What I Was Thinking.

For Those of You Who Don't Know...

I'm going to attempt to fill you all in on the many upcoming events this spring.  If any of you remember Bill Nye the Science Guy, he had a segment on his show called "Did You Know That?"  The segment put 30 seconds on the clock and told a quick and interesting science fact.  This entry is neither quick nor science-y, but it's super-informative and will hopefully give you some new ideas for how you can give back to your community this spring.

Lady GayGay

When I got back from class this afternoon (on a very busy, stressful day), I visited the fan site for Lady Gaga (I'm a huge fan).  She had a post about a boy named Cole who was sent to the principal's office of his Greenbrier, Tennessee school for wearing an "I (heart) Lady Gay Gay" shirt.  This happened April 6.  

For those of you who don't know...

For those of you who don't know, April 16 is the National Day of Silence. Hundreds of thousands of students take a vow of silence for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students that experience discrimination and bullying in schools.

Anyway...

Anyway, Cole has been getting a lot of attention, both positive and negative.  He wrote a note on Facebook discussing his strong sense of pride and identity, two things he says he will never compromise.  He was told by teachers and several harassing bloggers that "school is not the place to display your sexuality," to which he answered, "then it also shouldn't be the place to display your religion, your political beliefs or your Southern pride."

Want to learn more?

Read the article about Greenbrier High School's actions against Cole's self-expression.

The situation in Sudan.

After some facebook updating, I checked my e-mail. I'd received an email from one of the many advocacy newsletters to which I subscribe.  This e-mail was from the Save Darfur Coalition.

For those of you who don't know...

 For those of you who don't know, the area of Sudan known as the Darfur region is experiencing a genocide that has been going on for about six years now.  People across the Darfur region are homeless and living in displacement camps, some of which are miles away from natural resources.  Women must leave the camps daily and risk rape and murder to fetch water for their children in the displacement camps.  

The Religious Action Center and the Save Darfur Coalition held a rally Washington, D.C. in April of 2005.  About 20 members of the Jewish community in Columbus organized a bus, and I attended the rally, where I heard Elie Wiesel, George Clooney, Barack Obama, and other activists speak about the atrocities in Darfur.  April of 2006 I attended a social justice seminar called L'Taken, also in Washington, D.C. where I lobbied and spoke to my representative about getting the United States and the United Nations to intervene in Darfur.

Anyway...

Anyway, I received this e-mail from the Save Darfur Coalition.  This Sunday, April 11, Sudan will have its first multi-party elections in 25 years.  Of course, there's always complications.  Sudan is still in the midst of a civil war which is preying on unarmed women and children, using rape as a weapon.

Want to learn more?

Click here to learn more about Sudan's first "free and fair" elections.  Also, April 16, in addition to being the Day of Silence, is also Darfur Awareness Day - at least at Ohio State.

Speaking of Sunday, April 11th...

This Sunday, April 11th, 2010 is Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Remembrance day.  At Ohio State, all of next week is Holocaust Remembrance Week.  I don't need to tell you the details of the Holocaust - 13 million murdered, 6 million of them Jews, while the world stood idly by.

This quote is featured in the Holocaust Museum in D.C., and can also be found in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Never Again-Again.
 

For those of you who don't know...

For those of you who don't know, April 7 began the 16th commemoration of another global atrocity - the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.  I've mentioned this before - the Rwandan genocide took the lives of around 800,000 Rwandans and left 1.2 million children without parents, one of the largest orphan populations in the world.  Over 65% of Rwanda's population is under the age of 25.  The median age of Rwanda's total population is 18.7 years.  The hundreds of thousands of rapes that took place after the genocide ended left tens of thousands of women with HIV or AIDS.

 One of the ways Rwanda is slowly being rebuilt is through the creation of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.  The ASYV, started two years ago by South African native and current Jewish New Yorker Anne Heyman, is a place of residence for 250 Rwandan teenagers orphaned by the 1994 Rwandan genocide.  As you may have read if you followed my blog last year, I visited the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in June of 2009.

