B'H
The latest events in NZ are interesting, but I for one will not change my stance and I am so glad that our politicians are remaining polite, firm and committed to family values and not following the same path to moral turpitude. I believe we here in Australia give gay couples all rights and benefits due to them. We respect them as human beings and do not allow discrimination and unfair harassment of them. However marriage is for a man and a woman to be joined in holy matrimony and to consider two men or two women to be equal to that is both mad and against G-D's laws and indeed nature.We can be gentle, compassionate and decent individuals without having to be swayed by emotive arguments like 'two people who love each other deserve to be married.' There are social taboos. Woody Allen married his adoptive daughter. Something I consider quite sick and a bit outrageous along with a few others. Some things are just not right.
Marriage is not about 'love' and that is why so many of them fail or do not last the distance. Marriage is about commitment, decency and moral standards, compassion and respect that occurs between two people. You cannot live on love alone and you should not.
Having sexual relations with someone of the same sex for whatever period of time is not love and neither is it grounds for marriage The same goes for two heterosexuals having sexual relations for a period of time. .It is simply an animal act between two people who are indulging themselves in physical pleasure for want of a better word. True love, marriage and commitment are on a level that few people understand.
People do not marry purely to have sex with each other. They marry to create a future. The potential for creating new life and a family. They marry to share their life with another person in a meaningful way and a decent way.
NZ MPs may sing. They may talk of gay rainboys, sorry rainbows arching across their electorates and 'allowing two people who love each other to be together' but it is all hogwash. Somewhere we need to draw lines in the sand and have boundaries on human behaviour. We need to keep ourselves decent and respect G-D and ourselves too much to go down the path that NZ and twelve other countries have gone. They will pay a price. It may not be evident now, but one day it will.
There may not be a physical manifestation of fire and brimstone, sorry, but there will be a spiritual one. All these emotive arguments about love between two people of the same sex bore me frankly. If they loved and respected their heterosexual families they would be in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex and forget about the ridiculousness of gay marriage and their gay lifestyles.
We all struggle with things in our lives and we all have our frustrations and our battles to fight. However a community needs standards of behaviour and we all need to maintain those standards for a good and healthy community. We cannot allow pedophilia, homosexuality and perversions to flourish unchallenged. We need to contain those sorts of behaviours within clearly defined boundaries and not put a rubber stamp on them by a act of parliament which is now making a travesty of the whole parliamentary process. I feel sorry for NZers. Why their parliament wastes time on a Same Sex Marriage definition act when there are far more serious issues at hand. Shame, shame New Zealand, Shame.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The road to hell is paved with good intentions..
B'H
I have not been feeling well and trying to work on a project, hence my lack of posts for many weeks. It is with great sadness that I read about Ben Alon or Ben Zeiger who from all accounts was a good young man who bit off a more than he could chew.
One might want to be a hero. One might want to achieve great things in life, but we do not achieve them as islands unto ourselves.We can achieve alone much but in the type of work he was in, he should have had trust in a mentor and worked with that mentor. It seems incredible that he worked alone and others were not aware of what he was up to. In fact, if he had had a mentor - an experienced older person that he could confer with, I doubt he would have made the idiotic mistake of giving out vital information to an enemy agent.
Hashem has his hand in all things and one has to believe that while the loss of this young man's life is tragic and could have been avoided as could the imprisonments and deaths of the people he had betrayed, that the is a greater power at work and things will work out the better for Israel eventually. They will certainly revise the way they communicate and monitor agents' activities. Definitely it was one of the most unprofessional and amateur mistakes of any intelligence organisation's history.
I can not understand, coming from a different view of a person who has never worked in intelligence, why he did not feed some names of people that the Mossad wanted to get rid of to this Hezbollah agent. That way you would kill two birds with the one stone.
If you are smart enough and can concoct a good enough story, you could pick some one in their terror organisations and plant suspicions, these guys are paranoid enough anyway to warrant making life very uncomfortable for some of the terrorist organizers. Another thing is why did he not have a competent handler that he could trust and open to so he did not make such silly mistakes.
Maybe he was just the wrong sort of person to be a spy. He was not focssed enough although he was smart enough to be a good agent, he lacked other qualities necessary to complete the picture.
