good-natured Quasimoto, Vordul Mega with a sense of humor, Paul Barman with flow, etc., etc. These points of reference are not useful. They only became meaningful to me since I started prizing rap hipsterdom over social interaction, but, hey, if masturbating while listening to Digable Planets b-sides is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. Say what you will, it hasn’t been that long since I got laid. The point is, Phillip Morris’s latest release, “The Process of Addiction has Its Costs,” is fucking brilliant.

Our President: the debut release of Jack M Silverstein

Our President, by Jack M Silverstein

Grace Publishing and Keylog Books are proud to introduce Our President, the debut release from social critic and essayist Jack M Silverstein. The book includes six Obama-related columns penned from October 2006 to October 2009; Silverstein’s Election Day essay; and the previously unreleased extended narrative chronicling the author’s trip to Washington D.C. for the inauguration.

From the Bush/Obama transition to the Jeremiah Wright controversy to the president’s Nobel Peace Prize, this slim volume covers everything 21st century readers will wish to know concerning the 44th president’s rise to office and his first year as America’s chief role model. It also features first-hand accounts of November 4, 2008 at Grant Park, and January 20, 2009 in D.C., welcoming the reader into these historic times with Silverstein’s trademark flair for crisp storytelling, pertinent observation, and social commentary.

Foreword by political activist Mike Swiryn. Look for Silverstein’s newly-edited Bear Down and Get Some Runs in spring 2010, also from Keylog Books. Our President will be available online and in select book stores for the 2009 holiday season. Stay tuned for official release date!

From rapreviews.com, critic Eric Sirota breaks down ‘Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives EP’–the 2005 release by Aesop Rock

Aesop Rock :: Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives EP :: Defnitive Jux Records 
** RapReviews “Back to the Lab” series **
as reviewed by Eric Sirota

When it comes to hip-hop, Sirota digs the weird stuff.

It’s a funny thing. With a few notable exceptions, I pretty much listen to hip-hop/rap. Still, even though I love hip-hop, or at least its potential, I can’t really say that I “like” hip-hop music. I follow it extremely closely. I try to listen to the new releases as soon as they come out. I write for RapReviews.com, for goodness sakes. But I’m really not sure I like hip-hop. If I liked hip-hop, why would so much of it piss me off?

On the John: Death became her

On the John
Death became her
Originally completed October 26, 2009

 

 

No matter where it is, no matter who its for: cemeteries are weird.

 

The afternoon began at the cemetery, where my parents, my brother, my mom’s oldest friend and I had the dedication for my grandmother. She died in March 2008, but due to various circumstances, the dedication was put off.

In fact, I had forgotten all about it. She’d been gone a year and a half, Papa for seven, yet because they were practically immediate family, their lives are woven into ours in ways that cannot be altered by death.

The readjack.com All-Bears Post-Ditka Team: THE FULL ROSTER

READJACK.com presents…

The readjack.com All-Bears Post-Ditka Team

October 23, 2009: The Whole Sha-bay-uh-bang

The final push. The final cuts. The final decision.

 

LAST MEN IN-Bobby Engram, Raymont Harris, Ted Washington

LAST MEN OUT-Danieal Manning, Adrian Peterson, Ryan Wetnight

BIGGEST SURPRISE-Only two quarterbacks, only two tight ends

In contention: Everybody

On the John: Sloppy seconds now first

On the John

Sloppy seconds now first

Originally completed October 22, 2009 

Fumble once, that's life. Fumble twice (in a row), that's a problem.

 

 

 

Four days later, this is what kills me about the Atlanta game: we actually played pretty good. I mean, when we weren’t absolutely destroying our own chances, we were playing quality football. Talk about Good Rex-Bad Rex…the loss to the Falcons featured nose-bleed highs and face-planting lows.

And yes, in Sunday night’s maddening game of no cigar, the lows ultimately reign. If it don’t get worse than blowing a one-point lead in 11 seconds on a 44 yard kick return, a 26 yard sideline pass, and a 48 yard field goal, no one can accuse the 2009 Bears of not trying. They just spread their gaffes over the entire game, like when they…

NT-Winnetka principal Timothy Dohrer argues in favor of the renovation

In today’s Winnetka Talk, New Trier (Winnetka) principal Timothy Dohrer discusses the benefits of the proposed 180-200 million dollar renovation project and the limitations of the current facilities.

Dohrer’s position is that the school is in need of…

…updates to better serve its handicapped population.
…classrooms that are better suited to the technological needs of modern teachers.
…a larger cafeteria than the one built in 1912.
…replacements on aged buildings that suffer from “water damage, leaky roofs, single-pane windows, wasted spaces and small classrooms.”

In an open letter to New Trier community members, long-time NT principal Wes Baumann praises Winnetka’s current facility and all of its recent updates. Like Principal Baumann, Principal Dohrer is a man I came to respect during my time at New Trier. During my senior year (the 1999-2000 school year), Mr. Dohrer was an English teacher. I worked with him on the New Trier News, where I was an editor and he was one of two adult staff membrs. Like Wes Baumann, I know that Tim Dohrer is a caring educator who makes decisions with the students’ best needs in mind.

For details on the renovation, please click here, here, and here. More to come from me on this story throughout the week.

From rapreviews.com, critic Eric Sirota breaks down ‘Jerusalaam Come’–the new album by Juice Aleem

Juice Aleem :: Jerusalaam Come :: Big Dada Recordings
as reviewed by Eric Sirota

Juice Aleem spits mythic hot fire on "Jerusalaam Come"

I took a lot of stupid classes in college. One of them was called “Red Flags/Black Flags: The History of Marxist and Anarchist Thought.” Why I felt the need to spend a whole semester reading about the rivalry between two modes of thought which both ultimately lost out, I’m not sure. But we did read this one really interesting book. I don’t remember the author’s name, but I think he was French. Sorel. Something like that. Anyway, Sorel wrote that, in order to bring about change, oppressed groups construct “social myths” that inspire revolutionary action. Jaque “Or-Whatever-His-Name-Actually-Was” Sorel was writing about 19th Century French labor unions, but if he was around today, I think he would write about hip-hop.