tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69846837089179410182024-03-05T08:32:42.360-08:00Rinat HarelRinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-8568761010092993592024-01-02T05:01:00.000-08:002024-01-02T05:20:26.464-08:00"Girls Don’t Spit!" (appeared in Bindweed: Winter Wonderland Anthology, December 2022) <blockquote></blockquote>
<a href="https://bindweedmagazine.com/bindweed-anthology-winter-wonderland/"></a>
<blockquote></blockquote>
My childhood summers usually stretched long and dull, but, to my surprise and delight, I was sent to camp after fifth grade. Nothing fancy. A huddle of barracks in a sandy fenced-in area accommodated a few dozen kids and a handful of counselors. Pine trees offered scant shade under the harsh gaze of the Israeli sun; pools of brown needles gathered at their feet. The air smelled of dust.
<blockquote></blockquote>
The camp girls were all younger than me, but I recognized Dudie: a curly boy a year above me in school, with warm smiling eyes. Together, we climbed an old oak tree at the edge of camp. I reached the higher branches while he followed me with tentative moves. We played catch; he’d dodge me with sharp turns just as my fingertips were about to tap his shoulder. We burst into waves of laughter.
<blockquote></blockquote>
When he befriended some boys from his group, our playtime changed to me tailing him around. He didn’t mind. In fact, I saw him glance in my direction a few times with a slight smile on his lips. I relished the fuzzy warmth in my chest as I watched him play Cowboys and Indians with his friends. I found him by the water fountain or in the yard during snack time.
<blockquote></blockquote>
Soon, I began to mimic him. My walk turned a little stiffer, arms thrust in boy confidence. And I picked up a new habit: spitting to the ground, just like him. His frequent spitting impressed me; I never knew anyone who did that. It added to his uniqueness. I’d collect saliva in my mouth for a few seconds, suck the bubbly fluid onto my tongue, and hurl it into the ground with intention, observing the dark dent my spit left in the dirt with deep satisfaction.
<blockquote></blockquote>
Summer ended, school restarted, and now I’d search for Dudie in the schoolyard during recess. He wasn’t hard to find; I easily spotted his light-brown curls among the other heads. And his lingering by the back gate of the school, a mischievous flicker in his eyes as soon as he saw me, helped with the finding. Our eyes would meet-not-meet, kindling that curious warmth in my chest. <blockquote></blockquote>
He’d peel himself off the gate and amble around, making sure I wasn’t too far from the edge of his vision. And every so often, he’d stop, bend his head down and send a juicy splash of saliva into the dusty ground. I followed suit from a few steps away. <blockquote></blockquote>
A few weeks into the school year, Principal Hannah wanted to see me. I was no stranger to the inside of her office, but this time I had no clue as to my possible offense. It must be a mistake, I supposed as I skipped down the steps from my classroom on the second floor to her office near the school entrance. <blockquote></blockquote>
The door was open. She looked up from her cluttered desk and motioned me to enter. I walked in and sat in the chair across from her. <blockquote></blockquote> <blockquote></blockquote>
“I didn’t get in trouble with Ilana this year,” I declared in automatic self-defense.
<blockquote></blockquote>
Hannah leaned back in her chair. “Bringing a stray dog into the classroom was a bad idea,” she said, and I could swear she was hiding a smile. <blockquote></blockquote>
“I rescued a lost puppy I found in the hallway on my way to the bathroom,” I reiterated last year’s reasoning. “And everyone loved him.” <blockquote></blockquote>
“English lesson isn’t the time to play with animals,” she said, also repeating her last year’s logic, and the hidden smile snuck into her face, stretching her upper lip over the large front teeth.<blockquote></blockquote>
I rested my case with a small shrug. “But am I in trouble now?” <blockquote></blockquote>
“Well, no,” she said, and a smiley crowning a halo formed above my head and nodded at me in approval.<blockquote></blockquote>
“However,” she added, leaning slightly forward in her chair, the grey in her green eyes solidifying, “some teachers reported seeing you spit on the ground during break.” <blockquote></blockquote>
Wait, what? <blockquote></blockquote>
My hovering smiley looked down at me with a lifted eyebrow. <blockquote></blockquote>
“You know better than that,” Hannah continued, face firming into her familiar admonishing expression. “It’s a disgusting habit.” <blockquote></blockquote>
“Oh …” I mumbled.<blockquote></blockquote>
My smiley shook its head in displeasure and dissolved like vapor. <blockquote></blockquote>
The office air felt stuffy now although the door was still open. <blockquote></blockquote>
“Moreover,” Hannah said, and her raised tone indicated she was about to lay down her closing argument, “girls don’t spit!”<blockquote></blockquote>
I stumbled out of the office, crossed the red-tiled courtyard of the fortress-like building, and staggered into the empty schoolyard, tipsy with thoughts. All I could think about was the circulating rumor that Hannah was about to get married. I tried to imagine her future husband; what sort of man would marry a tall and large-shouldered woman, with a strong barky voice and ginormous teeth? Was he tall and robust like her, or short and timid, letting her be boss? And how would he handle kissing such a mouth? Can she draw her incisors inward the way one can suck in a belly?<blockquote></blockquote>
But the question that troubled me most was this: why would she want to marry at all? She had surely passed the age of having children, whatever that age was. She was smart, self-sufficient, independent. Very different from Biblical Hannah, who was obsessed with having a baby boy, probably for fear of losing her husband’s love if she didn’t fulfill this wifely duty. But my Hannah didn’t need anything like that. She was an educated school principal, not some biblical wife.<blockquote></blockquote>
I’ll never marry, I decided. Ever. <blockquote></blockquote>
I spat to the ground for the last time and watched my spittle vanish into the packed dirt, creating a glob of muck. This really is a disgusting habit, I thought; why on earth did I find it mimic-worthy? See what liking a boy does to a girl, I wanted to tell Hannah. And I wondered if boys are allowed to do as they please because they might die in war someday. <blockquote></blockquote>
The school bell sounded its harsh and jolting ring, sending swarms of kids into the yard, and I soon spotted Dudie by the gate, smiling at me with his warm eyes, his curls gleaming in the sun. <blockquote></blockquote>
I wrinkled my face at him. “Spitter,” I muttered under my breath, turned around, and strode away.
<blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote></blockquote>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-61333876745757861772022-11-12T06:10:00.008-08:002022-11-12T07:48:25.555-08:00 Africans, White City, and a Pint of Guinness (the original version appeared in Canyon Voices Spring 2016)<div style="text-align: justify;">A pub in Tel Aviv, I type into the document that has been staring at me like a pristine canvas stretched in its wooden frame. It is a Thursday night, a popular outing evening for the locals, but it’s only six o’clock and the place is empty save for a handful of customers. An occasional wave of voices reaches my corner of the pub like a whiff of summer breeze. The air is heavy with the common blend of hops and wood, a reassuring smell. Yet there is something different in this neighborhood pub. I look around, trying to pinpoint the reasons for my notion. It might be the hodgepodge of modern and vintage furniture, and the unassuming bar where the bottle display is not crammed full. As if the booze is just an excuse for a social gathering, a backdrop.<br /><span> </span>Yes, that and the casual atmosphere. Take, for example, the young man with dreadlocks raining down from his head like the supple branches of a willow. Straddled on his stool as if horse riding, he nonchalantly angles himself toward an older gentleman two stools away. Now the older man places down his beer, turns toward his new mate, and a chat ensues. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>My eyes wander to the door through which a young man walks in, holding hands with a long-limbed woman whose short hair is wrapped in a floral headscarf. The two stop by the dreadlocks guy and greet him in a ritual of arms and palms. Dreadlocks introduces the newcomers to the older gentleman, and all four move to a table on the other end of the pub. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Nice computer,” a young woman says, awakening me from my ruminations. She plants herself in the chair beside me, eying my laptop. A bright smile illuminates her face from within, and her ebony curls fall onto her shoulders in long strands, emanating flowery perfume. The white summer dress shines against her dark skin. No jewelry or makeup and none are needed; she wears her youth and effervescent demeanor like diamonds. I push away my envy. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I want to get one just like yours, but they’re crazy expensive,” she says. “Wait, your keyboard has English letters, you got it abroad?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Yes, I live in Boston.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Wow, lucky you,” she exclaims. “I wish I could go to America, New York, work in mall carts like all Israelis, clean houses, I don’t care, just get out of here for a bit, get some air.” She breaks for a breath and adds, “I’m Maya.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span><span> </span>I introduce myself as well. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I really like your laptop,” she whispers with gleaming eyes and leans in to take a closer look. “Oh, wait, you’re writing our chat, translating it from Hebrew to English.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Is that okay?” I ask. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>She leans back in her chair, a thin crease forms on her brow. “Sure … but why?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“It’s a writing exercise,” I say. “To record observations and conversations in a public space.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Oh, cool,” she says with a nod but still seems baffled. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I’m a writing student,” I explain. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Oh, okay, I get it.” She glances around. “What’s to write about here? Not very interesting.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I would love to write about <i>you</i>,” I say in the soft tone of invitation. “If you don’t mind, of course.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Really?” A spark is lit in her dark brown eyes, and her curls bounce a little. “Let me get us some drinks, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” She then hesitates. “Well, almost anything,” she adds with a blush. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>She points at my empty glass, asking, “What are you having?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“That was soda water,” I say, sensing she might not approve of my virgin beverage. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“How about some beer?” she asks, I nod, and she adds with a wink: “On the house, the barman is my boyfriend.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I follow Maya with my eyes. The bartender’s face shines when he notices her at the counter. He’s a tall man, a few years older than her, with a light brown ponytail brushing his nape and a slightly receding hairline. His turquoise tank top reveals a medium size tattoo adorning his right shoulder; it’s either a flower or a butterfly, I can’t tell from this distance. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>He operates the taps with smooth and flowing motions, and hands Maya two froth-dripping pints, beaming at her the way boyfriends beam at their girlfriends. She sends him an air kiss and turns away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Guinness,” Maya announces when she reaches me and places the pints on the table. “I like my beer dark and strong,” she adds with a giggle. “Just like my men.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I smile as if it’s the first time I’ve heard this quip. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>She takes a swig from her beet, wipes the foamy mustache off her upper lip with the back of her hand, and says, “So, what do you want to know?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Anything,” I answer, eyeing my beer. The last time I had a Guinness I woke up with a throbbing brain the next morning. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Well,” she says and pulls herself up in the chair. “My army service is done in a week, I’m actually on my discharge vacation now.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Congratulations,” I say. “What do you … what <i>did</i> you do in the army?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I served in the Air Force.