Last weekend, experienced salsa dancer Twinkle Toes was knocked out of the game early due to a stress injury to her big toe. Thinking it was only a strained tendon, she ignored it completely for 3 days, expecting it would heal itself. After the third day, when she could no longer pick her toes up off the floor, TT went to the physio only to discover she had dislocated a small bone in her foot. Evidently it is an old injury that has been continually aggravated by repeated foot abuse in the form of dancing, running, and even walking, and has resulted in an arthritic toe and weakened tendons. Intensive torture in the form of electrotherapy and bone manipulation is improving movement in the affected areas. She is well on her way to recovery, and has been cleared to run again, but she is still experiencing odd tingling sensations in her left foot. With 4 days left in her rehabilitation program, TT hopes to be better than ever shortly.
(This will teach me to dance for 4 hours in high heels.... seriously, this is one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened to me.)
Monday, May 22, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
It's life's little accomplishments....
... that mean a lot. Last Sunday I ran a 5k. It damn near killed me, as I haven't really trained, nor have I quit smoking. But I did it. And I did it in 25-28 minutes (there's no official time because the idiots at the finish line weren't recording anyone's numbers with their times. Well done, fellas.) I couldn't have done it without my running partner, whose encouragement kept me from giving up and walking on the last kilometer. Thank you, sir!!Note: this photo was staged, as our photographer missed us actually crossing the finish line. We were already having coffee by the time he showed up. Oops.
As proud as I am of me, the real kudos go to the Queen of Sweden and the Kiwi Fruit (he's going to kill me for that nickname, but whatever). They both ran the half-marathon, and she ran with no
training. The Queen is still limping 4 days later, but she finished. The woman is a machine!!I blame the Kiwi Fruit for my new found obsession with exercise. I have been going to the gym a lot. For me that usually means going at all, but I've been trying to go at least 3 times a week, and I am actually enjoying running. I really never thought I'd say that. Ever. But it makes me feel good and my ass is starting to crawl back up off the back of my thighs and back up to where it's supposed to be. (Gravity sucks.) I haven't felt this good physically in a long time. I even discovered a stomach muscle yesterday that I could swear wasn't there two weeks ago. My goal, by the time I leave here in 4-6 weeks is to not ache after every time I go to the gym, but I think that's just a part of getting older. *sigh*
Monday, May 08, 2006
Winding down
It's almost over. And it's just now starting to truly sink in. I've spent the last two years of my life in a place I'd never really heard of, doing a job I never thought I'd have, for reasons I never thought were important to me. I'm not sure who has learned more in the past 20 months, me or my students, but I know I'll walk away from Kosovo a changed person.
I arrived here optimistic, idealistic and fully energized to change the world, thinking I knew it all and ready to impart my knowledge on the good people of Kosovo. I am leaving knowing that having the know-how to affect change is one thing, actually getting it done is something different all together, and that change isn't always what is necessary - sometimes it's just a little empathy.
I arrived here full of desire to share my world-view. I'm leaving having shared in the world-view of others. Sometimes it was tragic, sometimes inspiring, sometimes infuriating, but it was always from the heart.
I arrived here alone, a one-woman side-show in a circus of international insanity. I'm leaving with a circle of friends (well, family now) that will be with me for the rest of my life.
I arrived here a teacher. I am leaving here a student.
My life has been touched by every person I have met and every experience I have had. Although it hasn't been easy, it was worth every moment in the dark, and in the cold, and every flight of stairs I had to climb carrying 50 pounds of groceries, for the people who shared their stories with me. I arrived with my knowledge, I leave with their wisdom.
I arrived here optimistic, idealistic and fully energized to change the world, thinking I knew it all and ready to impart my knowledge on the good people of Kosovo. I am leaving knowing that having the know-how to affect change is one thing, actually getting it done is something different all together, and that change isn't always what is necessary - sometimes it's just a little empathy.
I arrived here full of desire to share my world-view. I'm leaving having shared in the world-view of others. Sometimes it was tragic, sometimes inspiring, sometimes infuriating, but it was always from the heart.
I arrived here alone, a one-woman side-show in a circus of international insanity. I'm leaving with a circle of friends (well, family now) that will be with me for the rest of my life.
I arrived here a teacher. I am leaving here a student.
My life has been touched by every person I have met and every experience I have had. Although it hasn't been easy, it was worth every moment in the dark, and in the cold, and every flight of stairs I had to climb carrying 50 pounds of groceries, for the people who shared their stories with me. I arrived with my knowledge, I leave with their wisdom.
St. Petersburg
Just a little note to let everyone know that I've finally uploaded the pictures from Russia. I'm working on Prague next, but don't rush me. ;P
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Pisser's just on a break...
Since poor Pisser Bear got left in San Francisco in January (I think he was getting a little homesick anyway), I needed a new mascot for my travels, especially since I had such a monumental trip on the horizon - Tallinn, St. Petersburg and Prague. For the record, Pisser is still my most cherished traveling companion. He is lost, for now, but not forgotten. In the meantime, however, meet Willie Wiki. There's a troupe of wandering Wiki's in all sorts of places now (yes, there's a website to come... more on that later). But this one is mine.
Wiki Slideshow
Wiki Slideshow
Riots in Bangalore
I've been pursuing a job opportunity with Microsoft in Bangalore, India (third interview to take place next Tuesday) and then I read this article (click on the title of this post to read it) about riots closing down the city over the death of a film star. Can't I ever pick any place normal to work??
The job search isn't all that I had hoped it would be. It mostly consists of mailing out countless CV's, getting random emails from the positions I don't really want and not hearing anything from places I do want to go. I've got 2 and a half months before I'm officially unemployed, and frankly, I'm starting to get a little worried. If I didn't have a kazillion dollars in student loans to pay off, I could take a job with a little po-dunk language school in a beautiful seaside village somewhere, but unfortunately, until I take care of these other obligations, I'm really not at liberty to do so.
