As all eyes of the world are on the Egyptian protesters struggling to oust Hosni Mubarak from power, residents of the Gaza Strip are struggling to cope with the ripple effects. With the border between the two abandoned and sealed shut, fuel imports have been cut off, and hundreds of people… Read full post »

[Note that a shorter, less personal version of this post appeared today on Electronic Intifada:  http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10963.shtml. In tomorrow's post, I'll describe our evolving fight against Egypt, which has taken a stand against the march.]

On Dec. 29, I will attempt to cro… Read full post »

Surreal is the only word I can think of to describe it. We are here at Adamama, a community dedicated to sustainable lifestyle, agriculture and recycling in the northern Negev -- just 20 minutes, if that, across the field from the Gaza Strip. We should be able to walk on over.… Read full post »

I am giving you all a homework assignment:  If "Waltz with Bashir" is still playing in an independent theater near you, see it. If not, sign up to obtain a copy when it becomes available on DVD in March.  

Using animation in the same way as Persepolis to tell… Read full post »

Charlie Redmond's post asking  "Should I stay or should I go?"  is really about a more existential question: "What should I do with my life?" And it happens to be one that I am pondering myself. In fact, these days, I feel a bit like I'm channeling Alice in Wonderland, who wisely… Read full post »

Rick Lucke inspired me with his own post about Ken, the Dog Man, to share my own encounters with mental illness -- both of which teach the same lesson Rick so eloquently communicated. The "other" -- that person who acts strangely and makes you feel uncomfortable -- is more like us… Read full post »

Those of you who followed my blog while I volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine will remember the al-Kurd family. As a reminder, though: Fawziya and her husband Mohammed had lived in their East Jerusalem home since 1956. However, a group of religious Zionist settlers had… Read full post »

The first member of our team "bit the dust" today.  No, no, she's all right. But she was arrested and had to sign a condition agreeing to leave the West Bank for 15 days.  Hannah (from Pittsburgh, who I picked with on my first day of olive harvesting) went to some… Read full post »

Salam alykom. (Peace be with you.)  Today was a full day of training by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), along with four French people, 2 Swedes and 2 other Americans (including Jean).  Most are here for a month or more, but two others are like Jean and me and will be… Read full post »

After posting Day 3, I had tried to catch up by immediately going on to Day 4. But then, after getting it all down, I lost my Internet connection just when I hit “post.” Of course I hadn’t made a copy of it. (That’s the story of my life.) So, after going… Read full post »

Unfortunately, I was not able to access the Internet until Day 3 of my journey, so I have to play some catch-up! I will start with yesterday afternoon – a truly amazing, special experience, in which it was a privilege to participate:

My traveling companion, Jean (a fellow activist from Ma… Read full post »