observer

photos from my visit to the Museum On The Seam - Jerusalem

"You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life."

The Observer

Doris Bühler sculpts the image of the observer contemplating the world from a different viewpoint.

“From an inquisitive angle, tense and dumb,”

says the artist.

“Are we capable of understanding and sensing the array and possibilities of our existence?”

Each moment is unique, and so are we, for every passing moment influences our concepts and our viewpoints. The burden of history influences our outlook and accordingly, we are unable to regard anything without subconsciously relating to the past. Our concepts are dictated by our human history and whatever we have experienced in the past. In this work I am trying to challenge rigid thought patterns.”

The "Observer" is introduced by the artist as a shining metallic head emerging from the earth. The head, generated by advanced technology, consists of over 300 aluminum plates welded together.

no wiggle room

(photo I took in the West Bank of an Illegal Settlement)

From a New York Times Article it would appear the U.S. is going to FINALLY start using words a little more to the point that "unhelpful".
Both used by former Secretary of State Ms. Rice and most recently Mrs. Clinton. So much for the all mighty U.S.A. it seems we have had a weak spot for Israel. Israel is like a spoiled child who the U.S. politely tells to stop doing forbidden activity like population transfer, which by the way is um... ILLEGAL (para 6). The WORLD and the U.S. tells them to stop but they continue as if they have lost their hearing... This is why I question having children...THEY DON'T LISTEN!!

Here are a couple things that might be important to understand before reading the article.

1. SETTLEMENTS are communities inhabited by Israelis in Palestinian territories (Illegal by International Law)

2. OUTPOST is a term used, often to describe a small Israeli settlements. While much smaller in nature than the average settlement, housing between one and a few families, they are often established without the approval of the Israeli Government (Illigal according to both Israeli law & International Law)

3. NATURAL GROWTH, is nothing more than a loophole, Israel uses to continue settlement expansion free of confrontation. Israel has expanded the meaning of “natural growth” to include not only births from the existing population, but also influxes of the migration populations.

Some of the important excerpts:

• In expansive language that left no wiggle room, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions.”

in response

• Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mark Regev, said that “normal life” would be allowed in settlements in the occupied West Bank, using the phrase that Israel often uses to describe continued construction to accommodate population growth.

• “This approach is predicated on the assumption that an Israeli prime minister needs a tough American president to justify tough decisions to an Israeli public,” said Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a former United States ambassador to Israel.

• “People in the American Jewish community and in Israel are sick of settlement activity. The whole zeitgeist has changed.”

New Soul

I'm a young soul
In this very strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake
But why all this hate?
Try to communicate
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make
la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

-Yael Naim

who are you?

Hi my name is K.C. and I'm FUTURISTIC an ACTIVATOR, RELATOR, MAXIMIZER and INDIVIDUALIZATION extraordinaire!

How do I know this you ask? Well its not from some cheesy facebook quiz or even from the horoscope section of the newspaper but rather from the very well respected people over at GALLUP.
When I was first accepted to Grad School a friend of mine who works at Gallup gifted me with this amazing book StrengthsQuest. Its a book but also available online.
Needless to say there are 34 different strengths or "themes" as Gallup calls them. I listed my top 5 in order. This evaluation was once again brought up in a class I had this quarter. It was interesting to learn what mine were again.

Today while procrastinating on a paper I started to do what I love most....LOOK to the Future.
I've been considering my "five year plan" and realized I only know what I'm doing up until 2012. If my math is correct I need to fill in two years... So for one of those years I've decided to consider an L.L.M. program in Geneva. I know its probably bad luck to even tell people about my plans. I might as well list all my birthday wishes. But truly I'm excited. I must admit I was also thinking of my upcoming trip to DC and NYC, but that is just cherry filling.

So I guess the Irony of all this, is that StregthsQuest told me this "Futuristic" theme is a Strength of mine. Oh really? because I'm pretty sure my International Humanitarian Law paper is not writing itself while I plan my future!

And...for those of you who are interested here is the run down of my "themes"
I strongly suggest you do it yourself. It not only gives your themes but also gives action items for those who are professionals or students. Really great stuff. I knew I was all these things but it puts a word to it and shows you HEY look this is what you're already good at, and this is how you should use it in School/Workforce. (oh and disclaimer, there is a small fee for the evaluation) But you can't put a price on something like this.

FUTURISTIC

“Wouldn’t it be great if . . .” You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. As if it were projected on the wall, you see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward, into tomorrow. While the exact content of the picture will depend on your other strengths and interests—a better product, a better team, a better life, or a better world—it will always be inspirational to you. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. They can energize others, too. In fact, very often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. You can paint it for them. Practice. Choose your words carefully. Make the picture as vivid as possible. People will want to latch on to the hope you bring.