At the moment, I'm on the roster for UN Volunteers, I've taken the Foreign Service Written Exam (again), I've had nibbles from International House in Moscow (too cold) and Kuala Lumpur, and two technology companies in India. We'll see what pans out. New things pop up on the net everyday, and I'll continue to plug my CV to whoever will look at it and see what happens. If all else fails, I'll take my savings and go to South America and see what turns up. (Not a very strong contingency plan, I know, but it beats the alternative - coming home, dejected and unemployed at 35, to live with my parents like a big loser. Not that I don't enjoy spending time at with my family, I totally do, but nobody wants to admit that they live with the parents when they're my age.)
Well, I'm starting to babble now. I guess I'd better sign off. I promise to write more later... have much to tell. I just returned from Tallinn, St. Petersburg and Prague. *sigh* It was fab.
The job search isn't all that I had hoped it would be. It mostly consists of mailing out countless CV's, getting random emails from the positions I don't really want and not hearing anything from places I do want to go. I've got 2 and a half months before I'm officially unemployed, and frankly, I'm starting to get a little worried. If I didn't have a kazillion dollars in student loans to pay off, I could take a job with a little po-dunk language school in a beautiful seaside village somewhere, but unfortunately, until I take care of these other obligations, I'm really not at liberty to do so.
At the moment, I'm on the roster for UN Volunteers, I've taken the Foreign Service Written Exam (again), I've had nibbles from International House in Moscow (too cold) and Kuala Lumpur, and two technology companies in India. We'll see what pans out. New things pop up on the net everyday, and I'll continue to plug my CV to whoever will look at it and see what happens. If all else fails, I'll take my savings and go to South America and see what turns up. (Not a very strong contingency plan, I know, but it beats the alternative - coming home, dejected and unemployed at 35, to live with my parents like a big loser. Not that I don't enjoy spending time at with my family, I totally do, but nobody wants to admit that they live with the parents when they're my age.)
Well, I'm starting to babble now. I guess I'd better sign off. I promise to write more later... have much to tell. I just returned from Tallinn, St. Petersburg and Prague. *sigh* It was fab.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Beautiful day
The sun is shining, the city is covered in a blanket of crisp, white snow (after two days of near blizzard conditions), and I'm feeling positive about things again finally. I'm re-energized about my work, and my students are a huge part of that. (The sunshine helps a bit too.) They made me laugh so many times today, and they've all got something new and exciting in their lives. One student finally got his camera after 6 months of trying (shipping is a huge problem here), another has decided to go to Bulgaria for an intensive English course, and another will take the TOEFL in 2 weeks in hopes of going abroad to study. There's a general feeling of optimism that has been missing for the last few months.
The oppressive bleakness of things has been hanging over me like a terrible, suffocating weight. I have had nothing positive to say for a long time; thus, I've completely neglected this blog for fear of sounding like a whiner. Just walking out of my house would make me angry and frustrated. Frustrated at the difficulty of accomplishing even the simplest tasks. Angry at the general chaos and craziness that pervades everyday existence here. Tired of cold and gray and no water and no electricity - I was craving convenience and ease.
Then, yesterday, I was chatting with a student online, and he asked me if I was tired of being here and working with these people (was it that evident?), because even for him, in his country, sometimes he gets frustrated. He told me how lucky I was to be able to leave when I wanted. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. No matter how bad it seems here to me, I can leave. For them, this is existence, reality, with little to no chance of escaping it. They're all clamoring for change, but it's a slow process. Time time time time time...... In that moment I realized that my work here is really important, and that it does make a difference, at least to some, and that a little cold and lack of electricity is a small price to pay for helping someone. So for the first time in a long time, today, I feel like I can breathe again.
The oppressive bleakness of things has been hanging over me like a terrible, suffocating weight. I have had nothing positive to say for a long time; thus, I've completely neglected this blog for fear of sounding like a whiner. Just walking out of my house would make me angry and frustrated. Frustrated at the difficulty of accomplishing even the simplest tasks. Angry at the general chaos and craziness that pervades everyday existence here. Tired of cold and gray and no water and no electricity - I was craving convenience and ease.
Then, yesterday, I was chatting with a student online, and he asked me if I was tired of being here and working with these people (was it that evident?), because even for him, in his country, sometimes he gets frustrated. He told me how lucky I was to be able to leave when I wanted. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. No matter how bad it seems here to me, I can leave. For them, this is existence, reality, with little to no chance of escaping it. They're all clamoring for change, but it's a slow process. Time time time time time...... In that moment I realized that my work here is really important, and that it does make a difference, at least to some, and that a little cold and lack of electricity is a small price to pay for helping someone. So for the first time in a long time, today, I feel like I can breathe again.
Monday, March 06, 2006
The times they are a chan-gin'
I witnessed something great this weekend. Serb, Macedonian and Kosovar Albanian university students talking, laughing, singing songs and working together to make something happen. I was asked to be a faculty mentor for a group of students from the University of Prishtina that were participating in an international negotiation similation. I really had no idea what to expect, considering the current political climate, but I was truly impressed with everyone there.
The students came from 4 different universities in 3 different countries, and had to put aside personal politics and disagreements to work together to create a "contract" for protecting c
ultural heritage sites in the Balkan region. Each country's delegation consisted of a student from each of the different universities. The head of delegation for Kosovo's team was actually from Serbia and the head of the Serbian delegation was actually from Kosovo - just to make things interesting. They even assigned students to their hotel rooms to make sure that everyone mixed it up a bit. The first evening, people stayed somewhat with their own crowds, but by the end of the weekend, everyone was singing, dancing, learning words in each other's languages, and generally just having a fantastic time. They really took their task seriously - I overheard a couple of people still ngotiation percentage points at 2 am over beers in the disco. In the end, they managed to come to a consensus on the contract and an "official document" was signed.
I know it seems weird that I should be so surprised by all of this, but there is still so much mistrust and misunderstanding here, at least from the conversations I've had with students, that seeing it all melt away in a matter of days was fantastic. I feel really lucky to have been a part of it.
