Beckie Loewenstein

raw almonds, alive with nutrients, not cooked, salted, or preserved, soak in a cold water bath overnight. bloated almonds' brown, rough shells, etched in white jagged lines, stretch, wrinkle, and tear. clean hands scoop almonds out of fragrant bath, tinted grey and murky with debris. thumbs and forefinger grip each almond, sliding peel off to show smooth nut, chipped or whole. bare almonds, vulnerable in the nude, lie drying in a colander. their cracked brown shells pile up in a heap, discarded for organic compost. raw thumbs, sore and numb after pinching, squeezing, and rubbing so many almonds, feel foliated, thumb prints now etched in white jagged lines. Dedicated to Lisa

raw almonds, alive with nutrients, not cooked, salted, or preserved, soak in a cold water bath overnight. bloated almonds' brown, rough shells, etched in white jagged lines, stretch, wrinkle, and tear. clean hands scoop almonds out of fragrant bath, tinted grey and murky with debris. thumbs and forefinger grip each almond, sliding peel off to show smooth nut, chipped or whole. bare almonds, vulnerable in the nude, lie drying in a colander. their cracked brown shells pile up in a heap, discarded for organic compost. raw thumbs, sore and numb after pinching, squeezing, and rubbing so many almonds, feel foliated, thumb prints now etched in white jagged lines. Dedicated to Lisa

I transcribed a three minute French audio story and translated the story into English.

Director Michel Gondry spoke a viewing of his documentary L'épine dans le coeur ( The Thorn in the Heart ) at MIT on January 15, 2010 . The thread of the story follows the eight schools and sites in rural France where Aunt Suzette taught children from 1952 to 1986. Aunt Suzette comes from a generation in France who saw teaching children as a duty. As both mother and teacher to her son Jean-Yves, she had some family struggles. In one scene, she calls her son a thorn in her heart. “My auntie getting older, so many experiences to tell, I would fail her to not record them.  The village where she lived all her life, it’s a place people don’t talk about it. Everybody knew the story but had never talked about it,” said Michel Gondry.

happy day

Vocalist Julia Madeson sang Sephardic Jewish songs in Ladino at the Berklee College of Music on December 10, 2009.  The concert “Hanuka - A Celebration of Light” was dedicated to the late Judy Frankel and her legacy to Sephardic music.

My story " A sweet start " about my first Rosh Hashanah is published in The Boston Globe Magazine on October 18, 2009.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Kyoto-Boston sister city relationship, Mr. Keiichi Hanada, hair stylist of Kyoto, demonstrated traditional Japanese hair styling at the Japan Society of Boston center at the Showa Boston Institute on October 14, 2009. Hanada demonstrated ukiyo or "pictures of the floating world" hairstyle of Japan's Edo period (1603-1867), saying this "time of peace" allowed ornate hairstyles to develop. Ms. Michiko Imai , a master calligrapher at Kaji Aso Studio in Boston, modeled in formal kimono. Styling her long black hair, Hanada used boxwood combs and white thread made of paper called gomu to fold hair and attach hair extensions. Lastly, he placed kanzashai with amber carvings, flowers, and peace signs. Michiko described the style as "heavy." Fashion in the Edo period represented a woman's social and marital status and wealth. Lipstick made of Beni flower was expensive; painting layers until the red changed to green r...

peas in a pod cuddle side by side. one pea falls out of the pod into a water droplet and sprouts, green through and through. another pea stuck in the pod dries out. all that nourishing potential now locks up inside the lonely pod.

As a board member of the MIT Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, John Barry, influenza historian and author of The Great Influenza, discussed how the "mild" H1N1 influenza could be just the first wave of a pandemic at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 5, 2009.

Jose Ramos-Horta: We had to deal with the psychological, emotional trauma of twenty-four years of violence, compounded by the most recent one, the 1999 violence. We had to start a process of national healing and reconciliation.

Jose Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship The Legatum Lecture Series Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA September 29, 2009 Thank you for the invitation by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship in bringing me here. This is not first time I come to MIT and I came here over the years. I came here in 80s and 90s to meet with the great professor from here, the only academic at the time who spoke thoroughly about East Timor throughout the U.S. and in the world, and that was Noam Chomsky--who obviously became even more famous, if he were not already famous enough when Hugo Chavez made reference to his book in a TV interview in New York a year, two years ago. I wish I had given a book of mine to Hugo Chavez.

The kindness of Jewish strangers in a Brookline neighborhood guided me through Rosh Hashanah on September 18, 2009. I began the Jewish new year 5770 with a walk from Cleveland Circle Station down Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner.

A casual stroll through Boston carries unexpected encounters. Celebrations for India Independence Day were at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River on August 16, 2009. I expected saffron colors and joyful noises of Bhangra performances. Riding Bus 39 on my way there, another kind of celebration got my attention. Children and their parents were splashing in the fountain of the Christian Science Plaza at sunset. Taking a small detour, I jumped off the bus early to go photograph.

Summer night in Boston with India Day at Hatch Shell, Boston Commons, and Larz Anderson Automobile Museum on August 16, 2009. [gallery columns="2"]

Last song and dance at India Day in Boston. Tally ho!

On Sunday August 9, 2009, I took the train to Chelsea, Massachusetts, to visit members of The List Project to Resettle Iraqis Allies . Ben Dunay hosted the social gathering with a potluck meal. Two brothers, one daughter, and mother of one Iraqi family attended. The father of another family attended. Single Iraqi men and women were there with their American family hosts. Finding employment in the Boston area was the main topic of discussion.

Now how to get close to turkeys? They scare and run off the table so easily! Meet the turkeys of Brookline. They live in the woods with the coyotes.

Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 1211) passed the House of Representatives on June 23, 2009, and now moves onto the Senate. There's a focus on improving professional mental healthcare access to women veterans. Will this bill just increase the number of mental healthcare professionals available at clinics in the U.S. side? How about giving resources to mental healthcare professionals in combat theater, too?