A fashion statement at the Galliano presentation

Last week, Natalie Portman was my heroine. Not because she won the Oscar (although Mazel Tov Nats, sure the family is schlepping nachas) or because she looked radiant in that dress despite one helluva baby bump, but because she did what every public figure could do and so often doesn't.

She used her - not inconsiderable - star power for good, telling a Galliano-plagued Dior "It's me or him, mate." Or some such.

Within hours, Galliano was a goner. The fashion house might have fired him anyway - that Hitler video was a little unpalatable even for the most dedicated couture-lovers - but it's hard to argue that Natalie helped him along.

It's rare for celebrities to overtly declare themselves Jewish (we do it for them) but even less common for them to bring their religion into a public political debate. All things considered, Natalie did good.

Which brings me to my new heroine ? this model at the Galliano ?presentation? for Paris Fashion Week (note, not a catwalk show ? the press officer was very clear there was a real difference).

No idea who she is or if she has any Jewish connection at all, but kudos to her for her Star of David tattoo as she modelled the creation of a man set to go on trial for his antisemitic slurs.

Whether intentional or not, it?s a small gesture of defiance.

And after a week where the Jewish people were the punching bag for all the assorted crazies out there, it?s nice to see a Jewish symbol out there representing something positive.

Because ultimately, all the Gallianos in the world can?t take that away from us.

Source: http://www.thejc.com/blogs/jennifer-lipman/a-fashion-statement-galliano-presentation

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Grady Sizemore slugs home run in Class AAA Clippers' 1-0 win: Minor league report update

Sizemore, continuing a rehab assignment, helped Jeanmar Gomez get the complete game win. Clippers went on to twinbill win at Toledo. Scott Barnes pitches gem for Akron.

Chuck Crow, The Plain DealerGrady Sizemore continues to make progress in his comeback from microfracture knee surgery.

MINOR LEAGUE REPORT

Class AAA

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS

Clippers 1-7, Toledo Mud Hens 0-3 Grady Sizemore, on a rehab assignment as he continues his comeback from microfracture knee surgery, pulled a solo home run over the right field fence in the top of the third inning for the game's lone run in the opener of the doubleheader at Toledo. Sizemore batted in the leadoff spot and played center field. He didn't play in the second game.

Right-handed starter Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 1.42) pitched the complete game shutout for the Clippers (both games were seven innings). Gomez yielded eight hits -- all singles -- and walked one, while striking out seven.

Sizemore struck out twice (swinging and called out) and walked in his other plate appearances.

RH reliever Carlton Smith (1-0, 0.00) got credit for the Clippers' win in the nightcap, pitching two scoreless, one-hit innings. RH Zach Putnam (0-0, 1.69) earned his second save by blanking the Mud Hens on one hit over the last two innings, with one strikeout.

LF Chad Huffman (.095) was 2-for-3 with a double, three runs, one RBI, a walk and a stolen base. DH Jordan Brown (.286) walked in all four of his plate appearances and scored two runs. 2B Luis Valbuena (.375) drilled a two-run double for Columbus, which is now 6-2.

Notes: Indians CF Grady Sizemore and IF Jason Donald were transferred from Akron to the Clippers to continue their rehab assignments, and were available for the doubleheader at Toledo. Sizemore played in four games with the Aeros, going 5-for-14 (.357) with two doubles, three RBI, two walks and one strikeout. Donald played in three games with Akron, going 3-for-11 (.273) with three strikeouts....Going into Thursday’s doubleheader, 2B Cord Phelps was 11-for-25 (.440) with one double, one triple, two home runs, seven RBI, five runs and four walks. Phelps, 24, is a switch-hitter from Stanford who was the Cleveland Indians' third pick in the 2008 draft. The Indians hope he can become a multi-position player, especially able to play at second base, third base and the outfield. In 53 games at Akron and 66 at Columbus last season, Phelps hit a combined .308 with 28 doubles, seven triples, eight home runs, 66 runs and 54 RBI....2B Luis Valbuena was 7-for-17 (.412) with a homer....CF Ezequiel Carrera was 8-for-23 (.348) with one double, one triple, eight runs and five walks....3B Lonnie Chisenhall was 7-for-24 (.292) with five doubles, one homer and seven RBI....Looking to get on track were RF Chad Huffman (0-for-17, six walks, seven strikeouts) and 1B Wes Hodges (2-for-16, one double)....LH David Huff is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts, allowing nine hits and six walks in 12 innings, with three strikeouts.