The students came from 4 different universities in 3 different countries, and had to put aside personal politics and disagreements to work together to create a "contract" for protecting c
ultural heritage sites in the Balkan region. Each country's delegation consisted of a student from each of the different universities. The head of delegation for Kosovo's team was actually from Serbia and the head of the Serbian delegation was actually from Kosovo - just to make things interesting. They even assigned students to their hotel rooms to make sure that everyone mixed it up a bit. The first evening, people stayed somewhat with their own crowds, but by the end of the weekend, everyone was singing, dancing, learning words in each other's languages, and generally just having a fantastic time. They really took their task seriously - I overheard a couple of people still ngotiation percentage points at 2 am over beers in the disco. In the end, they managed to come to a consensus on the contract and an "official document" was signed.I know it seems weird that I should be so surprised by all of this, but there is still so much mistrust and misunderstanding here, at least from the conversations I've had with students, that seeing it all melt away in a matter of days was fantastic. I feel really lucky to have been a part of it.
Just when you thought it was over
The past week and a half have been fantastic, weatherwise anyway. It's been sunny and warm... and thennnnnn... today it's snowing so hard that I can't see the ground from my 11th story window. I guess my building has some sort of draft due to the other buildings around it because at the moment, it's snowing UP. Yes, UP. I'm confused too.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Hell has frozen over....
I recently told someone that I had learned something new about myself this year - that I can actually handle winter. I didn't think I could before the last two years. I mean, I grew up in Texas (snow?? what's that??) then moved to LA (what do you mean white stuff falls from the sky??). This winter there has been snow on the ground since mid-November and I didn't die. Until today.
Today, the high was 17 degrees Farenheit. The low, well, I don't think we've hit it yet and it's 3 degrees outside. It's 6:30 pm. With wind chill we're already below zero, it's snowing like mad, electricity has been shit (pardon my French) which means so has my heat, and I am miserable. I can't do winter. I really can't. Not like this. I don't WANT to do winter like this ever again.
I have a fellow ELF visiting this week too. Poor thing. She thought it would be an adventure to come see Kosovo, and this is what she gets. We just sat here in the dark this afternoon drinking hot buttered rum (made on my one burner camp stove in the middle of the living room) laughing at what a horrible time for her to visit this was. Oh well - what to do?
On the brighter side of winter, I just got back from 3 days of skiing in beautiful Bansko, Bulgaria. I finally get what all the fuss is about. I took 8 hours of lessons, learned how to turn and how to stop and actually had a fantastic time!! I am hooked and can't wait to ski again. We're going to Serbia in a couple of weeks to do it again. YEAH!!! That kind of winter I can handle.
Today, the high was 17 degrees Farenheit. The low, well, I don't think we've hit it yet and it's 3 degrees outside. It's 6:30 pm. With wind chill we're already below zero, it's snowing like mad, electricity has been shit (pardon my French) which means so has my heat, and I am miserable. I can't do winter. I really can't. Not like this. I don't WANT to do winter like this ever again.
I have a fellow ELF visiting this week too. Poor thing. She thought it would be an adventure to come see Kosovo, and this is what she gets. We just sat here in the dark this afternoon drinking hot buttered rum (made on my one burner camp stove in the middle of the living room) laughing at what a horrible time for her to visit this was. Oh well - what to do?
On the brighter side of winter, I just got back from 3 days of skiing in beautiful Bansko, Bulgaria. I finally get what all the fuss is about. I took 8 hours of lessons, learned how to turn and how to stop and actually had a fantastic time!! I am hooked and can't wait to ski again. We're going to Serbia in a couple of weeks to do it again. YEAH!!! That kind of winter I can handle.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Back in the U.S. of A.... (big sigh)
I'm lying in bed this beautiful Saturday morning, pilfering wireless internet off Goose's neighbor, looking at the lush hills of Marin County, and smelling the salt air from nearby San Francisco Bay. I couldn't be happier to be alive right now. Even though anything that could have gone wrong with my trip yesterday, did, I arrived in one piece, and now have 10 beautiful days to enjoy this city... ok, not really... I do have a ton of work to do, but still, I can do it in SF instead of Prishtina.
It's raining here, and evidently it has been all over the West Coast for a while now. Goose just came back from Seattle, where it's been raining for 27 days straight. Wow. We had big plans of hiking Mt. Tam today, but that isn't going to happen. It's not just the weather stopping us... I don't have any shoes. Or clothes for that matter. My luggage never made it past Vienna. Ratz.... but I digress, there's more to this little travelogue than lost luggage. Flashback to 11:30 pm on Thursday, Prishtina...
I was packing like a mad woman, trying to figure out what to take, what to leave home. I had to pack for business and casual, warm weather and frigid, and get it all in one bag. Optomistically, I pulled out my small roll on bag, thinking I'd be able to do a little laundry at Goose's place and not have to worry too much. HA HA HA. I'm such a girl. I boiled it down to 6 pairs of shoes for 16 days... I didn't think that was too bad, really - flat black boots, high heeled black boots, black loafers, brown boots, trainers, and flip flops to pack, wear the Ugg boots on the plane. Perfect. But all those shoes alone took up the whole roll on bag. Grr. I broke down and went fot the giant suitcase, but packed lightly in anticipation for the shopping in San Fran. About 1:30 am I finally nodded off to sleep, but not before setting 3 alarms to make sure I was up at 4:45. (Gotta love 7 am flights!)
I got up the next morning on time, only to find that the water in my building was turned off for the first time in months. Crapola - that meant a 27 hour trip with no shower. Ewwwww! I wet my hair down with bottled water, and made the best of it. Svengy called from downstairs about 5:40 and I headed out the door... to find the elevator was BROKEN. In case you don't remember, I live on the 11th floor. Svengy lugged everything down the stairs for me (thank god) and we headed out.
[It's 6:30 pm on February 6th now, and I've completely forgotten where I was going with this story, since I started it about a month ago.... so I'll just tidy up the loose ends and get back to the current situation in Prishtina.]
