Tivnu Blog

Dec 31 2020

We are on the frontline

Some days at the morning construction briefing, Erik or Andy (the Cascadia Clusters executive director) will bring up the fact that we at Tivnu are the front line when building for houseless communities in Portland....

Dec 17 2020

Growing through discomfort

I love class discussions. Throughout my years in school, I shot up my hand in every class, eager to debate, counter, or question. It wasn’t until a recent Tivnu discussion about different ways each of us processes experiences (meta, indeed), that I realized I tend to wait to speak until I can disagree or counter a point. It is 10:30 am on a Tuesday morning. I run my fingers over the piece of wood I am de-nailing, looking for any nails I may have missed. I tighten the strings of my hoodie. Check my watch. Still a ways to go before...

Dec 3 2020

The Butterfly Effect of Social Activism

It is 10:30 am on a Monday morning. I have been working on this spreadsheet for an hour and a half, and I can feel my eyes wanting to slowly drift away. It is 10:30 am on a Tuesday morning. I run my fingers over the piece of wood I am de-nailing, looking for any nails I may have missed. I tighten the strings of my hoodie. Check my watch. Still a ways to go before lunch time. ...

Nov 2 2020

Healing my back, healing our democracy

Last week, I fell down the stairs. Do I have any clue how it happened? Nope. One second I was at the top of the stairs, and the next second I was lying at the bottom, the wind knocked out of me, unable to speak, surrounded by my concerned friends. Once I got my breath back, I immediately tried to get up and walk, but I was instead ushered onto the couch, and asked question after question....

Oct 9 2020

Kitchen + Chaos = Community

“This is officially the apocalypse,” someone behind me remarked. I tried to laugh, but couldn’t. We were standing on the back porch of the Tivnu bayit (home), looking up at the bright orange sky. The air was thick with smoke. Inside, our power had gone out, cloaking the house in an eerie silence. To add mayhem to madness, we were still in quarantine. “Apocalypse” might have been a hyperbole, but “chaos” sounded about right....

Sep 27 2020

Time is a Construct: Tivnu in 2020

Time truly is a construct. I have been in Portland for just over three weeks and I feel like I have known the other Tivnuniks forever. I feel so grateful to be at an in-person program during these unpredictable times. We have done so much meaningful programming and learning in the time we have been together. After months of being in quarantine, finally being with a group of people is an incredible feeling. ...

May 22 2020

PART 3: Academics, How the Tivnu Gap Year Prepared me for College (and Beyond)

3 part series written by Aliza Saunders, Tivnu alumna and student at Cornell University. ...

May 20 2020

PART 2: Communication, How the Tivnu Gap Year Prepared me for College (and Beyond)

3 part series written by Aliza Saunders, Tivnu alumna and student at Cornell University. ...

May 18 2020

PART 1: How the Tivnu Gap Year Prepared me for College (and Beyond)

3 part series written by Aliza Saunders, Tivnu alumna and student at Cornell University. ...

May 12 2020

Tivnu in the NYTimes: Purpose in Place

Ami, Tivnu alumnus of the T2 cohort, writes about their experience being interviewed for the NYTimes article that mentions Tivnu. ...