Chicago and Denver

Once finals were over, I headed home to spend some time home in Chicago with my mom. We did the usual stuff that we love to do together, eat pizza, drink wine, shop. It all went really well and we had a nice relaxing week in which we delved into Showtime's series like Dexter (nowhere near as good as Six Feet Under, but entertaining), Carnivale (I like it a lot, and I wish I knew what was going on), The Tudors (how did the plague kill people when everyone was running around with so many STDs?) and This American Life (I still prefer the radio version). We also saw "The Downfall," which was riveting, though I need a full history lesson in order to fully appreciate the acting and characters, and the laughable Indiana-Jones-and-the-Dutch-Resistance-esque "Black Book." This Jewish woman spends her time "in hiding" sun bathing, then joins the Dutch resistance where she is asked to seduce a Nazi who turns out to be a really nice guy (therefor defeating the seduction) and he immediately recognizes that she's a Jew. Everyone but the main actress and the other "good guys" are revolting, sex and nudity are overused, and not only does she survive nearly a dozen death attempt intact, but always with her dyed-blond hair immaculate and rootless.

We also went downtown Chicago where we spent some time with my mom's cousins Faye and Gene. They are a wonderful older couple with a love for antiquing and a taste for eccentricity. There apartments are always stunning, everything found in warehouses and auctions. They eat on the finest china for every meal, why not use it is their attitude. This is also the couple that introduced my to the kooky Shul of New York (earlier post) and who suggested the "Black Book" film. I also went out to dinner with Lana from WUJS. She will soon be my neighbor as she's decided to attend Columbia's School of Journalism next fall, once again upping the number of Israel-related friends I have in the city. Her family has a stunning apartment in the city, full of outrageous art and a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline (view from Lana's home).

There were two real catalysts for my going to Denver; Michael was going to be in the area and Daniela lives there. It ended up that this past weekend (may 17-21) worked perfectly for both missions, plus the added bonus of Emily also coming to make it a multiple reunion of sorts. Somehow, Denver has become the place to be, especially amongst young Jewish folk, and so I found my circle of friends growing ever smaller. There's Daniela (WUJS) and Brian (WUJS) as well as Rachel Foster (BGU) who now all work together, plus Foster knows Jen (WUJS) from college. Denver is becoming a hot reunion spot for Israel programs. (pictured: Michael and Me on a Boulder rabbit).

The Denver trip went really well. It's always lovely to see Emily and Yella, although Yella often had to study and work, so Emily and I had a great deal of time together. The first night we drove out to Boulder to meet up with Michael, who was staying with family there. It's a sweet little college town that's almost too perfect. We had dinner at the funnily named Sherpa's Adventurers Restaurant where we shared a ton of good Tibetan and Indian food. It was nice because 1) Michael and I had met at a Tibetan cultural hour and 2) Michael had chosen an excellent restaurant, that's 2 out of 3 times, he's on a roll!. We walked around the city, browsing coffee shops and posing on cement animals (somewhat provocatively in the photo on the left).

Back in Denver, we went to the DAM: Denver Art Museum, which had some really provocative exhibits and an incredibly friendly and knowledgeable staff who were very willing to explain to us the finer parts of the pieces. There were also areas to make your own Denver postcards, listen to Western music while viewing Western paintings, and pick a mood (this was pre-meeting with Brian and I chose "Cynical") to read a pertinent quote. (pictured: large dustpan outside the DAM). Emily and I also spent an afternoon in the less-than-thrilling Colorado Historical Society, the only highlight being that a Denverite in the 40s named William Kohn (my Daddio's name) left some letters. The museum was confusing to walk around, the exhibits boring and long, and the few interesting parts were jumbled about. We also Yella's family had a nice Shabbat dinner with us, and the three of us also made a classic-Yella-curry. Yella lost her car keys, I lost my temper, it was just like old times :).

Emily and I also got to spend some time with Rachel Foster. We had a New York-style breakfast and we discussed dating, Rachel's surprising religious observance (she's a mix of super religious and super liberal) and her moving to NY to start school this fall at NYU. We also met Yella's sporty boyfriend, Josh. He's a sweet guy with plenty of fun stories about frat parties, writing his own book by age 24, and a short summer spent working at the Blockbuster in Highland Park (my hometown). It was nice to finally see the guy I'm always hearing about. (Pictured: Breckenridge from our off-roading heights).

Oh yes, and Brian. The short version is that we dates for 6 months last year in Israel, then had a very nice and agreeable breakup, followed by a fight-filled last evening together. We have not been in contact for about 10 months, although I had tried to contact him twice. I had assumed that Yella had told him I was coming, and that his silence and non-correspondence just proved that he was not interested in being in contact. So I was pretty shocked that the midnight before I leave for Denver, he send me a message online, and it turned out he didn't know I was coming to his area until he day before. So after a few phone conversations, one painfully candid, I consented to meeting up with him at his parents' home in Breckenridge. Breckenridge is a beautiful mountain town and I loved our little off-roading trip and getting to walk on snow in a sundress. It all went surprisingly well, I think the kernel of our friendship is still very much intact and we were able to joke around despite the fact that he's named his dog after my brother. In the future, who knows. (pictured: Brian and the dog which shall not be named).

