The Puppy is Packed....and Other Business

Packing

It really isn't easy to know what I will be in the mood to wear in 6 days, let alone 6 months.  Needless to say, my bags are packed and I am, hopefully, ready to go.  Each weighs just a shade under 50 lbs, which doesn't include the 6.5 lb Maltese that wants to come with me (see pic below).  Packing is serious business and not for the faint of heart.  It requires a certain finesse, a particular eloquence that only comes with experience and Google.  (Who doesn't use Google for everything at this point, really?)  Packing cubes help too.  If you are a frequent traveler and neurotic, like me, I would recommend investing in packing bags.  I got mine for a very reasonable price on www.ebags.com, and they help to organize your clothing, various cords and wires, and do wonders for socks and underwear. (I don't know about all of you, but it seems that every time I travel I lose at least 3 socks and 2 pairs of underwear.  Apparently I have a bad case of underwear/sock/suitcase gnomes.)  Regardless, I highly recommend the packing cubes....they do wonders for organizing suitcases!  And what a relief to have the packing done.   My only hope is that the scale at the airport and the one I used at home are relatively similar.....

Lucy is ready to go!

Other Business

*Disclaimer - The following comments are political in nature and might be controversial to the naked eye.  Upon further scrutiny, the comments and resources below might actually help to understand the history and current events taking place.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

On another, more serious note,  I am writing this blog to not only keep my friends and family up to date on my whereabouts and adventures, but also to aid in the understanding of my research subject.  There is so much misinformation and misunderstanding present in our mass media.  It is vital to the understanding of this 60 plus year long conflict to go beyond the mass media and to dig into independent, alternative sources.  I hope to present you with a few and hope that you will seek out alternate sources on your own.  The internet is a wonderful tool for research and discovery, so use it, with caution and skepticism of course.

I recommend watching the documentary Occupation 101.  Well organized and concise, this documentary explains the history of the Palestinian expulsion and the real reason(s) behind the conflict that rages on today.  The organization that created this documentary, If Americans Knew, is a wonderful resource for dissecting the conflict, with statistics from both sides (Israeli and Palestinian) presented in a very straight forward manner that is fairly easy to understand.

The first thing to understand about this conflict is that anything you hear from most U.S. media sources is going to be filtered and have a bias in favor of the Israeli state.  This is because Israel has the largest lobby in the United States and because they have marketing campaigns promoting Israel and defaming the Palestinian leadership and people.

I feel like I need to further clarify/explain what I mean when I say Israel because it is frequently misconstrued as a slight against an entire population when that certainly isn't the case.  When I talk about Israel I am referring to the state, policies, and protocol but not the Jewish people as a whole.  In fact, there are many wonderful and amazing organizations headed by Israeli Jews that are either anti-occupation or anti-zionist.  I will talk about these organizations at a later date.  

Anyway, the reason I feel compelled to address these controversial issues is because the history and plight of the Palestinian people is directly related to the reason I am going to Jordan for 7 months.  I am going to listen to the stories of Palestinian women living in the camps of Jordan, to figure out what opportunities are available for them and what opportunities are lacking.  I do this, not with the goal of solving their issues (I gave up that "save the world" mentality many years ago), but rather because I feel that my role is to bring their stories to my audience, to my colleagues, to my friends and family in the hopes that there will be a greater understanding and awareness of what the reality is for a population of our fellow human beings.  All of this requires a brief, unabridged and unfiltered history lesson.

Ok, I am off my soap box for now.  If you have any questions or comments, please submit them in the comments section below.  

Salam!