Precious Life

On Thursday evening, I went to see a movie at the Cornell Cinema sponsored by the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Islamic Alliance for Justice. The film is called Precious Life and it tells the story of a family from Gaza coping with their son's immunodeficiency disorder.

The movie begins with footage of war in Gaza. I thought, it's going to be that kind of movie-the kind made by super left wing Israeli journalists who want everyone to feel sorry for everyone but Israel. As the movie progressed, I was proved wrong in so many ways. It wasn't one kind of movie or another, it just beautifully demonstrated the complexities of the situation.

The sick baby was the third child of this family to be born with the disorder (the two girls had died before the movie was made). Somehow, the family got into Israel to receive medical attention at an Israeli hospital. An Israeli doctor--or perhaps, angel--took up the case and began monitoring the baby in a completely sterile environment and searching high and low for matches. When the doctor is first introduced, we see him enter the room and give the baby's father a huge hug, and the doctor asks in Arabic, "What's up?" They joke about how they are trying to learn each other's languages. I instantly bust into tears.

The plot thickens. It takes a long time to find a proper match, although it is easier because the Arabs in Gaza marry their cousins, so there is a large extended family with similar blood. The doctor jokes about this with the family too-they laugh when they use the blood tests to find out exactly how everyone is related. Getting the blood samples out of Gaza is hard enough, though, and it highlighted the major issues with Checkpoints along the borders.

Once a match is made, the cousin is brought to Tel Aviv for the first time to donate. The journalist asks her, "Do you know what you are walking on right now?" She looks down at the grass under her feet and shakes her head no. "You are walking on plants-little tiny plants," the journalist answers. The cousin is amazed. She has never seen grass before.

The scenes that follow are tense. Everyone is worried that the baby will reject the graft. While all the waiting is going on, the journalist interviews the mother, Raida, a beautiful Muslim woman who has lived her entire life in Gaza, except for the last few months, when she has been in Israel. She has learned all about Jewish holidays and she is picking up the Hebrew from the lullabies the hospital puts on for her son. She loves her children and is extremely affected by their welfare-at one point she completely breaks down when she feels they will not find a match. So when she tells the journalist that she would be proud if her son became a shahid-a martyr-for Jerusalem, he is a little shocked. A lot shocked, in fact. An argument ensues. She has never been to Jerusalem; it is her life dream. She feels that if Allah saves her child from this disease, she owes it to him to let the child die serving Allah and the Palestinian people.

She explains that for her people, death is precious. Death is permanent, it is not a surprise, it is not rare, they must accept it and expect it. The journalist is dumbfounded. For Israelis, life is the most precious thing. That is why an anonymous Israeli donor gave all the money needed for the baby's operation, even though his own son had been a soldier and had been killed in Gaza. He wanted to give some other son, somewhere, the chance at precious life. The journalist explains how the Israelis treasure life. They simply do not understand each other.

Now the journalist shows footage of Tzeva Adom-the red alert system in Israel that is engaged whenever Qassam rockets fall on Israeli cities near Gaza. I couldn't handle it. The towns look like Yerucham, the place where I lived for four months. The lights of Gaza are the same lights I saw twinkling as I stood in the fields of Kibbutz Sa'ad on an unseasonably warm night in January, waiting for my mom to pull up in her rental car. It was all too close for comfort. I couldn't bear to see the wailing child in the supermarket screaming for her mother, with the same array of merchandise and the same arrangement of sodas that were common in every Makolet-or market-in Israel.

The baby accepts the graft and the family cal

ms down a little bit. The journalist brings up the topic again to the mother. She qualifies her statements, explaining the pressure she has felt from people in Gaza. They view her as a traitor, a Jew-lover, for accepting help from the Israelis and living in Israel. They don't understand or respect what she is doing for her baby. She says she hopes that if her son dies as a shahid, that he will die in some peaceful demonstration; she hopes he will be killed as a protester, not as a suicide bomber. But she doesn't seem too shaken by the idea of him being a suicide bomber, either. The journalist tries to shake her: WE JUST SPENT ALL THIS MONEY AND TIME AND ENERGY AND EMOTION ON SAVING YOUR CHILD-AND NOW YOU WANT HIM TO DIE?

