Notes from the Transition

Habiba: 8-year old daughter of a journalist - friend of a friend - killed in Gaza It's November 3rd, 2023. I am sitting here in Portland Oregon, the 'bubble within a bubble' as my friend from Jerusalem calls it. And I know that this is true - that this city is a bubble within a bubble - because somehow there seem to be two realities that are somehow coexisting, and I cannot reconcile that in my head or in my heart. For the past three weeks, my life has consisted of a constant stream of horror from Gaza - from morning until night, I scroll through images of burned and mutilated bodies, mothers screaming, fathers breaking down and crying as they hold the lifeless bodies of their kids. Another day, another massacre, this time in Jabalia refugee camp - and the videos show the before and after: kids and adults gathered in a circle in an open square. Then someone pointing to the sky and everyone running. Six missiles hit, all in a row, killing 400 people. Screams of horror, gray