Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

I started my new job this week. It seems to be going well so far. The people are nice  – really different (from me, what I’m used to working with, and each other), but good people. I hadn’t really wanted to work in a “Jewish” organization, and so of course I sit in a room [...]

A Pervasive Insecurity?

“All Jerusalemites know that sense of dread. The hesitation, as you choose your seat on the bus or your table at a restaurant, the suspicious glances at the people around you.”   -from The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Summer 2006 magazine
I don’t know how much I agree with the second part [...]

I see trees of greeeeeeeeeeeeeeen…

My ipod has died. I am forced to sing to myself, and surrounding onlookers by proxy. At the gym, I have no music besides the sometimes good, sometimes weird crap they play, or VH1-Europe. This is not a good situation. Especially for the innocent, unsuspecting victims subjected to the melodious strains of noise that emerge [...]

Ramblings

Part of this whole journey in Israel has been exploring the questions “Who am I,” “What are the values/ideals that I need/want to prioritize in my adult life?” And while these are explorations that can be conducted anywhere, I don’t think they’re as forced or raw as they are here in Israel, and especially here [...]

bits and pieces

On Saturday evening, after approximately 2.77 uses, the 10 shekel umbrella was retired to the dumpster. It looked like someone had taken a (really ugly-patterned) plastic bag and tried to stretch it over the metal framework of an old and broken umbrella frame – complete with loose flaps flying in the wind and random holes [...]

It’s Official

I GOT A NEW JOB I GOT A NEW JOB I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!!
AND I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!
(the caps indicate the magnitude of emotion and you can’t see it, but I’m doing a happy dance)
I’m going to be writing for a living (!!!), putting together project proposals to get funding for a major [...]

The World, today

I was reading the Melbourne daily paper The Age, as I do, and I was struck by some of the events going on around the world. A few of the highlights:
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark have been banned from Fiji. Am I the only one who finds this [...]