Shortly after the family returns home to Gaza, Operation Cast Lead breaks out. There is extremely limited communication flowing in and out of Gaza, but the journalist manages to make contact once so we know the family is all all right. The doctor is called in for reserve duty and he serves as a doctor for the troops. Everything is turned upside down.

When the operation is over, security is extremely, extremely tight. Muhammed, the baby, has complications, and the journalist tries to see him at the border. He has grown a lot and he is really the cutest child. Finally, they get him back to the hospital in Israel. On the ride there, Raida explains to the journalist that she is pregnant again. PREGNANT AGAIN?!?! She explains that in Gaza, the women do not have a choice about when they get pregnant.

The doctor is back from reserve duty, and the gang is all together again. He tells Raida she will have to give birth in the hospital in Israel in case her new baby has the same immune disease and needs to be put immediately in isolation. In the mean time, they work on helping Muhammed. The new baby is born and she is not sick, thank God/Allah. There is happiness for a moment. Then the journalist unveils his big surprise: he is going to take Raida to Jerusalem!

Raida is seen pushing two strollers up the ramp to the mosque on the temple mount. Then she tells us: since she has just given birth, she is not able to enter the mosque. WHAT!!!!!!! The journalist is upset because he thought he was making her wish come true. The movie ends with Raida looking over Jerusalem--my Jerusalem, my city--and middle eastern music, the melodies common to both cultures, playing in the background.

I was astonished. What was the agenda? What was the bias? The fact is, I was more upset because there had been no bias. It showed both sides. It showed the complexities. It showed that both Palestinians and Israelis suffer because of their conflict. The doctor, at the end, says to Mohammed's parents, I hope that our children will play together, and if not our children, then their children or our great-grand children. I hope so too.

After the movie, I felt like I had been beaten up. It was so close to home, and so powerful. And I thought-how can life not be the most precious thing?

The next day, a student at Cornell died. We all got an email from the President. I overheard an EMT talking about responding to the call in the Bio study center. At night, Jewish brothers from his fraternity came to services to say Mourner's Kaddish for him. They were all such wrecks. Everyone in the service stood with them when they said Mourner's Kaddish. I gave a d'var torah (my plan is posted in the previous post) in which I focused mainly on this point: Just as God endowed Bezalel with the incredible creative skills necessary to make a beautiful tabernacle, we have all been endowed with talents and skills necessary to beautify our corner of the world and do God's work on earth. There were so many things I wanted to say, about how precious life is, but it wasn't appropriate. But the whole time I was thinking--if only we could always remember how precious life is, we'd never take a moment for granted.

The next day, I babysat for L, and it was a typical day-we walked to the bagel place, we made some bathroom stops along the way, we walked home. Then I met up with Adam in the Commons for some serious bargain shopping. I felt like we were on The Look For Less. We had such a blast...I definitely didn't take it for granted!

I went to Mann to do bio for a while, and then I went to Moosewood with Ben, his dad, and Ben's other friend Amy. We had great food and great conversation. When I returned, major evening plans were in the works. I showered, I prettied, I planned. Rachel, her sister, and I formed a group. We started to wait for rides to a frat party, but decided instead to go to a Collegetown party. We walked in the snow and it was quite enjoyable because of the company, although it was a long walk!

The party was fun for the short time we were there, and then a group of us gathered to go to Filthy/Gorgeous, a concert/party in the Student Activities Building on campus. The building had been turned into a gay club for the night, complete with strippers, trannies, drag queens, and gay people EVERYWHERE. It was magical. It was just so outlandish I couldn't believe it. Everyone was just celebrating life and who they were. It was beautiful.

On Sunday, I had brunch with Meinigs as usual and did a great deal of homework.

I also met with Risley residents, who gave me the low down on how things work

around there. Then I went to Kappa Delta for a little sorority meeting and I

memorized the KD Creed. What poetry. Then I had International Ethnic Dance

and it was so much fun, as always, although I missed Adina! I did a partner dance

with the teacher and it was so fun-it's from the Brittany region of France.

Amazing.

Today was a regular school day, plus I donated blood (life is precious!) and

got free falafel in honor of Israel Peace Week.

I am so Jordana sometimes it hurts.

