When I last left you, I was fresh from a meeting with Wi’am. I felt quite hopeful. Now, I feel hardened, like iron being refined in a fire, until I emerge in a changed state--not beautiful but more resilient.

“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction."

-Isaiah 48:10

My last blog post painted a slightly grim picture: me, stuck in Bethlehem with no luggage and no visa and destined to wear three shirts for the next twenty days. Now, I have +1 shirt, thanks to haggling in the Old City of Jerusalem, and a sense of peace about my visa being lost in the ether. Apparently, I am in Israel’s system, and I can be searched if I am questioned at a checkpoint.

Here are how my last few days have been, told through the reality of walls, issues of water, and my wonderful meeting with Wi’am!

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For this blog post, I’m going to divide my experience of the last four days into the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's been quite a ride, even now.

From May 13- June 23, watch the news for the launch of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.   On Earth Peace has officially endorsed this effort and we are working to spread the word in our constituency. Organizing in at least 40 states, the (new) Poor People’s Campaign is an effort to catalyze people into “an unsettling force” in U.S. politics (to use a phrase from MLK), which can serve as “defibrillators of democracy” (to use a phrase from Rev. Dr. William Barber, campaign co-chair).