Ruby among the Blooms of Life

In a few days time, La Professoressa and I will leave this island continent far behind. Our dear Cello, gray and blind, will take comfort in Spottswood with his other family. Always this is a time of looking over my shoulder at what has become my home here, the once unfamiliar gifts of garden and at times, endless blue skies, the parrots, red, green and blue, squawking for my feeding hand, but most of all, it is our friends here, that I see, those who took on the risk of an old new friend, and of these new folk in my life, there is our Ruby. Now 16, she stands at our gate, straight and true, dressed in her home-made costume for a fantasy convention in the city, holding tightly to her side the suit case we loaned her for her week at the University. Dear dear Ruby, who lets me pour out my love for the easy complexities of  "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" while I listen to her read the first cantos of The Divine Comedy in Italian. For almost 8 years we have shared the challenges of her writing and literature classes; soon she will go through the gate, a bigger gate, and not need my offered brillances and oh how I wish for her a world so different from this one, a world were the softness of the unarmored human body can flourish in all its differences. Oh how we have enhanced our killing machines, but the gentle longings for beauty of our human selves shiver in the world of cascading steel. La Professoressa and I, childless, teachers, stand in homage to Ruby, the color of life.


And now to you, I turn.

The blueness of Port Douglass, far north Queensland, with our friends Leslie and Louise, last month

Coming to New York, London and Ljubljana, September and October, LHA's 40th Celebration and You

From the porch of our home here, looking towards a storm filled sky.


La Professoressa and I will be in New York City the first two weeks in October, then on to London for Di's work with SOAS, a quick visit with the lesbian community of Slovenia and then back to New York for our last three weeks. Two public dates I offer here. On Sunday, October 19th, at the Brooklyn home of LHA--see website--I will be hosting a day of sharing memories of the old home of LHA, a day for story telling, for communal remembering to help with writing the history of the early days of the archives. Hopefully, we will have a way of preserving the discussion. Come to share, to listen even if you never had a chance to walk through the door of 13A, come to say hello,  lay eyes on and hug.

Then on Wednesday, October 22, the 40th anniversary of LHA will be celebrated at the Gay Center; representatives of all generations of LHA women will be speaking for a short time and then all there can add to the tapestry of what LHA has meant to them over these four decades.

Please if you can, help spread the word about these events and if you want to contact me in NY--we will be staying on the Upper West Side, where living would be impossible now--just write me at Joan.Jessbsimple@gmail.com.

My heart is so filled with what all this means--perhaps my last time back in the geographies that gave me so much. My dear dear friends whom I miss every day. I have learned so much about the privilege of free movement, about how the heart has its own streets.

La Professoressa who will guide my steps

The Old One and the Redhead

How They Honor Our History, Their Losses: Over A Hundred Jewish Survivors and Their Descendants Condemn the War on Gaza

How they honor our history, their losses. These letters of resistance are being refused publication in many many places. 



 Plus de 100 Juifs, survivants et descendants de survivants du génocide nazi, condamnent le massacre de Palestiniens
 Plus de 100 Juifs, survivants et descendants de survivants du génocide nazi, ont signé cette lettre condamnant le massacre de Gaza par Israël et appelant à la fin du génocide du peuple palestinien. Dans cette lettre, ils protestent aussi contre l’abus de l’utilisation de leurs histoires pour promouvoir la déshumanisation de Palestiniens mise en avant par Elie Wiesel parmi d’autres dans ses récentes annonces ( his recent ads) placées  dans le New York Times, le Wall Street Journal, le Washington Post et le Guardian. Si vous êtes un survivant du génocide ou un descendant de survivants, please click here et allez jusqu’au bout pour additionner votre nom à la lettre. Veuillez faire un don pour nous aider à placer cette lettre avec ses signataires comme annonce dans le New York Times pour transmettre le message que plus jamais signifie PLUS JAMAIS POUR TOUS !
 
La lettre :
 
Des survivants et des descendants de survivants juifs du génocide nazi condamnent sans équivoque le massacre des Palestiniens à Gaza
 Comme survivants juifs et descendants de survivants du génocide nazi, nous condamnons sans équivoque le massacre de Palestiniens à Gaza et l’occupation et la colonisation sans fin de la Palestine historique. Nous condamnons de plus les Etats-Unis de fournir à Israël le financement pour effectuer l’attaque et les états occidentaux pour utiliser plus généralement leurs muscles diplomatiques pour protéger Israël de condamnations. Un génocide commence avec le silence du monde. 
 
