Kim Priore

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about memory – for several reasons, really.  One, it came up in one of my classes, in reading memoirs, slave narratives specifically.  One author I read remarked that sometimes, especially in slave memoirs, the silences speak louder than the words.  What is it, this author asked, that we choose to remember, and what is it we will ourselves to forget?

Another reason is that in looking ahead to that big empty vortex after June that I keep talking about, in thinking about what I want to do with my life, and what others choose to do with theirs, sometimes I think all really of us really want is to be remembered.  To do something that will make a mark on the world, so that someone will remember us after we’re gone.

A third reason – and here’s where I go all selfish and self-pitying (don’t say I didn’t warn you) – is that a couple of times recently I have reached out to old friends.  None of whom read this blog, so no, it’s not you.  But you know, left random voicemails saying, hey I haven’t talked to you in awhile and really miss you, or in another case responded to a round of correspondence I didn’t start, saying hey yes I’d love to get together.  And maybe I’m just a loser, but when I hear from someone I haven’t talked to in a long time, I consider that kind of nice.  You know, to be remembered.  Someone, somewhere out there, had me on the brain today.  So I try to return those types of phone calls when I get them.  And I guess it’s inevitable that in the busy-ness of life that sometimes phone calls and e-mails like that go unanswered.  But it just kind of makes you wonder, what does it take to be remembered?  How long do you go on trying to make yourself unforgettable, before you have to learn to let go of one-sided relationships? 

On a happier note, and here’s where I talk myself OUT of self-pitying mode (see? that was quick) – I am also thinking about memory because this weekend (drumroll please) is the long anticipated, often imitated never duplicated, Newsies Turn 30 San Francisco Extravaganza ™!!!  On the agenda so far: a viewing of the cinematic tour de force that is Spice World, extensive analysis of any and all Victoria Beckham related news, hot tub, kareoke, and possibly Hooters.  The point is this, though.  (Yes, I said Hooters, get over it) – memories are great because they are the glue that holds our friendships together.  Also, beer helps.  (That was for you, Spiff)  But it’s great to have a group of friends who have known you for so long, say, since the original ‘what the hell am i going to do with my life’ crisis – and can be your constant sources of insight and laughter for the journey – who you know remember you, and who are excited to make new memories.

So that’s it for the deep thoughts, and look forward to a post-SF update next week.

The subject heading is a little Hebrew shout-out to my brother, to the recently returned home DC, and any other MOTs or wannabe MOTs in the hiz-ouse.  But the rest of the post is for me, and for the women (or womyn, depending on which college you went to) that I am lucky enough to call friends.  Eshet Chayil is the Hebrew term for the Woman of Valor, a character described in Proverbs 31.  Sometimes described as ‘the wife of noble character,’ she is really a role model for all of us females, single or married.  The passage describes a woman who works hard, strives for excellence, and provides for her family both economically and physically, and contributes to the community around her.  When I was in Israel, I bought a little necklace with the Hebrew inscription commemorating this woman.

Why?  Because we all need this reminder from time to time, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  According to this passage, the Woman of Valor, the Eshet Chayil, has a worth far surpassing that of rubies.  There are moments when we all get really down on ourselves, so I know I’m not unique in my insecurities.  We’d all like to maybe lose a little weight, see the skin clear up, shrink the Italian nose a little bit…wait maybe that’s just me…and we’d all like to see someone, maybe someone specific or maybe just anyone, look at us as if we were as beautiful and precious as valuable gems.  The problem is that, when that doesn’t happen, we start to lose perspective on where we should be deriving our value from. 

This morning in church we sang a song that repeats the phrase, “Your grace is enough, your grace is enough, your grace is enough for me.”  As NG pointed out earlier today at our Bible study, sometimes it’s hard to sing that and really mean it.  Because that means – I may never get married.  All of the things I’m fearing about the next few years – from the very public, job-related ones that I obsess about constantly to anyone who will listen…to the changes facing my family that scare me even more and that I only share with a select few – I may be facing those on my own.  My knight in shining whatever (tm Meredith Grey) may not come.  But yet I won’t be on my own.  Your grace is enough for me. 

