At any moment, life takes a turn

Life is so precarious. Even Aaron recognizes that at age 13. I picked him up from Eugene the other day and as we were driving to Corvallis we passed an horrible car wreck that had just happened. It shook us both up and we rode in silence for a while. Then Aaron said something about how we take it for granted but life is so fragile and we have no control over how it goes. (Not exactly his words, but essentially his sentiments.)

It immediately brought tears to my eyes. What happened to those youthful feelings of immortality? Of that carefree confidence in life? I think, because Aaron has older parents, he's always been a little worried about how long we were going to stick around. Maybe he's more tuned in to impermanence than other kids because of that. Maybe it's because of the Buddhist influence in his life. Buddhists like to keep in mind this isn't an endless journey.

Anyway, right after Christmas, Aaron's oldest best friend Robert came from Monterey for a week's visit. It was great fun having two boys in the house--they can quibble and jostle endlessly. They went out and about around town when forced to, but were oh so happy just playing on the computer, watching movies, playing board games, listening to ipods while reading--it was days of flopping.

Aaron's buddy Simon from Eugene came over for one night and then it was the Three Musketeers. I pushed them out onto the tough downtown streets of Corvallis and they put up the hoods of their hoodies and cruised. It was a good time. But my mind was split between enjoying the boys and reading online the horrific disaster that was unfolding in Gaza.

At 11am on Saturday, December 27th, the Israeli military attacked Gaza just as children were getting out of school. It was a market day and the streets were full of people. 220 people died that first day. A population taken by surprise, even though they are constantly under attack, and locked in from every direction. I think on everyone's minds who watches that part of the world was the memory of Israel's attack on Southern Lebanon in August of 2006. They only stopped after they'd effectively destroyed the civilian infrastructure and left behind millions of cluster bomblets--which keep on killing even after battles are over.

So, true to form, the Israeli military bombed and destroyed and killed and maimed for 23 days, while the world watched in horror, and the US Congress issued a statement of support and sent back-up shipments of weapons of mass destruction. Never have I been so ashamed and horrified. Or as vocal. Many a congressional staffperson listened politely.

Every day was so frustrating. On the one hand I felt like we all should be out on the streets shutting down business as usual until the killing stopped. On the other hand I went faithfully to work every day, until the day I got a call from an Egyptian woman with Palestinian cousins. She wanted to know what the people of Corvallis were doing in response to the daily massacres in Gaza. I told her I couldn't meet with her for a couple of days, until my next day off from work. Hummmm, she said, over 100 children were injured today in Gaza. How many more before your day off?

She was right. It jolted me upright and I called in sick. Meanwhile she called me back to say a demonstration had been called for Friday on campus by the Middle Eastern Club. So I set to work on the phone and computer. Two days later Courtney and I set up our table of information and held up our signs on the Quad with a wonderful group of students from Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Tunisia. We were joined by faculty members and one of our city councilmen. The woman who had contacted me brought her grandsons and they passed out information to lots and lots of people. They were precious little boys and who could tell them no?!

One of the first people to stop and talk with us was a young woman who rode her bike up and gave a very heartfelt thanks to all of us. She said "I'm Jewish and I'm so horrified at what Israel is doing." I could tell the Muslim students were really grateful for her words. It was as if we all gave a collective sigh of relief and determination. Some people said some pretty stupid things as they passed by that day, and the students saw they had their work cut out educating others as to what's happening in Israel/Palestine. But for the most part people were respectful, and we all felt better for having done something.

Just days before the demonstration our Friends of Middle East Peace group had hosted a really fabulous activist from Portland, Peter Miller, to speak on grassroots organizing. His talk had been planned for a while, and with the events in Gaza overshadowing everything else, he shifted his focus to that. We had an usually good crowd, with lots of new faces, due to the events in Gaza. There was a general feeling of urgency and outrage, and the upshot of that day was that a new group of us formed, specifically focused on action.

The six of us met a few days later, not sure what we were going to do, but with the need to do something. After a couple of meetings and online discussions, we named ourselves the Palestine Action Group, and set to work planning a series of events. (All I can say is I love this group.)

I don't know exactly how it evolved that our first event was cultural and fundraising, but we wanted to bring in people who would not usually come to a political event ( a speaker or a film). We wanted to reach a larger audience. We also wanted to raise money for humanitarian aid for Gaza. After some research we decided on Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) as the beneficiary--very exciting for me because I also love that organization.

