I HAVE A BLOG!

Thanks for reading!

I guess it's serious now; the blog is up and running. This means I have to go to Palestine/Israel.

In case you didn't know (and a helpful reminder to those who've heard), I've been accepted to a peacekeeping delegation with the Interfaith Peace-Builders. My team of 20 and I will be there from July 25-August 5, living mostly in the West Bank, but staying with both Palestinian and Israeli families. Our project is to monitor US involvement in the area, and my personal goal is to interview as many people from as many different backgrounds as possible. I don't speak Arabic or Hebrew, but I'm sure they'll have translators.



My current list of reporter questions:
-name/age/consent
-What does your average day look like?
-Where are you originally from, and what got you here today?
-How do you feel about the current conflict? Can it be resolved? How?

Things I still need:
-passport
-voice recorder
-camera
-good shoes

Where I am with it right now: This is one of the most intense things I've ever done. I am half terrified, to be honest. But I think that it's important to take an opportunity to see for myself what most people only read about. And then I can write those articles that people read about, and share my perspective with the world. I am half terrified, and half exhilarated.

I've seen pictures of Gaza, the 30ft walls, the beautiful resistance art, the literal cages people have to stand in for hours in line to get through checkpoints, maybe. The women and men with guns standing guard, the sewage in the streets. I've heard and read the death tolls, the racism, the baiting, the starvation and just so so much carnage. So it's terrifying that I am going to potentially see these things. But it is exhilarating that I get the opportunity to talk to the real people that are being effected by and participating in what the hell is going on over there; that these grandiose political events will finally be contextualized into real lives and faces and ideas.

The only drawback is that this whole thing costs $2000. But! Thanks to a scholarship from the program and some very generous donations/loans, I only need to make $1230! That's only a little over half the original amount!

speaking of raising money

STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE
have generously offered to host a fundraiser.

taza - july 12 - 5pm - open mic -info

So I guess that's it. Thanks again for reading, come back for announcements on future fundraisers, dance parties, and the subsequent amateur journalism. <3