YO BRO IT'S ME LITTY » Social Commentary

What It’s Like To Occupy Wall Street

Litty — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:40:48 +0000

I’ve mentioned a few times in this blog that I’m not a big fan of the present day news media. They have an uncanny ability to make a mockery out of just about anything. True to form, the media has been all over the place in their coverage of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Despite the incessant reporting, I still had no clue what was actually going down. So on Saturday I took a stroll down to Zuccotti Park to see for myself what this is all about.

I wasn’t planning to blog about my visit but in conversations over the weekend people seem pretty interested to hear about it. I appreciate getting thoughts and views from people I know on current events and issues so I figured I would do the same for you.

I’ll keep this simple and share my “notes”.

Zuccotti Park is awfully small and is more of a plaza than a park. It’s tucked in between a bunch of large buildings. It isn’t the most spacious area to start a mini cooperative community. Everything is densely packed together. If you’ve never been to the park it is probably much smaller that what you’ve imagined or have seen on television.
The park is in the shadow of Ground Zero, which is one block to the west. It is an eerie juxtaposition as Ground Zero always stirs up emotions in me every time I walk by.
On Saturday there was lots of activity along the perimeter of the park. There were barricades, cops, protesters and people flowing by to check out the action. It’s a bit intimidating to actually go into the park. I felt like an outsider to their little society and that I might even somehow be the enemy. Everything in the park is covered in blue tarps and tightly packed together.
The Occupy Wall Street operation has significant organization and funding. The occupiers were handing out an oversized newspaper flyer called The Occupied Wall Street Journal. There were lines for food stations, a first aid tent, and a people’s library. The occupiers have formed “working groups” for food, medical, facilitation, graphic design, donation and outreach. At the front of each tent was often some kind of table or setup with some type of message/protest.
It felt like the fact that the occupiers had formed their own society (and seeing how long they can keep it going) is actually their goal. They view Zucotti Park as a beacon of hope/protest/voice for the entire repressed world.
The main protests/messages are around anti-war messages, environmentalism, wall street greed and government corruption. It seemed like each person had his or her own personal issue or hot topic that they were protesting.
It doesn’t seem like there needs to be a specific list of demands or more organization around messaging. This is not a political protest as much as a societal protest.
Some of the protesters are jarring in their radical beliefs. I wasn’t up to try to engage in conversation, as it seems like they are in such a different place it would be awfully hard to relate.
I’ll classify the people who were out there as counter culture. Lots of tattoos, piercings and unique styles. I could see how a less thoughtful observer might classify it as a “freakshow”. Much of the 99% of America might be shocked or uncomfortable with some of the occupiers.
The “we are the 99%” slogan is misleading. The occupiers in Zucotti Park seems to be the small percentage who refuse to conform to society norms or mainstream public opinion. There protests also seemed far more radical than the desires of 99% of Americans.
There’s an amazing energy to civil action. Everybody there seemed pretty proud and certain that they are doing something meaningful. They seem to have a spirit and determination to keep this going as long as possible. There may also be some people that are just there for the experience. It did have a bit of a Burning Man type feel.
It does seem like the demonstrations are reverberating throughout the nation and the world. Interesting to witness the epicenter of it.
The thing that really got me thinking is that it seems like people who don’t participate in mainstream society are protesting mainstream society. More than anything it seems like they just want to be heard and to be recognized. Maybe this is at the core of protesting.
Finally, I’ll leave you with the knowledge that two different people made positive comments about my St. John’s hat. That really got me pumped up. A few more comments and I’m ready to join their tribe.

Hopefully my perspective helps you better understand Occupy Wall Street. Hit me up if you want to share your take. I’d like to hear it.

The Friend Zones

Litty — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 07:05:50 +0000

I have become very aware of the deeper meaning of Facebook friends. If you had asked me a few weeks ago how many friends I had I would have had no clue. But once I became conscious of my number I started to check on other people.

I searched for a Facebook App that would show me the amount of friends for each of my friends. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find one. So I spent a few hours messing around on Facebook and checking on friend’s friends.

It was a social experiment. I learned some interesting stuff.

According to Facebook statistics the average member has 130 friends. But of the 150 friends that I checked the average amount of friends was actually 759. Maybe it’s true that Long Island Jews really do all know each other.

The maximum amount of friends that Facebook allows for a member profile is 5000. I guess Zuckerberg’s cronies have figured out the human brain would explode once it has to deal with so much bullshit. Outside of a few quasi-celebrities, my most popular friend was a guy I know from the digital world, Philip James, who is the founder of a wine website called Snooth. He has over 3160 buddies. The top ten on my list included many of the most social, outgoing and well-connected people that I know like my friend Marni (1712). I mentioned to my colleague Jeremy Goldberg, who often refers to himself in meetings as the “Human LinkedIn” that he was near the top of my list. He turned to me, smiled, and said “1806 baby!”.

Brian Litvack has 482 friends. If this was a race (which it is) I have a few things working against me. I’ve developed a policy where I never “friend” another person. I just wait for them to friend me. If I don’t know or like the person who has requested to be my friend I will neither accept or reject their request. Instead I’ll just leave it with the other 62 people in “friend request” purgatory. Looking at this list of potential friends is one of my favorite things to do on Facebook. Alas, I’m by no means the most social/friendly/extroverted wolf in the pack. On some crazy, abstract level this digital world really does tie back into real life.

