Reading Resposne 9

I really enjoyed this reading, about Edward Saim and his conversations with Daniel and Ara.  I like how they addressed the issue of home not in a historical sense, but in a sense of where they feel the most at home.  As Daniel said anywhere he could really play and conduct music felt like home. I felt like he was describing home as anywhere he could truly express himself freely and be accepted and appreciated.   I also liked the way Edward called New York a chameleon city, because you could be anywhere there and not be 'of there'  which I felt was a really neat way to look at it.  With all that we have looked at in the conflict so far, I feel it has been mainly a conflict over homelands and I liked how they presented a different side to this argument, especially because one is an Israeli and the other a Palestinian.  The fact that both of them can look at the area and appreciate it for what it is was different in a good way.  Although I suppose their positions  on the issue may be different if they had only lived in Israel their whole lives.  I think it is this sense of travel from an earlier age that has allowed them to be more open to different cultures and through their openness allowed them to create a great project giving others, most importantly kids, a chance to grow and develop their own ideas about the world and other cultures.  I really liked how both men seemed to view identity.  The idea that it is best to belong to many different cultures or have multiple identities is something I strongly believe in as well.  I don't believe that any one person has only one identity, because we all play many roles, and no culture is truly pure in the sense of not being mixed with another at some point in time.