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Ah, me too,” I remark. “I was an operations-room sergeant in a squadron.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“How cool,” she says with glistening eyes, then adds in a quieter voice: “yeah, I did something similar.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“What a coincidence, which squadron?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>She hugs her beer with both hands, eyes lowered. “Well, I guess not exactly similar, but …” She looks up at me. “I’m sorry … you seem … so interested, I wanted to impress you, nobody’s ever interested in me.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I glance at the bar. “That good-looking guy is.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“We’ve been dating for only a month,” she says with a shrug. “They’re always excited in the beginning, aren’t they?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Mmm,” I murmur in sympathy. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“And just for the record,” she says with an index finger pointing up, “I did serve in the Air Force, but I was a clerk in some boring office, nothing special.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Okay,” I say. “And for the record, my army job wasn’t as glorious as you might imagine, and the pilots were outright annoying.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>She chuckles at that, and I quickly add, “Why won’t you tell me something else, like where you grew up?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>A tentative smile spreads on her lips, then shifts into a playful smirk. “Can I tell you where I want to live?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Sure, fantasies are always interesting.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>With her head tilted sideways, her eyes half-closed, she says: “North Tel Aviv, a penthouse at the top of a fancy tower building, opening the windows every morning to look at the sea from way up and breathe its beautiful smell, then catch some sunshine on my huge porch, and feel super happy.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Sounds dreamy,” I say smiling. “But why won’t you tell me where you’re actually from? I bet it’s also interesting.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Maya gives a quick shrug, looking a tad deflated again. “I bet it isn’t … South Tel Aviv, with all the Africans.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Her resentful pronunciation of ‘Africans’ makes me cringe. Now I dread where this conversation might lead, but her reply also piques my curiosity. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I heard a lot about the situation,” I say in the lightest tone I can find. “I’d be happy to learn about it from a local.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“It’s awful,” she moans. Her shoulders droop, her face turns somber. “The neighborhood wasn’t great before they came, and now it’s even worse, much worse.” She draws a deep breath, takes a swill of beer, and lets out a long exhale, forgetting to clear the froth off her upper lip. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“You know,” she carries on, “most of us live in shitty apartments, lots of unemployment, we just don’t need them, they’re not our problem even if they had it bad wherever they came from.” She shakes her head. “No, they should go back to their own countries, Israel is home of the Jews.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Oh my, I think but say nothing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Maya gulps the rest of her beer, then signals to her boyfriend, who appears at our table with a fresh pint of Guinness for Maya, and a friendly nod for me. His arm tattoo turns out to be a greenish-blue swallowtail butterfly. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I take a mouthful from my glass, surprised to find the bittersweet flavor with a hint of coffee quite delicious. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Maya sinks into thought, and I give my fingers a break from the keyboard, stretching them loose.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Sorry,” she finally says, still staring into space. “I was … I was thinking about Baby Kako.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Yes, I know about her,” I sigh. “Are you familiar with the family?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Well, that’s the thing. They live just a few streets from us, but I never noticed them until … how terrible … what kind of monster stabs a baby in the head with scissors, and only because she’s black? Thank goodness she didn’t die, but she’ll never be …” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Her eyes glisten with tears and she falls silent again. She then snatches a long lock of her hair, coils it around her finger, and just as absentmindedly uncoils the curl and sets it free. She hasn’t touched her second beer yet; the thick milky froth at the crown of her glass is firm—the white and the dark holding each other in balance. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Maya gives her curtain of curls a gentle shake and her face regains focus. “They say the man who did it is crazy, but I don’t know, it happened after people from the <i>government</i> came to the neighborhood and said terrible things about them.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Surprised by this U-turn, I ask: “Would you consider getting to know your African neighbors a little better?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Oh, I don’t know, probably not,” she says and picks up her glass. “My family won’t approve of it, anyway.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I say I understand, she swills down her Guinness as if it was lemonade and places the empty glass on the table with a thump. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Well,” she says and gets to her feet, “I gotta go meet some friends, but it was nice talking to you, and good luck with your writing.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I wish her the best of luck with civilian life, she thanks me with an animated mock salute that sends her ringlets frolicking and slips into the darkening street. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>After she leaves, I drink some more of my beer, hoping I won’t regret it tomorrow, and notice how the pub, now teeming with chattering folks, has turned a little stuffy. I tuck a tip under my glass, pack my laptop, and walk into the evening air. The sky stretches with soft layers of blues and magentas and a swoosh of traffic rises from a nearby street. I round a corner, enter Rothschild Boulevard, and amble along its sandy central strip lined with shikma trees. Ropey vines pipe up and around the trunks, and the long branches hold up crowns of green bouquets, the curly canopy offering a fresh breath in this dense urban-scape. Farther along, I find clusters of concrete picnic-tables with no diners, and a fenced pond rich with exotic greenery and chubby goldfish. Crickets serenade in the bushes. Elegant Bauhaus buildings paraded along either side of the boulevard, reminding me of Tel Aviv’s nickname: The White City. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I see him slumped on a bench under a yellow streetlamp with his legs extended forward. He hasn’t noticed me yet. I glance around the empty street. Rotten luck, I think. Turn back … or maybe cut into a side street … no, that might raise his attention. Well, I’ll just put on my tough demeanor and keep a steady pace. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>As I pass him, I realize he is looking at me, and my eyes can’t help but meet his. I issue a tiny smile and keep walking, hoping my steps look self-assured. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“You Israelis think we African bad people,” I hear him grumble behind me. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I stop, turn around slowly, and say: “Excuse me?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“You hear me,” he replies and turns away his face. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Well, I don’t know you, but I don’t think you’re a bad person.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>He nods with an exaggerated gesture. “You do, you do, all of you.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I take a step in his direction. “No, really, I don’t, your people deserve to be treated much better.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“If you care, you tell government,” he says in disdain, looking at me again. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Right, the <i>government</i>,” I sneer, and now I see a glint of amusement in the corners of his mouth. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“It’s not an easy country,” I mutter. “Even for Israelis.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Better than my country,” he grumbles, then asks, “You not like it here?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I suppose for him Israel is a version of the Promised Land, I think. “Well, I don’t really live here, I’m just visiting.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span> </span>His brow springs up. “Where you live?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“America.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>His face softens as he gets up from the bench. “I have cousin in Canada, want go live there, good country, America also good.” He glances at my left hand. “No husband,” he says with a simper. His eyes glimmer with warmth, then narrow when he inquires: “boyfriend?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Caught off guard, I say nothing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>”We marry and you take me to America?” he asks and takes a confident step forward. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I observe him more closely. Not a bad-looking guy … pleasant face, strong shoulders, his blue T-shirt tight on a lean and brawny torso … and that smooth chocolate complexion … </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>He takes another step toward me, and I catch a whiff of his masculine aftershave. I flinch, take a quick step back, and hear myself declare: “I’m a lesbian.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>His face freezes for a moment, then twists in revolt. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I no <i>marry</i> you,” he spits the words. “You be shame to yourself!” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Feeling obliged to defend my statement for the sake of those it represents, I say: “There’s nothing wrong with being gay.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“No, is bad,” he snaps, shaking his head. “God not allow.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>With that, he turns around, slumps into the bench again enveloped in an air of despondency. Realizing the exchange is over, I resume my walk and after a few steps halt to admire a particularly curious shikma. As my fingers explore the ropy veins that wrap up and around the tree, I hear a woman asking: “You’re hungry? I can give you some money for food.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Peeking from behind the thick trunk, I see a small woman in her early sixties with short hair and wired spectacles standing beside the man on the bench. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I no beggar,” his voice rings with indignation. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I just want to help,” the woman mumbles. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>He shrugs. “We want job, no <i>donations</i>.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I know,” she says in a gloomy tone. “I’ve been supporting the asylum seekers for years now and I’m sorry things aren’t working out as well as we hoped.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Is okay.” His voice is softer now. “You are good woman, is okay.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“I wish you the best of luck,” she says. “Really.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Thank you,” he replies with a deep nod, and then asks, “you live in America?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“No, I live here in Tel Aviv,” she replies, sounding surprised. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“Ah,” he utters in disappointment, then adds, “but you no lesbian, right?” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>“<i>What</i>?!” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>I stifle a chortle and scuttle away, freeing a laugh when I reach the bottom of the leafy avenue, leaving behind this city of million faces, full of tricks and impossibilities, shadows and lightness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCRduuqY4DTIxmcx5dykLcBk1XrmI2it7WvLMqjO-celMMQTrWANl_QZ-yUYB6iDPymDbRoqsORcXaKBwHWijZZm21Zlm9BbIxdDv4t6bkV-kO5evpyGbnd0SL2aeqcE5MBTnqdbJ_nmOcNK1tvmwb9RlMiJmfpfWGRhvH1zWY07X1iR2uwa3yOea/s637/Shikma.