Class AA

AKRON AEROS

Aeros 5, Reading Phillies 0 LH starter Scott Barnes (1-0, 1.64) pitched seven shutout innings to get the win, striking out 10 while holding Reading to two hits and not walking a batter. Barnes has struck out 17, walked two and given up five hits in his two starts, covering 11 innings.

LH Eric Berger (0.00) finished for the Aeros (5-3), pitching two perfect innings with two strikeouts.

Akron scored all of its runs in the top of the eighth inning on a run-scoring double by CF Jordan Henry (.321); a two-run single by SS Juan Diaz (.200); RBI singles by DH John Drennen (.300) and LF Tim Fedroff (.350).  

Notes: Going into Thursday night’s game, RH Cory Burns (0-0, 0.00) had earned saves in all four of his appearances, with 11 strikeouts in four innings. He had allowed four hits, no walks and one unearned run....LH Nick Hagadone (0-0, 0.00) had made three relief appearances, pitching six scoreless innings on two hits, with six strikeouts and no walks....LH Kelvin De La Cruz had lost both of his starts, but had an 0.90 ERA and had struck out 12 in 10 innings, yielding three hits and seven walks....RH Joe Gardner (2-0, 3.27) has allowed just eight hits in 11 innings, but has walked eight....OF Jordan Henry was 8-for-24 (.333) with one double, three RBI, three runs and two stolen bases....SS Juan Diaz was 6-for-30 (.200), but had one double, two triples and a home run.

Class A (Advanced)

KINSTON INDIANS

Today: The Indians (1-5) are off today. They play at Winston-Salem against the Dash (4-2) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Notes: LH T.J. McFarland (0-1, 3.00) will start for the Indians on Friday night at Winston-Salem. McFarland was charged with the Indians’ 3-2 loss to the Dash on Saturday. He pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and no walks with seven strikeouts....3B-1B Adam Abraham is 6-for-17 (.353) with three homers, one double, six RBI and five walks....LF Bo Greenwell is 7-for-19 (.368) with a homer and two stolen bases....OF Tyler Holt is 5-for-16 (.313) with a double, five walks and four stolen bases....LH Drew Pomeranz, the Indians’ first pick and the fifth selection overall in the 2010 draft, is 0-0 in two starts, but has given up just one run — unearned — and has struck out 17 in 11 innings, allowing three hits and two walks.

Class A

LAKE COUNTY CAPTAINS

Captains 7, Dayton Dragons 3 RF Jason Smit (.483) slugged his first homer of the season, a three-run clout, to key a five-run outburst by the Captains (5-3) in the bottom of the first inning at Classic Park in Eastlake. Smit's homer followed an RBI single by DH Alex Monsalve (.259).

LH J.D. Reichenbach (1-0, 1.08) pitched four shutout innings in relief, allowing two hits and no walks while fanning four. RH Clayton Ehlert (0-0, 2.25, two saves), pitching in a non-save situation, finished with a perfect ninth inning, striking out two.

Captains LF Anthony Gallas (.304) drilled his fifth double of the season. SS Nick Bartolone (.167) was 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and a walk. CF Carlos Moncrief (.185) was 1-for-2 with a double, two runs and two walks. 3B Tyler Cannon (.364) was 1-for-2 with two RBI, a run, a sacrifice fly and a walk.  

Notes: Going into Thursday night’s game, OF Jason Smit was 12-for-26 (.462) with three doubles, one triple and four walks....3B Giovanny Urshela was 11-for-28 (.393) with three doubles, six runs and four RBI....SS Tyler Cannon was 7-for-20 (.350) with one triple, one homer, five runs and four RBI....OF Anthony Gallas, of Strongsville High School and Kent State, was 6-for-19 (.316) with four doubles and two stolen bases.... LH reliever Francisco Jimenez (1-0, 0.00) had pitched seven scoreless, one-hit innings in two games. He had struck out three and walked two....LH Mike Rayl is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA in 11 innings over two starts, allowing no runs on two hits and three walks, with 11 strikeouts....RH Michael Goodnight is 1-1 with an 0.90 ERA in two starts, allowing three hits and three walks while fanning eight....Going into Thursday night, Captains manager Ted Kubiak had 976 wins in 12 seasons of managing in the Cleveland organization. His teams have made the playoffs seven times and the championship series five times. Kubiak’s lone league title was last season with the Captains. Kubiak was a major league infielder for 10 years, and played on the Oakland Athletics’ World Series champion teams of 1972, 1973 and 1974.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2011/04/minor_league_report_cord_phelp.html

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Top 10 reasons not to be antisemitic

After a thoroughly miserable week of Jew-bashing from almost all corners, here?s some light relief.

