Month: November 2012

  • GoldieBlox: building the next generation of girl engineers

    UPDATE: GoldieBlox shipped March 12 2013! Very exciting! Here’s a project that was fully funded on Kickstarter five days after the account went up. Those stories are rare, so what could possibly have been inspiring enough for that kind of support? Debbie Sterling is an engineer out of Stanford University who, influenced by being a…

  • Old school Israel: rare video of Israel way-back-in-the-day, 1947

    Today is a few things; it’s the 29th of November, the date in 1947 that the United Nations adopted the resolution to recommend the Partition Plan for granting two states for the Jews and Arabs living in British-mandated Palestine. And, 65 years later, it’s the day Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas approaches the UN to…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Emotion

    After an inspiration-less and stressful week, I had nothing to submit on Sunday morning. Then I accidentally dropped and cracked the last egg in the house. Then… Week 47: Emotion Don’t cry.

  • Thanksgiving in Israel, ceasefire edition.

    I just OWNED my Americanness at our local Mister Zol. Usually my Australian huz deals with the turkey ordering and picking up. Blasphemy, I know. I’ve been passive about it because I always felt silly ordering a whole turkey at a chicken counter in Israel. So when I approached the counter, my language evolved from…

  • Tzur Hadassah Anglos rally for the south!

    Here’s a shout out to the awesome Anglo crew in Tzur Hadassah, which, in 48 hours, managed to rally and collect food, household items, toys and books for the citizens of southern Israel and soldiers serving on the Gaza border. Together, about seven or eight families, filled the trunk of a Ford Focus: And I…

  • What we learned at kindergarten today.

    “So what happened at gan today? Did everyone like your new backpack?” “Yep.” “What did you eat for lunch?” “שעועית” “Beans? And?” “Pasta.” “Beans and pasta!” “And shnitzel. Shnitzel shnitzel shnitzel.” “What else happened in gan today?” The thing about pretending everything is fine, that we have to keep acting ‘normal’ so the terrorists don’t…

  • FYI: Ways to help and donate to citizens of south Israel and IDF soldiers

    Groups are starting to collect goods and supplies for both people stuck in bomb shelters in the south, and reserve soldiers stuck at the border of Gaza, waiting for the next move. You can see the original Facebook event post here, and below. Personally, I’m trying to collect in Tzur Hadassah (if you’re local and…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Flash

    On the way out, I snapped a picture of the row of military helicopters (too hard to see I realize now; maybe it’s for the best). A surreal hour later, we heard about the targeted Jabari killing. Week 46: Flash And in a sun-covered flash, they were gone.

  • Goodnight, siren.

    There was only so much pacing and checking the news that I could do. And then when I finally snapped at Koala, I knew it was time. I had been 100% sure there was no need to tell him about the rockets or warn him about sirens before yesterday. But then the rockets reached Tel…

  • When a rocket reaches Tel Aviv.

    Almost nothing should stop a Jew from making a chatan and kallah happy on their wedding day… Which is why, despite how difficult today was, I was determined to join the celebration in Petah Tikvah tonight. Started the car, radio came on. ‘And a siren was just heard in Tel Aviv…’ Oh. Started driving out…

  • Don’t you forget about me (what it’s like to not hear from you during Israel crises)

    I’m hurting. And frustrated. I don’t want to put anyone down. I’m not trying to guilt anyone into feeling anything. I just have an honest question to ask. Why is that I feel… forgotten, or isolated by peeps from abroad? I guess by ‘I’ I’m actually referring to people who live in Israel. People. Not…

  • Israel Air Force by proxy: swearing-in ceremony, sabras, and planting roots.

    It’s a little surreal reading up on your country’s military air strike operations in real time as you drive back from your brother’s air force swear-in ceremony. But then again, it’s often surreal living here. We made the three-hour trek down to the Ovda Israel Airforce Base to see my brother’s טקס השבעה or swearing-in…