Dreams Come True
My short story, "Wagstaff's Dreams," has just been published by:
The Square Table
Friday, April 04, 2003
Thursday, April 03, 2003
Quiet Desperation
Why do so many Americans support this war?
"It's true that there may be no final, single version of the Truth about this war, but there are better or worse descriptions of the reality. But getting to the clearer view is difficult: it requires reasonably good information and a willingness to work through that information critically. Most of my fellow citizens, however, absorb their ideas through the skin, passively. (The post-modern version of Thoreau's 'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.')"
Read more at reading & writing.
Why do so many Americans support this war?
"It's true that there may be no final, single version of the Truth about this war, but there are better or worse descriptions of the reality. But getting to the clearer view is difficult: it requires reasonably good information and a willingness to work through that information critically. Most of my fellow citizens, however, absorb their ideas through the skin, passively. (The post-modern version of Thoreau's 'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.')"
Read more at reading & writing.
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Silence!
Sometimes irony is the best policy.
I Should Not Be Allowed To Say The Following Things About America
Sometimes irony is the best policy.
I Should Not Be Allowed To Say The Following Things About America
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
The sun never sets on the American . . .
Here's the US plan for governing post-war Iraq, according to The Guardian. Sounds to me like the plan is to rule it (without UN involvement) as a Victorian-style colony.
Here's the US plan for governing post-war Iraq, according to The Guardian. Sounds to me like the plan is to rule it (without UN involvement) as a Victorian-style colony.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Baghdad Blast
Courtesy of the BBC, here are some photos from the Baghdad marketplace explosion that you won't see on American TV.
War photography has a way of cutting through all the spin (or propaganda, as it used to be called) and revealing war for what it is to those most affected--not some distant "operation," but a miasma of blood and screams and unbearable grief.
It reminds me of a line from a Tina Turner song called "Steel Claw":
"I don't care who's right, who's wrong, it really doesn't matter when you're lying in the gutter."
I saw a documentary film last night about Jane Goodall and the chimpanzees she studies (still!) in Tanzania. One of her most suprising and disheartening discoveries, she said, was that groups of chimps make war on each other, and an entire group is sometimes exterminated. Maybe we haven't learned much in the last billion years.
Courtesy of the BBC, here are some photos from the Baghdad marketplace explosion that you won't see on American TV.
War photography has a way of cutting through all the spin (or propaganda, as it used to be called) and revealing war for what it is to those most affected--not some distant "operation," but a miasma of blood and screams and unbearable grief.
It reminds me of a line from a Tina Turner song called "Steel Claw":
"I don't care who's right, who's wrong, it really doesn't matter when you're lying in the gutter."
I saw a documentary film last night about Jane Goodall and the chimpanzees she studies (still!) in Tanzania. One of her most suprising and disheartening discoveries, she said, was that groups of chimps make war on each other, and an entire group is sometimes exterminated. Maybe we haven't learned much in the last billion years.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Quotes of the Day
"I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it . . . to be otherwise."
--Shakespeare, Henry V
"We're absolutely sick and tired of putting things out and finding they're not true. The misinformation in this war is far and away worse than any conflict I've covered, including the first Gulf war and Kosovo."
--senior BBC news source
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bad News, Good News
It's hard to find a truly objective source of news these days. Many of the US networks (cable and broadcast) seem to be either caught up in jingoism or too willing to accept information from "official" sources that later turns out to exagerated or just plain wrong (including stories about "uprisings" that turned out to be largely wishful thinking). The more objective sources, in my opinion, are British: the BBC and the British newspaper/website The Guardian. I watch BBC World newscasts on WLIW (Channel 21 in the New York City area) and check the Guardian Unlimited website frequently. The BBC website offers a live audio feed.
The BBC, by the way, has the best news theme music I've heard on TV lately. Instead of the bombastic orchestral fanfares that US news shows favor, it's electronic and funky (yet "serious" sounding), with a pulsing dance beat.
"I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it . . . to be otherwise."
--Shakespeare, Henry V
"We're absolutely sick and tired of putting things out and finding they're not true. The misinformation in this war is far and away worse than any conflict I've covered, including the first Gulf war and Kosovo."
