Snake Maze Optical Illusion by Yonatan Frimer

Snake Maze

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Favorite Maze By Yonatan Frimer

This is one of my favourite mazes that I have ever created. Its basically a merger of 3-d vanishing points and a bunch of monkeys jumping around all in a maze. It took me over 20 hours to complete this maze, and it is one of the most popular mazes that I have ever created. Click on the maze to view it in much greater detail.

Maze Kong

King Kong of Mazes

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La Union Maze attracts, employs students

With late afternoon warmth settling in, maze-goers gradually trickle in like an unfastened water faucet and sophomore education major Idanea Gomez shelves her history book underneath the counter to attend to customers.

So far, it's the busiest day of the season, which started the weekend before. She manages the token booth at La Union Maze, located at 1101 South Highway 28. For the second consecutive year, she sells tickets for various attractions at the popular autumn activity.

Many college students like Gomez juggle a job while attending school. Although the job is seasonal, Gomez said the work environment is worth coming back each year.

"My mom and my sister work here, so I do this with them. It's fun," Gomez said. "You get to meet a lot of people."

Now in its 11th season, La Union Maze retains about two-thirds of their employees, co-owner Lucy Sondgeroth said, who helps run the maze with her husband Robert.

"There are kids here that have been with us five or six years," Sondgeroth said.

The maze opened Sept. 25, and it remains open until Nov. 7. La Union Maze includes two mazes, smaller entertainment attractions and snacks such as roasted corn. This year's maze is themed to commemorate American troops.

After five years of employment at the maze, Alex Gonzalez, junior mechanical engineer major, said he returns each year because of the overall employee morale, schedule flexibility and pastoral atmosphere.

"If you put the effort in, it's more fun than it is work," Gonzalez said.

The Sondgeroths rely mostly on the help of friends and family to find dedicated employees. Lucy said it takes about 25 employees at the beginning of the season to man the maze but that often increases to 35 at midseason.

"We hardly ever take walk-ins," Sondgeroth said. "We rather know who they are, or know somebody who knows who they are."

Gonzalez was an exception to the family and friend prerequisite.

He originally asked owner Robert Sondgeroth if he accepted volunteers at the maze. Robert took his information and called him back. On his first day at the maze, Gonzalez was asked to clock in. The maze became a job.

Diana Amaro

Idanea Gomez, sophomore education major works at the token booth at La Union Maze.

Diana Amaro

Emmanuel Medrano, freshman mechanical engineering major, works at the duck races.

"He told me to clock in and clock out. I was just expecting to volunteer and he started paying me," Gonzalez said. "It made it more worthwhile."

Gonzalez, who was hired as a sophomore in high school, said he wanted to work at the maze because it looked fun, and it was a chance to acquire experience.

"I never expected to be there that long," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said five years later, he still enjoys working like he did in the beginning. He prefers to roast corn to the other tasks. He said it challenges him because it is fast paced and detailed.

"You got to figure out a way to get a process done," Gonzalez said. "It requires the most thinking. It's most stressful."

Gonzalez said the job is fairly easy to carry while going to school, but as he gets further into his studies, his hours at the maze dwindle.

Gomez, who was referred to the maze by her mother, who knows Lucy, said it is not a bad job to have while going to school. It can only get difficult for her because she also works at the Academic Advising Center and must manage her time wisely.

"I can bring my homework here (the maze) and get ahead. If not I do it all Sunday," Gomez said.

Gomez said the maze is flexible with student workers.

"They're flexible with us because they take a little part of their lives to help us. We have to be flexible with them too," Sondgeroth said.

Managing such a large staff requires patience, organisation and flexibility, Sondgeroth said.

"It gets a little hectic. Robert and I are like, ‘who's where? Who's on first? Who's on second?'" Sondgeroth laughs.

Sondgeroth said it's important to accommodate their employees because the job can be exhausting and tedious.

"If we're not terribly busy, we don't mind if they have a book to read," Sondgeroth said.

The Sondgeroths emphasize the importance of being alert and customer service to employees.

During the day, families and their children frequent the maze. A different crowd – high school students, college students, young couples and more – dominate the evening. The crowds change the atmosphere for employees. The evening is usually busier.

"They're more relaxed because they're not dealing with so many kids," Sondgeroth said. "On the other hand, they have to be alert about trouble (since) you have an older crowd."

The Sondgeroths station employees – young and old – at every attraction, depending on responsibility. Emmanuel Medrano, freshman pre-engineering major, has worked two weekends so far. He has worked at the rubber duck race station, pedal car race and as a corn cop.

He said it can be difficult at first, but it gets easier. As a corn cop, he had to help lost families get out of the maze. He admits he is just getting the hang of the maze.

