August 2012
2 posts
Desiree
Now that I only have two weeks left in Israel, many of the types of questions I’m receiving about my year have undergone a noticeable shift in content. Somehow, the conversations eventually get sidelined to, “So, what are you going to do now? Have you found a job?” Or, what the skeptics are thinking, “Was the master’s degree worth it?”
It’s no...
Evan
Prologue: Over the past several months, I’ve read a few extremely relevant books. In keeping with the trend of sharing some of my more unique political experiences, I figured it would make sense for me to share my thoughts about the best of these books. Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts or questions. Enjoy!
Review: “The Failure of Capitalist Production” by Andrew...
July 2012
4 posts
Desiree
My parents never went on a honeymoon. They had plans to travel around Europe on their way to the U.S. from Iran after receiving their visa in Cyprus, but their trip came to a somber and abrupt end when they were notified of the death of a close relative back in the U.S.
During the past two weeks, my parents finally went on their European honeymoon in Italy and Spain, over 30 years after...
Desiree
While riding to Jerusalem this past Friday, I realized: I like long bus rides.
I’m not referencing your day-to-day commute, which will inevitably take on a monotonous character, but rather those rides when you’re off to somewhere new. There’s something about boarding a vehicle, whether it be a plane or metro or bus, and with an unknown cast of characters, that makes you feel like you’re headed...
Desiree
[[MORE]]I spent this past weekend in Ein Dor, a kibbutz in the north of Israel, on a Vipassana meditation retreat.
I embarked upon 48 hours of silence. I gave up my cell phone and iPod. I woke up to the sound of bells at 6 a.m. I sat cross-legged in an intensely air-conditioned room packed with 70 people, solely focusing on my breathing for 45 minute intervals, rotating between walking and...
Jaclyn
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Mark Twain
In early April, when I was tying up loose ends to ensure that I really was graduating in May, I realized that I had not yet signed up for Commencement Weekend tickets. It seemed like a small matter, but an important one, considering how upset my family would be at my stupidity in not bothering to get tickets for them to...
June 2012
4 posts
Desiree
Water The Roots is undergoing a slight change of concept. More specifically, I think it’s time to add to the definition of what “watering our roots” exactly is.
In addition to stories that document our diverse human experiences and perspectives––spanning continents, ages and ideologies––I’ve been inspired by sites like Big Think and the ever-popular TED to add a new...
Jessi (Canada)
That Kotel Moment
You long for that feeling.
That feeling.
You know, the one you are
Supposed
To feel in Israel.
Immersed in the antiquity and history of
Your people.
The feeling of harmony with the
Yemenite store owner,
Hardworking kibbutz-nik,
And random black hatter strolling on Ben Yehudah.
All enveloped under our Jewish state that we fought so hard to obtain.
These casual...
Catherine
On July 23, 2012, I will have completed another first. This will be the first year that I have spent 365 consecutive days in one country. At the age of 22, I am finally planting roots – ish. I have never been more terrified in my life. When a close friend of my mind simply stated the obvious while we were at lunch some time in early April I had no verbal response, but a strange sense of fear...
Desiree
Yesterday, I found myself in a small shop on Bar Kochva trying to pick a fight with a tailor.
It was 5 p.m., I was standing in a room resembling a scene straight out of Hoarders, and I was arguing with a man who could only supplement his accusatory gestures with bursts of angry Russian, a language I do not understand (both Russian and angry Russian).
I had come to pick up a dress, only to...
March 2012
7 posts
Liad (Israel)
The reason for our “chutzpah”
When one travels while being an Israeli Jew, there are some questions you must be prepared to
be asked repeatedly almost every single time you get to know a new fellow traveler: your views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the peace process (or lack of it), the recent high profile anti-Semitic incident, and, more often than not, your...
Mitch
Dear Desiree:
“Water the Roots” is an appropriate metaphor. It compares us to trees that are nurtured by the environment, getting both water and food from the soil and spreading seed so that new trees can grow in the vicinity. The analogy is not perfect, but close enough. The main difference is that we are more mobile and are able to plant our trees and get nurtured in different places as well...
