After Bethlehem

Dove of Peace by Elvira
One of the reasons I originally wanted to do a blog was to try the idea of the advent calendar-- to see how the daily window opening could fit into a blog format. Ever since Jacquie sat out the seige of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem I was interested in somehow conveying the terrible situation that clearly shows the pain of the occupation of the so-called holy land. Then Joel visited there this summer and he was struck with the irony of the fact that this location with its history of the nativity was now in heavily militarized occupied territory. So I found an advent calendar in Austria where I spent time in October for the Dictionary of War (www.dictionaryofwar.org).

So I was pretty new to blogs. I am not usually a "blog reader", which Molly says is the first step to getting into "blogdom". Nor have I posted on others' blogs. Molly describes a whole protocol of exchange of blog urls. The advent calendar didn't really get that much traffic. I wrote to the electronic infitada and to several Palestinian solidarity sites, giving them the url. But judging from the traffic report, I don't think they announced the url. Still I did get many visits, and many from far away countries. It didn't seem to ignite discussion. I received only one comment on the 24 days of pictures and text. I wish people had commented. If I had seen it on someone elses blog, I would have commented.

But some people have told me they appreciated it and wanted to buy a copy! Not realizing that it is totally digital. I never really even opened the windows.. except through photoshop tools!

So now the advent calendar is over and I still have this blog space.

So much has happened in the 24 days of advent. I don't know where to start.