Yael Blum

Last week  one of the songs i sing on The No Sh!t Shirleys recently released CD Nutrify was featured on a play list of songs for peace in a small radio station in Netivot, just 20 miles from the Gaza border! A note from one of the DJs (below) gave me an unexpected peek into the world of radio DJs and, more specifically,  what that job entails in times of war. I hadn’t given DJs much thought prior to that, except of course in relation to my own listening pleasure or lack thereof.

As a gesture of solidarity with the people down south who are suffering  terror, death and destruction from rockets, mortars and bombs, our radio station journeyed down south for a day, on Sunday of this week. We arrived after a four hour bus ride , in the beleaguered township of Netivot.
There had been two rocket attacks in the morning just before we arrived. The all clear had sounded and life appeared to be pretty normal, with folks going about their business, tensly alert for the "Colour Red" alarm which sends everyone running to the nearest shelter or protected space. Netivot is 20km from the Gaze border, so they have 15 seconds to find shelter. Not a lot. We were some 12 broadcasters and DJs who took a load off the local guys (three only) who had been broadcasting round the clock for two weeks….
This experience also resonated with me because of how beautifully it illustrates the relationship between cause and effect, or what i like to call the YOU JUST NEVER KNOW factor (YJNK). We frequently assume that cause and effect are related closely in time and space. But that just isn’t […]