Gaza

Difficult to watch the news or read the papers. Might it be even worse for a victim if he/she is blamed for it (while the world watches) than to be a victim with nobody noticing?

Someone at work today said- they can't play well together in the sandbox- implying children of equal age and size fighting over something trivial. The power is not evenly distributed- the bully is beating the smaller, weaker child who has been starved and subjected to psychological abuse and who has been born within the confines of this sandbox (almost literally- sand and a wall/fence/border packed with people but otherwise empty) with little chance to leave.

For those who think the two sides are equally responsible- open your eyes and ears, read the papers from any country around the world, look at the data (numbers), ask yourself who among humanity would choose to live the life of a Gazan as it is presented in the media (violent people being difficult- fighting for more and never satisfied- nonpeaceful) and who has been suffocated and is gasping for air.

shades of gray

We are young and are attracted to color- what is your favorite color? It's never gray or beige or nondescript. It's something bold or primary. Red! Blue! Pink(!) (pink is the exception here)

Then we become jaded. And what I see that means is that the world turns gray- not puke green or even dirty brown- but shades of gray. Things that were black and white no longer belong to one camp or the other- no enemies or friends, no with us or against us, not even a dark side and the force.

It is not an unlikable gray but a place many are uncomfortable with. And I would even venture to say that you earn the title of adult (maybe of enlightened adult) when you accept the grayness of the world.

Someone told me an old Buddhist saying- when we are young, the mountain is a mountain; when we are a little older, the mountain becomes something more; when we reach a certain level of enlightenment, the mountain again is a mountain.

A mountain all the same, but perhaps a little grayer.

acupuncture oohs and ohs

I started some acupuncture treatments for my oh-so-sensitive skin. All's well until today one needle goes into my stomach area- my abdomen- and a sharp pain makes it's way through to the left side of my body. Mr Park's reply- oh that's very unusual.

He tells me to cut out dairy- how is that possible- cut off my ears but don't ask an Arab to stop eating cheese and yoghurt. I had a soy latte in my short-lived attempt to try it out and it made me want to cry (and spit up).

He also told me to not eat after 6pm. Say what?? 6 hours of no food and go to bed hungry?! He hadn't even asked me when I go to bed before setting a 6pm curfew. Why torture myself? I told him my big meal is lunch and I have something light in the evenings- toast and tea and... He chuckled! Toast is not light- he laughed at me!

One yoga thing I heard recently and appreciated- the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.

So you do everything and you take what you want out of each. My approach. Alice in Wonderland's too I would think...

You could have expected it- a night shot of downtown- the bottom where the island tapers and tapers and then ends. It looks like it drops off into the black night.

One of- what- thousands and thousands of pictures of the New York City skyline at night?

But how many people have stood within a few centimeters of where I stood- there in Hoboken- at the same time of night? How many at the same point in the season- nevermind the weather?

We are- each of us- living lives that will eventually dissolve into the great history of humanity- leaving no trace. But our lives are still our own and different in the light or angle or subtle textures. A second perfect flower doesn't minimize the beauty of the first- a field of flowers needs no defense.

sub-standards

Chocolates on sale- now only 7.99!! New marketing strategy- charge more??

How whimsical!

People in line looked nervous when I took a picture. I find things like this so amusing it's really a surprise I'm not more carefree and happy-go-lucky in life.

Is it not beautiful? The buildings on the margins look like they are leaning in towards the center- like the clouds are so magnificent they have altered the gravitational center of the earth upwards. No small feat when it comes to the Empire State Building.

pictures of the girls

by popular demand (trust me)...

introducing Bayaan:

Iman and (Build-a-Bear) Stephanie (from Ohio):

Rawan taking a moment to meditate (chanting ommm) while her mom straightens her hair for the special occasion:

Iman and Rawan in response to "pose like adults":

They look like the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood (without the pickfork).

the girls (on Bayaan's first gift from Khalto Rana):

And their creations- first Iman's coupons (more like gift certificates)- note the bar codes. The one she made for herself was a "going to bed early" coupon while she gave her sister a chore ("making the table at dinner")!

The video game she created (with different "screens" for the different games that you can flip in and out of place and the two player joysticks).

And Rawan's mini table (with a turkey on top you can't see) and chair (made of paper)-I love miniature things!:

the mini theme continues: this mini birthday party tucked away in a corner of the room, the entire thing set in the molding around the room (what is that called?)- my favorite part is the the banner that says "happy birthday monkey boy- name Duncan", but I love the mini-streamers and the mini-presents all lined up, carefully hand-crafted one by one

They are constantly making and playing and singing and going and going and going and cooing over their sister (Rawan: ooohhh, you have the cutest little socks on, yes Boon-Boon).

niece clips

Rawan (5 years old) sees the space shuttle landing and says: I want to go on that thing- what is that?! My sister replies: it's the space shuttle. Oh yeah, I've heard of that- it's like this kind of rocket ship. (Even though I've heard of kids wanting to be astronauts, it was cool to see that pure interest in this thing that can be easily mistaken for an airplane.)

Iman (7.5 years old) is obsessed with Build-a-Bear. She knows prices and latest releases and absolutely everything about the online site. She says: I gave fedback. ?? She corrects: feedback. They asked if I was completely satisfied but at the cashier (pronounced casher) there were like 7 people in line and nobody there!! I look over at my sister and she has her eyebrows raised- the first she's heard of her 7-year-old giving feedback. But with Iman it's hard to be surprise. She pulls out a box: this is my build-a-bear mailbox. She saves every piece of mail- birth certificates and catalogs and (!) letters she has received in response to her questions (where can I get my bear restitched? Build-a-bear hospital!). She offers to tell me about each piece of mail but something distracts us.

Bayaan discovers her hand. And relative to the magnificance of this discovery says little (nothing comprehensible). Here she is discovering the hand...