Currently Listening Who Are We Living For? By Dispatch Gone see related

So. Summer Kallah is over. I can surely say that board meeting and summer ended up being the best 7 days I have ever spent in nfty mar. Between my shutter warring bunk, an amazing board, a fabulous cochair, the winningest losing volleyball team on the face of the planet, par (and as much as we make fun of them, I love 'em to death), a super fun staff, really great head waiters and of course a cabinet that i am SO proud to be a member of, things came together in a way i never could have thought possible. And just to add to all the excitement of the event itself, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary with Lauren at Camp Harlam.
Cochairing summer was an experience that I would not trade for any other position on cabinet. I learned so much from the board about how mar works, how to plan events, how to roll with the punches, and how to laugh and be silly while getting a staggering amount of work done. Now that I am done, could I tell you how to plan and run a smoothly functioning event inwhich everything goes according to plan? No. But now I am full of ideas, both tested and untested, and I know how to plan and run an event inwhich everything goes. It may not go according to plan, but it goes. And 9 times out of 10, it goes right (I can only point out one experience last week that I would not consider having gone right). I can say without a doubt that the event was marvelous and I am in awe of the way my work turned out.
Thanks for the opportunity, nfty mar. I hope you guys learned and had fun.

Currently Listening Day & Night By Sheva Salaam see related

I'm back from Israel, but that term is wrong in some ways. Part of me never comes back from Israel. I leave a piece of myself there when I have to leave. But I also find a new piece of my self everytime I go, so its a fair trade. This trip was the most moving Israel experience in my life. Being with kids I have known for years and lived with before made the trip so much fun, and being with them while many of them discovered the land for the first time made me discover new things as well. Too much happened with too many people for me to really paint an accurate picture of my summer, and anyone I met or talked to on the trip has my heartfelt thanks for enriching my trip.

I encourage all of you to ask me questions and ask for stories. I don't want to go into details here because there is too much, but the stories are great and the characters are quality. 

I'm glad to be home but I'm already homesick.

And I love you Echat Esrei, our bus was amazing.

Currently Listening Cruel Sun By Rusted Root Cat Turned Blue see related

June 26-August 1: NFTY L'dor v'dor Trip.

I am currently living the summer of my dreams in Israel with a bus full of Camp Kids.

I hope everyone else has a great summer. Remember to take chances, everything is worth trying once.

"We have not yet lost our hope, our two thousand year old hope, to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem."
             -Hatikvah

b'Shalom

Adam/Cheez

Currently Playing The Greatest Hits By Stills & Nash Crosby Cathedral see related

Because my last song got such rave reviews on this site, here is another one. I consider it to be the first legitimately not full of suck song I wrote, at the beginning of last ninth grade. Its about farm strikes, violence, and an un-willingness to compromise:

Farms and Fields

Justice served
Honor observed
Neither sides’ relented
Tragedy prevented
Neither side will come around
One will stop when the other’s downed
The field, the farm the dusty crop
One punch, two punch, three punch, drop

This battle is fought in more ways than one
This battle is fought in more ways than one

This battle is fought in more ways than one

Legend to me
Legend of you
Settin’ me free
Leadin’ in to
The life he’s led, The life I lead
The blood he bled, The blood I bleed
Keep towin’ the line, hold it fast
Fight the good fight, fight to the last
This battle is won in more ways than one

This battle is won in more ways than one
This battle is won in more ways than one

Slip it, lose it
Fight it, earn it
Hold it, keep it
Want it, gain itChorus x2

I am in such and emo mood. I have had a great week, a great weekend, and yet that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach persists. Remind me about the last time you and I laughed together, because I feel like I need a good laugh now.

Currently Playing 1967-1970 By Beatles Across the Universe see related

I joined Xanga a year ago today to be able to post comments on other people's sites. When did I turn this site into a forum where I pretend that people listen to the opinions I am voicing and the thoughts I am sharing?

Speaking of sharing, in case you didn't know, I write pretty basic and below average songs. Many have political themes or social undertones (n fact, all but one about Lauren), but a few weeks ago I wrote my first actual obvious protest song, which neither subtly nor kindly expresses my views of the Bush Administration. The lyrics are here, the tune is somewhere in my head waiting to come out (ps. I know the last line is based on Jewish text):

Asleep Behind The Wheel

The revolution’s come and gone
But I still sing these crummy protest songs
That really says something about the state of the world today

Now I ain’t here to jerk some tears
Raise your fears or ask for cheers
I am here so we can talk about society these days

Paranoia is on the rise
"It’s the terrorists fault" Georgy W. Replies
And some of us is too slow in seeing through that excuse

In Africa neighbor is pitted against neighbor
In Asia no one is payed for their labor
And our government says "If only you were white..."

And we go to war for O-I-L
We get what we need, leave your country in hell
It ain’t hard to see where they get all the hate

Rumsfeld tries to raise our fear
He needs someone to blame, he should look in the mirror
It’s nice to know someone like that has access to all them nukes

The politicians say they do what’s best for us folks
Why is it so hard for us to see through that hoax
It seems clear to me they forgot the meaning of "common good"

I ain’t here to criticize
Free speech is a right I gotta exercise
Because the way it looks to my eyes
The guys in charge are in for a surprise
If they don’t change their act before the mob comes

Free speech is more than a phrase to be thrown around
Some say its lost, I say yet to be found
It ain’t that sort of thing that you talk about but don’t use

We’ve got to exercise our rights
Stop letting them pick the fights
Because what’s wrong is wrong and we can’t let them say otherwise

Now when I said this ain’t a protest song
I meant what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong
And all the wrong in the world has gotta be changed

So come and rally around my cause
It’s called justice; it deserves applause
A noble purpose and something we should strive to achieve

Rise up, it’s time to raise our voice
Let them know that peace is our choice
Come with me, and you and I, together we’ll change the world

(copyright Adam Zemel, April/May 2005)