After completing my extensive research and analyzing the data I’ve also decided to create personality profiles based on the number of Facebook friends one has. Now, instead of trying to figure out your deal I just need a three digit number to inherently understand who you are.

(Note: This really only applies to people between the ages of 23-39. Anyone who is younger is playing in a whole different ballgame as they’re basically square in the middle of the Facebook Generation. If you’re over 40 congrats on having a Facebook profile at all!)

L-HOOPS FACEBOOK FRIENDS SCALE

Not On Facebook
You are a fascinating species and will one day be studied by biological anthropologists. I’m not sure if it’s a blissful unaffectedness, a luddite mentality or a privacy paranoia that keeps you away from the biggest social invention since the high five.

I do find it interesting that you can actually exist in society (quite well might I add) without a Facebook presence. Almost makes me think the whole Facebook thing is a big waste of time. Makes it quite clear that Facebook needs to become more of a utility if Zuck is ever going to really take over the world.

You are in an inevitable fight against time. But I applaud you. I’m curious to learn how you’ve filled your brain in the countless hours you would have wasted on Facebook if you were part of the revolution.

Less Than 300 Friends
It’s like you are here but you are not. Either you’re not into Facebook, not into people, or haven’t figured it out yet. Either/or – something’s not right. You’re missing out on life and you don’t even realize it. Please find somebody very social and confirm that’s not who you want to be.

Have you not yet figured out that when the term friends is modified by the adjective Facebook it just means dudes you recognize or have had at least one meaningless conversation with in your life?

Although, the FB average is 130, only 5% of the people I checked had less than 300 friends. It’s almost hard to join Facebook without quickly hitting this benchmark.

300 – 665 Friends
You are normal, average, mediocre. It’s hard to pinpoint your exact personality, but there’s a chance you might not be crazy. In addition, it seems like you’re using Facebook in a healthy way. Obsessed but not life-altering obsessed.

666 Friends
You’re a mensch.

667 – 1000 Friends
You tell yourself that you know everyone. Hey, you are pretty damn popular so congrats. Secretly, you believe you are really popular and pooh-pooh really, really popular people as social climbers. You would never admit to caring about your number of FB friends…but you do. If you fall in this category, you’re telling yourself (as you read this) that you can’t help it that so many people friend you. It probably has something to do with your natural charm, good looks and easy disposition.

1000+ Friends
You’re quite the social butterfly. You take pride in knowing everybody and being well known. Facebook was made for you and you are unapologetic about how much you love it. When you walk into the room (real life or digital) you want to own it. You know exactly how many facebook friends that you have and are proud of it. Actually, you have tendonitis in your ring finger from accepting all these friends. When you go to the doctor to have your finger checked you friended the secretary, the doctor and the valet guy. You make comments out loud like “how do I even know that person” deep down knowing you met them waiting on line at Uniqlo and just had to connect forever with them. You watch TMZ….while you check Facebook. You wish you were on TMZ. You look at people with less friends with you as losers (but in a really sympathetic way). Let’s face it. You’re killing it at life!

The Inspiring Silver Project

Litty — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:18:26 +0000

Last Tuesday afternoon my friend Stacey sent out an email to all of her friends introducing the Silver Project. Stacey created a holiday gift, a very cool calendar (.pdf file), to raise money for the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. It’s a charity for which she has a strong personal connection. Stacey did this all to inspire, remind, support and give back. Her words are far more poignant than anything I can write so I encourage you to read her note. (note: I can’t find the email message online but can forward it to you upon request.)

In just one week Stacey has sold over 850 calendars. It’s a staggering amount and more than she could have ever imagined. Her new goal is to sell 1000 and I know she would be delighted if you could help her get there.

I’ve had a front row seat (or at least an open IM conversation window) since before she launched and have been rooting her on. I love to see people challenge themselves in an entrepreneurial way. Stacey works for a company that does custom promotional/gift product distribution. Her friend Stephanie is a talented photographer. Creating a cool calendar makes lots of sense. I also love to see people put their time and effort into things they are passionate about. It seems like the personal reward is always there no matter if the outcome or result goes your way. If you talk to Stacey you will see she has the fire in her to make this work.

If one of Stacey’s goals was to inspire it certainly has rubbed off on me.

Over three years ago I blogged about wanting be more involved in a philanthropic cause. I wanted to devote some of my time to a project that was more selfless. I wanted to work with family and friends that I may never have a chance to work with in my professional career. I wanted my time to be spent on something I helped create rather than contribute to something I might not be passionate about.

I’ve been thinking about this for years trying to formulate exactly how I want it all to come together…and then to muster up the courage to go out and do it. A few months ago I emailed my friend Kras sharing some of the themes, ideas, and goals I wanted to achieve through the organization I wanted to create. Kras is measured and thoughtful so it took him some time to warm up to the idea. After a bunch of conversations I think we are very much on the same page and both excited to move forward in 2011. When I received Stacey’s original note the first thing I did was forward it on to Kras with some more thoughts to incorporate into our plans.

One of my major life goals for 2011 will be to try and get this project off the ground. I’m partly writing this blog post as another way to motivate and challenge myself to follow through on this goal. I hope to be sharing more information with you, as well as asking for your support, contribution, passion and skills in the near future. Stay tuned…and buy a damn calendar!

Awesome Website Bro: DonorsChoose.org

Litty — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:05:41 +0000

I had heard cool things about DonorsChoose.org but last night was the first time I visited the website. It is awesome.