The Village is based on Yemin Orde, a village in Israel which housed young escapees of the Holocaust and is now home to Israeli youth and kids from all over the world.

I still keep in touch with some of the friends I made there - there's a computer lab in the village, and a few of the kids have Facebook accounts.  They keep me updated on the changes going on in their new home.  I miss Africa so much.  If I'm having a really bad day, I can go back and look at my pictures from the Village and I feel better knowing there are people in the world who still want to make a difference. Margaret Mead is right - it only takes a small group of committed citizens to change the world.  The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village is unique in Africa, and the school in the Village has become one of the best in Rwanda.  The kids are motivated and optimistic, and have big dreams for their future and the future of their country.

You can read my blog posts about my time in Rwanda, and I have a few albums of pictures up on Facebook as well.

Anyway...

Anyway, the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village is amazing, and donating to the village is a really meaningful way to remember the dead and to honor the living.  Visit http://agahozo-shalom.org/ to donate and to learn more.

Relay For Life

Relay For Life is an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society. It's a 24-hour fundraising event to raise money for cancer research.  Ohio State's Relay For Life is Saturday, May 8 to Sunday, May 9.  OSU has 110 teams, 903 participants, and has raised almost $30,000 so far.

For those of you who don't know...

We've all been affected by cancer in some way.  For those of you who don't know, my family has recently experienced the effects of cancer firsthand - a family member, as well as a few friends of the family, were and are sick with cancer this year.  It's been a very emotional and trying couple of months for our family, but with love and commitment we're getting through it.  And for many of you who have asked, though this has been quite a strain on my immediate and extended family, it has not affected my parent's relationship.  They're still strong and very much in love.  =)

Anyway...

Anyway, I'm on Ohio State Hillel's Relay For Life team, raising money for the cause.  I hope to make AT LEAST 100 dollars, though I think I'll be able to raise more than that.

Wanna help?  Visit my personal Relay For Life page and click "donate."  It's pretty easy from there.  OR, you can visit my Facebook profile.  If you scroll down you'll see a banner in the left-hand column that says Relay For Life.  There's a "donate" button there as well.

Fighting For Women's Rights to Be Just as Safe and Empowered as Men Already Are.

...and maybe a little more than that.  May 13 is Take Back The Night, my feminist group (Womyn and Allies Rising in Resistance)'s big event of the school year.  TBTN begins in the afternoon with speakers, live music, different awareness groups and short seminars, and ends in the evening with a walk down High Street to show that women shouldn't have to fear men and assault when they are outside at night.  The theme of this year's Take Back The Night is "Illuminating Truths."

For those of you who don't know...

For those of you who don't know, rape is a problem on all college campuses, especially the large, heavily populated campuses that party a lot and have a large Greek Life population.  Sound familiar?  That's right, Ohio State fits that description perfectly.  This year alone there have been two reported rapes and a handful of reported sexual assaults on Ohio State's campus.  Many women don't come forward, and there are countless rapes and assaults that go unreported every year.  The Ohio State University isn't required to do anything about it, because The Ohio State University does not have an official sexual assault policy - a contract in the student handbook that students sign and that will hold them accountable for their actions.  There's a "resource guide," which is not nearly detailed enough, and is just a "guide." Womyn and Allies Rising in Resistance (WARR) is fighting and appealing to the student government and the exec board to get this changed.  People need to be held accountable for their actions.

Anyway...

 Anyway, if you're in town May 13, 2010, you should most definitely stop by the Wexner Center for the Arts plaza to hear some speakers and be a feminist for the day - you might like it.  Feminism's a spectrum in people's minds, but it really just comes down to equality.  Human rights.

I hope you've enjoyed my looooooong post - now go out and do something for someone else!

-Maddie.

Keeping Pesach, Day 1.