His family should have comfort and peace. We must understand that even more that kal Israel is stronger when we stick together like one part of a whole one nation. We must have empathy and compassion for each other and love one another and trust. That way we will survive the desert years and survive whatever with grace and support from the Master of the Universe.
Chag Samech and blessings to all Jews celebrating Pesach and all those who are not, may they come to the Seder if not this year, Be Shana Haba in Jerusalem. Blessings and be blessed in all things and be freed in thought, body and spirit.
I have not been feeling well and trying to work on a project, hence my lack of posts for many weeks. It is with great sadness that I read about Ben Alon or Ben Zeiger who from all accounts was a good young man who bit off a more than he could chew.
One might want to be a hero. One might want to achieve great things in life, but we do not achieve them as islands unto ourselves.We can achieve alone much but in the type of work he was in, he should have had trust in a mentor and worked with that mentor. It seems incredible that he worked alone and others were not aware of what he was up to. In fact, if he had had a mentor - an experienced older person that he could confer with, I doubt he would have made the idiotic mistake of giving out vital information to an enemy agent.
Hashem has his hand in all things and one has to believe that while the loss of this young man's life is tragic and could have been avoided as could the imprisonments and deaths of the people he had betrayed, that the is a greater power at work and things will work out the better for Israel eventually. They will certainly revise the way they communicate and monitor agents' activities. Definitely it was one of the most unprofessional and amateur mistakes of any intelligence organisation's history.
I can not understand, coming from a different view of a person who has never worked in intelligence, why he did not feed some names of people that the Mossad wanted to get rid of to this Hezbollah agent. That way you would kill two birds with the one stone.
If you are smart enough and can concoct a good enough story, you could pick some one in their terror organisations and plant suspicions, these guys are paranoid enough anyway to warrant making life very uncomfortable for some of the terrorist organizers. Another thing is why did he not have a competent handler that he could trust and open to so he did not make such silly mistakes.
Maybe he was just the wrong sort of person to be a spy. He was not focssed enough although he was smart enough to be a good agent, he lacked other qualities necessary to complete the picture.
His family should have comfort and peace. We must understand that even more that kal Israel is stronger when we stick together like one part of a whole one nation. We must have empathy and compassion for each other and love one another and trust. That way we will survive the desert years and survive whatever with grace and support from the Master of the Universe.
Chag Samech and blessings to all Jews celebrating Pesach and all those who are not, may they come to the Seder if not this year, Be Shana Haba in Jerusalem. Blessings and be blessed in all things and be freed in thought, body and spirit.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
No Posts Too Busy with other writing and goating around!
B'h
I am busy with other writings and at present which is paid and needs a lot of research. More than I had expected, but what the heck, it is fun and I get paid for it. Crazy with Pesach happening and the film is being made out here at our country home.
Took the goats to the goat farm for a holiday where the couple who run it will take good care of our two goaties and Osnat will get joined with a nice brown or black dairy buck who will ensure that we have one or two kids in spring. Dolly will not be joined. She is too old and cranky. She hated the trip over to the farm and would not allow Osnat to come in the back of the car with her. She is a cranky old thing, but lovable in her nasty unpredictable way. I am sure she has been mistreated somewhere along the way, so I am forgiving of her butty and bossy behaviour towards Osnat. She was quite agitated by the trip over and I had to lean my hand over and scratch her ears and withers to calm her down.
When Paul and Rhonda came out and reassured her she was fine. She settled down. Osnat had no problems getting into the car. I opened the door of the Rav and said to her, 'Hop up here, darling!' she took one look and leapt up into the back of the Rav. She is a seasoned traveler I could probably book a seat on a plane next to me and she would walk right on up the aisle and settle down into a seat next to me, no problems. Trouble is the other passengers might not like travelling with a goat. Particularly as goats are not particular about where they drop their pellets. I can't imagine mothers being impressed when their toddler toddles down the aisle and thinks the goat pellets are chewy lollies. That would not be a good move. I think I would have to earn heaps of money and buy my own plane so I can travel with my goats. Only kidding or goating around!
