Bad Boys, Bad Boys . . .

Adler and I took a little stroll around the old city today. Near the Jaffa Gate, men in dusty jeans push carts towering with "bagele," huge hoops of carbs and sesame seeds. Craving a snack, we lift a bread coil off of the stack and grab a small packet of zataar spice to give it some personality. We sit on a stoop of Jerusalem stone, watching Franciscan monks pass next to Israeli women in tank tops and sunglasses, tourists with cameras clipped to their belts, kindergarteners chasing each other, girls skipping in long skirts and ponytails. We tear off chunks of bread and carefully sift the green zataar powder into the doughy crevices. Scrumptious.

An Israeli soldier approaches us and stares at our sandwich. He proceeds to inform us that he saw green flakes falling onto the ground from across the road and assumed we were preparing a slightly different kind of snack. One that is illegal in most places other than Amsterdam. There is indeed a party in Israel's multi-party system whose entire platform is the legalization of marijuana. Rumor has it Peres was thinking about joining the "Green Leaf" team before Sharon welcomed him to "Kadima."