One of my major pleasures upon leaving Jerusalem is hummus in Abu Ghosh. Somehow it seems to get me back a sense of balance. It also reminds me that many years ago I had a friend from Abu Ghosh – one of those people who remains in your heart forever. He disappeared long ago. Friendship for me lasts forever.
There were so many people at Mishkenot Shaananim and the
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other sites of the festival, I couldn’t count them – and I’m good at counting audiences. There were so many people – PAYING ATTENTION – and on the panels I was in, there was a lot to pay attention to. At first, for example, I couldn’t understand why suddenly a prose writer, pen name Ka.Tzetnik, would be of interest to a poetry festival, and then discovered – after listening to the work of Nili Cohen and Dina Porat who both wrote books about him and/or the legal implications of the trial of Eichmann – that much of what I had known about the porno of Nazism was all wrong. My father had a stroke while watching ‘Night Porter’ – a film whose drama was based on the then popular Nazi porno, so I too had a lot to say.
The next 2 days were also exciting. I got to talk a little about sex, and Ilan Scheinfeld wowed me for the second time in a poem that was the most erotic interracial, homosexual poem I’ve even heard.
Notice though that all I’m describing has little to do with the fact that there are over 700 soldiers dead and still counting, that there hundreds of rockets falling on the area where the festival was supposed to be held. Even though we did have some discussion and poetry about the war, we couldn’t get around that subject.
For me, the most important thing was the fact that literature and culture has to continue.
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greetings from jerusalem culture – 8.30.24 Read Post »
I learned so much after I stopped talking.
The fact that much of what he wrote about the Holocaust was more metaphor and nothistory makes it possible to reread it in a different way. The fact that my reports are not always accurate but influenced by my desires is also a factor.
ka.tzetnik – 8.26.24 Read Post »
Even though we’re off to Jerusalem tomorrow I keep thinking of Metula. The beautiful town that was just renovated last year has been bombed out and only a few have remained to keep it from being run over. I know everyone will be thinking of Metula tomorrow, and will not stop wishing that next year they will not be in the gorgeous environment of Mishkenot Shaananim, or the Federation, or the Chan – but on the main street of Metula.
I talked about it here
https://www.timesofisrael.com/poetry-festival-moves-from-evacuated-northern-border-town-metula-to-jerusalem/
Longing for Metula – 8.27.24 Read Post »
Did I do this already? I forget. Last week I was in a rush and I tripped and now have a black back, hip, thigh, foot and toe. The problem is that i think i cracked a rib because the pain isn’t going away and I’m feeling alternately okay and horrible. One shouldn’t be physically limited in days like this when there is so much to do.
health update – 8.26.24 Read Post »
The mayors of some of the towns up north have had it. They’re divorcing the government. And boy I don’t blame them. They’ve been living all over the place – everywhere but home – for almost 11 months and no one is doing anything to make their situation even the tiniest bit easier. At first we were donating clothes, household goods, books and stuff to give families of 5 or more living in one room some of the basic necessities. But even that movement has slowed down. Money promised from the government has disappeared in the Minister of Finance’s offices. Shelters promised to the schools before the school year never appeared, so thousands and thousands of kids will be missing their second year of school. And the days of rockets don’t seem to end.
I emptied my closet last year but even if someone is enjoying my stuff, I know they are wearing down and more stuff is needed. But what they really need is normality – home, school, work, farms… Will the broken homes ever be repaired? Not if this government is in control.
divorcing the government – 8.26.24 Read Post »
We wake up every day at a different time – most depends on the kind of night in the skies we had before we went to sleep. Las5 night had nothing to do with the skies. 2 rockets aimed at rishon kept me awake for hours. i slept in my clothes and suddenly Ezi and I couldnt find room for each other in our bed. Now we’re hearing about Hamat Gader and a whole bunch of rockets in the place where I has hoping to visit my friend and iron out the bruises in my back. She must be in hysterics and angry beyond measure by the behavior of the government which they think has forgotten them.
