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It's not that I don't like livejournal, but I decided to try something new.
So, please visit my new blog...

http://iritka-pillowbook.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer: not a feminist post
 
In the summer my university turns into summer day camp for kids. That's the way of the academic institution to make money even in the summer, it lets using its lawn and facilities for summer camp activities. So from morning till noon the university is full of 5-10 year old children with their 12-15 year old camp instructors.
Yesterday I had a TA meeting in my university and after that headed towards the library. On my way I spotted a group of young kids aged something around 6, playing some game with their instructor in the shadow of a tree and wearing what first appeared to me as a pink uniform. It was a bit puzzling, since in Israel the practice of school uniform, even during the school year, is almost extinct, but I thought that maybe the bright colour makes it easier for the instructors to find their flock. However, when I got closer I realized it was not a uniform at all. It was just that all the girls in the group, including their instructor wore pink outfits. The boys, who were a minority in the group, actually wore differently colored clothes (mostly sailor-themed) which proved me wrong about the uniform assumption. I strained my eyes to spot a girl, who would were something other then pink, but alas, there was none. And that made me wonder, once again, about these girls equals pink, boys equals blue equations.

( more pink...  )

There are numerous art galleries in Tel-Aviv, small intimate places with very high rent. Sometimes I make some time to go and see the new talents, but for the most part it is either abstract "no mood" art or some stuff connected with our political situation. And well, I feel so sorry that people in this hot country, and especially those in Tel-Aviv trade "heart" for "mind". Paintings should have heart in them, feeling, mood. Well, at least that's what I believe. Anyway, all this rambling is occasioned by me stumbling upon this artist, who is showing in SFM Gallery in New York. We are not NY, I thought. But I probably shouldn’t put down our artist, I’m sure there are some whom I will like. And anyway, everything is a matter of taste. So I’m posting some art by Aleksandra Nowak, a polish artist showing in NY.
( see the art...  )

It was raining in Israel today! Unbelievable event of summer rain in this infernally hot country! I'm so excited and decided to take it as a positive sign in my own life (as if universe cares about my life, but a person is allowed to feel herself one with the universe once in a while, doesn't she?).

Anyway... Have a great day everybody!

To fathom the Way of Poetry is to still the disordered trembling of a restless heart. It is to achieve tranquility and peace.
                                                                                                                      Mujū Ichien (13^th century)

I was planning to post these pictures for a month now, but didn't have time or will... Anyway, I must write an essay in Japanese and it really makes me suffer, so in between Japanese sentences I decided to post the pictures from my trip to Berlin during semester break. Posting them reminds me that I actually had a holiday despite feeling completely exhausted and not remembering having any vacation. The thing is that my exhaustion derives not from physical fatigue but from mental weariness. Anyway, as some of my good friends are saying, what make us feel bad are not the circumstances around us, but what we make of them and feel about them. So, I'm trying to be positive, despite being completely terrified of my life and uncertain about my future. Ooops, I've sidetracked. Sorry. Here are some pictures.

So, wherever you go...

( Read more... )

This post is inspired by something _nukes_  wrote in her journal. As I read her post (which really made me smile) it reminded me of something I have been thinking about quite a lot over the past few years, how people (me not excluded) fail to take somebody else's perspective and see everything through their own prism, completely oblivious to the fact that the person they are speaking of or talking to is a completely different person, motivated by different set of values/ psychological makeup/ circumstances etc. It is quite difficult to understand other people, but when we judge or consider other people's actions we probably shouldn't "put ourselves in their position", but just look at "them in their position" or at least remember that "I" might be quite different from the "other", even when this other is a friend/family member. Of course this reality leads to feeling of loneliness and alienation and yes, it is the human condition, it is valid today as it was valid so many centuries ago. Here is what Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady in 10^th century Japan writes in her diary (translated by Richard Bowring):

 

"I have many things I would like to say but always think the better of it, because there would be no point in explaining to people who would never understand. I cannot be bothered to discuss matters in front of those women who continually carp and are so full of themselves: it would only cause trouble. It is so rare to find someone of true understanding, for the most part they judge purely by their own standards and ignore everything else".

So, today, something that totally made me laugh. I have to admit that I have never actually read Terry Pratchett. When I was younger I wasn't aware of his existence, and when I got to know about him, had already too much other things to read. But I guess one day I will definitely get to read properly some of the stuff. Well, anyway, all my knowledge about Pratchett comes from a friend of mine, and she sent me this quote this morning to make me smile (it's from Wyrd Sisters).

The setting: some faraway kingdom, not too splendid a court, but there of course porters and a court fool. A witch comes over to visit the king and nocks at the door. A porter and the fool have the following conversation:

"There's a knocking without", the porter said.
"Without what?" said the Fool.

