Karen Alkalay-Gut
September 25, 2018
Sorry, we're in the city that never sleeps and we're not sleeping.
September 26, 2018
Concert For a Sustainable Planet. we went to Carnegie Hall to see Ronen Shapira, but we also had some fun on the way. i'll probably fall asleep in the middle of the description but here goes: Ann Birstein used to tell the story of how some guy on the street asked her how to get to Carnegie Hall and she told him to go left at the light and walk down three blocks and it would be on his right. And then when he walked away she realized she'd missed the once in a lifetime opportunity to say "practice, practice, practice."
Well we went to get the tickets for our little band which took forever while they figured out how to seat us. (Turned out half the hall was empty so why we couldn't sit together i'll never know.) Then we went to "Quality Meats" which was a nice 6 minute walk in which the weather changed from warm to chilly and rainy. The restaurant by the way is really good. Good food, good people, and good info. The French PRime Minister had been there earlier and they were happy to share the gossip about them. But we had seen enough celebrities that day to make us inured to gossip. it doesn't take long for the wow effect to wear off. After all, there are celebs all over the place in Tel Aviv.
September 27, 2018
The concert was almost perfect - it was too long, too diversified, too-too. video art, dance, jazz, classic, etc. etc. And yet, this is what it is all about - not just the diversity and quality of Israeli culture but the intensity of the need to help create a world of peace, self-understanding, depth, unity, productivity. Ronen Shapira starred in this.
Today Orit and the kids left - im sure with a sense of having missed half of what they wanted to do in the US. There is just so much to be absorbed.
September 28, 2018
All the news was covering Brett Kavanaugh's testimony., and although my friends in Israel say Netanyahu gave a most amazing talk at the UN yesterday, there was no mention of him anywhere. how can we know about the world if we know only the sensational information?
And what information? Kavanaugh repeated the same words in denial as Clarence Thomas. Christine Blasey Ford spoke specifically and personally. Who you going to believe? I believe he didn't even know what he did and that means more than the standard denial.
September 28, 2018
Met a group of Israelis living in the US now - they are all doing important work, but all long for their homeland - in a vague, nostalgic way. But the opportunities are so limited in Israel...
Kavanaugh was the only thing on the news here today. I have no idea what happened in the rest of the world. But the words of Kavanaugh keeps ringing in my ear - his blame on the Clintons and their taking of revenge on him for the previous elections. i would hate to have to stand before a judge that believes garbage like that.
September 25, 2018
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