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="477" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCRduuqY4DTIxmcx5dykLcBk1XrmI2it7WvLMqjO-celMMQTrWANl_QZ-yUYB6iDPymDbRoqsORcXaKBwHWijZZm21Zlm9BbIxdDv4t6bkV-kO5evpyGbnd0SL2aeqcE5MBTnqdbJ_nmOcNK1tvmwb9RlMiJmfpfWGRhvH1zWY07X1iR2uwa3yOea/w150-h200/Shikma.png" width="150" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-61040412615867544962022-11-12T05:33:00.004-08:002022-11-12T05:35:28.700-08:00Air (the original version appeared in East Coast Ink Issue 004: Bridges, 2014)<p style="text-align: justify;">Brought there by the winds, blown from east to west, she moved over the waters, the ocean blurring underneath as she speared through the air, headfirst, pointing at the farthest land. She knew not, she felt not, she consumed the many miles almost blindly. A young woman of a fuzzy mind, of sullen air. And airless, in that new land she remained, year and another year. Where her wings gained strength by and by. Year and another year. And she finally tiptoed into new air. Crisp air. Open air. And she began to breathe. Small swigs at first, deeper gulps at last. And she spread her wings wide and soared skyward. Above that new land. In that new air.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhloZUcZ202qTJ-fzcNQG888YX-KT2s7hGh8rPE57gva0x9LNp134vW3WnwFIN-0pk4ai1XKICMNOz1_f2r0L0kyMCpEXSaSCpJ6ly-QisRpXkGOmq13iTEZQyUpfgLxPumtEaFtOBXGTnbqSm14FMrUpB7tqu8IUr3TZAg-O62jFUiO2YzsSTQsI/s512/Air%20.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="461" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhloZUcZ202qTJ-fzcNQG888YX-KT2s7hGh8rPE57gva0x9LNp134vW3WnwFIN-0pk4ai1XKICMNOz1_f2r0L0kyMCpEXSaSCpJ6ly-QisRpXkGOmq13iTEZQyUpfgLxPumtEaFtOBXGTnbqSm14FMrUpB7tqu8IUr3TZAg-O62jFUiO2YzsSTQsI/w180-h200/Air%20.png" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhloZUcZ202qTJ-fzcNQG888YX-KT2s7hGh8rPE57gva0x9LNp134vW3WnwFIN-0pk4ai1XKICMNOz1_f2r0L0kyMCpEXSaSCpJ6ly-QisRpXkGOmq13iTEZQyUpfgLxPumtEaFtOBXGTnbqSm14FMrUpB7tqu8IUr3TZAg-O62jFUiO2YzsSTQsI/s512/Air%20.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-37556895027093612482022-11-12T05:01:00.023-08:002022-11-12T05:26:20.262-08:00The Last Vase (the original version appeared in Canyon Voices Spring 2016) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afoot, he carried it in his arms wrapped in an old coat, safe from the high winds, the fallen walls, and the shards of sky collapsing all around. It was a fine relic; the last of its kind to have survived intact. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>The earth shook every so often, objects rained at random from all directions at once, occasional fireballs flared out from cracks beneath the ground. Bright and warm like springtime blossoms, he thought with a grimace and hugged the vase closer to his chest. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Fewer people ran through the streets these past few days; he saw none today. Could these ruins be called streets? Their ashen breath prickled his nostrils, seeped into the pores of his skin. The scrawny alley cats have disappeared as well, and the ramble of explosions coming from the distant battlefield have died away. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Past the shadows he slipped, taking cover when danger loomed, though most shelters could not be trusted for long. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>The air has been murky for weeks. The once familiar city had turned into a labyrinth. He might have already crossed it from east to west, north to south, a few times over. Or has he been circling the same neighborhood again and again? Whenever he found water pooled in the wreckage, he would suck the drops dry, spitting out dusty sediments. He had yet to find any today. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Exhausted, he ducked into a ditch and laid himself on the debris-littered ground. The vase was cradled within his curled-up body and his eyelids slid shut before his head met the ground. His once spotless suit was now but rags splotched grey and brown, hanging loosely on his frame. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Did he fall into a deep sleep or merely dozed off for a few minutes? He could not tell upon awakening. Peering out from under the struck-down tree that roofed his shelter, he wondered if anyone beyond these veils of acrid smolder has endured. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Was the vase still unharmed? He unwrapped it with feathery fingers. In the dim light, his eyes scanned the intricate, bejeweled ornaments. He brushed his hand across the design, lingering on a small embossed being, half-bird half-beast, whose name escaped him now. Hunger is the enemy of memory, he mused.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Twelve inches tall, adorned with mythological motifs, its value was immeasurable. Recalling its former placement atop a glass-protected shelf in the softly lighted gallery, he knew keeping it out of harm's way was now his sole charge. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>An earthworm appeared beside him. He scooped it up. The creature shoelaced down from either side of his open palm; tiny clumps of earth clung to its moist body. Life underground remained largely unaffected, he realized. Tickled by the spasming creature, a chuckle escaped his lips. The sound took him by surprise as if it were someone else’s laugh. An echo from a distant past. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>He replaced the worm on the ground and watched it slowly writhe away until it disappeared into a crack. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Does this creature stand a chance? he wondered. Yet for what purpose? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>With the vase swaddled in his old coat, he crawled out of the ditch and rose to his feet upon reaching the open air. He looked up, trying in vain to trace a patch of blue sky, even a hint, and resumed his flight. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span> </span>Where to, he knew not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-13622746207087043102021-02-22T06:09:00.004-08:002021-04-23T09:41:32.197-07:00If a Tree (appeared in A New Ulster October Issue 85 October 2019)<p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbOkooCBrBavGjxYAj9XVXEMe2y2oyTfyrSvcNo0AXJb2-eg3_kwGPbJFy-_hR3qQiguFPFgEeXcEl4wiWJi7t6xB-5fM3kHNv6kBSr-YDDnqtfcgSmdgL8J5U14VeP9bfn5rjztn-zQ/s624/Tree%253A2.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="624" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbOkooCBrBavGjxYAj9XVXEMe2y2oyTfyrSvcNo0AXJb2-eg3_kwGPbJFy-_hR3qQiguFPFgEeXcEl4wiWJi7t6xB-5fM3kHNv6kBSr-YDDnqtfcgSmdgL8J5U14VeP9bfn5rjztn-zQ/w547-h260/Tree%253A2.png" width="547" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-20296987571764314082021-02-22T05:29:00.012-08:002021-04-23T09:40:47.231-07:00A Two-Year-Old Among Them (appeared in A New Ulster October Issue 85 October 2019) <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAn1NsqSbjj9YEJnYTxZsnXrZyTfsDdTrr71aNQxcf-Z7ofZNRzB42nVN0h72KJZU0-bD8s8iX_XBAewJN0Yapd0hZ4YUYCrMgHSrtBUoqEijtKlLK4AM7gXC4KRy9jMgoW1SEVKe5VfQ/s607/2.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="455" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAn1NsqSbjj9YEJnYTxZsnXrZyTfsDdTrr71aNQxcf-Z7ofZNRzB42nVN0h72KJZU0-bD8s8iX_XBAewJN0Yapd0hZ4YUYCrMgHSrtBUoqEijtKlLK4AM7gXC4KRy9jMgoW1SEVKe5VfQ/w446-h596/2.png" width="446" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-76170738217743440492021-02-22T04:59:00.002-08:002021-02-22T05:01:18.986-08:00Ireland (appeared in The Cannon's Mouth Issue 73, September 2019)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVnNxrYTKEW1Qc6ilO8PoTCJ1koljpU3YSAKH8RHylUK3kT0BQoTQ8ZBAwNWhKsgZ3el-40-YSABoPBocaPWdpnx4Cirqdx7qryPcAn565IIWqEWQNFuSoeOuxZJKu2HY1Yj9368iovKE/s2048/Ireland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVnNxrYTKEW1Qc6ilO8PoTCJ1koljpU3YSAKH8RHylUK3kT0BQoTQ8ZBAwNWhKsgZ3el-40-YSABoPBocaPWdpnx4Cirqdx7qryPcAn565IIWqEWQNFuSoeOuxZJKu2HY1Yj9368iovKE/w480-h640/Ireland.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-45748909410729458872019-10-05T11:55:00.003-07:002021-02-22T04:50:19.349-08:00Waiting (appeared in The Cannon's Mouth Issue 73, September 2019)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlyTOfPrtGCMPrTuQlKhcNsxWBtLDunuhYQyrfRQexzHg8wzbSyP6B1l_t42MC-1IsZHmmCQA-1rRKqGSmllXGZ7_D8wZzmO-51reoEcLUXy_gcMBg15ZEF3IFzie-muOg59ruMzFvFU/s1600/The+Cannon%2527s+Mouth.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlyTOfPrtGCMPrTuQlKhcNsxWBtLDunuhYQyrfRQexzHg8wzbSyP6B1l_t42MC-1IsZHmmCQA-1rRKqGSmllXGZ7_D8wZzmO-51reoEcLUXy_gcMBg15ZEF3IFzie-muOg59ruMzFvFU/s640/The+Cannon%2527s+Mouth.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-4069574152562333652019-02-11T13:59:00.000-08:002019-02-11T13:59:10.240-08:00In the desert<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In the desert there was one, then two, then many. Sand grains, lizards,
flash floods, nomads and their camels. When the sky opened up, dark birds descended
like black hail. Rapid and thick, punctuating the golden dunes. From within the
sand, green snakes rose their triangular heads, in vain trying to capture a
bird with their forked tongues thrusting into the air. The birds were agile,
speedy, and amused by the angry reptiles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">"Hihihi," they called
from above. "How's the weather down there?" <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 17.3pt;">"Sssss," came the reply
from below. "Watch that crazy thunderbolt coming right at you!" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 17.3pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLirNyf121fz8lvC7ZzdvkvjHroF_9IumNcfvcEE1PMJDHcV6GswjkqQxcDJXmDBYVJoeQi4REW7VDlP-Pu9pmH69GclkFZxY6mK84rQFbIRiSP21W7Svtn_3OTYsP0DwO2Ol8SzN1spM/s1600/PC070072+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 17.3pt;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLirNyf121fz8lvC7ZzdvkvjHroF_9IumNcfvcEE1PMJDHcV6GswjkqQxcDJXmDBYVJoeQi4REW7VDlP-Pu9pmH69GclkFZxY6mK84rQFbIRiSP21W7Svtn_3OTYsP0DwO2Ol8SzN1spM/s400/PC070072+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 17.3pt;">
</div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;
color:black;
mso-themecolor:text1;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;
color:black;
mso-themecolor:text1;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-90933208681489272062018-06-13T10:59:00.002-07:002018-06-13T10:59:28.016-07:00No D (published in Exclamat!on: an Interdisciplinary Journal by the University of Exeter)
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>HE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="375">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
color:black;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Cambria",serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
@page WordSection1
{size:595.0pt 842.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.45pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.45pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Cambria",serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>HE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="375">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073741899 0 0 159 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:0 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1342185562 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
color:black;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Cambria",serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
@page WordSection1
{size:595.0pt 842.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.45pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.45pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Cambria",serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">(Link to magazine: </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Times;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-decoration-line: none;"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y6w7pjpy"><span style="color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">https://tinyurl.com/y6w7pjpy</span></a></span></span>)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">I love
to write.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am a writer.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am a writer without </span><span style="color: #222222;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">a
language.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I dream in English, count</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">in Hebrew;</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222;">
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">when I
feel <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">lonely I </span><span style="color: #3366ff;">listen </span><span style="color: #222222;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #3366ff;">to my breath. </span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #3366ff;"><span style="font-size: small;">My writing:
dreams unlived, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #3366ff;"><span style="font-size: small;">letters
unsent; brush strokes <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #3366ff;"><span style="font-size: small;">broad
and thin, in colours <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">bright
and dull.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Art?</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3D</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: small;">2D<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1D</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No D </span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My home is here.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My home is nowhere.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I can hold it firmly in my hand, </span><span style="color: #3366ff;">yet </span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">it is
