Something reminded me......

From the CPT- Iraq photo gallery: A pack of camels lunching near Ur*, in Chaldea.









*For those of you not familiar with Biblical history, Ur is the widely accepted homeland of Abraham. Just a superfluous piece of information with which to start your afternoon.

(no subject)

So often, news headlines and stories really baffle me. They tend to culminate in an enormous "duh" moment for me. Like the Tribune headline from last week that stated "Test Scores, Poverty, Linked". No freaking shit, genius. This isn't news. Unless you're just taking the time to kindly remind us.

But one of today's BBC stories really made me want to find a brick wall against which I'd like to bang my head until I was propelled into another dimension.

The first few paragraphs:

Darfur refugee with food aid Some 2m people rely on food aid in war-torn Darfur United Nations aid workers in Sudan, who were attacked by people registering for food rations in a Darfur refugee camp, have been evacuated.

The UN says it is not clear why young men with sticks and stones targeted their personnel near El Geneina.

The refugees had asked for the registration to stop outsiders entering camps to steal food, officials said.

Most of Darfur's 2m displaced who fled their homes when the conflict began in 2003 live in refugee camps.

At least 180,000 people have already died from hunger and disease, in addition to those killed in the fighting between pro-government Arab militias and Darfur's rebel groups.

The entire article here.



Okay. I'm sorry, but I don't think its either a huge mystery, nor a big surprise.

People don't have food, and they're starving to death, and if they see food they're going to want to get it and eat it to save their lives, and probably the lives of their children!

Its such a Jean Valjean moment. Really. Its the same issues that were present in Ethopia in the '80's, and in thousands of other places on the Earth where there have been such crises.

Its not hard to figure out. Its pretty clear to me.

Flashbacks to my childhood......

pheret1 and madresal, this is for you. Does it ring a bell?


Oh, oh, oh,
totus floreo,
iam amore virginali
totus ardeo,
novus, novus amor
est, quo pereo
quo pereo
quo pereo!!!

(no subject)

Well, I'm off. But you knew that.

Ha. Yes, I think I'm funny.

Actually, I'm off from work, and will be for a week.

I'm going to my mother's on Sunday, and sometime Wednesday we will leave for New York City. Two things have to happen, and we're combining a trip to do both of them.

First, the ashes of my eccentric great-uncle need to be interred in the recently-rediscovered family cemetery. Those of you who read pheret1's LJ may remember reading about her experiences in being with him through the last few weeks of his life, and the memorial service this past January/February. While we did not know him very well, and were not close by any means, he was a very vivid image- I might even dare to use the word "legend"- in our minds growing up. Everybody in my mother's family seemed to propogate late and die early, so there weren't too many relatives left for us as we grew older. He was my mother's father's youngest brother. I think there may have been as much as fifteen or twenty years between them. He sent us teddy bears several times, including ones that were so unusual looking and involved a lot of drama getting to us (he claimed the ship they were on sank, so he had to send another set- coming from Pennsylvania to Illinois, there weren't a whole lot of ships they could have been on...), so they were especially memorable. His name was Ed, and everybody called him Mr. Ed, although it was never clear if the nickname came from others, or if he monikered himself. Part of the image we had of him as we grew up was, for some reason, of a slightly lecherous, but harmless, old man. He was most definitely a pack rat and a hermit, and was incredibly odd. Most of the people in his small town knew who he was, and he was convinced they hated him. But I guess at his memorial service so many people came out who really cared about him, and said such nice things about him, it was such a comfort to my mother and sister. Our family had also never been known as "rich", "well-to-do", "well off", or even "above average". My mother's family spent most of its life pretty poor, and she still recalls the days of having to live in a converted garage during several years after her father's death. Uncle Ed was, it seemed, the perfect example of living in poverty- being such a pack-rat, and all, I guess. His house was small and dirty, and filled with detritus. The funniest thing was, the big shocker, that after he died, he was the only relative to ever leave anything resembling an inheritance. He had lived in the same house for close to sixty years, so it had been paid of decades ago. He had plenty of debts, but the sale of the house still left a little bit left over. It was a little of that money- a small amount, really, when you think of the word "inheritance"- that enabled me to purchase three large-price-tag items that I know I'll never have the chance for again. I named my computer Mr. Ed, after him, and I feel honored to be a part of his very small burial service.

The second thing is that I'm putting my mother on an airplane on Friday to go spend a month in Palestine. She is doing language study and volunteering through an organization that works closely with CPT. For some reason I got paranoid enough that I don't think I want to reveal any more details than that. Looks like its actually gotten to me, too.

So I'll be driving back from NYC next weekend. I'm a little nervous about driving back by myself, mostly about getting out of New York by myself at the beginnning of Friday rush-hour. But if I can get through the week without killing my mother, or her getting pissed and leaving me at a rest stop, I think it will be a nice week.

I <3 New York.


I will have my laptop with me, and if I can find a place to plug in and dial up, or (best of all!) a nice free wireless connection, I will be online. Otherwise, if you don't hear from me, don't worry. Your emails and LJ comments will still be here when I get back, and I'll try my best to get through them all. Just don't expect me to be caught up on my friends list!



Um. That's all. Bye.

(no subject)

See, now I'm bragging about my new computer with free wireless.





Speaking of which- actually,not, but it sounded like a good segue anyway- I think I just saw a rickshaw. Is that possible?