Coventry

Blogger’s note: this blog will be more of a diary entry describing a short trip to Coventry/University of Warwick via a hodgepodge of anecdotes, rather than the recent ups and downs of our narrator.

Dear blog-gery, there is much to say, much that has been happening lately, but I want to avoid all of that and concentrate on the little short trip that included a very nice conference. You know how it is, sometimes telling a story is dealing directly with reality, sometimes it’s a plotted escape. This is not exactly the latter, but its definitely in that ballpark.

From last Wednesday till this Sunday I was at the university of warwick, at a 60th birthday conference. It seemed that this conference was organized rather quickly which had the effect that only people who could afford coming from afar attended, along with a small group of ‘locals’. At the end of the day this meant that there were few people at the conference, all of them quite important and distinguished (read: ‘veterans’ of the profession…) and of course, me.
So I got to rub shoulders with some of the great minds of statistical mechanics, share note pads with innovators of selective random walks, drink beer with mathematicians that could describe many governing communist bodies – and in fact, chair a session and mispronounce some exotic names.
Ok, and now a bit of nerdiness - the math department at the university of warwick (as middle of nowhere as it gets in England (yes, it is England, not Wales…)) is incredible! The building is huge and modern, with lots of open space, high ceilings and light. The common room is two floors connected by stairs and an open balcony, spacious, inviting, and – excitingly, with huge blackboards! And overall, I was somehow inspired to do work while being there. In fact, I had never come back from a conference before with so much motivation to work! I am always so exhausted from attempting to concentrate so hard for 8 hours, trying to understand so many different details, so varied talks… but no, this time I came back motivated and energetic. And so far – its lasted three days! Amazing, I know. Maybe the university of warwick is in my future? Ok, we are not talking about that now…
The city of Coventry, where the university of warwick is located was heavily bombed during world war II, during the blitz. The reasoning being a jet factory. Circa 10,000 people died. The city was quite levelled. In response the brits bombed Dresden. There was a famous cathedral here from gosh, maybe the 13th century, of great importance that got a brunt of the bombing. It was located in the center of town. The walls of it still stand. The roof is gone, the inside is gone for the most part except for a few things that remained, such as some stairs. One of the towers was left completely standing. It’s a very strange place to visit, very powerful. Has that ghostly feeling of war and destruction and things that remained behind afterwards.

Interestingly, right next to it stands the new cathedral. Built in a very modern style, has no resemblance to the skeleton that it stands next to.



Inside, there is an inscription from the people of Dresden, speaking of peace and forgiveness. Coventry provided money to Dresden for its reconstruction and Dresden did the same for Coventry.

No where is it mentioned that the germans were responsible for what happened. The words forgiveness are seen throughout the cathedral.
I found this very interesting. I am not comparing this in any way to the holocaust or to Israel, but just observing that the words associated with the holocaust in Israel are do not forgive and do not forget. Again, this is not a judgement just an observation, something to think about…

Work

well, the overwhelming response(s) all said more about me. i was feeling like i was writing too much about me, me, me me me. and its hard cause i want to hear more about you in a sense, but blogging i guess is not really so much a two-way (or many-way) communication path...

ok, work. so, there has been a good amount of drama at work. and writing this down here will essentially guarantee that i won't open my blog up to the public. so let me begin with this, the major players in this story will be:
michael levitin: russian, late 40's - early 50's, russian, beard, two kids (one in cambridge, one finished uni), math professor at cardiff.
uzy smilansky: israeli, mid 60's, goatee, two kids, maybe three, at least two of which live in the UK, physics professor at weitzmann institute as well as a 1/4 position in cardiff.
marco marletta: italian, yet scottish accent, mid 40's, beard, no kids, math professor in cardiff.
hillel raz: israeli, yet american accent with faint traces of a crazyland, late-late 20's, thin beard, no kids, three year position at cardiff uni.

the setting: a three floor (two floor in the UK...) brick building on Senghennydd road (go for it, try to pronounce that... nope, try again). a cloudy day, rain plus sun, welsh and english accents heard in the street below. in the far distance, sheep are grazing in the meadows.

marco knocks on hillel's office door. hillel who is busy, tells marco he'll come in a sec. in his office marco tells hillel that uzy called and asked that hillel call him. hillel finds this strange. he has communicated with uzy plenty, via skype, via email. why is a third person involved? marco looks at hillel and says, you know why he wants to speak to you, no? close the door.

dramatic music onset.

so michael is 99% leaving the department. he has received an offer from reading university. this is due to personal reasons (and he hates cardiff). of course we would love for you to stay in the department.

huh? hillel's face expresses shock.

back in his office hillel considers the situation. will he have to leave cardiff to reading (just outside of london, not very exciting in any way shape or form - though oscar wilde was jailed there once!)? he is just beginning to maybe settle in cardiff, build some foundations. and yes, non of them are strong, still alone most of the time but getting better. move again? and into england? not excited.

hillel calls uzy. uzy talks about work. mentions nothing about michael.

days pass.

a weekend passes.

michael comes back from london (he spends essentially every weekend there, plus most of the weekdays). comes into hillel's office. does a couple minute talk of work. then asks hillel to close the door.

i will be leaving the department march 1st , michael informs hillel. personal reason. but nothing for you to worry about. the grant stays here. i'll be available by skype. we'll be able to meet every now and then. uzy will be coming to the department soon. nothing for you worry about. if you need, you can come and cry on my shoulder.
smile, leaves the office.

uzy speaks to hillel the next day. essentially repeating the same information. nothing for you to worry about. the grant stays, i'll be coming to cardiff.

hillel begins to think about this, realizing that michael esentially had applied for a job after hillel accepted the position, keeping this information hidden from uzy and himself.

a few good days later. uzy essentially tells hillel that there is no point in working with michael, that he is a bit of a dry well, has been for a while. the personal issues have affected his work and...

uzy advises hillel that he can come to israel for as long as he wants to.

hillel purchases a ticket to israel, planning on coming back to cardiff to spend two months with michael and see how things proceed. he goes back and forth on this decision, wondering maybe he should just stay in israel where he'll have family support, a friend network and people to talk to at work. on the other hand, hillel doesn't want to give up on the small foundation he has built in cardiff. these things take time, he reminds himself, so don't give up on what you have done and what may still be. on the other hand, create the best work situation possible for yourself and allow room for maneuvering.

and so, hillel will be on his way to israel november 30th. return flight set for january 25th, yet all of february has been cleared from any and all obligations and hillel may remain longer in israel.

hmmm, thinks hillel, more sunshine, less cold, more falafel, less fish and chips. this may still be a good idea...

work? that is a different equation that remains unsolved.

piano sonata number 14 by beethoven, comes on as the light fades. sounds of rain in the background. a red dragon is flashed for 1/10 a second as the music fades out.