Q/A + Good stuff: The Swell Season, ctd.

Occasionally, I get actual questions in the comments, and given Rule #6, I feel that I must answer these questions in post form!

1) “Applesauce or latkes?” absurdbeats asks — to which I can only reply: Why would you force me to choose? I thought we were friends!

2) “How can I contact you?” To any and all who want to get in touch more directly, you’ll find my email contact on the About page. Please write early and often! (And slumdogmamabear, I’ve already sent you a note!).

3) “Should I tell everyone I know — particularly those who are rich and famous — about your fabulous blog?” You know, I am beginning to suspect that this question is but a figment of my fertile (and fabulous!) imagination, but I hear it so often from within the confines of my head, that I feel I must answer! And the answer is: Yes, yes, you most certainly should!

And since that’s a really poor excuse for a post, and I’m not likely to have a chance to do any thing more impressive today, I’ll leave you with this, too: A really nice interview with The Swell Season (check out the hole in his guitar! It’s bigger than I thought!), from Boing Boing video. Enjoy!

Q/A

Letters! We get lots and lots of letters!

No, not really. We lie. No one gets letters anymore. Remember letters? Ah, those were nice.

BUT, we do get comments, and some of them have questions, direct or implied. And so, as I have done occasionally in the past, I will now take this opportunity to answer some questions! In looking through the comments, I discovered that a couple of questions have been waiting quite some time for a response…. I am very sorry about that, and will try to respond with greater alacrity in the future! Maybe I’ll make this a fortnightly feature (and if there aren’t any real questions in a particular two-week period, I’ll just make some up). But hey, enough of my yakkin’!

1. Will there be ponies at the end of the commenting process? No, sadly, no ponies! At least not from me. But I have heard that our newly socialist government will be giving away sex-change operations and abortions, so you may want to check with your local Soviet.
2. Should I tell everyone I know, especially the rich and powerful, about your blog? You know, it’s funny how often this question comes up! And the answer is: Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!
3. Have you read Sandy Tolan’s The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East? No, I haven’t, but I have heard only good things about it. I’m in this enviable/annoying situation right now wherein I do so much reading in my field for book reviews and any speaking/teaching that I may be doing, that I tend to not get around to those books that aren’t required for my daily bread. But I repeat: I have heard wonderful things about The Lemon Tree, and I know that many people have found it a great place to get into the rather difficult subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
4. Who listens? Will it do any good? – Re: Calling elected reps on issues of hunger advocacy, Michele asked rhetorical questions that she answered in the affirmative herself, but I wanted to back her up. Our elected representatives, at all levels, do indeed listen and respond to input from their constituents. Consider, for instance, the change in rhetoric coming out of Washington surrounding Israel/Palestine since the serious upswing in Jewish peace advocacy after about 2002. Aside from anything else, a movement is nothing but a bunch of people, moving (phoning, writing, collecting funds/clothes/food, talking, walking, building, sewing) — as Margarget Mead may have said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (It’s true, even if she didn’t say it!) And this, too: “You aren’t required to complete the task, but neither are you free to leave it.” (Pirkei Avot 2:21 – a slightly different translation can be found here).
5. “I’d really be interested in your take about the different factions of thought among the general Israeli populace on what they see as their desired path versus what path they’re willing to concede to in order to resolve the conflict” – This is a tough question for me to answer, if only because I haven’t lived in Israel for 11 years, and a lot has happened in those years. My impression, from this distance, is that there is a real mixed bag of feelings, sometimes in one and the same person.Surely there remain those who continue to believe that Israel deserves, and will eventually have control over, all of Greater Israel (all the lands from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea) — it’s my impression that these people are of a Messianic bent, and thus believe that divine intervention will make it so. But my sense is that the majority of Israeli Jews have come to understand that some concessions have to be made, and honestly, all they want is peace and quiet. I don’t believe that most of these people are thinking in terms of justice for the Palestinians, or even necessarily in strict two-states-for-two-peoples terms, but that their thinking is more along the lines of wanting the fear and the tension to go away, and if getting that means Israel has to hand the Arabs some of what they want, so be it. Having said that, it also seems that there remains a 25-30% minority of Israeli Jews who are firmly supportive of a true two-state solution, with the understanding that this is both best for Israel and would serve the demands of justice for the Palestinian people.

   A great place to learn more about Israeli Jewish attitudes on these issues is the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research – click on “English,”  then click on “War and Peace Index.” The July index and August index address somewhat different questions, and in the latter, you’ll see that “a large majority (72%) believes that from Israel’s standpoint today, the need to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very urgent or moderately urgent” — but it’s important to remember that the content of that “solution” will vary widely from person to person.

All righty then! From the sublime to the ridiculous. Ponies to peace — I am the full-service blogger, I am!

And as always, thanks so much for being here, whether you comment or not! My head is a messy place — it’s nice to have some company in here.

Q/A – Jez edition.

Ok, not so much an entire “edition,” per se, as an answer to a single question asked by many people!

How do I get on that Jez board that I’ve heard so much about? – Anyone interested in the Jezebel message board known affectionately as “The Basement,” can email dissolver: dissolver (at) gmail (dot) com. She will set you up!

And may I add that they are lovely people over there? And smart and funny, too (especially that ellaesther – what a hoot!) — which, you know, in my opinion, if you combine lovely + smart + funny, you are on top of the world!

Q/A.

When I decided to undertake this whole weblogging dealio, I realized an important thing. I write about stuff that makes people mad.

Sometimes, that is — when the people doing the reading do not (as a I suspect is currently the case) so closely share my own worldview. (Believe me. Back when I wrote in newspapers? There were letters. Etc.)

If, however, I one day draw greater attention to myself and reach people who don’t closely share my worldview, well then, some will get mad! Or, at the very least, disagree vehemently with me. And this being the internet, they’ll do so to my virtual face, in the comments.

So, though I frequent and admire the blogs of some folks who occasionally interact in their own comment sections, I decided that for me — this might result in an ulcer. Thus: The comment section will belong to the commenters, to express themselves as they see fit. If anything really egregious should wind up on the boards, well, I’m still the boss, and I’ll just take it down.

However! I did not consider the fact that people might occasionally ask me actual questions! And that if I do not answer them, I will be a very rude blog mistress indeed. And so, today, I institute Q/A. Every so often, when and if a few questions have popped up, I’ll answer them, in a post such as this.

1. RSS feeds - To my stupification, given my relative tech ineptitude, I can answer this! But first: Thank you. If anyone likes this place enough to set up an RSS feed, well, that is a very nice thing! The answer is: Look to the right. Beneath the blogroll and search function, you’ll notice a bunch of links under “Meta” — you’ll find the RSS feed option there. Click on it, sign up, and we’re off!
2. PMs on Jezebel – I will still be checking and replying to these. I figure that they will stop at some point, and then after awhile, I’ll stop checking! But for the time being, I’ll be going over once a day or so to see if anyone has stopped by to say hi.
3. Can my brain Rickroll me? This wasn’t a direct question, but was (I felt) implied, and I feel duty bound to answer. Yes. Yes, it can.
4. Would it be ok if I send a link to this blog to all my friends, loved ones, and powerfully connected professional contacts? Why, thank you so much for asking! Yes, it would be just lovely, imaginary commenter who never actually asked any such thing!

Ok, those are the questions (real or imagined) for now! I’ll do this every now and then, as/if the need arises! Cheers, and thanks for being here!