Dvar Torah

Vayakhel-no fire on Shabbat, instructions for tabernacle, constructing the tabernacle, God dwelling in the tabernacle, symbolizes the end of the Exodus

1. “The lord has singled out by the name Bezalel...he has endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft, and has inspired him to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper, to cut stones for setting and to carve wood-to work in every kind of designer’s craft...Let, then, Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled persons whom the Lord has endowed with skill and ability to perform expertly all the tasks connected with the service of the sanctuary, carry out all that the Lord has commanded”
1. the idea that God endows humans with abilities
2. the idea that we are supposed to do God’s work with our God-given abilities
3. that is how we can bring the Shechinah, the divine presence, to our world
4. besides beautifying religion-what are ways we can use our abilities to beautify the world, to do God’s work? With what skills have we been blessed that can improve our corner of the world?
2. Verse after verse is dedicated to painstaking detail about the construction of the Tabernacle-why?
1. the tabernacle is the place where the Lord dwells
2. it is the end of the Exodus (God was not with them in Egypt, now they are out of Egypt and God will dwell in his house, in the tabernacle)
3. at the end of the parshah, a cloud fills the tabernacle by day and a fire by night because God is present
4. beautifying religion-hiddur mitzvah-our own creation, our own stamp on the world, something productive, everyone could contribute, concrete
5. reconciliation for the golden calf-instead using gold and donating gifts to the tabernacle-the exact opposite purpose of the golden calf but the same motivation (people want to feel like they are doing something to contribute), there was even an excess of materials and Moses had to tell them to stop
3. Role of women: כל איש ואשה repeated over and over again-”men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would bring with outstretched hands to the Lord, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants--gold objects of all kinds,” ALSO “ “and all the skilled women spun with their own hands...and all the women who excelled in that skill spun the goats’ hair...”
1. women were a key part of the skilled labor in creating the adornments
2. use of language makes them seem equal
4. “He made the laver of copper and its stand of copper, from the mirrors of the women who performed tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting”
1. when I first read this, I’m thinking vestal-virgin-300-style
2. translation is tricky, probably means “women arrayed for a sacred task,” could refer to praying at the foot of certain statues (based on a tradition of a different Near Eastern ancient culture) or it could refer to sexual acts
3. mirrors symbolize the physical, sensual side of man-the physical was not to be excluded when constructing the tabernacle, it is an essential part
4. Rashi: Moses at first refused to accept a gift which appealed to the evil impulse (vanity), but God insisted because in Egypt the women had sustained their men with food and drink and used their mirrors to adorn themselves and seduce their husbands in order to give them children and carry on the Israelite race

Going Green

organic grilled cheese on wheat: 5.50

tropicana carton: 2.50

food that's good for me and the environment: priceless, but still way too expensive, if i'm being honest with myself

also, my reusable water bottle smells a little like death, but at least i'm using tap water...

This is the way I live

It has been a while! Since I've gotten positive feedback recently (that's you, Josh) and in the past (Adina the First) on posts with limited content, I will attempt to succinctly review my life in the past few days:

Friday: I found out that I am going to be an RA in Risley, the performing arts program house on campus! I am going to love living there and working there...I will definitely use the dark room and art studio facilities, perhaps I will experiment with my sexual orientation too, who knows!

Friday night: Shabbat services and dinner followed by a super fun mixer at some fraternity for which I can't remember the correct ordering of Pi's and Phi's but I know it was great and I danced the night away! The theme was CORNELL! so much school spirit!

Saturday: chilled with L, went on our traditional walk to BAGELS. Then I napped (what can I say, my life is luxury) and did some work. Then my toga party was canceled (RUDE, Fiji, just rude) and a new party was scheduled with a different frat but when we got there they had smoked out the basement and were having an "Iron Man" competition that required each team to consume a certain amount of pizza, beer, liquor, and weed before the other teams. Peace out!

Sunday: INTERNATIONAL ETHNIC DANCE; we dance ETHNICALLY.

Monday: classes and an MLK Commemorative lecture by Eboo Patel, an Indian born Muslim man who is super duper smart (Rhodes scholar, no big deal) and writes books and is pretty famous. I don't feel like retyping my notes from the lecture, so they are included at the bottom of this post. It was a pretty good lecture (I especially enjoyed the gospel choir intro) but a little too soon on the Wael Ghonim (spelled wrong in my notes, oops) comparison to MLK. The jury is still out on Egypt...and the complete unrest in that entire area of the world. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

They did have excellent creme puffs at the reception afterward though, I must say.

