True Stories: Vignettes from the Past Month

Hi readers. It's been awhile. I hope you're all well. The past few weeks have seen a lot of action - a hurricane and earthquake in my homeland, some violence and protests in the Holy Land, and the coda of Opera Libya playing out in dramatic fashion. Here's a few quick ones into what I've been up to (true stories all):

• I was in a promotional video for the state of Palestine campaign (if you haven't heard about the September UN bid, get your head out from under that rock, PLEASE). This was the third promotional video I've been in, the other two being for (a) Paradise Guest Lodge, a horse ranch in rural Wyoming and (b) Salmon Safari Outfitters in the Queen Victoria Islands, British Columbia. That's my life trajectory: cowboy, fishing, Palestinian statehood. Next up, anyone's guess. Hoping I can do one per decade, which is how it's worked out so far. Note: If you're in NYC, you'll see my face in commercials for Palestine starting around mid-September. Don't let it make you miss me too hard.

• I went into Jerusalem the other Friday for...oh yes, to see the house of the CEO of Coca-Cola Palestine, eat delicious Iraqi food with a friend, and hang out on some grass while she had a meeting with aforementioned CEO. We also went to the mall. The best part of my day was this: while waiting for her, I decided to stop by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and say some prayers for some people. I was lucky enough to stumble in right as groups of monks from different monasteries were making the stations of the Cross. I know this may get a little hocus-pocus Catholic for some of my readers, but these monks were chanting in Latin as they marched by candlelight around this ancient, holy place, their voices echoing off the high stone walls and ceilings. As soon as one group would go silent another round of voices from some other part of the church would swell up into the rafters. The sheer spirituality of it all drove me to silent tears as I crouched along a wall, another weird Western woman weeping in another weird place in the world.

• As some of you may know, I recently bought a car. Driving here is...insane. It's basically a constant 'hold on to your hats' situation - checkpoints, 'creative' Palestinian parking, herds of sheep and goats in the street (always when I'm in a rush, always), soldiers, settlers, crazy Ramadan drivers, crazy Shabbat walkers...the list goes on and on. As some of you may also know, I have a horrible sense of direction - truly. I get lost in my hometown of Boston, which is on an alphabetical grid. Ok, so keep that in mind. Now, not many of you (unless you're one of my Pali buds reading this) probably know all the weird and pathological ways in which Israel oppresses Palestine. One of them, a big one, is roads. In the West Bank there's 'bypass' roads where Israeli settlers can drive to and from 'Israel proper' without having to go into 'Palestinian' areas (note: they are in a Palestinian area to begin with, but that's another blogpost) - these are well-lit, well-paved highways that cut through the West Bank connecting outposts and settlements to the main highway system. You can drive on these to get in and out of Ramallah by winding through some villages util you pop on onto the settler roads, which I sometimes do. But there's no signs pointing to Ramallah...Israel just ignores it. This would be like if you're driving to New York City but all the signs just kept saying 'Philadelphia'. You have to just know where Ramallah is to find it. You can imagine the chaos that ensues when I am behind the wheel, given this geopolitical version of Hide and Go Seek. I have so far driven onto/into: a prison (note that Israel put a Ramallah sign POINTING INTO THE PRISON PARKING LOT), a settlement, an outpost (scary!) and a secret Israeli military post near the Dead Sea (scarier!). The dirty secret is you just need to know the names of the Israeli settlements that are closest to Ramallah (depending on which direction you're coming from) and then follow signs to those and keep going. Second star to the right, straight on til morning indeed.

• Stemming from this whole new driving adventure of mine, here's a few actual quotes of things I've called friends to ask while driving:
• "Can I pass a tank?"
• "So I take the second left after the chicken shop, across from the store with the whorish dresses?
• "The checkpoint is closed, can I go through the settlement?"
• "I can see a mosque in the distance - how do I get to it?"

Dispatches from the Holy Land, over and out.