More from Jake Warga
Martin Luther King remembered in Bimini, Bahamas
(00:03:25)
From: Jake Warga
Just 50 miles from the coast of Florida in the Bahamas is the tiny island of Bimini. Home of the fabled fountain of youth, it was once known for it’s rum-running during ...
Mosque opens doors to Tourists
(00:02:53)
From: Jake Warga
Jumeirah Mosque in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai invites tourists in to help de-mystify Islam.
Visiting Ground Zero, 2001
(00:07:10)
From: Jake Warga
A personal essay (accented with music) about looking for the perfect place to leave a flower in remembrance at Ground Zero 3mo later.
Thai Food
(00:08:58)
From: Jake Warga
A culinary journey through Bangkok, starting at the top--Lebua Hotel--to the street level in a quest to find "Authentic" Thai food
Steig Larsson's Stockholm
(00:04:39)
From: Jake Warga
A walking tour of the famous, infamous, Millennium mystery series. Local guide walks us through the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hotspots in Stockholm. Through it we learn ...
Brian's Story
(00:22:52)
From: Jake Warga
My friend Brian and I sat on a bench one night and talked about why he tried to kill himself. He eventually succeeded.
(My first Radio story, 2001)
Military Combat Cameramen and Women
(00:03:01)
From: Jake Warga
We have seen a lot of pictures from Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. Chances are that many of them were actually taken by the military. Combat cameramen and women, ...
Modern Kenya Safari (4:37 or 3:45 versions)
(00:08:22)
From: Jake Warga
Safari tourism in Africa is changing. Tracking down big game is still central, but more and more tourists are also involved with conservation and helping local communities.
Postcards from Africa
(00:06:43)
From: Jake Warga
Personal encounters in homes and streets of various African towns. I first went to Africa feeling like a child, everything new and different, but soon enough I grew-up. ...
Related Pieces
Piece Description
A narrated audio-rich trip through the holy land exploring the modern state of Christmas. Between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, between Easter and Christmas, there is a modern and yet ancient wall. In my travels I explore the origins of the conflict, all the way back to Abraham:
"...The name “Isaac” means “He Laughs” His laughter and blood becomes David’s...A lineage dripping with laughter, but blood is mixed with tears. Ishmael, the name, means “He Weeps” The brother of Isaac, the brother of Laughter, weeps to this day...
...In Jerusalem, religions compete to see which can get you up the earliest. Call to prayers from loud speakers in minarets try to beat the roosters. Then come wake-up bells from churches. Not even an Atheist can over-sleep in the holy land. "
Video:
http://hearingvoices.com/news/2009/12/holy-land-tour/
or
http://vimeo.com/8037836
Broadcast History
PRX Premier!
Transcript
[JW] Lost in Old Jerusalem’s maze of ancient corridors, and distracted by tourist kitsch for sale, I stumble over a plaque on the ground, alerting the clumsy in Hebrew, Arabic and English that the stones I’m walking on are from the end of the Roman Period—3rd to 4th Century C.E. It’s no longer PC to say A.D., or even B.C., Before Christ, instead, what seems even more presumptuous, it’s now C.E. “Common Era”. And so it is re-written.
[Ambient audio inside church]
I climb a few stairs to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the same church where the C in B.C., was crucified, buried then resurrected. This is where the story of Jesus ends, or starts again, depending on how you look at it. Near the entrance is a marble slab, not the original stone, upon which his body fell and was anointed. There’s a line to kneel down and kiss it. Because I believe in the flu virus more than Jesus, I...
Read the full transcript
Related Website
Of 6 purchasers of this piece...
- 6 also bought:
The USA Plan (00:29:04) - 5 also bought:
- 4 also bought:
How to Sing the Star-Spangled Banner (00:01:32) - 4 also bought:
Life Stories - Jobs: Women at Work (00:59:06) - 4 also bought:
Hard to Say (00:05:53)
James Reiss
Posted on December 06, 2009 at 09:53 AM | Permalink
Awake in the Holy Land
More than any travel agent or tour guide, world-traveler Jake Warga is aware of poignant contradictions in various ports of call. In his latest sojourn in the Holy Land, he lets us know that in 2009 Mary and Joseph would not be permitted to enter Bethlehem for Jesus’s birth because both would be Jews unable to cross the checkpoint between Israel and the Occupied Territories. “Jews, “ Warga lets us know, “are not allowed into Bethlehem, the birthplace of the world’s most famous Jew. “
Isaac, we learn from Warga, is the Hebrew word for “He laughs,” and Ishmael for “He weeps.”
As neither a Jew nor a Muslim, Warga uses his mic to record the dead-serious non-laughter of an Israeli woman speaking of Jerusalem’s Colindia checkpoint and, implicitly, of all walls dividing people: “It’s just bad news all around. Can’t put a fence around yourself and have people living in the third world five minutes from your home.”
Warga asks an Arab taxi driver if he speaks Hebrew, and, rather than weeping like his forebear Ishmael, the driver grouses, “No, I don’t speak Jewish.”
These are only a few of this piece’s many rewards. Although we don’t get to see the evidence here, Warga is a superb photographer whose visual images capture the gritty essence of places like Guatemala, Rwanda and Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia.
His script for this piece is an offbeat ear-opener perfect for the winter holiday season—and suitable all year round.