I'm sick.  I started feeling sick during our last day in London.  It increased a little bit each day and I fought through it, until Tuesday when I was too sick to go to my first fencing class of the quarter.  And my first philosophy/probability class, which'll probably cost me.  So I stayed in bed, watched TV on the laptop, drank water and tea, and noshed. (<---the Yiddish word for "snacked.") A lot.  But I snacked healthier than usual.  Hmm...why?

For Eastern-European or "Ashkenazi" Jews like myself, forbidden foods include a category called "chometz."  Chometz is defined as any of the five grains - wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye - that came into contact with water for more than 18 minutes.  Basically, no bread, cookies, chips, cake...if people with gluten allergies can't eat it, most likely neither can I this week.  Also, no beer or alcohol that's brewed from wheat or grain.  My mom was happy to discover that her favorite vodka is brewed from potatoes.  Or something.

 

My sidebar about chometz.

 It's EVERYWHERE.  I went to a feminist meeting tonight at the new Ohio Union (which is super fancy and feels really unnecessary), and there was a giant platter of cookies on the table.  "Help yourself, there's a ton,"  I was told.  I was about to get up to get a cookie when my pesach alarm went off: no no no!  it's not kosher!  I sat back down.  A friend on my floor turned 20 today, and his mom sent him an enormous sheet cake - chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Nope, can't eat that either.  Such a shame.

The other forbidden food group.

The other forbidden food group for Ashkenazi Jews is called "kitniyot," also known as "legumes."  Kitniyot includes rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, mustard, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.  We don't eat it because a rabbi in the 13th century realized that it's often hard to distinguish between rice flour (kitniyot) and wheat flour (chometz).  Also, a rabbi in the 16th century states that grains may become mixed with kitniyot and a person might inadvertently eat chometz.

The good news: QUINOA IS KOSHER FOR PASSOVER! Quinoa is a lovely little grain that can be eaten cold or hot, though it must be cooked first.  It's very high in protein and great for vegetarians and vegans - it's as nutritious as soy without the side effect of increased estrogen.

all info comes from http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_passoverkosher.htm

My sidebar about kitniyot, and why my being sick ties into this:

Kitniyot is a frustrating one, and here's why:  there's corn bi-products in almost every processed food we eat.  Look at the label of a breakfast cereal, salad dressing, any and every candy, chewing gum, chocolate milk, juice...you get the point...

A little more on dreams.

I've been having disturbing dreams lately.  Not like, murder-zombies-exam anxiety dreams.  I had a dream I was truly happy.  With a past boyfriend.  Whose face wasn't visible, and whose name was unfamiliar to me.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been having a lot of dreams in the past week about past boyfriends and trying to reunite with them.  I've awakened quite shaken (ooo, a rhyme!) from these dreams because as I've mentioned in past posts, I've spent almost a year now (approximately 10 months and 21 days) mentally letting go of my most recent relationship.  The fact that I'm having relationship dreams again weirds me out.  I don't want to date anyone.  I don't want to be a "we."  I'm not ready to open up to anybody.

 I knew it was a past boyfriend, and I knew we were happy - like, comfortable-satisfied-settled-down-ready-to-get-married happy.  He held me in his arms and we talked about how happy we were.  And this disturbed me, both in my dream and when I awakened.

It disturbed me because while he was holding me (get ready to be confused), dream-Maddie was not content internally.  In the dream I told him I was happy, too, but something in my chest (again, in the dream) told me it was wrong.  Dream-Maddie didn't speak up.  It also disturbed me because in the nights before this dream, I'd dreamt quite the opposite:  I was trying to win back an old boyfriend, and he was paying me no attention.  In some cases he was actively avoiding me.  Anyone have any insight with this one?

A new idea, and why I think "out loud."

Last week my writings were questioned and criticized.  About a particular post I was asked, "What were you thinking when you posted it like this?"  I guess the only thing I can say is, I didn't really think this through before I posted it.  And I'm endlessly sorry for the distress the piece of writing caused.

