songs while reading

Libraness – Sykes Temple Lane

Dear reader,

I have been reading about partition lately–particularly that of India and of Korea–and what it means to live divided. Borders are both physical and intangible loci of political, social, religious, and economic relationships.

@ – Autosmile

I have also been reading about the architecture and archaeology of the West Bank. About a decade after the Six Day War in 1967, Matityahu Drobles issued The Master Plan for the Development of Settlements in Judea and Samaria, wherein he organized land settlements for Israeli migrants upon the summits of the hills surrounding Palestinian towns and cities. Because the summits were barren and uncultivated, Drobles was able to legally secure this land, despite the civilization that already existed there. These settlements, called “community settlements,” existed in the air, effectively creating

Fog Lake – Catacombs

a metaphorical as well as an actual, physical verticality. Upon their summits, they had a wider vantage point and the tactical high ground. They “rose” above the land, closer to God and closer to their imagined Biblical landscape.

@ – Star Game

In Israel’s attempts to “anchor new claims to ancient ones,” they go beyond partition into settlement (Weizman 126). In this contemporary war and genocide, these things continue to circle in my mind: borders, partition, and settlement. And the mutilation of the human.

Bill Evans – Peace Piece

I have spent a lot this summer away from home. I have a home to return to and I wonder if the person reading this does too. Do the borders of my home have a tangible beginning and end? Does my body? It seems like the borders are always in flux, and I feel that this is part of what it means to exist freely–when my home may open itself to one while closing itself to another. It is only when my home is invaded that I feel the need to draw a line and to give threats. To fight, to become violent, either physically or in some other way. Safety–what does this word mean? I wonder if safety is ever in my control. Supposedly the inside has safety while the outside does not. But we would never know. Just because I “drew a line” doesn’t mean that the line or the spaces on either side of line are safe. Who has safety?

Bill Evans – Time Remembered