It took us a little time to formulate exactly what we wanted to do and when and where. By then we had two weeks to work out all the details and publicize it. Below are photos of our Celebration of Palestinian Culture Night on February 7th at the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center.




The Multicultural Center is an amazing place in so many ways--warm and welcoming, beautifully decorated, right on the corner of campus, and free to us because of the generosity of the Board of Directors. They, along with the director Dee Curwin, really supported what we were doing and so charged us nothing.



It's a lovely two-story Victorian with high ceilings and large windows. The kitchen is especially wonderful with shelves full of yummy things from all over the world. Everything is there to use--not just to be beautiful.

All the week before our event, the Center had been used for a Chinese New Year's celebration. On the day of our event Dee put away all the Chinese decorations and brought out everything she could find that looked Middle Eastern. All the little touches added up to a perfect stage for the evening.




Many many people have donated things to the Center from their faraway travels or things they've collected, like this collection of dolls (pictured below) from around the world. Every inch of the Center is fun fun fun to look at, something interesting everywhere.




Our event was from 5-7pm on a Saturday evening. Our plan was to let enough people arrive to have a good audience and then start with the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the man considered to be the voice of the Palestinian people, and who died last year. It took no time at all for the fifty seats we'd set up in the living room to fill and more and more people kept coming. Then people started standing in any available space and filling the doorways.



A brilliant move, on the part of our Palestinian friends, was the setting up of a table in the entrance way to sell handmade crafts, baklava and Arabic coffee and staffed by the perfect hostess and saleswoman.

Now if you've never had Arabic coffee, I'll just tell you that it's very strong, intense in fact, sweet and flavorful--and does it work!? As people came in the front door they stopped to buy baklava and coffee, and by 6pm the place was collectively buzzing. Aaron and I shared one Arabic coffee (they're tiny in those tiny cups), drank only half of it, and still we were up at midnight yakking away. If you ever want an energetic and enthusiastic crowd, this is the stuff to serve!

Below is Karim, an OSU professor from Tunisia, who interjected a few lines of poetry as well as added his grace and warm smile to the overall good feeling of the evening. And standing with him is Alison, from our Palestine Action Group, who acted as mistress of ceremonies. (The two books she's written will be the subject of another entry!)




As much as possible I try to make these events family affairs. Aaron in paid by the hour or the event for his work, plus the added bonus of sweets. His jobs that night ranged from watching a couple young kids in the children's library and playroom (pictured below), hauling chairs and boxes and bags full of supplies in and out, washing dishes and cleaning up. It was great to have him be part of the evening, even when he appeared not to be paying any attention, as in this picture. Still he learns alot and contributes well.





After the Darwish's poetry, read by our friend Roger, and then the original poetry of an Iraqi man named Lafi, we took a break to eat.

The food was amazing. When I had first called our friend Rimah and told her what we wanted to do, she'd immediately started planning the menu. She knew other friends who would also be willing to cook and bake and serve. She enlisted her whole family, including her terrific husband Sameer, to help. She, and her friend Mirvana, and others put together an amazing spread. People were so happy.





We fed over 100 people, plus sold containers of hummus and falafel and baklava for take home.



Here's Rimah in all her beauty and glory. A consummate hostess, besides a fabulous cook.




After everyone had eaten, Rimah's son Shady and two of his friends from OSU played traditional Palestinian music and Shady recited some of his own poetry--sharp and sad and beautiful and highly charged. It was very emotional--I was so glad that this was what we were doing. Right at that moment celebrating Palestinian culture was exactly the right thing to do. As well as raising money for Gaza relief efforts.

We raised over $1800 that evening, had basically no overhead, and had a packed Multicultural Center, with a very engaged audience. (For days afterwards people called to ask how they could contribute to MECA, so the total raised we'll never know.) It was a success all the way around.

Well, there's lots more to tell. Life is rich and full, but I've run out of steam, and must stop writing. I appreciate that you've read all this.

Just one more reminder of how precious life is:



Ben's got such a great sense of humor and is oh so playful. One of his favorite tricks is pretending to be asleep--and any piece of furniture will work as his stage. He and his humor bring us lots of joy. We're so lucky to live close by and see him often.

Hope you are feeling lucky! Thanks for reading this. There'll be more soon. Next up: a trip to California! Maya starts a new job! And Alison Clement writes two fabulous novels!

With love,

Valori