What it's like to be a news intern at The Jewish Chronicle

Judith Butler, combining topical Jewishness with general excellence

Hello! I've been interning at the Jewish Chronicle for the last fortnight, writing news and consuming my own body weight in cake. As anyone within earshot of me at any point knows, I have a dream that one day I will be paid to do journalism. Until that point, however, I'm learning valuable life lessons - like not assuming it's ok to use someone's surname (complaint number 1), not accidentally misquoting someone (complaint number 2) and not calling someone a lesbian unless they say you can (complaint number 3).

The JC, as it is affectionately known, is a highly pleasant place to work. On morning one they put me at a desk and told me to get on with it. It's exactly the kind of working environment I like. I've been able to engage in quintessentially journalistic pursuits like finding my own stories, doggedly tracking down people to talk to and calling up Russia for a chat.

Here are some of the stories I've written. Also, look out for forthcoming exciting reports on how a flaming meteorite hit Siberia and what to expect at this year's Jewish Book Week (hint: it includes Judith Butler).

First off, a guy called Rodrigo Rosenberg set up an elaborate plot to bring down the Guatemalan government:

'Perfectionist' lawyer arranged own murder


There was an exciting case of Holocaust 'fraud':

'Reich's youngest Nazi' investigated over Holocaust 'lies'


I continued my foray into LGBTQ oriented news, this time with a Jewish slant:

Gay marriage: shuls ready

Gay Jewish parents slam Catholic MP's anti-family allegations


There was a spate of (two) antisemitic attacks in France:

Antisemitic attack in Marseille

Knife-wielding woman threatens boy at Toulouse Jewish school


And most important of all, in light entertainment news:

Sacha Baron Cohen is best-paid British actor in the United States

Jewish burial hope has film star Drew Barrymore seeking tattoo removal

Galliano shocks in Chasidic garb

Gay marriage, Pussy Riot and that guy from the Big Bang Theory

Pussy Riot masks. Maria Alyokhina has received death threats in jail in Russia. And the colour coding here is super cute.

For the widespread delectation of all, here is a final round-up of stories from my time at Gay Star News.

'Celebrating' the publication of The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill last Friday (25 January), I wrote a feature laying out the the differences between gay marriage and civil partnership. There are actually a surprising number of distinctions. Seven, to be precise.

More importantly, a Pussy Riot member incarcerated in a Russian jail is receiving death threats for her activism there.

Back on the never-ending train of stories about equal marriage: The Tory Defence Secretary Philip Hammond says UK gay marriage will threaten religious groups. He's probably right. But as comedian Wanda Sykes once pithily said, 'if you don't believe in same-sex marriage, then don't marry somebody of the same sex'.



Oh, then there's another story about gay marriage. Go on, you can stomach one more. This one has the low-down on a wildly attractive, mysterious businessman named Ivan Massow: Gay millionare to run as Tory MP in area split by gay marriage row.

Broadcaster and performance artist Amy Lame being awesome.

In other news:

Amy Lamé takes revenge on 'lezzer' white van man (this one is actually pretty cool)

Gay Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons develops child prodigy TV show

And finally, if you don't read this last one your life won't be complete:
Mayor apologises for banning gay signs from family fun day 

Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow

The definition of feel-good. On at least two levels.

 A quick stories round-up from last week at Gay Star News.

This one is particularly heartwarming and was most-read on the GSN website for a day or two:

Parents leave The Joy of Gay Sex book on son's pillow 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/parents-leave-joy-gay-sex-book-sons-pillow170113 

Winning at the unspoken 'best sign at the protest' competition

I also got sent to report on the anti-transphobia protest that took place outside the Observer in the aftermath of Burchill-gate. Having got some brilliant quotes from people who were there, I wrote it up in feature form:

Trans Brits demand to be freed from a hate-filled media 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-brits-demand-be-freed-hate-filled-media180113
 
There is also a lovely and brave video campaign being run by LGBTQ Jamaicans.