The End of the Beginning

I can't believe the first year of graduate school is over. I feel like graduate school is this thing that I've been working towards forever. The point on the big stream that I've been rowing my little canoe towards for years and years and years and now that I've arrived I find out that ahead of there's a perilous waterfall, or the ocean, or something vast and a bit frightening. Something that will knock the wind out of me.

The thing about these programs and dorm living is that people come and people go. I seem to always make the most incredible friends, just in time to send them off with a going away party and my latest address. Michal is leaving, and it is no secret if you read my blog that he is my best friend here. I'm a little heart broken just thinking about it. I think the summer may be a bit hard. It's a bit amazing to realize that I only met him back on Tibet night, when was that? According to my camera, 9/11/2006 9:14 pm . Only 6 months and I feel like he knows me as well as anyone (but not my mom). (pictured: Michael on Tibet night).

I'll tell you about yesterday, which was really a perfect introduction into summer. Michael and I grabbed lunch at the cafeteria and then headed to MOMA. We had a good time wandering from room to room, and floor to floor, trying to appreciate the art. I don't think all modern art is quite for me at all. there was one piece that looked like a giant piece of bubble gum leaning up against the wall. The title "Naked Fragrance." I don't get it. There was also an inflatable sculpture of a black fan which I really liked for some reason, it just grabbed me. There was also a room which was completely empty except for a perfect cartoon-like mouse hole at the bottom of one floor with light shining from it. Tom & Jerry music was playing and from my childhood I could picture the chasing and frying pans and quick dashes into that mouse hole, but there were no visuals, so I as audience felt a sense of impending action, like Tom would walk out of that little mouse hole any minute. There were also, of course, the famous impressionists and a great deal of Picasso. There was only one photograph by may favorite, Robert Frank, which was a bit disappointing. Most of the photography, especially the special exhibit by Jeffrey Wall, struck us both as being very mundane, Michael even commented, "Why should his stuff be on the walls and not mine?" Manu had asked Michael to take a photo of a painting of America, but with no details or description, he took pictures of every map of America, every American flag, and several things we guessed might resemble America. The greatest find by far was a photograph of a naked woman's torso. It was a photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe! It's amazing to think I went all my life having never seen her vagina and suddenly in the span of a week I've seen it twice!

Having our full of the museum, we stopped for sandwiches and then headed to the A train. We took it up to 103rd and then got off to enter Central Park and look for a big grassy hill. We had the most perfect picnic with Honza and Dustin; I brought the silverware, blanket and cookies, Dustin brought Hawaiian salad, Honza brought chicken and burgers from McDs, and Michael brought soda and fruit. We ate and then sat out, periodically moving our blanket to get more sun and less screaming children running around us. Eventually Michael and I were almost pushed off the blanket by Honza's tickling of Dustin (eeer, awkward). But, all in all, Perfection. (pictured: Honza, Dustin, Michael, our picnic).

Brooklyn Museum of Art

I had the great fortune to be invited out to the Brooklyn Museum of Art last Saturday with Anna (British woman who studies Feminism and museums), Sandy (American woman who does museum studies), Cyrus (former Religious studies, currently fellow TCer), and Michael Mueller (American, extremely nonchalant man). The BMA (as it shall now be called) hosts free admission the first Saturday of every month with a number of activities including children's workshops and live music. So down the number two train we went... (Pictured: Anna, Sandy, Cyrus, Michael)

When we arrived we were all shocked by the beauty of the building. They had kept the older facade and built in front of it with modern glass. The free admission and range of activities had drawn a diverse crowd; young families with children, older couples, middle-school kids in packs, and droves of twenty-somethings. We started out in the cafeteria, fueling up, and discussing mostly Mormonism and misconceptions. I-House has recently gotten a ton of interns from Brigham Young University for the summer and the Discovery Channel has started airing a special on Mormons. Coincidence.... I think not!

Once fed, we headed over to listen to "Taigaa!" who describe themselves as a "Feminist art rock band inspired by Korean pop, punk, and Goth. I'm not sure if they were meant to sound awful or if we just couldn't hear their music over the dozens of children standing on stage playing their own hand-made instruments. Either way, it was cacophonous, and we left as soon as we got there. The BMA has recently been endowed with a Feminist art wing, which is the star of the show, and that's where we were off to.

