Author: Robert Bettmann

Founder of Day Eight, and the DC Arts Writing Fellowship.

This Land is your land, This Land is my land…

What’s happening right now in Israel is awful. But I’m not sure what is to be done about it. Both sides are behaving very badly, and have been (off and on) since the nation of Israel was founded.

The situation in Israel right now is like infidelity. You can explain it. But it doesn’t excuse it.

I wrote something a few years ago that I like. Here’s the quote that resonates:

Last week North Korea tested long range ballistic missiles. The United States and others protested. But when the United States models for the world that one can only rely on ones own country, it is folly not to expect other countries to follow our example. We have created a world in which the ability to rely on only ourselves has become not a security strength, but a weakness. We set a bad example.

We’re talking about a plot of land that’s actually slightly smaller than New Jersey. And within that, we’re dealing with a first world nation living in Hoboken, and a 3rd world nation trying to emerge in Hacensack. Peace ain’t gonna happen that way. And that is just one of many, many, issues with a two state solution.

I don’t blame either side for their behaviour (in a certain way.) But it doesn’t excuse it. What is and has been happening on both sides is in-excusable.

At some point you hope that a stronger partner will lead the couple toward a solution. And it is not unreasonable to expect a country explicitly based on a faith to conduct its affairs on a higher moral plane. Not that that has helped Tibet (I mean the western province of China) much. In the end we’re gonna need some partners to help both sides before a long-term solution will emerge.

The Doctor

I’m on my way to meet a friend for tea. Though two posts in a row are most unusual for me, I’m gonna indulge.

I’ve been working on a project for the Fringe. It’s well past time for me to do a show, and I like the community that my work will be a part of in the Fringe. It sort of takes some of the pressure off me. And I think this idea I have is really hot.

I know, I know – art that starts from an idea is a dangerous thing.

I’m working on a dance/theater adaptation of a Dylan Thomas play. You might know him as the poet famous for such lines as: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’, and ‘wow, I finished the bottle of scotch already!’. He wrote some plays, and some film scripts in addition to wonderful poetry before he died at age 39 (?). His most famous radio play is Under Milkwood. I’ll be producing one called “the doctor and the devils.” I’ll write more about the play another time. The characters are very complex, and I’m trying to figure out what language I can cut, and what characters I can simplify.

Dance is a very in-efficient replacement for language. My vision is to have a play-reading with the readers on stage. Possibly some projections to help the vision. And at times the readers spread to the edge of the stage and dances take over. Sometimes ‘set’ to the text, sometimes with music overwhelming the text. I’ll write more about it later, but I’m excited. The fact that my calf is near-functional again also makes me feel more positive. I get very unhappy when I don’t dance. Enjoyed rehearsal last night with Jane Franklin.