Among other things, I was asked why I don't just write in a diary.  As I've stated in the About This Blog section of my blog, I like sharing my thoughts.  Sometimes I have good ones, and I like to know what my friends and family think of them.  Sometimes I have bad ones, and my friends and family let me know that maybe that shouldn't be on the interwebs.  It feels good to write and know that people are reading my writing, even if I'm writing silly fluffy pieces like this.  Except for very specific cases, I generally say, if you don't like it, don't read it.

Still, it made me question myself and my writing.  Am I blogging blindly?  Am I doing this incorrectly?  There shouldn't be a right and a wrong way to write.  This is my blog, my thoughts.  I might try to improve my skills this summer, but I like what I write and I write earnestly.  I don't try to slander.

On this vein of thought, I used to record my dreams.  I'd write down what I had dreamt in a journal.  I was inspired to do this by a conversation I had when I was probably fourteen and at overnight camp.  A close friend and I were talking about how strange it would be if emotions had recipes.  Y'know, like, 

"Recipe for an interesting night out with friends: 

 1 part Waffle House 

2 parts Meijer tag

a pinch of slap-happiness

1 cup of you bought a monkey stuffed animal and you're not sure why."  We mentioned dreams somewhere in this strange conversation, and I was inspired.

For a short period of time I even used a "Dream Dictionary" I'd bought at some bogus shop to try and interpret my dreams.

I thought it might be interesting if I share some of my dreams - the less-personal ones, at least.  I like letting you into my head [at least a little bit]  Y'all might find it interesting.

   .    +
  +       .
     ___ .
 .   _.--"~~ __"-.
    ,-" .-~ ~"-\  .
  .  .^ / ( ) .
   + {_.---._ /  ~
   / . Y    .
   / \_j   +
 .  Y ( --l__
   |  "-.   .
   | (___ \
  . | .)~-.__/  .  .
   l _)
 .   \ "l
  +  \ \
    \ ^.
  .  ^. "-.  -Row  .
    "-._ ~-.___,
   .  "--.._____.^
 .      .
    ->Moon<-

Found this on http://www.chris.com/ASCII/, a cool website of keyboard symbol images.  There's a great Hello Kitty page in there somewhere.

Recently, I've been dreaming about a boy.  Three nights in a row I've had a dream about one particular boy. In the dreams, he doesn't really like me.  He doesn't run away screaming, but he doesn't make an effort to be friendly, either.  Tonight's installment starts with my best friend since like, age 6, leading a Passover Seder and not doing a very good job of it.  She was self-conscious and nervous.

The seder seemed to take place in the Columbus School for Girls courtyard/playground.  When the boy came into the dream, he played video games and generally ignored me.  We seemed to be in an English castle, maybe Windsor Castle, which I visited this week while in London.

We tried to have a civilized meal with an older man.  It was a beautiful, big room with detailed crown molding.  It looked a lot like this, a re-creation of a room in Windsor Castle (I was blown away by the castle; it was just so PRETTY):

http://www.philaprintshop.com/nash.html 

So, we were dining with this older man, the boy who doesn't like me, one of his friends, a boy I didn't know, and a random female friend of mine.  This friend - I honestly don't remember who she was - stripped off all of her clothes and began throwing herself at the older gentleman.  One of the other dinner guests had to physically hold her back.  She kept saying, "he has perfect fingernails!  Those perfect J Crew rugged man fingernails!"  To which the older gentleman replied, "she needs a skirt and a straightjacket."

Yep, that's it. That was my dream.  I have a lot of weird and random ones like that.  If I can find my old dream journal, I'll post the more interesting ones and maybe some of the ones that I "interpreted."

Be well, all!

-Maddie.

Ugh...

This was brought to my attention by a friend in my feminist club.  On radio station 106.7, "Rover's Morning Glory,"  The DJs discuss whether or not a victim can be held accountable for being raped because of the way she is dressed.  This is such crap! Of course it's not the woman's fault for men's inability to act like a decent human being.  The female DJ is trying to do the right thing, but her co-hosts are idiots.