Desiree
“We’ve been Jews for 3,300 years, and Iranian for 2,500 years. It’s not something that leaves your identity quickly …”
That’s the response I had received from the former secretary general of the Iranian-American Jewish Federation when I asked him about what he saw as the future of the Iranian-Jewish identity. It’s a question that entered my mind again when Iran and Israel began...
Inbar (Israel)
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine told me there was something she wanted to tell me. After the usual “You’re pregnant?” and “So, getting married?” auto-responses from me, she told me she had recently decided to become a vegan. This unexpected transition occurred after she had watched some of the clips that are recently running around the internet, particularly...
Collin
Ball So Hard: Iowa
Iowa. I once had to show a college-educated person from the east coast where the state of Iowa was on a map. I wouldn’t say this is the first time something like this has happened to me, but come on, how could you not know elementary geography?
I was born and raised in Iowa and went to college in Iowa. Now, I get the pleasure of working in Iowa. The state of...
Sarah
Recycle thyself
Where resplendent & irreverent splurts of information a la paper go to die…
Today, as sometimes happens, taking the recycling and doling it out into its respective receptacles became an ontological inquiry. This inquiry emerged when I noticed myself gazing into the paper waste bins. In fascination, I recognized that prior visits to this place had never quite aroused...
Casey
“This study room is so cool. I hope the one at Davis House is similarly conducive to writing and sitting and thinking and sleeping and everything I can imagine. Internetting and chalking the boards with designs and digging through old computer parts, feeding and watching fish and washing my hands in the sink and brushing all the dirt from the painted desks that’s fallen from the potted plants...
February 2012
10 posts
Desiree
With one semester of classes over and two more to go, I’ve been thinking a lot about my experiences so far in Tel Aviv, which has also led me to think about the experiences I brought with me upon my arrival.
I arrived in Israel with a sort of naive optimism that has been a product of the life I’ve been fortunate enough to live so far. It’s my past positive experiences that have allowed...
Rachel
Confidence: Wear It Like Make Up
Over the years, I have struggled to maintain a healthy self confidence and body image. Society places demands on us that one could deem impossible. These strictures force us to be self-conscious and completely obsessive over our weight, our make up, our diets, our clothing—everything. Because of this obsessive compulsive behavior, we get so stressed and...
Kevin
Throughout the past year and leading into this new one, I have often thought about the moments that have come and gone. However, this reflection has normally been about each individual moment, rather than the whole collection that has led to the chaos, fear and excitement that took place over 2011. At least until now …
As I graduated from Berkeley last May, I thought to myself: What do...
Meredith
I’m the middle child in my family. I have two sisters. Being the middle child, I have watched my older sister and my younger sister go through a lot. I admire my older sister and what she has overcome. She struggled for years with a social anxiety disorder without knowing it. In college she really struggled at first and had to go through therapy and medication. My older sister was able to get...
Vinit
I’ve recently been asking a lot of my colleagues in Teach For America to describe their experience thus far in one word. The results were somewhat expected—challenging, stressful, and rewarding came up often. I realized a few days ago that I hadn’t really applied this same standard of analysis to myself; if I could describe my Teach For America experience in one word, what would it be?
I...
Desiree
I saw a quote circulating on Facebook this week that I really, really loved. It was by Ira Glass, producer of This American Life, and it read:
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple of years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s...
Natasha
Today I was asked for directions by three people within 10 minutes of each other. And you know what? I knew exactly where they needed to go. That is a major accomplishment in my book on two accounts. The more obvious: I know my way around New York City after 6 months. The less obvious (but more important): I look like I know my way around New York City after 6 months (aka I walk the walk and...
Willi
Life is silently laughing
I could argue that my youth couldn’t have been any more perfect. Treeforts, pool parties, sports, friends, a loving family and a Great Dane named Cleo molded me into the tall, goofy self that I wake up with everyday. Why did I get so lucky?
Today is February 8, 2012 and I ride my bike through the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina for a living. I ride bikes and get...
Amy
In Defense of Leftovers
extra, residual, surplus, unconsumed, eaten, untouched, unused, unwanted
I’m the kind of person who likes to hang on to things. Oh no—not like a hoarder; I always throw away those old newspapers and keep my supply of spare grocery bags to a minimum. But I have a lot of stuff. Stuff that I swear “means something” when my mom accuses me of being a pack rat. Books,...
