Celebrity Slope
Every Saturday, Asher and I (and sometimes Sarah) go to a “Tot Shabbat” sing-a-long at the local reform temple. It’s run by a twentysomething youth group refugee with a guitar and an armful of quasi-Jewish feel-good tunes for the under-five set. Asher loves it – especially the part at the end when they get grape juice and challah.
The closest kid to Asher’s age is this cute little girl named Mamie. We often sit next to her and her father Douglas. All of the other parents chatter while the kids jump around to the music, but Douglas sits back, reserved and monosyllabic. Today, his wife came, and was a bit more personable. We were exchanging small talk when Mamie announced to us that her name was Mamie Rushkoff, and it hit me: Douglas was Douglas Rushkoff - godhead of the pop-postmodernism movement of the late Nineties and onetime keyboardist for the punk band Psychic TV.
Truth be told, I’d always been a little annoyed by (and a lot jealous of) Rushkoff. His writings seemed like a watered-down version of what I studied in undergrad and am attempting to study in my graduate program. I panned his 1998 novel Ecstasy Club in a review because it felt like it was written by someone who did his research about cyberculture by reading a few headlines in USA Today.
Of course, he’s actually a really smart guy, and he’s a recurring fixture on national television whenever they need to sex up a story on technology and society. Turns out he teaches a graduate class at NYU. I checked out the syllabus, and it seems legit. Too bad I can’t take it – That’d be too weird.
Every Saturday, Asher and I (and sometimes Sarah) go to a “Tot Shabbat” sing-a-long at the local reform temple. It’s run by a twentysomething youth group refugee with a guitar and an armful of quasi-Jewish feel-good tunes for the under-five set. Asher loves it – especially the part at the end when they get grape juice and challah.
The closest kid to Asher’s age is this cute little girl named Mamie. We often sit next to her and her father Douglas. All of the other parents chatter while the kids jump around to the music, but Douglas sits back, reserved and monosyllabic. Today, his wife came, and was a bit more personable. We were exchanging small talk when Mamie announced to us that her name was Mamie Rushkoff, and it hit me: Douglas was Douglas Rushkoff - godhead of the pop-postmodernism movement of the late Nineties and onetime keyboardist for the punk band Psychic TV.
Truth be told, I’d always been a little annoyed by (and a lot jealous of) Rushkoff. His writings seemed like a watered-down version of what I studied in undergrad and am attempting to study in my graduate program. I panned his 1998 novel Ecstasy Club in a review because it felt like it was written by someone who did his research about cyberculture by reading a few headlines in USA Today.
Of course, he’s actually a really smart guy, and he’s a recurring fixture on national television whenever they need to sex up a story on technology and society. Turns out he teaches a graduate class at NYU. I checked out the syllabus, and it seems legit. Too bad I can’t take it – That’d be too weird.
posted by isaacjosephson at 9:25 PM
6 Comments:
Barbara Rushkoff up until recently wrote a parenting blog/column at babble.com. She has a blog of her own too, plotzworld, but she mostly just writes about she and Mamie being sick. Small world, huh? Although it seems like Brooklyn has quite a few of those ever so popular parenting blogs.
Park Slope has a wonderful, robust parent community, the center of which is Park Slope Parents (parkslopeparents.com).
Park Slope does seem like a very appealing community for our family. Right when I first came across your blog I looked into a lot. I really do not know if I would want to deal with NY winters though, and the expense! I admit it though, you guys have got something good going on out there!
He's the guy who got "mugged" taking out the trash and then went all over the media complaining about how awful Park Slope is in an effort to bring down real estate prices so he could buy something. He sounded like a jerk on NPR - I just emailed you the link.
Amy - I am a neighbor of the Rushkoffs and know all about the terrible mugging at gunpoint that he went through. You are providing a disservice to community here in Park Slope by spreading lies.
-- Barry on 6th Street
I dunno... If I were mugged when I went to take out the garbage, I'd be pretty pissed off, too. And if I could be pissed off on broadcast media, more power to me.
Post a Comment
<< Home