...ugh.

Triggering content.  Triggering content.  These guys pissed ME off with all of their victim-blaming crap.  If you think it might trigger a traumatic memory, don't listen.  Or don't listen until you're ready; and have someone at hand to talk with.  To listen to the links, right-click them and click "open link in new tab." Or you might be able to just click it.

Part1

Part2

And for those of you who didn't know, a woman was assaulted and raped around 8:30 Monday night on Ohio State's campus near the building where I have Philosophy class.  Here are some slanted articles about that as well.  "Alleged"? That's rude.:

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2010/03/02/story-ohio-state-campus-crime.html

I took the Lantern article off of my blog, and here's why:  The Lantern? No tact. They included the name of the woman's Residential Advisor, the dorm she lives in, and a map from her dorm to the place on campus where the incident occured.  No tact.

"ISRAEL APARTHEID WEEK."

Soapbox time.  This week is "Israel Apartheid Week" around the world, where misinformed individuals with good hearts and minimal facts compare the situation in Gaza to Apartheid South Africa.  This is an insult to the horrors that Black South Africans experienced during apartheid.  Believe me - I've been there.  I've visited the jails, I've gone to the Johannesburg Constitutional Court, I visited the University of Witwatersrand this time last year, where the walls and outdoor tables were covered with accusations that Israel is an apartheid state.  It's just not true. I know this because I've also been to Israel.  Here is some information on what's REALLY going on.

For more talking points visit Stand With Us and scroll a fourth of the way down.  On the left, click "Apartheid Week Response Materials."

 

MYTH:    "Israel is an apartheid state."    FACT:       Even before the State of Israel was established, Jewish leaders consciously sought to avoid the creation of a segregated society.  Since the United Nations Conference on Racism in August of 2001, anti-Semites and racists have tried to delegitimize Israel by calling it an apartheid state. Their hope is that this false equation will tar Israel and encourage measures similar to those used against South Africa, such as sanctions anddivestment, to be applied to Israel. The comparison is malicious and insults the South Africans who suffered under apartheid. The term "apartheid" refers to the official government policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in South Africa. The whites sought to dominate the nonwhite population, especially the indigenous black population, and discriminated against people of color in the political, legal, and economic sectors. Whites and nonwhites lived in separate regions of the country. Nonwhites were prohibited from running businesses or professional practices in the white areas without permits. Nonwhites had separate amenities (i.e. beaches, buses, schools, benches, drinking fountains, restrooms). Nonwhites received inferior education, medical care, and other public services. Though they were the overwhelming majority of the population, nonwhites could not vote or become citizens. By contrast, Israel's Declaration of Independence called upon the Arab inhabitants of Israel to "participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions." The 156,000 Arabs within Israel's borders in 1948 were given citizenship in the new State of Israel. Today, this Arabminority comprises 20% of the population. It is illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race and Arab citizens of Israel are represented in all walks of Israeli life. Arabs have served in senior diplomatic and government positions and an Arab currently serves on theSupreme Court. Israeli Arabs have formed their own political parties and won representation in the Knesset. Arabs are also members of the major Israeli parties. Twelve non-Jews (10 Arabs, two Druze) are members of the Seventeenth Knesset. Laws dictated where nonwhites could live, work, and travel inSouth Africa, and the government imprisoned and sometimes killed those who protested against its policies. By contrast,Israel allows freedom of movement, assembly and speech. Some of the government's harshest critics are Israeli Arabs in the Knesset. Arab students and professors study, research, and teach at Israeli universities. At Haifa University, the target of British advocates of an academic boycott against Israel, 20 percent of the students are Arabs. Israeli society is not perfect - discrimination and unfairness exist there as it does in every other country. These differences, however, are nothing like the horrors of the apartheid system. Moreover, when inequalities are identified, minorities in Israel have the right to seek redress through the government and the courts, and progress toward equality has been made over the years. The situation of Palestinians in the territories is different. While many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Stripdispute Israel's right to exist, nonwhites did not seek the destruction of South Africa, only of the apartheid regime. Unlike South Africa, where restrictions were racially motivated, Israel is forced by incessant Palestinian terrorismto take actions, such as building checkpoints and the security fence, to protect its citizens. Israel has consistently demonstrated a willingness, however, to ease restrictions when violence subsides. Beyond limits placed on their ability to attack Israel, roughly 98% of the Palestinians in the territories are governed by the rules of the Palestinian Authority, which do not permit freedom of speech, religion, assembly or other rights taken for granted by Westerners - and guaranteed in Israel. If Israel were to give Palestinians full citizenship, it would mean the territories had been annexed and the possibility of the creation of a Palestinian state foreclosed. No Israeli government has been prepared to take that step. Instead,Israel seeks a two-state solution predicated on a Palestinian willingness to live in peace. The clearest refutation of the calumny against Israel comes from the Palestinians themselves. When asked what governments they admire most, more than 80 percent of Palestinians consistently choose Israel because they can see up close the thriving democracy in Israel, and the rights theArab citizens enjoy there. "When there is peace, we will forgive you for killing our sons.  But we will never forgive you for making our sons kill yours." - Golda Meir to Anwar Saddat

