LoveJoy

Kedema Collage Art

I finally did a thing that I’ve wanted to do for a quite a while. Years ago, one of my biggest joys was making collages. My first favorite was when I managed to create a Tower of Babel. Not long after came the Compass of Maps. I stopped for many reasons. The poor Compass ofContinue reading “Kedema Collage Art”

Desert Musings #2

There’s something about open sky, the stars suggesting infinite possibilities and reminding me of my mortality simultaneously, that opens up a channel I don’t normally have access to. I wish I could record some of the conversations I have in the desert. Let’s call them “desert musings.” I hadn’t been feeling so zen as ofContinue reading “Desert Musings #2”

Because the Poets are Healers

Funny how years later this is still relevant. Perhaps it always will be… This is just a piece of what’s going on in the world. 276 Nigerian girls kidnapped, three Israeli boys kidnapped and murdered, a Palestinian boy … Because the Poets are Healers

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?”

I’m Back!

I want to show you all the ways I’ve been learning how to shine.

The Point of a Compass

I left home before graduation and moved in with him when I was seventeen. My mother called the police and said he was “harboring a minor.” The police car picked me up at his apartment to take me home. I went back the next day. She also took my passport. I reported it as stolen, and he bought me a new one. We went to the courthouse on my 18th birthday and signed the marriage certificate. A month later, we were on a plane to Israel.

The first compasses did not always point north. Early compasses pointed east.

Carry Me Home: A Testimony of Orly Portal’s Swiria

It’s where all of my parts could finally meet.

Gifting Myself

All I know is, I promise to heed my inner compass, trust myself, bring my fire.

Multicultural as the New Multiracial

It’s less about belonging to a color than belonging to a culture.

The Babel in Us

These days we are all a bit confused. In English, “confusion” is one way to translate “Babel” but it also means “a mixture of sounds and voices” and that’s what Poets of Babel, the multilingual poetry club that I created, is about. I could say it all started, after talking the night away on theContinue reading “The Babel in Us”