12.29.23 -- In Our Times Weekly Digest
Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear your comments, and please feel free to share. Here's to a new year with far less violence and far more compassion.
12.23.23 Photo: Samar Hazboun. “God Is Under the Rubble in Gaza”: Bethlehem’s Subdued Christmas Palestinian girls in the main courtyard at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Why this photo: the tranquil, elegant lines of the courtyard, a counter-balance to the continuing brutality in that region of the world.
12.23.23 Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv. The Day Hamas Came. Photo of Nurit Hunwald, nurse at Kibbutz Be’eri. Why this photo: I’m looking at a photo of a woman who survived the massacre of her town. The whole community ruined and razed. Blood everywhere, soot from the grenades. How does she go on from there? How does she sit for the photographer, arms knuckled around her knees, as if holding on, as if knowing that if she lets go, she’ll fly apart.
12.25.23 Photo: Rory Doyle. America’s Diet Is Feeding Groundwater Crisis The photo showed Scott Matthews and a deep-water pump on his land in Arkansas; he’s trying to keep his farm going against the odds. The factory farms are taking over everything, including water. Why this photo: this offered the challenge of painting a bunch of equipment that I’m utterly unfamiliar with. One part of it looked like a little table lamp, another like a blue balloon. What do I know of deep-water pumps? I liked the stance of this farmer, determined, defiant, knowing the odds are stacked against him.
12.27.23 Photo: Jeenah Moon. Shelter Evictions Will Damage Migrant Children, Schools Warn The photo showed Luisa, Angel, and Arion Castillo. About 3,500 migrant families in New York City shelters have received eviction notices, and can expect to move every 60 days. Children will have to change schools or face long commutes. One girl was quoted in the story: “This is not an American dream. This is a nightmare." Why this photo: The detail of the mother’s and older son’s hands clasped around the younger child. The close-up is of Angel’s face.
12.29.23 Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv ‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 The photo showed Eti and Eli Bracha, whose daughter, Gal Abdush, was killed and likely raped in the Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The story detailed the sexualized violence. Why this photo: The Times Says It’s A 13-Minute Read But that’s impossible. I can’t read the story whole. I have to skim the words and even skimming I look back to the photos, my eye gone wild. Comforter, where, where is your comforting? Hopkins, as usual, coming to comfort me, even though, so far away, I’m not the one in need of comforting. What’s left to these parents but staring out the window as if some relief could come? Oh, lean against the person you love As if love could be a remedy. How the woman’s head fits so neatly into the man’s bent neck, her hand clasping around his chest.
12.29.23 Photo: Mohammed Abed. Deadly Strike Hits Southern Gaza Area Where Many Are Sheltering Wait, haven’t we read this story several times before? Wasn't this this story a week, two weeks, a month ago? Could this be today’s New York Times? But it is. Again a wounded child in a ruined Gaza hospital. Why this photo: for this image, I wanted to focus on the face of the medical worker in green, his intense concentration, but I wound up looking at the gloved hands on this tiny, fragile child. The fringe of the keffiyeh of the worker in green is just visible at the top of the frame. I was struck by how small the child is.
I am in awe of this weeks pain and beauty. We move beyond Gaza and stay in pain but with the warmth of realizing the pain