And so I remind myself that Proverbs 31, and other role models of Godly women – these are the standard to which I am held.  I’m not supposed to look at magazines to figure it out, and as tempting as it is, I’m not supposed to look around and try to figure out what the secret is of all the other girls who seem to be lucking out.  I’ll never be them.  I am (Lord knows) 100% original.  For better or worse.  Take me baby, or leave me – as they sing in “Rent.”  I know that I am a loyal, funny, intelligent daughter of God and that anyone who causes me to doubt that, even for a second, is not a voice I need in my life.  Your grace is enough for me.

So for anyone else out there who’s wondering when it’s their turn, or what a girl’s gotta do, or what’s wrong with me – I’m reminding myself and you that our price is worth more than rubies.  And that there is a grace that is sufficient. 

And that as always, there is good food, good wine, companionship of friends, and discussion of good tv to get us through the tough times.

Well it may not have taken 40 years of wandering in the desert, but these past 24 hours have sure seemed like an eternity.  Nevertheless I am finally home, back in the land of Dunkin’ Donuts and CVS, praise the Lord.  When you fly out of Tel Aviv airport, they tell you to get there 3 hours in advance.  Because I am my father’s daughter, I gave it a good 9 hours, just to be on the safe side.  Actually it was because Shan flew out at 11:30, and rather than make Doug and Mandy drive me back at 2:30 in preparation for my 5:30 a.m. flight, we just made one trip and I camped out in the airport for the night.  (They’re not kidding about the 3 hours either, fyi, they all but give you a cavity search, they don’t mess around.)  So after a whirlwind tour of Jerusalem all day Sunday, and a quick stop for some Arabic Chinese food (don’t ask), we bid the Holy Land a fond farewell.  My first flight was uneventful; the second included a screeching baby across the aisle from me, and a Romanian woman next to me who was straight out of central casting.  I’m talkin’ the head scarf, no teeth, the whole nine yards.  Didn’t speak a word of English, knew I didn’t speak any Romanian, and YET proceeded to chaaaatter away at me like we were old friends.  It was kind of adorable. 

So that’s that.  A short Logan Express ride later and here I am back at 7 Fairview with only a suitcase of dirty laundry and souveniers, and a few stray Israeli shekels in my pocket to remind me that it wasn’t all a dream.  This trip had many layers to it – on the surface there was just the sheer fun of being on a break from school, away from the everyday work responsibilities, etc etc and hanging out and laughing with some really fun people.  Then there’s the spiritual aspect of it and how it really makes the Bible kind of come alive when you can really see the places and picture how things really would have looked (occasionally with a helpful reenactment photo to aid you).  There was also of course the pure joy of hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law again, and being able to see firsthand how they’ve become a part of the community there and are so clearly doing God’s work.

People keep asking me what the highlight of the trip was, and it’s really hard to narrow it down.  For the fun layer – just hanging out at the apartment, telling stories, laughing till our sides ached.  For the spiritual layer – I think the Galilee sights were especially cool to see, to be on a hillside looking out at the lake and realize that even if this isn’t the hill where the Sermon on the Mount was preached, it’s pretty close to it.  For the family layer – watching Doug joke around with his students and realizing that while they may give him a hard time, they truly like and respect him.  And watching Mandy’s 4th graders sing “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” in Arabic, complete with the hand motions, really brought a tear to my eye.  You get so used to hearing Arabic only when, as Shan said, it’s shouting slurs at you thru Al Jazeera, that you don’t realize that there are children here in this forgotten corner of the world, using that same language to praise the name of Jesus.  Children didn’t ask to be born in the midst of a war they didn’t start, and who certainly didn’t ask to be fenced in like animals, children who live at the birthplace of Christianity where it’s now threatening to die out.