nothing but air.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3366ff; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No, not air: </span><span style="color: #3366ff;">no
one can </span><span style="color: #222222;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #3366ff; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">breathe</span><span style="color: #3366ff;"> my home.</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">* Inspired by Danielewski, Mark, <i>House of Leaves </i>(London:
Transworld Publishers, 2000)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<br /></div>
<br />
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-38757529081915556222018-04-06T13:13:00.002-07:002018-04-06T13:13:46.274-07:00The Funeral (published in The Masters Review Magazine) <div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">(Link to magazine: <span style="background: white;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/ng476hp">tinyurl.com/ng476hp</a>)</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Clad in black, we headed to the graveyard. A dark swarm carrying a fair lady.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Evening was approaching. With the sunset at our back, our procession advanced through the cemetery grounds. Weeping willows bowed their crowns before us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">On our way we paid our respects to some old friends: Woolf, Borges, Proust, Carol-Oats, Coelho, Morrison. Their handsome headstones gleamed in the soft magenta air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Over the cemetery wall we could hear voices. Dressed in their shimmering bells and whistles, the new heroes, Gossip and Entertainment, were revealed. In the quiet grounds, their resonating jeers trailed behind us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">We carried on, holding our lady high. Our arms did not tire. Shrouded in white, she was but a feathery billow undulating in the dusk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">As we lowered her to the ground, the muslin peeled away from her face, uncovering delicate features, her ashen skin, and bloodless lips. Though ancient, her splendor remained unchanged since her early days, millennia before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">We stood around the freshly dug earth. The air was thickening with nightfall. An owl called from a nearby tree. A lingering silence ensued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Literature is dead, we mumbled in disbelief, when the first fists of dirt fell into the gape at our feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-76566465188993729042017-05-04T23:21:00.000-07:002020-03-12T13:53:29.507-07:00BN and the Old Man (published in Dunes Review)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>27</o:Words>
<o:Characters>155</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>190</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>6</o:Words>
<o:Characters>39</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>47</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Link to the magazine: http://tinyurl.com/mgc5k5f)</span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>6</o:Words>
<o:Characters>39</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>47</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A sunny morning by the sea. Calm waves lick the sand. A
long-legged bird hunts for tiny silvery fish in the shallows. A lone man
wearing a suit walks down the beach, his eyes on the horizon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh,
sorry,” he says, nearly bumping into an old man performing a headstand. “Wait,
no, it can’t be.” The suited man stoops to have a closer look at the
upside-down face. “Yes, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> you!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But
of course it is,” says the old man. “I can only be me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
an honour,” breathes the suited man, whom we’d call BN. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
honour is all mine,” replies the old man. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sir,”
says BN, “do you know who I am?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
man needs to know himself regardless of what others might think of him,” the
old man says. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
nods. “True, true.” He then glances around. “I’m surprised to see you on your
own. Is your wife not here?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man grins. “What would we do without our faithful<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span>wives?” he asks
with a wink. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
blushes, issues a hesitant smile, and turns to look at the hunting bird chasing
its prey, running across the wet sand, ignoring both men. A pleasant breeze
rises and he’s thankful for the silence, though after a while he wonders what
he should do. He knows the old man’s morning routine is near holy, but excited
at the rare opportunity, he’s not ready to leave yet. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Funny
we meet,” he finally says, his voice cheerful. “Lately, everyone has been
comparing us, but they fail to see how times have changed. All world leaders
live in style. Could you imagine me living in a shed in the middle of nowhere?
I’d be made fun of!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
certainly can’t have that,” confirms the old man. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
grins. “I knew you’d understand.” He releases his tie a bit, saying,” It’s
getting hot.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why
won’t you take off your shoes and dip your feet in the water?” offers the old
man.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
I think I will,” says BN, does just that, then returns to the old man, and
seats himself on the sand with his pants still rolled up, his socks neatly
tucked inside the dress shoes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
long-legged bird had flown away by now, and the glimmering sun keeps beaming in
the pale summer sky. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
long can you hold like this?” asks BN.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“For
all eternity,” answers the old man.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very
impressive.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man says, “I’d think you had more important things to do than keep me
company.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
shakes his head. “I have some time before I’m expected in the office.” He then
adds with a deep sigh, “I haven’t felt so relaxed in years.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nothing
like the sea,” agrees the old man. “It’s why I used to come here each morning.”
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
still can’t believe I bumped into you,” says BN. “So many things I want to ask
you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Go
ahead. I’ve got all the time in the world.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
wish I knew beforehand, so I could better prepare. I seem to draw a blank now.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man smiles. “A good handstand energises the brain.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
smiled thinly. “I carry so many responsibilities,” he moans. “Nobody but my
voters has any appreciation for me. Especially my cabinet members; they want to
gang up and throw me to the dogs.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
“I sure know how that feels,” the
old man <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">slices out through his teeth,
and BN, though surprised by the bitter tone, </span>exclaims: “Exactly! Like
you, no one but me has the backbone to fulfil the country’s potential, the
importance of our great nation.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Releasing
his tie a bit more, he carries on, “The politicians, on both sides of the isle,
don’t get it, the media keeps trying to sabotage me, criticising my every move,
making fun of me in every imaginable way, but luckily, this only strengthens
both me and my loyal voters.” His head bobs slightly as he speaks, and the pink
of his baldness glimpses through the silver bluish comb-over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
The tall bird returns to fish in
the shallows; it reminds him of a stilted clown. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“See
this one?” he asks, thrusting his chin at the bird. “He’s like me, negotiating
the treacherous waves to get what he wants. He’s focused, unrelenting,
hardworking. That’s what strong leaders are made of. You were like that, and
what tremendous challenges you had faced!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man slowly scissors his bent legs in the air, then brings them down one by
one, and sits on the sand with his eyes on the sea. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Toward
the end I tried to imagine fifty years into the future,” he says. “I came up
with various scenarios. I suppose a nation’s path is carved out by many
factors, not only its leaders’ strengths and capabilities.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“To
be honest,” says BN, looking at his companion with glimmering eyes, “I see my
work as a natural continuation of yours.” <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man glimpses him. “You don’t need my approval,” he utters with a shake of
the head, grains of sand fly out of his white hair, and BN thinks he would
never have allowed his own hair to look like two fluffs of candy cotton
sticking from either side of the head. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Would
you have voted for me?” he asks, wondering what flavour the old man’s hair
might have been, had it been made of … vanilla, he decides. French vanilla. Or
maybe coconut?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man chortles, and BN winces, fearing his friend might have guessed his
tasty contemplations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Doesn’t
look like you need my vote, either,” says the old man when his laugh subsides. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
swallows hard. “It would be good to have it, nevertheless.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
But the old man doesn’t seem to
be listening. His eyes linger on the far horizon, his mind drifting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
BN decides to be patient, and
quietly gazes at the sea as well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
thought we’d have a peace agreement of some sort by now,” the old man finally
says, and BN hears some sadness in the voice. “But that might be just an old
man’s sentimentality.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
have come a long way since our early days,” BN replies, his <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">doughy </span>face clouds in thoughtfulness.
“But in some ways, nothing has changed; our enemies still connive to obliterate
us.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man nods, saying, “And still no set borders …”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Like
the Americans when they got their independence,” says BN with a smirk. “But
sir,” he carries on, and his expression turns serious, “as you correctly said
long ago, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they</i> do not exist as a
nation, and therefore the land is—always has been—ours to take.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man looks at BN with surprise. “I said it was ours, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> of it?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN
flushes, replying,” Well, not exactly, but from what you have said, on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">many</i> occasions, it would be only logical
to conclude—“</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Logic,
schmogic,” says the old man with a dismissive wave of the hand, and rises to
his feet. “You really need to try headstands; it’ll help you see the world from
a fresh angle.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
with that, he leans forward, and soon he is upside down again; his cotton candy
hair in the wet sand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
that moment, a small band of youngsters in bathing suits walks by, and one of
them, a tall guy in orange surfing shorts, points toward the older gentlemen,
calling, “Hey, look!” which startles away the bird. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
group quickly envelopes the men, yammering, “Oh, wow,” and, “How cool is that?”
and a tanned woman pulls out a Smartphone from her bikini bra, announcing,
“Photo!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN,
though reluctant to share his friend with strangers, is nonetheless beaming at
them, proud to be found beside a historical figure of such calibre. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hey
grandpa,” asks the guy in the orange shorts, crouching beside the old man.