Tuesday: amazing eye-opening lecture on virology in bio, then a meeting with Eboo and others to form an Interfaith Youth Corps. Great, lofty ideals of creating a beloved community through interfaith and multi-faith programming. I am skeptical. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday afternoon: learn bio, test bio, eat dinner with Adina and Ben (who had just climbed the Clock Tower, as he does before every one of his prelims...), take calc prelim! Success, and sleep

TODAY: I woke up without my alarm at 8:15am which is great because my alarm wasn't set! I took a test in Hebrew, a prelim in Gerontology, ate lunch with the Cornell Daily Sun, did my math homework, and I am going to a Hillel E-board meeting in a few minutes! SUCH JOY!!!!!!

Eboo Patel MLK Commemorative Lecture-Acts of Faith: Interfaith Leadership in a Time of Global Religious Crisis

7pm Sage Chapel 2/21/11

today is the 46th Anniversary of the death of Malcom X

Chosen Generation Gospel Choir- “ride on king jesus” no man cannot hinder thee

Patel is a Muslim with Indian background

He has won a million awards and is very important, Rhodes scholar etc

Patel’s speech:

-Montgomery Bus Boycott

-compared with Egyptian riots

-Beloved Community

-Wael Ghonim

-"Muslim, Christian, We are all Egyptian"-cooperation during the riots

-Religion news narratives

-any religious moderate is a failed fanatic

-religions are fated to fight

-the Muslims are coming to get you (previously the Catholics, before then the Jews-it is simply the reincarnation of hate)

The way the world is imagined will govern at any given time what human beings will do

Faith as a bridge of inspiration and cooperation

Next chapter in history will depend on how we think of the past

MLK as an interfaith hero

What is it in Christianity that might give me the strength to love the way Hinduism gave Gandhi the strength to love?

-How MLK becomes leader of Bus Boycott (he wanted to be head olf the local NAACP chapter but he didn’t get that job)-Montgomery Improvement Association leader-divine hand in this or chance?

-not a lot of people get that opportunity

1959-MLK goes to India to see Gandhi-ism in action

-Oh God, we call you by this name, but we know others call you Allah, Bramah, Elohim, the Unmoved Mover

-Rabbi Heschel- “the soul of Judaism is at stake in the Civil Rights Movement”

-I felt like my legs were praying-Heschel in Selma

-A Time to Break Silence-King at Riverside Church

-universal religious notion of love, recognizing a common value across faith but returning to your own to show the scripture and support and inspiration of it

-How can you help someone who isn’t Christian? Because I Am.

-We’ve seen rolling history these last 20 years-Nelson Mandela, Barak Obama, Egypt free

-Big beautiful message: dream your dream-do your work, when the moment comes, be ready

History says don’t hope on this side of the grave, but once in a lifetime, that longed for tidal wave can rise up

4 Important Pieces to Inter Interfaith Literacy

1. Theology of Interfaith Cooperation-what it is from Christianity that compels him to engage positively with other faiths-Know chapter and verse
1. Koran: God made us different nations and tribes that we might come to know each other
2. What values do we share? Hospitality, compassion, service, mutual exclusivities, religions have an awful lot in common
3. Knowing positive appreciative things about other religions-there aren’t enough people who have at the tips of their tongues something positive about other religions-what is positive about Islam
4. Know examples of interfaith cooperation (Civil Rights Movement, Egypt, Gandhi’s India, etc) “They’ve always fought so they’re always going to fight” = just not true
5. Practice how to talk about that-we have to figure out how to tell this story

ifyc.org addresses lots of questions

Preaching to the choir but the choir is not singing

There are enough people who believe in the idea that religions shouldn’t kill each other-but why isn’t that song loud enough?

Each of us has a community-how do we make this important in our community?

Give them vocabulary and vocal chords

Tell the alternative story-that’s not how the world needs to be, this is how the world can be

What is more inspiring than advancing a movement that desperately needs to happen?

