I'm pleased to be able to speak with/understand my mother-in-law to some moderate extent--I've become quite adept at asking if she would like tea. But the sorry state of my Persian, after all these years, is really quite embarrassing.....she should have come sooner

i'm deaf and blind to news from any other part of the world--including my own neighbourhood, it seems

no fewer than five fire trucks passed our house at around 3am and i didn't even think to check this morning until one of my co-workers asked: Hey, wasn't that huge fire in your neck of the woods?

i don't know what's going on anywhere else; i don't want to know.. i don't have room for any more tragedy

...With 700 dead and most of them civilians, I simply cannot understand the lack of outrage. Even one child is too many and all we see are moronic, hesitant steps towards something resembling stronger language. An Israeli official who doesn't even deserve to be named put forward some garbage about "restraint" recently, which surely, surely, deserved an incredulous howl of response.

My disgust and horror with all this will take many pages of grief and anguish to explain. I will pause here and just take a moment to acknowledge The Guardian's Peter Beaumont, who is witnessing the carnage first-hand and whose voice has been so prominent this week; and the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, whose importance as within-group opposition cannot not be understated.

god knows i'm not a supporter of putin but i don't think it's fair to pin the blame for the tragedy of flight MH17 on russia just yet. there has been a lot of finger-pointing (from everyone, russians included) during this complicated situation--all in the absence of real evidence one way or the other. all we know for certain is that the airplane went down over donetsk and, obviously, this only points to the rebels without being conclusive proof of russian involvement. i'm hoping that impartial international observers can put this to rest and i'd like to see a full investigation before any further diplomatic steps are taken. (on the subject of "evidence," i've been ignoring all "recorded conversations" released to the media because both sides seem to be issuing competing recordings within hours or days of each other.)

i will repeat what i've been saying all along: the rebels have behaved suspiciously in denying access to the crash site, contaminating the scene, deleting twitter posts that claim to have downed a plane in the vicinity around the same time (mom, dad, is this being reported on vremya?), etc. and putin--if he really wanted to assert innocence and so on--should have demonstrated goodwill and condolence, if nothing else, by making an immediate public appeal to the rebels, who clearly look to russia for guidance (whether or not they are financed/armed by the latter is irrelevant in the matter of statements).

but none of this is conclusive proof of anything and kerry has been somehow irresponsible in his accusations.

aside: there is an informative article here about what the russian media are saying. (mom, dad, a challenge: find me dissenting voices in major russian papers. i'm going to point out that western media did report the results of a preliminary investigation, which noted that there does not appear to be evidence of russian involvement)

دون دون خوشگل

in the language of your birth,
С днём рожденья

happiest birthday, our little philosopher

جانم،
تولدت مبارک
much love
and many apologies

those putting the blame solely on hamas make the assumption that israel has no choice but to respond to rocket attacks in exactly the way that it's doing--obviously, obviously this is not the case. wake up, people; this is the worst "solution" imaginable.

My productivity this week is less than zero. I've made a conscious effort to stay away from the news on two pressing occasions; other than that, I'm not sure what to say...I haven't done anything at all

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד

Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.

... one of the very few prayers I remember from school and, it appears, one of the most important. I never considered what it meant--what any of my religious studies meant--since, having been raised in a totally non-religious family, I was as alien in their environment as they were in mine. I repeated the words as I was taught... with little to no conviction. 

I remember, though, for a time, saying the first few lines before bed as if they might offer some measure of protection; I remember (incorrectly) hearing a plea in that first word--shema. Hear.

Hear me, I thought, naively.

...it's still hard to believe that i know someone mentioned in this horrible article of horrible news

i'm so sorry...i feel so terribly, stupidly useless

it would have been a gift from god and the truest expression of peace had israelis and palestinians come together to mourn each others' dead

i'm finding it increasingly difficult to replace my despair and discomfort with the news with the need to know what's happening

... impressed that the woman balancing a cell phone, coffee cup, and baby stroller still managed to thank the bus driver as she left ...

there is no escaping the news today... praying for the poor people of Iraq

because liqueur-filled chocolates are very popular among east europeans (or perhaps among europeans in general) and because russian parents are not big on setting limits, i often had brandy-/whiskey-/rum-filled chocolates growing up

that's why, bizarrely, having them now reminds me of childhood, of guests, of dinner...

f's (cutest) text of the day: Do you have both your socks on? I see there is a sad fallen sock in the bathroom...

i'm not one to vote for "firsts" or minorities just because but i'm proud proud proud to live in a province that has elected an openly gay female premier

who are my readers in Germany and Ukraine, i wonder?

perhaps nobody, if it's VPN-related...but it's nice to imagine :)

i never, ever thought that i would have to revisit the rules of summation in publishing 

i guess anything is possible when one encounters a spacing issue...

f's phrase-ings of the month

Of dooneh: She's narming [the already soft blanket]

Of technicalities: What's God's job description? "Godding"?