THE 99 FACES OF GOD

It was a long, hot walk today in Petra. Although I was completely captivated by the beauty and majesty of the place, the Siq was eventually engulfed in shadow as the sun sank in the afternoon sky. I could feel that my face was flushed red from the long day of hiking in the steep desert terrain.

As the sun was setting Mr. Ibrahim, drove us to a simple, sidewalk café just outside the Petra gate. The owner brought a tall jug of cold water, and we ordered two big plates of chicken and rice, hummus, yogurt & cucumbers. We sat quietly for a while, drinking and cooling off, the sound of a girl’s voice chanting the evening prayers coming from a television in the back of the shop.

Hearing the child's voice chanting piqued my curiosity. I told him that I knew very little about Islam, and I was curious. If I were a Muslim child, what would be the first things I would learn about my religion?

He explained one of the core tenets of Islam, The 99 Faces of God (also known as the 99 Names of God). As I understand it, Muslims believe that everything we can know about God, and ultimately everything we can know about the entire cosmos is delineated by the Names. The long list of God's faces includes Ar-Rehman (the Beneficent), Al-Malik (the Sovereign Lord, The King), Al-'Aziz (The Mighty), Al-Bari, (The Evolver), etc.

And then he put his hands on the table and turned the palms up facing the ceiling, asking me to do the same. "Now, look at the palm of your RIGHT hand. The lines in the palm of your hand (reading right to left) form the Arabic numerals 8 and 1," or 81, which in Arabic looks like this:




He traced the lines in my palm with his finger, patiently teaching me the shape of the unfamiliar Arabic symbols.

"Now," he said, "look at the palm of your LEFT hand. What do you see?" Slowly, struggling to remember the shapes of the numbers, and pausing to remember to read right to left, I responded "1 and 8....18," which in Arabic looks like this:




"That's right," he said gently, as if he were praising a young child. "And 81 plus 18 equals...?" "99," I answered slowly, the light dawning. One of the earliest lessons for a young Muslim child is that God is with you all the time - the "99 Faces of God" are literally present in your hands.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if this simple yet vast concept could be the foundation of a solution to the huge gulf between Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures? All three faiths started with Abraham, and it seems to me that it couldn't hurt to have us all believe that a single God is present in the palms of our hands.

Let's start with As-Salaam....האלוהים של שלום in Hebrew, "The God of Peace," in English.

12 HOURS IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF PETRA

I had just one free day during my business trip to Amman, Jordan, and was determined to travel to the “lost” ancient city of Petra. Inhabited by the Nabataen people from the third century B.C. until the sixth century A.D., their civilization gradually declined as the overland caravan trade routes fell into disuse. Earthquakes cut off many of the access points and eventually Petra disappeared from the map. Then in 1812 a Swiss explorer named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt made his way through the mountains and walked into the majestic ancient city. Petra was found.

I decided to forgo the buses that run daily from Amman and hire a car and driver (which my hotel happily arranged for less than two hundred dollars) in order to make the most of the single day that I had. We drove for more than two hours through the hot, barren Jordanian desert, and then Mr. Ibrahim, my driver, called my attention to the curve ahead. “Watch,” he said quietly, as the landscape completely changed. Sprawled before us, as far as the eye can see, was the (kind of) rock of the southern Jordanian mountains. Somewhere inside those mountains, I knew, was a massive cleft (“siq” in Arabic) in the formidable mountain range that had caused this location to become the crossroads of the ancient world. Caravan trade routes linking Arabia with Gaza, Egypt, and the Mediterranean civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome all converged here. It is modern travelers who converge nowadays in this remote corner of the Jordanian desert to see the ancient city which was literally carved out of the rock, and whose sophisticated architecture shows the influences of Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Roman cultures.

As we headed toward the gate to the ancient city, Mr. Ibrahim suggested that I leave time at the end of the day to visit “Little Petra,” about 7 kilometres to the north. “Of course, I will need to charge you an extra thirty dinar,” he said apologetically, “but it is worth it.” I wondered if this was a hustle, but then again, I knew I’d probably never visit this remote corner of the earth again. I agreed, and set off into the Bab al-Siq. This towering cleft in the rock (walls more than 300 meters high and no more than 12 meters wide) takes about 25 minutes to walk, and leads you directly into the ancient city.