Amir Mizroch has compiled his "top 10 reasons not to be antisemitic".

My personal favourite is point seven on the list... but the whole top ten is worth a look if you need some cheering up this lunchtime.

So, who has Galliano's email address?

Source: http://www.thejc.com/blogs/marcus-dysch/top-10-reasons-not-be-antisemitic

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Beardyman - he's the coolest geek in hip hop

Of the British beatboxers who have risen to fame over the past few years, an extraordinary number -Beardyman, Bellatrix and Shlomo included - are Jewish.

Beatboxing - the art of making the sound of beats with the mouth - is known in the hip-hop world as the fifth element of the genre, after scratching, breaking, rapping and graffiti. Beardyman, known to his family in Stanmore, north-west London, as Darren Foreman, is trying to make sense of the form's appeal to Jewish performers.

"Maybe it's because it's so geeky," he says. "It might seem weird that there are Jews doing a hip-hop thing, but to be honest it's more like playing the clarinet. It's something you have to have a certain amount of discipline to do and maybe it helps that it's something you can hide from your parents. Hip-hop nerds will eschew hip-hop credibility because they'll be beatboxing in their bedrooms and on forums. That's how they roll."

Foreman, now 28, began beatboxing as young as he can remember, making "strange noises", he says. He believes that Jewish people are not as disproportionately represented in beatbox as we might think. However, he does point out that the form has often had a religious bent. Chasidic Jew Matisyahu performed a cross-culture show with the Muslim beatboxer Kenny Muhammad, while Gavin Tyte, who runs the UK website humanbeatbox.com, a hub for beatboxers, is a vicar who claims to have saved young people from the brink of suicide with the beatbox forum community as a support.

It was not religion that prompted Foreman to beatbox on stage, but seeing the pioneering beatboxer, Razel (who kick-started the genre's popularity), perform while he was reading philosophy at university.

"Everyone had told me to stop doing it all my life and suddenly it was cool; there was a market and a new way of making music, like it was a new art form."

Foreman was gigging so regularly that it became a part-time job, and soon he was winning competitions - he was twice voted the UK beatbox champion, and won best MC at Breakspoll, the beat world's Oscars. He also sold out a run of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

"It became clear to me that I could make a career out of it and it would be stupid not to," he continues. "I really should have dived right into music at a young age but I had my parents being conscientious Jewish parents. I think it's relatively rare to find Jewish parents who won't encourage their children to get a proper career that they can fall back on and mine were no different. I never thought music was a proper job."

Today beatboxing is just one component of what Beardyman does, although he credits the genre with setting him on a path to becoming a musician.

"I don't think I'd be doing music now if it wasn't for beatbox. Most people still see me as a beatboxer, but fundamentally I'm not at the moment. For the past year I've not done just me on a microphone, beatboxing." Instead, he has been creating wholly improvised shows with keyboards, effects and beats and no pre-prepared music or samples.

Foreman has just released his debut album. I Done A Album makes use of his classical music background (he was playing guitar and was writing songs on piano from the age of six) in its amalgam of genres, which includes Balkan folk music, dubstep and Aphex Twin-style beats. Best displaying his beatbox mastery is a safari-themed track in which all the animal noises are entirely his creation. It also mixes in his comedic streak, influenced by the dark humour of satirist Chris Morris.

That the album has been a long time coming - 10 years after he first appeared on the scene as a beatboxer - he puts down to the time taken to develop the complex live production system required to get across the essence of his high-energy live shows.

"That's what people know me for - that sense of fun. When you get to sitting down in front of the computer you're not exactly pumped full of adrenaline so to get across what I do live I had to invent a new way of producing."

Source: http://www.thejc.com/arts/music/48285/beardyman-hes-coolest-geek-hip-hop

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Top university's links to Syrian regime revealed

University of St Andrews to review acceptance of funding arranged by Bashar al-Assad's controversial regime in Damascus

A prestigious British university is to review the work of one of its academic research centres because its funding was arranged by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Guardian can reveal.

The University of St Andrews, where Prince William and Kate Middleton studied, has received more than �100,000 in funding for its centre for Syrian studies with the assistance of Syria's ambassador to the UK, Sami Khiyami.