Donors Choose was started in the year 2000 in the Bronx by a social studies teacher. It is a not-for-profit website that allows public school teachers to request classroom project materials by submitting a one page essay and listing the exact resources needed. Individuals who visit the site can then choose to fund programs in part or in full. If Donors give over $100 or make the final donation to complete a project they receive a “thank you” package from the class with photos and thank you cards from the students and teachers. You can read all the details on how it works.

I browsed through a bunch of projects and decided to donate a few bucks to a middle school class in the Bronx that would like to buy sports biographies. The students will be asked to read a biography and then write their own biography about someone in their family, in the class or on someone famous. You can read all about the project right here.

As I wrote in my comment I chose this project because “I love to read and love sports and the combination of the two was magical to me when I was growing up and still is to me today!” I’m convinced I learned how to read through Matt Christopher books and by my Bar Mitzvah I had polished off biographies of Hank Aaron, Wayne Gretzky, Tommy John, Pete Maravich, Ali, Jackie Robinson, Moe Berg, Hank Greenberg and a many other sports legends.

The total cost for all of the books is $270. My donation was the first one made to this project. It would be neat if The Littyhoops tribe could all donate to completely fund this project. It only takes a few bucks and about 10 minutes (the website is superbly designned) to contribute. I’ll even make this easier on you. If you read and enjoyed all my posts in India then please feel obligated to make a donation. If you want to get even more ambitious, find another project of your choosing and spread the word to everyone that you know. Donorschoose.org makes it very easy to do that.

Finally, you may be noticing a theme between this post and my review of Kiva.org a few months back. I’m becoming more interested in how the web can enable and facilitate good in this world. Please hit me up if you are also interested by this opportunity. I have tons of thoughts and ideas flying through my head!

Here is a great documentary on Donors Choose.

The Master Blaster (India Post)

Litty — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:17:36 +0000

My favorite cricket star is Sachin Tendulkar. If you must ask why he is my favorite player than you must not follow cricket. Tendalkur is everyone’s favorite player in India. If you want to make friends (or at least make conversation) with an Indian just mention cricket and their Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. There face will light up. Tendulkar is regarded as one of the best batsman in the world. He’s been playing for the national team since 1988 when he was 15 years old and holds a slew of national and world batting records. Tendulkar is only 5′5″ and resembles a clean shaven Johnny Damon. His popularity in India rivals that of a Lebron, Tiger Woods or Peyton Manning in the US.

I must admit I knew very little about cricket before this trip. I knew it was a sport similar to baseball that was played in the UK, India, South Africa and a bunch of other nations. Then I checked into the hotel and found television channel 21. The NEO cricket channel is all cricket all the time. About 70% of the time they are showing test matches and the remaining programming is talk shows or highlights. The matches are edited perfectly to show the play and then a few replays and then cuts right to the next play. They also have a slick graphic whenever a batter scores 4 or 6 runs. It’s mesmerizing to watch and try to figure out all the rules and ins and outs of the sport. Unlike a sport like soccer or tennis, the object of the game is not obvious. It’s taken me thorough research on the web, reading the backpage of the newspaper each day and dozens of questions to cab drivers to get up to speed with what’s happening on the pitch.

I’m not going to explain all the rules (I barely know them myself) but basically it’s eleven guys on a team. The key positions on the field are the bowler (similar to a pitcher in baseball), the batter and the wicket keeper (similar to a catcher). The rest of the players are spread out around the field. There are no foul balls so fielders actually stand behind and to the sides of the batter. The bowler tosses the ball on a bounce to the batter who must defend his wickets by hitting the ball with his cricket bat. Everything else plays off of that sequence of events.

India is crazy for cricket. Little kids play in the street, on makeshift fields and in sandlots. Adults also seem to play often (I know there is a Sportsvite angle in there somewhere and cricket is actually already a popular sport on the site). Everybody from the slumdogs to the gurus to the sitar’s to the ministers read the sport section and are ready to talk. Here is a video I took on my phone of kids playing cricket on the side of the street.

The sports business is just beginning to take advantage of cricket’s popularity. In 2008, the Indian Premier League was founded In India. The IPL is a two month tournament that has the best players from all around the world. Tendulkur plays for the Mumbai Indians. Sony secured the global broadcasting rights for 10 years by anteing up over $1 billion dollars. The IPL plays a slightly modified version of the game called twenty20 that is much more television friendly than traditional cricket where a match often lasts for days.

There’s a sandlot beyond the walls of our hotel that can be seen perfectly from my hotel window on the 4th floor. Every day kids are playing cricket. I’ve been meaning to walk over and see if I can join their game. It looks like so much damn fun. Kind of like the movie the Sandlot. Actually, In Bollywood a common thing to do is knock off successful American movies and bollywoodize them. Right now the big movie out is called Ghajini. It’s a knock off of Memento. I’ve been telling everyone that a Sandlot knock off with cricket instead of baseball and an elephant instead of Hercules would be so tight. The Master Blaster FOREVER.

When I Wasn’t As Smart, I Was Pretty Sure I Knew Everything

Litty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:24:22 +0000

When I was a young impressionable lad (think the late 90’s!) I used to write down all my “life lessons” in a marble notebook. I was experiencing and learning so much so quickly that I felt like I needed to put it on paper to make it real, and more importantly, make it part of me by devouring it like a NYPD chicken roll at 3am.