I have trouble trying to get the pair of them to understand that the aircraft hanger of a shed we have is NOT a toilet. Like good thieves they work in pairs. Dolly uses brute force to get the shed door pushed open and Osnat is the clever one who knows how to get the feed bin open and she can also open the lever in the side door of the shed. Dolly being a typical Boer meat goat is driven purely by the needs of her voracious appetite for food. She is a regular vacuum.
Well it is back to work and go to sleep for an early morning writing session.
I am busy with other writings and at present which is paid and needs a lot of research. More than I had expected, but what the heck, it is fun and I get paid for it. Crazy with Pesach happening and the film is being made out here at our country home.
Took the goats to the goat farm for a holiday where the couple who run it will take good care of our two goaties and Osnat will get joined with a nice brown or black dairy buck who will ensure that we have one or two kids in spring. Dolly will not be joined. She is too old and cranky. She hated the trip over to the farm and would not allow Osnat to come in the back of the car with her. She is a cranky old thing, but lovable in her nasty unpredictable way. I am sure she has been mistreated somewhere along the way, so I am forgiving of her butty and bossy behaviour towards Osnat. She was quite agitated by the trip over and I had to lean my hand over and scratch her ears and withers to calm her down.
When Paul and Rhonda came out and reassured her she was fine. She settled down. Osnat had no problems getting into the car. I opened the door of the Rav and said to her, 'Hop up here, darling!' she took one look and leapt up into the back of the Rav. She is a seasoned traveler I could probably book a seat on a plane next to me and she would walk right on up the aisle and settle down into a seat next to me, no problems. Trouble is the other passengers might not like travelling with a goat. Particularly as goats are not particular about where they drop their pellets. I can't imagine mothers being impressed when their toddler toddles down the aisle and thinks the goat pellets are chewy lollies. That would not be a good move. I think I would have to earn heaps of money and buy my own plane so I can travel with my goats. Only kidding or goating around!
I have trouble trying to get the pair of them to understand that the aircraft hanger of a shed we have is NOT a toilet. Like good thieves they work in pairs. Dolly uses brute force to get the shed door pushed open and Osnat is the clever one who knows how to get the feed bin open and she can also open the lever in the side door of the shed. Dolly being a typical Boer meat goat is driven purely by the needs of her voracious appetite for food. She is a regular vacuum.
Well it is back to work and go to sleep for an early morning writing session.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Mexican Purim At Gilly's Earling Learning Centre
B"H
Purim was hectic. We heard the Megilla (the story of Ester and Mordechai and the wicked Haman who gets his just desserts) late on Saturday night after Shabbat finished. It was a quick costume change for child and hurrying to shule to get there just as they finished saying the Brachot (blessings) for the reading of the Megilla and had started around persuk (verse) five or six of the first chapter. Already too LATE! So we went to another person's place to listen to it read very capably by her husband. For mothers, getting the kids there to shule minutes after Shabbes finishes in summer was really an up hill task. A friend of mine told me about Shabbes's in London that start and finish late, after 11pm in mid summer. Now that you need to be in your mid teens to your late thirties to really appreciate. I think once most of us hit the big 4 OH we start to say 'Hey, time to slow it down and for some it was 5 OH and others it is 6 OH. Most of us just cannot take the late nights like we used to do. It's called WATOB - Wear And Tear On Body.
The next day we went to Gilly's Early Learning Centre. One of the best, if not the best of accredited Jewish Early Learning Centres in East St Kilda and North Caulfield. I might be biased as my son spent nearly two years there and they were in one word, 'Amazing'. The atmosphere there is very homey and warm with out being unprofessional. All their staff either have their Childcare Certificate IV or are in the process of training towards it.
They were doing a Mexican Purim theme with spicy food. It was in two words "totally fabulous', but then Gilly's is the epitome of Gilly who is a person who give 150% along with her sister Talli, to whatever they do, whether it is running a childcare centre,doing chesed in the community and outside of it. they do a lot of things that no one ever hears about because frankly people like these two women are so busy doing chesed, running their business and looking after their families - they do not have time to talk about it or to talk Loshon Hara about others. They are simply too busy doing good. They are amazing role models and I for one, am very glad my son went to their creche.
I had experienced two creches before my son came to Gilly's early Learning Centre.
