My room mate is preparing for his sculpture exhibition on March 25. His work includes a “3D collage” of various real objects. He uses a containers, grooming tools, currency, electronic adapters, legumes wrapped in adhesive, and synthetic models. The purpose of his art is to comment on consumerism and the industrial machine.

Every house has a room that no one ever goes in and that room always has a sewing machine.

Last weekend my homeboys broke in to this sweet Century.

In the distance I see a homeless man take defensive stance. With him was a woman, also of poverty. She tries to restrain him, but trips on the trash bag and falls backwards. I soon realize he is fighting another homeless man. This man seems to be the aggressor and I believe he is spouting some kind of profanity. As I approach I realize that a black man dressed in a suit is singing The Temptations’ “My Girl”. I began laughing out loud. Caught up in the ecstasy of the moment I jumped on the R5 express train. You see, I was trying to go to Glenside which is a stop on the R5 train. The R5 Express doesn’t even pass, let alone stop at Glenside. I looked out the window and saw that I was in North Wales. Not the North Wales of course, North Wales, PA. Finally I asked a station attendant if the train stopped at Glenside. He gave me a refund, told me to get off at the next stop and hop on the next train smoking south.

The weekend before I returned to school I went to Pat’s Cheesesteak. I bought a cheesesteak and then I began to eat the cheesesteak. I got cheese all over because I ordered an extra cheese cheesesteak. Everyone laughed, especially this really drunk guy that happened to be standing right in front of me when it happened. The fun stopped for me when it leaked all over my coat. Fortunately the intoxicated individual had walked away at this point, boy would that be embarrassing! Luckily the ridicule was limited to my friends. This kid Chris Ackrivo found it funnier than the others because he enjoys the pain and misfortune of others. Some people wanted to get a Geno’s cheesesteak too- for comparison/gorging purposes. I choose not submit to the fat kid stereotype, also avoiding the over privileged kid who can afford to spend $14.00 on cheesesteaks stereotype. During the ride home one of my friends, who shall remain anonymous, kept asking which I preferred. I told him I had only bought a Pat’s cheesesteak. He kept persisting; I guess he was still a little “buzzed”. I remember the conversation turning sour; sour because I don’t excuse someone’s criticisms when they say “just kidding” or attempt to laugh with me. I don’t really wanna talk about it anymore.

Last night I met up with my grandfather and went to the Gershman Y building to see “A Cantor’s Tale”. The documentary covered the life of a famous Jewish cantor, Jackie Mendelson. It was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It felt good to laugh at something no one else my age would find remotely entertaining. I realized that I’m proud to be Jewish and that I really can’t stand anti-Semitism at all. There was comfort being in a room full of people who share the same ethnicity. “Ethnic” has become a bad word in our society of equality and civil rights. People forget the difference between equality and uniformity. If everyone were to forget their heritage, forget their race and religion, all in the name of ensuring equality the world would look like Nazi Germany. The idea that everyone should try to be the same is no better than the idea that different people should be exterminated. One is a slow curve into a meaningless world; the other is a quick dive into a dictatorship that, after every opposing race was eliminated, would become that same meaningless world we’re in.