As I aged I stopped doing stuff like that (don’t fret Vant – I’m not talking about eating chicken rolls). Perhaps I’m less inquisitive, or more hardened or maybe I just don’t have as much time to contemplate these days. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped learning. As 2008 comes to an end I’ve been in a reflective mood. It’s been one scary ass year. While I haven’t had any major accomplishment or highlights this year (and that IS disappointing to me) I have done a whole lot of thinking and learning and hopefully maturing.

In 2008 I’ve learned that…

I sure do learn a lot more about myself and others when things are bad than when they are good. It’s kind of tough because at those times all I really want is results and not lessons.

The more I know the more I realize I have no clue. I’ve spent more time and brain power than ever before thinking about politics, the economy and the world. My one overwhelming epiphany throughout is that I have no idea about politics, the economy and the world. It’s funny because not that long ago, when I wasn’t as smart, I was pretty sure I knew everything!

I’m not as entitled as I sometimes think I am. Success really does need to be earned. Thing like entitlement and empowerment are often things you create for yourself.

Dick Rod is garbage. But I would have told you that last year.

Wealth is something that needs to be protected for when you need it, not something that I should try to use to impress others. I’m pretty sure my dad has been trying to teach me that one for the first 27 years of my life but I guess I had to figure it out on my own.

I like to write and it is something I’ll do (in one form or another) for the rest of my life.

Anything is possible in this country. Maybe not fair, but possible. It boggles my mind that a half white, half black Hawaiian kid who spent his youth in Indonesia will be the President of the United State. It boggles my mind even more that he, by far and away, seems to be the most qualified candidate for the job.

Words like hope and change aren’t just clichés but are actually a great lens through which I can now view our future.

If everybody is doing something that makes them rich and appears brilliant that just means they are earning a few bucks. It doesn’t mean they are brilliant and doesn’t even mean they are successful. I need to create my own definition of “brilliance” and “success” and I hope I am honest with my myself in how I quantify that.

Wall Street seems as baseless as it did when I decided to hang up my financial calculator after two uninspiring summer internships back when I used to be as ideological as I’m being right now.

The Internet has just begun to change the world. Some of the ways that this manifests is going to be quite peculiar.

I need to have passion for what I do and need to be around passionate people. Otherwise I’m going to be bored. Complacency seems way scarier than failure. Inspiring people inspire and I want to be around them.

It’s pretty easy to pull off a scam if you win people’s trust and cross boundaries of immorality that are unthinkable. For some reason I pity these people more than anything else. Special thanks to Bernie, AIG, that scum Illinois gov. and friends.

As bad as things have been (and I’ve heard so many that I respect tell me this is the worst it’s even been) it can always be worse. In fact, if this is as bad as the economy gets in our lifetime I’m pretty excited for our future.

A 9-2 start (against pathetic competition none the less) by the Johnnies can get me dreaming and captivated in much the same delusion as at my sister’s bat mitzvah in 1992. My buddy Leor who was a Johnnies fan in thier heyday came to the game with me on Saturday and is mystefied that I still follow them so closely. I tried for an hour to explain how a 9-1 mark, potentially the apex of their season, is a moment in time that must be both savored and cherished!

Everything can come crumbling down in an instant. I guess I just have to be thankful in good times and prepared for bad times.

This world becomes more interconnected every day. I’m trying more and more to think of myself and my life within the context of the world instead of within the context of me.

I’m going to start many more businesses in my career. I always thought that Sportsvite would be a litmus test to find if I am truly an entrepreneur. I love the ideas, mindset, challenges, and passion that go into creating now more than ever.

I’m sure I can go on and on. I’m sure that we have shared some of these lessons and others are probably more personal. Hopefully, you’ve thought about some of the things you’ve learned this year and I would be honored if you would share them with me at some point.

I’m not sure if I’m going to get a chance to write about my expectations and goals for 2009 but I’m pretty sure of two things.

1) I want to do as much as I learn.
2) I want to start or create something new.

I also want to thank all you guys for following along on this blog all year. I’m not the best at keeping in touch and the fact that that you take a few minutes out of your day to listen to what I have to say is humbling and exciting. Thanks for the emails, support, criticism and compliments. Keep them coming. Happy Holidays and I wish you and your families a healthy and peaceful new year.

Exploring India

Litty — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:08:10 +0000

Next week I’m off to India for a few weeks. The primary reason for the trip is to attend the wedding of my colleague and friend Param and his soon to be wife Rohini in New Delhi. From what I have been told, and what the invitation/booklet informs me, a traditional sikh wedding is quite the lavish affair. The celebration takes place from December 28th through January 3rd with over one thousand guests attending the celebration. As Param explains, back in the day the villages of the bride and groom would come together and chill. I guess it worked out so well that nobody ever saw the need to change anything. Festivities include the Youngster’s Party, Mujra Night, a New Year’s Eve Celebration, Mehendi, Punjabi Night, Bharet and Anand Karaj. Many of these parties are at a venue called Exotica. According to the invitation food and booze will be ample and free, conversation will be funny and dirty, and Ice is available upon request!

Other than that I have no clue what will happen. I keep on trying to get details from Param but all he says is that I should email him my flight info and that it’s all set. I wonder if this is what he’s telling the other thousand guests. I bought my flight awhile ago and I’m travelling alone. I think there’s a good chance i get off the plane after 20 hours of travelling and have absolutely no clue what to do and where to go. My co-worker Matt who has attended a previous wedding in India and takes his honary Indian status quite seriously informed me that there are thousands of homeless people who live in the Delhi airport parking lot. So at least I won’t be crashing on the street (do they even have streets?) alone.