Doug wrote that it was harder to say goodbye this time, and it was for me too, but for different reasons.  Because now having been there and seen how important their work is, I can’t wish for them to be anywhere else.  Some people work to bring peace and stability to the world with weapons, and I know in many ways that’s a necessary thing.  But my brother and sister-in-law are using the words and the love of Christ to try and bring people the peace that passes understanding, and it makes me so proud.  Their presence there is a living testimony that these people are not forgotten.  Having met them now myself, and laughed with them, and drunk their tea (and coffee!) and enjoyed their hospitality, I know that I won’t forget them.

After all – excellent, emotional soft rock is hard to forget.  And if you don’t get that one, you’ll just have to come hear the story.

Hey all – this is just a quick note since we are running out to a barbeque with some of Doug’s 11th graders, but I wasn’t sure I’d have another chance to post before leaving.  It’s been a great couple of days – Thursday was pretty low key, although we did enjoy a tour of Bethlehem University, courtesy of a priest who, among his other adventures in life, once worked as an English teacher for the Saudi Arabian army.  Awesome.  Yesterday (Friday) is Doug and Mandy’s day off, because it’s the Muslim sabbath and theirs is a predominantly Muslim culture, so we took off for the Dead Sea.  We journeyed to that holiest of holy places, the Ahava Factory Store.  It was truly a religious experience.  Also fun was floating in the Dead Sea and feeling the lovely burn as it (hopefully) set about to healing my various skin ailments.  Woo!  Saltiest water on earth.  Ow.  Last night we met up with Josh and Lauren once again, this time on this side of The Wall, and went out to a restaurant called “The Tent,” over in Beit Sahour near the Shepherd’s Fields, for some yummy Middle Eastern food.  Josh and Doug enjoyed a nice hookah (and Shan gave it a shot!) and made plans for the arrival of DC and Dr. Mu.  Today we went on a field trip with the entire high school to the Herodian (a giant mountaintop fortress built by Herod the Great) and the Solomon’s Pools, and then winding up at the local Checkers for some burgers.  I think that was the kids’ favorite part, but Doug gave a great tour nonetheless.  This afternoon the Fab Four headed for the left coast, and saw our 3rd sea in 10 days – and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean out at Ashdod, the former Philistine capital.  Also we managed to keep Shan from heading off down the road to Gaza, so you know, that’s good.  We even found a McDonald’s, and I’m happy to report that fast food soda is almost as good here as anywhere else!

Ok so that’s all, like I said, barbeque tonight and then we’re doing Jerusalem all day tomorrow – Holy Sepulchre, Garden Tomb, the market for last minute souvie’s, etc – and then off to the airport where I’ll be spending most of the night and flying out at 5:30 Monday morning!

It’s been a fantastic trip – of course not looking forward to say goodbye, but looking forward to seeing everyone again, handing out souvenirs, boring you all to death with pictures – and then hitting the ground running for 2nd Semester!

Last night was awesome – we went into Jerusalem and saw the Temple Mount (although we didn’t get to go up because it was closed), the Wailing Wall, and my personal favorite, this archaeological park on the southern end of the Temple Mount where they’ve excavated back to the time of Christ.  Among the things they’ve uncovered are the steps leading up to the temple in the time of Jesus, so as Doug points out, while there are multiple places in Jerusalem where you can say maybe/probably Jesus might have walked here, this is one spot where we know for sure he would have climbed these steps on his way up to the temple.  SO COOL.  That was really moving.  After that, we went to pick up Doug’s friend Josh and his wife Lauren and went out for Armenian food.  And lemme tell ya, the Armenians know their way around a kitchen.  It was delish.  And it was v. fun hanging out with the Til-ton once again. 

