Getting to the Farm, and some other things

After Ebs and Cita (dreamily thought about trying for a threesome; a concept that I and probably many a men have oft thought about, probably never gonna happen in my life) both left Santo Domingo for the States, I took a cab to a guagua station and hopped on a 4 hour guagua to the town of Samana not coincidentally on the Samana Peninsula, i.e. the north eastern coast of the country with beautiful beaches, poverty, resorts, motorcycles, and gorgeous green scenery all mixed together. Well to be honest a lot of the country can be described that way...Anyways, from Samana I sat on back of a pickup truck guagua headed toward Las Galeras and since the driver knew the family I was going to, he volunteered to take me all the way to the farm in a little village called Manuel Chiquito himself.

[Important side note: What is a guagua, you ask? Guaguas actually describe many things in this country. For example, like a Sherut in Israel, it can be an intra or intercity mini bus that takes 15-25 people around to general areas and make personalized stops along the way. If it's an intercity guagua, it will be slightly bigger and will take you potentially quite far--like the one I took from Santo Domingo to Samana. If it's intra-city, it's probably a van with an always-open door and some guy hanging out always hollering at walkers by to jump in and go wherever it happens to be heading. If my Spanish was good, then I would love to explore Santo Domingo via guagua routes...

So primary guagua meaning: intra or inner city mini bus that makes personal stops on the way to a planned destination. However, I have also heard it defined as a true bus (like when Elena's fam, Ebs, Cita, and I took a bus from Veron to Santo Domingo and a local gal in the city still called it a guagua even though it was a chartered bus) and even as a guy in a pickup truck or sedan driving as many people as he can stuff into his car around town (like the ones Ebs and I took in Caberete or the guy, Lazaro, who took me to the farm when I got to Samana). Good. With that said..]

I arrived at Cindy and Jose's home and farm at dusk on July 3rd and was greeted with the barks and howls of lord knows how many dogs. Actually, there are eight, and their names are: Mimi, Annie, Shiro, M.T., Sherman, Brahma, Reina, and Little Guy. There are also 3 adult cats (Cinco, Xana, and Leo) and Xana’s 3 babies; the cats are quite anti-social compared to the dogs. Jose was in town drinking with some buddies so Cindy welcomed me by her lonesome with some beer and a curried rice n potato dinner she was just putting back in her fridge. To be honest, she had no idea I was coming as she had not checked her email in some two and a half weeks because it was down for a while, and on my end I had no idea what the response would be when I showed up because she wasn't responding to my emails and her farm was my only plan so I was definitely apprehensive. But she was just like yeah, I figured you might show up last week or this week, and if not then I'd figure that you just weren't coming. Alright, in the game!

After eating and chatting with Cindy and the recently arrived Jose, they helped me set up my air mattress on sofa frame and mosquito net, gave me a couple of sheets and a pillow, and I passed out until the dogs started barking in the middle of the night. And then I fell asleep until they woke me up. And then I fell asleep until the night’s heat woke me up. And then the dawn’s light woke me up. And then the dogs started moving around and eventually barking and then Sherman started jumping on my bed to play with me through the mosquito net and then, yes, it was 7:30am on a Sunday morning and I was wide awake for my first day in my new 'home'...

Yes!

Gil Troy's Jerusalem Post blog entry is almost hammer and nail how I argue my view on campus.

Indeed, in my opinion being Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Zionist is a good thing!

A Serious Man?

מה זה להיות בן אדם רציני?

היתה תקופה שהייתי יושב עם הכל החברה באחורי האוטובוס..יושב ומטפנן ומסטלבת בלי רצינות או כבדות, רק צחוקים. לא יודע מתי התחלתי להפוך את התנהגותי או אם זה אפילו היה משהו שהתכוונתי לעשות. אבל בפעמים האחרונות פתאום לא הרגשתי את הצורך או הרצון לשבת איתם ולדבר על כלום. ת'אמת היא שלא אכפת לי כל כך לדבר על שטויות.

אבל זה רק חצי מהסיפור. בצד אחד, בא לי לשבת לבד ולקרוא ספרות או מאמרים אקדאמים שקשורים למזרח תיכון ..יש באמת רגש שאני מבזבז ת'זמן שלי, שחלאס, הגעתי לתקופה שאני כבר לא ילד--שאני גם צריך וגם רוצה ללמוד כדי להיות בן אדם אם השכלה רחבה. בצד שני, אני עדיין גבד שעדיין רוצה להתמזמז עם בחורות.

אז הסיכסוך? למצוא את הבחורה שרואה אותי כאיש אינטלגנטי (היא גם חייבת להיות אינטליגנטית כמובן) שמוכנה לקבל אותי אם רצינותי, וגם רוצה לעשות חיים. יום אחד, אמצא אותה: נקרא ספרים בימים ונצא בלילות...או... אם אני באמת בן אדם רציני, נקרא בלילות גם
...

Tweet Me Do

I am now on twitter, check it out if that's your style:

Jonah's Twitter Page

One Day...

