Foto Friday – Greenpeace vs Coal Power
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Picture of the Week, Politics, Technology
Greenpeace has been stepping up its activity against coal-fired power stations, coal still being the prevalent form of fuel for electric power generation in Israel. Yesterday, eight Greenpeace activists were arrested upon infiltrating the grounds of the Hadera power plant. The eight — comprising Israeli and foreign nationals — entered the plant via the sea.
This follows an action taken earlier this month, when Greenpeace activists boarded a coal ship, the Orient Venus, en route from South Africa to Israel and attempted to block it from docking at the Hadera power plant.
The three persons who hung the “Coal kills” banner were arrested but later released.
According to the Associated Press yesterday, “Israeli police said six of the activists were arrested on the coal dock.”
“Greenpeace said nine more activists were arrested after their “Rainbow Warrior” boat reached the Haifa port in northern Israel for inspection by Israeli authorities.”
Greenpeace opposes Israel’s plans to build a new coal-fueled power plant off the coast of Ashkelon so stay tuned for more news items about dramatic actions like these.
Foto Friday – Guide Dog Center
Filed under: education, Foto Friday, General, health, History and Culture, Life, Picture of the Week, Profiles
Israel has over 27,000 registered blind people, although unofficial estimates place this figure much higher. Of these, about 250 are guide dog assisted, but this number is growing steadily thanks to the efforts of the The Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind.
The Center’s mission is “to improve the quality of life of blind people by providing them with safe mobility, independence and self-confidence through the faithful assistance of guide dogs”.
The Center fulfills a vast need for guide dogs trained to respond to Hebrew commands. For many years, guide dogs were a rarity in Israel. Blind Israelis could be sent to guide dog schools in the US but only those with good English were able to benefit, and follow-up services — so essential to a successful blind person-dog “partnership”– were unavailable.
All this began to change in 1991 with the Center’s founding. The dogs — and their masters – are trained in Hebrew. Dogs are trained to guide in Israel’s physical environment “and maneuver around typically Israeli obstacles such as bus-stand posts or streetlights in the middle of sidewalks; concrete barriers at street corners or cars parked half on the sidewalk and half on the road.” (They said it, not me: typically Israeli!). And of course, aftercare assistance is just a phone call away.
The Center’s preferred breeds are Labradors, Golden Retrievers and their first-crosses, as these are highly trainable, responsive, intelligent and have calm temperaments. But there are German Shepherds as well. You can read more about the training process here.
Over the years, the Center has gone from strength to strength, and recently purchased a property adjacent to the existing campus for a planned expansion in an effort to keep up with the growing demand for “partnerships”. They valuable work they do has been recognized by officials such as President Shimon Peres, who received a group of volunteer trainers and dogs at the his residence.
The Center is funded by donors and is happy to welcome visitors at its campus at Beit Oved, 20 minutes out of Tel Aviv. There is a Mitzva Club for group fundraising and a Puppy Sponsorship program to assist in raising the dogs in their first year ($500 includes all of their food, toys and immunizations).
In addition, the Center’s Tandem Bike Team joins blind riders together with sighted partners for on and off-road adventures in different parts of Israel almost every weekend.
They’ll be holding a special ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on September 29 and 30, 2010 – including a visit to the Center. Click here for information and to learn more about this good cause.
Foto Friday – Richard Margolis’ outdoor sculpture hunt
Filed under: Art, Blogging, design, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, Travel
Richard Margolis hails from Rochester, New York, the “Center of Photography” but this year makes his home in Tel Aviv. In Rochester, birthplace of the Eastman-Kodak company, Margolis generally works in black and white but the sights and sounds of “the City That Never Stops” has had a colorful effect on his current work.
IsraelPublicArt.com is his new project: an online catalogue dedicated to Israel’s creative artists. “I am new here and impressed with the variety and quantity of public art, and with the lack of information about it. This is my attempt to contribute.”
Traveling mostly by foot, on each outing Margolis tries to find more artworks to add. “I’ve delayed uploading the list because each day I find more that ought to be included, but, clearly, it won’t ever be complete.”
The list ranges from Israeli classics such as Nathan Rappaport’s Monument to Mordechai Anilewicz at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai to Ezra Orion’s virtual Inter-Galactic Sculpture, which cannot be seen and is described online here.
Margolis defines “Public” to mean “that no restrictions are imposed or admission charged. Most items are out-of-doors, but could be inside. Usually, they are in prominent locations and easy to find.”
The project is important because it brings attention to those works that, despite being well-displayed in central locations, are sometimes barely noticed. For example, Nordo Gordiano by Gideon Graetz. How many Tel Avivians know its name?
Or this untitled sculpture by Gedalia Sucho (Suchowolsky) at Tel Aviv University, passed by thousands of students every day, yet barely given a glance.
And there are those well-intentioned projects gone awry, such as Ship of the Desert by Nitzan Refaeli, one of a planned eight sound sculptures (only four were created before funding ran dry).
There are whimsical installations, like Cup by Tanya Preminger in suburban Ganei Tikva.
And successful ones, like The Choir by Ofra Zimbalista, a popular sculpture decorating the balcony of venture capital group Evergreen on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard.
As for that tricky word, “Art”, Margolis says “The best art creates a response in viewers. Sometimes it provokes emotion or thought, but I am not judging quality. If the work is finished, installed and I find it, then I include it.”
