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Pieces of My Career

I have lived in many places and have done many things. I could play twenty questions, but you would not guess all my various jobs. Before I got married, I was in charge of a TELEX machine in the office of Palthe, Almelo, the Netherlands. If you are under fifty, you probably do not even know what it is. The Telex was the forerunner of the fax, kind of. It was capable of receiving and sending messages. Since I knew a few languages, I was the one to read what came in to the office and pass it on to the proper person. I also sent messages. The machine was noisy and clanged and banged all day long. It spit out yards of paper. I felt like a real pro just turning it on.

After I got married, moved to New York, and had a baby, I made a little pocket money by selling Avon products. It was something that got me out of the house. Avon assigned me to a high rise building with a locked lobby. Most of the time I did not even succeed in getting inside. I quickly learned that if this territory did not smile at me, I should find one that did, and taking a page out of the Tupperware system, started having Avon parties in my home or in the home of people who wanted a little entertainment that did not cost anything and was fun. I kept a small stock at home, and people in the neighborhood knew they could knock on my door and pick up a last-minute housewarming gift for a friend.

Once we moved to Israel, I did not really have the time to work, but looked around a little. I started helping out a friend who was pregnant and on semi bedrest. I cleaned her house for her and after a while she insisted on paying me. I drove up in my car and mopped her floors after I put my three children in their playschool frameworks. 

Eventually, a friend told me that I should take advantage of my English and look for a teaching job. I did, was accepted to a government retraining course, and taught elementary school. It was fun. I brought my guitar and taught English through songs. 

Of course, I did get to go to university in the end. And I did earn myself a nice PhD in English literature from Haifa University, and moved up to being a college professor. 

 As this part of the website is called "pieces of my career", this will suffice. You can look me up on the internet.

Madonna and Child

Define Saving Gezina van der Molen and Anneke Beekman: History and Identity after WWII

Exploring the Vault: Jewish Ethnicity and Memory in Philip Roth’s The Ghostwriter

Before the Gig
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A Piece of Humanity:

Shoah Symbolism and Memory in Arthur Miller’s

All My Sons

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