So as you may have guessed from my earlier comment, I arrived in the U.S. with no baggage, got practically strip searched in the DC airport thanks to a brass button on my belt, bought a sweatshirt in the airport to tide me over (for the next THREE days - yes, that's how long it took them to get my luggage to me), and off I went to begin my adventure. I got an impromptu party with the Spain IP crew on Sunday night - so very cool as I hadn't seen most of these people for 3 years. And then it was back to work.
I worked like crazy to get all 47 pages of my security clearance paperwork finished and printed at kinko's at the mere price of 50 cents a PAGE (jinkies!), stressed out for 3 days over the Foreign Service exam, and then tanked myself and didn't pass. I completely choked on a section. I mean totally choked. I couldn't get three words down on paper that made sense. (See, my students, it happens to all of us!) Oh well. I'll take the written exam again, and start the process all over again. I think. Still considiering it. However, that night, Goose and I met up with some old friends from Redondo days and had the best sushi meal I've ever had in my life. If I could get sushi that good everyday, I'd never eat anything but - this coming from a woman who used to never eat fish at all, much less raw. mmmmmmmmm.... sushi.
My seeeeester came out on Friday and we spent the afternoon having margaritas at the marina in Tiburon, then headed out to the city for a night on the town. Alio showed up to meet us at Sam Wo's (the best all night Chinese place in ChinaTown). The next morning we all rolled crustily out of bed and headed up to Napa for a little wine tasting, and had big plans of heading out that night. However, laziness set in with all the weary travelers, and we ordered pizza and watched tv. It was just nice to be home with friends and family, even if it was just for a few days. Sunday we headed to the Exploratorium, FIsherman's Wharf and Alcatraz - yep - played tourist. Such fun. Then it was off to Budapest for a presentation... that my friends is a story all in itself. So I'm going to stop here for now....
It's raining here, and evidently it has been all over the West Coast for a while now. Goose just came back from Seattle, where it's been raining for 27 days straight. Wow. We had big plans of hiking Mt. Tam today, but that isn't going to happen. It's not just the weather stopping us... I don't have any shoes. Or clothes for that matter. My luggage never made it past Vienna. Ratz.... but I digress, there's more to this little travelogue than lost luggage. Flashback to 11:30 pm on Thursday, Prishtina...
I was packing like a mad woman, trying to figure out what to take, what to leave home. I had to pack for business and casual, warm weather and frigid, and get it all in one bag. Optomistically, I pulled out my small roll on bag, thinking I'd be able to do a little laundry at Goose's place and not have to worry too much. HA HA HA. I'm such a girl. I boiled it down to 6 pairs of shoes for 16 days... I didn't think that was too bad, really - flat black boots, high heeled black boots, black loafers, brown boots, trainers, and flip flops to pack, wear the Ugg boots on the plane. Perfect. But all those shoes alone took up the whole roll on bag. Grr. I broke down and went fot the giant suitcase, but packed lightly in anticipation for the shopping in San Fran. About 1:30 am I finally nodded off to sleep, but not before setting 3 alarms to make sure I was up at 4:45. (Gotta love 7 am flights!)
I got up the next morning on time, only to find that the water in my building was turned off for the first time in months. Crapola - that meant a 27 hour trip with no shower. Ewwwww! I wet my hair down with bottled water, and made the best of it. Svengy called from downstairs about 5:40 and I headed out the door... to find the elevator was BROKEN. In case you don't remember, I live on the 11th floor. Svengy lugged everything down the stairs for me (thank god) and we headed out.
[It's 6:30 pm on February 6th now, and I've completely forgotten where I was going with this story, since I started it about a month ago.... so I'll just tidy up the loose ends and get back to the current situation in Prishtina.]
So as you may have guessed from my earlier comment, I arrived in the U.S. with no baggage, got practically strip searched in the DC airport thanks to a brass button on my belt, bought a sweatshirt in the airport to tide me over (for the next THREE days - yes, that's how long it took them to get my luggage to me), and off I went to begin my adventure. I got an impromptu party with the Spain IP crew on Sunday night - so very cool as I hadn't seen most of these people for 3 years. And then it was back to work.
I worked like crazy to get all 47 pages of my security clearance paperwork finished and printed at kinko's at the mere price of 50 cents a PAGE (jinkies!), stressed out for 3 days over the Foreign Service exam, and then tanked myself and didn't pass. I completely choked on a section. I mean totally choked. I couldn't get three words down on paper that made sense. (See, my students, it happens to all of us!) Oh well. I'll take the written exam again, and start the process all over again. I think. Still considiering it. However, that night, Goose and I met up with some old friends from Redondo days and had the best sushi meal I've ever had in my life. If I could get sushi that good everyday, I'd never eat anything but - this coming from a woman who used to never eat fish at all, much less raw. mmmmmmmmm.... sushi.
My seeeeester came out on Friday and we spent the afternoon having margaritas at the marina in Tiburon, then headed out to the city for a night on the town. Alio showed up to meet us at Sam Wo's (the best all night Chinese place in ChinaTown). The next morning we all rolled crustily out of bed and headed up to Napa for a little wine tasting, and had big plans of heading out that night. However, laziness set in with all the weary travelers, and we ordered pizza and watched tv. It was just nice to be home with friends and family, even if it was just for a few days. Sunday we headed to the Exploratorium, FIsherman's Wharf and Alcatraz - yep - played tourist. Such fun. Then it was off to Budapest for a presentation... that my friends is a story all in itself. So I'm going to stop here for now....
Saturday, December 31, 2005
New Year's in a War Zone
Ok, not really, but it damn sure sounds like it. I have never seen anything like this before in my life. It's illegal to import fireworks here, but it's not illegal to sell the damn things. The result of which is that bottle rockets the size of Hulk Hogan's arms have been sold old the street for the past week, and it sounds like the city is going to turn to rubble any minute now.
