EveningHands wander the map, gathering spare fragments of nature's blood, gathering borrowed time, to build a raft, to emerge from the water. A shake of soggy hair in eyes, movements that have a certain magnificance, or would in others. Frustration, pools of liquid left behind the plodding figure, as she moves through the cold corridors. Friend or foe, home or land of non grata, not discernible in the stern but youthful face. Old notions pour out on the ground, devoid of ceremony. Reader of poem has attention drawn to a human side of an inhuman event, its inhumanity only visible in stark contrast to the known.
The black tie event was a benefit for an animal charity. The tuxedo I rented looked really good on me -- I am thinking of buying one. The event was a lot of fun, and afterwards we went and had dinner at The Original Fish Market. The next day, we tried Mark Pi's. It's a local restaurant in Squirrel Hill, not far from Coffee Tree. The layout can well be described as IKEA meets the Soviet Union -- it had a very industrial feel, but was done with light plastics instead of cold steel.
On Monday, PUSH met with people from the local Hillel, to talk about perspectives on Israel, its history and future, and issues regarding the Palestinians. We were hoping to have some people from Palestinian groups there too, but none of them got back to us in time. The meeting went really well -- I felt that I learned several things about the conflict that I didn't know before, and had a lot of questions that I had been curious about answered. The main speaker they had was incredibly knowledgable about all the topics we brought up, even the very obscure. He also was quite fair, something I very much admire in speakers. The particular points I most enjoyed the coverage of were the challenges between democracy and being a Jewish state, difficulties in the Palestinian leadership, and the role of British colonialism in the conflict. I was bothered by his dismissal of the JAO as being at all significant, but in all honesty, I imagine it might be fair. Sometimes I latch onto a piece of trivia, and let the coolness of trivia overwhelm my ability to know how significant something really is. This is something which I need to overcome, or at least remain aware of. One question remaining, which I did not ask, is if the realm ever had any potential to be historically significant. That is, if Stalin had not, through the purges and expulsion of the Communist Left, betrayed the revolution, would the region have had significance in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? If we were to imagine Trotsky, instead of Stalin, having won the post-Lenin power struggle, the world might be a very different place today, with a non-repressive Soviet Union alive, healthy, and part of a larger, communist Europe. I would be interested to see what that society would look like. Alas, we are likely not to know. Perhaps Trotsky's programme would've turned out badly as well -- it's hard to really know.
Well, back to work. Later today I have a fMRI meeting at the BIRC, and then Zets. Later this week is the VAX Party and a family event with N. Hurrah!