Nous sommes alarmés par la déshumanisation extrême, raciste dans la société israélienne, qui a atteint un comble. En Israël, des politiciens et des experts dans The Times of Israël et The Jerusalem Post ont appelé ouvertement au génocide des Palestiniens et des Israéliens de droite adoptent un insigne néo-nazi. 
 
De plus, nous sommes dégoûtés et indignés de l’utilisation abusive de notre histoire par Elie Wiesel dans ces pages pour promouvoir des mensonges flagrants utilisés pour justifier l’injustifiable : l’effort DE MASSE pour détruire Gaza et le meurtre de près de 2.000 Palestiniens, y compris plusieurs centaines d’enfants. Rien ne peut justifier de bombarder des abris de l’ONU, des maisons, des hôpitaux et des universités. Rien ne peut justifie de priver des gens d’électricité et d’eau. 
 
Nous devons élever nos voix collectives et user de notre pouvoir collectif pour mettre fin à toutes les formes de racisme, y compris le génocide en cours du peuple palestinien. Nous appelons à la levée immédiate du siège de Gaza. Nous appelons pour un boycott complet économique, culturel et académique d’Israël. « Plus jamais » doit signifier JAMAIS PLUS POUR TOUS!
 
Signé par :
 
1. Hajo Meyer, survivor of Auschwitz, The Netherlands. 
2. Henri Wajnblum, survivor and son of victim of Nazi genocide, Belgium. 
3. Renate Bridenthal, child refugee from Hitler, granddaughter of Auschwitz victim, United States. 
4. Marianka Ehrlich Ross, survivor of Nazi ethnic cleansing in Vienna, Austria. Now lives in United States. 
5. Annette Herskovits, survived in hiding in France and daughter of parents who were murdered in Auschwitz, United States. 
6. Irena Klepfisz, child survivor from the Warsaw Ghetto, Poland. Now lives in United States. 
7. Karen Pomer, granddaughter of member of Dutch resistance and survivor of Bergen Belsen. Now lives in the United States. 
8. Hedy Epstein, her parents & other family members were deported to Camp de Gurs & subsequently all perished in Auschwitz. Now lives in United States. 
9. Lillian Rosengarten, survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, United States. 
10. Suzanne Weiss, survived in hiding in France, and daughter of a mother who was murdered in Auschwitz. Now lives in Canada. 
11. H. Richard Leuchtag, survivor, United States. 
12. Ervin Somogyi, survivor and daughter of survivors, United States. 
13. Ilse Hadda, survivor on Kindertransport to England. Now lives in United States. 
14. Jacques Glaser, survivor, France. 
15. Norbert Hirschhorn, refugee of Nazi genocide and grandson of three grandparents who died in the Shoah, London. 
16. Eva Naylor, surivor, New Zealand. 
17. Suzanne Ross, child refugee from Nazi occupation in Belgium, two thirds of family perished in the Lodz Ghetto, in Auschwitz, and other Camps, United States. 
18. Bernard Swierszcz, Polish survivor, lost RELATIVES  in Majdanek concentration camp. Now lives in the United States. 
19. Joseph Klinkov, hidden child in Poland, still lives in Poland. 
20. Nicole Milner, survivor from Belgium. Now lives in United States. 
21. Hedi Saraf, child survivor and daughter of survivor of Dachau, United States. 
22. Liliana Kaczerginski, daughter of Vilna ghetto resistance fighter and granddaughter of murdered in Ponary woods, Lithuania. Now lives in France. 
23. Jean-Claude Meyer, son of Marcel, shot as a hostage by the Nazis, whose sister and parents died in Auschwitz. Now lives in France. 
24. Chava Finkler, daughter of survivor of Starachovice labour camp, Poland. Now lives in Canada. 
25. Micah Bazant, child of a survivor of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
26. Sylvia Schwartz, daughter and granddaughter of survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
27. Margot Goldstein, daughter and granddaughter of survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
28. Ellen Schwarz Wasfi, daughter of survivors from Vienna, Austria. Now lives in United States. 
29. Lisa Kosowski, daughter of survivor and granddaughter of Auschwitz victims, United States. 
30. Daniel Strum, son of a refugee from Vienna, who, with his parents were forced to flee in 1939, his maternal grand-parents were lost, United States. 
31. Bruce Ballin, son of survivors, some RELATIVES  of parents died in camps, one relative beheaded for being in the Baum Resistance Group, United States. 
32. Rachel Duell, daughter of survivors from Germany and Poland, United States. 
33. Tom Mayer, son of survivor and grandson of victims, United States. 
34. Alex Nissen, daughter of survivors who escaped but lost family in the Holocaust, United States. 
35. Mark Aleshnick, son of survivor who lost most of her family in Nazi genocide, United States. 
36. Prof. Haim Bresheeth, son of two survivors of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, London. 
37. Todd Michael Edelman, son and grandson of survivors and great-grandson of victims of the Nazi genocide in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, United States. 
38. Tim Naylor, son of survivor, New Zealand. Victor Nepomnyashchy, son and grandson of survivors and grandson and relative of many victims, United States. 
39. Tanya Ury, daughter of parents who fled Nazi Germany, granddaughter, great granddaugher and niece of survivors and those who died in concentration camps, Germany. 
40. Rachel Giora, daughter of Polish Jews who fled Poland, Israel. 
41. Jane Hirschmann, daughter of survivors, United States. 
42. Jenny Heinz, daughter of survivor, United States. 
43. Jaap Hamburger, son of survivors and grandchild of 4 grandparents murdered in Auschwitz, The Netherlands. 
44. Elsa Auerbach, daughter of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, United States. 
45. Beth Bruch, grandchild of German Jews who fled to US and great-grandchild of Nazi holocaust survivor, United States. 
46. Julian Clegg, son and grandson of Austrian refugees, relative of Austrian and Hungarian concentration camp victims, Taiwan. 
47. David Mizner, son of a survivor, relative of people who died in the Holocaust, United States. 
48. Jeffrey J. Westcott, son and grandson of Holocaust survivors from Germany, United States. 
