December 6,2019
Ilya lives in a container in Luzit - he plays the oud, guitars, piano and he paints and builds container-houses. if i were fifty years younger I'd have him design a comtainer for me in the middle of a place of his choosing. basic living in the hills. but i don't know whether i have as much within me as he has to fill up a whole container.
Anyway we went out there to see Liz and Rafi - who live in Majorca and New York and visit very rarely nowadays. And I discovered a girl I used to know sixty years ago! - i don't know how i let her go without going over every detail of our summer at Cornell when i was fifteen. We didn't remember much and only now are details coming back to me - (Yes, I did have short hair!) And what she remembered is that I brought her back to Rochester and gathered a bunch of friends to hear her speak of Israel. And everyone was interested and very excited. That wouldn't happen now, she noted.
Last night Celia Merlin hosted an Iawe event - a play by Lois Ungar called Apple on a Stick - and i played a part. I'm looking forward to seeing the video Ezi did of it.
December 8, 2019
We came back from the Willy Brandt Center last night a little chilled and very tired. I went there to read the poems of Meena Alexander and help show her some of the love and respect that a fine poet and a fine human being deserves. But we discovered a venue that works hard to find projects that will bring Israelis and Palestinians together.. There seem to be many little projects like this, The U.S. Embassy tries hard to support projects like this.
December 6, 2019
I think we need an adult to take over the country. a putsch. the president could do it - declare a state of economic and social emergency, and appoint a temporary prime minister.
in any case I'm staying close to the media tonight. there are many possible surprises.
Also, although i had planned to go to the evening for Nava Semel, and then to the Cameri for a play, I've found myself shivering in bed. Better get through the chill and be ready for a new day.
I haven't given an opinion on the removal of the Sackler name from all kinds of institutions like the Guggenheim Museum. Here it is: if they are taking the Sackler name off their institutions they should return the bloody money.
December 10, 2019
One more point about the Sackler buildings. Years and years ago Cross-Cultural Communications was going to bring out two books i had translated with a grant from the institution for translation of Hebrew literature. When the publication dragged on for over a year the publisher asked me if we should return the grant, and i agreed that it was the ethical thing to do. the money got returned, and as a result the books never got published. i would now reconsider the practicality of that gesture of honesty. But i would still return the money if i wasn't going to publish those books. So i would like to start a campaign to return the funds to the family. If the money is tainted, give it back.
I may have said this many times but I am always amazed at the fact that given the overcrowding in the hospitals in this country the hematology ward runs so well, with great sympathy and efficiency. We can't really see the other patients now that there are separate sections for each one, but we can hear. The Arab nurse speaks to the Arab patient in Arabic, the Russian nurse speaks to the Russian patient in Russian, and I have heard French and Yiddish and English as well as Hebrew. Ezi's treatment seems simple even though I know how complex and advanced it is. My book on the experience of stage 4 lymphoma 11 years ago Miracles and More" is free on amazon prime and i would be really pleased if it got some likes. It's a good book and not shmaltzy at all.