348.January 18

Capernaum, Israel

The church we viewed first, built over a much older octagonal church, was very ugly inside. It served as good protection for the building underneath, but that is all I can say for it. In fact, I didn't appreciate any newer churches we've seen. I don't think the monks, bishops or chaplains look holy at all, but vicious. I guess I have distrust for religious leaders and institutions. But the older buildings and places seem to be pure and actually symbolic of the real religions behind them. They say: we worshipped god in the way we thought was best, and did not use the church as a lifestyle or a career choice. I think that in the stone age and beyond until the Greeks, people believed in a god more than they did themselves. Not knowing that you don't know prevents us from ever trying to learn what works best (usually the cheapest and easiest answer.)When we went in search of the synagogue on Mt Meron in that Hasidic town, I was surprised how the Hasidic school boys acted. And how they looked. They were mostly black I think, and I saw no black older men. I think they must be from Ethiopia. The town was so ugly. But the area was ugly only because the people had made it that way. It didn't make sense at all. The toilets probably sickened me from the beginning, so I didn't try to enjoy it from then on. I was informed later that the Hasidic people are recruiting immigrants to populate towns like this. The old Jewish city in Meron was different, walking there, everything was beautiful. I was not surprised that the work Prof. Hanson had done was destroyed, because everyone wants to make as big of a mark as they can. (Some try to do it by not making a visible mark, and just leaving their examples.)

1993

Nottingham, UK

I met with Corrina in the PB coffee shop where we drafted plans for our speech to the New Theatre board. Then we went to the 17:30 production meeting. Kath, the President, asked Corrina to speak to them about it, and I only added a few details. They instantly accepted "Lysistrata" under my direction along with a set of two plays by Nick Ostler.

1994