The latest
Jacob Rosenblum
reading again. Books. I become engrossed in them, and I spend large
amounts of time reading them. The latest books that I've been reading
are: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon,
and Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky. A couple of great, compelling
Jewish authors.
Which leads me to wonder in what ways it will affect my writing, my
words, and my thinking.
I've recently re-discovered myself, largely in response to other
persons framing me as an entrepreneur, to be a venture socialist. This
is a title I am very comfortable with, and to me, it means that I like
to create institutions that serve human functions that our current
society underserves. This institutions that I have been involved in
still plan to, or do, make a buck, and charge a fee for service, and
this means that we don't quite serve everybody. But we make it quite
affordable.
Here at Chez Cascadia, my newest venture, people can sleep on a bunk
for $16 per night, or in a private room for $30. Quite a steal for
most people with North American incomes. The hostel that I stayed at
in East Jerusalem was four bucks, and went up to five bucks by the
time I left. So "cheap" is quite relative, like most things.
It isn't necessarily a place you want to send your aging grandmother.
I like to look after people's needs, but I lead a busy life, and
although I offer advice for free, as well as small assistances, I
definitely am not a caregiver to this people. There's a 40-year-old
white guy who is staying here right now, who will probably be here
through at least April 20, and he does not live in a healthy way. He
is obese, has recently not been eating sufficiently (surviving on
ramen and diet cola), doesn't eat vegetables, and almost never leaves
the hostel, not to mention his room.
There are a couple of ways we could handle this situation. We could
insist that he leave during the daytime (i.e. impose a lockout). This
would probably good for both him and us. We can be flagrantly
negligent of his need for space so that in order to get some privacy
he needs to leave his room. So far, this hasn't been effective. We
could cook him wholesome foods, but he routinely rejects the offer. He
once submitted that he'd like to know where the co-op is, and so I
offered to take him there the next day. But he hadn't slept well, and
the nine blocks seemed like too hard a challenge for how weak he was
feeling.
This makes me think about love, about human connection. Why do I want
to help him? Why do I want him to be healthy? By all means, there is
very little that this large man offers me in my home; he pays to be
here, that's about it. He doesn't seem to have similar politics in any
way. He's basically broke. He brings down the standard of presentation
for the hostel; I think he only has two sets of clothing. He by
necessity always has a lower bunk. Since he's always in his room, his
presence prohibits the use of that space for computer or television
use.
I want him to come to the co-op with me. I want to show him that "Hey,
life can be a lot better than this. I'm sorry that you thought you had
to settle for this existence."
My books are much more pleasant, much more attractive, much more
compelling. They are comfortably within my worldview, passionate
accords from the identity/culture that I broadcast to the world.
And even as I find such solace in this place, my identity, my
distinctions, are slipping. Very slightly, very gradually. I am more
and more attracted to 'otherness', and therefore less focused on
establishing myself as Number-One Jew, No. 1 Activist, it doesn't seem
quite so important anymore.
I once dreamed, as in a waking dream, as in the dreams of MLK Jr. (MLK
= Melech), that I, in this world, in this life, I would end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and stop the destruction of the Amazon
Rainforest. Although I've dabbled in the former, I certainly do not
cast my net so wide these days. These days, I started a computer
re-use and recycling project, and now have a hostel. These seem small
compared to those impossibly huge social action projects.
I may go back to Israel/Palestine this summer. Anyone who wants to
coordinate with me, should.
I intend to write again soon.
peace,
jake