Shalom, y'all!

After that lovely introduction from Eitan, I would like to follow in his footsteps and share my thoughts about, reactions to, and photos of the PresenTense Institute Experience (which I will now hereby dub the PTIE).

I had been warned by my founding fellow friend Josh Poritz that I was in for six of the best weeks of my life - a phrase he "did not use lightly". Needless to say, my “PreseT” expectations for the program were about as high up as King Kong on top of the Empire State Building.

To say that the program is living up to the expectations would be a lie - the PTIE actually takes the old expectations, sends them on a rocket ship, and blasts them off into outer space.

I could discuss how the beautiful PresenTense house is located in the gorgeous area of Arnona in Jerusalem, a runner's paradise, which on a clear day has an absolutely breathtaking view of the Dead Sea and 30 miles into Jordan. I could talk about the fellows themselves, who are all not only brilliant, wonderful, terrific, talented individuals who are passionate about their groundbreaking projects and dreams of truly making the world a better place to live in.

There’s also the possibility of mentioning the PresenTense staff, our surrogate summer parental types who will drop almost everything at a moment’s notice to help make sure we fellows are taken care of (unless it’s a CODE RED, and the internet is down – hey, the staff knows what the household priorities are! Wireless is as important as air here.) And of course, there’s the PresenTense educational/networking capacity, whose purpose is to give us life lessons in every way possible to help better ourselves, our careers, our futures, and the future of the Jewish community as a whole.

But instead, I will document the PITE visually, through photos, comics, and illustrations. As a freelance cartoonist, my unofficial job that I’ve so nobly taken upon myself is to spread pictures, cheer and sunshine around the PresenTense abode by doodling on as much free surface space as possible – so why not on all the free surface space lying around on the PresenTense blog?

I’m kicking off my visual Blog by including a special photo from Orientation Day at the ‘Tute – meet fellows Bradley Cohen (of www.allforthekids.org) and Eitan Engell…err, Engall…err, Ingall (of TAMID Israel Investment Group), as they sang and strutted their stuff on Ben Yehuda Street to promote Bradley’s noble cause. The fact their entertainment was done All For The Kids made those who stopped to point and laugh at them feel so much better.

Welcome to the world of a PresenTense fellow. We look forward to having you join us for the ride!

*Cheers*

~Chari =0)
Founder & President, Hey Yiddle Diddle Productions

(P.S. As a cartoonist, the most amazing thing about the PresenTense Institute for me is, hands down, that the room where my studio space is set up is dubbed "The Bat Cave". It's a cartoonist's dream come true! =0)

The "All For The Kids/Shekel V'Chetzki" Dance Duo: Fellows Bradley Cohen and Eitan Ingall boogie down on Ben Yehuda Street to promote one of Bradley's new and original "allforthekids.org" jingles.