Category: Uncategorized
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Writing Israeli
I was reading something I wrote while in the army, about the army. Only in retrospect could I recognize that I wasn’t writing as an Israeli. My army story must be told tachless and tactless. There are no adverbs or superfluous adjectives. I don’t write like that, nor should I, as an Israeli. My thoughts…
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Congrads to me
It’s May, which means my social feeds have been flooded with pictures of caps and gowns and smiling faces, proud in accomplishment. This time of year always reminds me of my decision not to graduate. I finished university and I am proud of my Bachelor of Arts, but I never performed the actual act of…
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United In-Flight Food Review #2
In transatlantic travel tradition, I have comprised a brief review of the culinary offerings on my flight from TLV to EWR: My flight was set to depart at 10:30 AM, an odd time to fly into another time zone. Perhaps due to this timing the meals were not defined so much as presented sporadically without…
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the frivolity of tp
When I try to explain what I studied in college, I use toilet paper as a starting off point. Toilet paper is a commodity. It is something unnecessary in our lives that has adapted into something viewed as essential. We don’t need toilet paper. We need food, water, shelter, and security. Once the basics are…
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I signed up for this
At the bratty age of 16, I used to complain my way through Israel, jokingly remarking, “I didn’t sign up for this.” As a teen, it was in reference to things out of my control like a long hike or being held hostage in Haifa for four days too many. I complained about the cucumbers…
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The Limits of Re-Moving
For the second time in 6 months, I moved. First it was off the kibbutz and into the city; now it was from the city to the same city, down the street to the right. I had to move. So I repacked up all my things, enlisted the army’s aid, and re-moved. In my process…
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Fake
I might be dissociating. Sometimes when I walk out of my room on base at night I think I’m on a movie set. The artificial grass, the concrete, the staged glow of spotlights. It’s too illuminated to be night. It’s too temperate to be outside. There is no breeze, no wind, no movement. Everything feels…
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Between Jericho and Jordan
There’s a path that leads to the known unknown. I know that the path leads to Jericho, but I’ll never know Jericho the way the way I know Herzliya or Haifa or Hadera—I’ll never know it with my own eyes. I know the sign, slightly ominous, leading into forbidden land. Yet the same sign marks…
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Welcome to the ‘butz, babes
As a new generation of near Israelis prepare to embark on their journey home, there’s a few things y’all should know about your new home. Having distanced myself physically and mentally and emotionally from what was once mine and will soon be yours, I like to think I have a somewhat helpful perspective. The first…
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An Ode to the Pardi* (*Party)
Today marks what once was my favorite day of the year: the end of Mardi Gras. One may argue that this can’t possibly be the end when today is Mardi Gras. While perhaps true, the beckoning of Mardi Gras itself concludes the culmination of a year’s worth of hype and expectation. That definitive ending was…
Sophie jacobs 