"Without the door, idiot".

The Fool gave him a worried look. "A knocking without a door?" he said suspiciously. "This isn't some kind of Zen, is it?".

My friend sent me a link to this... I just had to put it in my journal.

Dare, change...

I found the following quotation in an 18^th century Chinese novel The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin (translated by David Hawkes). Two young noblewomen discuss possible subjects for their poetry club meeting, and one of them says:

“We don’t want anything outlandish. If you look at the works of the great poets, you find that they didn’t go in for the weird and wonderful titles and “daring” rhymes that people nowadays so fond of. Outlandish themes and daring rhymes do not produce good poetry. They merely show the poverty of writer’s ideas. Certainly one wants to avoid clichés; but one can easily go too far in the pursuit of novelty. The important thing is to have fresh ideas. If one has fresh ideas, one does not need to worry about clichés: the words take care of themselves”.

 Could not agree more with this, really, and it also seems to me that as time passes writers and artists from every possible field are going to the extremes of “outlandishness”. Just consider themes from some recent publications: A breathtaking and poignant encounter between a cancer sick lesbian Palestinian with a cancer sick right wing oriented Israeli activist, a wonderful story of an orphan girl and her polio sick, not to mention all the dwarves, sensitive talking animals etc. It is very difficult to find a simple human story of a regular person. And don’t tell me it is not interesting to explore the subject. Tolstoy did great doing it. Humanity is a fascinating topic and I really feel sometimes skimming through titles that some (not to say most) of the outlandish themes are the result of writers’ lack of ability to write real human characters. Its’ not like I’m against fantasy or unrealistic fiction (Márquez, Laura Esquivel, Murakami Haruki, Robin Hobb, and I’m not comparing, are wonderful in their respective genres), but it seems that lately these tools are used more to conceal the inadequacy of a writer then to reveal something about human character.

"It is in general the unexplored that attracts us..."
                     
                                Lasy Murasaki, The Tale of Genji


Yoshitoshi Tsukioka(c)

So, to continue with the subject of hell (promise it's the last one). Sartre was probably a huge egoist to say that the hell is other people. Well, he didn't say other people; he said "les autres" which would be correctly translated as "the others". Some people might actually not be “hell”, since they are not in the category of "the others". But I think that it’s my own try at redeeming Sartre from his egoism and that for someone like him everyone was "the others". Others have more self criticism. Tennesee Williams, for instance, claimed that "hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person". But then, how can you avoid hell by casting yourself completely aside? No, what I would like to think it means is that if you are open to "the others", if you are ready to love and to receive love then there might be a slight chance of finding that person the love for whom and who's love for you will redeem you. But on a very sad point, some, like T.S. Elliot believe that we are basically always alone. Have you ever read his “The Cocktail Party”? :

What is hell?
Hell is oneself,
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections.

(to read the whole thing follow the link,  it actually ends on a happy note)

Very Buddhist of Mr. Eliot, and so very disturbing. If our premise is that everything outside ourselves is a mere projection of our mind, then what the hell (no pun intended) are we doing accusing "the others" of our own hell?! Is it because we (me?) are too egoist to admit that we are the source of our hell?
 

Today on Yom Kippur’s eve, I, probably, shouldn’t have written things about hell, but I’ve been planning to write this for quite a while now (and I haven’t finished yet, mind you), but because of my tight schedule at work and all the renovation in my mothers house in which I, naturally, became involved, I just didn’t have a spare minute to sit down and write.

I don’t really believe in all the atonement thing of Yom Kippur and I don’t believed in saying “I’m sorry” to god (goddess/es) or to people only once a year.  But I guess, this year especially I have many people to say sorry to. I must admit, I say it mentally almost everyday, since causing other people pain is one of the most painful things for me. But as the country I live has a special day for saying things like that, today I am putting it publicly in writing.

I am deeply sorry for the pain I caused. 

So, here is my progression of sought in recent times:
Hell is other people
Hell is me
Hell is


Hieronymus Bosch, The Garder Of Earthly Delights (Hell)

( more hell... )

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.

                      Gilbert Keith Chesterton

                

My friend Liora is going to perform in this "ARTiSHOWk" and I'm planning to go. 



So, if  you are interested in Israeli modern art of any kind  (and live in Israel... or planning to visit :)) here are some details: 
http://flickr.com/photos/tamarmosh/2711137097/

P.S. the designer of the poster has my name, but, as you may have guessed, it's not me :)

Since time spent in between places is a part of life too, reaching one's destination isn't necessarily the most important thing.

                                                                                                                Yoko Tawada, "In Front of Trang-Tien Bridge"