Not really in the New Year's spirit this year. I've got a mild case of the flu, which I'm battling with Alka Seltzer cold plus and hot buttered rum. I was going to stay home tonight, but can't face the explosions and gunfire (yeah, ya heard me - I forgot to mention that part earlier) all by my lonesome. I've rallied, I've dolled up. I've hidden the circles under my eyes with heavy black eyeliner. Maybe no one will notice me dying slowly in the corner of the party. Yikes. Anyway... tomorrow I can sleep all day. SO there.
I hope you all have a fantastic New Year's Eve, and all the best in 2006. I'm going to go try and hunt up a taxi now. Wish me luck. :)
Not really in the New Year's spirit this year. I've got a mild case of the flu, which I'm battling with Alka Seltzer cold plus and hot buttered rum. I was going to stay home tonight, but can't face the explosions and gunfire (yeah, ya heard me - I forgot to mention that part earlier) all by my lonesome. I've rallied, I've dolled up. I've hidden the circles under my eyes with heavy black eyeliner. Maybe no one will notice me dying slowly in the corner of the party. Yikes. Anyway... tomorrow I can sleep all day. SO there.
I hope you all have a fantastic New Year's Eve, and all the best in 2006. I'm going to go try and hunt up a taxi now. Wish me luck. :)
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Telling it like it isnt
I read this op/ed piece in the LA Times Online today that expands on the concept of being overly PC. Click on the title above to read the article. I have to admit, it got to me. Really.
The gist of the piece is thus: In the attempt to cover the war(s) in the Middle East, the lanugage used by the media is so couched in niceties that we lose sight of what the fight is about in the first place, and we tend to forget that there is real death, real blood, and real horror that goes on every single day. The media is no longer presenting a picture of reality, but a prettied up G-rated version that is suitable for family viewing.
If this isn't bordering on censorship, then I don't know what is. Every little bit of our right to free speech that we give up (oh we can't say "short people" anymore, we have to say "vertically challenged"), gives just a little more leeway to those who once upon a time called Mark Twain a racist and banished Huckleberry Finn from school libraries, and gives credibility to those who claim that Christmas is offensive to other religious groups. Most people I know from different religious backgrounds have the intelligence to know that one's own beliefs are not so easily swayed by seeing how other people worship/celebrate/whatever you want to call it, and respect other's rights to their own beliefs. Duh. (In my personal opinion, Christmas has become so damn commercial that there is hardly a trace of the religious aspect of it left anymore anyway.)
As far as the media is concerned, it is their job to report the truth, and truth cannot be accurately portrayed if you can't call a war a war. What it boils down to is politics - politicians afraid of losing support of the constituency if people got a good look at what is really going on. They are basically telling you, America, that you are too stupid to see it and make a proper judgement. To quote A Few Good Men, "You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth."
If people are willing to spend 20 minutes in the grocery store deciding which brand of low-fat cottage cheese to buy, analyzing the fat content versus the sodium, calories from sugar versus starch, why aren't they just as willing to do the same for the information they take in? Most people don't immediately buy the first car on the lot, they comparison shop - but do people comparison shop when it comes to their own informativeness? Information is a commodity in today's world, and must be treated as such.
I beg you to not take your information from one place. Look around - read international newspapers as well as the local ones (they're readily available and FREE on the internet). Don't take all of your news from 30 second snippets on TV. It's your responsibility as citizens to keep yourselves informed. Don't become a part of what Chomsky calls the "mindless herd," believing only what is spoon fed to you by media conglomerates looking to make a quick buck. Information is everywhere - get some, digest it, make your own choices and judgements. This is freedom. This is what America is built on - choices and the freedom to make them. Take advantage of it.
End of rant. Thank you for listening.
The gist of the piece is thus: In the attempt to cover the war(s) in the Middle East, the lanugage used by the media is so couched in niceties that we lose sight of what the fight is about in the first place, and we tend to forget that there is real death, real blood, and real horror that goes on every single day. The media is no longer presenting a picture of reality, but a prettied up G-rated version that is suitable for family viewing.
If this isn't bordering on censorship, then I don't know what is. Every little bit of our right to free speech that we give up (oh we can't say "short people" anymore, we have to say "vertically challenged"), gives just a little more leeway to those who once upon a time called Mark Twain a racist and banished Huckleberry Finn from school libraries, and gives credibility to those who claim that Christmas is offensive to other religious groups. Most people I know from different religious backgrounds have the intelligence to know that one's own beliefs are not so easily swayed by seeing how other people worship/celebrate/whatever you want to call it, and respect other's rights to their own beliefs. Duh. (In my personal opinion, Christmas has become so damn commercial that there is hardly a trace of the religious aspect of it left anymore anyway.)
As far as the media is concerned, it is their job to report the truth, and truth cannot be accurately portrayed if you can't call a war a war. What it boils down to is politics - politicians afraid of losing support of the constituency if people got a good look at what is really going on. They are basically telling you, America, that you are too stupid to see it and make a proper judgement. To quote A Few Good Men, "You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth."
If people are willing to spend 20 minutes in the grocery store deciding which brand of low-fat cottage cheese to buy, analyzing the fat content versus the sodium, calories from sugar versus starch, why aren't they just as willing to do the same for the information they take in? Most people don't immediately buy the first car on the lot, they comparison shop - but do people comparison shop when it comes to their own informativeness? Information is a commodity in today's world, and must be treated as such.
I beg you to not take your information from one place. Look around - read international newspapers as well as the local ones (they're readily available and FREE on the internet). Don't take all of your news from 30 second snippets on TV. It's your responsibility as citizens to keep yourselves informed. Don't become a part of what Chomsky calls the "mindless herd," believing only what is spoon fed to you by media conglomerates looking to make a quick buck. Information is everywhere - get some, digest it, make your own choices and judgements. This is freedom. This is what America is built on - choices and the freedom to make them. Take advantage of it.
End of rant. Thank you for listening.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Meltdown
I'm having one of those days. I'm half-sick (AGAIN) - well, more than half. Didn't go to class today. Stayed home instead. My head's been pounding and I can't stop coughing. Maybe if I'd give up smoking (AGAIN) it would be better. Grr.
