United Statesian

Builing Bridges, not walls... Claude Monet, National Art Gallery, Washington DC, December 2008, Photo copyright @unitedstatesian Basic truth/facts which are accepted by the majority of the population seem to be rare. The path to reaching the common ground is more indirect than might be expected  The direct route would be for journalists on both sides to form a kind of consensus commission. A multi-partisan group could work together to publish a "wiki" of agreed facts from the previous week's events. They could complement these posts with lists of contested facts on parts they do not agree on and links to their supporting evidence.  In my opinion, the road to true change would also require the creation of one or two new parties, but I will leave that for a future post :-)  However, these dry, unemotional facts would only solve a small part of the problem and I argue that it starts with two key concepts becoming part of colloquial language.... The solution lies in making...

 #BlackLivesMatter #DefundThePolice #GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #MeToo#BeBest? #GenerationTouch  @yipiyipiyeah How to create a good slogan? When making slogans, people need to be very careful because language is important and the message can be easily twisted.  Rule #1: Do NOT make the slogan too specific.  A good example is #GlobalWarming which only spoke to one part of the global environmental problem. As time went on, proponents saw that the slogan was too narrow and it did not get across a complicated issue with many causes and a varied outcome. Global warming was replaced with #ClimateChange which is a much better slogan, but people who do not understand the issue are still stuck on the "warming" part and use snowstorms as faulty reasoning to ignore the science. An entire generation was lost because of a wrongly formulated slogan. The focus should have been on the quality of the air, water, visual, sound, etc pollution that each person can see in their local c...

Beach on the border between Jaffo and Tel-Aviv. Muslim Women co-existing with Jewish women  in Bikini on the beach in summer. Dear citizens of the world, The past couple of weeks here in Israel have been stressful but not as bad as it is shown on the media: First of all, the stabbing attacks have been in and around Jerusalem mostly. Secondly, most of the targets are police, military and Orthodox Jews. Living in Tel-Aviv means being in a bubble and immune to the crazy side; however is does not make you immune from the stress. Life goes on but you second guess each choice to go out, you are more aware of your surroundings, any young Israeli Arabs are watched as if they could make you the next headline.  Plans for a Friday dinner in Jerusalem have been put off indefinitely and the last hike in the mountains near the city was cancelled as well. All in all, these flare-ups of confrontation between Bibi and the Palestinians is not what worry me. The threat comes f...

Dear Citizens of the World! Today, I have decided to take a break from being the target in other people's target practice to post the second set of pics from our weekend in Petra. Seems fitting since Petra holds so much beauty.... This was my favourite spot in Petra. It is a very colourful tomb below and to the left of the Tomb of the Kings. A detail of the area below the entrance of this tomb. Ceiling detail... As promissed I have some tips for your next visit to Petra: First , choosing the correct time of year is crucial. Winter evening get quite cold at 1000m elevation in a desert. Summer days would be worse. Second : when making the long treck up behind the tomb of the kings (some of the stairs in the pic above) to see the Treasury from the rim of the canyon, make sure you plan to be at top when you have the right lighting. I went quite early and it was still mostly in the shade. Third : Plan to stay at least 1.5 to 2 days. There is plenty to visit and it is best to take your t...

Dear Citizens of the World, Living in Israel means being disconnected with most of its neighbors, but Jordan and Israel have quite good relations. Lucky for us, it is possible to cross the border and visit Petra in one long weekend - one day there, 1.5 days to visit and then back to Tel Aviv. Unfortuntely, our visit to Petra and Wadi Rum were at the end of January when it was very cold and cloudy... but I guess that it is better than 40 degrees (100F) in the summer. A few shots from our first day at Petra... Thanks to these two, we were able to get a nice hot tea with mint - great when you are in a desert and it is cloudy and cold! A wider section of the canyon with fantastic light. Fantastic texture that looks like dripping paint. There is plenty of information on visiting Petra, however, in my next post, I will give some tips that I did not find in any of the on-line guides. - The United Statesian A parting shot... Cloudy day in the city at the gates to Petra.