Our job is to move the world a millionth of an inch

“We know we are not on the doorstep of democracy but we believe in laying the groundwork” about Egypt

Tony Morrison-New Yorker

How do you engage atheists?--the end result is good for everyone

ask Rabbi Jason about a verse that expresses the need for interfaith dialogue

I don’t want to spend my time in the various layers of Dante’s circles wondering why people are the way they are, I want to spend my time hoping

Reactions: q+a much more effective than the speech itself, he talked a lot more candidly and about himself (he is a very inspiring person in and of himself), as opposed to his speech which focused on MLK (not a perfect person...) and Wael Ghonim (getting into the politics of Egypt kind of turned me off, or at least made me skeptical to his message)

Video!!!

frustrating, I know. I will repost tomorrow when I hopefully have a stronger internet connection!

The story of Lisa Kron:

Lisa Kron, solo performer/playwright/writer, sits perched on a stool in an auditorium. Her notes are in front of her on a music stand and her partner is seated in the front row, studying "Auntie Ezra's Queer Elements," a periodic table of jokes I don't understand. Lisa is dressed fashionably in a red velvet skirt and a black net sweater, boots, and an age appropriate, well-colored hair cut. Adina's World Theatre professor introduces her as "the queen of shrewdly subversive comedy."

She starts off by telling us a story about her interactions with Enterprise Rent a Car. Apparently they have to answer the phone with "Enterprise: we'll pick you up!" which she found amusing because it is undeniably suggestive. So even though she lived four blocks from the nearest Enterprise, she said OF COURSE please pick me up. The kid who picked her up was trying to make it as a musician in New York. She said, "I don't usually do this but I thought to myself, I'm going to inspire the kid." So she told him how she had started out doing little variety shows in little clubs all over the East Side and now, 20 years later, she is living the life and a famous playwright and actress and everything. And the kid goes, "20 YEARS?!!!!!!"

So it goes. The rest of her speech was her story of those 20 years. She told us that her primary acting experience before college was Purim plays at her temple, where they still talk about her performance in "Gunfight at the OK Kibbutz." She told us that when she auditioned in college, they told her she was a "character actress," which was code for "a lesbian." She played the part of a black maid once in You Can't Take it With You, and the director didn't want to be racist so he changed the part to an Irish maid...without changing the dialogue. So she spoke like a black maid in an Irish accent. She is a Jewish lesbian from the midwest.

Over the years, she was cast in many different shows. A highlight: a musical about trees who wanted to become Christmas trees. She played in Babes in Toyland, but somewhere along the line, the script had been lost. A group of old ladies went to see the show every year though, so it was a weirdly disjointed play made from memory and at a random point, a giant bear in what looks like a carpet square runs in from the back of the theatre and the ladies all scream, "BILLY BEAR IS HERE!!!!!"

She showed us items from her one woman show: a trash "can-alog" where the trash cans available for purchase by mail order are personified, lounging on the dock or having a picnic. She showed us her hill billy kit, complete with a beard, floppy hat, and pipe. She showed us a pamphlet made for 12 year old girls about their changing bodies written in letter form between three girlfriends:

"What is a uterus? Write back immediately if not sooner!!!"

"I have seven pimples on my face!I'm going to have to scrub my face six times a day!I have hair growing under my arms!Ifinallyneedabra!!!!!!!...How are things with you?"

Then things got serious.

She talked about her show, 2.5 Minute Ride, about her a. visiting Auschwitz with her father, a survivor and b. going to an amusement park with her father. She talked about the Holocaust, she talked about family. She said, "What is that thing about being around your parents that makes you act like a 13 year old? You go to therapy, you learn about the world. You learn about yourself and get your angst under control. And when you go home, you think about how you can really help your family. But then you get there and you realize your parents live in an alternate reality where your therapy has no power."

It was funny and true. Then she talked about story telling. Why do we tell a story? We tell it to affirm some aspect of our identity. As we tell that story, the person we're talking to is responding, they are constantly reshaping what we're saying. It was interesting to think about WHY we do something as simple as tell a story, or what kind of emotion we put into it when we tell it. I'm no actress, but I certainly have a theatrical flair when conversing...but why? To what end? These are things to think about.

Then she concluded with this thought: we are all equal in our innocence of the coming moment. Like at a birth or a death bed or when we're all watching the Olympics, none of us can know what the future holds, and that is how to make our story telling effective: we have to tell the story in the moment, because the equality and the innocence and the excitement comes from not knowing what is going to happen next.

I wonder what will happen next!!!!!!