...I'll find it in me to write a gem like this little Buena Vista Social Club ditty:

Buena Vista Social Club - Dos Gardenias Music Downloads

Buena Vista Social Club - Dos Gardenias Ringtone

Dos Gardenias

Dos gardenias para ti
con ellas quiero decir
te quiero, te adoro, mi vida.
Ponles toda tu atencion
porque son tu corazon y el mio.

Dos gardenias para ti
que tendran todo el calor de un beso
de esos que te di
y que jamas encontraras
en el calor de otro querer.

A tu lado viviran y te hablaran
como cuando estas conmigo
y hasta creeras
que te diran te quiero.

Pero si un atardecer
las gardenias de mi amor se mueren
es porque han adivinado
que tu amor se ha marchitado
porque existe otro querer.

Dos gardenias...para ti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rublV5LQ5Ds

Over-Association

Today's NY Times Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman is for the most part right on.

It is worthwhile to discuss for a moment his anecdote regarding over-association. People who do not live in/are not from a region and who have no ties to there political situation there, yet also seek to be politically active and liberal often attach themselves to hot-button topics. Don't get me wrong, activism as a principle is extremely important. However, it frequently occurs that some of these activists tend to over attach or associate with one side, leading in turn to extreme views on a topic that tend to be far removed from facts on the ground. I see this all over my college campus, I see it in Israel, and I see it in Palestine. It's very annoying.

The one caveat I would add here is that Friedman conflates American Jewish donors who fund settlement activity with the over-associaters of the U.S. and Europe. While I cannot justify settlement building on what will be a future Palestinian state, there is a definite distinction to be made between religiously motivated right wing moves and extremist left wing liberalism based on chic social trends (everyone knows it's cool to hate Israel, right?) and over-association. Again, although they shouldn't be confused and meshed into one, Friedman is correct that they both often do fuel the worst of both sides--a shame indeed...

Post Flotilla

I have been all over the web over the past few days trying to form an articulate opinion of what went down with the so called Gaza Freedom Flotilla. As most of you know by now, there were 6 boats with some 8oo "activists" heading from the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza with humanitarian aid. Some of these people had pure intentions, namely to deliver basic goods to the citizens of Gaza. However, I write activists in quotes because it is clear from video footage that many of the people on board the biggest ship had sinister, premeditated intentions.

The actions of the militant activists put Israel in a lose-lose situation. As I wrote to Max Finder a couple of days ago: On the one hand, I don't think anybody on the Israeli side wanted to get on that boat, and definitely not in the middle of the night. On the other hand, there was a period of a few hours where the Israeli Navy was contacting the boats telling them not to go to Gaza, that the goods could be processed through legal ways via Israel or Egypt and more. In essence, Israel gave the people on the boat every opportunity to safely deliver the humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. 5 of the 6 boats acquiesced and docked safely in Ashdod, while the infamous 6th one continued heading toward Gaza in the late hours of the night, eventually just stopped responding to the Navy, and all the while had a coordinated a plan of attack for what they knew they were forcing--an Israeli takeover of the ship.

P.R. wise it well done: everyone knows that Israel is never going to win a public relations battle, ever. Obviously it is extremely a) sad that lives were lost and b) frustrating that the whole thing was such a debacle from the get go, but I'm not so sure Israel was in the wrong by commandeering the boat as a last possible option...

Thus, my take on the situation from here on out. I tend to err on the side of Dershowitz when it comes to anything legal: I do truly believe Israel was within its international rights to act the way it did, when it did, in order to enforce the blockade. Indeed, it was not until the soldiers were attacked with knives and metal rods, that pistols were stolen off the soldiers and used to shoot at the soldiers with intent to kill that the Israelis moved from paint-ball guns to live ammunition. Legally speaking, I think Israel will be fine.

Regarding the blockade and what it could mean for Israel's future, check out Haaretz editor Aluf Benn's article. I can't say I've been a big Haaretz reader in the past couple of years, but I agree with almost everything he says because he, unlike most of the other articles written surrounding the topic, writes constructively and most of the time practically. Benn essentially argues that the blockade has not worked. Terrorist regime Hamas is still in complete control of the Strip and has shown no sign of weakening; a new generation of Gazan citizens is growing up to hate Israel (instead of Hamas) because of the despicable hate education Hamas spews, but also because their government blames everything that goes wrong in Gaza, everything they have promised to provide but failed to, on the Israeli blockade.

Benn's proposed solution? Israel should complete the disengagement it began in Summer 2005. It should keep its borders sealed with Gaza and seal them high and wide, it should cut all ties the two countries share (he specifically alludes to target dates for electric, water, and currency severs), and let Gaza freely get its resources via Egypt and sea trade. If the rockets start coming again, and yes they will probably start coming again once Hamas can easily get more weapons in through their newly eased trade routes, Israel will at first show restraint. Israel will be prudent and for a time not respond. Acting completely out of their own volition as the democratically elected government of the people of Gaza, Hamas will be given a true chance to present itself to its people and to the international stage. If they prove themselves to be friendly after all, then no one will be happier than its peace loving neighbors in Israel. However, if they choose to continue to attack Israel's citizens with rockets and terrorist attacks, Israel will have international support if they need to responsively attack the sovereign entity of Gaza. Hamas will finally have run out of excuses to blame Israel, and so will the world.