Father and over-dressed son play on the beach Dear Citizens of the world! It has been a rainy January here in Tel Aviv, but February has started out sunny and warm! While friends and family are digging out from snow and sliding down icy roads, we spent Saturday walking along the beaches of Tel Aviv. Hi Beauti-Fool! There are plenty of nice beach scenes along the Israeli coast, but I focused on some of the details where city meets the beach. A good example is some of the best grafiti that is simple and too the point. This grafiti is part of a massive, abandoned...least-taken-advantage-of section of the Tel Aviv coast. How could such valuable terrain go to waste? Luckily there are some picturesque parts of the city to leave you with a warmer more positive feeling. Jaffa at sunset... Main street in Jaffa at twilight just at the end of Shabbat I hope I have succeeded in making you snow-bunnies jealous ;-) -The United Statesian PS A parting shot...

Dear Citizens of the world! Don't look down! Unless you are blind, then you are fine.... or not. On our way to Petra, we stopped in Mitspe Ramon to have a look at Israel's mini-Grand Canyon crater and the fantastic views of the desert from its edges. To our surprise, there was a group of blind people rappelling down the side of the cliff. OK, They had the help of monitors and volunteers, but still.... rappelling down a cliff has got to be an experience when you don't see where you are going and when you have no idea how far you would fall if you messed up. Watch that next step...it's a doozy! The experiment reminded me of my rock climbing class at the University of Chambery in the French Alps. The instructor had us climbing up with a blindfold, feeling for the holds and balancing ourselves without being able to see. It was a great way to learn to get a "feel" for rock climbing. I hope to be back in that area soon for a hike...who's up for a walk through th...

Dear Citizens of the World! After a heavy subject in my last post, I have decided to turn towards the brighter side of living in Israel as an expat... Escaping from Tel Aviv on weekends and seeing the country. This weekend was rainy and cold in TA... the perfect time to drive down to the Negev desert and go for a hike. We chose to go down to the area where the first Prime Minister of Israel started a Kibutz after his first stint in office. Our destination was an oasis at the end of a narrow canyon called En Avdat or... depending on the spelling, Ein Avdat. This shady oasis in the desert guarantees pictures of wildlife. There are plenty of birds for bird watchers. If you want to go... the link for the GPX file is uploaded to Wikiloc. Happy trails! -The Unitedstatesian

Dear Citizens of the World! The outlook is bleak! Israel is at war, but not with another country. It is at war with its own brand of extremism. Many believe that the Arab Spring will unleash the extremists in the Arab world, long held down by dictators, causing Israel to be more at danger. Thus far, this has not been the trend. I personally believe that the Arab Spring will be a positive thing for the region and Israel. The threat, as I see it, comes more from a homegrown extremism. Although small, it is quite vocal. Being Jewish is more a race than a religion. Only about 20 percent of Jewish Israelis consider themselves religious. And, the extremists are only about one percent of that 20 percent. That one percent of the 20 percent gets many of the headlines inside...and outside of Israel. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4162611,00.html The 0ne-percent have many privileged here in Israel. Most do not work or do the three-year mandatory ...

Santa? or is it Bill Clinton in disguise? Dear Citizens of the World! Being an expat in the very Western Tel Aviv you often forget that you are in the Holy Land...Whereas Jerusalem is the front-line of the battle between religions. Personally, the stress of living on the front line would not be my choice location, but going for the day is well worth the time, and easy to do since it only takes about 45 minutes to get there from Tel Aviv. However, on this visit, we were only had time to visit the Holly Supulchre and to have lunch at a restaurant the Pope John Paul ate at. Ray of light in the Holy Supulchor Cathedral I love how the intense beam of winter sunlight shoots across the church. Women praying, deep inside Jesus's tomb. The low amount of light and the one-meter thick wall makes the shot look like a drawing... Natural light from the eye of the Pantheon-like dome of the Saint Supulchor Church Christmas decorations on sale in the Christain quarter. So, if you are in Tel Aviv a...