Morgan
Where did you car come from? Did you build it yourself? Did you pump the oil from the ground?
How about your clothes, where did they come from? How did they get to you? Unless you made them by yourself, you have no business arguing that there should be less government involvement in your life.
With all the attention the Tea Party is getting, and the backlash by those opposed to it, I have...
January 2012
9 posts
Desiree
The Year of the Unicorn
We were lying on my bed on a lazy Friday afternoon in Berkeley, waiting for dinner to be called downstairs. It was May; my friend and I had turned in our final papers and bought our caps and gowns, which meant that these lazy afternoons were numbered. I didn’t like thinking about the end of things, because I didn’t really like taking risks. That’s...
Doreen
Sometimes I wonder what I would do without the Internet. Like if the Internet suddenly blacked out. What if all mobile phones disappeared? Or computers just gave out?
Then, I remind myself, these are pointless and passing thoughts. Why? The world is changed. Get used to it. Consumer technologies are in hand, all the time, anywhere. Sure, New York City’s subway system, with its despicable signal...
Noam (Israel)
Hey everybody, my name is Noam. I’m just like you, a regular 22-year-old Israeli guy who has just started his life. I play soccer and work for Tel Aviv’s City Hall. Besides that, I’m also a pizza boy, riding on a bike for you to get your delivery.
My story starts on December 25, 2011.
I had another delivery shift to complete, this time delivering Asian food. Everything was quiet and the time...
Shaimaa
I’m sitting at home, just outside of downtown Los Angeles in the neighborhood of Echo Park. I live in a 98 year old building that we think might have been a boarding house in the early 1900s. The floors creak and you can hear nearly every movement in the apartments above and below us at any given time during the day. The kids in the building run up and down the fire escape, families scrape...
Casey
I can feel the platitudes tense and gather, summoned from all directions by this title and topic I’ve chosen to try and write about. I’ll do my best to keep them at bay. Many of my friends and fellow students went on a study abroad program during college, and the words and phrases that return from these trips with my friends are remarkable for how similar they are to the last person to return,...
Desiree
At the risk of writing a story that could be filed appropriately under the category of “First World Problems,” I’ll go ahead and admit it: This week, I found myself feeling overwhelmed and alone.
It was suddenly clear that the two-month honeymoon period had ended, though it was still the same Tel Aviv and I could still safely say that I had fallen in love with my life here. Every day continues...
Erica
You do not need to be an accomplished physicist to know that it is possible to stop time. Anyone who has ever sat in a hospital waiting room knows this to be true. Minutes dripped like honey into the hot tea of hours, melting slowly into each other. As I stared at the clock on the wall for the countless time, I reminded myself that today time will take forever, and there was nothing I could...
Afsaneh
I attended a conference today where the speaker was talking about a subject that most of the audience already knew enough about. But what made me sit and listen to her lecture was her passion for the subject matter.
I was amazed at how passionate she was. I was looking at her as she excitedly walked back and forth across the stage and kept asking whether anyone had any questions.
Then I...
Casey
I wrote an article for the magazine I was helping to found. It’s called Freepile, a magazine for residents of the Berkeley Student Cooperatives, a student housing organization. I decided to write a piece about a standard incident in the large house I had once lived in, Casa Zimbabwe, called CZ Inertia. Simply, when a group of residents try and gather to get away from that fortress on a hill,...
December 2011
10 posts
Michael (Canada)
It’s Never Too Late To Follow Your Passion
Ignoring My Passions In The Name Of Practicality
I was always a nerd. I was always cracking jokes in class and getting in trouble for distracting the others. I was always one of the best writers in school. I always participated in speech arts.
But then I graduated and, of course, had to go to University. That’s the thing you do after high school,...
Desiree (U.S.A.)
“Hi, I’m Desiree!”
I’m a 22-year-old American Jew, straight out of college and with no concrete job prospects ahead of me, spending a year studying in Israel. In other words … I’m kind of a walking cliché.
I haven’t served in the Israeli army, nor will I pretend to completely understand the nuances of the history and politics of this country, and yet here I am getting a master’s degree in the...
Selina (U.S.A.)
