Month: June 2014

  • An Israeli lullaby.

    Sleep soundly, children of Israel, for who knows how long before your innocence is lost.

  • Never normal.

    Living here is not normal. Life here pushes through – the normal, the stubborn, the ups, the downs – the not normal, the horror, the grief, the methods, the madness. Life here is limbo. Life here is business as usual. Life here is waiting. Life here is death. Life here is moving on. Life here…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: The Golden Ratio

    This was a total shot in the dark for me. Week 26’s theme – which was a big ole photographic list of concepts like ‘The Golden Ratio’ ‘Fibonacci’ and ‘The Golden Spiral’ – way too resonant of mathematics to my brain. I was so concerned with getting the theme right, that my picture loses. I…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: 5PM

    True story. Way back in the day, when I had my first full time job in Israel, and I was a part time student, living in a raggedy apartment with great friends… this is what I had to come home to. And now… you can’t possibly beat now. Week 25: 5PM 5pm, circa 2008 BC…

  • Nettles update: three months

    Nettles – welcome to the end of the ‘fourth trimester’. Congrats and you may pick up your diploma at the front desk. Here’s how you got there: I could have three babies… thirteen babies… thirty babies… and one thing will never ever get old: The first giggle. It started a couple weeks ago… the silent…

  • What’s more complicated than kidnapped teens, baby heart surgery, and life in Israel?

    What’s more complicated than kidnapped teens, baby heart surgery, and life in Israel?

    Day 10. My god. This country. What is more complicated than this goddamn country? This is a news segment on Channel 10 [Hebrew] profiling a father of a Makor Chaim schoolmate of the two 16-year-old kidnapped boys. He is also Dr. Dudi Mishali, a 20-year Tel HaShomer baby heart surgeon. He opens the chests of…

  • ‘Who leaves their baby in a car?!’ Me.

    Summer’s officially here. My news feed is filled with barbecues, splashy pools, sandy hair… sunscreen warnings, drowning warnings, leaving-babies-in-cars warnings. It’s all scary. It’s all out there. And, as far as the last one goes, it’s all judgy. It’s all ‘how the hell does that happen?’ It’s all ‘I would never do that.’ But it…

  • We’re waiting for you.

    Day 7. I believe you are alive. I believe you’ll be ok. I hope you do, too. We’re waiting for you. We’re doing the age-old Israeli dance – living a disrupted, regular life. Go to work, go to school, put the kids to bed, kiss each other goodnight. While we hope for you. We think…

  • This is why we can’t have nice things.

    Really universe? Really? I have a follow-up job interview today. I’m doing my best to Sheryl Sandberg this shit and last night attempted an early bedtime. Sheryl, is this how it’s supposed to work? Because I think I broke it. I was up twice before 1am feeding the infant. At some point after that, not one…

  • Not normal (part 2)

    It’s day 3. When it comes to processing, sometimes it takes a while. I think the closer to home it is, the slower it goes. To put it another way: maybe it’s a bit too twisted that I’m reading the insanity playing out in Iraq in an effort to not read the no-news from back…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Painting

    Week 24: Painting Still life with paint creatures -or- Confetti under the microscope -or- Unicorn poop  

  • Not normal.

    It’s sadly a familiar feeling. Refreshing the news every hour and every hour thinking, ‘fuck.’