Gay Jamaicans go on video to show the world who they are
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-jamaicans-go-video-show-world-who-they-are180113

Also, I foray gently and tentatively into the murky world of crime reporting:

Lesbian claims partner tortured, murdered bus driver for his PIN  
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-claims-partner-tortured-murdered-bus-driver-his-pin170113

And there is more news about cervical cancer, in that the BMA say young gay men should be given the vaccine as well as the school-age girls who currently receive it.

Vaccine must be given to gay men to prevent anal cancer, says BMA 
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/vaccine-must-be-given-gay-men-prevent-anal-cancer-says-bma170113 

Finally, in a case of interns being given the most important news of the day, some bloke from Glee did an interview with the Metro newspaper. I was at the scene (of being able to read the Metro and rewrite what was said):

Chris Colfer: 'I'd love to do a Glee meets Downton special'
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/chris-colfer-id-love-do-glee-meets-downton-special180113

Gay Star News stories of the day

Credit: GSN website. I hope they don't sue me or sack me for stealing this image. 

I'm doing a stint of work at Gay Star News, which is a website reporting international LGBT news. This means that instead of simply writing biting, funny and insightful commentary, I get to REPORT the NEWS. The real live events that are happening as we speak.

Over the next two weeks I'm going to post my stories up here daily. If you would like to know what's happening to queer people around the world (supposing you believe in global queer identity/ies) then I suggest you keep checking back.


Here is a selection of stories I wrote today:

1. Ghana Christian group slams pro-gay gender minister

Essentially, Ghana's new Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection is being badmouthed by a group of homophobic Christians:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/ghana-christian-group-slams-pro-gay-gender-minister140113

2. Calls for Burchill to be sacked over 'disgusting' anti-trans rant

I don't think there are any members of the British commentariat who haven't written an opinion piece about Burchill-Moore-gate over the past two days. But this is NEWS, and therefore bears reporting. The story is about how former Minister for Equalities Lynne Featherstone tweeted that Burchill should be sacked. It also has some other juicy info.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/calls-burchill-be-sacked-over-disgusting-anti-trans-rant140113

3. Aboriginal gay man murdered in Canada

This is a sad one. It's also the most interesting story I wrote today. Dolan Badger, the man who was murdered, had previously written a really exciting piece about two-spirit identities and his struggle with different kinds of oppression: race, gender, indigenous heritage and so on. I linked to it in the report.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/aboriginal-gay-man-murdered-canada140113

4. Judge says UK civil partners can divorce like married Canadian couples 

Some men who were civilly partnered in Britain were allowed to divorce in Canada. Because their partnership amounts to a marriage. Good news for people in favour of equal marriage. Actually, it's great for one of the guys involved because he can get a divorce settlement and rights and so on. Excellent.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/judge-says-uk-civil-partners-can-divorce-married-canadian-couples140113

The Awesome/Outrageous Roundup

Oh hi there. I am now back from my sojourn in San Francisco. In honour of a return to the mundane, here are some interesting bits and pieces I've picked up over the last month.

The oldies are the goodies, right? Right?

Awesome:

Stuart Hall gives the best journalistic analysis of the rise of of neoliberalism in British politics that I have read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/12/march-of-the-neoliberals

Heart playing Crazy On You live in 1977. Everything about this is incredible. The intense fingerpicking solo intro, the singer's voice, the lead guitarist in open chested white silk blouse and wiggling snake hips, the bit where they unexpectedly all start singing together, the triple harmonized solo, and to top it all THE FUCKING HIGH KICK AT THE END. I can't get over how great this is, must be one of the greatest performances of all time. I have to watch it again right now.

