I was young. I was poor. I met Melanie at an Amazon Autumn event. I knew next to nothing about Palestine except Yiddish shul propaganda. My mentor Maua Flowers, founder of Salsa Soul Sisters, told me to go listen to Melanie and Irena’s presentation. We became political pals. And Melanie came to my home. Saw a milk crate of brown paper bags. I wrote on those bags. Too poor to afford notebooks. Melanie took the crate. Read them. Came and gave me ten notebooks. And pens. Said you are a writer. Write. Yrs later when I got a fellowship to Hedgebrook, I called Melanie. She said “You probably won’t write. You have never had a vacation. Relax. The writing will come later.” It did. I owe her so much. She taught me, in part, how to become the anti-Zionist I am. How to have political integrity. How to be good to a queer kid. Zei gezunt. My friend.
—Naomi Finkelstein, Washington State Poor People Campaign and Kadima Reconstructionist Community