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 6 May 2005 @ 05:55
Holocaust Week is over: Twirling in my head are stories of survivors, daughters of survivors,and daughters of sons and daughters of survivors.
Have finally seen the movie "Vita e bella, La" (Life is Beautiful) [link]
by Roberto Benigni, with its glorious melody of humour and creativity in the face of Nazi camp reality.
Tilly in Afghanistan[link]: working to raise the status of women and children. And my friend J who is thinking of giving up her comfortable life to dedicate herself to altruistic world outreach.
The story of a West Bank romance, an American who married a Palestinian political prisoner.
[link]
"West Bank story
By Daphna Berman
What caused a Jewish girl from an upper middle-class New York suburb to fall in love with and marry a Palestinian political prisoner who was born and raised in a traditional Muslim family on the outskirts of a dilapidated refugee camp?
In her directorial debut, American-Israeli filmmaker Devorah Blachor attempts to answer this question, made all the more poignant by the fact that the Jewish girl from New York also happens to be her cousin.
"Waiting for Quds," which premiered earlier this month at both the DocAviv film festival in Tel Aviv and the Chicago International Film festival, follows the lives of Allegra Pacheco, an American-Jewish human rights lawyer, and Abed al-Ahmar, the Palestinian prisoner whom she represented and later married." (go to the link for the rest)
Synthesizing: And there I was again last evening, 4 hours at the kibbutz front gate, sitting, cleaning away cobwebs, wiping off tiny lizard turds from the tabletops in order to freshen up the the little guardhouse. Opening the gate for those who wanted to enter or leave the kibbutz, watching TV and thinking of this past week.
Events began to stir and simmer within me as I examined the salad that is our lives.
What is event but a collection of causes and effects?
The flavour of each individual effort affects the whole, but more dramatically, makes a difference to ourselves. When I add my opinion, my action, my clear intention, I celebrate my own existence. I am. And I change the event in some small way.
But what happens when I exert my influence? Being sure of my intention, being in focus, I radiate vibrations that affect others. How they're affected, however, is out of my control, unless I manage to internalize the glorious lessons of T'ai Chi, and use their energy to flow in my intended direction.
Yet, it never fails to amaze me how surprising other people's reactions can be. Some are heavily in the claws of their own insecurities. How many adults still cling to juvenile coping methods? How often have I met up with a polished adult (groomed, arranged, with eloquent tongue and fashionable comments) who, when challenged, responds with taunts, 'deafness' or bullying techniques?
Reading people's auras can be a frightening experience! Be prepared for the worst!
But if there's a little gleam of life in a person's eye, there's hope.
Look for the gleam, I say to myself. Search out the gleam, cultivate those who gleam, and let that gleam glow. Together we can do something.
More >
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 4 May 2005 @ 13:51
Tilly and a small staff are located in Kabul to offer aid and support to Afghani women and children.
Read her eyewitness reports at Studio 8. I do.
[link]
........judih More >
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 1 May 2005 @ 16:52
May Day - the Real Labor Day
[link]
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May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country except the United States, Canada, and South Africa. This despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, with the fight for an eight-hour work day.
In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement. More >
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 29 Apr 2005 @ 06:16
This week on the kibbutz has been relatively quiet.
1. The government has amongst disinformation, informed us that the pullout from Gaza will be delayed 3 weeks, so, unfortunately, we won't have to cut out for summer vacation early.
We might,however, have to delay coming back to school in September, so there's hope!
2. The potatoes are being harvested, so all those emerald fields are now slowly drying, the green chlorophyll sublimating into the air, the smells are still delicious. Chamomile is more radiant than ever.
3. The bike road is now a series of dunes - it's a huge effort of concentration to make it down the road without slipping and sliding. Someone out there is having fun, but this particular biker prefers an occasional rainfall or leaking irrigation pipe to keep the road visible.
4. The kibbutz secretary is rumoured to not only have quit his position but also to be seriously thinking of leaving the kibbutz. This is a welcome surprise. He, brilliant in his study of history, is also a liar and a manipulator. Because of him, many kibbutz sons and daughters - ages 18 and up, have left the kibbutz in disgust. It was his great idea to link not working (even for a day or two)to non-receipt of a yearly budget. Funny how he chose to enforce that new rule of his on young kids fresh from the army or high school, but not on those parasites of kibbutz life who don't work because of whatever reason they choose,those who are 40 years old or older, those who claim distress or circumstance. Those people continue to receive money, rights, uh huh.
The secretary might leave the kibbutz? Fine with me. We might get a chance to install someone with more sense.
5. Weather's been hot and dry. I haven't noticed. I've been painting and writing and making a chapbook of poetry, and generally venturing outside for walks in the cool of the afternoon.
6. An old friend dropped by. He's one of the ex-kibbutz sons who left after leaving the army to stay with his music. He's living with his wonderful jewellry making wife, Lilach, their trippy little daughter, Eliya, and Woods, an ex-Jamaican who plays keyboards. Funny how he's re-living the life that G and I led for years. Out in the city, trying to make a living; him from music, her from art. They're now going to leave the inner city and head out into a town to look for cheaper rent.
Once you leave the city, though, you lessen your chances for gigs and gigs keep you in the scene. G's been trying to point this out. Me too, cause now they're expecting their second child. One child, no problem. Two children begins to be serious with serious need for income.
Let their fate lie in hopeful directions. Ours? We're on kibbutz, not in mid-town Tel Aviv living from our art. But then again, we've got 4 kids and they are unbelievable gifts.
Can't complain.
7. Passover is almost over. Here it ends on Saturday. In the U.S. and Canada it carries on another day. Not sure why. Why would anyone choose to keep up with that matza torture for another day? This is the 3rd year I've managed to avoid all forms of matza for the duration.
8. It's bug season, it's hot and dry season, it's another month and a half of school season, but I'm deliriously happy. I can't believe that I'm still alive and enjoying life. There seems to be such an oxymoron going on.
Happy weekend to all.
judih More >
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 25 Apr 2005 @ 05:21
click into:
[link]
Sita Sings the Blues!
A new twist on an old myth by Nina Paley
Brilliant, memorable, colourful.
Quicktime download, not so quick, but it gets quicker once your puter gets the hang of it.
Sensational mix of blues and legend done with humour. More >
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Image at the top of the page,angry cocoon, watercolour,1999 by judih |
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