Critical Approaches to Culture + Media

SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF VE DAY on May 8th, 2005!!! A number of books have come out recently on the immediate post-war period in London, England. I grew up in the late 1940's and early 1950's and have an almost photographic memory of the period. The experience was traumatic, although I was shielded from many of the problems by the dedication and hard work of my mother and father. Maureen Waller has written an excellent book about this period. Food and fuel rationing went on until the early 1950's and austerity budgets were the norm. Everyday life was defined by the rigours of finding and holding onto the basic necessities. The extraordinary resurgence of anti-semitism in Europe and North America makes the poignancy and imortance of VE day all the more central to my thoughts. A private school in Toronto had to expel a number of students because they had created a Web Site that was so anti-semitic, those who saw it were scandalised. Elie Wiesel has written about this in great detail, but his speech when he received the Nobel Prize is perhaps the best summary of the challenges that face Jews in the 21st Century. I have just installed Apple's new system software, Tiger. It is truly a marvel. Apple's understanding of the needs of computer users is the best in the business.