In fact the last non Jewish creche (ABC in Deniliquin) he was at, he kept saying to me, many times that the woman who looked after him hurt him. There were no bruises. I often wondered why he persistently said that but was too traumatised by what I had been put through up there to start to deal with it. I do remember the woman in charge Mandy saying to me, when I came to pick him up for one of the last times he was there and I was fighting back tears as I told her that I had lost my teaching position at Deniliquin High School and would no longer be able to afford to keep him in the creche, 'OH. good, she said, NOW you can be a REAL mother to your son.' Then she chuckled.
I realised later how much they must have hated the fact that I had a profession and was earning a good salary. It was so pathetic that they felt they had to try to destroy my earning potential to bring me down to their level. The level of the town grubs that have four or five children sometimes more to different fathers and are lying about on pensions for most of their lives. I will never be at that level and I will be dead first. G-D only knows what trauma my poor kid suffered at that creche that he had to keep repeating to me 'Cabel hurt me. Cabel hurt me.' Day in day out and I was only half listening to him because I was trying to think what I was going to do for a living and how to earn money to support myself and him. I spent days so highly anxious about how I was going to earn a living that I used to have heart palpitations and could not sleep for days on end. That was when I started writing and praying again. I did pray before but it was shallow prayer and meaningless, compared to prayer that comes from real pain and anguish that leaves you shaking like a tree in hurricane.
You see I do not give up hope.I believe you have to cling to the tree of life with your heart and soul. I believe Hashem rules this world and things happen because Hashem is in charge of us all. We can make choices but ultimately it is G-D who is in control. I believe with utmost faith that it is G-D who allows things to happen and we can make ourselves a receptacle for brachot (blessings) or we can close ourselves off from G-D and G-Dly blessings.
Whenever we hurt someone else or go out to be spiteful to another person, we receive back what we give out. That is why I try to make sure now that even if people are nasty to me or spiteful, I do not give it back to them, but let it go. I place myself out of harm's way for the sake of my son and those around me.
There is this Chassidic tale. Aren't there some of the greatest chassidic parables for every incident we have in life? The sun and the wind saw a chosid walking up the hill in his kapote. It was a nice day. They had been having an argument about who was the strongest. So they made a deal that the one who could get the chosid to take off his long black coat /kapote would be the winner - the stronger of the two.
The wind laughed at the sun and winked. I'll go first it said and you will not need to even try. I will have his coat off in a jiffy. The sun simply smiled. Ok it said.
So the wind rose up and blew and blew and blew. The branches of the trees lining the road were whipped around and leaves flew off them. Within minutes there was a virtual hurricane of wind sound ripping through the air, leaves and debris flying high and the day had become dark and overcast. the chosid pulled his coat tighter around his body and head bent into the storm, he forged on. Try as he might the wind could not budge the coat from that chosid's shoulders and body. Finally the wind gave up panting and exhausted.
Ok, he scoffed. You go. The sun rose up smiling warmly. He beamed warmth and heat towards the shattered and battered trees and the chosid who was walking up the rise of the hill with his coat wrapped tightly around him. Soon it was as hot as a furnace. Heat curled the recently fallen leaves and the chosid he undid his coat and opened it up all the way. He walked on and finally after a few more minutes, he took off the coat and put it over his arm and walked on up the hill and even rolled up his shirt sleeves.
There are some interesting thoughts to be drawn from that. It is my favourite chasidic story because it illustrates so aptly two different approaches to life and living. That is not to say that we never need the wind and only need sunshine. We need both to live in a balanced way.
Purim was hectic. We heard the Megilla (the story of Ester and Mordechai and the wicked Haman who gets his just desserts) late on Saturday night after Shabbat finished. It was a quick costume change for child and hurrying to shule to get there just as they finished saying the Brachot (blessings) for the reading of the Megilla and had started around persuk (verse) five or six of the first chapter. Already too LATE! So we went to another person's place to listen to it read very capably by her husband. For mothers, getting the kids there to shule minutes after Shabbes finishes in summer was really an up hill task. A friend of mine told me about Shabbes's in London that start and finish late, after 11pm in mid summer. Now that you need to be in your mid teens to your late thirties to really appreciate. I think once most of us hit the big 4 OH we start to say 'Hey, time to slow it down and for some it was 5 OH and others it is 6 OH. Most of us just cannot take the late nights like we used to do. It's called WATOB - Wear And Tear On Body.
