israeli politics

i keep seeing it – the ring of tanks surrounding Kiev, the secret forces hunting out Zelenskyy and doing things more terrible to him and his family than Froissard could describe about the100 years war.  The world has let things happen like that – people poisoned on English soil, dissenters dragged from planes flying over foreign countries and throwing them into prison, officials imprisoned for their free thinking.  Damascus bombed, Crimea taken by force… There are many who support him, and more who are indifferent.  but it is beginning to look like a full-scaled opposition is rising up.  That will take time, and there will be much destruction on the way.  I don’t believe in the talks, and I want Zelenskyy to pull through.   But I also fear we’re next.

february 28, 2022 – Read Post »

israeli politics

Do I have relatives in Ukraine? I keep getting asked that question.  And my answer is, I don’t know.  I HAD relatives once in Dneipropotrovsk.  And I appeared on Russian television years ago looking for them.  My mother had one surviving nephew out of at least a dozen.  He was away in military school when the entire family in Lida was wiped out.  My mother found him in the early fifties, and they corresponded for a while, but he wrote that her letters endangered him and they had to stop.  She said they had four sons, but never received more information.  I hope they survived and will continue to survive and someday we’ll find each other.

february 27, 2020 – relatives in Ukraine Read Post »

israeli politics

One way from getting away from the news is to go to the beach.  In my Arabic lessons on Duolingo, next to the phrase “praise be to God,” the most common phrase is “I love swimming in the Mediterranean Sea,” and almost the only Mideast cities that are mentioned are those on the coast – Alexandria, Beirut, and “ancient Palestinian cities,” and it is so understandable.  On holidays and weekends, the beach is full of Arab families, but during the week in winter, there are only surfers, a few brave swimmers, and some stragglers like us.  But the sea really helps to recognize how fragile we are.  And how universal human emotions.

february 27, 2022 – Beach Read Post »

israeli politics

Because my education in managing this site began with a wonderful guy named Barry, and he disappeared in the middle of the plague to return to extreme religion, I only know about some of the ways to use the equipment.  And I’m still learning.  So I just learned about approving comments, and discovered my little cousin’s remarks about “Oif’n Pripichock.”  I used to sing it to him when I babysat, and just now realized that we were two little war orphans – his father shell-shocked from WWII and my parents overwhelmed with creating a viable existence from scratch.  Now I watch – obsessively – the Ukrainian children – and think of what lullabies can soothe their worlds.  

february 27, 2022 – oifn Pripichock2 Read Post »

israeli politics

Here is the link to the exhibit at the Muza museum. I was very excited about going to this exhibit.  The idea of field hospital as art made a great deal of sense to me – for example, the concept of triage as an aesthetic as well as an emergency medical concern.  But I was gently disappointed.  I mean, it was fun – just like being in a hospital but with no medical purpose.  You enter, take a number, and wait until your number is called.  Then you pick a subject you want to empathize with.  I picked transgender.  And you get a chance to release your emotions – a sealed room to scream in – according to the recorded instructions.  Then you go to the treatment chairs where you are shown a video of a person on the subject, and another video entitled second opinion.  Then you go to a space where you answer questions on a computer about in what space you feel unsafe – and then you’re out.  Sadly I felt nothing throughout.  Yes, I felt a great deal for the trans person whose video I watched, but I also felt nothing for the situation.  I’ll add some pictures.

maybe we spend too much time in real hospitals and the people we meet there are worried about staying alive and not social issues, but it was hard for us to take it seriously.

february 26, 2022 – field hospital Read Post »

israeli politics

Why, you ask , I do not comment about Ukraine?  Because I’m terrified.  I understand that Putin is friendly with Syria and Assad’s support for his invasion of Ukraine will be rewarded.  And we are the reward.  Need I say more?

february 25, 2022 – Ukraine Read Post »