David Blaine, known for his headline-making feats of physical, emotional and mental endurance, will once again put his life on the line in a death-defying attempt to hold his breath underwater longer than any human being, which is currently a stunning eight minutes, 58 seconds. He will undertake this latest challenge after living with a life support system in a specially built human aquarium -- an eight-foot acrylic sphere -- for seven days and nights, in full public view in front of New York's Lincoln Center.

Although David has been training for Drowned Alive for over a year, when the day finally came to see the tank placed in Lincoln Center, he wasted no time in making sure the tank would be ready for the seven-day odyssey. He examined the sphere from every angle, he tested its stability, and investigated the visibility he would have while underwater. His excitement was contagious; he bounded up and down the visitors' ramps, took photographs with fans, and repeated how exceptionally beautiful the sphere appeared.

The water-filled globe is truly an exceptional sight. The sphere looks like a giant crystal ball placed at the center of the Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, and the New York City Opera. During a brilliant day like we had today it gleams, and at sunset it is illumined with the day's fading colors. For those unfamiliar with this location, David's stunt will take place on the Plaza at Lincoln Center, which is located at Broadway & Columbus Avenues at 64th st. in Manhattan. He will be submerged alive on Monday, May 1st at noon.

When asked why he chose Lincoln Center, David replied that "for years, as a child, I would spend time in the New York Public library for the Performing Arts." It was there that I learned so much about Houdini and other great performers. It was there that I first dreamed I might stage performance events that would be free to the public & that would challenge our mutual conceptions of what was humanly possible."

In the early days of planning for Drowned Alive, there was discussion of making the tank a cylinder, or even a hexagon, which would be simpler to understand visually. When seeing the tank today, one can only be thankful that the impractical, non-camera friendly sphere was chosen, for the Drowned Alive tank is incomprehensible: immediately beautiful yet difficult to comprehend at every step.

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If you are already knitting, bring your project and share ideas & secrets with other enthusiasts. Yarn and needles are supplied for beginners. Starter kits are available for sale.

Classes are limited to 20 people. Please pre-register by calling 212-387-0707, or take a chance and stop by.

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Enter Etai Pinkas, the youngest city councilman in Tel Aviv and one of the few openly gay politicians in Israel. Formerly the head of Agudah, the Israeli Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Trans-gender association, Etai is actively involved with promoting gay rights in Israel and is currently trying to persuade the Israeli government to recognize gay marriages performed abroad.

Stop by the KGB Bar on May 1st to meet Etai Pinkas and learn about the struggle – the other struggle – in the Middle East.

More 2004 Parade photos and our photo source

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"Race has long been a significant aspect of the Italian experience in
America. Italian immigrants encountered a racist system based on socially marked categories of “white” and “black.” During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Italian Americans found themselves in a liminal racial state, not quite black and not quite white, while, at the same time, they received the benefits of whiteness bestowed by the federal government. It was during the 1930s and 1940s that Italian Americans asserted a “white” identity that became entrenched after World War II and during the civil rights era. Recent work by scholars and artists has prompted Italian Americans to question and problematize the construction and meaning of whiteness in Italian American history and culture.

Spoken language and the written word contributed considerably to the ways that racial and national identities were formed, codified, ascribed, challenged, embraced, and reproduced, and ultimately impacted economic and political realties. Philological scholarship influenced social policy and legislation regarding the place of Italian immigrants in American society. Newspapers, with their daily columns, editorials, and letters to the editor, shaped public opinion concerning matters of race. Fictional accounts created textual narratives that negotiated the reader’s understanding of race and racial status vis-à-vis Italian Americans. This symposium presents
recent scholarship on the complex ways in which language and text situated Italian Americans within the context of a racialized America.

Schedule

Coffee and assorted pastries. 10-10:30 AM

Welcome 10:30 AM

Dr. James L. Muyskens
President
Queens College

Dr. Peter Vellon
Acting Executive Director
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

Introduction
Dr. Joseph Sciorra
Assistant Director for Academic and Cultural Programs
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute

Chair: Dr. Joseph Sciorra

“‘Lynching Those Magnificently Miserable Italians’: Racism, Nativism, and the Twinning of Italianness”
Professor Joseph Cosco, Old Dominion University

“Philological and Social Scientific Theories of Language and Race in the Construction of Italian Americans, 1880s-1920s”
Professor Nancy Carnevale, Montclair State University

“‘Always the Question of Race’: The Italian Language Press, Racial
Consciousness, and the Creation of Italian American Identity”
Professor Peter Vellon, Queens College

“Guido d’Agostino’s Olives on the Apple Tree: Passing, Race Discourses, and Italian-American Literature”
Professor Steven Belluscio, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Discussant:
Professor David Roediger, University of Illinois

Directions to Queens College

By Car: The Long Island Expressway to Exit 24/Kissena Blvd.

By Public Transportation: Take the #7 train to Main Street, and then take the Q25, Q25-34, Q34, or Q17 bus. Take the E, F, G, R or V train to Forest Hills/71st Avenue, and then take the Q75A bus.

The Student Union Building is located at the corner of Kissena Boulevard and Melbourne Avenue.

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“To witness genocide is to feel not only the chill of your mortality, but the degradation of humanity. Even the most brilliant photography cannot capture the landscape of genocide...This room is empty, though it is full of people. It has been emptied not by disease or disaster, but by hatred of other people.” Fergal Kean

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Tonight's host Jedi welcomes live performances from Creatures With Preacher Mann, Junk Science, Groove Bros, Slow Suicide Stimulus and Lodeck, DJs Elle, IXL, Gravy, Rob Flow, and Synapse. Check out art from Frost 215, Wrona, Filth and Chrick. Plus free beer from Brooklyn Brewery from 11 to 12.

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