The next day we went to Gilly's Early Learning Centre. One of the best, if not the best of accredited Jewish Early Learning Centres in East St Kilda and North Caulfield. I might be biased as my son spent nearly two years there and they were in one word, 'Amazing'. The atmosphere there is very homey and warm with out being unprofessional. All their staff either have their Childcare Certificate IV or are in the process of training towards it.
They were doing a Mexican Purim theme with spicy food. It was in two words "totally fabulous', but then Gilly's is the epitome of Gilly who is a person who give 150% along with her sister Talli, to whatever they do, whether it is running a childcare centre,doing chesed in the community and outside of it. they do a lot of things that no one ever hears about because frankly people like these two women are so busy doing chesed, running their business and looking after their families - they do not have time to talk about it or to talk Loshon Hara about others. They are simply too busy doing good. They are amazing role models and I for one, am very glad my son went to their creche.
I had experienced two creches before my son came to Gilly's early Learning Centre.
In fact the last non Jewish creche (ABC in Deniliquin) he was at, he kept saying to me, many times that the woman who looked after him hurt him. There were no bruises. I often wondered why he persistently said that but was too traumatised by what I had been put through up there to start to deal with it. I do remember the woman in charge Mandy saying to me, when I came to pick him up for one of the last times he was there and I was fighting back tears as I told her that I had lost my teaching position at Deniliquin High School and would no longer be able to afford to keep him in the creche, 'OH. good, she said, NOW you can be a REAL mother to your son.' Then she chuckled.
I realised later how much they must have hated the fact that I had a profession and was earning a good salary. It was so pathetic that they felt they had to try to destroy my earning potential to bring me down to their level. The level of the town grubs that have four or five children sometimes more to different fathers and are lying about on pensions for most of their lives. I will never be at that level and I will be dead first. G-D only knows what trauma my poor kid suffered at that creche that he had to keep repeating to me 'Cabel hurt me. Cabel hurt me.' Day in day out and I was only half listening to him because I was trying to think what I was going to do for a living and how to earn money to support myself and him. I spent days so highly anxious about how I was going to earn a living that I used to have heart palpitations and could not sleep for days on end. That was when I started writing and praying again. I did pray before but it was shallow prayer and meaningless, compared to prayer that comes from real pain and anguish that leaves you shaking like a tree in hurricane.
You see I do not give up hope.I believe you have to cling to the tree of life with your heart and soul. I believe Hashem rules this world and things happen because Hashem is in charge of us all. We can make choices but ultimately it is G-D who is in control. I believe with utmost faith that it is G-D who allows things to happen and we can make ourselves a receptacle for brachot (blessings) or we can close ourselves off from G-D and G-Dly blessings.
Whenever we hurt someone else or go out to be spiteful to another person, we receive back what we give out. That is why I try to make sure now that even if people are nasty to me or spiteful, I do not give it back to them, but let it go. I place myself out of harm's way for the sake of my son and those around me.
There is this Chassidic tale. Aren't there some of the greatest chassidic parables for every incident we have in life? The sun and the wind saw a chosid walking up the hill in his kapote. It was a nice day. They had been having an argument about who was the strongest. So they made a deal that the one who could get the chosid to take off his long black coat /kapote would be the winner - the stronger of the two.
The wind laughed at the sun and winked. I'll go first it said and you will not need to even try. I will have his coat off in a jiffy. The sun simply smiled. Ok it said.
So the wind rose up and blew and blew and blew. The branches of the trees lining the road were whipped around and leaves flew off them. Within minutes there was a virtual hurricane of wind sound ripping through the air, leaves and debris flying high and the day had become dark and overcast. the chosid pulled his coat tighter around his body and head bent into the storm, he forged on. Try as he might the wind could not budge the coat from that chosid's shoulders and body. Finally the wind gave up panting and exhausted.
Ok, he scoffed. You go. The sun rose up smiling warmly. He beamed warmth and heat towards the shattered and battered trees and the chosid who was walking up the rise of the hill with his coat wrapped tightly around him. Soon it was as hot as a furnace. Heat curled the recently fallen leaves and the chosid he undid his coat and opened it up all the way. He walked on and finally after a few more minutes, he took off the coat and put it over his arm and walked on up the hill and even rolled up his shirt sleeves.