Have you ever had so much work to do, and known exactly what you needed to get done, but found yourself completely paralyzed and unable to do any of it at all?? That's where I am. I am overwhelmed to the point of complete shut-down. Maybe it's pure panic, and if that's the case, it'll pass in a few days. Except for the fact that this has been going on for a week now. It's totally self-destructive to sit here and stare at the piles all around my living room floor and ignore them. But that's what I've been doing. The longer they sit there, the more urgent they become, the more stressed out I get, and the bigger the meltdown becomes. Why can't I do anything about this??? WHY WHY WHY? I dunno. I'm going to smoke on it now.
I did accomplish one thing today while lying around being sickly. I took out the trash. Only because it had started to smell. I'm pathetic. Boo.
Have you ever had so much work to do, and known exactly what you needed to get done, but found yourself completely paralyzed and unable to do any of it at all?? That's where I am. I am overwhelmed to the point of complete shut-down. Maybe it's pure panic, and if that's the case, it'll pass in a few days. Except for the fact that this has been going on for a week now. It's totally self-destructive to sit here and stare at the piles all around my living room floor and ignore them. But that's what I've been doing. The longer they sit there, the more urgent they become, the more stressed out I get, and the bigger the meltdown becomes. Why can't I do anything about this??? WHY WHY WHY? I dunno. I'm going to smoke on it now.
I did accomplish one thing today while lying around being sickly. I took out the trash. Only because it had started to smell. I'm pathetic. Boo.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Taking PC a step too far
"Sperber's not-thinness led to steady supporting and character work, and finally a lead in the 1990 Fox sitcom, Babes, about three not-thin sisters."
This is a quote in an actual news article about an actress who passed away this week. In spite of the solemn tone of the whole thing, this sentence made me laugh. "NOT-THINNESS"?? Who is he kidding? He might as well have written "the big fat piggie bit it this week", it would have been just as sensitive. People kill me.
This is a quote in an actual news article about an actress who passed away this week. In spite of the solemn tone of the whole thing, this sentence made me laugh. "NOT-THINNESS"?? Who is he kidding? He might as well have written "the big fat piggie bit it this week", it would have been just as sensitive. People kill me.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Celebrations in the street
Today a major trial ended in the Hague, acquitting 2 of 3 war crimes suspects. The streets here have erupted in spontaneous celebration, with thousands of people marching down the main corridors, waving flags, honking horns and exploding firecrackers. Had things gone the other direction at the trial, with their national hero convicted rather than being set free, I can't imagine what might have happened.This is a shot of the tail end of the march as it passed my apartment building about an hour ago. I can only imagine it grew as it wound through the city. I could still hear the shouts and singing half an hour after they were out of sight, so the crowd must have been huge. It's nearly 2 and a half hours since the verdict and still the sound of honking horns and firecrackers is creeping in my 11th floor windows. Such passion in these people. Let's hope it stays celebratory.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
New cultures, new projects, new dishes
Well things are off and running (like crazy!). I've got more work than I know what to do with, and more projects keep popping up every day. It's a nice feeling to be busy again after so many weeks of virtual idleness.
This week has been filled with new experiences - new students, new classes, new cultures. Friday afternoon I had a meeting with the director of the library in Gracanica, a Serbian enclave near Prishtina. I am going to teach a class for adult beginners there starting next week. I still can't believe it's taken me over a year to get a project going in one of the minority communities, but I truly welcome the opportunity to be exposed to the other side of the culture here. I got a good introduction to it already. The night we had the meeting was the director's family's Slava, a religious holiday similar to Catholic Saint's days. After we finished our meeting in the library, he invited us back to his home to enjoy some of the fabulous food and drink prepared especially for the occasion - homemade ajvar, pickled peppers, a wheat berry and honey pudding, fried fish, breads, and of course the pride of his family - the rakia and wine. Incredible. His son played traditional music on the piano and sang while we drank toast after toast and feasted.
I have to admit I was impressed with the library. It's small, just two rooms, but it is definitely a library - open stacks where you can touch the books (wow!); it even had that library smell. I miss that so much!! I could have spent hours sifting through the titles, even though most of them were in the Cyrillic alphabet. I didn't care. It felt good to be in a room with that many books. Sigh. I think I must have been a librarian in a former life...
So that covers the new cultures and new projects bit... so about the new dishes. Last night Captain Canadian came over to watch movies. We were in the kitchen whipping up a batch of hummus, as is absolutely necessary for any sort of vegetative evening, and were just about finished. I opened the cabinet above my head to get out a bowl to put the dip in, and with quite a flourish, a loud pop and a series of crashes, a support for one of the shelves snapped, dropping every dish I owned from the overhead cabinet to the countertop and eventually to the floor, shattering everything into a million little pieces. We both just stood there, wide-eyed with jaws hanging open wondering how the hell that had just happened. When it was all over with I was left with one bowl and two plates, and a hell of a pile of ceramic shards. So we went shopping today. I got the coolest dishes ever (ok, maybe not ever, but I love them) - they're not round, they're triangular - the plates, the cups, the bowls, everything... super cute. In honor of the new place settings, we had another dinner party tonight and invited the "family" over, pigged out on really good food and wine, and now I'm about to head off to bed. It's been a good weekend.
This week has been filled with new experiences - new students, new classes, new cultures. Friday afternoon I had a meeting with the director of the library in Gracanica, a Serbian enclave near Prishtina. I am going to teach a class for adult beginners there starting next week. I still can't believe it's taken me over a year to get a project going in one of the minority communities, but I truly welcome the opportunity to be exposed to the other side of the culture here. I got a good introduction to it already. The night we had the meeting was the director's family's Slava, a religious holiday similar to Catholic Saint's days. After we finished our meeting in the library, he invited us back to his home to enjoy some of the fabulous food and drink prepared especially for the occasion - homemade ajvar, pickled peppers, a wheat berry and honey pudding, fried fish, breads, and of course the pride of his family - the rakia and wine. Incredible. His son played traditional music on the piano and sang while we drank toast after toast and feasted.