IsraelPublicArt.com is intended to be a resource “that will call attention to an important cultural resource: The art, monuments, sculpture, and memorials in Israel. Margolis is trying to collect as much information about each item, sculpture, mural, installation, or other pieces of public artwork as can be identified.
There are currently 141 items and 271 photographs now on the site, with more to be added monthly. Margolis invites visitors “to fill in missing, or incorrect, information, including artist’s names, titles, locations, references, or point out typos and glitches.” Comments or suggestions are welcome.
Israeli models can pack it on
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Food, General, Israeliness, Life, Medical Breakthroughs, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Justice
Now maybe more models will look like the shapely Bar Raphaeli
Last week, the government endorsed a bill aimed at preventing underweight models from being featured in advertisements. The Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs voted in favor of a bill proposed by Kadima and Likud Knesset members.
According to the bill, commercial groups will be prohibited from displaying underweight models, and model agents will be banned from employing or representing such models. This also includes a ban on shooting underweight models, who will not be allowed to serve as label spokespersons. The bill requires models provide a medical permit indicating their body mass index (BMI) is normal.
The exposure the issue has received, pun only partially intended, is thanks to Adi Barkan, one of Israel’s top fashion photographers, and today the head of one of the country’s most successful modeling agencies – Simply U.
Barkan, who, in his past, contributed to the whole culture of ultra-thin models, turned the other cheek a few years ago, when he realized the diasatrous health situation he had helped to create among models.
His commitment only deepened when, in 2007, 33-year-old Hila Elmalich died in his arms as he rushed the anorexic model to the hospital.
There are some 200-300 female models working in the country, he says. “More than 70 percent of them suffer from undernourishment. They would rather their periods stop than add a kilogram. We’re talking about a life-and-death matter,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
According to the bill:
“The prevalence of eating disorders, including anorexia, has been on the rise in recent years in the Israeli society, particularly among young girls. Studies show that one of the reasons for eating disorders among teenage girls is the influence of the media and the advertising industry, which feature particularly thin women as role models, thus influencing teenagers’ standards.”
“The fashion and advertising industries, in particular, have created a distorted image of an ideal woman using many underweight models. The purpose of this bill is to reduce the extent of teenage eating disorders.”
The bill, which was proposed by MK Rachel Adatto (Kadima) and MK Danny Danon (Likud), is based on adequate body weight definitions according to height, which are globally recognized.
While the success of Israeli models abroad has grown over the years, the size of the models has shrunk, Barkan told The Post.
“Today’s models are about two sizes smaller than those who worked a decade or 12 years ago. Those two sizes are the critical difference between a healthy, slim and sexy model and one suffering from the plague of deadly eating disorders,” he said.
Barkan hopes that the message of healthy models conveyed in the law will be carried around the world, and there has been international interest in the initiative. Thanks to ISRAEL21c’s initiative, CNN did a big report on Barkan and the bill, calling it the first of its kind.
To put some flesh into bill, Barkan has been also actively recruiting major Israeli advertisers such as the Strauss food giant and the Castro fashion chain to back the cause by using “healthy” models.
Jane Russell, come home. All is forgiven.
Foto Friday – Deborah Sinai’s Working Women
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Profiles
Milan-born Deborah Sinai is an internationally published photographer who currently works as a freelancer for news agencies in Italy, Israel and the UK. Sinai also puts her passion for documentation into independent projects, profiling subjects of personal interest.
Women in Men’s Jobs, completed last year, is a series of portraits of Israeli women working in non-traditional workplaces. The project, states Sinai, “aims to explore the themes of confidence and determination, passion and ambition, through the photographs of Israeli women participating in activities typically reserved for men.”
These range from sign-maker Sharonit Haziza, who says, “some clients are a bit surprised about it but they appreciate the final faultless work”…
…to motorbike mechanic Tal Perevolotsky who finds her clientele “feel that their motorcycles [are] treated better just because I’m a woman.”
Sinai states, “Perhaps the biggest challenge these women face is the reception by their co-workers and clients. How others treat them is extremely varied, offering insight into Israel’s social conscience. These women sometimes face gossip and negative comments condemning their break with traditional female roles.”
That problem is faced head-on by construction manager Lior Carmi who tells Sinai, “My work crew, obviously, have no problem to work and to take instructions from a woman. Those that do don’t work for me!”
There are those, like electrician-plumber Rachel Halamish Zemach, who “love[s] dressing in a feminine way even when I am getting filthy” and finds that many female customers prefer a handywoman to a handyman, particularly those “that do not feel comfortable or secure with male workers in their home.”
One factor all the women Sinai interviewed have in common is a streak of perfectionism or going the extra mile. “I like to do my best in any given situation,” says carpenter Orit Goren.
The element of self-fulfillment — and love for the job — is another unifying factor, like that of pilot Ravit Naor who began flying at the age of 39 once she “understood that I could not let my dreams wait any longer.” Today, she tells Sinai, “I have the best office in the world, and with a great view!”
More Women in Men’s Jobs can be found on Deborah Sinai’s website, where other works — featured in national and international magazines and newspapers such as the British Journal of Photograohy and RPS magazine, La Stampa, Photovision and Israel’s Masa Aher — can also be viewed and purchased.
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