Although I had seen many photographs of the incredibly intricate architecture carved out of the sandstone, the towering majesty of the structures is even more impressive in person.
What I did not anticipate from the photographs is the bustle of the bazaar-like atmosphere that pervades the entire route through the city; “guides” urging you to hire a horse or camel (“You look hot, lady”), stalls offering food and trinkets, Bedouin families selling jewelry. Even in its antiquity, Petra has retained the energy of its trading heritage.

I hiked about a third of the way through the city, and by mid-afternoon was climbing back out through the deep siq. Mr. Ibrahim met me at the gate and we headed for Little Petra. I wondered if it would pale in comparison to the majesty of the architecture I had just seen.

Mr. Ibrahim stopped the car, and the two of us got out and began to walk through the shadows of the towering walls of another siq into what appears to have been a residential neighborhood – a quiet village just 350 meters long. A hawk soared in the bright blue sky above Little Petra as we walked in silence, the only sound the wind blowing through the rocks, a Blue Sinai lizard scrambling for cover at our feet.

In Little Petra I had a persistent feeling that this village is still alive. It seemed possible that children were playing and goats were wandering this pathway just yesterday, rather than centuries ago. I wandered into the houses carved out of stone, imagining myself living here, hearing the murmur of voices from homes nearby after dark.

As the afternoon shadows deepened, we returned to the car, and began the drive back up the King’s Highway to Amman. As the city receded behind us, Mr. Ibrahim pulled over to the side of the road so that I could take one last photograph of the rugged stone mountain range bathed in the pink sunset light. I clamored gingerly down the rough sandstone, covered with sweat and gritty dust that I could taste when I licked my lips, making my way down a spot that was an overlook with a clear view across the valley. My guide called from the roadside above. "Your name is Nealon, correct?” I nodded, wondering why he had chosen this moment to verify my identity. “Good,” he said with satisfaction. “We will keep your name always here." Then he shouted "NEALON," and it echoed, over and over, across the rock formations of the Al-Wu'ayra.

Iron Chef Bake Off!

Jules, my teenage daughter, loves the Food Network, and she decided we should have an Iron Chef-style cook off this weekend. The core ingredient was apple, we were not allowed to look up any recipes, all ingredients in the kitchen were fair game, and we had 1.5 hour start to finish.

We had such a good time (though it took longer to clean up the mess than it did to do the cooking!). We were laughing and laughing as she made a very tasty apple pie from scratch, without a recipe. I tried a complicated custard that didn't work out very well....too runny. Tasted good, looked awful. We invited her grandmother over to do the judging (she scored us on both presentation and taste), and Jules won by a mile, fair and square.

I love having a teenager.

Forest Haiku

You two, doe and fawn

Why do you scatter, shocked

when I come each night?

John Kerry - just be quiet!

Pleeeeeease........

Kerry's Iraq gaffe throws Bush a lifeline in election battle | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Iraqi Bloggers Central: John Kerry Speaks, The Soldiers Respond

I'm back....and working on Sesame!

Well, it must have been a busy three years since I've posted regularly!

Life is settling down, so many things have changed....I feel like I want to start blogging again. I think I'll start with a link to the cover story from the Arts & Leisure section in last Sunday's NY Times. That is one way of catching up with whereI am these days.


NY Times
August 6, 2006
A Girly-Girl Joins the ‘Sesame’ Boys
By SUSAN DOMINUS



LIZ NEALON, executive vice president and creative director of Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind “Sesame Street,” wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted in a new Muppet for the show’s 37th season, which starts on Aug. 14. But she did have one major goal: She wanted the creative team, at
long last, to come up with a female Muppet star. The show did already have a number of female characters, including Zoe, a rambunctious, orange, furry friend of Elmo’s, and Rosita, an emerald-blue, bilingual Muppet with a sweet, friendly soul.
“We have our wacky, and we have our gentle,” Ms. Nealon said in a recent interview. “But we wanted a lead female character. If you think about ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ some girls relate to Rhoda, who’s our Zoe, and some girls really relate to Mary, who’s a girly girl. And we didn’t have that girl. We made a definite decision to sit down with the writers to figure out what this character might be.”