Today I thought I lost my iPhone, and I didn’t go looking for it. I stood in the law school library and looked out the window as the bus carrying my dropped phone drove away. And then I went to a desk and started to read.
This could be interpreted as a depressing testament to the pedestal upon which studying has been placed, but I think it is an affirmation of the ability to snatch freedom in a...
Ashley (U.S.A.)
So, here’s the deal: my life is pretty awesome. I am pursuing my ever-evolving dream of being a comedy writer, which was preceded by dreams of being a journalist, and of being a pink flamingo. I love my job, my friends and where I am at in life right now. Basically, I appreciate everything and it makes me super happy. If I were religious, I would probably be an “everything happens for a reason”...
Tia (Canada)
And they do it with so much Adorable
From spending the day with kids to hanging out with my Korean teachers (some of whom have kids a few years younger than me) to partying into the night with other foreign teachers who are mostly in their 20s, I’ve learned this: we’re all pretty much the same. And we all want the same things: to be heard and to be loved.
I’ve learned that you can make a...
Karen (Colombia)
In Judaism there’s a famous saying by Rabbi Akiva: “Love your fellow like yourself.” It seems to be a simple line when you read it, but it comprises a deep complexity that if able to overcome, would lead us to a less conflictive world. This idea that exists in many religions and cultures throughout human history and is commonly associated with “the golden rule” (one should treat others as one...
Desiree (U.S.A.)
Every time I see a sunset, I remember a particular autumn afternoon in Berkeley.
I had just descended upon the stairs leading to my co-op, finishing the last leg of a running feat that inevitably included traversing the 45-degree slope leading to my house, and all I could think of was the comfort of the living room couch and the taste of a glass of water.
As I made it to the final step, I...
Zach (U.S.A.)
I find myself wordless on what it is I want to write, so in many ways this prose piece/short story serves as a personal narrative. I find that in prose you can trace a person’s thoughts, and there is nothing more personal than knowing how someone thinks in succession:
Cold has awakened me. It is winter, and the crisp air burns my lungs. Ironic, I thought, how frigid breath is personified by...
Patrick (Kenya)
‘Huu (pronounced who) mwaka!’ (This Year)
2011 has been quite a year of observations for me. I have had the privilege to meet, interact and work with different people, some of whom I intend to continue getting to know better, while others …
Here they are:
*Wazuri-The Good
People who are focused, go-getters and they know what they want in their lives; they know what they are working...
Alysha (U.S.A.)
I don’t usually do things like this. I don’t keep a journal or a blog, and all of the memories I think are worthwhile are captured by a camera. But, I like this idea—and the person responsible for it—so here goes. I’m going to write about how I came to be in Israel studying archaeology. It isn’t necessarily a sad story, nor a funny or happy one … It’s really just about how it happened and I guess...
November 2011
15 posts
Kate
I don’t consider the internet my “roots.” It didn’t birth me, certainly, nor clothe or feed me or walk me to elementary school on sunny days. But, in a way, it did raise me, in the way that is unique to my generation and impactful in all of the ways that parents fear and open-information activists applaud. It has, in all its wisdom and anarchy and good and bad intentions, taught me countless...
Desiree
Sometimes, you just have one of those weeks. The ones where you:
a) didn’t get the job you were holding out for
b) watched as your laptop— with four years’ worth of files, music and photos — died for good
c) got sick from standing in the rain during a day-long tour in Jerusalem, and, to top it all off
d) went on the worst date of your life, even after going into it with...
Jeremy
I’m sitting on my bed listening to Brooks & Dunn, propped up on vertical pillows, which rest against my headboard. The window is slightly open barely revealing a grey sky, which has unrelentingly drenched my nightly adventures the last couple of evenings. It is not raining quite yet, but the cool, crisp air crosses my naked chest, and I can tell a storm is coming. A lazy day. Perfect for...
Evan
On October 25th, 2011, a switch inside me finally flipped. When the city of Oakland decided to exercise overwhelming force to disperse an innocuous encampment of concerned citizens doing nothing worse than staying in a park after hours, I decided that it was time for me to start using my time, my skills and perhaps even my body to defend the freedoms of assembly and expression.
This was a big...