This morning Shan and I went on a tour of the Deheisha Refugee Camp with an organization called Alternative Tourism Group.  It’s not what you would typically think of as a refugee camp – not like tents and stuff.  It’s more like being in the projects, really.  Apparently there were tents when the camp was first formed, in ‘48, then the UN built these small units, like 3 meters by 3 meters, and now there’s some bigger apartments.  But what started out as a camp of 700 people has grown in population to 11,000 – but not in dimension.  So the same space that held 700 now holds 11,000.  The kids are 3rd generation refugees.  It’s really sad.  I think the saddest thing to me was the graffiti and artwork depicting keys – keys are the symbol of the refugees because a lot of them still have the keys to the houses they were forced out of so many years ago.  We wound up the tour having coffee (eesh! Starbucks it ain’t) with our tour guide Ayman and talking politics for an hour or so. 

On a brighter note, this afternoon when Doug was done with school he took us down to the Elah Valley, better known as the spot where David fought Goliath.  Shan was kind enough to reenact the decisive moment in said battle for photographic purposes, with Doug reprising his oft-played role as Goliath.  It was fantastic.  But yeah, very cool, and again – much like the steps – one of those spots you kind of have to know about, there is no sign, no fanfare, nothing.  So it’s really thanks to my brother’s wealth of Bible knowledge that we were able to see that.

So that’s about all – my trip is more than half over, which is sad!  Still lots of fun stuff ahead of us on the weekend.  But I’m having a fantastic time, and I really enjoy the whole not going to work or school aspect of vacation.  Can’t say enough good things about that.  And of course the hanging out with Doug, Mandy, and Shan and eating yummy Middle Eastern Food and laughing a lot.  Also CNN International – soooo much better than the domestic.  Sheer heaven for an international news junkie. 

I think that’s it for now – peace out from BJ in the WB.

Well it’s mid-morning break time here at the “American School” in BJ.  Shan and I have spent the morning with some of Doug’s classes – his 11th graders are a trip, your typical boisterous group of teenage boys, which you know, I’ve never been too popular with but Shan was a big hit.  I talked about Haiti and she talked about her work in the inner city.  Since apparently they are fascinated with black people, so it’s great that I could bring them a resident expert. 

Yesterday we had a tour of Bethlehem, organized by one of Doug’s students, Marwan.  And no I’m not at all bothered that that was the name of the terrorist on 24 a couple seasons ago.  Marwan’s awesome though – he set up a tour with our new friend Walid, who we think might be the mayor of Bethlehem, because he knows so many people.  So he took us to the Shepherd’s Field, the Church of the Nativity, and the Old City of Bethlehem.  He may be the world’s only living Catholic Muslim, because if I could boil the entire tour down to one salient point it would be this: the perpetual virginity of Mary.  Walid feels very strongly on this point.  Never any relations between her and St. Joseph.  No brothers for Jesus.  Always a virgin.  He’s Muslim, but he went to a school run by Fransciscans, and we really want to find them and let them know they did a bang-up job with him because the training really stuck.  And he punctuates every sentence with, “You understand?  You understand my meaning?” So that has become our new favorite catch phrase.  We were on the tour with one other American, this SUPER annoying old guy who was slightly crazy, but we tried our best to ignore him.  The tour wound up at Marwan’s family’s store, where they extended us Palestinian hospitality, which means your choice of a beverage.  Shan the coward who thinks she can take on the terrorists at Hebron opted for the tea, but yours truly was all, bring on the coffee.  And proceeded to have a cup of coffee that I could still feel in my esophagus like 8 hours later.  It was pretty awesome.  Marwan’s family offered us half off of anything in the store, because of our association with the school and Doug and everything, so that was nice, we got some souveniers. 

In the afternoon we visited Mandy’s class of adorable 4th graders and bestowed upon them the gift of their own personal white marker boards which Mandy had ordered, so they were really excited about that.  They demonstrated some of their English skills by practicing their contractions.  After school was out, Doug took us to see a few more sights in Bethlehem, including the old city gate and David’s wells.  OOH – I neglected to mention that our tour with Walid included the market and what is apparently the best falafel in town – made with onions in the middle of it.  mmmmmm falafel…..  Anyways then Doug ran some errands so I got to see where he gets his meat and fresh vegetables, and then this little store where he communicates with the shopkeeper in Spanish, because she doesn’t know English but knows Spanish, and he doesn’t know that much Arabic.  Pretty adorable.  It was in that store that I saw my favorite item spotted to date, which is some kind of GIANT liquor bottle in the shape of…are you ready for it…a machine gun.  If there was any way I could get that out of the country I would.  It’s the most fabulous thing I’ve ever seen.

