[do it again, but better]

It's finally 2012. We really are living in the future now. Soon it will be 2019, and then 2042, and then 2078. My grandchildren could be born in the 2050s.

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But that is a long way away from today. Right now, the world is in chaos. War, famine, natural disasters, crime, gender inequality, occupation, and unhealthy habits abound.

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This is the year that things are going to change, for better or for worse. This year, Presidential elections in the United States will change how Americans are viewed around the world, how international foreign policy affects war and peace, and how domestic policy affects the lives of millions of people.

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This year, governments and activists around the world are preparing to deal with the effects of global climate change: intense heat waves, outbreaks of malaria, increased floods, more cases of food poisoning (which increases along with average temperature), increased pollution, melting polar ice caps, continued deforestation and desertification, and the continued unnecessary endangerment of plants and animals (including us!).

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On the other hand, people everywhere are mounting an ever-stronger resistance to tradition, capitalism and occupation. All over the world, people are claiming their rights to equality and independence, to control their own fate.

And I believe, along with Paulo Coelho, that when you want something, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it.

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For me personally, 2012 is a year of momentous change. This marks the first year in which I have been free from the traditional bounds of education and the restrictive schedule and expectations of college.

I am 22 years old, and I am ready to make my own change. I am not following anyone else's lead now. Nothing is original, and I am preparing to steal and innovate on the worthy ideas of others this year.

I am brainstorming organizations that will support my own creativity (check back soon for official announcement), and that provide opportunities for others (friends and strangers) to do the same. I am living according to a system of morality that never keeps me awake at night. I am taking more risks. I am dreaming bigger, and slowly beginning to make concrete connections between my dreams and reality.

I have been around for more than two decades, and I'm not wasting any more time.

This year:

• I am prioritizing my health. (I will not eat gluten, nor will I consume animal products of any kind. I will eat as locally as possible, and I will minimize sugar consumption.)
• I am prioritizing my happiness. (I will not regret or resent time spent dreaming or recharging. I will value creativity and the simple pleasures in life.)
• I am prioritizing my intelligence and my dreams. (I will not let my own ideas and convictions fall by the wayside in the face of challenges from others. I will continue to educate myself and to seek opportunities to translate thought into action for the benefit of all living things. By the end of 2012, I will be operating my own non-profit.)
• I am prioritizing my loved ones. (I will be vulnerable with my friends and family, and I will support their dreams and well being as I support my own.)
• I am prioritizing my planet. (I will educate myself about environmental issues and sustainability. I will take steps to offset my own contributions to global climate change, and I will participate in meaningful activism that protects and respects the earth.)
• I am prioritizing peace. (I will not spend any time or energy on activities that do not directly contribute to increasing peace, whether they be in my personal or professional life, amongst family, friends, or co-workers, or on a local or global scale. I will engage in meaningful conversations and actions that encourage genuine peacemaking and reconciliation, as opposed to surface-level resolution.)

What are your commitments for 2012?

[palestine: ahlan wa sahlan]

Life in Palestine goes one. People go to work, children go to school, and the occupation continues. If you stay in one place, you don't directly encounter the occupation. But the effects are clear.

Poster, Old City, Nablus, Palestine.

'Made in USA', Separation Wall, Bethlehem, Palestine.

Separation Wall, Bethlehem, Palestine.

Handala, Separation Wall, Bethlehem, Palestine.

Separation Wall, Bethlehem, Palestine.

[sumud: resistance]

I have been in Occupied Palestine for a week and a half now. And it's glorious. People are friendly, the landscape is positively incredible, the food is delicious, the Arabic gorgeous and nuanced, and my work is challenging and fulfilling. I am teaching music (voice and piano) to kids in individual lessons at a music center in Nablus, and we begin group music classes at a local primary school tomorrow.



I have passed by many checkpoints, but only gone through two of them. One was unmanned and I walked through the maze of turnstiles, and other was manned by a barely legal Israeli girl who giggled and flirted over the loudspeaker with the male volunteer with whom I was traveling. There was also a gruff 30-something man who simply waved me past when I flashed my U.S. passport.

I spent hours walking along the separation wall in Bethlehem and trying not to tear up at the graffiti (pictures to come). I also picked up a fabulous book called 'Challenging the Wall: Towards a Pedagogy of Hope' which contains case studies, academic analysis, interviews, etc., about the separation wall and it's role on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.




I crossed into "East Jerusalem" from "West Jerusalem" and the discrepancy was shocking. One crosses the street near Damascus Gate (Bab el-Aamoud) and immediately the signs are in Arabic and the voices speak Arabic.

So far I've managed to figure out how to take a serveece (like a cross between a taxi and a bus), order my daily felafel sandwich, and talk to my kids to see how their days have been. I also know my way around the Old City, how to cook in a gas-lit oven (my cake turned out fabulously), and how to ignore the 'how are yous' and the 'what's your name' and the 'i love yous' shouted at me from all directions whenever I walk down the street.