My Ten-and-Under Life.

Not too many college updates for y'all at the moment.  I'm working on a digital narrative on crossdressing for my women's studies class, which I'll post on the blog if I figure out how.  I've been in kind of a slump lately.  I'm really ready for this quarter to be over - great things ahead once winter quarter ends.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few random things I remember from my childhood.  Emphasis on "random."

Sneaking into my glamorous Aunt Jill's closet with my cousin Abby and marveling at her rows of sparkly shoes, pretty dresses, and small makeup pots.

My same Aunt Jill scolding me for eating (or stashing in my pockets) the candy she set out in dishes around her house.

 Receiving a purple dress from my grandmother on probably my 7th birthday.  My little sister received a matching one.  I hated it so much I hid in my room.  She gives me money now.

My Papa calling me "Madelyn."  I'd tell him, "No, Papa, everyone calls me 'Maddie.'"  His response:  "All right, I'll only call you Madelyn when I'm angry, then."  He was either always angry at me, or he forgot our rule (I'm positive it was the second one).

 Kevin Finley, a neighbor two houses over on Cassingham.  he made me sit with him and watch Star Wars, and I was so frightened when Obi-wan was struck with the light sabre that I ran out of his house and back to mine.

 Learning, at age 8 or 9, what a miscarriage was.  Mom told me one day not to bother our next-door neighbors for a few days; because they'd just had one.  They had a live birth a few years later.

 Those little schmucks, Ethan and Michael, peeing in my backyard sandbox.  I wasn't allowed to play in it after that, because the stray cats then used it as a litterbox.

Getting bullied in early childcare.  I was a little bossy, and I was often hit and pushed by the big kids on the playground at recess.  Remember those horribly dangerous scooter things they had in little-kid gym class? Like short skateboards?  I remember my friend Taylor falling off of one and landing on her chin.  She had to get stitches, which looked like little black whiskers.

 Skipping a day of Columbus School for Girls lower school to hang out with my dad.  He wore a suit.  We got lunch in City Center Mall, Kinko's copy store, and the Nationwide Insurance headquarters downtown.  You'll notice they have a pretty little waterfall in the front.  It was late spring, and I took off my little Doc Martens and knee-high socks, and waded into the water.  My dad rolled up his pant legs, took off his shoes and argyle socks, and waded in after me.  

As a very little girl, younger than four, I remember watching my father half-carry a faint Evelyn - my Botnick cousins' nanny and housekeeper - back into our Florida home after her finger was slammed in the van door.  She was crying softly, and I remember blood.

