My Israel Autobiography in Photos

A Retrospective

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

1950-'52: Pre-history - My Parents' Experiences of Israel, Before They Met 

  1960s-'70s - Shohar Posters Designed and Manufactured by Moshav Beit Herut
 

1973: a letter from my second cousin Nitza, who lived in Beit Herut, including pressed flowers

 1973: Coca-cola with Lemon and Soldiers on Rooftops; 2002; 2012

My mom (z"l) took this photo. Her dear friend Chaya Zuckerman-Bareli (right), and me at eight (left), are in Jerusalem.

 

1976: Mom (z"l) and Dad (z"l) and Me in Israel and UK; 2015: Bina and D'vori's Baby Noam

1980: Coming of Age; 2015: Middle Age

 

 

1985-'86: Ambivalently Flirting with My Future; 2014 Reunion

2002: Mom (z"l) and Me and Hebrew University

2012: Introducing My Wife to This History-laden Place

2015: Closure and New Beginnings

For Art's Sake

The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Pat's Dad's Name Was Art

...but that's not the Art I'm referring to.

This morning, I talked to another friend of mine who's a visual artist, telling her that I was unnerved by e-mail I received this week from a classmate, who told me that while reading my learning-leadership-life history over this week, he wished he could have put his arm around me and offered me some friendly advice.

"Sarah, once you put your art out there, it's public property. Don't you think that if you publish a book and you sell 100,000 copies, there'll be 100,000 opinions?"

She liberated me, at least for today. It was freeing to realize that just because people reacted to my writing, didn't mean I needed to subscribe to all of their reactions.

Last Monday, our professor asked, "Who wants to go first?" i.e., who wanted to have his or her history interpreted during the next class?

I raised my hand.

There were to be two official readers, who would kick off the discussion while the rest of the class also had to read it, though not as carefully. Will I regret having taken this class after Monday night? Or will it prove to be transformational?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

In Anticipation of Our Trip to Green Bay

Early this morning, I had a sneak preview of how I'll feel all weekend. I went swimming at the YMHA in Clifton and the water was a lovely 82 degrees Fahrenheit, but the air was so cold that I kept warm only when doing the breast-stroke. Free-style and back-stroke were so chilly for my arms and swimming faster didn't help all that much; it was so breezy today.

Green Bay, Wisconsin is not its most pleasant in terms of weather around this time of year, but it's Pat's mom's birthday and we missed going there for Thanksgiving this year, since we were in Bangalore, and so we're going now. Bangalore had the world's nicest weather during the six months we were there.

Ugh, am I hitting some bottom with my blog entries, since now, I'm writing about the weather? Maybe. I've felt guilty lately that I've been less active out here, but then I recall the alternate writing activity I've been up to.

Over the past couple of weeks, I wrote my life story, i.e., what I've learned, for my life history and leadership course. The assignment was to write 10-12 pages, single-spaced.

Too Much or Too Little

I told friends about the assignment at a party last weekend. One asked, "Is the page-length too much or too little?"

"Both." I had written about 75 percent by then, but had trouble imagining completing the other 25 percent. Now that it's done, I feel like it's not at all as significant as I wanted it to be. I keep asking myself, What did the exercise teach me?

I've been writing about my life for years, and so I'm not sure that it was as revelatory as it was for a number of my classmates, probably. What did strike me was how my writing was a major theme; the number of times I wrote about how I value getting to write did feel like the key to some insight.

On Monday night, I'm trading my paper with the eight classmates, and each of them will give me a copy of theirs. I do need to celebrate that just several weeks ago, I was feeling anxious about taking the course and now, I've done the pivotal assignment....I'm done early again -- told myself it was because I won't have time to devote to it while in Green Bay -- so it might be sub-optimal, like my previous paper for a different professor, but I'm compelled to stop.

I wonder what my classmates will say about my paper. I wonder if my life history will be more interesting through their eyes.