The feminist-minded parent might not only applaud the decision to make a more high-profile female character, but wonder why on earth it took so long. “Sesame Street,” created to help underprivileged kids prepare for kindergarten, has over the years gone out of its way to include images of children of every creed and color, and every level of physical ability and disability. Yet its producers acknowledge it has never come up with a single female character with anything close to the name recognition of Big Bird or Cookie Monster or Ernie and Bert. (The closest that the Jim Henson Company, which designs Muppets for “Sesame Street,” has come is Miss Piggy. But she starred on “The Muppet Show,” not “Sesame Street,” and probably for good reason. You have to go back to “Dynasty” reruns to find a more jealous, vain and domineering female role model on television.)

Even bastions of liberal creativity like “Sesame Street” are apparently vulnerable to the realities of show business, including a disproportionately high ratio of male to female puppeteers, said Rosemary Truglio, executive vice president for education and research at Sesame Workshop. (Miss Piggy has always been played by male puppeteers, starting with Frank Oz.) And a show as politically sensitive as this one has an added challenge: finding female characters that make kids laugh, but not laugh at them as female stereotypes. “If Cookie Monster was a female character,” said Carol-Lynn Parente, executive producer of the show, “she’d be accused of being anorexic or bulimic. There are a lot of things that come attached to female
characters.” For example, said Deborah Aubert, associate director of national programs and training services at Girls, Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group. “It would be hard to have a female character with Elmo’s whimsy who didn’t also seem ditzy.”
But it’s not just a high-minded interest in gender equality that drove the search for a strong female character. The success of “Dora the Explorer,” a show built around a strong female lead, has not gone unnoticed by its competitors at “Sesame Street.” “ ‘Sesame Street’ is living in an increasingly competitive market,” Ms. Nealon said. “We used to be the only game in town, and now we’re having more conversations about where are all the points of appeal of our cast. We’re trying to be as absolutely broadbased as we can be.”

The feminist parent might also wonder whether “broad-based” will boil down to characters with predictable girly-girl looks and interests. But Ms. Nealon said she wasn’t worried. “I came of age during that 70’s generation when you just had to do everything you could do to be taken seriously,” she said. “But the world has changed since then. My daughter is comfortable with clothes and hair and makeup and totally embraces her femininity, but can still be strong and completely competitive in a world populated by men and women.”

The Muppet that after nine months of research was selected to embody those characteristics is not technically a girl: she is a 3-year-old fairy named Abby Cadabby. Neither monster like Zoe nor humanoid like Prairie Dawn, the calico-wearing blonde who first showed up in 1970, Abby is a purely magical creature, complete with tiny wings, a magic wand and sparkles in her hair. There’s something suspiciously marketable, of course, about a new character who happens to be a fairy, just now in the midst of a girlish craze for tutus, tiaras and all things princessy, and as Disney prepares a big marketing push for its 2007 movie starring Tinker Bell. But the idea came not from some Mattel consultant but from a 30-year veteran of “Sesame Street,” Tony Geiss, whose most significant previous creations were the Honkers, monsters who communicate by honking their noses. One day the writers were tossing around the idea of a girl who was new in town, perhaps trying to fit into a new classroom. After the meeting broke up, Mr. Geiss approached the show’s head writer, Lou Berger, with the idea of making her the daughter of the fairy godmother, a character who is invoked but never seen. Her origins in fairyland would provide plenty of story lines about difference, without the show “having consciously to introduce somebody from Indonesia or India,” Mr. Geiss said. Mr. Berger and the team liked the idea and told Mr. Geiss to develop it further. A few days later he presented the full picture: a fairy in training, capable of hovering only when very happy, able to turn any object into a pumpkin but unable to change it back with any reliability. Her family had recently moved to Sesame Street for the schools, leaving behind Fairyside Gardens, an elves’ and fairies’ housing community in Queens (a bit of back story that’s mostly been dropped). “When I did a little presentation, I was calling her Daisy,” Mr. Geiss said. “Everyone said, no, that’s not it, and then we sat around as if we were coming up with names for a new baby. Patsy, Dixie, Leonora. ... ” Finally someone threw out Abby, and Mr. Berger followed that up with Abby Cadabby. “It had a vaguely magical sound to it,” Mr. Geiss said. The combination of “correctness and exhaustion” kicked in, he added, and Abby Cadabby she’s been ever since.