"You recognize some spots, but during the night, you get lost pretty easy," Medrano said.

Medrano also brings books to study during downtime or when he's not walking through the maze.

Gonzalez said it takes at least two weekends to learn the ins and outs of the maze.

"At the beginning everybody's a little lost but that comes with the territory," Sondgeroth said. "Once they do it a few times, they have a sense of where everything is. Something about a young mind that figures things out fast. I would be lost in there forever."

Job stations include mazes (difficult and novice), the Hill, the Big Jumping Pillow, the Pumpkin Patch Trolley, Cow Train, Pedal Cars, Target Practice, Duck Races and more.

"If your kids are not dirty when they leave here they didn't have fun," Sondgeroth said.

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Maze cartoon by Yonatan Frimer on Peace in the Middle East as a movie rerun

Maze cartoon of peace in the middle east movie rerun
Maze cartoon by Yonatan Frimer of an empty movie theatre playing "peace in the middle east" and the audience exlaims, "haven't we seen this movie alread!"
Click here for a printable, hi-res file of Peace in the Middle East movie
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More on this maze cartoon's topic:

Middle East Peace Talks: Déjà Vu all over again all over again

Middle East peace talks to resolve the so-called Israeli-Palestinian crisis have been coming and going most of my adult life and I’m no spring chicken — free range or otherwise. And now here they are again! But this time, as opposed to all those other times, the AP’s Robert Burns informs us, “the stakes are high.” Well, yes… but maybe not in the way Burns intended.

What’s really going on here? Let’s do a thought experiment.

The last time a hopeful world got transfixed by this roundelay (although this time it might not be paying much attention anyway) was back at the tail end of the Clinton presidency when Bill was trying to untie this Gordian knot and win himself a Nobel Peace Prize. Those discussions began at Camp David in 2000 and dribbled on to Taba in early 2001 when it all went south with the Second Intifada and an Israeli election.

Tons of books and articles have been written about this, I’ve even read and forgotten a few, but I recall enough to know that a lot of ink was spilled about just what percentage of the Palestinian demands were acceded to by the Israelis. Some said as much as 98%, while others said more like 90, or maybe even a paltry 88.

Now here’s the thought experiment part. I’m assuming most of the readers here — in this case I’d wager 99% of you — have been in negotiations themselves. When you got 98% or even 88% of what you wanted, did you walk away and start a war… okay, just walk away? And if you did, why did you do that … when you were so close to making a deal? You could obviously hang around in negotiations and get most, if not all, of what you wanted....

Click here to read the rest of this article on Pajamas Media

Hamas derailing the peace train, Yonatan Frimer maze cartoon

Maze cartoon of Hamas derailing the peace train.

Maze cartoon of the middle east peace process getting derailed by Hamas.
Created by Yonatan Frimer
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Article on the topic of this maze cartoon:

Gaza militants launch rocket attacks in effort to derail peace talks By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem

Short-range rockets and mortars rained on southern Israel yesterday as militants sought to derail the revived peace process on the second day of talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Militants in Gaza, the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, fired at least nine projectiles into Israel, causing no injuries. Israel responded with an air strike on Gaza, killing a 23-year-old Palestinian man.

The upsurge in attacks came during talks in Jerusalem, where Washington is pushing for a breakthrough in the peace process, launched a fortnight ago after nearly two years of stalled negotiations.

At the end of the second day, George Mitchell, the US envoy, sounded a cautious note of optimism, hinting that the two sides were making progress over the extension of a construction freeze in the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"We continue in our efforts to make progress in that regard and believe we are doing so," Mr Mitchell told reporters after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem.

"The two leaders are not leaving the tough issues to the end of their discussions," he added. "We take this as a strong indicator of their belief that peace is possible."

Ahead of a packed day of meetings, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, had reiterated...(click here to read the full article source)

Face mazes by Yonatan Frimer

Time to face the maze - by Yonatan Frimer

Mazes of faces.

Maze of Gilad Shalit

Maze of Hamas prisoner, IDF solider Gilad Shalit

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Maze of Monkeys Eyes, by Yonatan Frimer


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Optical Illusion Monkey Maze, by Yonatan Frimer



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Robocop Maze by Yonatan Frimer

Cartoon maze about Obama, Ground Zero, and Jerusalem. By Yonatan Frimer

Maze cartoon about Obama's stance on the Ground Zero Mosque.

Maze cartoon by Yonatan Frimer about Obama's stance that the Ground Zero mosque should be built since no one should be restricted from building based on their religious beliefs, except he says the opposite when building in Jerusalem, which is a conflict in policy.
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