Welcome!

Hi all,

I am starting this blog on politics (mainly American and Israeli, with a bit of focus on other miscellaneous topics) to muse on current affairs and craft a platform for practicing political writing. In the past I have written for the British youth magazine Agora, the Medium-based Eastern Project, the Ohio State undergraduate student international affairs magazine The Algerian, as well as a blogging account on the Times of Israel.

I won't claim I am an expert or professional on what I write about on here, although I believe myself knowledgeable enough to, in good faith, put forth my analysis. I will point out that I do have a Bachelor of Arts in World Politics with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from Ohio State University and plan on pursuing graduate studies in a similar field. 

I do not speak Hebrew; Nonetheless, I self-taught myself about Israeli political and social culture over years of research from a variety of left wing and right wing Israeli sources. Otherwise, I have visited the country a few times, all from different perspectives, to learn about the wondrous, yet frustrating paradox of the Jewish state.

On the American front, I have been a political observer since 2008 (I was 14!), growing up in a politically aware, heavily Democratic, Jewish American family. I avowedly supported then-Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Primary and I volunteered for the Obama campaign in the fall of that year's election. In 2012, I cast my first ballot for his reelection in the critical State of Ohio.

This year I supported Secretary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, although reluctantly at times. And she's the horse I'm betting on in the fall. This blog will be biased to that of center-left politics, whether in the United States, Israel, or elsewhere. 

I hope to write a more specific introduction to this blog at a later time. But for now. Welcome!

-JMF