Well. So. Um. Hello there. Top of the virtual morning to you all. I am, as can be ascertained by the fact that I’m blobbing, out of jail for now, although I have to report back to the Baku”m (draft station) on Sunday morning. I’m doing very well. A bit overwhelmed. Military jail is an extraordinarily silly place. I don’t think I’m going to use the Interwebs much over these next few days, I mostly want to relax and be with friends and family, but I wanted to check in, let folks know that my spirit is calm and wholly unbroken, that I feel a lot of love in all directions, that i found a lot of chances to laugh (and beatbox) in jail and that I promise to type up some of the 36 pages I scribbled over the last ten days in jail when this whole ordeal is over (my pen felt almost like redemptive- there was nothing they could do to me, it seemed, that I couldn’t later sort out in my notebook and extract meaning and value from). To all of you who wrote via New Profile or to my family or just sent vibes, you have know idea how much that meant to me and how helpful it was to remember that on the other side of the barbed wire I have a community and friends and folks who love and support me and my actions. And Jesse, thank you a million times over for maintaining this blog-endeavor. I love you and could not ask for a better brother and partner in non-violent, justice seeking crime.
Anyway. I expect to open the newspaper and find out that all violence, including especially State violence, has been criminalized, and that criminalized means that the perpetrator will be sent to rehabilitation, not kept in a cell and dehumanized. That said, I did hear one snippet of news while in jail, that Israel is changing its name to Likudistan Beitenu, so I think the struggle against violence, occupation, racism still has a way to go. So- here’s to keeping going, and to finding joy and victory in the little things:
On my way out, N., my beatbox partner, himself in a combat unit, stopped me and said, in a very serious tone, “bro, it’s cool that you’re a pacifist and all, but I really think… That you should learn Aikido.” I slapped his hand, gave him my remaining cigarettes and dropped a beat:
M-m-m-maybe I wiki-wiki-will.
Peace.
The Leftern Wall 