Tel Aviv Diary - March 13-17, 2009 Karen Alkalay-Gut
March 13, 2009
Walked into Pappas today and there was a live bossa nova band playing there. Goodlooking Brazilian musicians. it was like a little haven - hard to believe with all that great pasta, easy wine, and happy people that we don't even have a government.
on Tuesday I'm suppsed to be talking in \mishkenot Shaananim in Jerusalem about the translations to Hamutal Bar Yosef's poetry. The thought of talking about translations reminded me of a riddle. Why don't people make love in the streets of Tel Aviv? Because everyone would be stopping to give advice. No way to talk about translations without people giving advice.
March 14, 2009
The morning began with a little drizzle - and then the sun shone so clearly i wish i was a painter, working in oil. The yellow, the blue, the green were so primary, it was amazing. But now, early afternoon, it is already a greyish- blue, washing buildings, parks, and people with a Turnerlike color, without reducing the clarity of the outlines. Everything is clear, even though it smells like rain.
Actually this is the best season for smells as far as I am concerned. I can walk down the street with my eyes closed and know exactly where I am by the trees, the bushes, the flowers. Like a dog.
By chance there was a film last night about the Bielski brothers on the history channel, and i got to see more facts behind the film "Defiance." This is important to learn because the ideology of saving people instead of revenging their deaths is very much intertwined with my concept of the idea of the 'hero' in our place, in our times. What kind of person should we admire? Can Azmi Beshara be an admirable role model? Can Bibi?
March 15, 2009
I received a great gift today, "Kingdoms of the 7 Litvaks" by Dovid Katz. So tonight instead of writing I'm reading. When my computer comes back from the shop and I get myself together to get a macintosh like everyone keeps urging me, I'll have much more to say. But right now i just want to do as little work as possible on my little Acer. it's too small, and keeps jumping around. i was trying to read poems tonight off of this computer tonight but it so screwed me up i couldn't even do a simple podcast.
March 16, 2009
hope to be back to a decent computer soon.
Just discovered that if you go to a restaurant you can get discount coupons on www.rest.co.il. There's one for Pappa's too: http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=9125. It is dinner time and i'm hungry. I was hoping I'd be celebrating Gilad Shalit's release at dinner tonight, but it looks like it's not going to happen. I will stay up until the last moment anyway.
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