There are some interesting thoughts to be drawn from that. It is my favourite chasidic story because it illustrates so aptly two different approaches to life and living. That is not to say that we never need the wind and only need sunshine. We need both to live in a balanced way.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
A beautiful day and the film Colour Blind
B'H
We have had a busy couple of days and I am working on getting work and getting a brochure up and running for two workshops in the country for writers. Day long functions and we are having a thriller film shot at the farm house during Pesach. I have to sell my house or my right to the house to this lovely couple of non Jewish people who are producing their first film. They have a Jewish actress and that is the connection. They are so excited because the farmhouse, location and setting is perfect for their film.
We are staying in town for Pesach which will be a bit of a trial, but we are being paid for the inconvenience. I will be able to pay some bills that have been long out standing. So I will pesach clean but have to kasher for Pesach elsewhere.
The wind is up and I have to say that this place I could live here until I die. It is the best place in the world. You see the scenery and the wind in the trees sounds like the sea wooshing away. I love it and am so happy here. It is the most beautiful place. I never want to live in a city again for anything in the world. It is just awful going back into the city with the traffic and the noise and dust. It is always with the greatest of relief, I head out to home after being in the city.
The goats came for a walk with us today and had a lovely time. Osnat bucks and prances. Dolly has started to talk. She was a very silent goat since we have had her here in October and now she talks to me. Her voice compared to Osnat's is rusty and croaky. It makes me believe that she has had some sort of shock in her life.
Osnat come to town on the weekend and had a lovely stay with a Mizrachi family who I still have to thank properly for hosting here. She was unsettled by being in town though so I had to take her back on Saturday night after shabbes was out. She tried to leap a six foot fence and obviously missed us.
Here is one of our photos.
Nir is playing king of the hill with Osnat and Dolly. Dolly is saying to him, 'Be too cheeky and I will bunt you into the water, young man.'
I will be starting a job in a day or so working with a man from Florida. That will be fun. It is education and we are communicating via skype on a project and if it pays well I will be more than happy. Trouble is I will have to be up at 1 am as Florida is 16 hours behind us. Need money badly so who cares, I will get up at 3 am if it means work and money coming into the account.
Watching a film that I got out of the mobile library today called Colour Blind and yes, I do identify. Only with the reactions of my family and there it ends. My ex did not treat me like a queen, ever. Far from it. Cash cow and workhorse, more like it.
We have had a busy couple of days and I am working on getting work and getting a brochure up and running for two workshops in the country for writers. Day long functions and we are having a thriller film shot at the farm house during Pesach. I have to sell my house or my right to the house to this lovely couple of non Jewish people who are producing their first film. They have a Jewish actress and that is the connection. They are so excited because the farmhouse, location and setting is perfect for their film.
We are staying in town for Pesach which will be a bit of a trial, but we are being paid for the inconvenience. I will be able to pay some bills that have been long out standing. So I will pesach clean but have to kasher for Pesach elsewhere.
The wind is up and I have to say that this place I could live here until I die. It is the best place in the world. You see the scenery and the wind in the trees sounds like the sea wooshing away. I love it and am so happy here. It is the most beautiful place. I never want to live in a city again for anything in the world. It is just awful going back into the city with the traffic and the noise and dust. It is always with the greatest of relief, I head out to home after being in the city.
The goats came for a walk with us today and had a lovely time. Osnat bucks and prances. Dolly has started to talk. She was a very silent goat since we have had her here in October and now she talks to me. Her voice compared to Osnat's is rusty and croaky. It makes me believe that she has had some sort of shock in her life.
Osnat come to town on the weekend and had a lovely stay with a Mizrachi family who I still have to thank properly for hosting here. She was unsettled by being in town though so I had to take her back on Saturday night after shabbes was out. She tried to leap a six foot fence and obviously missed us.
Here is one of our photos.
I will be starting a job in a day or so working with a man from Florida. That will be fun. It is education and we are communicating via skype on a project and if it pays well I will be more than happy. Trouble is I will have to be up at 1 am as Florida is 16 hours behind us. Need money badly so who cares, I will get up at 3 am if it means work and money coming into the account.
