I seem to be much better – fever down, shivering gone, able to get to the bathroom without hanging on to the wall. so I’ll continue with a less intimate subject in the next post.
The news keeps announcing that yes, we have a little wave of corona now – nothing to worry about because the hospitals aren’t full. But for Ezi, who is still immune to vaccines, it’s like being a little pregnant. The virus is dangerous to him, and he can’t take the chance. And since I could bring the virus – to which I’m probably immune – home to him, I have to be very choosy about going out.
But I was going to go out tonight – to a literary evening of my friend who is launching a book. And then I started getting the same symptoms that hospitalized me last year – pain, fever, shivering. Fortunately, I have antibiotics the sub-doctor prescribed last winter when i complained online – that I didn’t take then. I have a feeling I can take care of this with home medication, but if i disappear from these pages for a few days, you’ll know where to find me – in the halls of ichilov.
One of the ways the ousted parties are trying to disorient and disrespect the present government is to deauthorize, delegitimize and infantilize the women. The most prominent example is Idit Silman of the Yemina party who has twice been called a ‘little girl’ by members of Knesset while she is trying to run a meeting. Here is a link. It is a terrible way to be treated but for some reason it seems familiar to me. Until recent years this was the way women were treated here. The wording was usually Yiddish. “Meidele, bring us some coffee,” or “Meidele, have you ever driven a car before?” “Be a good girl, let me run the meeting…”
There are all kinds of reasons for this, but none of them hold water. The army, for instance – in the ’40’s women performed all kinds of tasks in the army (and in the goverment). As the situation cooled down, it was almost a sign of victory and social success to have a woman at home, the wife and mother, one of the what Thorsten Veblen called “pecuniary canons of taste.” But now, I think, women have gained a sense of authority and are beginning to fill the same positions as men – and don’t accept the supercilious attitude of the past.
So this behavior in the knesset can not be acceptable today.
The summer camps have begun for the children of Gaza – where they learn to be soldiers to destroy Israel.
Until 1967 Gaza was part of Egypt, but in the peace talks with Egypt they told us to keep it. We returned part of it – against the will of the Israeli residents who had cultivated the land, built hot houses and luxurious towns. The towns were passed on to Gaza, who destroyed the farms, hothouses, and schools immediately.
they are not allowed to communicate with us. despite the fact that we are dying to speak with Gazans.
Because I chair the Israel Association of Writers in English, and we are registered with the government as a not-for-profit organization, I am responsible for filling out the online forms for the year’s activity. This should not be a complicated affair, especially since almost all our activities are run by volunteers and free. But wow is it confusing for an old lady, and the deadline is in three days. They have to be done one at a time, downloaded, signed, uploaded, and approved before it is possible to go on to the next page (usually 14 pages). Luckily I have Ezi and with the help of the young people on the other end of the phone at the government offices am almost done. ALMOST.
Only when the forms are in and approved I will throw out all the drafts lying around my office, finish my students’ evaluations, edit the article about writing in English, and start writing poems again.
Yes, we’re back in our masks. And back in our renewed occasional hysteria. Three days ago we spoke with a friend of a friend who was at a conference with a guy who tested positive, and we have to wait until he gets his test back to see if we’re in danger. This situation is going to repeat itself for a while. That mellow mood that was beginning to settle over the country is suddenly jarred. Thank goodness most people have stores and stores of masks.
There are certain moments in life that you never forget. Every moment with Ali Salem were those. I’d just published an abbreviated version of part of the story a few months ago, but there was at least one more chapter I needed to add, and Nitza talked about part of it in her article about Sasson Somekh.
and then Nitza Ben Dov called me to ask about another part for an article she was doing for Ha’aretz, his visit to Israel. Actually, Ali wrote about it himself and you can read part of it if you click here on Amazon.
it must be amazing to have a birthday in the middle of Tel Aviv on Gay Pride day when everyone is celebrating, dancing in the streets. If I wasn’t so worried about seeing so many people in a rising corona situation, I’d be out there dancing.
Am I gay? who knows? but the point is that fay rights are human rights – equality is for all.
A few years ago I was walking with my 8 year-old grandson in Tel Aviv- On the way I pointed out the flags that were left over from Gay Pride, and I asked, “What are they?” “Oh,” he said, “They’re left over from Independence Day celebrations. On the way back, I pointed them out and asked, “Aren’t those Gay Pride flags?” “Oh,” he said and looked at me profoundly, “You know about those things?”