49. Susan K. Jacoby, daughter of parents who were refugees from Nazi Germany, granddaughter of survivor of Buchenwald, United States. 
50. Audrey Bomse, daughter of a survivor of Nazi ethnic cleansing in Vienna, lives in United States. 
51. Daniel Gottschalk, son and grandson of refugees from the Holocaust, RELATIVE  to various family members who died in the Holocaust, United States. 
52. Ken Schneider, son of refugees from Vienna who lost many family members, United States. 
53. Barbara Grossman, daughter of survivors, granddaughter of Holocaust victims, United States. 
54. Abraham Weizfeld PhD, son of survivors who escaped Warsaw (Jewish Bundist) and Lublin ghettos, Canada. 
55. David Rohrlich, son of refugees from Vienna, grandson of victim, United States. 
56. Walter Ballin, son of holocaust survivors, United States. 
57. Fritzi Ross, daughter of survivor, granddaughter of Dachau survivor Hugo Rosenbaum, great-granddaughter and great-niece of victims, United States. 
58. Raphael Cohen, grandson of Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
59. Emma Rubin, granddaughter of a survivor of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
60. Alex Safron, grandson of a survivor of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
61. Danielle Feris, grandchild of a Polish grandmother whose whole family died in the Nazi Holocaust, United States. 
62. Jesse Strauss, grandson of Polish survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
63. Anna Baltzer, granddaughter of survivors of Nazi genocide whose family members perished in Auschwitz (also grand-niece of members of the Belgian Resistance), United States. 
64. Abigail Harms, granddaughter of Holocaust survivor from Austria, Now lives in United States. 
65. Tessa Strauss, granddaughter of Polish Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
66. Caroline Picker, granddaughter of survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
67. Amalle Dublon, grandchild and great-grandchild of survivors of the Nazi holocaust, United States. 
68. Antonie Kaufmann Churg, 3rd cousin of Ann Frank and grand-daughter of survivors, United States. 
69. Aliza Shvarts, granddaughter of survivors, United States. 
70. Linda Mamoun, granddaughter of survivors, United States. 
71. Abby Okrent, granddaughter of survivors of Auschwitz, Stuthoff and the Lodz Ghetto, United States. 
72. Ted Auerbach, grandson of survivor whose whole family died in the Holocaust, United States. 
73. Bob Wilson, grandson of a survivor, United States. 
74. Katharine Wallerstein, granddaughter of survivors and relative of many who perished, United States. 
75. Sylvia Finzi, granddaughter and niece of Holocaust victims murdered in Auschwitz, London and Berlin. 
76. Esteban Schmelz, grandson of KZ-Theresienstadt victim, Mexico City. 
77. Françoise Basch, grand daughter of Victor and Ilona Basch murdered by the Gestapo and the French Milice, France. 
78. Gabriel Alkon, grandson of Holocaust survivors, Untied States. 
79. Nirit Ben-Ari, grandchild of Polish grandparents from both sides whose entire family was killed in the Nazi Holocaust, United States. 
80. Heike Schotten, granddaughter of refugees from Nazi Germany who escaped the genocide, United States. 
81. Ike af Carlstèn, grandson of survivor, Norway. 
82. Elias Lazarus, grandson of Holocaust refugees from Dresden, United States and Australia. 
83. Laura Mandelberg, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, United States. 
84. Josh Ruebner, grandson of Nazi Holocaust survivors, United States. 
85. Shirley Feldman, granddaughter of survivors, United States. 
86. Nuno Cesar Ferreira, grandson of survivor, Brazil. 
87. Andrea Land, granddaugher of survivors who fled programs in Poland, all European RELATIVES  died in German and Polish concentration camps, United States. 
88. Sarah Goldman, granddaughter of survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
89. Baruch Wolski, grandson of survivors, Austria. 
90. Frank Amahran, grandson of survivor, United States. 
91. Eve Spangler, granddaughter of Holocaust NON-survivor, United States. 
92. Gil Medovoy, grandchild of Fela Hornstein who lost her enitre family in Poland during the Nazi genocide, United States. 
93. Michael Hoffman, grandson of survivors, rest of family killed in Poland during Holocaust, live in El Salvador. 
94. Sarah Hogarth, granddaughter of a survivor whose entire family was killed at Auschwitz, United States. 
95. Natalie Rothman, great granddaughter of Holocaust victims in Warsaw. Now lives in Canada. 
96. Yotam Amit, great-grandson of Polish Jew who fled Poland, United States. 
97. Daniel Boyarin, great grandson of victims of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
98. Maria Luban, great-granddaughter of survivors of the Holocaust, United States. 
99. Terri Ginsberg, niece of a survivor of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
100. Nathan Pollack, RELATIVE  of Holocaust survivors and victims, United States. 
101. Marcy Winograd and Jackie Hirtz, relatives of victims, United States. 
102. Rabbi Borukh Goldberg, relative of many victims, United States. 
103. Martin Davidson, great-nephew of victims who lived in the Netherlands, Spain. 
104. Miriam Pickens, relative of survivors, United States. 
105. Dorothy Werner, spouse of survivor, United States. 
106. Hyman and Hazel Rochman, relatives of Holocaust victims, United States. 
107. Rich Siegel, cousin of victims who were rounded up and shot in town square of Czestochowa, Poland. Now lives in United States. 
108. Ignacio Israel Cruz-Lara, relative of survivor, Mexico. 
109. Debra Stuckgold, relative of survivors, United States. 
110. Joel Kovel, relatives killed at Babi Yar, United States. 
111.Carol Krauthamer Smith, niece of survivors of the Nazi genocide, United States. 
112.Chandra Ahuva Hauptman, relatives from grandfather’s family died in Lodz ghetto, one survivor cousin and many deceased from Auschwitz, United States. 
113.Shelly Weiss, relative of Holocaust victims, United States. 
114.Carol Sanders, niece and cousin of victims of Holocaust in Poland, United States.
115 Edith Rubinstein, child refugee from Hitler, granddaughter of three grand-parents and many other members of her family, victims of Auschwitz, Belgium 