Watching a film that I got out of the mobile library today called Colour Blind and yes, I do identify. Only with the reactions of my family and there it ends. My ex did not treat me like a queen, ever. Far from it. Cash cow and workhorse, more like it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Thank G-D every day for being a Jew..
B'H
Researching for a story which I am rewriting and reshaping, I found some very disturbing information on Islamic practices in Africa and the Middle East. Not only Islamic unfortunately, despite the wrong information given on a Norwegian Utube clip where Jews were mentioned along with others, as practising this barbaric and brutal custom. It has never EVER been a Jewish custom. For that, I thank G-D.
Our religion is based on not causing harm or pain even to the animals we slaughter for our food.
My story is about an American girl who meets an educated Egyptian university student and chases him back to his country, when she gets pregnant and has a child to him. The differences in religion and culture become very obvious, even though the family of her boyfriend do not practise female genital mutilation (FGM) there are other differences in out look which make life uncomfortable.
Here is a clip on Afghanistan's women - some of the most abused and downtrodden women in the world. Especially when you have the Taliban - an extreme Muslim or Islamic group, closing schools for women and perpetuating violence and supporting ignorance and the most barbaric and backward practices of their religion, then you have girls like these in the clip below doing the most desparate things to escape the misery in their lives.
This is, of course, some of the more extreme practices, but it shows that we have a long way to go to educate in some areas of the world. These women need support to throw off the barbaric shackles of a medieval mentality. In fact, it is worst than medieval and belongs in the darkest of ages.
Researching for a story which I am rewriting and reshaping, I found some very disturbing information on Islamic practices in Africa and the Middle East. Not only Islamic unfortunately, despite the wrong information given on a Norwegian Utube clip where Jews were mentioned along with others, as practising this barbaric and brutal custom. It has never EVER been a Jewish custom. For that, I thank G-D.
Our religion is based on not causing harm or pain even to the animals we slaughter for our food.
My story is about an American girl who meets an educated Egyptian university student and chases him back to his country, when she gets pregnant and has a child to him. The differences in religion and culture become very obvious, even though the family of her boyfriend do not practise female genital mutilation (FGM) there are other differences in out look which make life uncomfortable.
Here is a clip on Afghanistan's women - some of the most abused and downtrodden women in the world. Especially when you have the Taliban - an extreme Muslim or Islamic group, closing schools for women and perpetuating violence and supporting ignorance and the most barbaric and backward practices of their religion, then you have girls like these in the clip below doing the most desparate things to escape the misery in their lives.
This is, of course, some of the more extreme practices, but it shows that we have a long way to go to educate in some areas of the world. These women need support to throw off the barbaric shackles of a medieval mentality. In fact, it is worst than medieval and belongs in the darkest of ages.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Networking Job Sites
B'H
It has been a busy week. I am building my work profiles on two Freelance sites called Freelanced and
Elance.
Elance
This is an excellent and very well organised site. What I do like is the fact that you can get tested on a whole range of skills, not just English skills, but software programs that are connected to communication and media websites. I am testing myself in a few areas. I have had some unpleasant surprises with the editing test (Chicago Style US) and intend to retake the test when I can in a fortnight's time and again until I can get into at least the top 10 %. While it is pleasing to be up with the top 10% or 20 % in many cases, I am working on my skills as I realise I am rusty and must make the top 2% or at least the top 5% to be guaranteed employment. In these sorts of competitive markets, I see people with mediocre or pedestrian skills who still get jobs, but for how long I wonder? It is best to work continually at perfecting your skills. I used to tell students when I was teaching, 'Don't believe anyone who tells you you are rotten at something or worse can't ever be good at something, because you have gotten less than 50%. If you really want to, you can work at your writing, reading and speaking skills and become world class. It is up to the individual to choose his or her path and work at it.'
You can also get Degree documents and certificates verified which is a big plus for the hirer or employee. This comes at a price though. That is the problem and as soon as I have some money in the kitty, I am going to get my documents verified.
