Tuesday Evening in Chelsea: ESSAM in Conversation with Svetlana Mintcheva at The School of Visual Arts

 

(Video courtesy The School of Visual Arts) It was great to see ESSAM -- we knew him as Essam Attia when he was one of our best Literature and Writing students for two semesters in the 2006-2007 school year -- return to The School of Visual Arts to discuss his work talk about art in the street as being distinct from art in a museum, regulations of public space and the relationship between an artist’s mission and the constraints of the law. with Svetlana Mintcheva, founding director of the Arts Advocacy Project at the National Coalition Against Censorship.

THE FASHIONISTA MERCHANT OF VENICE now available at Amazon Kindle Store from East Flatbush University Press for 99 cents

East Flatbush University Press, a division of Dumbo Books of Brooklyn, is happy to announce that THE FASHIONISTA MERCHANT OF VENICE is now available at the Amazon Kindle Store for 99 cents.

As in the print edition, THE FASHIONISTA MERCHANT OF VENICE is a classroom-friendly (even for yeshivas!) version of William Shakespeare's classic play with every occurrence of the word "Jew" replaced by the word "fashionista." Thanks to editor Richard Grayson, the gripping story of Shylock is now both inoffensive and stylish, as in these excerpts from Launcelot Gobbo's Act II soliloquy in which he weighs leaving his employer, who can be more demanding than even Anna Wintour:

Certainly my conscience will serve me to run from
this fashionista my master. The fiend is at mine elbow and
tempts me saying to me 'Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, good
Launcelot,' or 'good Gobbo,' or good Launcelot
Gobbo, use your legs, take the start, run away...'Budge,' says
the fiend. 'Budge not,' says my conscience.
'Conscience,' say I, 'you counsel well;' 'Fiend,'
say I, 'you counsel well:' to be ruled by my
conscience, I should stay with the fashionista my master,
who, God bless the mark, is a kind of devil; and, to
run away from the fashionista, I should be ruled by the
fiend, who, saving your reverence, is the devil
himself. Certainly the fashionista is the very devil
incarnal; and, in my conscience, my conscience is
but a kind of hard conscience, to offer to counsel
me to stay with the fashionista. The fiend gives the more
friendly counsel: I will run, fiend; my heels are
at your command; I will run.

While it is not so easy to run in heels, many educators and their students will doubtless be running to the Amazon Kindle Store to buy copies of THE FASHIONISTA MERCHANT OF VENICE.

East Flatbush University Press publishes "THE FASHIONISTA MERCHANT OF VENICE" -- with every occurrence of the word "Jew" replaced by "fashionista"

The East Flatbush University Press division of Dumbo Books is proud to announce the book publication of The Fashionista MERCHANT OF VENICE, a new classroom-friendly edition of Shakespeare's classic play with every occurrence of the word "Jew" replaced by the word "fashionista." For example, one revised passage in the play reads:

In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my fashionista’s gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.

Thanks to editor Richard Grayson, a former English teacher at Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School and Fashion Institute of Technology and an Arts Pants Company manufacturer's rep who is responsible for the popular and innovative HIPSTER HUCKLEBERRY FINN, the story of stylish Shylock is now available in an inoffensive 109-page trade paperback edition, available for $7.99 -- or it can be downloaded for free. With a text made completely kosher for students everywhere, The Fashionista MERCHANT OF VENICE will be embraced by educators with air kisses from Milan to Seventh Avenue!

East Flatbush University Press publishes "The Hipster HUCKLEBERRY FINN" -- with every occurrence of the N-word replaced by the word "hipster"

The East Flatbush University Press division of Dumbo Books is proud to announce the book publication of The Hipster HUCKLEBERRY FINN, a new classroom-friendly edition of Mark Twain's classic novel with every occurrence of the N-word replaced by the word "hipster."

Thanks to editor Richard Grayson, the adventures of Huckleberry Finn are now neither offensive nor uncool. The 383-page trade paperback edition is available for $18.99 or can be downloaded for free. The text is also available on a Dumbo Books website.

Miami Herald reports on Richard Grayson's Radio Free Broward

The Miami Herald reports today (Saturday, June 9, 1990) on Richard Grayson's Radio Free Broward protest, mailing copies of 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be to South Florida, where a federal judge has declared it obscene.

Richard Grayson's Funhouse column in the Hollywood Sun-Tattler takes on bluenoses

Richard Grayson's Funhouse column in the Hollywood Sun-Tattler today (Saturday, April 25, 1987) takes on bluenoses.