Tel Aviv Diary - February 24-8, 2015 - Karen Alkalay-Gut


February 24, 2015

As I was saying, the styles of Allenby are classic - cheap and flashy and fun. I got wonderful wool there that will be good to teach grandchildren to knit (half-spun so it falls apart and sheds a lot, but has great colors). There were lots of things that are sold in the market too - like corsets and tights - hanging up all over the place. Lots of jewelry too. Quite a street if you like that kind of thing. But you have to go inside. The shops are narrow but very long and deep.

I didn't say anything about the great analysis Sivan Butler-Rotholz did of my poem "Her Story"

http://asitoughttobe.com/2015/02/21/saturday-poetry-series-presents-karen-alkalay-gut/

February 25, 2015

As the time of elections nears I begin to believe the anti-zionist religious Jews who say that Jews should not be in government, but for different reasons. We do it so badly. Everyone in government seems to be tainted, confused, or just stupid.

February 26, 2015

I didn't got to the concert on the 19th. Even though it was a 'comeback' for all the groups I used to go to see at "Roxanne" the nightclub of the '80s. i didn't go because of my back, and maybe also I was worried I'd be disappointed. But now I see that most of the singers have improved their voice - they've all become political, all concerned with changing the government. This country is not what we were expecting then, not what we were hoping for.

February 27, 2015

We have postpone the investigation of the Netanyahu until after the election. Now, all Herzog has to do is join up with the other guys like Yair Lapid and point out some very great problems with our politics and maybe we can change something. But they have to say something. And so far no one is bringing up the destruction in Gaza, no one is mentioning the problems of the Beduin, no one is saying anything about negotiations with Palestinians. Would it lose them the elections - or help them win?

Radio on Friday evenings - always very nostalgic and warm. i stopped listening long ago. tonight, while cooking, i turned it on and was thrown back to the days when i knew all these singers and met them on Friday afternoons at the cafe - Kassit, Royal, sometimes Stern. Stern was where I'd run into Yona Wollach. It was a business and now it's run on the web.

February 28, 2015

Because Ezi's PET scan was postponed to this afternoon we thought we'd go to the Robert Capa show at the museum before. It was pretty remarkable, Jewish refugees from WWII, Palestinian refugees from 1948, with all kinds of other wars in between. Of course there were other exhibits that were very worth while seeing, but the small photographs of Capa, sometimes blurred, sometimes off-center, were still the greatest art.

And then came the PET. A nightmare at best, but today we spent over five hours at Assuta. Because it is Shabbat, I couldn't even get a cup of coffee while waiting there. I don't know why a two hour test took five hours, but there were no explanations and no apologies. Thank goodness Ezi could break his fast at six thirty p.m. at the Burger Bar opposite. It was an amazing relief to sit at the bar and wash down all that radioactive stuff with beer, but I'm sure beer is not advisable.

It was good while it lasted, though.

It is really wonderful to see all these public critical outbursts at political meetings. I'm excited about the groundswell of people making politicians responsible to the people. About time, I say, as I myself can do less and less.

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