Semi-Charmed Life

Wednesday was not my most blogworthy of days so I will begin with Thursday:

First, a victory for all mankind! And by that I mean, only for me and not for anyone else on my curve in bio; I went to a tutoring session and aced a unit test! It felt great, and I was so excited to learn about cloning of animals and such things-the possibilities are truly endless! I can't wait to see where the world goes...

Next, Adina and I went to see The Laramie Project at the Community School of Music and Arts in downtown Ithaca (ooh la la, the real world!). Jesse was in it, which is why I knew about it initially, but also many other students and members of the community. It was an incredible staged reading, complete with two folk guitars and some singing. The play is about Matthew Shepherd, who was brutally killed in Laramie, Wyoming, over ten years ago because he was gay. The play brought up a lot of gay issues, hate crime issues, and things like that. But the message was a universal one, of love vs. hate, acceptance vs. discrimination and intolerance, understanding vs. ignorance. I choked up a bit but that was nothing compared to some of the people in the audience. There were a lot of people from the LGBT community there, and I think it really hit home. Amazing show.

Friday was glorious. I hopped up outta bed, turned my swag on. Then I was ready to read for Gerontology, go to Gerontology section, do my calc homework, go to Calc, and go to an assembly for new members of the Greek system.

Between all that, I went to lunch with Ranan and it was so nice to talk to someone who has had the Israel gap year experience and is going through the Greek initiation process and is meeting people all the time at parties who have never existed before. It's an interesting thing to think about, how we make friends at college. Within the Jewish community, it's not like that. You meet at services, events, programs, Shabbat dinner (sup Josh Markovic). There's more than a black hole behind them, stretching back before you met them. With other people, at frats or classes, these people are totally new, they have no origin, they have no parents, they have no development. They were born the way you met them, six feet tall, wearing a backwards baseball cap, and holding a red cup of beer. It was good to talk to Ranan, and he also introduced me to a great youtube video and Blue Planet, which I've already begun to watch on instant play!

Shabbat services were lovely in the chapel. Then we all went down to dinner and I sat with Keren, Adina, and Ben. What an ace gang! We had such good discussions and I was so happy to be at Shabbat. It was Jewish Greek Council Shabbat so there were a few new faces there too, which was nice. After dinner, we all went next door for LChaims, and we stayed to talk to Matt and Dara for a while. Then the four of us, Adina/Matt/Dara/me, all went to Dara's house to "pre-game" (quotes because her housemates were watching Guys and Dolls which really set the tone--Adina and Matt had both been in the show before so the pre-game was more of a musical than an alcoholic experience). Then we hiked back up the hill. I was excited to be walking around Collegetown with cool upper classmen, and then Adina reminded me I was still wearing my backpack. Oh well.

The Sammy Annex took a while to get started but eventually everyone we've ever known (yayyyy Gil!) came to party. We danced the night away and I got to see old friends and new friends and we stayed pretty late because it was so fun and comfortable. I even took over the iPod for a while and played Ratatat (it didn't go over well with everyone else but I was really happy to dance to it by myself).

On the walk home, Adina and I saw two bunny rabbits, and the person walking behind us stopped to look at them with us. It was a SIGN! In contrast to the October night that was marked by the evil signs of: scary limping man in wolf mask and suit, camera mysteriously not working, and a fire alarm (even the building just wanted us to leave!! we got the message...), this night was filled with bunnies and friends, and we were welcomed by the cozy--nay, hoogly--annex all the live-long night.

Yesterday was less charmed. I babysat in the morning and whilst on our traditional walk for bagels, L decided to poop her pants. I came prepared with an extra diaper, but since she's been so good lately, her parents hadn't put her in a diaper to begin with. I scoopered with a plastic bag and threw out the necessary items. As I was in the stall with her, exasperated, I said "PLEASE don't put your hands in it!" and the woman in the stall next door piped in with "don't you just hate it when that happens? Worst of all is when it happens at the State Fair...you need some wipes? I got 'em." Yeah, so we peaced out pretty quickly. Oooooh, Ithaca.

I tried to eat lunch when I got back but in fact, there are some things that make me a little nauseous and scooping human feces with my hands is one of them. Instead I took a long nap and woke up just in time for Mincha, Seudah Shlishit, and Maariv with Koach. There was great attendance, great food, great people, songs, everything. I was so happy and laughy. It was wonderful. And on the way out, as an extra treat, I ran into Dan and we sang an obscure excerpt of Slow Motion by Third Eye Blind. What more could a person want?