I have to admit I was impressed with the library. It's small, just two rooms, but it is definitely a library - open stacks where you can touch the books (wow!); it even had that library smell. I miss that so much!! I could have spent hours sifting through the titles, even though most of them were in the Cyrillic alphabet. I didn't care. It felt good to be in a room with that many books. Sigh. I think I must have been a librarian in a former life...
So that covers the new cultures and new projects bit... so about the new dishes. Last night Captain Canadian came over to watch movies. We were in the kitchen whipping up a batch of hummus, as is absolutely necessary for any sort of vegetative evening, and were just about finished. I opened the cabinet above my head to get out a bowl to put the dip in, and with quite a flourish, a loud pop and a series of crashes, a support for one of the shelves snapped, dropping every dish I owned from the overhead cabinet to the countertop and eventually to the floor, shattering everything into a million little pieces. We both just stood there, wide-eyed with jaws hanging open wondering how the hell that had just happened. When it was all over with I was left with one bowl and two plates, and a hell of a pile of ceramic shards. So we went shopping today. I got the coolest dishes ever (ok, maybe not ever, but I love them) - they're not round, they're triangular - the plates, the cups, the bowls, everything... super cute. In honor of the new place settings, we had another dinner party tonight and invited the "family" over, pigged out on really good food and wine, and now I'm about to head off to bed. It's been a good weekend.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Going to prom in the snow
The first snow of the year still makes me feel like a little kid - like I want to run around in the street with my head trhown back and tongue hanging out to catch snowflakes. I want to make snowballs and throw them at my neighbors and feebly attempt to make a snowman out of the still too slushy snow. It's been snowing non-stop for 24 hours now, but not much is sticking to the ground. There's still something quaint about looking out my 11th story window and seeing all the white rooftops. Something about the winter makes Prishtina almost pretty (at least until the snow starts to melt and everything turns to mud).
Last night I went to the Marine Ball, the first one in Prishtina. Got all gussied up in formal wear and listened to important people speak and danced with government officials and Generals and Colonels and such. And in spite of the serious tone of the whole thing, it was still somehow like going to a high school dance with bad music (really, the DJ was probably the
absolute worst that I have ever heard in my life), thus we dubbed it the Prishtina Prom. The Norwegian Goddess and I double "dated" with some friends from Frisbee and made the best of an otherwise not so great evening. But company makes a huge difference - when you're amongst friends, you can have fun anywere. So about dinner...
About an 1 1/2 after we arrived (the whole ceremony was delayed due to technical issues, thus dinner was also delayed), the waiters finally begin to bring food to the tables. First a small plate of mantia (meat filled pastries - lovely stuff) little hard rolls, and one plate with 6 slices of white bread on it. All for 15 people. Hm. Next a plate arrived in front of each person with your typical Kosovar appetizers - hard cheese, feta cheese, half a hard boiled egg drowned in something resembling mayonnaise, smoked beef, 2 slices of salami, and 1 olive. Yep, just one. About the time we had finished this, another waiter arrives with a steaming plate of Junior High School cafeteria-type hamburger patties and slaps one on everybody's appetizer plates. Now, even though most of us had been here a while, we still weren't quite sure what was going on. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have touched the things. However, we were starving, and weren't really all that certain that there was any more food on the agenda. Cringing, we ate them anyway and hoped for the best. It seemed like we were right. That was it. They came and cleared away our plates, everyone got up and milled around. I damn near broke down and had a cigarette (BUT I didn't). Anything to kill the fact that I was still starving - even after the Junior High School burger pattie. I at least needed some tater tots and ketchup to go with it. About an hour (and 2 glasses of wine) later, the waiters made another round... there really was dinner to be served. Hooray! Well, kind of - unfortunately for the vegetarian at our table, the next course was comprised entirely of meat, and LOTS of it - meat on a stick (could't get it off the stick, didn't eat it), chicken breast (over-cooked to near hockey puck status, didn't eat it), roasted pork (at least I think it was pork, and that was pretty tasty), a steak (rubberized, didn't eat it), and some sausage (never sure what they make those out of here, didn't eat that either). Literally a plate full of meat and about 3 green peas (I ate all three, had to have something). I gave up, as did most everyone else and moved on to the dance floor instead. We boogied until about 1am, and called it a night.
Driving home in the taxi, the streets of Prishtina were quiet, the snowflakes that fell were huge and fluffy like tufts of cotton falling from the sky, and as the Goddess and I zipped through the city back to "our side of town", I was really glad to be here.
Last night I went to the Marine Ball, the first one in Prishtina. Got all gussied up in formal wear and listened to important people speak and danced with government officials and Generals and Colonels and such. And in spite of the serious tone of the whole thing, it was still somehow like going to a high school dance with bad music (really, the DJ was probably the
absolute worst that I have ever heard in my life), thus we dubbed it the Prishtina Prom. The Norwegian Goddess and I double "dated" with some friends from Frisbee and made the best of an otherwise not so great evening. But company makes a huge difference - when you're amongst friends, you can have fun anywere. So about dinner...About an 1 1/2 after we arrived (the whole ceremony was delayed due to technical issues, thus dinner was also delayed), the waiters finally begin to bring food to the tables. First a small plate of mantia (meat filled pastries - lovely stuff) little hard rolls, and one plate with 6 slices of white bread on it. All for 15 people. Hm. Next a plate arrived in front of each person with your typical Kosovar appetizers - hard cheese, feta cheese, half a hard boiled egg drowned in something resembling mayonnaise, smoked beef, 2 slices of salami, and 1 olive. Yep, just one. About the time we had finished this, another waiter arrives with a steaming plate of Junior High School cafeteria-type hamburger patties and slaps one on everybody's appetizer plates. Now, even though most of us had been here a while, we still weren't quite sure what was going on. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have touched the things. However, we were starving, and weren't really all that certain that there was any more food on the agenda. Cringing, we ate them anyway and hoped for the best. It seemed like we were right. That was it. They came and cleared away our plates, everyone got up and milled around. I damn near broke down and had a cigarette (BUT I didn't). Anything to kill the fact that I was still starving - even after the Junior High School burger pattie. I at least needed some tater tots and ketchup to go with it. About an hour (and 2 glasses of wine) later, the waiters made another round... there really was dinner to be served. Hooray! Well, kind of - unfortunately for the vegetarian at our table, the next course was comprised entirely of meat, and LOTS of it - meat on a stick (could't get it off the stick, didn't eat it), chicken breast (over-cooked to near hockey puck status, didn't eat it), roasted pork (at least I think it was pork, and that was pretty tasty), a steak (rubberized, didn't eat it), and some sausage (never sure what they make those out of here, didn't eat that either). Literally a plate full of meat and about 3 green peas (I ate all three, had to have something). I gave up, as did most everyone else and moved on to the dance floor instead. We boogied until about 1am, and called it a night.
