A graphic understanding

A 27-year-old describes her impressions of birthright in a 200-page graphic novel.

By AMIT POLLACK
comics1 (photo credit: coutesy)
comics1
(photo credit: coutesy)
Sarah Glidden, a young Jewish woman from Brooklyn, set off on a birthright trip three years ago.
She was looking to deepen her understanding of the region and strengthen her opinion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After her trip, Glidden embarked upon a journey that would see her publish her first graphic novel, entitled How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. The book was released in the US just last month.
“Before I came here, I read online impressions from people who had been on birthright trips,” says a cartoon character of Glidden standing at a gas station in the Golan Heights, speaking into the camera on her first day in Israel.
“Many of them wrote that the moment they set foot on Israeli soil, they felt a real connection to this place. Some even said they felt as if they had finally come home, but my feeling is it’s more like a seeing a celebrity in the middle of a busy street, someone I’m used to reading all about in the news and suddenly he’s here, right in front of me. “ “I was always interested in Israel,” says Glidden. “I was an American Jew, and Israel was a always a topic of discussion in my life. One day, in the middle of a stormy debate about Israel with my mother, she asked me, ‘Why don’t you visit Israel before you express such a strong position on the subject?’ I was 27 years old and realized that if hurried up, I was still eligible to join a birthright tour. Over the years I had refrained from joining these trips because I felt they had a reputation for… how do I put this? Let’s just say that whenever someone offers you an expensive trip for free, an offer like that usually has a catch. “
Although initially cynical, Glidden decided to take the plunge. “I thought I could look at reality through the perspective of the tour, do comics about how to see Israel through tours, the process of discovery, and check whether these trips are all about propaganda or not. I wondered how they viewed the conflict, which I understood mainly through the news. Before the trip I read a lot of material about Israel and I thought this trip would be the last chapter of my acquaintance with Israel. In retrospect, I realized how naive I really was. “
Although Glidden had started making comics before her trip to Israel, this is her first graphic novel. It is an impressive work which has aroused great curiosity on the American comics’ scene. More than 200 pages describe Glidden’s mental and emotional upheaval during the trip. She shares information presented by local guides on the tour, information which she counters with her own previous study about the country. Glidden’s work manages an effective integration between text and illustrations, documenting how the landscapes and sights unfold before her throughout the trip.
In an astonishing way, Glidden was able to engage seriously on complex topics while also infusing the book with a light atmosphere. She discusses issues seriously, but also incorporates a lot of humor and imagination in her work. She does take a somewhat critical position toward Israel, but admits she has developed an obsession with the country.
“I suppose some of it is that American Jews think about life in Israel,” she explains. “I’ve always been told us that in addition to the US, Israel is our country and that if we want we can go and live in it and be accepted it as citizens. I guess it created a relationship between me and the State of Israel, though at times I wished not to have any connection to it, especially when I heard all kinds of outrageous things on the news. When people talk about Israel, on one hand I feel the need to advocate, but on the other hand I get angry about all kinds of decisions made by the government. Although over the years I tried to stay away from anything to do with Israel, the relationship eventually became stronger until it basically became my obsession.”
In the book, Glidden visits the Golan Heights and is shocked by the Zionist propaganda at the visitors center there, At Kibbutz Deganyah she objects to the heroic stories of the Jewish pioneers there, feeling that they were ignoring the Palestinian residents who were there before them. In another account she escapes by the skin of her teeth from getting crushed at a Purim festival in Holon (stereotype number 142: Israelis like to push.) In Jaffa she gets angry with the guide for telling entertaining stories about the history of the city, rather than discussing its difficult history.
Above and beyond all of this, she is surprised to discover that the Israeli guide for her birthright group is also prepared to answer tough questions and deal with criticism. The guide surprises her and when she sees a group of soldiers, she is amazed to discover how young they are.
In the middle of the trip while in Tel Aviv, without any advance warning, she experiences a mental breakdown. “When I came here I wanted to get confirmation that Israel is the bad guy in the story, but,” she confesses while standing under a monument in the middle of Rabin Square,” But now I do not know. Suddenly I understand why Israel has made some of the decisions it did and I know that Israelis are good people.”
Check out more of Sarah's work at www.smallnoises.com