After all this, I went to Habachi with my sorority! Marlena was my date and she's the prettiest date in the whole world so I was pretty excited. I taught my table how to play Standing Ovation (a group chooses a dance move while one person is out of hearing range, then that person returns and does random dance moves to try to guess the chosen action, the group claps as the moves get closer). I just sat with some really nice people and there was a man making fire at the table next door to us, so I count that as a pretty successful night.

Getting home was a challenge, but we packed 11 girls into a van-cab and made it back all right. Then I went to Sammy with Rachel and Gil and danced around and played until the wee hours of the morning (well like 1am but that's pretty late for me).

Today has already been great. I dreamt about Rachel the First and it was a happy dream, I woke up without an alarm clock at 9 am, and I am blogging! On the agenda for today: meeting for Meinig, meeting for Banquets, International Ethnic Dance, a bit of homework and.....

I will do the unthinkable:

Laundry.

Sup

So, I was about to begin my blog post when I noticed some comments on an old post of mine. In this post, I described my advocacy work for Israel here (from October-the post is called "WTF Joseph Dana" and about a speaker on campus talking about Israeli Apartheid). The comments are horrendous! I know that I'm putting myself out there on the internet and all, and choosing to talk about some controversial topics, but there's no need to be such a hater. Haterz, please find something better to do with your lives than retroactively attack my personal views that I post in my blog. You know what? Write your own blog! Oh wait, you can't, you haven't got real ideas.

Ok, now that that's settled.

I had a very fun and eventful weekend. On Friday afternoon, I met with the leaders of the Jewish Russian Club and they were really wonderful people, and very excited to meet with me about Hillel. It put me in a great mood for Shabbat.

Shabbat was beautiful. I welcomed people in Anabel Taylor and I met so many new friends! Then, the conservative minyan was in the chapel for the first time and it is so beautiful and it echoes! Matt led a Yakar-style Kabalat Shabbat and then I led Maariv for the first time ever! It was not a failure! I tried to add the foremothers to my Amidah but I was never really taught it so I tripped up and skipped it. Oopsh.

Shabbat dinner was magical as always. All my friends were there, including Jesse, which is always a treat! I sat with Eric, a Binghamton student who is transferring next fall, and it was nice to have someone new to shake up the conversation. I was in a super energetic mood at dinner and it was even overwhelming for me at times but it was a great night. The challah was never better!

I walked back to North with Jake and we chatted for a while before I went to KD for some sister bonding! We played name games and 10 fingers (never have I ever) for a while, and then we did a really serious bonding program where errybody cries and it was pretty crazy to me that we were just doing name games a few minutes beforehand, but you know what, it worked out.

I left KD around 1 to escape the crying and I went to Sammy for after hours. There I found several pledges passed out in different areas of the house with their faces in garbage cans. Classy. I was a wee bit concerned for some of them so I just sent "please text me when you wake up so I know you're alive" texts. They all lived! Although apparently Andrew walked home barefoot...?

Saturday morning was my usual babysitting. We took an hour and a half walk with a break for her mini bagel! I made up a song: We're going to get a bagel/to put it in your tummy/We're going to get a bagel/It's going to be so yummy. Do you like it mini? Keeps me skinny! Do you like it grainy? It makes me zaney! Do you like it with cream cheese? Yes please! Do you like it toasted? The most-ed!

Then I purchased a gorgeous headband and it was on sale for only $4.30!!! I had to go show it off so I went to the Zesty Kiddush for the Cantorial Weekend and then to Shabbat lunch. They had Dr. Brown's soda! Woo!!! It was nice to do Shabbat on Saturday instead of just Friday night.

Then Adina picked me up with Jesse and we went to: Dispatches from (A)mended America. I don't understand what the title means, but I know that there were a couple hundred people in a downtown elementary school gym all sitting in folding chairs in a circle. Then these actors, for two hours, portrayed interviews done by two men (who were the "leads" in the play) in the South after Obama was elected. I cried (ok, so sisterhood bonding doesn't get me but thinking about the generation of little kids who grow up only knowing a black president and a black family in the White House-that really gets me!) and it was just so moving and provocative.

