Thoughts and steps for my class project
Brain storming with Candace
Thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how I would want to
engage with it.
1. Considering contacting organizations that bring Palestinian and Israeli
youth together and seeing what I can offer to them.
2. Feeling that I want to learn more about the current situation and the
history of the conflict.
3. Noticing that I am drown to create a project that will involve art making
with community building.
Conclusion: I want to learn more about the conflict and build my capacity to
be present and useful when engaging with people who are involved in this
conflict. For that I want to build connections in the Boulder community with
people who are involved with the conflict and have different opinions and
ways of relating with it.

First experiment- Boulder-Nablus Sister City Project
This is a new initiative started by a few people from Boulder who wanted to
figure out a way to support some of the Palestinian community and get
involved with the conflict in a positive way. Two weeks ago I went to their
first meeting. It was a lovely event that included food music, explanations
about the project an mingling. These people from all different back grounds-
Palestinians, Muslim, Jewish and Christian Americans.
reflections on my own experience:
I was scared! I was the only Israeli Jew there. I t was amazing to notice
how every time I introduced myself to a new person my thought was:"are you
gonna attack me? are you gonna attack me?" I didn't know whether to say
where I am from or not. Its interesting to try and break down this feeling
of fear and the need to defend myself. I wonder how much of it is just
because I was the only Israeli there, how much is because of actual
experiences of attack me and my family had, how much is old distress..
In reality people were friendly and they were making an effort to focus the
meeting on positive possibilities of this project in oppose to blaming or
trashing Israel.
Next step: planning to go to the next meeting.

More research:
I found two summer camps that bring Palestinian and Israeli youth together:
Common ground in Denver and Creativity for Peace in Santa Fe.
Action: Started working on a cover letter and a resume to send to these
camps.

Reaching out: Contacting two Jewish woman who are leaders in the Jewish
community in Boulder and working on setting an interview with them.
Next step: Going to celebrate Rosh Hashana with Margery.

Watching a performance: Everyone has Tears/ Cynthia Sophiea
A performance  created and performed by a Lebanese American woman,
expressing the experience of an Arab woman living in the states. She also
told stories from her relatives living in a Palestinian refugee camps and
brought different perspectives of Jews, Arab Israeli people from different
generations.
Reflections: Seeing this performance and taking part in the Q&A afterward
was really challenging and meaningful. I felt scared especially because most
of the crowed were Arab young adult men. Again I was the only Israeli there,
 which makes me think that next time I am defiantly going to take a buddy
with me.
The actress did a great job in rehumanizing both sides of the conflict. As a
Jew it was really interesting to notice how much we have in common with Arab
and middle eastern culture. The food, the family, the mess the loudness the
warmth. Also so much of the struggles are the same. It was illuminating for
me to learn about how racism and anti Arab oppression hits Arabs in really
similar ways that it hits Jews. HAAAAAAAAAA!
Another thought:
Although I kind of know about the affects of the occupation, it is still
really had to hear about some of the things that Israel is doing to the
people of Palestine. When I turn my gaze to look at it I feel I get dizzy
and confused and kind of noeses . It feels like I am gonna go crazy if I
really face it.
One of the things to try and figure out is what makes sense to take responsibility for, how to not just go into cycles of guilt. Another is how to resist the things that don't make sense but not continue attacking the Jewish people, instead include them, include us.

New thoughts:
two weeks ago I went to see a Red Nose clown performance that was so amazing! Seeing the performance and also writing about Red Bastard made me remember how much I love clown and sparked my imagination. I am thinking of exploring a possibility to create a clown performance that touches on this conflict and perform it to the Naropa community and hopefully to more people in Boulder who are engaged with the conflict. I am thinking that might be a very honest way for me to explore where I really stand with it right now, my biases and fears. By performing it to an audience hopefully that will give more room for people to show where they are at with dealing with this reality.
Action: talk to Shoshana!