As a newcomer eager to learn, the writers knew, she would provide the perfect opportunity for explanatory lessons. She would also provide a way to talk about female friendships (including “What does it mean to bring a girl into the group?,” Ms. Truglio said, and to show healthy models by which girls could resolve conflict). The show had tried to introduce a character for just that purpose in 2000, the short-lived Lulu, a shy monster who “had a kind of quirky personality,” Ms. Truglio said. “She wasn’t that attractive.” With the approval of Ms. Nealon and Ms. Parente, and the product and publishing divisions of “Sesame Street,” the production team decided to take the idea of Abby Cadabby to the Jim Henson Workshop. Various sketches and fabric swatches of the Muppet-to-be were circulated for input from the writers and executives on the show. There was some retreading of what Mr. Geiss calls the big-nose versus small-nose debate. “Some people think the big nose is funnier,” he explained, but Abby’s is small, a nod toward the more feminine aesthetic for which the producers were hoping. Careful attention was paid too to how much eyelid would be visible; the more eyelid, the more vulnerable-looking the character. “Her eyes look up,” Mr. Geiss said. “They can look beseeching, and they can be sad as well as happy.”

Sherrie Rollins Westin, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Sesame Workshop, recalled seeing an early version that was a little too “bug-eyed” for her taste. One version had too much of a snout, rendering her worrisomely insectlike, given the wings in back, Ms. Truglio said. All versions featured various shades of pink- or lavender-toned skin, colors that would “work well next to Elmo,” who is red, Ms. Truglio said. “That was not up for discussion.” Once they narrowed the sketches down to two images that they thought worked, they showed them to 77children aged 2 to 5 and in one-on-one interviews asked them what they liked and didn’t like about Abby’s looks. The kids were particularly enamored of her turquoise dress; they also preferred a button nose to a flatter, more truncated version, and her hair in two pompoms, rather than in one big bunch atop her head.

Armed with that information, the team began to design the actual Muppet, a budget commitment of “tens of thousands of dollars,” said Ms. Parente, the show’s executive producer. They also began creating a 10-minute segment that they further tested on 53 3-year-olds. The resulting confection is a Muppet with the pretty pastel aesthetic of an Easter egg, complete with pink skin (compared with Zoe’s orange), purple and pink sparkly pompoms (Zoe’s hair juts out from the sides of her face ) and a Thumbelina-style petal-layered turquoise dress. (Zoe wears a tutu that’s charmingly incongruous on her bouncy little body.) Abby Cadabby’s lashes are long and feminine, her voice pitched somewhere between Elmo’s dog-range high notes and Zoe’s scratchy old-womanish tones. In the first segment created, Abby played hide-and-seek, making ample, if not totally proficient use of her magic wand. “The kids were pretty glued to the show,” Ms. Truglio said. “They loved that she could do magic,” she added. “But if you asked them how they imagined playing with Abby Cadabby, they mentioned regular kid stuff like playing catch. So we knew they liked her as a personality.”

For all the educational consultants and child psychologists the show could have enlisted, the success of the character seems to rely largely on the one simple quality no other Muppet can claim: she’s very, very pretty. As played by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, a new Muppeteer, she’s enthusiastic, eager, occasionally bashful but never coy (and certainly never divalike along the lines of Tinker Bell). “I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready!” she answers Baby Bear emphatically in one segment when he asks if she’s prepared for her first day of school.

In the past the show has bent over backward to counteract stereotypes, with the tomboyish Zoe or the highly opinionated Elizabeth. “But political correctness hampers creativity,” Ms. Nealon said. “Abby Cadabby owns her own point of view, but she’s also comfortable with the fact that she likes wearing a dress, and as we’d tried to model strong female models, we neglected that piece of being a girl.”

On the set the joke was about the new toy on the block, as opposed to the new Muppet character, a dig at the obvious marketability of the new pretty-in-pink creature. Some of the writers, Ms. Parente said, worried about moving away from the show’s merely surreal characters to one with a full-blown dependence on actual magic. Others were concerned about the character tipping over into a saccharine sweetness. “What’s always been great about ‘Sesame Street,’ ” said Noel MacNeal, a longtime “Sesame Street” Muppeteer, “is that there was always a softness and gentleness to its characters, while still having enough edge. It wasn’t too cute. I just hope with Abby Cadabby, they’re not going to make a mistake they’ve made before when they tried to compete directly with ‘Barney,’ which was so cutesy.” (He was referring to his
take on why the show added a new set in the early 90’s to give the street a clean new look. A few years later Ms. Parente reverted the set back to its old chipped-paint aesthetic.) But for the most part the traditional “Sesame Street” team of performers and writers has rallied behind the character.