The Feminist art wing was made specifically to house a large piece of art by Judy Chicago. According to our personal Feminist/museum guide, Anna, Chicago was one of the most significant Feminist artists ever, and this particular piece we were going to see is considered the most significant Feminist artwork of the 1970s. It is called The Dinner Party, and consists of a series of banners that one looks at on the way into the exhibition room and a triangular series of three tables. The three tables are set each with 10 table settings. Each setting has the same goblet, knife and fork. Each setting has a different place mat and plate, each representing the famous woman who's name is on each place mat. On the floor, beneath the tables, are 2,300 porcelain tiles containing the names of 999 mythical and historical woman written in gold. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of each place setting is that painted onto the ceramic of each plate is an artistic representation of each woman's vagina. (Pictured left, Hypatia. Pictured right: Natalie Barney)

On the first table are the names of women of significance from prehistory to classical Rome. They are Primordial Goddess, Fertile Goddess, Ishtar, Kali, Snake Goddess, Sophia, Amazon, Hatshepsut, Judith (go Jews!), Sappho, Aspasia, Boadaceia, and Hypatia. The second table has the names of women from the beginning of Christianity to the Reformation; Marcella, Saint Bridget, Theodora, Hrosvitha, Trotula, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hildegarde of Bingen, Petronilla de Meath, Christine de Pisan, Isabella d'Este, Elizabeth R., Artemisia Gentileschi, and Anna van Schurman. The last table seats women from the American Revolution through the Women's Revolution; Anne Hutchinson, Sacajawea, Caroline Herschel, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell, Emily Dickinson, Ethel Smyth, Margaret Sanger, Natalie Barney, Virginia Woolf, and Georgia O'Keeffe. On the last table, the vagina became ever more three dimensional until they were truly coming off of the plates. Most of them were quite pretty, only one (Emily Dickinson) did I find mildly horrifying. (Pictured: Virginia Woolf and Georgia O'Keeffe)

From there we wandered through the rest of the Feminist wing, which tended to be more bizarre and distressing than not. Sandy and I went to another floor to visit an exhibition by Devorah Sperber called The Eye of the Artist. It is truly incredible. This woman takes spools of thread and hangs them so that they replicate a famous painting upside down. One then looks through a glass ball and sees the spools right-side up and with incredible detail. My AUnt Linda had actually told me about Sperbers works before and I hadn't been able to understand. It's best if you see a picture. She had done The Last Supper, the Mona Lisa, and van Eyck. We wandered around through a few more exhibits but nothing else really caught our eyes.

One of the floors of the museum had been transformed at 9 pm into a Bhangra dance floor. Those same middle school kids, old couples and young families were all crowded together dancing away. Will and his friend joined us from I-House as well as a hair stylist friend of Anna's. We danced until 11pm, when the museum closed, and headed out to the grass in front of the museum. We sat around, discussing Israeli gay films, watching a young couple get way too frisky for the out-of-doors, and being circled by two young boys playing tag. It was the most edifying, incredibly fun, wonderful evening! (Pictured: Cyrus, Me, Will, and Sandy)

Pictured: Cyrus, Me, Will, Sandy

Emergency in my Education: the Final from Hell

It's been awhile, and I'll tell you why: FINALS.

They're not quite over yet, but the worst one is, and some excellent celebrating has followed. But first, the Final from Hell!

My course for Education in Emergencies was only 7 weeks long, and the entire course was focused on the completion of a huge project. We had to create a project in response to a RFA from USAID for community-based education in Afghanistan. The whole class was divided into 7 teams, and I was extremely lucky to be put into a group with Annie Smiley, Stephanie Bengsston, and Jennifer Kim. Annie is perhaps the nicest woman alive and a very bright PhD student at TC. Stephanie is also working towards her PhD, and has the varied background of being Swedish, growing up in Zimbabwe, and getting her BA at Harvard and MA at Cambridge. Jennifer was in my conflict resolution course back at the beginning of the semester and wears some seriously killer heels. So I was a bit intimidated, specifically by the PhDers at first. But we all really enjoyed each other and had an excellent team called Come Unity (I designed the logo!).

So the actual writing of our project took forever. At least a week filled with 10:30 am to 11 pm library meetings. We pulled it all together the last night, and I had thought we were pretty shabby, but I found out that other groups had actually been up working on the project until 3 am, and one group even until 8 am before having to turn it in at 9:30 am. We ended up being very proud of our 60 page project called the CURE (Come Unity Radio Education). Yet, as stressful and time consuming as the written project was, it was nothing compared to the presentations.

The presentations went from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm, with an hour break for lunch. That alone would be rough, but we were presenting in front of our classmates as well as a panel of our professor, and two professionals in the field. And they were brutal. They would beat a question into the presenters until it was just uncomfortable to watch. Come Unity was the third group to go, and we actually did incredibly well. The questions didn't phase us, we were hardly interrupted, and when we sat down our classmates really cheered for us. It was the class vs. the panel! It might be important to remind you all here that most of us hadn't gotten much sleep that entire week, and certainly no sleep the night before, so tolerance was low. Towards the end, one female presenter left the stage bawling.
After class we hightailed it over to The Heights for drinks! I bought a round for Come Unity and then some appetizers and we all sat around and just really enjoyed each other. It's so crazy that I had never gone out with TC people before. Next semester, I'm starting out on the first day of classes inviting people to the bars, not the last. It was a really great night and a well deserved break from the most stressful single class I've ever had.