While the wedding will no doubt be an experience of a lifetime, I’m just as intrigued and interested to experience India itself. I’ve been thinking a lot about how globally connected our world has become (reading Thomas Friedman’s book helps). In my last blog post I wrote about Kiva.org, a website where you can lend money to third-world entrepreneurs. I made a loan to a women in Togo. It was exciting to connect with someone that I never thought I would be able to connect with. But I also know that I’m going to look back at that international loan and laugh about how excited I was over such a rudimentary business deal.

Thanks to improvements in technology (think wikipedia/facebook/Skype), everyone in the world will soon be connected with each other. Once that happens people from all over the world will start to do business with each other. Once that happens, and the resources of the world are within reach of everyone, the opportunities are infinite. Right now most college students that go abroad do so to enjoy a different culture. In the future, students will go abroad because it will be a necessity to be successful in business.

Let’s now think about India. It’s a democratic nation that values education and is very familiar with the English language. India has 1.2 Billion people (4x times the size of the US). As someone told me today, you can be one in a million in India and there are still more than one thousand people just like you! While many of those people are in rural areas, just as many of them are modernizing and at an incredible fast rate. My guess is that there are many Indians who grew up in huts with no plumbing or electricity but who are now on the other end of the phone when your laptop acts up! It’s taken them less than a generation to make the technological advances it took America two centuries to progress. Imagine they continue that rate of progress in the next generation. Each month 8 million new people in India acquire a cell phone. They’ve become connected. They hurdled right over the “landline” and are downloading Bollywood ringtones.

Like most third world nations, India is drastically split between a wealthy class and the poor. But the poor are becoming educated and that means they aren’t going to be poor for long. Every time I speak to a customer service technician in India we get into a conversation about American movies or sports. If I’m an enterprising business man, I’m not only interested in hiring this cheap labor but I’m also looking at this new educated class as an amazing new market to serve with my existing products.

Before I get too carried away though India has it’s issues and obstacles. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the escalating conflict with Pakistan reinforce the fragileness of India’s leap into a modern society. Government is weak, corruption is rampant and efficiency doesn’t seem to always be a priority. Like the rest of the world, their stock market has collapsed.

I keep on trying to get the western perspective on India from an American guy in the office who has been spending lots of time there for business in the last few years. He tries to explain the chaotic energy, the lack of common sense, the frustrating and sometimes impenetrable culture barriers and the phenomenon of taxi cab drivers use of their horn. The conversation always ends in the same way – he tells me “you just got to be there”.

I think he is right. I can blog until my fingers cramp up but until I feel it, see it and experience it I don’t think I’ll be able to understand what is happening in the world. It sure seems like the stuff that’s really worth paying attention to is happening there and not here. I want to understand this world and I think in a few weeks I’ll be able to understand much more than I can today.

So help me out. If you know anybody in India worth meeting please put us in touch. I’m interested in anything and everything and have a few free days between wedding celebrations to meet up and also a few more days after the wedding ends. I want my tourist attraction to be the people, business and society that is developing in India. I want to come back to the US a smarter, more forward thinking, more global thinking person.

A Story Deserving Of Our Tears

Litty — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:32:00 +0000

A few weeks ago the deadly and awful terrorist acts in Mumbai drew the attention of the entire world. As the tragic events unfolded I was torn between trying to learn more about what was happening and trying to block it all out. I have a flight booked/trip planned to India at the end of this month for a colleague’s wedding In Delhi. I’ve been looking forward to the trip all year and I still very much want to go. I didn’t want to let this act of terror get in the way of my trip.

One story that did hold my interest was the siege on the Nariman House Jewish Center in Mumbai. It seemed peculiar that there would even be a Chabad House in a country like India which I didn’t know had a Jewish community. I was interested to learn more, especially after seeing heartbreaking photographs of baby Moshe Holtzberg. But after a few days passed, I snapped back into my own little world.

We now know that six people were killed in that Chabad Hosue and 171 people died overall but it still never really sunk in for me. The news reports things so matter-of-factly that it’s easy to dismiss. It brings to mind a Jack Jackson song called “The News“. There is a verse that gets my attention every time I hear it. It goes like this:

Why don’t the newscasters cry when they read about people who die
At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes
Mama said
It’s just make believe
You cant believe everything you see
So baby close your eyes to the lullabies
On the news tonight

Jack Johnson is easy listening. I’ll tune to it on my iPod or laptop whenever I’m a bit stressed and feel that stress melt away to the melodies of Brushfire Fairytales. It’s as pleasing to hear as it was the first time my buddy Charo played the CD my junior year of college. But for some reason this particular verse disturbs me every single time I hear it.

As I was in Miami last weekend visiting my buddy Ben, the Mumbai attacks entered into our conversation and he mentioned that his friend Spencer’s sister had recently spent time at that particular Chabad house and knew the Holtzberg family quite well. We met up with Spencer later in the night and I asked him a bit more about it. Seeing that I was interested Ben forwarded an email that his sister had sent out. I was floored. All of a sudden, these people on the News became real as I realized I’m separated by just a few degrees of connections. Her letter is below. I’m glad she decided to share this story and think you will be touched by it.