Driving home in the taxi, the streets of Prishtina were quiet, the snowflakes that fell were huge and fluffy like tufts of cotton falling from the sky, and as the Goddess and I zipped through the city back to "our side of town", I was really glad to be here.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Tired, but incredibly happy, tootsies
I'm really not sure that my feet have ever hurt this badly before in such an incredibly good way. I have spent 8 of the last 12 hours salsa dancing, 8 in workshop classes and 4 dancing up a storm to the musical stylings of Son Cuba Son, a live Cuban salsa band out of Belgrade. They were incredible!! This was easily one of my top five best days in Kosovo.
Friday, November 04, 2005
On reading...
I've got some sort of awful cold (insert avian flu jokes here) that has rendered me bedridden for the past few days. Normally this would drive me absolutely insane, but I have lost myself in the world of books, really lost myself this time, something that has become increasingly uncommon in my life of late. While I still read a lot, I have begun to wonder lately how much of it I really read - I mean take in for all of it's glory - the carefully woven stories; the characters that remind you of people you know, or would want to know, or for that matter seriously would never want to know; how many of the words that drip like honey off an author's pen, that pull you into a page and make you rethink your life - how many books like that have I read lately? Granted not everything I've read over the past few months has been of any redeemable value, or even worthy of retention past the closing of the book (I picked up a LOT of trash novels over the summer in hostels), but even the ones that were, how much of them did I really take in? When did I lose my critical eye for evaluating literature and sucking the living breath out of a book? I suppose it happened somewhere along the lines of having a "career". I read books because they were the one's everyone else was reading, I got sucked into popular literature and stopped looking at the literature itself. Somewhere along the lines, I lost sight of the true value and became this "pseudointellectual" that saw only words on a page, not the meaning behind them. I was reading just to have something to talk about at cocktail parties and client meetings, not to learn or to evolve or to examine the many aspects of humanity, often disturbing aspects, that truly is literature. It makes me feel like I need to go back and re-read everything that I've read in the past 7 or 8 years and realllllly read it this time, find what I missed, rediscover the underlying pretexts and themes... pick apart characters and link them to the history, chew them up, linger on the flavor and spit them out to look at them all over again, like a kid eating a jawbreaker for the first time, examining and re-examining the changing flavors and colors as he gets closer to the center.
So what has gotten me into this pontification about the value of literature and it's life changing values? This is no sudden relevation of mine. I've had the conversation before with the Wicked Brit about being to lazy to truly be an academic. But the latest book on my list... Reading Lolita in Tehran, brought all of this to light with a thundering crash and a jolting feeling that I've been missing out on an awful lot lately. I finished it today, while laying pathetic and whimpering on my sofa next to the heater. Written by an Iranian English Lit professor, it describes 18 years of her life, living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian war with Iraq, and all the changes in society and beliefs in that period, the crimes against humanity, especially women, all connected through the literature she was teaching at the time. It's an extremely powerful book, allowing the reader to not only fall in love with her writing, but also fall in love all over again with the authors she talks about - Fitzgerald, James, Nabokov and Austen. As soon as I closed the book, I wanted immediately to re-read some of these classics (The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller, Lolita, Pride and Prejudice) and see if I could find once again the passionate connections that she described.
I just happened to bring a copy of Gatsby back with me this summer. I think I'll go grab it from the shelf. It'll make for good company this evening - a tragic tale of love, lust and greed; power and wealth; and the loss of the American Dream... yes, there are some books you never forget, no matter how long it's been since you read them last. And so begins my journey back into Reading, with a capital R, and out of the void of racing through pages just to get to the end.
So what has gotten me into this pontification about the value of literature and it's life changing values? This is no sudden relevation of mine. I've had the conversation before with the Wicked Brit about being to lazy to truly be an academic. But the latest book on my list... Reading Lolita in Tehran, brought all of this to light with a thundering crash and a jolting feeling that I've been missing out on an awful lot lately. I finished it today, while laying pathetic and whimpering on my sofa next to the heater. Written by an Iranian English Lit professor, it describes 18 years of her life, living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian war with Iraq, and all the changes in society and beliefs in that period, the crimes against humanity, especially women, all connected through the literature she was teaching at the time. It's an extremely powerful book, allowing the reader to not only fall in love with her writing, but also fall in love all over again with the authors she talks about - Fitzgerald, James, Nabokov and Austen. As soon as I closed the book, I wanted immediately to re-read some of these classics (The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller, Lolita, Pride and Prejudice) and see if I could find once again the passionate connections that she described.
I just happened to bring a copy of Gatsby back with me this summer. I think I'll go grab it from the shelf. It'll make for good company this evening - a tragic tale of love, lust and greed; power and wealth; and the loss of the American Dream... yes, there are some books you never forget, no matter how long it's been since you read them last. And so begins my journey back into Reading, with a capital R, and out of the void of racing through pages just to get to the end.
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