After the show, the fun began. There was a free dinner and everyone stayed to discuss race relations in America! I talked to some characters! One old white woman told me she was so passionate about civil rights because she had been a guard at the White House under Lincoln in a previous life. Most people were pretty serious though, and we had some great discussions. I talked to one old woman about her experiences in Chicago and seeing the tenements. I talked at length to a couple about their family, because the woman is black and the man is white and their beautiful little girl is biracial. They said that they can tell their daughter she can be president. That's the best thing ever.

On the bus earlier that day, I had seen a black boy get on with his father and he was wearing a scull cap with Obama's face on it and it said OBAMA in bedazzlement stones.

This play and the discussion afterward wasn't about Obama's politics, it was just about the fact that a black man had been elected president, but what did that change? Did that change things for the kids growing up with a black president? Yes, definitely. Did it change the lives of average black men across the country? In some ways. Did it change discrimination, did it eliminate inequality in opportunity, did it eradicate racism? No.

That's our job.

And the jobs of the Cornell students who decided to make a Cornell adaptation of this play! Adina is in the group along with Susu and even though I'm not in the group I stayed for the discussion with the actors and writers because Adina was my ride home. Amazing! What amazing people doing amazing things! There are about 30 students who are going to do interviews on campus about race relations here at Cornell and then they're going to turn it into a play!

After the play, I went straight to the KD house to meet my Emerald Sister, Kelly! She is a farmer from Wisconsin and she shows cows! So exotic! Then I got ready for our Superhero mixer with Lamda Chi. I was in the first car over, insisting that I be the one to get the party started. And I did, it's no big deal. I danced the night away (and by that I mean for one hour and fifteen minutes) and found some dancing friends to get down with me. Brian from Brighton is in Lamda Chi which was a really fun surprise so we got to catch up. The boys were really nice and it was even better to be able to spend more time with the girls in KD. Everyone was very superhero themed (I wore my metallic blue cape, my new headband, and lipstick-what more do you want?), except this one girl who I hope is not in my sorority-she was wearing the Elle Woods bunny costume without the ears...wrong party, whoops.

After Lamda Chi, I met Adina next door at DKE and we sat in their castle watching The Dark Knight for a while (the Joker popped up in my dream two nights ago and I escaped by yelling ACCIO BROOM and flying away) while her friend caught up with a friend from high school. The only problem was that there was a fire in the fireplace but I'm pretty sure the chimney wasn't open so there was smoke everywhere and there were a few people just openly smoking marijuana-ahhh so bad for my sinuses! I was dying when we left to make the trek back to North in the uber snow blizzard. We stopped in an igloo on the way home, it was amazing!

On Sunday, I had a Jewish Student Leadership brunch for Hillel, which was great, and we all networked and mingled and discussed Jewish Student Life at Cornell. Then I studied at Club Mann for a while, then I was feeling sooooo sinus-y that I took a nap!!! It was glorious in its own congested and sniffley kind of way. Then I woke up just in time for dinner with Adina and INTERNATIONAL ETHNIC DANCE. Juhi joined us and we just made friends with every Indian in the world. I am on such an Indian friend spree right now.

International Ethnic Dance was obviously insane in the membrane. From Israeli (Haroa Haktana-something I've been doing since Sunday nights at the JCC in 6th grade whaddup) to Serbia to Romania (Pravo Radopsko?) to Macedonia to different areas of the Balkans...wow it is a frenzy of culture and dance and music. And crazy old dancing people who wear multiple braids.

Yesterday was a typical Monday-Hebrew, Gerontology, Calc, and I worked at the Statler! It wasn't awful! I staffed a meeting of potential recruits for Capital One. You couldn't PAY me to want to be a business analyst. Just thinking about how dry that job is makes me a little sad.

Working was fun because I also got to catch up with my favorite local Russians (sup Igor) who work there and I got to eat great leftover cucumbers with aeoili dip (too many vowels in that word but you know what I mean).

Today was a lil crazy but good. I had my civil rights class, which is so great, and we talked about lots of things that make me feel like my public school civil rights education was completely inadequate. Then I had lunch with Rabbi Leib and we talked about Jewish life at Cornell and he is the greatest man ever and I don't want him or Chana to leave and go back to Israel and I wish they'd stay and work at Cornell forevs and evs.

The rest of the day was a blur of bio and more bio, and the occasional break for facebook. Now it is late and I must say lila tov!