Gap Year

This post was authored by Tivnu Gap Year participant Henry Belman. Henry is from Menlo Park, CA (by way of Brooklyn, NY) and he interns at Sisters of the Road, Urban Gleaners, and Tivnu Construction….

This blog post was authored by Zoe Schachter-Brodie, a member of the Tivnu 5 cohort from Menlo Park, California. She interns at Boise Eliot Elementary School and Outside the Frame. …

This blog post was authored by Micah Cohn, a member of the Tivnu 5 cohort from Atlanta, Georgia. When he’s not reading legal briefs, Micah enjoys stand up comedy and hanging out with fellow Tivnuniks. He interns at the Lewis and Clark Criminal Justice Reform Clinic (CJRC), Sisters of the Road, and Tivnu construction. This is me! Micah Cohn, current criminal justice reform advocate and future criminal justice lawyer. I had an assignment in my English class in eighth grade: I had to write about what I wanted to be when I grew up and the steps I would need…

This post was authored by Ariana Finkelstein, a member of the Tivnu 4 Cohort, whose program ran from 2017-2018. Ari loves singing, Cheerios, and social justice. After her year with Tivnu, she went on to study at Mount Holyoke College, where she is currently a first-year student.…

This blog post was authored by Desmond Griffith, a member of the Tivnu 5 cohort. Coming to Tivnu from Oakland, California, Desmond enjoys riding his bike during his free time and hanging out with fellow Tivnuniks. He interns at Learning Gardens Lab, Verde, and Tivnu construction….

The hardest part about traveling is coming home. I have no idea where that saying came from or even how I first heard it. Still, it’s been on my mind the last few weeks, if only because “home” has recently become one of those nebulous, hard to grasp one-word concepts for me, along with “organization” or “bedtime”. Home; the place where the heart is, the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in, the place where, if you don’t have it, everything else starts to walk away, too….

Hello! My name is Devida, and it’s my turn to write a blog post! It is my first time writing a blog post, and I’m excited! Let’s start with a little bit about me: (you already know my name) I am 17, and I lived in Israel for 10 years, and moved back to the US about 4 years ago. This year, I am doing an internship at JOIN: Connecting the Street to a Home, which is a day shelter for people who experience homelessness and poverty. I also do tiny house construction two days per week. In the past two weeks…

Tivnu is a bit of a mix: politics, fun, and fun with politics. Social justice is the mission of this organization, and 9 out of 10 times, that overlaps with politics. From the week of Halloween to the week of the midterm elections, these past weeks have been full of excitement. Costumes were worn, votes were cast, Ping Pong was played and things were learned. Most directly related to politics in Tivnu these last weeks were the midterms. This election is considered the most important election since Trump came into office. Tivnu canvassed, and the measures we were against (Check…

As I sit and ponder what to write about, I find I always come back to the same topic… airplanes. Don’t fret– I will not bore you with information about planes such as the function of winglets, or what reverse thrusters are, or why the fly-by-wire system is a true gift to airline companies in terms of economics. I will tell you, however, that as simple as the design of an airplane is, the function of each individual part is, in fact, very complex. The idea of something simple being complex is one that I have been experiencing during my time…

You know how you have that gut feeling, and you just know something in your heart to be true? I’m Ruby, and I just knew in my heart that I wanted to be in Tivnu the minute I heard about it. I’m so so so so SO lucky to have Tivnu. When I decided to create a piece of art about my Tivnu experience, I wanted to draw something that represented Portland and Tivnu at the same time. I was going to draw the bridges of Portland, but I didn’t want to-that wasn’t original…