The other day, I overheard a professor grumble about spending so much time responding to emails that she can barely get anything else done. While it’s not quite as bad here at Observant, some emails confront us with dilemmas. For example, should we ever work for free? We do say yes when a student club asks us to run a writing workshop for them, provided that one of us has the time, or when a magazine run by UM students seeks input on their editorial formula. But what about when a lecturer asks Observant to give a lecture on writing an opinion piece, or a masterclass in journalism? As fun as they are, these kinds of activities require a lot of preparation time and aren’t part of our core business. That’s why we made the decision a few years ago to stop doing them for free. After all, we charge for our annual summer school course on Journalism and Effective Writing, just like we did for our writing workshops in the past.
And so it was with a heavy heart that we had to refuse a recent request from a valued colleague, as there was no budget to compensate Observant for our contribution to her class.
Tel Aviv
Last week, we received a very different request from a second-year European Law School student. He had planned to participate in the cancelled Dialogue Table on the war between Hamas and Israel. He’d prepared a text to read aloud at the event and was willing to engage in genuine dialogue, as became clear to us when we invited him to the office the following day. Yoav Bar Ness, a Jewish student from Tel Aviv, lost three friends on 7 October. But he’s still open to talking to people with different views.
Platform
He asked if Observant could serve as a platform for people’s thoughts and feelings about the recent war. “I want to contribute. I can send you the text I wrote, and I’m willing to engage in conversations with people who don’t share my views.” We agreed to his request. Read on to find his contribution, as well as our invitation to students and staff to share their views in a non-aggressive way that encourages open communicatio