I am reading Just Above My Head by James Baldwin. His novels are intense, and this is the best I've read. He writes so sharply, almost viciously, about the inner thoughts and experiences of his characters--in this case, a Black family in New York in the 1940s-60s. I don't know, I can't quite describe it, but his descriptions of his characters' inner lives is amazing. He is unsparing about the state of racial dynamics in the US, and it makes me wonder how much as really changed on the larger level. That's all, I just wanted to recommend it.
PS: Here's where I got the recommendation to read the book, from an article by Kai Wright about his father. (Kai Wright, incidentally, is the author of the book Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York which I hope to read soon.)
Equanimity Under Duress
This is good stuff, about fathers & sons, about race & sexuality, about personal stories and experiences.
Monday, June 9, 2008
body
Today I am home with a little health complication that is only serious enough to keep me from working too far away from a bathroom.
It reminds me that over the past few months I've noticed my body is just tired more often, and my mood is a little crankier. Plus I have all these little bruises, scrapes, and cuts from minor accidents where I hit my head while getting into a car or off the bus, or I scrape my finger while grating cheese or chopping onions. It reminds me that I stopped seeing my chiropractor because I couldn't afford it, and I no longer do Tai Chi with Emily, and I sort of cut out a lot of the body stuff I used to do (aside from exercise, which is helpful, but not the same thing). I wonder if anybody has suggestions about what they do to keep in touch and aware of their bodies.
It reminds me that over the past few months I've noticed my body is just tired more often, and my mood is a little crankier. Plus I have all these little bruises, scrapes, and cuts from minor accidents where I hit my head while getting into a car or off the bus, or I scrape my finger while grating cheese or chopping onions. It reminds me that I stopped seeing my chiropractor because I couldn't afford it, and I no longer do Tai Chi with Emily, and I sort of cut out a lot of the body stuff I used to do (aside from exercise, which is helpful, but not the same thing). I wonder if anybody has suggestions about what they do to keep in touch and aware of their bodies.
read this
Safaricom, a Kenyan mobile phone service just did an initial public offering (IPO) of stocks, and the BBC's story (but more the responses from readers) seems to encapsulate the complicated nature of market economics on a global scale. It reminds us to ask the question: who really benefits? The answer isn't clear. The whole global mobile phone business is an interesting thing because of the solutions it offers for remote areas that don't have land-line infrastructures (BBC also did a recent article about tele-banking for mobile phones that undercuts a lot of the complications of in-person banking).
Safaricom: Your Views
Safaricom: Your Views
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Memorial Day, part ii
So I've been thinking about my Memorial Day post about homeless veterans. Thinking so much that last night I dreamt that a friend from high school lectured me about it. I keep thinking about my parents-in-law: They are freedom fighters, who put their lives at risk in order to promote democracy in Kenya. They were driven away from their home because of their work and their commitment to democracy. They are as much veterans as the men and women I work with.
It's tricky. Because of my work, veterans hold a special place in my heart. At the same time, I question how much I ennoble them above others. True: they put themselves at risk to protect our country (once again, I set ideology aside because I'm not convinced that military action is always so protective of our country). True: some of them were forced into situations where they made terribly difficult moral/ethical decisions in split seconds (some of these are labeled heroic and others had unfortunate consequences that veterans still deal with 50 years later). True: veterans joined the military for all sorts of reasons, some volunteered out of duty or patriotic obligation; some joined because of the draft; some joined to pay for college; and some because they wanted to get out of their homes. It is also true that these are everyday citizens, many of whom were placed in extraordinary circumstances. Veterans deserve our gratitude for the sacrifices they signed up to make. We have what we have in this country because some put their lives on the line with the idea that they were protecting us from a threat to this way of life (set aside the fact that I would like to see a lot of improvements to the way of life in this country). At the same time, we have what we have in this country because everybody who lives here put ourselves on the line to make it what it is. Some exploited people and resources, and some dedicated their lives to service and betterment. All of us dedicate ourselves to just trying to get by the best way we know how. So who deserves to be homeless?
I'll tell you: The people who fucked up the system in such a way that homelessness became inevitable. No, that's not true (my nicer side tells me). Nobody deserves to be homeless, and we have to figure out how to use our incredible wealth as a country to help our own citizens as well as the rest of the world (a lot of whom were exploited to make us rich).
You know, since I started working with veterans, I've noticed an increase in patriotism. I often ask myself if I'm somehow being chauvinistic about the country I was born in. I actually think I'd be as patriotic about wherever my home is, because I live here, and I care about my neighbors. And my neighbors include the whole planet.
It's tricky. Because of my work, veterans hold a special place in my heart. At the same time, I question how much I ennoble them above others. True: they put themselves at risk to protect our country (once again, I set ideology aside because I'm not convinced that military action is always so protective of our country). True: some of them were forced into situations where they made terribly difficult moral/ethical decisions in split seconds (some of these are labeled heroic and others had unfortunate consequences that veterans still deal with 50 years later). True: veterans joined the military for all sorts of reasons, some volunteered out of duty or patriotic obligation; some joined because of the draft; some joined to pay for college; and some because they wanted to get out of their homes. It is also true that these are everyday citizens, many of whom were placed in extraordinary circumstances. Veterans deserve our gratitude for the sacrifices they signed up to make. We have what we have in this country because some put their lives on the line with the idea that they were protecting us from a threat to this way of life (set aside the fact that I would like to see a lot of improvements to the way of life in this country). At the same time, we have what we have in this country because everybody who lives here put ourselves on the line to make it what it is. Some exploited people and resources, and some dedicated their lives to service and betterment. All of us dedicate ourselves to just trying to get by the best way we know how. So who deserves to be homeless?
I'll tell you: The people who fucked up the system in such a way that homelessness became inevitable. No, that's not true (my nicer side tells me). Nobody deserves to be homeless, and we have to figure out how to use our incredible wealth as a country to help our own citizens as well as the rest of the world (a lot of whom were exploited to make us rich).
You know, since I started working with veterans, I've noticed an increase in patriotism. I often ask myself if I'm somehow being chauvinistic about the country I was born in. I actually think I'd be as patriotic about wherever my home is, because I live here, and I care about my neighbors. And my neighbors include the whole planet.
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