Subject: In Memory of Gavriel and Rivky Holtzberg
Many of you first heard of the Holtzberg family three days ago when news of the Mumbai hostage situation emerged. I feel compelled to write this letter, because I want the world to know who Rivky and Gabi Holtzberg were in life and to tell you what I witnessed of their accomplishments in their brief 28 years on earth. While I am devastated by their death, I am thankful that my life and so many others were touched by their purity, friendship and spirit.
Before I entered the Chabad house in Mumbai, I thought, “What kind of people would leave a comfortable and secure life in a religious community to live in the middle of Mumbai; a dirty, difficult, crowded city?” As I got to know Rivky and Gabi over the course of this past summer, I understood that G-d creates some truly special people willing to devote their lives to bettering the world.

I was first welcomed by Rivky, who had a big smile on her face and her baby Moishie in her arms. She ushered me and my fellow travelers into the Chabad house and immediately offered us something to eat and a sofa to rest on. We quickly became good friends. We bonded with the Holtzberg family and the staff at Chabad, including Sandra, the heroine who saved baby Moishie’s life.

Like his parents, Moishe is a sweet, loving, happy baby. He was so attached to Rivky and Gabi. He got so excited to sing Shabbat Z’mirot (songs) every Friday night with his father, and I could tell by the light on Gabi’s face when they were singing together, that he looked forward to it too. It breaks my heart that I can still hear Moishie’s voice calling, “Ima, Ima, Ima”, and she will no longer be able to hold him or rock him in her arms.

On my second Shabbat at Chabad, Rivky told me there were two Israeli men staying at the house who were just released from an Indian prison. When I saw these men sitting at the dinner table, I was startled. One man had only a front tooth and a raggedy pony tail, and the other looked like an Israeli version of Rambo. I observed the way that Gabi interacted with them and how they were welcomed at the Shabbat table the same way everyone else was, and my fears melted away. Over the course of the night, I learned that these men were not the only prisoners or ex-convicts the Holtzberg’s helped. Gabi frequently brought Kosher meals to Israelis in prison, spent time with them, listened to their life stories, and took them in after their release.

I realized that Gabi and Rivky’s job was not only to run a Chabad house and provide warm meals and beds for weary Jewish travelers, it was much greater. The Holtzberg’s were running a remarkable operation. They took their jobs as shlichim (emissaries) very seriously. Their lives never stopped. There was no such thing as “personal space” or “downtime”. The phones rang constantly, people came in and out like a subway station, and all the while Rivky and Gabi were calm, smiling, warm, and welcomed everyone like family.

Rivky spent each day cooking dinner with the chefs for 20-40 people, while Gabi made sure to provide meat for everyone by going to the local markets and schechting (koshering) them himself. They also provided travelers with computers for internet access, so that they wouldn’t have to pay for internet cafes. They even took care of our laundry. Having spent much time abroad, it was clear to me that Rivky and Gabi were unusual tzadikim (righteous people).
On my last Shabbat in India, I slept in Rivky and Gabi’s home, the 5th floor of the Chabad house. I noticed that their apartment was dilapidated and bare. They had only a sofa, a bookshelf, a bedroom for Moishie, and a bedroom to sleep in. The paint peeled from the walls, and there were hardly any decorations. Yet, the guest quarters on the two floors below were decorated exquisitely, with American-style beds, expansive bathrooms, air conditioning (a luxury in India) and marble floors. We called these rooms our “healing rooms” because life was so difficult in Mumbai during the week. We knew that when we came to Chabad, Rivky and Gabi would take care of us just like our parents, and their openness and kindness would rejuvenate us for the week to come.
The juxtaposition of their home to the guest rooms was just another example of what selfless, humble people Rivky and Gabi were. They were more concerned about the comfort of their guests than their own.

The Holtzberg’s Shabbat table was a new experience each week. Backpackers, businessmen, diplomats and diamond dealers gathered together to connect with their heritage in an . We always knew we were in for a surprise where an amazing story would be told, either by Gabi or a guest at the table. For each meal, Gabi prepared about seven different divrei torah (words of torah) to share. Though most of them were delivered in Hebrew (and I caught about 25%), his wisdom, knowledge and ability to inspire amazed me. Rivky and Gabi were accepting of everyone who walked through their doors, and they had no hidden agendas. Rivky once told me that there was one holiday where they had no guests. It was just herself, Gabi and Moishie. I expected her to say how relieved she was not to have guests, but she told me it was, in fact, the only lonely holiday they ever spent in India.
I remember asking Gabi if he was afraid of potential terror threats. Although his demeanor was so sweet and gentle, Gabi was also very strong-minded and determined. He told me simply and sharply that if the terrorists were to come, “be my guest, because I’m not leaving this place.” Both he and Rivky believed that their mission in Mumbai was far greater than any potential terror threats.

Everything Rivky and Gabi did came from their dedication, love and commitment to the Jewish people and to G-d. I cannot portray in words how remarkable this couple was. If there is anything practical that I can suggest in order to elevate their souls, please try to light candles this Friday night for Shabbat, improve relationships with family members and friends, try to connect to others the way that Rivky and Gabi did- with love, acceptance and open arms. There is so much to learn from them. May their names and influence live on, and inspire us in acts of kindness and love.

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As I was linking up this blog post I found a few more amazing stories related to the Mumbai attacks.