The producers’ hopes of course are pinned on the possibility that Abby Cadabby could be the female equivalent of Elmo, a huge money-maker for the nonprofit organization behind the show. First to roll out will be storybooks featuring Abby Cadabby; if they succeed, videos and toys will follow. Maura Regan, vice president and general manager of global consumer products for Sesame Workshop, said she was confident about Abby Cadabby’s market readiness. She’ll be strong in spring, Ms. Regan theorized, because she has a “wood nymph quality,” and added that her pink coloring made her great for
merchandising around Valentine’s Day and Christmas, when she will pair well with red Elmo. Then of course there’s the fall back-to-school theme of a new girl getting to know her classmates. Ms. Regan’s team has already started working with the toy company Fisher-Price on a rough mockup of a doll. Most important, she said, is getting a cuddle-ready expression on the toy’s face; then there’s the challenge of capturing her feathery, fluffy, sparkly hair without creating a safety hazard. “There are so many cute things out there,” she added, “but in order to make them want one doll over another, I think the real deciding factor is how much they’ve connected with the Muppet from the show. And you’ve got to be able to capture that.”
Could Abby’s sales rival those of the show’s marketing juggernaut, Elmo? Ms. Regan obviously hopes they can. But in an aside, as she demurred from making predictions, she gave a hint on just how much rides on the outcome. “I don’t want to jinx myself,” she whispered. “That would be terrible, terrible, terrible.”

Whoever would think that I'd be the one credited with creating a "girly girl"? Curiouser and curiouser, this life!
liz

Photograph © 2006 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

THE COPPER CANYON :: LESS THAN PARADISE

We all piled onto a coach bus on Thursday morning and traveled to the Copper Canyon, an area of great physical beauty (a bit like the Grand Canyon, but with dense, green vegetation). It is also the home of an estimated 70,000 of the indigenous Tarahumara people, renowned for their long-distance running ability (their word for themselves, Raramuri, means runners). Most of the Tarahumara still adhere to their traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, and they struggle with the problems of indigenous people the world over – isolation, alcoholism, poverty, depression. We visited an orphanage for Tarahumara children while we were there.

Unfortunately, what was billed as an eight-hour bus trip became thirteen hours due to many unscheduled stops to see the sights along the way. By 8pm darkness was falling fast, and the driver was having trouble finding the place where we were meant to stay. Finally, we stopped in the right lane of a two-way highway — there was no real shoulder to pull safely off the road. There was a small sign reading “Christian Center,” and a narrow rock track leading through the woods into the falling darkness. We had no idea whether we were in the right place, but the kids had had it – they all scrambled off the bus like caged animals onto a narrow strip of grass between the busy highway and an active railroad track. I was acutely aware of the parents that I left behind at home, promising that I would keep their children safe. I decided to focus on containing the damage — preventing anyone from being hit by a fast-moving, 3-ton vehicle seemed to be a practical approach for the moment.

Finally, we got word that this was the right place and they were sending vans to get our bags. We crossed the kids safely over the highway, sent them off into the pitch dark woods, and started unloading luggage off the bus. One of the drivers told me that they had cooked dinner for 35 people the previous night, and were surprised that we did not show up. Great. Wrong date. I asked, fearing the worst, if there were any beds available for this night. “Well,” he said, “there is an outbuilding that is under construction, if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor.” Mind? How could we mind? We carried all our things over to an empty brick building with a concrete floor and no electricity. The dust was horrendous as everyone settled in, throwing their packs on the floor and shaking out their sleeping bags. The particles in the air were soon so thick that soon every kid with asthma started wheezing. I made my way around the room, confirming that they had their inhalers (two didn't, big surprise), passing out antihistamines to take before bed. It was feeling less and less certain that I was doing much of a job in the “safe” department.

