Dead posies It is possible to kill flowers. It is possible to kill flowers while living in Israel. It is possible to kill flowers while living in Israel during the rainy season. Who knew? I am culpable for the demise of my family's geraniums. I could have/should have/would have drilled, or insisted that one of my menfolk drill, holes in the bottom of all of my windowboxes had I thought events through. I didn't. I hoped for the rain. I prayed for the rain. I waited for the rain. I danced and sang and otherwise frolicked when the rain arrived. Yet, I hadn't contemplated my flowers. Those cultivars had begun a long cascade down the fa ade of the building in which our home sits on the top floor (see: "Domestic Technology Woes, Part II"). Those cultivars were pretty in pink, in purple, and in red. Those cultivars had been trucked in from a yeshuv near Chashmonaim (I am likewise guilty of introducing a friend, living in Chashmonaim, to that yeshuv's greenhouse. I've already owned, to that friend's husband, my part in creating my friend's new spendthrift behavior). Those cultivars were planted in windowboxes sans holes. Read the rest of this blog »

*** Previous blogs: Partying, Israeli style 'Little smiles' and other nuances of Israeli communication, Pt. II 'Little smiles' and other nuances of Israeli communication, Pt. I Creative Israeli driving, ad infinitum Domestic technology woes, Pt. II Domestic technology woes, Pt. I Educational treasure The dog Interpersonal communication redux; Johari windows Books, Part 2 Books, Part 1 Using emotional appeal to gain employment Acceptable email Oh Hanukka! Pt. III Oh Hanukka! Pt. II Oh Hanukka! Communication climate, incommensurability, and relationships, Pt. II Communication climate, incommensurability, and relationships, Pt. I Idolatry and the mass media Letters to blogger and the art of persuasion Ritualized discourse and the hesder wedding Communication courtesy, Israeli style Cultural assimilation, Pt. 2 Cultural assimilation, Pt. 1 A bottoms-up approach to communication rules Controlling attribution of meaning and other lizardly behaviors Punctuation The rhetoric of identity, Israeli style Making friends: Adventures in interpersonal communication Rhetorical strategies and ambitious wildlife, Pt. II Rhetorical strategies and ambitious wildlife, Pt. I Smoldering dumpsters and other "rhetorical devices" Deviance and social control: A question of Sundays A singular definition The history of rhetorical theory and the wedding invitation Post mo'ed laundry: Arrangement of topics into types A rhetoric of meaning: Hakafot photos Incommensurability in Jerusalem Perspective: Sukkah Reunion, the Rimmon Man, and Lenny Solomon A question of audience A triadic theory and sweaty things Cave of the Machpelah: Mindful deviance Normative theory applied to the use of tissues on the Yomim Noraim Signs of the (old) times Signs, I wonder Communication Israeli style

BlogCentral: Old/New World Discourse

Transplanted rhetoric and sociology professor explores "Israeliness."