Following questions from the Guardian about its relations with figures associated with the regime ? and "in view of significant international concerns about recent events in Syria" ? a spokesman for St Andrews said the university would be reviewing the centre's work "to ensure its high academic standards are maintained".

The university's association with the Assad regime has come under scrutiny in the wake of the violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Syria which is estimated to have claimed 450 lives so far.

In addition to Khiyami, who the Foreign Office confirmed last night had been invited to the royal wedding, the centre's board of advisers also boasts figures closely associated with the Damascus regime, including Fawaz Akhras, the charismatic British-based cardiologist who is not only Bashar al-Assad's father-in-law, but also acts as a gatekeeper for the family, screening British journalists before they are granted an interview with his daughter Asma al-Assad or his son-in-law.

Akhras is also the founder of the British Syrian Society, which has organised visits to Damascus and meetings with Bashar al-Assad for sympathetic members of parliament, as well as organising an investment conference in London to introduce British, European and Arab businesses to Syrian government ministers.

Opened in November 2006 as part of the university's school of international relations, funding for the centre was only secured with the assistance of Khiyami, who, according to the centre's head, Prof Raymond Hinnebusch, persuaded Syrian-born British businessman Ayman Asfari to pay for it.

Asfari is head of Petrofac, the London and Aberdeen-based oil and gas services company, which is a partner of the Syrian government in two major projects in the country worth $1bn, according to the company's figures.

The latest embarrassing disclosure over connections between a British university and an authoritarian Arab regime follows the row that engulfed the London School of Economics over its links with Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Supporters of the centre and of Hinnebusch ? including the author Patrick Seale, who is an adviser to the centre ? insist on the necessity of engaging with Syria as it appeared to be grappling with reform, and stress the seriousness of its academic work.

But critics claim that British universities should have been far more vigilant before associating with regimes with a record of human rights and other abuses.

According to Hinnebusch, writing in the Syrian Studies Association newsletter last year: "Khiyami made the decisive breakthrough in finding a philanthropist who was willing to provide the funding to launch the centre."

A well-known scholar on Syria, he insists that his centre supports "politically unbiased research", and he has written that he believes Syria is "lamentably misunderstood in policy circles and in the western media where the over-amplified voices of special interest pundits are allowed to demonise all who oppose imperial plans for the region".

Despite the fact that the opening of the centre came at a time when western governments were attempting to engage with Damascus, Syria remained ? as it still does ? a police state with few political freedoms or rights of free expression, and a state where human rights abuses continue. Among events organised by the centre, in partnership with the Orient Centre for International Studies based in Syria, was a conference in Damascus in 2008 with papers provided by a former adviser to Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's harshly authoritarian father who was implicated in numerous human rights abuses, and other pro-regime officials.

Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, who has called for an inquiry into universities' links with despotic Middle Eastern regimes, said: "We need to learn from what's happened with Libyan funding of our universities, that universities should not accept money from governments like Syria, or those with connections to the Syrian government. The danger is that you get compromised by the amount of money, and it inevitably influences your outlook on the Middle East. I've argued that universities that take money from dictatorships should receive a reduction in their public subsidy."

The MP said he found it astonishing that St Andrews had not mentioned the relationship with Syria in response to a freedom of information request he submitted about donations from the Middle East or Africa since 2000.

Robin Simcox, who studied foreign funding of universities in a report for the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: "Universities take this money claiming they're going to break down walls and open relations. What they end up doing is colluding with murderous family-run regimes. These universities have got it wrong. With the likes of Gaddafi, they say the people they're taking money from are reformers. They're notreformers, they're tyrants."

Sam Westrop, a spokesman for a student-run campaign to ensure ethical funding of universities, said that it would put pressure on St Andrews to explain its Syrian links.

However Niall Scott, a spokesman for St Andrews, said the centre for Syrian studies "was established with the assistance of a �105,000 donation from the Asfari foundation, a recognised UK charity, in 2007. This is the only external funding the centre has received. The salaries of CSS staff are paid directly by the university.

Its board of advisers comprises a cross-section of Syrian interests and viewpoints. From an academic standpoint, it is critical to be able to engage directly with all aspects of Syrian society in order to better understand the regime.

"The University of St Andrews assiduously and regularly reviews its research centres and institutes and is satisfied that the CSS has met the high academic and ethical standards required to function effectively and independently.

"In view, however, of significant international concerns about recent events in Syria, a further review of the centre is currently underway to ensure its high academic standards are maintained."

