Phil Weiss and Annie write:
Half a score and two days ago Annie announced the Mondo Awards contest with unnamed prizes but big name judges for compositions of inspiration, leadership, tragic suffering, joy, and laughter emanating from the conflict in Israel/Palestine. The submissions have been rolling in, and now we are going to start rolling them out for all to see in these last days of the old year (and maybe a day or two of the new year, we got a lot of them). This being social media, we welcome comments on the submissions... We are going to number the submissions as we publish them for ease of reference. The order is like so much else at this site somewhat arbitrary; the goal is to vary the offerings...
Note that there are two types of entry: 1, inspiring compositions by writers/entrants, and 2, nominations by writers of others as inspiring entrants.
Also: look for more Gaza Two Years Later remembrances to resume in the new year-- after all, the Gaza onslaught persisted through January 2009. And for readers who don't seek inspiration but despair/cynicism/gloom/wrist-slitting.info, we will be posting the usual news and views from the conflict in and amongst the Mondo Awards entries.
Annie and I were moved by the response. We offer our deep and humble gratitude to all who made submissions and the generous/respectful spirit with which they did so. We hope the doorway this opens only gets bigger in days to come...
Reposted with permission
Already, the first entries reflect a variety of sources for inspiration from writers familiar and new to a Daily Kos audience:
Entry 1: ‘I loved you once, I love you now anyway’
Entry 2: Year of the Flash Mob
Entry 3: Hedy Epstein, an inspiration (and star of Egypt)
Entry 4: My first trip to Palestine
Entry 5: Zionism’s call to me– and my answer
Entry 6: The land, the gun, the olive tree
Entry 7: I nominate Adalah-NY
Entry 8: Gaza, then and now
UPDATE:
Entry 9: ‘Sabra Song’
Entry 10: For the indomitable people of al-Araqib
Entry 11: For taking the profit out of occupation– Dalit Baum and Merav Amir
Entry 12: For Norman Finkelstein– A conversion story
Entry 13: This is the article I am sick of reading
Entry 14: Mad props to the proud young Jews who heckled Netanyahu
Entry 15: The day Mahmoud Darwish asked for my hand in marriage
Entry 16: With thunderous resolution and intention, I say I am ‘Mizrahi’!
UPDATE II:
Entry 17: Peggy Gish and her late husband Art Gish– they walk the talk
Entry 18: Why I argued with the ambassador
Entry 19: Israel, an Elegy
Entry 20: Am I a Jew?
Entry 21: Hakenkreuz and Davidstern
Entry 22: Deborah Fink of J-BIG
Entry 23: I nominate Mustafa, Zochrot, Emily, Norman...
Entry 24: Who is a Jew? Who is not a Jew?
Entry 25: Haiku for Rebecca
Entry 26: Gaza Riviera
Entry 27: Motherhood in Palestine
Entry 28: I nominate Aya Kaniuk and Tamar Goldschmidt
Entry 29: What do you do/if you are a Jew
Entry 30: Haiku for Hanin
UPDATE III:
Entry 31: I nominate Furkan Dogan, inspired by Gaza
Entry 32: ‘The Prison Called Gaza,’ a play
Entry 33: The spirit of resistance
Entry 34: As a Christian and idealist, I nominate George Khoury of Sabeel
On New Year’s Day, we’ve wrapped up Mondo Awards with, wow, 34 entries
Happy new year! We've done a last groggy sweep and have now published the last of the Mondo Awards submissions for inspiring compositions/people of 2010-- four entries published on New Year's Day, at the bottom of today's page. We'll be getting them all to the judges, and will announce winners and prizes before long.
We want to thank you, all of you who entered, those of you who read, those who cried and those smiled, mostly it's just very empowering we're in this together and we will prevail, we will.
We did not publish all submissions; we excluded some because the author had another piece, because the work was too casual, or because it seemed inappropriate for the criteria, etc. ...
A piece or two was promised and not delivered; if we find them, we will put them up in days to come...
May the New Year usher in a just peace.