Culture

Light Relief: Was Shakespeare a Jewish Woman?

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I resisted reading it because who has time for wacky nonsense? Oil is spilling, Obama is making obeisance to corporate “realities”, children are dying by their usual daily tens of thousands, we’re putting on a conference about it all in DC, starting tomorrow — and if you can’t get there Friday try Sunday for the rally and memorial service for those who died in the flotilla attack outside the White House at 11 AM to 1:30 PM — and then this comes up:
What if the Shakespeare legacy is a charade designed to conceal the author’s true identity? And what if the real playwright was a Jewish woman who dared not acknowledge her authorship in Elizabethan England? Last night when my brain was too fried to read anything serious I dipped in and found such a well written piece I’m a convert already. Must have been the “dark lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets who wrote it all!

Culture

Love your Enemy: A Novelist's Dilemma

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There is an old adage: write what you know. I do not know about battle first hand. I have never lived in occupied territory. But then I have never lived in a whorehouse or witnessed a crucifixion either, and I have already written about both as though I have. A better adage might be: write what you want to know. In the case of writing about battle (at least for me): write what you are afraid to know.

Empathy

The Shadow of Israel

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In my exploration of the BDS movement a week ago here, I talked about Margaret Atwood, who had chosen to not boycott the Dan David prize of which she was co-winner. She’s written a piece for Haaretz about her experience of Israel, that is a profound and eloquent exegesis of her Israeli experience. She admits that going into the issue she had “strayed into the Middle-eastern neighbourhood with a mind as open as it could be without being totally vacant”, and says, not unfairly, “The whole experience was like learning about cooking by being thrown into the soup pot.” So what does she conclude about Israel? The Israelis I met could not have been more welcoming.

Culture

Empathy and Authenticity in the Workplace (part 3 of 3)

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Part 1 of this mini-series was posted here, and part 2 here. Many people find it challenging, almost impossible, to imagine asking for what they want in their workplace. This is especially true if they have little access to formal power within the organization. I plan to come back to the topic of power, including within organizations, in the near future. For now, I want to focus on fundamental principles that can help you in lining up resources for yourself in the workplace regardless of where you are in the organization.

Culture

As Congress Debates Don't Ask Don't Tell, They Might Want to Listen to Future Voters

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With the fate of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell about to fall into the hands of the Senate, where Republican opposition to gays serving in the military is fierce, Democrats and a few Republicans may want to pay attention to the future by listening to this youngster who represents a growing intolerance for discrimination! Read more to watch the video and then I’ll share a few very personal thoughts about gays serving in the military (they are, they should be allowed to, and they shouldn’t have to suffer discrimination based on their sexual orientation). [youtube: video=”-M5_kU1NUbw”]
As you may know from reading my bio and other things I have posted over the years, I served our country in the United States Air Force. I loved the work that I did and I was extremely good at it. I was a linguist, working for the Electronic Security Command (now known as Air Force Intelligence) and taught at the Defense Language Institute of Monterey.

Empathy

Forgiveness

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Every night since the attack on my home by right-wing Zionists, I’ve been saying a prayer of forgiveness for them. While the political meaning of that act, and of the demeaning of critics of Israel, will be explored more fully in the July/August issue of Tikkun, on the spiritual level it is very important to not let negativity, even terrorism or violence, get the upper hand by bringing us down to the same level of anger or hatred that motivates those who act violently or those who demean and attempt to delegitimate the critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. If we are to build a world of love, we have to constantly work against the impulse to respond to anger and hatred with our own angry or hateful response. So, every night, I work on forgiving those who have assaulted my home, those who publicly demean me or Tikkun or the NSP, and those who spread hatred against the many people in our world who legitimately critique the policies of the State of Israel toward Palestinians. It was in this context that I thought I’d post some notes taken by therapist Linda Graham at a recent weekend retreat on forgiveness conducted by Jack Kornfield and Fred Luskin.

Culture

Bullied: A Student, a School, and a Case that Made History

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It had gone on for months… starting with name-calling, then shoves on the stairwell – tripping in the cafeteria – punches in the hallway, then a brick… Decades ago that was my nightmare Junior High School life and children continue to suffer this kind of abuse every day across our country. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Tolerance.org wants to provide teachers and administrators with new tools to help curb anti-gay and other bullying. Being a huge fan of what Tolerance.org does, I wanted people to know about it.

Culture

Reasons to be proud of being European

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Note: I wrote and posted this too fast and so am making visible tweaks (in crossings out and the square brackets) on an ongoing basis! This is a hugely loaded topic and it’s hard to be clear about what I mean, but the process of doing so itself is part of what blogging is about. Does that headline give you a twinge? We (whether of European origin or not) should all get over that reaction — in a progressive way, not a rightwing way. [Second thoughts: don’t say what “we” should do on this!

Culture

Overcoming Defensiveness

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Why is receiving feedback challenging? Whenever any one of us gives feedback that is tainted with criticism, judgment, or our personal upset, we create a situation that requires a lot more capacity and skill from the person who receives our feedback. So, a big part of why receiving feedback is so challenging is because so few people around us know how to give feedback. But, if we wait for others to offer us usable, digestible, manageable feedback, we will not likely receive sufficient feedback for our growth and learning. The alternative is to stretch our inner muscles, seek feedback, and grow in our capacity to fish the pearl that’s in what may otherwise be someone else wanting to be heard for how upset and angry they are with us.