The Kick-Off

Hello all!

After a lot of internal debate over if I should start a blog, I'm finally taking the plunge. I figured it's an easy way to keep in touch with everyone and share those random thoughts, links, etc when they pop up. Especially since I've been so bad at keeping up with my emails.

I'm also bombarded with so much information and new experiences here that I want to share. I feel like I straddle a lot of divides here- cultural, societal, political, spiritual- and have been learning so much about this place and myself as a result. In the end, I'm just curious about what the heck is goin' on and am in this constant state of questioning just about everything.

The title of this blog is simply how I feel so much of the time and how I sometimes feel where the peoples of this region to be- when I really try to understand both "sides" of this conflict, when I hear racism, when I see violence and discrimination, when people fail to listen. Totally stuck. I think progress can happen- if we learn to stop bouncing back and forth between the same old arguments, start taking some risks that might scare the crap out of us, and learn to be truly progressive. Of course, this is just my opinion and effort to make a catchy title for my blog- I do not intend to over-simplify or demean the intense and complex nature of what's happening in this region. I also don't mean to imply that I remain completely "stuck" on issues here. I have opinions and most probably consider me to be a "pro-Palestinian activist"... but it's so much more complicated that that.

So here it is. My blog. Please please please feel free to comment and participate and post your own thoughts, etc, because that's what "blogging" is all about, right?