“Esther’s Big Break”

Recently, while surfing the blogosphere I found out the Madonna, the self acclaimed queen of pop - turned queen of Kabbalah, or for those living under a rock for the past century, her new found religion, has taken upon herself to try a new career path for the moment; journalist. That’s right, Madge has picked back up the red yarn and Jewish mysticism to try her hand at becoming an international journalist for famed daily Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth for a piece she calls, “ How My Life Changed.” In the article, Madonna will delve into her so-called “religious awakening” after being turned to Kabbalah. Since Madonna is not Israeli, or probably since she can’t read a word of Hebrew, the piece will be written in her native English and then translated over into Hebrew.

Now, being the investigative reporter I am, I took it upon myself to do a little research myself into just what kind of publication would produce such “material girl” material. Yedioth Adronoth or the literal translation into English from Hebrew is Latest News is a daily newspaper that is published in Tel Aviv, Israel and has been the most widely circulated paper in Israel. But what really intrigued me was that the paper is currently published in tabloid format and style, and emphasizes “drama and human interest pieces over sophisticated analysis.” It has also taken some flack in the past for being biased against the Islamic resistance movement Hamas in its coverage of the Gaza war.

While my time studying at Hebrew school I learned a great deal not only about the great religions of the world around my such as Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so many more, but a lot more about my very own religion being Judaism. I was interested in Kabbalah since at the time it was such a hot topic as many young starlets chose it at the “hip religion” of the moment. Red strings were seen all around Hollywood and magical water blessed by rabbis could make you millions but I knew that there had to be more to this religion that was indeed not founded by lady Madonna or Ashton Kutcher and stupid trucker hats. In fact, it is still to this day frowned upon by the Jewish world at least by my sect of Judaism and seen simply as mysticism. Simple wives tales or rather; rabbis’ tales that could bring riches or magical cures to ailments that plagued you at the time.

We must all take the time to do a little investigative reporting of our own from time to time. Break down the puzzles that we find in stories just like I stumbled upon. I always believe it all starts with following your gut, your first hunch that something doesn’t seem right. Like my hunch that no major Israeli news publication would willingly allow a piece to revolve around the theme of Kabbalah, a religion that, in all actually, makes everyone blush. Go with your gut and its usually right! Follow your own path and never let anyone tell you your own facts.

As we fade out to black...

This blog started today initially based on two elements: a) a fellow blogger started up her first entry to her 365 wedding diet whom I am actually tracking to see her progress, which, she does not need to shed any weight but, as a fellow woman I understand that no kind gesture or compliment will sway us otherwise, and b) the unfortunate and utterly devastating news that came beckoning to me from down the hall in the form of my mother's familiar yet, at many times, unsettling tone of voice they just instills that feeling that something is not right. It's the feeling that creates a stillness in the air, that invokes shock waves of memories flooding through your very body rushing to your skull, so overwhelming that at any moment the thought of falling over seems highly plausible. It's in that tone of voice, not so soft where I ask for her to repeat herself yet again as usual, but not too loud, sending echoes through the empty wood hallways, that gives me the go ahead to check BBC News. For some odd reason I just knew. I knew exactly who she was giving me the go ahead to look for, as if I were in the morgue, observing the body of my own family member, because this death, the passing of this man, was equally as hard as if one of my own has died. Today, at the age of 92, America's most trusted man in the news, Walter Cronkite has died. For some time now Cronkite has been ill and his family has known that this time would have come so his passing should not come to those who knew him best as a surprise. But to those who do not respect the world of news as much as I do, this is an extremely hard loss to overcome. That is why I feel I must take back to the written word, something I feel most passionately about as my role in the world of communication, and reestablish a new blog concerning new developments in mass media. I also hope to utilize this blog to inform readers with up to date occurrences such as any new public policies or even supreme court cases during my time as a student living in DC. I will try my hardest to update regularly though with the constant demand as a full time student, this can get rather difficult but of course I will always make time. I enjoy feedback on my photographs, my open-ended questions for debate, and I love getting email so please feel free to contact me. I will end this post with this final note: we must all take this idea that with every instance of loss in our lives, no matter if it comes in a loss of a friend, a loss of a job, perhaps the loss of a marriage, the sudden loss of a child, no matter the case, the same feeling of being lost -- we are lost at one point in our lives. Never, ever, ever give up on that feeling. Because when you think about it, feeling lost is one of the most beautiful sensations you can feel, because you know that this is the absolute lowest you will feel and somewhere, someone out there is looking for you. You are found. Just use the powerful weapon you were ever given; your words. Communicate and you are found. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8157052.stm