Liens importants
(…) 

Always and Over and Over Again, the Death of Black Young Men Who Were on the Verge of Their Lives

The image of mostly white police-soldiers walking down a Missouri Street as if they are advancing on an enemy force is emblematic of the persistent deadly racism that confronts Black Americans daily, is emblematic of the wars America has been fighting and enabling for so many years now, against the black and brown bodies of the so-called "terrorist" peoples that haunt the cultural and political imagination of this nation. The color of your skin, the economic positioning of your community, at times, your gender, determine if you are the "terrorist," the disrupter of power relations as usual, your naked humanity is then targeted in the gun sights of faceless soldiers. Such power to eradicate the unwanted will not stay on the streets of Gaza, or in Iraq or Syria or along our borders with Mexico--we have fallen to the acceptability, the video game like hunting of our own citizens and those who desire to be so. We have embraced the power of the automatic weapons mighty recoil, the lust for erasure. It is our own humanity that is being blown away.

                                                                                                           JN

Update #1 · 1 hour ago

Statement of solidarity and action

Earlier this week, a group of LGBT*Q organizations signed on to a letter of solidarity with Michael Brown’s family. While we believe that letter was a good start at giving visibility to the LGBT*Q community’s support for the family and for all Black Americans, we believe that more needs to be said and more needs to be done.