 Sneaking into my Aunt Eva's closet with my other cousin, Naomi, and marveling at her pretty clip-on earrings, wide-brimmed debutante hats, and tiny crystal bottles of perfume with the tasseled squeeze pumps.

 Those silly little toy fads we went through in elementary school:  Furbies, Sanrio pencil tins, gelly-pens, wheelie shoes, and powerbead bracelets.

 Playing at the house of my elementary school-best friend Kate's house in first grade.  Our favorite toys?  My Little Pony.  I only owned one, but Kate had about 20.  Our first great teacher, Mrs. McTurner, was on maternity leave for most of the year, and our substitute was a wonderful woman named Mrs. Toothman, whose husband was a dentist.  We'd pretend the pretty, tall, slender My Little Pony was Mrs. Toothman, and the short, squat Pony was Mrs. McTurner.  They would battle for the right to teach our class.
 

 All the wonderful adventures Kyla and I had:  the time we tried to save a baby bird that had fallen from a nest on her roof, how we used to pretend we could read one another's thoughts, Kyla's awesome Halloween costumes, playing with her dogs, fighting with her brother like he was my brother, walking around the block to one another's houses barefoot in the summer, being disruptive in religious school.
  
  The many elementary-school spring breaks to Palm Island Resort with my other elementary school best friend, Emma.  We went with her grandparents, whom she just called Doris and King.  We'd sneak off in the morning to go bodyboarding, go to the little breakfast shop to buy donuts and milk and fruit, play games in the arcade, swim in the pool, build sand castles, climb up soft sand dunes, search for lizards, and eat ribs at the restaurant, Rum Bay (before I knew 'ribs' were typically pork).  Our other best friend, Kate (of the My Little Ponies), went to an island called Useppa for her spring break.  Once or twice we took a ferry and went to visit her.  Kate tried to catch a lizard in a cup, but instead caught its tail, which wiggled wildly under the clear plastic cup.

If y'all think of any memories we shared as children (or any cartoon TV shows I've forgotten), post it as a comment here on the blog, or on facebook!

That Little Feeling.

A slightly off-topic comment before the blog begins: I hate Valentine's Day.  For as long as I can remember, whether or not I was in a relationship during this paganistic Hallmark holiday, I've hated it.  I love people all year round - why should I buy waxy overpriced chocolates and themed plush toys to prove it?  Ladies and gentlemen, what I want for Valentine's Day is what I want for every other occasion during which you choose to dote on me: a great meal, a notable movie, and your undivided attention.

In your heart, in your throat, in your pants - chemistry.  Love. That first look, that first thought you have about him, about her, about that stranger that makes you think dirty things, sweet things.

 "In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds." - Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer.

So much for the romance we all saw in that picture. 

The woman, later identified as Edith Shain, said she let the sailor kiss her because he'd fought for our country.  Ok, that's not really chemistry.  But he did something!  Something bold!

Which is more than I can say for myself.  I sat in the lounge across from the Berry Cafe in the William Oxley Thompson Library, the main library at The Ohio State University.  I sat down with my book bag and my vegetarian eggplant sandwich and noticed a very cute fellah sitting on a couch perpendicular to my seat.  He wore a v-neck t-shirt, a beret-esque hat, and had an androgynous, almost girlishly pretty face, and dark eyes.  I haven't been very confident in myself since rediscovering the single life, but I smiled at him and he smiled back flirtatiously.  I felt a little flutter in my chest.  I looked up a bit later, and saw him looking at me again.  We smiled at each other, and I felt my cheeks growing warm.  'Stop looking at him, Maddie, do your homework.'  I didn't have the nerve to walk over and introduce myself.

This happened one or two more times, and finally he got up to leave.  I watched him turn and throw away his drink (and I noticed his cute tooshie in the pale gray narrow jeans), and then immediately put my head down and tried to look engrossed in my book.  He walked behind me to leave.  I felt him pass behind me, and then I felt his hand on my shoulder.  He gently, flirtatiously, squeezed my shoulder, and kept walking.