• University of St Andrews
• Higher education
• Syria
• Middle East
• Arab and Middle East unrest

Peter Beaumont

Jeevan Vasagar

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/27/syrian-funding-st-andrews-university

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Swansea mother fined after allowing teenage daughter to drive car

A MUM from Swansea let her 13-year-old daughter drive a car carrying eight passengers and it crashed, a court heard yesterday.

The teenager's mother, who is believed to be in her thirties, was teaching her daughter how to drive in the overloaded car the court was told.

Magistrates heard the girl's mother, was sat on her daughters lap when she lost control and crashed into a bin and an office.

Prosecutor Julie Sullivan said: "The mother told police she had not realised a car park was deemed a public place. She tried to activate the handbrake but was unable to prevent the collision".

Magistrates in Swansea also heard that the six teenage passengers had not suffered any serious injuries, however one did suffer a black eye following the crash.

The mother, also admitted using a vehicle without correct insurance and was charged with using a vehicle without the correct insurance and allowing her daughter to use the car without a licence.

No one involved in the case can be identified, and the woman was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay �300 compensation and �85 costs.

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Langdon resident races to ful?l a dream

Daniel Berman, a resident of Manchester Langdon - helping those with learning difficulties to lead independent lives - fulfilled a "lifelong ambition" by taking part in the race, reaching the finish in just under six hours.

"It was an amazing feeling and I am really proud of myself. I have been training for ages and was running around north Manchester and Salford to get fit." He was met at the finish by his uncle Jonathan Goldberg, greeting him: "Sorry unc, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Eddie Douek, Natalie Thwaites, Robin Raven and Darren Gale also competed for Langdon, raising �10,000-plus in total.

Runners for special needs charity Kisharon included Elstree grandmother Rolanda Hyams, running her first marathon.

The 56-year-old was inspired by the support Kisharon has given to her relative Elias Castleton, who was born with the rare genetic disorder, Mowat-Wilson syndrome. She recorded a time of five hours 41 minutes, bringing in �11,000-plus. Other Kisharon entrants included Sam Baum (4:11), who raised well over �2,000 and Simon Lande (4:36), who raised �4,000.

Sutton Synagogue members Chloe Sarfaty (Teenage Cancer Trust) and Stuart Wiseglass (Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign) both came home at around the four hour mark, raising �2,000 and �3,000 respectively. Ms Sarfaty recovered sufficiently from her exertions to proclaim: "I'm definitely doing it next year."

Craig Fisher, 36, from Borehamwood overcame pneumonia, knee trouble and an Achilles injury to make the starting line, running for the MS Resource Centre. "My superstitions are unbelievable," he said. "Every training day I woke up two hours before I ran so I could digest breakfast properly. I charged my GPS watch - which records the times and distances I run -three days in advance." In the event, he considered his 4:11 finishing time "pretty good"

Elstree property consultant Mike Hirsch, 55, completed his third and possibly last marathon in 4:47. "I don't know if I've got another one in me," he joked. This time the beneficiary was Beit Issie Shapiro, an Israeli charity helping children with brain damage and developmental disorders. Mr Hirsch, the chairman of the charity's UK board, said of his preparation: "A marathon isn't something you can just get up one day and do." He had run the Watford half-marathon as part of his training.

"Beit Issie Shapiro do amazing work and are leaders in the treatment of problems like autism," he said. To date he has raised �8,000-plus.

It was a ninth London Marathon for Lloyd Rakusen, 63, benefiting Leeds Jewish Welfare Board. As other LJWB runners withdrew, Mr Rakusen felt pressure to make the starting line. "Pounding the roads in training, it was great to feel supporters out there encouraging me."

He came home in 4:44, well ahead of fellow LJWB runners Jo Grainger and Kim Copitch, Leeds ex-pats living in London.

Len Siskind raised �27,000 for The Speech, Language and Hearing Centre, otherwise known as Christopher Place, where his younger son Ben was the first child to attend in 1995. He "got round comfortably" in 5:53.

Marathon first timer Ben Fraser, 28, from Kenton participated in support of Phab Kids, a charity which helps integrate people with disabilities and provides activities and residential holidays for both disabled and non-disabled children.

Supporting Children with Leukaemia, medical student Gabriel Chain, 19, finished in 4:45.

Source: http://www.thejc.com/community/community-life/48146/langdon-resident-races-ful%EF%AC%81l-a-dream

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