Well interesting piece by Maeghan Winter about hair covering amongst Orthodox Jewish women: http://www.believermag.com/issues/201109/?read=article_winter

My piece on transphobia in radical feminism was cross-posted at The Transadvocate: http://www.transadvocate.com/you-cant-smash-patriarchy-with-transphobia.htm

Awesome/Outrageous:

Awesome - action from Amnesty/Change.org attempting to save life of Troy Davis, a man sentenced to execution despite considerable evidence in his favour. Outrageous - case of justice miscarriage and legal unfairness. http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=11962&utm_source=social&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=deathpenalty&utm_content=troy_sharefb

This: http://www.stylist.co.uk/stylist-network/why-having-a-penis-is-worth-10000#image-rotator-2

Jenna Marbles chats shit for a while, on the topic of "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking". I like her unashamed brashness. Recommended to me by a friend I made in San Francisco: http://youtu.be/OYpwAtnywTk


Outrageous:

Links to info about arsecrack nonsense-peddler Tom Martin suing LSE's gender department for 'anti-male bias' (the silly season is officially open):
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23983895-former-student-sues-lse-over-its-gender-bias-against-men.do
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/09/on_tom_martins_
http://toomuchtosayformyself.com/2011/09/17/tom-martin-the-lse-and-the-missing-minister/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/07/gender-studies-anti-discrimination-case

I mean, what? Just... what?! If this comes off I'm totally suing African Studies courses for discrimination against white people and stuff.

The Sunday Morning Awesome/Outrageous Roundup

Here for your wordly delectation and delight, a selection of things I have found that are either Awesome, Outrageous, or Awesome/Outrageous.

Here it goes

This is an image that illustrates awesomeness.

AWESOME:

A new take on why not to tell rape jokes...

Nineteen Percent takes Beyonce on for lying. This is so worth watching.

The Women's Budget Group - http://www.wbg.org.uk/. Report on 2011 Budget on first page.

Wonderful article by Peggy Orenstein about pink, girlhood and consumer culture: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jun/19/peggy-orenstein-pink-conspiracy-cinderella

OUTRAGEOUS:

Number 1 on this list is so outrageous I won't even link to it. Go to google and type in 'Dietlieb Felderer'. Go to his website. WARNING - holocaust denial, graphic pornography, denial of all other reasonable truths, etc. But it's so outrageous that it becomes funny. In some ways. Like, it's so awful it's interesting.

Report on worst places in the world for women - for any of you that haven't seen this already: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/worst-place-women-afghanistan-india

AWESOME/OUTRAGEOUS:

Petition for Betty Tibakawa, to stop her being deported back to Uganda. Where she will be persecuted. If you haven't signed already: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-deportation-of-betty-tibakawa-home-office-ref.html

Slipknot vs Justin Bieber. Works surprisingly well. Will put hair on your nipples.

The Female Characters in Films Flowchart: http://www.overthinkingit.com/2010/10/11/female-character-flowchart/

The awesome/outrageous unspecified intervals round-up.

As I spend so much of my time staring at this damn screen, I'm sharing some of my webtrawl findings. I won't promise to do it every week, as if it were some sort of weekly round-up. Any such promise would inevitably lead to the horror of trying to do it drunkenly after a night out. (LOL, they'll all love this picture of my foot + a 20000 word rant about my unsuccessful evening at *insert overrated gay club here*).

This, therefore, is the round-up of awesome/outrageous stuff I've found recently, which I'll post at least once and possibly again, not at weekly intervals but frequently, after unspecified stretches of time. You can call it the unspecified intervals round-up. Catchy.

Awesome:

Should you shave your legs? The quintessential feminist dilemma solved.

Rodrigo y Gabriela covering Stairway to Heaven. Speaks for itself really.

The Coalition Commemorative Calendar . Call me partisan, but this is pretty good. You can vote for the worst month, too.

Outrageous:

"The Thinking Housewife"

The Heretical Press . Scroll down for some truly enlightening essays by a genuine neo-nazi.

Awesome/Outrageous:

Gender Stereotypes Cloud. Awesome visually, outrageous in all other ways.

Lesbians are this season's new handbag. Mostly outrageous, but awesome in the classical sense.