The other plus is the space to put up a portfolio of work for prospective employers to go through and I have viewed some very impressive portfolios and some that are less than impressive, for what I would expect at least.
https://www.elance.com/s/edit/leedsiy/
Freelanced
This site has a different set up to Elance and my preference is Elance because it requires freelancers to be registered and those who take the skills tests are supposed to be more likely to be hired because you the hirer can check out the potential employee more thoroughly and you can see what their capabilities are. Portfolios are worrying from the point of view that work can be plagiarised on the Internet and the work may not belong to the person who is advertising it. I have joined both Freelanced and Elance. Once I am working, I will also set up a website to get my work and recommendations out there in cyberspace and get a savings and investment plan going once I have paid off my bills.
http://www.freelanced.com/ilanaleeds
I have put myself on this website as a greeting card illustrator as I intend to do some Australian Jewish Cards and just plain Aussie cards in good taste. There are so many tacky cards out there. Offensive and crude are not my cupcakes. I am calling my card company Good Taste Cards GTC. :-) Seeing as I love food it is a good name and I will work with clients who want specific cards for a function or festival. I don't do Xmas cards or Easter cards. Not sorry. There are plenty of those on the market already.
I am looking forward to having some fun and building up my portfolio with writings and cards on both sites.
E ads and Web based worksites or markets are the way of the future. You have to be hanging out there in cyberspace and to keep the learning and skills up to date to be hired. Hopefully some of you out there will find these sites useful for work and will get a profile up and going. Not only freelancers but I imagine there are people who are looking for skilled freelancers for your businesses. These two sites are a great resource.
It has been a busy week. I am building my work profiles on two Freelance sites called Freelanced and
Elance.
Elance
This is an excellent and very well organised site. What I do like is the fact that you can get tested on a whole range of skills, not just English skills, but software programs that are connected to communication and media websites. I am testing myself in a few areas. I have had some unpleasant surprises with the editing test (Chicago Style US) and intend to retake the test when I can in a fortnight's time and again until I can get into at least the top 10 %. While it is pleasing to be up with the top 10% or 20 % in many cases, I am working on my skills as I realise I am rusty and must make the top 2% or at least the top 5% to be guaranteed employment. In these sorts of competitive markets, I see people with mediocre or pedestrian skills who still get jobs, but for how long I wonder? It is best to work continually at perfecting your skills. I used to tell students when I was teaching, 'Don't believe anyone who tells you you are rotten at something or worse can't ever be good at something, because you have gotten less than 50%. If you really want to, you can work at your writing, reading and speaking skills and become world class. It is up to the individual to choose his or her path and work at it.'
You can also get Degree documents and certificates verified which is a big plus for the hirer or employee. This comes at a price though. That is the problem and as soon as I have some money in the kitty, I am going to get my documents verified.
The other plus is the space to put up a portfolio of work for prospective employers to go through and I have viewed some very impressive portfolios and some that are less than impressive, for what I would expect at least.
https://www.elance.com/s/edit/leedsiy/
Freelanced
This site has a different set up to Elance and my preference is Elance because it requires freelancers to be registered and those who take the skills tests are supposed to be more likely to be hired because you the hirer can check out the potential employee more thoroughly and you can see what their capabilities are. Portfolios are worrying from the point of view that work can be plagiarised on the Internet and the work may not belong to the person who is advertising it. I have joined both Freelanced and Elance. Once I am working, I will also set up a website to get my work and recommendations out there in cyberspace and get a savings and investment plan going once I have paid off my bills.
http://www.freelanced.com/ilanaleeds
I have put myself on this website as a greeting card illustrator as I intend to do some Australian Jewish Cards and just plain Aussie cards in good taste. There are so many tacky cards out there. Offensive and crude are not my cupcakes. I am calling my card company Good Taste Cards GTC. :-) Seeing as I love food it is a good name and I will work with clients who want specific cards for a function or festival. I don't do Xmas cards or Easter cards. Not sorry. There are plenty of those on the market already.
I am looking forward to having some fun and building up my portfolio with writings and cards on both sites.
E ads and Web based worksites or markets are the way of the future. You have to be hanging out there in cyberspace and to keep the learning and skills up to date to be hired. Hopefully some of you out there will find these sites useful for work and will get a profile up and going. Not only freelancers but I imagine there are people who are looking for skilled freelancers for your businesses. These two sites are a great resource.
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