“Could you take a picture of us with the PM?” <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
reply. The old man seems to be in deep meditation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh,
leave him alone,” reproaches a curly girl. “Can’t you see he’s dead?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Alarmed,
BN jumps to his feet, crying, “Don’t you know who this is?” But they don’t seem
to have heard him, and the tanned woman gathers everyone round BN for a few
selfies, then shows them to her friends, who quack and giggle, urging her to
post them on social media, which she does. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN,
all the while, lectures them about the old man’s epic achievements—his voice
deep, brow creased—taken aback only when his palms don’t meet the solid surface
of the podium behind which he imagines himself standing. When he looks up he is
astonished to see a hasty swarm of people approaching them. Time to leave, he muses,
and starts inching away, barefoot. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
true,” yells someone in the nearing crowd. “He <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> here!” And with that, the cheering throng blocks BN’s escape
route, and he surrenders to the hands that want to shake his, the showered
hugs, more selfies. But no, he did not forget his friend, who has remained in
his upturned<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span>position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sir,”
he calls to the old man, “do I have your vote?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
does it matter?” replies the old man. “Like the girl said, I’m already dead.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But
would you support me?” BN’s plea hovers in the air as the enthusiastic band of
fans carries him away. He tries to break free, but the strong youngsters hold
him tight, his protest drowned by their calls, “Long live the king, long live
the king!”<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The long-legged bird returns to the beach once the mob had
vanished. The old man then slowly moves his bent legs in the air and brings
them down one by one. He sits on the sand, his eyes on the horizon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>BN’s
shoes, scattered by the trampling feet, lie orphaned. This morning’s polished
leather now muddied and somewhat cracked. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
The water rocks a lone sock
hither and thither; its mate is nowhere in sight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>1314</o:Words>
<o:Characters>7494</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>62</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>14</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>9203</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-link:"Footer Char";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
tab-stops:center 216.0pt right 432.0pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.FooterChar
{mso-style-name:"Footer Char";
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:Footer;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-6423379276708667422017-04-14T00:08:00.002-07:002021-04-24T08:44:29.932-07:00Lydia (appeared in East Coast Ink Issue 004: bridges, 2014)<div class="MsoPlainText">
<div class="MsoNormal"><span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What's wrong, Lydia, the
hunter's wife?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sitting alone in front of
the hearth,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a sock and needle in your
lap,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">staring at the fire,
shadows of its flames</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">dancing on the walls of
your one-room home.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your husband, the hunter,
is not home tonight,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as many nights before.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He shall return in a few
days</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with a deer or two splayed
cold on his horses,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and chilly air will enter
the house with him.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Will you offer him a warm
cheek,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as you have done since many
years back,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">when you thought life
begins here, far from home,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with this broad-shouldered
man, whose words are few,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">yet his touch is tender,
and his lips are seeking.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does routine nibble at you, Lydia,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">after twenty years of waiting?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And your hopes are seeping
out</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as plans to add a nursery</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">are nearly forgotten.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps you will rise at
once—</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">wash the floors,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">shine the silverware, light
the candles,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">while humming a tune that
rocks</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">like the waves in their
tranquil hour.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You will wear your dark
wool-coat</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and leave the house for
fresh air, flooded</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with dreams: travel far
away,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">visit exciting places,
discover new people. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or you might return to your
hometown on the coast,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">where your parents are
growing old</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in a large house filled
with numerous rooms and books.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But you can still remember
how you detested</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the sounds and smells of
the city,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and your longing for the
serene lands of the prairie,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">which is now your home.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wrapped in your cloak, you
briskly cross the frozen field,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">glancing at the
longstanding couple of leafless trees at the far edge of your land,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as you always do when
riding the wagon on the road going up to the village.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You turn away from your
home and walk fast,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">your heavy grey dress
sweeping the ground,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">raising small clouds of
glittering dust.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then you abruptly stop to</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">look back.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why are you standing there,
Lydia, the hunter's wife?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who are you glaring at,
what do you see?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You are all alone here.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The night is empty,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the fields are sitting
barren in the cold.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is it me you are staring
at?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(This is impossible, I
think to myself)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am not a part of this
tale, I say to Lydia.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Go, go on your way. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But she persists; her wild
eyes dig into my mind,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">her towering figure leans
forward.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Surprised, I find myself</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">shivering in the slicing
wind,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in this foreign land,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">stumbling toward Lydia as
she turns on her heel</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and renews her pace up the
road.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With a quickened pulse and trembling legs</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I follow her.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But her steps are wide and
confident,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and she soon becomes
one with the dark.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At once, I am all alone in
a night full of shadows,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">glancing around in hopes of
rescue.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this vacant, quiet
place.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Down the road sits the
house of Lydia and her husband, the hunter.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The wind’s sharp claws dig
into my skin.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Choiceless, I turn toward
the light,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">enter the warm log cabin,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">close the door</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to leave <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the night behind,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and approach the hearth.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the chair in front of
it, a sock and needle.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I pick them up, place them
in my lap,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and hold out my palms <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the flames—listening <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to the chatter of consumed
wood.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I examine the sock in my
lap; not keen on sewing, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">what shall I do with this
needle?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I look about:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to one corner, a small
table</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">set with two chairs.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dishes and books neatly
stacked on sturdy shelves.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the room’s other side:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">an oval braided rug over the wide-planked floor,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a wide bed, soft blankets
covering white linen.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I add logs to the dying
fire,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">lean back in the chair and
watch the</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">frolicking flames.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then rise to my feet and walk to the bed.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sink into the mattress.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It accepts me like a mother’s bosom.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recognize:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">this is my bed, these are my books,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and my husband, the hunter,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">will soon enter our home.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His greying temples under my fingers, his neck</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">emanating intoxicating scents.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My fingers will slide with a feather-like touch</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">on skin roughed by summer sun</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
the winds <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that blow upon these open plains.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The logs crackle in the
hearth,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the flames are strong and
steady.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At last, I am warm.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""\22 times new roman\22 "" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I, Lydia.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>567</o:Words>
<o:Characters>3233</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>26</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>6</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>3970</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\0022times new roman\0022";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman";
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
p
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
@page Section1
{size:595.0pt 842.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-41008126563916575822016-10-14T00:43:00.003-07:002021-02-21T08:07:59.123-08:00Reflections on War (appeared in Consequence Magazine Spring 2016)<div class="MsoNormal">On
a hot and humid August afternoon, I meander through the narrow paths of Kfar
Saba’s military graveyard, my eyes sweeping the rows of the uniform bed-like
tombs. I halt at the edge of Plot 5. Among the cypresses, erected tall and dark
over the bright tombstones, I find Yuval Dagan and Hadar Goldin’s final resting
places. Their names are engraved on pillowed headstones—the two buried side by
side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
I crouch by the graves, the title of Tim O'Brien’s book, If I Die in a Combat
Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, floats in my mind. Dagan, who was twenty-two
years old, had died in July 2014. Goldin was twenty-three when he was killed later
that same summer in August. Both were casualties of the war between Israel and
Hamas in Gaza. Both lived in Kfar Saba, my hometown. Gazing at their names,
last year’s war throbs in my memory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On
a Monday afternoon last July, I heard a strange cry. At first I thought it was
a gleeful child, then I thought the child must be in distress, and then I
didn’t know what to think. I rushed out to my porch, leaned over the metal
banister, and scanned the street. The squeals continued from the right. I bent
forward, the banister pressing against my abdomen, when from around the corner darted
a middle-aged woman—a doleful stout man supporting her gently by the
elbow—bawling and slapping her face with both hands, a small black handbag
swaying by its strap from the crook of her other elbow. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why,
why, why,” she cried. “I wish I was dead, I wish I was dead.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two
young IDF soldiers—pallid, mouths agape—scurried behind the couple, and the
four disappeared into the next-door building. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What’s
going on?” I asked a man who stood in the street.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I
think their son was killed in the war,” he replied in a thick voice. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
thought: this mother will never be happy again. Not in a real way. These
parents are now separated from the rest of us—to join the Family of the
Bereaved. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Driving
by the military graveyard that evening, I glimpsed a tight knot of people
beneath a large white marquee where my neighbour, Yuval Dagan, was being
buried. Lit from within, the tent floated in the dimness. Dozens milled around.