As the folks at Black Girl Dangerous said, it is far too easy to get distracted when Black people are murdered. Too often, we get caught up in the “facts” of a case, and ignore the act. The fact is that a teenager was murdered because of a pervasive racist stereotype. The fact is that Michael Brown’s body was left bleeding in the street for four hours. The fact is that he is dead because our country is governed by laws that are informed by and built upon racism. The fact is that this happens every day, and that Michael Brown is not the only young Black man who has been murdered in the past week.  

We must say these things because they’re true, and we must say these things because the louder we say them, the more power we create among those who seek to fight these stereotypes and unjust laws. If we gloss over the fact that policing, enforcement, and criminalization led to this murder and to the murder of thousands of others, we continue to prop up the unjust and racist structures that continue to kill our friends and family. 

The Black Youth Project’s statement says far more poetically what we could ever hope to say — but that doesn’t mean that we should remain silent. As queer people, we know what it means for the government to systematically devalue our lives and for those around us to only rally to our defense when we fulfill a “model minority” stereotype. Though it is tragic that Michael Brown was gunned down by those sworn to protect our communities just before the start of his college career, we should be lifting up his memory regardless of what his future held. Simply put, there is a war on Black bodies and Black lives in this country, and we must resist any effort to gloss over that reality or excuse it with facts and figures. 

#BlackLivesMatter today and every day. We stand with the Black community in this time of tragedy and commit ourselves to fighting relentlessly for liberation.

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Yesterday in Tel Aviv; Today in Melbourne--5,000 Waving Israeli Flags and Us

Today in Melbourne, Australia. Women in Black and AJDS, in times when silence is not an option.

From our flyer:
"We stand today in support of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs who want the Occupation to end, the Occupation which is destroying by its encouraging of rampant anti-Arab sentiment the very fabric of Israeli democracy. Together with numerous human rights organizations in Israel, we call for an immediate end to the siege and call for a political solution. War does not bring safety, it only claims more and more victims, including hope for a life affirming future. Occupation can never lead to a lasting peace. We stand here today to pressure Israel and its supporters to turn away from armed conflict, to avoid another cycle of violence by continuing the talks with Palestinians about plans for a fair and sustaining peace, the rehabilitation of Gaza and an ending of the blockade so the citizens of Gaza can have a full life. A few days ago in a large outdoor plaza in Haifa, Arabs and Jews met in the glow of the setting sun to forge a new solidarity in their mutual quest for peace. We stand with them this afternoon and though the coming weeks, their courage will be our sun."

Yesterday in Tel Aviv, photograph by Claudia Levin. Women in Black Peace Vigil

Women in Black, last month, in Belgrade. My sisters, our hope.

In the Setting Sun, a New Hope Rises: An Arab-Jewish Emergency Peace Conference in Haifa, Photo by khulud khlamis

July, 1014 When we feel hopeless remember this image and the people seated around tables in the dying of the day, not a gun in sight, just the talking, hearing, feeling human body.

war is not my language - الحرب ليست لُغتي

The vision of khulud khamis, Haifa, July 19, 2014


19 July 2014

war is not my language - الحرب ليست لُغتي

photo from the album "war is not my language". All photos can be circulated, shared, and used, under condition credit is given. If possible, provide a link to this poem, and notify me (via email, facebook, comment here).

الحرب ليست لُغتي

war is not my language

no more of yours F-16s
no more of your tanks!
(and your other American made deadly toys)
no more of your Qassams[1]

no more!

Khalas!
we are sleepless
our bodies – collapsing, shaking, bloodied, amputated, dead.

الحرب ليست لُغتي

war is not my language

rule and divide
rule and divide
rule and divide
NO MORE!

we refuse.
we scream in desperation
let us live
stop the murder.

LIFT the siege off Gaza
LET the fishermen fish
and let the boys PLAY football.

الحرب ليست لُغتي

war is not my language

LIFT the siege off Gaza

LET the women live with dignity

and let the girls SWIM in the sea

divide and rule
divide and rule
NO MORE!

we refuse!
we stand up and loudly, clearly say
together, Jews and Palestinians –
we refuse your wars
we refuse to be enemies

الحرب ليست لُغتي

war is not my language


divide and rule
NO MORE!

(c) khulud khamis, خلود خميس
Haifa, 19 July 2014حيفا, تموز 2014

---

[1] searching for the correct spelling, I find out that Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam lived part of his life in Haifa, my home, playing a major part in laying the foundation for the Black Hand (al-kaff al-aswad) الكف الأسود

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