A few South African who are trained security guards were eating dinner in a restaurant in the Taj Hotel and took control of the situation and led a secret evacuation of 150 people in the dining room down a fire escape.

The British Telegraph reports that the terrorists may have used Cocaine to stay awake throughout their ordeal and even used LSD before their demise. Perhaps scarier, the terrorists used new technology such as VoIP interet phones, GPS systems and Google Eearth to plan the attacks and communicate throughout.

Mumbai has a Jewish population of over four thousand which accounts for the dominant majority of Jew’s in India. The Jewish population dates as far back as emissaries from the court of King Solomon. Until this incident. Jews have lived in peace in India and have rarely if ever been the target of anti-semetism.

36 Hours In Dubai (Friend Post)

Litty — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:04:49 +0000

A buddy of mine wrote this very interesting and insightful email to a group of friends on his business trip to Dubai. Dubai often catches my interest in the News but until reading this I didn’t really understand what’s happening over there. The extreme wealth seems almost comical and US news reporting on anything Arab often feels contrived. I edited down his email to keep his post anonymous but if you are interested to learn more or have any questions I’d be happy to hook you up with him.

I don’t normally write emails about the places I’ve been for work or pleasure, but I probably should, especially for the more exotic locations like this one or Beijing, Singapore etc, but it’s too late on those. This stop in Dubai, albeit for 2 days, is worth writing a little something about; as someone who’s addicted to traveling and fortunately to have a job that allows me to see some great places, I feel obligated to at least shed some light on what its like on the ground here, not just what you read.

The United Arab Emirates is the second Arabic country I’ve ever been to, Morocco being the other, but let me be clear, this is NOT Morocco. Morocco is probably the only true third world country I’ve ever visited and an experience I’d never take back though I could have done w/o the stomach issues and the sickness that ensued thereafter. The UAE is an “emerging market” and then some – it’s modern, expensive and the people tend to be very sophisticated and western educated and VERY wealthy (nice to be sitting on oil). You come to Dubai and you see what wealth derived from the abundance of oil can do to a country that invests back in its own infrastructure. Is surreal to see these huge buildings, incredible hotels and highways that link it all together…in the middle of the desert. I was told that temps reach as high as 130F during summer here, no exaggeration.

Quick observations: The local dress; more so than in Morocco, the woman who are “more” religious are fully covered, they wear sunglasses b/c its eternally sunny here (85 degrees today) so you literally see none of them which is cruel to the heterosexual male tourist; the men wear white robes, for the most part, with the kiffiyeh covering their head. Mostly the red/white checkered kind that you saw Arafat wear (though his was black/white). It was explained to me during lunch yesterday by an ex-pat from NY running a new start up hedge fund out here, that each of the robes and headwear differs based on where you are from: Quatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Iran, UAE etc. In Morocco, the poverty was evident everywhere you went, people were dressed in scraps in many places in the inner cities I visited, here the woman will be wearing nice fabric and have huge rings on their fingers which I found funny. The men are all well groomed and neatly dressed; quite a difference.

They refer to Israel in the news here as the “Zionist” entity, never using the word “Israel” and Jerusalem is referred to as “Occupied Jerusalem.” Can’t say this is very surprising but something you notice when reading “The Gulf News.”. As a Jew with a very Israeli name I thought I might see some resentment, I haven’t.

My meetings: I’m here for business and yesterday, after a 6.5hr flight and a little delay from Heathrow, I arrived at the airport, was escorted by the Marhaba (or welcome service; marhaba means “welcome” in Arabic) through customs and had a car waiting for me provided by the first fund I was to visit. I had no issues getting through customs, I thought that maybe my Israeli stamps might matter, but I don’t even think they checked. This was good as I didn’t want the headache of going through a Q&A with customs officials. My meetings took place at Emirates Towers and the DIFC which you can view here.

I met with about 7 people there, 5 of which were Arabic, and all very intelligent and obviously hard working and successful. Western educated, perfect English for the most part and a pleasure to sit with. 3 hours go by and the MP takes me to lunch at a Lebanese restaurant where I was the only one not dressed in the outfits I mentioned above. I thought I stood out when I was in China! Interesting experience, great food. Any suggestions I made to the MP was greeted with: “consider it done!”. You don’t get this in the US or UK very often. Second meeting was with a South African and a Brit (not too cultural) and the final meeting, which ended at 7:30pm (mind you I arrived that morning on about 3 hrs sleep on the plane) was with a Brit and a local. All very interesting, I’d ask lots of questions and get very direct answers. As meeting were winding down I’d ask questions about the local economy, growth and other things just as a curious outsider. Nothing like talking to people on the ground and that’s why I’m here for my firm and why my boss was here three weeks ago doing much of the same. There is no substitute being “onsite” as we like to say; a big reason I have traveled so much this year and will continue to do so going forward.