I thought again of the mother; the grief that must fill her to the rim, flowing
in tidal waves and uncontrolled bursts. And the years stretching ahead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sooner
or later this war will end, I thought as I drove away. Conclusions, reprimands,
rewards, and denial will be expressed by army officials, politicians, the
media, and the general public. The living will go on living, leaving the fallen
behind; remembrance will not breathe life into their remains. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
was glad I had no sons, but then remembered my four-year-old nephew. Yuval
Dagan was once four. Then five, then seven, then.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
the morning, piles of green plastic chairs and long folding tables were
arranged in the driveway underneath my bedroom window. The shiva, a week of
Jewish mourning usually spent in the mourners’ home, took on a different shape.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At
dusk, about a hundred mourners, many young soldiers among them, began
assembling in the driveway to mark the start of the shiva. Chattering groups of
all ages sat at the long tables covered with blue plastic tablecloths, sprinkled
with soda bottles and bowls of fresh fruit. A few industrial fans laboured to
disperse the heat. The driveway’s walls were hung with small Israeli flags. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
itched to join the gathering, listen to stories about the dead young man, meet
his high school friends—feel the warm embrace of a grieving community. But I
didn’t quite know the family. Returning from the beach that evening, I walked
by, wrapped in a towel and shedding sand, wishing to be invisible. I always
found it difficult to apply the Israeli approach of embracing normalcy in the
face of terror and violence. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That
week, dozens of mourners clustered together in the shared driveway, often
spilling into the street. Every morning and late at night, I could hear the
grievers’ prayers through my window, interrupted by the occasional yowls of
alley cats carrying out their territorial feuds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On
the following Friday, August 1st, an Israeli soldier named Hadar Goldin was
kidnapped by Hamas during a fight in Rafah. That Saturday evening his family
made a public appearance, their despair leaping off the television screen,
pleading with the IDF to remain in Gaza until their beloved was found. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
next day, based on evidence found in the battlefield and other considerations,
the Army’s Chief Rabbi confirmed Goldin’s death. Soon it was also revealed that
when Hamas militants dragged Goldin down one of their tunnels, 150 civilian
Gazans had lost their lives as the IDF implemented the "Hannibal
Directive.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Named
after the Carthaginian military commander who preferred to commit suicide rather
than surrender to the Romans, the order, drawn up in 1986 by a group of top IDF
officers, states that at the time of a kidnapping the main mission becomes
forcing the release of the abducted soldiers from their kidnappers, even if it
means causing injury to the soldiers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
basically intends to prevent the need for prisoner exchanges, no matter the
price. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those
150 Gazans received no warning before the army indiscriminately opened fire in
a densely populated area. I suppose anyone near a kidnapping incident could get
caught in the crossfire, but in that case “no matter the price” referred to the
locals. A nauseating spasm sliced through my stomach. I swallowed the curses
that stung my tongue. What’s the use. I imagined a future from which we would
look back at the present with nostalgia and regret. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
wished to shrink into a tiny dot, roll on the floor, and fall down a bottomless
crack. To never be found. Awash with a wave of weariness, I entered my bedroom,
ignoring the pieces of paper sent airborne by the fan, and flopped on the bed
to stare at the ceiling, the air pulsing with the ventilator’s hum, the restful
whiteness above, folds of paint ruffled its surface, clouds formed, then some
flowers, a bird took flight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
closed my eyes to a curtain of black.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When
I was eight my mom told us to draw the black curtains over the windows at
night. My dad wasn’t around. None of the dads were around. When I was eight, my
younger sister and I would rush down the stairs to the bomb shelter when the
sirens went off. My aunt, who lived in the apartment above us, happened to
paint the shelter shortly before. She covered the walls with babyblue clouds,
large flowers, butterflies, and birds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We
lived on the second floor of a four-story building. There was a thrill of
excitement for my sister and me when the sirens went off; we dashed down the
stairs with tingling feet. We sat in our beautiful shelter, read our books, ate
our snacks—waiting for the second alarm, the one that told us we could go home.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mostly
worried we’d run out of reading materials, my sister and I did not know that
Dad was driving trucks loaded with ammunition, nor that the enemy was closing
in on us from all sides. Surrounded by cheerful images dimly lit by the bare
lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, Mom was the only solid presence in that
underground world. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dark
and dank, that year Yom Kippur stretched to no end. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
dappled afternoon light dances upon the tombstones in Kfar Saba’s military
graveyard. A long hose snakes out of a field faucet; multi-coloured watering
cans dangle from a five-pronged vertical rack; flourishing plants and personal
mementoes carefully placed on each gravestone—the dead soldiers certainly
receive meticulous care.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
dust you are, and to dust you shall return.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wars
are fought aboveground; perhaps the Palestinian and Israeli dead fuse
underground. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
first Intifada broke out soon after I had moved to Jerusalem to attend college,
hitting the Israeli capital the hardest; people were knifed in public spaces
almost daily. The bus I took to school, crossing Arab neighbourhoods on the
east side of town, was often stoned. Once, a rock hit the window right
beside me. I jumped out of my skin, deeply grateful I’d been too lazy to open the
window for air, as I usually did. Peering through the dark, I glimpsed two
Arab schoolboys glaring at the passing bus. During my years in Jerusalem I
developed a habit of looking over my shoulder whenever I walked in the street—a
nervous tendency I haven’t completely shaken off to this day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then
in October 2000, while driving on the highway between Tel Aviv and Haifa with a
friend, heading to a peace festival, we inadvertently stumbled into the second
Intifada. Redirected by black-clad police, I gasped for air, my heart gripped
tight, as an angry mob of Arabs descended from their village uphill, clasping
heavy rocks. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
sometimes wonder: would things have turned out differently if the fight was not
over such a tiny piece of land? When I was young, people were saying everyone
here would coexist peacefully if we were as large and scantly populated as
Texas. I’ve tried to imagine both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
sprawled over that vast faraway land. All I could conjure up was an image of an
arid landscape dotted with cattle and giant oil pumps. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
suppose some struggles belong only where they take place, yet I wonder what
sort of future this crazed land might hold for my nephew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Box
me up and ship me home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pebbles
are strewn upon Dagan and Goldin’s marble beds, as is the Jewish tradition. I
shift rocks of various hues, joining them into a heart, one on each grave, and
wonder if these two young men knew each other. I glance at the patch of grass
beside Goldin’s grave, the last in the row, drawing an imaginary box in the
vacant plot. I think of the one who’d someday occupy this yet unclaimed space.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps it will be filled with someone I know!—the thought
jolts me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then
I think of the parents. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVIyHFnve0q7sitMrL9MJxPlh_1dg9EfnE4vjs7HiMl1zLuBNh_e8gW2tzPy-REjAWt67k4wze46PWfA3ccIb3-br1DtsfOZJAnyUYWKKbkVAdC1MtDLM4FcpQjUDDuRMN4qPka-0POfQ/s1600/20150919_111655.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVIyHFnve0q7sitMrL9MJxPlh_1dg9EfnE4vjs7HiMl1zLuBNh_e8gW2tzPy-REjAWt67k4wze46PWfA3ccIb3-br1DtsfOZJAnyUYWKKbkVAdC1MtDLM4FcpQjUDDuRMN4qPka-0POfQ/s320/20150919_111655.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-11441095731635116352016-07-02T07:41:00.001-07:002016-12-23T05:41:57.028-08:00Angels and Scars; Scars or Angels<div class="MsoNormal">
In a parallel existence, we are pure-white</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">beings, flying abreast, tips of wings <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">meet ever so slightly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Midflight, <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I glimpse your scar;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">the sweet pink, the stitched <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">skin that must have settled by now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">And we glide over <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">valleys and crags, meadows <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">carpeted green, dotted by crisp <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">lakes and red-roofed farms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I have my scars too—carried <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">in the pocket of my breast <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">bone; kept warm under the feathers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Riding a gale, or the golden breeze, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">heading onward—always onward—we <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">are angels nonetheless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">No: angels <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for</i>
our scars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Spreading wide wings, we swoop <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">down for the night; a hidden branch to nestle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">close, head against shoulder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The air soon softens into rhythmic tunes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">serenading crickets, courting bullfrogs, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the occasional hoot of an owl.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">And we fall asleep to the sounds. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-50278383293343884402016-06-17T19:19:00.005-07:002021-02-21T08:49:15.729-08:00Nothing More (appeared in Canyon Voices Spring 2016)<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Do not bury me in your ground.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Do not cover me with clods of earth and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;">mourn</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">my departure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Do not put me in the cursed soil, where soldiers’ boots<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">loomed over my great-grandmother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">(Her namesake, I carry her ashes in my bones; she holds <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">no grave, to remind you.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I do not wish to lie under a shattered headstone, my name <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">swastika-sprayed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Do not entomb me in the
burning land that bore me;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">shrapnel-</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">soaked earth will grind my rotted flesh,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">the thunder of war will
disturb my final rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Do not cage me in a coffin; the tree should remain <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">standing in the forest, not house my remains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Do not shove me in a burial-drawer; </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">build a school instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">A home for the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">newly wed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Have flowers rise
from the dirt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I will be among the shrubs, within the wings <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">of an early morning breeze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">For dust am
I.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Nothing more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-19060275659974996542016-05-06T11:17:00.002-07:002021-02-21T08:47:09.532-08:00Damned (appeared in Canyon Voices Spring 2016)<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal">Damn them all;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
damn the fire in their eyes, and the guns in their hands,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
damn their rocket launching, bomb dropping, baby killing,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and shameless propaganda.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn their refusal to put down hate, extinguish<br />
anger, and discard this hell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like puppets in a tragic theatre, they play their roles</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to the utmost and without fail</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
over and over and over.<br />
And damn, over again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Self-righteousness spewing from their mouths in torrents,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their fingers always pointing away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seizing land not theirs, killing brothers not theirs,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
demolishing houses not theirs,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
sending children not theirs to explode in crowded markets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why, bellows the shaken earth; why, echo the missile-torn
skies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stop, begs the mother.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
March on! command the generals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn them all!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turn to flee the burning soil, leave behind the rumbling
cannons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn the hopelessness and blindness, the waste and the
malice,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I yell as I run.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn all these …</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The mother’s pleading eyes slow my steps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I halt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn, but I cannot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This smouldering earth is my earth too.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-44820752981614981002016-04-05T07:16:00.003-07:002017-04-16T07:23:29.089-07:00MP (excerpt from a fictional memoir in progress) <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
“By the way,” said Liora, “I have the key.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“To
what?” I asked, my voice sleepy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
know,” she replied, “the question we’ve been asking ourselves, what Moron is
doing here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
mean Eli Miran?” I asked. “Don’t be nasty.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Geez,
Rona,” she said with a sigh, “sometime you’re such a goody two-shoes.” She
sucked on her cigarette, and rushing rings of smoke into the air added,
“Anyways, I’ve got it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Okay,”
I said, distracted by the sunrays dancing on my face, and shut my eyes to
maximise the effect. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was a summer evening, the squadron was finally quiet, the pilots wouldn’t swarm
in until tomorrow morning, and I was indulging in my favourite activity: <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">worshipping the sun I missed while </span>slaving
away<span style="font-family: Times; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">in
the </span>operations room all day. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
could feel the air beyond the squadron shifting into relaxation mode. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Airbase </span>27, a large and clumsy
creature, had its offices locked up for the day, the mass of soldiers done with
their daily toil, showered, changed into T-shirts and jeans, smoking and
drinking soda in the cafeteria. At least I hoped there was a cafeteria
somewhere on that goddamn base.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tucked
at the corner of the <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Airbase’s </span>maddening
crowd, the four squadrons bordered with the Ben-Gurion International Airport,
with Squadron 122, in which I was stationed, bridging the bustling base and the
other three squadrons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Slumped
on the wide <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">ledge that hung </span>about
a meter aboveground, <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">wrapping around
the inner flanks of our pi-shaped squadron, I </span>relished the remains of
the day, savouring <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">the last rays as if they
were a lover’s tender fingers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So,”
I said, “what is it, genius?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
mean <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">where</i> is it,” she spoke slowly
as if to a daft child. “Right here!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cracked opened my eyes to a silver key
swinging in the air between us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh,”
I said. “You meant a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> key.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
looked at me perplexed. “What else?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
what does it open?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">drawer</i>? A special one,” she said with
a sly grin, her eyebrows dancing up and down. “Con-fi-dential.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 36.0pt 72.0pt 108.0pt 144.0pt 180.0pt 216.0pt 252.0pt 288.0pt 380.0pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
… I don’t know,” I mumbled. “We’ll get in trouble.” <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nonsense!”
