July 24, 2016
for some reason i spent the day translating "Mahmoud Darwish, Identity Card: Write it down: I am Arab" - at first from the hebrew and then the arabic as Maysoon sent me the original. Ezi even joined me laboring over the unfamiliar language. I wrote and rewrote the translation, and was almost satisfied, and then suddenly found myself writing another version, "Write it Down:I'm a Jew." i'm not finished yet but i realized i've got a pretty strong case.
July 25, 2016
You know how you say "I'll do it when i have time?" - well i am finally looking at some of the clips from "Thin Lips," the group Roy Yarkoni formed 13 years ago. It was strange - but the past is not all that bad.
July 26, 2016
My first visit in the hospital since my operation - and the surgeon was surprised I had been keeping the rules about not bending over, not bending my leg, raised toilet, etc. "Who told you to do that? " he said. "THat's the OLD protocol. The new one is you can do whatever you like." So I went home feeling I had mistakenly wasted my time with a raised toilet and all that. And then I read the instructions I got when I left the hospital = exactly what I practiced. Very frustrating.
So we took off for the north - Mitzpe Hayamim. It's our anniversary and the first day i dare tie my shoes myself.
Mizpeh hayamim is a pretty amazing experience. Very quiet and breathtakingly beautiful. All organic too, and very tasty. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to have massages and all that so I'm screwed - at a gorgeous spa with nothing allowed me.
July 27. 3026
And the Internet is pretty weak.
But the view is amazing. And the people who work here are all fantastic. And the farm, the farm - how did they manage to grow such delicate produce from such sandy and rocky earth?
Okay, I'm talking in vague superlatives. And I've heard these vague superlatives for years. So I'll give you an example. In the phenomenal price (we got a last minute discount) two spa treatment were included. but as i noted, I can't have treatments. So I got a mani-pedi, which turned out to be much more than I bargained for.Not only was the man-pedi super,but Aya, who turned out to be my age, turned out also to be acquainted with a number of my friends and students and a niece of Zuss Bielsky. The hour flew by and my nails will shock and surprise you.
last night we had a little stand-up from comedian Nancy Brandes. Tonight it was a lecture about the chemistry of chocolate. The room was crowded both nights. That is because there is nothing else to do here but rest.
July 28, 2016
Back to the real world. I know that this is best for me to be right next to a pool, eating the most nutritious organic food, walking through lovely fields and forests and sleeping lovely hours, but the world outside has to be faced. So we came back and immediately went to an evening of poetry about writing in the time in terror.
Now that was an evening - we're all impotent angry poets. No, I didn't participate - i haven't been included in anything lately. But i sat through most of the poems until my back started killing me. then i left before the predictable discussion.
The big problem with political poetry is the danger of newspaper language because we get our information so much from media, and our reactions are so personal. And if we ourselves are involved in a terrorist incidents words are not enough.
July 29, 2016
Friday should always be gallery morning. As soon as the electrician left, we took off for the Water gallery in Givataim, an amazing space with amazing exhibitions. Today there were three outstanding installations. i can't remember the names of the artists at the moment because there is nothing on paper.