Growth: I’ve never seen so many cranes in one place in my life – 25% of the entire world’s are here in Dubai, that’s not a lie (my facts come from the Big Red Bus Tour I took this morning). It’s unreal to see how this place is building itself up. Skyscrapers that you thought only existed in NY and Hong Kong are popping up here, everywhere. The Burj Dubai Tower will be the tallest building in the world when complete, a European company (not disclosed) just bought the 158th FLOOR and apparently the interest is sky high for more. They are building it so that, should anyone else try to build higher, they will easily be able to build even more floors. 30% of the building has already been sold/rented I believe its now 159 stories and won’t be open in 2009. There are 3,000 workers working 24/7 to get this done at the order of the King. Burj el Arab, the worlds only self-proclaimed 7-star hotel is built on a man made island. I’m sure you’ve seen this before, its so exclusive that you have to pay $150 just to walk in (I took some pics, but didn’t need to enter). They have created other man made islands here, one of which you can see from space; the only other man made thing you can see from space is the Great Wall of China (another place I was fortunate enough to see this year). You get the point, this place is exploding. 80% of the people here are ex-pats; 20% are actually from the UAE. There is such a need for workers that you see a lot of people coming in from neighboring countries, India and many other places. The royal family, in order to try and grow the local population gives people 50,000 dirham ($13,000) to marry local to local, 70,000 dirham per child from local family and payment for education going forward. Those who work here have no income tax, the royal family pays all taxes, that would be nice.

Religion: the work week here, for those who don’t know, is Sunday-Thurs, Friday is the holy day – today. From 1-4pm everything is closed except the hotels; TV’s show the Imam’s (their version of a Rabbi/Priest) at the local mosque on every channel; the only time we see this is in the US is during the State of the Union (or other significant event when the President speaks); this is how it is every Friday here. Pretty interesting to be here on such a day.

Safety: I’ve never once felt in danger here, that was not the case in Morocco as I got into some hairy situations. In fact, the locals have been extremely hospitable and the service is excellent. This morning I get into the elevator and in comes three fully dressed Arabic men in a very tight space. They all smiled, said hello, and wished me well when I got out. They probably didn’t think I was Jewish, but just another of many situations I’ve been in here where I was pleasantly surprised by how the situation went. I’ll be the first one to admit how anti-arab I can be, but that really relates more to the terrorist pieces of sh*t all over the world, their sympathizers and sponsors. Trust me, I’m not booking a trip to Tehran any time soon.

Off to Israel tomorrow and can’t wait; the tour of the Middle East continues. See most of you sooner or later…

A Thursday Night — Dodgeball and Mos Def

Litty — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:02:24 +0000

My Thursday Night

I bounced out of work early tonight and headed uptown for some dodgeball playoff action. My team, Dodgeball 2.0, consists of NextNY entrepreneurs and we’ve been enjoying a decent amount of success in our second season. While I’m not in love with dodgeball leagues (awkwardly intense) I’ve enjoyed playing on this team. I love the personalities and energy of the team and it’s nice to blow off steam with people who share a common entrepreneurial path. Unfortunately, we had a few key players missing this week to a techy conference in Miami. Although we split our four matches it wasn’t enough to advance.

I got out of dodgeball just in time to check out a Mos Def conversation at the 92nd street Y. I’ve always liked his style and was interested to hear what he had to say. I learned about the event on an Urban Daddy newsletter earlier in the day and sent out an email to friends to see if anybody else was interested. There were no bites so I rolled solo.

I’m super glad I went as I was really impressed with Mos Def. He is such an astute observer of society which he then processes in his own unique way. Mos Def has the amazing ability to articulate his thoughts in such a rhythmatic flow that makes his words even more captivating. He speaks in such a deliberate and patient manner. It seems like he pauses in mid-sentence to scan his own mental dictionary for the perfect word or phrase and then nails it every time. He gets you to want to listen to what he has to say next. I think that is called charisma.

Some of the topics that were discussed were his musical and theatrical beginnings as a boy, Barack Obama and the presidential elections, society’s use of the N-word, some of the major influences in his life, his new movie Be Kind Rewind, and his thoughts on the current state of hip hop. To the crowds delight he freestyled a verse from an album that he is working on that showed off his amazing talent and then played another track from his album called Pretty Dancer as a tribute to Muhammad Ali.

It struck me that Mos Def is one of those people who defines cool. He is so confident, positive, easy going, articulate and thoughtful that instead of trying to be cool, he is just himself and sets the standard for cool. At one point he talked about the concept of being on the edge and the ability to turn the edge into the center. He wasn’t talking about himself but it would have been appropriate. The dude next to me was taking notes throughout the interview and I wish I had as well as he continuously dropped nuggets of wisdom. He referenced Howard Zinn and MLK Jr. Finally, I was impressed how far Mos is able to take his own unique thoughts and how well he can develop them. He spoke a lot about intuition (especially when asked a pointed question about his claim on the Bill Maher show that he doesn’t believe that Osama Bin-Laden was behind 9/11) and seems to have an intrinsic trust in his own views. He never tries to draw back to the prevailing societal viewpoint. He isn’t afraid. He’s not trying to be controversial or put down society – he just sees it the way he sees it and that works for him.

I also enjoyed the black culture experience of the event as most of the audience was black. Sometimes if you look at the same thing through a different lens you see a totally different picture. People like to define race by the color of one’s skin but for better or worse it seems like there is a lot more culture, history and values baked into it.

So props to Mos Def. I’m putting him in the top 10 people I would like to share a beer with — which is a blog post that is definitely waiting to be written.

Hit me up if you have any cool NYC events on the calendar. I’m always in the mood for some athletic activity or the chance to be inspired.

Here is a video clip of Mos Def reciting an excerpt of a Malcom X speech…

UPDATE: I got some blog love from the 92nd Street Y’s very own blog here.

Also, my little sis also sent me a pretty funny post on how white people love Mos Def on a ridiculously snarky and ironic blog called Stuff White People Like.