--senior BBC news source
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bad News, Good News
It's hard to find a truly objective source of news these days. Many of the US networks (cable and broadcast) seem to be either caught up in jingoism or too willing to accept information from "official" sources that later turns out to exagerated or just plain wrong (including stories about "uprisings" that turned out to be largely wishful thinking). The more objective sources, in my opinion, are British: the BBC and the British newspaper/website The Guardian. I watch BBC World newscasts on WLIW (Channel 21 in the New York City area) and check the Guardian Unlimited website frequently. The BBC website offers a live audio feed.
The BBC, by the way, has the best news theme music I've heard on TV lately. Instead of the bombastic orchestral fanfares that US news shows favor, it's electronic and funky (yet "serious" sounding), with a pulsing dance beat.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Not the Usual Suspects
Reactions to the war in places around the world that the media tends to ignore are collected here:
Global Dispatches
Reactions to the war in places around the world that the media tends to ignore are collected here:
Global Dispatches
Monday, March 24, 2003
You Are There
Read Where is Raed?, the online diary of a man who lives in a Baghdad suburb.
Sample quote:
"The images we saw on TV last night (not Iraqi, jazeera-BBC-Arabiya) were terrible. The whole city looked as if it were on fire. The only thing I could think of was 'why does this have to happen to Baghdad'. As one of the buildings I really love went up in a huge explosion I was close to tears."
Read Where is Raed?, the online diary of a man who lives in a Baghdad suburb.
Sample quote:
"The images we saw on TV last night (not Iraqi, jazeera-BBC-Arabiya) were terrible. The whole city looked as if it were on fire. The only thing I could think of was 'why does this have to happen to Baghdad'. As one of the buildings I really love went up in a huge explosion I was close to tears."
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Quote of the Day
"If the warmed-up corpse of Hitler was President of the US, and a lobotomized sheep was Prime Minister of the UK, I couldn’t be less optimistic than I am now.
On the other hand, there are more people on the planet working towards positive solutions for humanity than at any time in history. There are millions of individuals trying to balance constructive optimism with sociological realism, working behind the scenes, trying not to succumb to apocalyptic nihilism or small-minded political/social expediency. I see these people everywhere, except on TV, or in the newspapers, or inside political parties." --Brian Dean
"If the warmed-up corpse of Hitler was President of the US, and a lobotomized sheep was Prime Minister of the UK, I couldn’t be less optimistic than I am now.
On the other hand, there are more people on the planet working towards positive solutions for humanity than at any time in history. There are millions of individuals trying to balance constructive optimism with sociological realism, working behind the scenes, trying not to succumb to apocalyptic nihilism or small-minded political/social expediency. I see these people everywhere, except on TV, or in the newspapers, or inside political parties." --Brian Dean
Saturday, March 22, 2003
Friday, March 21, 2003
Strange Days
It’s 70 degrees (F), warm and sunny here today--as if nature actually paid attention to the calendar. I’m used to snow or freezing drizzle on the first day of spring, but today feels more like May. My son and I even went out to the park and tossed a baseball around for a while. If there weren’t so much strife on the other side of the planet, I might feel giddy about this weather. Instead, I feel a mocking contrast, as I did on 9/11, when I watched the towers burn and collapse on a day of Mediterranean perfection, as far as weather went. Somewhere, right now, someone is trudging through a sandstorm, listening to the distant thunder of bombs exploding. And that thought keeps me from feeling springlike.
It’s 70 degrees (F), warm and sunny here today--as if nature actually paid attention to the calendar. I’m used to snow or freezing drizzle on the first day of spring, but today feels more like May. My son and I even went out to the park and tossed a baseball around for a while. If there weren’t so much strife on the other side of the planet, I might feel giddy about this weather. Instead, I feel a mocking contrast, as I did on 9/11, when I watched the towers burn and collapse on a day of Mediterranean perfection, as far as weather went. Somewhere, right now, someone is trudging through a sandstorm, listening to the distant thunder of bombs exploding. And that thought keeps me from feeling springlike.
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