Crazy adventures:
-hiking Wadi Qelt near Areha (Jericho) at sunrise
-making friends with the owners/10-month old daughter of the restaurant in Areha
-being invited for tea by the neighbor kids, which turned into dinner, which turned into shisha on the roof
-baking/inventing a delicious cake in our gas-lit stove
-stumbling upon the PLO Negotiations headquarters, eating lunch there, and then forcing the guards to take my cake
-being in the main square of Nablus during the rally when Abbas was speaking to the UN
-observing the Via Dolorosa walk in the Old City of Jerusalem
-sharing a seat with an older woman and her granddaughter on a serveece to Ramallah
-leaving the Bethlehem Couchsurfer host's place at 3 AM and wandering around the city
-befriending four policemen in Bethlehem and being invited to cook lunch with them in their bachelor pad across from the Church of the Nativity
-leaving my mark on the separation wall

And three more months to come!

Palestine is a beautiful country. It is NOT scary. It is NOT dangerous. It is NOT full of Muslim terrorists.




...it's full of Jewish terrorists. Not that all Jews are terrorists, and not that all Israelis are terrorists. But the people in Palestine who are terrorizing Palestinians are Jewish Israelis.


It's full of Israeli teenagers toting guns, as well as armed Jewish settlers who assault regular Palestinians on a daily basis. It is also full of American-financed systematic oppression and intimidation of an entire people. It is full of brave, persistent, courageous, normal families whose every breath constitutes an act of resistance. Many people have made a choice to stay here in Palestine, or to immigrate here, to an occupied territory where their very lives and the lives of their loved ones are threatened and where their existence is denied by major players in the international community.

Palestine is a peaceful place. People are tired of violence, but they are actively demanding their right to self-determination regardless of what international leaders, Palestinian leaders, and Israeli leaders are doing behind the scenes.

One can understand nothing about a place until it is experienced for oneself, and that understanding will change every minute as the situation itself changes. Palestine is not static. Palestine is dynamic, in constant change and adaptation with the requirements of daily life and the whims of the State of Israel as well as the ignorance and cowardice of the international community.

Visit Palestine! Or at the very least educate yourself. There's so much to love here.

[khaled jarrar and the palestinian passport stamp]

News has spread quickly about artist Khaled Jarrar and his unofficial Palestinian passport stamp.

The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, CNN, and innumerable blogs and Facebook groups (including "Live and Work in Palestine") have covered the story of the stamp.

Jarrar has also taken his stamp on the road, including Corfu and Amman. On July 18th, the artist will also make an appearance at the historic Checkpoint Charlie in Germany to offer the stamp in a symbolic acknowledgment of Palestine's place among the occupied and oppressed nations of history.

What effect, if any, will this courageous act of nonviolent resistance from the Palestinians have on their upcoming bid for statehood at the United Nations in September? Will we see more acts designed to raise visibility and awareness of the Palestinian cause in the coming months?

Regardless, Jarrar's stamp merits recognition as not only a beautiful piece of artwork, but a growing symbol of the beauty, courage, and sophistication of the Palestinian people.

[the statement in the stamp]

Several sources around the web have published that a Palestinian art student named Khaled Jarrar has taken it upon himself to create a Palestinian passport stamp.

A gorgeous (in my opinion) design, the stamp is offered purely for symbolic purposes. It is also a compelling, highly visible act of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Jarrar is reported to approach foreign tourists as they exit buses in Ramallah, politely explain the purpose of his stamp, and offer to stamp passports. Some folks have been nervous about being questioned upon their departure from Israel, and others have enthusiastically handed their passports over to be stamped.

Jarrar set up this Facebook page to explain and support his idea.

The use of art, design, fashion, etc., can be powerful tools for any movement, and Jarrar is clearly utilizing local and international networks to connect with a large audience and share his dreams for an independent Palestine. Said Jarrar,

"Around 20 activists from several European countries expressed their readiness to work as volunteers to help me publish my stamp all over the world and advocate the campaign to other countries."

It is possible that Jarrar's act will inspire controversy among Palestinians and among Israelis. There is potential for administrative drama -- an unofficial passport stamp, not endorsed by the Palestinian Authority? Imagine the frustration and puzzlement for Palestinian officials.

Imagine an Israeli checkpoint inside the West Bank. Though Jarrar's stamp is harmless, it has the potential to inflame the Israeli administration and public imagination as well. A confused IDF soldier is a dangerous soldier, and this stamp may befuddle and/or aggravate Israeli soldiers, leading to increased human rights abuses toward Palestinians or those who hold passports with Jarrar's stamp. It's a long shot, but a Palestinian passport stamp may also arouse the suspicions of the Israeli administration, who could interpret the stamp as a precursor to a Palestinian revolution or the third intifada.

(on a separate note, recent polls indicate that the majority of Palestinians and Israelis do expect a third intifada)

However, Jarrar's stamp is a courageous act of beauty, creativity, and resistance. This sort of engagement and visibility is exactly what oppressed communities around the world can count on to make international headlines.