ACTIVATOR

“When can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action. You may concede that analysis has its uses or that debate and discussion can occasionally yield some valuable insights, but deep down you know that only action is real. Only action can make things happen. Only action leads to performance. Once a decision is made, you cannot not act. Others may worry that “there are still some things we don’t know,” but this doesn’t seem to slow you. If the decision has been made to go across town, you know that the fastest way to get there is to go stoplight to stoplight. You are not going to sit around waiting until all the lights have turned green. Besides, in your view, action and thinking are not opposites. In fact, guided by your Activator theme, you believe that action is the best device for learning. You make a decision, you take action, you look at the result, and you learn. This learning informs your next action and your next. How can you grow if you have nothing to react to? Well, you believe you can’t. You must put yourself out there. You must take the next step. It is the only way to keep your thinking fresh and informed. The bottom line is this: You know you will be judged not by what you say, not by what you think, but by what you get done. This does not frighten you. It pleases you.

RELATOR

Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

MAXIMIZER

Excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether yours or someone else’s, fascinate you. Like a diver after pearls, you search them out, watching for the telltale signs of a strength. A glimpse of untutored excellence, rapid learning, a skill mastered without recourse to steps—all these are clues that a strength may be in play. And having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. You polish the pearl until it shines. This natural sorting of strengths means that others see you as discriminating. You choose to spend time with people who appreciate your particular strengths. Likewise, you are attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you well rounded. You don’t want to spend your life bemoaning what you lack. Rather, you want to capitalize on the gifts with which you are blessed. It’s more fun. It’s more productive. And, counterintuitively, it is more demanding.

INDIVIDUALIZATION

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.” Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

Have an Adventure

5 Ways to Have an Adventure

• Take the path in life you want, not the one others expect you to take.

• Turn fear into excitement by visualizing the best outcome of a risky decision.

• Commit to trying something new—twice a year.

• Don’t listen to naysayers; they’re secretly jealous of adventurers.

• Change a familiar routine—your morning ritual, the drive to work, Saturday gardening.

I'm really scared at this moment

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All smiles to hide the FEAR

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look mom - look dad

NO HANDS!

(still very scared)

Amusing Kosher Facts

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

This made me laugh a little bit since I tried to explain to my family and friends just HOW orthodox the state of Israel really is... this is just another example albeit one we can actually laugh at.
The next one took me a couple days before I think I started to laugh. When I laugh its more of a laugh with a shaking of my head in disbelief.

Israel's Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu," he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.

This came out at the end of April in an AP article. I quickly circulated this to my family to further prove whatever point it is that I can't even start to put into words. Anyway, needless to say I respect people's religious beliefs but Kosher stamps and Mexican flu seem a bit excessive. But hey, whatever floats your Jewish Boat I guess.

What is Kosher you ask?

Kosher Foods are those that conform to the rules of Jewish religion.
Although the details of Kosher are extensive, the laws all derive from a few fairly simple, straightforward rules

Non-Kosher:

• The presence of ingredients derived from non-kosher animals (The Torah specifies that the camel, the rock badger, the hare and the pig are not kosher) say to goodbye to your rock badger BBQs
  

• or from kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered,

• can't mix meat and dairy

• wine or grape juice (or their derivative) not produced by a Rabbi

• the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed

• cooking utensils that have come into contact w/meat that may not be used with dairy, and vice versa

• utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot.

heading to Iowa

(view of sunset from my aunt and uncle's deck)

“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, a dearer, a sweeter spot than all the rest” ~Ann Douglas

spring.

XOXO

loot.

If I can do it so can you.
I had shared with everyone last time how excited I was about the yard sale treasure map.
Here are some of the fruits of my new favorite online tool.

$1
(not usually my style but it spoke to me or maybe the price did)

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I'm such a sucker for music...10 buckaroos all together. I cut a buy 5 get one free deal I probably could have haggled a bit more after my intense training in Egypt...but I didn't want to offend the nice residence of the Wash Park neighborhood.
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$1
Its been on my 'to read' list and the nice old man assured me I would like it.
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The big Red Find! She and I locked eyes...ol' jim bob sold it to me for $3
SOLD!

I love all her chipped paint, you can tell she's got character and a real scrappy one at that
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Now for the $.25 cent Bin

Ol' grandpa fedora
and you better believe those are real feathers
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Now moving on to my ultimate finds...can't wait til the season starts
and if you can't tell, the one on the left is corduroy.

Here I am sporting the rare find for my friend on skype. You can call me Bronco.

for the poor student with an emapty apt. in these tough economic times

Google has done it again!
What you ask?
well they did something awesome...partnered with craigslist and made this beaut!
the yard sale locator . Click on it and weep.