Those who watch my blog for signs of how I’m doing (my family!) have been worried because of the more-than-month-long silence. What can I say except that when one is on a roller-coaster – as my life is like these days – writing about the scenery on the way isn’t always… Read full post »

For someone who is a communications professional, I have not always been the best at keeping in touch with my parents.  Once I moved from the Chicago area to the East Coast about 12 years ago, I wrapped myself in the vicissitudes of my daily life and only seemed to remember… Read full post »

First, an update on Abdallah al Ghoul, the young man from my previous blog post who was left behind in Gaza. Below is an article I am now seeking to place, highlighting his story:

He is a 20-something young man and his dream is to earn a degree in… Read full post »

I'm back in DC, painfully re-entering Western society, after returning from the Gaza Strip Thursday night. Our crossover back into Egypt was marred, unfortunately, when one of our delegation members -- a young man named Abdullah al Ghoul -- was barred from entering.  Abdullah is a… Read full post »

This is my last day in Gaza before I head back to Cairo and then home to DC. And it's strange, but I'm feeling "homesick" already. I feel both that I should stay here to show solidarity with the people  -- joining the ISM (International Solidarity Movement) to help fishermen and f… Read full post »

This is a tribute to – and a hope for – Gaza’s children. Forty percent of the Gaza Strip’s 1.6 million population is under the age of 16, and the only life they know is impossibly crowded refugee “camps,” the ever-present threat of Israeli raids, and homes destabil… Read full post »

I could not have asked for a better way to spend my birthday, or International Women's Day. (One of the questions we got from the women we've met here is what we do in the States to recognize this day...And I had to say, "nothing." But here -- in this Muslim… Read full post »

If ever there was an example of the power of advocacy and protest, this is it. Despite the fact that the Rafah crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip has been closed almost continuously for 18 months, our CODEPINK delegation was ushered in today with what could almost be called fanfare.… Read full post »

There are 59 of us on the two buses.

Some you would expect to find in a Codepink delegation with a mission of breaking the siege on Gaza: The mother of a girl who was bulldozed to death by the Israeli army when trying to block a home demolition. A U.S.… Read full post »

A couple of years ago, a good friend (and former boss) suddenly dropped out of touch for a while...He was living in Switzerland, and I was scheduled to visit him while traveling to the region for work. When I was finally able to contact him, he told me that he was… Read full post »

On a long flight home from Germany recently, I had the opportunity to watch "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas."  It is a stark portrayal of the already-well-told Holocaust story, but with a twist: This time, it's from the point of view of the 8-year-old son of one of the Nazis' high-ranking… 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 »

I recently struck up a conversation with a friend of a friend, from the UK, on Yahoo IM. I was puzzled by the fact that he didn't seem to be engaged in, passionate over or even too informed about any of the "hot button" foreign policy issues that are facing the… Read full post »

I have been very harsh towards Israel in this blog. However, it is Israeli policy against Palestinians thats draws my ire -- not the country itself or the people as a whole. Heroes are everywhere, including in Israel. And to three of them, I dedicate this entry in my blog.… Read full post »

On New Year's Eve, I watched Tom Cruise's latest film, Volkyrie -- an account of the 15th (and last) attempt at assassinating Adolph Hitler, nine months before the "fuhrer" committed suicide rather than be captured by the allied army. Although I knew the heartbreaking end of the story, I found m… Read full post »

It's not too often that you get to meet the person you will be 42 years from now, if you make it that far. But yesterday, I felt like I did.

Lula is a sort of "step-aunt"  on my husband's side of the family.  She was the long-time "common law" partner of Dave's uncle… Read full post »

I recently finished a book titled "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What it Says About Us)," by Tom Vanderbilt. I'd put it in the same genre as The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of Crowds, Blink and Freakonomics -- every intriguing, weird and/or little-known fact about a particular subj… 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 »

In the progressive community, one of the most controversial topics of debate is whether a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict is still possible -- or even desirable.  After two trips to the region, and a lot of reading and observation, I have come to the conclusion that it's not… 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 »

In the weeks following the terrorist attack in Mumbai, I have been observing with dread the way it has been interpreted and then “spun” by governments and media around the world. No matter who was talking, there was a common thread: the need to continue – even redouble –… Read full post »

I saw the new film "Milk" this weekend -- a wonderful dramatization of the life and work of Harvey Milk, the 1970s gay-rights activist who was assassinated just after he became the first openly homosexual elected official in California (county supervisor from a district in San Francisco). Sean P… Read full post »

We live in universe of parallel worlds. The world I live in – and I’ll bet you do too -- is what a fellow blogger calls the “Comfort Corridor.” For me, that means that I’m spending Thanksgiving in a beautiful Amish hotel in Ohio, in a suite that costs $150 a… Read full post »

 Personal Note: I have written two posts recently about one of the families with whom I stayed while in Palestine during the month of Occtober.  Yesterday, the patriarch of the family died of a heart attack. The press release below was issued by the International Solidarity Movement, with w… Read full post »

In my last post, I promised to focus next on what is going on in the Gaza Strip, and that means the controversy around Hamas.  Even the mainstream media here in America, where most people blindly support Israeli policy without knowing much detail about what's going on in… Read full post »