she said, squashing her cigarette on the floor, then flicked it a few yards
crossways <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">into the murk under the ledge. She was an expert cig-butt flicker. </span>“Nobody
will ever know. Besides, I was never told <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
to use this key, so it’s perfectly fine.”<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hmm
…” I emitted. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
sprang to her feet, her jade eyes sparkling like a child on her birthday. “Come
on!”<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>348</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1985</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Art Institute of Boston</o:Company>
<o:Lines>16</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2437</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:77;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:auto;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:595.0pt 842.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<!--EndFragment--></div>
</div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-79435742399796314082016-02-21T11:18:00.000-08:002016-02-21T12:37:40.044-08:00A Writer Without a Language<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In March 2013 I had attended the
Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, aka AWP, in Boston’s
Hynes Convention Center. I scrutinised the schedule beforehand, circled
interesting panels, and counted down the weeks—then days—leading to the event.
I have never before participated in a writers’ conference, and so I walked into
the Convention Center feeling like a little girl on her first day of school. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> I
quickly learned there was a gap between my expectations and the conference’s
reality. I was like a snail that dared out of its shell only to find out the
world is in fact a scary place. I sat in on a few interesting panels, and
enjoyed strolling down the book fair’s endless<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span>isles, but ill
prepared to handle the overwhelming throng, namely the 11,000 participants, the
conference left me with a dampened spirit and a broken heart. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> What’s
the point? I thought. Who would be interested in what I have to say, even if my
voice could be heard over the literary<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>din?
Yes, I know, each voice is unique, one of a kind, etc, etc. But still. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>I am after all</span>, I mumbled
to myself on the way home, <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">a writer
without a language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Born and raised in Israel, Hebrew
is my native tongue, and as a keen bookworm <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I had mastered it from an early age. </span>I was practically in love
with the language, and j<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">ust as
childhood experiences leave deep impressions on us, Hebrew resonated in me with
layers of meaning. Certain words, or a combination of them, conjured up intense
visceral emotions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span> Since childhood, writing
has been one of my main channels of expression. Creating my own kingdoms, populating
them with scenes and characters, fills me with immense joy and satisfaction.
Moreover, writing is my anchor. Putting reflections into words is vital to my
thought process; it gives form and weight to abstract notions, and helps me
gain a better understanding of myself and the world at large. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">With words I try to connect the often-elusive
substance of life—thoughts, feelings, events—to the ground on which I stand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Long after </span>I had
immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 I continued to scribble poems and stories on
pieces of paper. When a friend asked me which language I was using in my
writing, I replied: Hebrew of course. But the question hovered in my mind until
I could no longer resist the urge to try and compose in English; a language
that represented worldliness, opportunities, and a vague sense of freedom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> My
granny, who fled Germany shortly after the Nazis took power, eventually settled
down in London. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">As a child, I looked
forward to her visits. I loved her small green suitcase (which I later
inherited) that held a delicate bouquet of perfume, and promises of gifts and
sweets we did not have in Israel back then. With her German-accented English
Granny inspired me to admire the language. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span> Throwing away the crutches
and experience English from within turned out to be a struggle. <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The English vocabulary is far larger than the
Hebrew one, and its grammar and spelling are more complex. Facing my childhood
dream of becoming a writer, I thus found myself leaping from a lake into a vast
ocean. Determined, I transitioned into my second language and began developing
stories with vigour. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> Alas,
my determination was greatly challenged during the aforementioned AWP
Conference. Disillusioned by the reality of the literary scene, my confidence
took a serious hit, and my hopes seemed dashed. I felt motivated for nothing
save for stargazing and daydreaming. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
answer came in a poem written by <em><span style="font-style: normal;">Vicente Aleixandre,
</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who I Write For</i>. <em><span style="font-style: normal;">One sentence struck me most:</span></em> “Perhaps I
write for the people who don’t read my poems.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="st"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> I
was deeply touched by <em><span style="font-style: normal;">his </span></em>commitment
to his craft, and his lack of ego or self-pity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> All
right, I thought, if I were to write, if I were to put into my work all I have,
I’d need to figure out what it is that I can contribute. This question exposed
the fact that all along I have been avoiding the subject of Israel in my
writing. It felt too real. Too raw. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></b> After more than twenty years
of voluntary exile I was ready to look at the place I once called home and left
with a semi-slammed door. It was time to try and<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> exorcise my devils, and examine that which keeps gnawing at me. With
the geographical distance, and using a second language, I thought I just might
be up for that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>This new focus helps me better
appreciate my homeland and all the intricate emotions and throbbing memories it
evokes. </span>When I write, I imagine my words slicing through the various
layers of life in Israel to expose its complexity and nuances through the social,
political, and cultural challenges. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-5324695838534331912015-12-24T15:18:00.000-08:002016-02-21T12:35:32.688-08:00My Eucalyptus Grove (excerpt)<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Part One</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When I was in fifth grade my baby
brother was born, and we had to move to a larger apartment to accommodate for
this third child. I adored the baby, and together with my parents and younger
sister celebrated his long-awaited arrival, but I hated everything about our
new neighbourhood on the other side of Rishon LeZion. The streets were dreary,
and the kids surly and condescending; especially <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">after the stupid
little pooch that belonged to the nastiest boy next door chased my dad’s car,
got himself entangled in the wheels, and was crushed to death.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Shelling that boy and his friends with improvised
water balloons didn’t increase my popularity, but who could resist such
delicious temptation? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span> My entire being screamed to join my friends
in the old neighbourhood: crawl into the thicket of the<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span>abandoned
guava orchard behind my house; climb the crazy old woman’s loquat tree, pushing
sweet fistfuls of that small, yolk-coloured fruit into our mouths and pockets
as we shinned up<i><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></i>the branches; venture beyond our
school that marked the neighbourhood’s edge and step into the open fields brimming
with wild flowers and citrus groves. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> My
new neighbourhood offered no children to play with, no fruit trees to climb,
and no fresh oranges to pick. While my old friends continued to frolic outdoors
each afternoon until their mothers called them home for supper, I sat in my new
room feeling sorry for myself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> By
then I already knew to avoid the company of girls; their mind games baffled and
frustrated me to no end. It was like trying to figure out a foreign language
without a dictionary. The girls in my new class were no different, but by
mid-year I found company in my classmate and upstairs neighbour Nitzan, who
invited me to join a small band of boys from our class. Although I was the only
girl among them, they accepted me as their equal, and I proved them right,
roaming far beyond our neighbourhood in search of adventures, keeping pace with
them climbing fences and trees, and soon becoming the group’s designated
goalie. I was happy with my new friends and no longer reminisced about the old
ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> In
seventh grade my world turned upside down. My buddies, other than Nitzan, transformed
into creepy aliens almost overnight. They now ogled me as a different species,
eyes halting on parts of my body that seemed to have betrayed me. <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Twisting
myself around to examine my </span>rear end, following <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">one of the boys'
remarks, </span>I was astonished to discover it somehow grew far wider than I
could recall. I was similarly flabbergasted when some classmates suggested I
consider getting myself a bra. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> “A<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> bra?”</i> I replied, glancing at my bumpy
chest. “What on earth for?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> I
later dismissed such intrusions with a shrug, but I couldn’t ignore my shifting
emotions; I too was affected by mysterious changes and now blushed at the sight
of the group’s leader. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span> I
had no choice but withdraw from the gang. <br />
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-48893599469631607862015-10-16T04:17:00.000-07:002015-10-16T04:17:09.973-07:00The Visit<div class="MsoNormal">
When he came I asked</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in surprise: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What are
you <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doing here, </i>and he
replied with a low-pitched </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
growl; more a teddy </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
than a fierce animal. I poured water </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in a bowl for him, but </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
all he wanted was a cuddle, which is why </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
he travelled this far, he said, over </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
cities and fields, winging down </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the East Coast in a metal bird.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You must be tired</i>,
I said, still standing </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
aback. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shall I
make you a bed?</i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And you in it,</i> he
whispered, his body </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
softening into a big pillow, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and you in it</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But no, I wave away</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the thought ; he shall never </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
come. All the poems </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in the world, but he shall never come.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-73876219496176943362015-06-04T07:56:00.001-07:002015-06-04T07:56:05.067-07:00Passage
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-link:"Header Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.HeaderChar
{mso-style-name:"Header Char";
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-locked:yes;
mso-style-link:Header;
mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Encased,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
hugged by quiet, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the ground is soft </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
against your neck. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drop deeper, deeper </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into the dimness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let the head release,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
dissolve. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Allow the shadows </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in; let them crawl </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
beneath the breath,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
watch them dance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No, wait, don't open </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
your eyes </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
yet. Let go, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
like a swimmer sliding </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into the water,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
where gravity is of no </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
great concern.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What lies ahead I cannot tell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am too</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
