APRIL-MAY2008

Hey there Pres. ! Heart dropped to your gut?




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In a move to protest the IDF's plan to send thousands of officers into the country's schools on Wednesday, New Profile - a movement opposed to what they see as "brainwashing" by the army - plans to set up a demonstration in which members dressed as IDF officers will wash a large model of a human brain.

The organizers of the planned protest hope to draw attention to the IDF's nationwide campaign for students and voice their opposition to the "militarization of Israeli society." The demonstration will take place opposite Tel Aviv's Cinematheque and next to the city's Ironi Alef High School, which has one of the highest draft-dodging rates in the country.

"I think the fact that military officers have free access to schools exploits the status of soldiers and the status of schools," said Lotahn Raz, a New Profile activist and organizer of Wednesday's demonstration, which he called a "street performance."

"We want to reach out to students across the country and tell them that they have an opportunity to think differently. We also want to reach out to the larger Israeli public and tell them that the army should not play a part in our schools," he added.

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Our house was built in the deer's natural habitat in a remote rural area. Well worn deer trails cut through the property's abundant pine and sage. The oldest deer we've met (we call her Mama Rose) walked right up to us when we first arrived, sniffing and looking us over.

 
Rose and her kin obviously think the yard belongs to them as much as anyone else, and they are just taking advantage of the wealth of natural foods growing everywhere. They especially like clover flowers, but it's amazing to see the variety of tasty flowers, leaves, twigs, nuts and berries they'll eat. They stay away from herbs and herbal flowers, but on occasion we've seen young deer eating the sweet medicinal berries of the Juniper tree.  

We think they visit because  they like our company. Often we see deer we don't know nibbling in  the yard, but nearly every day some or many of Rose's extended  family come by. All of the deer are likely to lay down on the grass and hang out, whether we know them well or not. Many of them know us  personally, and while often running into the yard to greet us with  their quiet enthusiasm, they will also swiftly shy away from  strangers. Although notoriously skittish, able to leap meters in the air in an instant  when startled, a few deer we know, most notably Eva and her kids, will let us touch them as if we were family, letting us scratch them or pick something out of their fur. Eva even enjoys a
hearty backrub!







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