Hi, Brian Lairer here.

Up next, Brian Lairor Weekend,

three of our favorite segments from the week,

packaged together for you to listen to on the weekend.

So enjoy, and I'll see you back on the radio Monday at 10 a.m.

on WNYC on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone. With us now, Judith Sloan and

Najla Saeed, who are holding three events in Manhattan and Brooklyn this month, trying to talk

about Israel and Gaza, Jewish identity, and Palestinian identity, and engage in dialogue

rather than diatribe, in a different kind of way.

Judith is an actor, writer, educator, and radio producer, and Nodhla is an actor, writer, and activist.

Their project is called Imperfect Allies, Children of Opposite Sides.

It combines a 15-minute theater piece with a dialogue that follows among the audience members

who sign up because they want to engage with people not like them from diverse backgrounds,

imperfect allies, if you will, children from opposite sides as the title goes. They have three

such events coming up in the next week

that will tell you about. Disclosure, Judith Sloan happens to be my sister-in-law, married to my

brother. Najla Saeed has a much more famous and important relative than me. She's the daughter of

Edward Saeed, the late Columbia University, who wrote the seminal book on Western

Attitudes Toward Eastern and Middle Eastern peoples called Orientalism.

Before they join us live, we'll hear two excerpts from performances by each of them.

First, here is a two-minute excerpt in which Najla reads from her book, Looking for Palestine,

...