on my way </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a>Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-46659939389100524132014-10-02T04:54:00.002-07:002015-02-21T15:15:14.449-08:00My Writing Process Blog Tour<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:1162967372;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:1723793284 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
margin-left:.25in;
text-indent:-.25in;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
-->
</style>I want to thank Vanessa Larson
for inviting me to partake in this project! When I visited the graduate class
of creative writing at UMass Boston this past spring, I was warmly welcomed by
both students and professor, but it Vanessa who came over during break and
started speaking to me in Hebrew. After a short chat in the dim hallway, we
connected through a shared language, history, and a particular take on life and
literature. I soon discovered Vanessa’s writing was as compelling and vivacious
as her personality; it is rare to meet like-minded people, and I appreciate each
and every opportunity I am given! To visit Vanessa’s blog, please go to - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/q828ykp">http://tinyurl.com/q828ykp</a>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b>What
are you working on? </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I am currently developing <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">a short-story collection that </span>centers
on<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">life in Israel. </span>For
example,<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span>the story of a young Jerusalemite who desperately wishes to
better his life and immigrate to New York City (an excerpt from
"Escape" - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/kmu2mbn">http://tinyurl.com/kmu2mbn</a>);
the unfolding friendship of two teens, a girl from Tel Aviv and a boy living in
a West Bank settlement, and sheds light on the differences between these two
communities and ideologies (an excerpt from “Not That Far From Tel Aviv” - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/na4wmda">http://tinyurl.com/na4wmda</a>); and a
memoir-based account of the recent war between Israel and Gaza, sketching out
my experiences, impressions, and observations (excerpt from “Summer Notes” - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/olgffla">http://tinyurl.com/olgffla</a>). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
an Israeli-American writer, <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">my
homeland’s multifaceted reality evokes in me a sense of deep concern; my
writing is the reply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b>How
does your work differ from others of its genre?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">With background in visual arts, I cannot quite relate to the concept of
genre. In fact, artists are encouraged to mix various media. Like wise, though
I think of my literary work as fiction, I tend to blend in non-fiction details
and stories, some poetry, and more. So mine might be a mixed genre, if you
will. </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b>Why
do you write what you do? </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Because nobody else is doing it, and I believe those stories—these
particular viewpoints—need to be expressed. But more specifically, I have no
choice but to put in words the narratives and characters that keep knocking on
the inside of my brain, demanding I channel them into the world, and won’t
leave me alone until I give them life.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b>How
does your writing process work?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Often the seed for a piece is based on personal experience, or a few
experiences weaved together, and sometimes it starts with an issue that bothers
me. For example, the treatment of African refugees in Israel, which resulted in
my short story, “Africans, White City, and a Pint of Guinness” (an excerpt from
the story - </span></b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/kot9zpl">http://tinyurl.com/kot9zpl</a>)<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once the seed has been planted in
my mind, it takes some germination—days, weeks, months, or even years—for it to
have a voice strong enough to activate the creative juices that produce a first
draft. </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b>So
now I tag other writers:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">I met Meg Winikates in a local writing group, and although I am not a
huge fan of Young Adult literature, I fell in love with her remarkably gripping
dragon story, </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">so
beautifully executed I had the movie playing in my head as I was reading it.</span><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Meg is a
freelance writer and museum educator who majored in English Literature and
Language at Harvard University. She writes poetry and fiction and contributes
to <a href="http://brainpopcorn.com/"><i><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Brain Popcorn</span></i></a>, a blog
on interdisciplinary education, as well as to the Peabody Essex Museum blog, <i>Connected</i>. In
her <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">current project, <i>Palettes of
Light</i>, Meg collaborates with photographer Michele Morris, featuring
photographs paired with poems, written specifically for the image. One of
these photo/poem pairings is an entry in this year's Venice Arts gala gallery
show. To learn more about Meg and her writing, please visit: </span><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-noshow:yes;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
--></style><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.mwinikates.com/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">www.</span>mwinikates.com</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Kayleigh Shoen and I share two
courses at Emerson College this semester, and I quickly realized I should look
for her insightful comments and ideas during class; I often learn quite a bit
from her!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kayleigh is an MFA candidate at Emerson
College, where she teaches composition in the First Year Writing Program and
nonfiction at EmersonWRITES. Her fiction has won Community Literary Awards in
her hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has appeared in <i>Bastards and Whores</i>.
She blogs sporadically about her life at <a href="http://kayleighsstuff.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1e419a;">Kayleighsstuff.blogspot.com</span></a>
and about her dining experiences at <a href="http://gourmanding.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1e419a;">Gourmanding.blogspot.com</span></a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="color: #1e419a;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-12217611351243445222014-09-19T06:40:00.003-07:002016-03-10T12:18:31.934-08:00Wartime Diary (excerpt)
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">July 10, 2014</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My vacation is turning out quite different
from what I had imagined. What a rapid escalation since I had left Boston on
June 22: following the kidnapping of three Jewish teens in the West Bank on June
12, Israel arrested Hamas activists in the West Bank, threatening to shake down
the organization; the three teens were found dead on June 30; on July 2 a
Jewish man, assisted by two teenagers, kidnapped a sixteen-year-old Palestinian
and burned him alive; meanwhile, Hamas began launching rockets into Israel from
within populated neighbourhoods; Israeli Air Force bombed Gaza Strip in
response, killing a family of seven in one blow; the man charged with killing
the Arab kid is expected to plea for insanity after announcing in court he was
the Messiah; the Palestinian militants who started the whole thing might have
acted on their own.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> Was
this war dictated by a handful of teen-killing lunatics on either side of the
conflict? It doesn’t matter now; the Israeli government approved the recruitment
of 40,000 soldiers for reserve duty. The air is charged. It carries the acrid
smell of revenge. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> I
need to remind myself why I came here this summer: spend time with family (meet
my new baby niece!), chill out from an intense year of teaching, and enjoy a
well-needed sun therapy; after 23 years in the Boston area it is safe to say
I’ll never get used to its brutal winters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> For
now, September is tucked away in the future, and my summer seems deliciously
long. I’m free as a bird, a single bird—war or no war.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> But
did I somehow sense what lurked ahead when I chose to bring along Wartime
Writings by Marguerite Duras? Her WW2 experience as a member of the French
Resistance was quite different from mine, yet her words touch me: the endless
wait at the end of the war for her husband to return from the concentration
camp, the daily visits to the centre where truckloads of liberated prisoners
were brought, imagining him unexpectedly ringing the doorbell, or lying in a
dark ditch uttering his last words; would he say her name? Her mind kept
switching back and forth between hope and despair like a pendulum gone haywire.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> I
put down the book and glance around the guestroom, mine until August 5: the
caving bookshelves shoulder frayed encyclopaedias beside hordes of novels yet read;
the walls hung with colourful souvenirs, Thai charms, Brazilian wood-masks; the
deep freezer storing enough food for five families; Grandma’s portrait on the
table, her hollow stare digging into me. I took this picture when I was a
photography student in college. I wanted to create a female generational series:
Grandma, Mom, and me. I knew Grandma would soon be lost to Alzheimer’s, yet I
had abandoned the project; probably put off by the dreary geriatric ward where
she was living. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> I
like this house, and this town, Kfar Saba, is far better than my hometown of
Rishon LeZion. Too bad I had already left home by the time my parents had moved
here, some twenty years back. When I visit Israel in my dreams I often get
confused and end up in the dilapidated apartment building of my childhood. Or
worse, I find out my parents had sold their current place and moved back to the
old one, the neighbours frozen in a time capsule. What about Lior, I now
wonder, the beautiful, gentle boy who lived in the apartment below us? Does he
show up in those dreams, or do I remember he was shot dead by Palestinians on a
remote West Bank road about twelve years ago? <br /></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.usercontent
{mso-style-name:usercontent;}
span.uficommentbody
{mso-style-name:uficommentbody;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984683708917941018.post-85382860139018394182014-05-30T08:19:00.000-07:002016-02-21T12:35:56.463-08:00Not That Far from Tel Aviv (excerpt)<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
--></style><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A cold breeze welcomed them at the summit. A few dark
clouds traveled overhead. Talia zipped up her sweatshirt. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Since the ‘70s we have been fulfilling the biblical promise of
populating this land, from the sea in the west to the Jordan River in the east,”
Gideon’s booming voice sounded. “For the past few decades we were able to
reclaim much of our ancient land. With God’s will, we shall have it all before
too long.” He stopped for air, before concluding, “As someone famous once said,
we stand here on the land of liberated Israel.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“Haven’t </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">these people
lived here for a long time?” asked Talia, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;">pointing to the Palestinian village at the hill’s foot</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">. “Shouldn’t they
have some of the land too?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“And how do you
reckon our country was made possible?” replied Gideon. “It was always us versus
them.”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“But—“</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Gideon turned to
the group. “Let’s keep walking,” he said. “I have much more to show you.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Talia stood
there confused as everyone began descending the hill. Noam smiled at her.
“Shall we join the herd?” he whispered.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Stepping down
the hillside the two trailed behind the others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“I wish I could
meet these people,” Talia said, gesturing to the village below. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“It’s illegal
for us to go there.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“I know.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“And dangerous,
of course.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“I tend to
believe they won’t harm a seventeen-year-old girl.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“You’re naive.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>She shrugged. “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I‘ve heard that
before</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;">.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“And they’ll
probably force you to marry one of their ugly old men.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Annoyed, she
replied, “I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will</i> push you down if you
keep talking like this.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“I actually
believe you,” he said with laughter, then asked in a more serious tone, “You’re
leaving tomorrow morning?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“Yes.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“Will you visit
here again?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“Not sure. I
might have enough material for my paper, and I do have lots of exams coming
up.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I hope
to see you again.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“You could come
to Tel Aviv.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“My parents
won’t be crazy about the idea.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>“Well, I might
visit during Passover vacation, I’ll see how things go.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing his pleased expression, she added
with a playful smirk, “But only ‘cause you’ve asked.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Rinat Harelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960181061540329829noreply@blogger.com0