This afternoon once we’re done warping young minds, we’re headed into Jerusalem for the first time – we’ve driven through it because that’s how you get in and out of the West Bank, but we haven’t done any of the sights yet.  So I think we’re going to start that this afternoon and then hopefully have dinner with Josh and Lauren. 

Well, we’re back safe and sound from the Kinneret, otherwise known as the Sea of Galilee (if you’re a Dan Cloutier music fan then you already knew that term! Hi Dan!).  It was an amazing two days of seeing the incredibly varied geography that makes up this tiny country, as well as the absolute wealth of archeological sites, which, if you’re a geek like me, is a blast and a half.  But it was awesome, we saw ruins at Korazim, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Dan, and Banias – known in Biblical times as Caesaria Philippi.  We also saw the churches of: the Mount of the Beatitudes, The Primacy of Peter, the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the one over Peter’s house in Capernaum.  Very cool.  And it’s really amazing how it just brings all of the stories to life and allows you to picture things really happening.  My brother’s wealth of knowledge makes him a great tour guide, so if you’re in the market for a tour of the Holy Land, I would highly recommend this guy. 

On the agenda for tomorrow is seeing the sights around Bethlehem – Doug’s arranged for a tour through one of his students so apparently a couple of Arab dudes are picking me and Shan up at the school gates tomorrow morning and taking us to the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square and the Shepherds Field and all that good stuff.  Awesome.  I’m sure Shan will try and bribe them into taking us to like Ramallah or Hebron, where she is just itching to go.  Today we were up in the Golan Heights by the Syrian border and there’s all these signs that say ‘beware of the land mines’ on the side of the road, and so naturally Shan had to have her picture taken next to one of those.  Good times.  She says if we avoid Hebron because it’s unsafe that means the terrorists have already won.  I say I’m willing to concede that battle.  We shall see…

So that’s all from Beit Jala this evening folks – having a fantastic time, wishing I could have tucked you all in my suitcase, but alas, it was full of Doritos.  And other stuff. 

Night!

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I’ve arrived in Beit Jala, Palestine safe and sound!  I’m sitting in Doug and Mandy’s apartment staring out at an amazing view of their town!  There were no problems with my flights, which was a huge answer to prayer.  Not sure whose prayers – my flight from Milan had a bunch of priests on it, and when I touched down in the Holy Land I was clutching my rosary beads and sitting next to 2 Italian priests.  So something tells me Nana Mella was looking out for me.  And all my luggage got here safe and sound as well, which I was really glad for mostly because of all the presents inside!  To everyone who sent stuff, thank you so much, it was like Christmas morning around here when I started pulling stuff out of my bags!  And the video was a big hit. 

We’re taking off in a few minutes for the Sea of Galilee, we’ll be back Sunday night and hopefully be able to write more then.  Love and miss you all!

I am DONE, people!  Well, almost.  Done with the paper writing, let’s put it that way.  All that stands between me and the International Incident 07 is one measly Old Testament exam.  Also I would like to point out that the paper I submitted tonight is not *technically* due until Friday, making this the record, counting high school, college, and grad school thus far, for the earliest I have EVER turned in a paper before its due date.  As NG points out, only my brother could motivate that kind of insane behavior in me.

So that’s it – the next two days are all about shopping and packing and I’m sure at some point the inevitable pre-trip freakout (awwww freakOUT) – sorry it called for an 80’s music interlude.  If you’re around Tuesday and Wednesday, give yer girl a holla, and remember if anyone wants to send stuff on the Midnight Train to Bethlehem, get it to me by Wednesday night. 

Peace!