Dome of the Rock Attempts, or...

"It's Not a Failure When You Have Good Food and Good Friends."

Jerusalem, April 2009.

Even though it's against the Year Course rules, something I really wanted to do was go to the Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock.  The Temple Mount is only open to non-Arabs for a certain number of hours per day; I think from 1pm to 5pm.  Attempt number one was with a too-large group: we ended up waiting for them at a bus stop for twenty minutes, and missing the first bus.  When we got on the bus, it took almost an hour to reach the Old City.

Zach and Esti fell asleep on the bus on the way there.

When we reached the Old City, we argued for a bit about which would be the best way to go to get to the entrance to the Temple Mount.  We went through the shuk.  We got separated at one point, and a few people got a bit lost in between the Jewish and Arab Quarters.  We bickered, called each other, and finally reconvened. It was about 4:30pm by this point. When we reached the security stop to the Mount, the guards told us we were too late; it was closed to non-Arabs now.  We sadly wove our way back through. 

  We didn't get to see the Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock that day, but we passed a model of it made out of Za'tar.  How cool is that?  Some of our friends, though, were pretty bitter about not making it in time.  We still had more time left in Israel, though, and I knew this wasn't our only chance.

On our way back through the shuk, someone came up with a stellar idea.  "Well, even though we didn't get to see it today, we should still do something new and exciting, right?"  So we wound our way through the Arab shuk until we found a "Hummusia," a hummus restaurant.  There the group of us split a couple of plates of hummus with pine nuts, olive oil and ful (a type of legume).  We scooped up the smooth hummus with steaming pita triangles and wedges of raw onion, refreshing ourselves with Coca-Cola in glass bottles (the best way to drink it) and wiping our mouths with tiny little restaurant napkins that said "Coca-Cola"  in Arabic.  We used the last little scraps of pita to scrape the plates completely clean.  It was one of the best middle-eastern meals I had while in Israel.

More Backtracking - Passover Adventures

I'm starting to realize I did really thorough posts of my trips to Portugal, Uganda, South Africa, and India, but not nearly enough posts about my time spent in Israel.  So this mass of posts is my attempt to recall some of the other experiences I had in Israel.

April 2009.

So, my original plan for Passover was to buy a ticket to Turkey and travel with some friends.  But when we returned from our trip to Arad, I decided it'd be best if I didn't go.  The group would have wanted to do different stuff than I, and I thought it might be wiser to save my money (I got a good deal back when my parents did my taxes, and I was going to use that for Turkey.)

A lot of kids on Year Course use their Pesach break to travel the Jerusalem Trail, go camping, or hike from the dead sea to the mediterranean sea.  I'm not big into hiking, so I decided against it.

Then, I was going to attend Bombamella, Israel's hippie festival.  Changed my mind on that one, too.  What I ended up doing was spending a few days with Jason's family, a few days with my family in Ramot, and a day or two touring museums in Jerusalem with my friend Natalie.  Certain museums are free during passover.  After much searching and an unnecessary cab ride, Natalie and I made it to the Bible Lands Museum, the Israel Museum (which is still almost completely under construction), and the Museum on the Seam.  It was quite enjoyable.

Jason and I took a cab to the Joint Distribution Committee building in Jerusalem, where we met Gideon, who is the JDC guy working with Anne on the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. We met Anne, Jenna, and Yoni there (and I can't remember exactly, but I think Seth was coming later).

I'll keep it brief.  With the Merrins we watched Marx brothers films, some movies I recommended, surfed the net, went to the Herzliyah beach, visited the Merrin's friends all over the country, and had a beautiful passover dinner with their family in the north of Israel.

Some of us also went to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where we watched in awe as Christians rubbed souvenirs from the Old City on a giant slab of rock, where it's said Jesus was laid to rest.  The Church was spectacular - the paintings, carvings, and artifacts were unbelievable.  I wish we could have gotten a tour from somebody that could have explained all that we were seeing.  It was really incredible.