Finally, at 9:45 pm, the food was ready. Three women managed to muster up crispy tostadas (4-inches in diameter) with lettuce, tomato, refried beans and a sprinkling of cheese. There was just enough for each teenager to have two; the adults settled for one.

Brooding silence as we settled in for what we optimistically called “the world’s biggest sleepover.” Everyone was feeling upset, some scared, some angry, one afraid of the dark. Most were just quiet. This trip was not at all what was promised, and “nothing works, but somehow it all works out,” was not a very comforting thought as we faced a long night on the hard, damp floor.

As we settled down into our sleeping bags, a voice in the darkness started talking about Chewey, the little boy from Anapra. "He lives in a cinder block house," said one of the teen. "I bet he sleeps with a blanket on a concrete floor like this every night. And, you know he doesn't ever have much more to eat than we just did - they never have meat."

And with that, realizing that we had been handed the opportunity to live Chewey’s experience and gain a perspective on his life, everyone fell asleep.

JUAREZ: WE HAVE CONTACT

The sun is breaking through the clouds as we head for the second church that we will be painting, but there is still a huge amount of water in the streets from the storms last night. It rarely rains in Juarez and the sewers clearly aren’t equipped to handle this storm. We set off toward the highway, our vans plowing through the water like stallions fording a river.

By the time we reach Anapra, the clouds have cleared and the sun is blazing overhead. Everything we heard about the poverty here, one of the poorest barrios of Juarez, is true. The electrical wires overhead end suddenly at the outskirts of the neighborhood, rusting cars are everywhere and virtually every modest structure is constructed of naked concrete. As we are traveling, the driver of one of our vans runs over a dog in the street without even attempting to brake or swerve. The teenagers onboard are outraged, some crying after this very personal encounter with the low value placed on life in this forsaken neighborhood.

The job today is daunting. Padre wants us to put white paint on a fence that runs 300 yards around the perimeter of the church. It is constructed of crumbling, unprimed cinder block – very difficult to paint – and there is sand at the bottom of the wall that sticks to the wet paintbrushes. There is not a bit of shade. The sand is full of burrs with deep, sharp spines and is burning hot on this day, which is going to top 100 degrees by noontime.

The teens have requested that they choose the teams and set up the work plan today. They get a kick out of running the show, and enthusiastically dive into the project. As the painting teams spread out along the perimeter, carrying paint, brushes and other supplies to their workstations, a little girl climbs over the wall. She appears to be about six years old, and lives in a house nearby. As she talks with our teenagers, other little kids join her. Soon, our painting crew is supplemented by fourteen little children, all wielding paintbrushes under the tutelage of doting (and suddenly expert) teenagers. Spanish phrasebooks materialize on the steps of the church – now, no one is embarrassed to try speaking Spanish because they want to communicate with these children.

A three-year-old named Chewey steals everyone’s hearts. He is mischievous, affectionate, and funny, with black eyes so huge and limpid he might have been drawn by a Disney illustrator.
As the sun moves higher in the sky, women from the neighborhood are setting up lunch inside the church, which is at least 15 degrees cooler than the glaring sand outside. They carry in huge trays of tamales - steam-cooked cornmeal dough filled with cheese, beans and chilis, wrapped in cornhusks to retain the moisture. The kids traipse inside, hot, tired and sweating, shepherding the little ones in front of them. They sit the neighborhood children down at the table that has been set with cups of cold water and plates of food, standing behind them and waiting to eat until the little ones have had their fill. Could this possibly be the same group of teenagers who just yesterday had goofed their way through a haphazard painting job? Clearly, as our kids have fallen in love with Chewey, the severity of his circumstances has begun to sink in.

No question about finishing the job today. After a rousing soccer match with the kids, our crack painting crew finishes the task and poses for a triumphant photograph in front of the long, pristine white wall. As we pull out of the neighborhood to head back to our compound, fourteen little children are running behind the bus. There is a long silence, and more than a few tears, as we drive away.

A WEEK VOLUNTEERING IN JUAREZ

My Episcopal church is one of three, New York-area churches that is sending a group to do Habitat for Humanity-type work in Juarez, Mexico, and I must admit, I am feeling some trepidation now that the trip is upon us. Earlier this morning, our church held a special “commissioning service,” blessing all of us who are heading off for eight days painting outpost churches in the bleak Mexican desert. A friend who often does this kind of volunteer work in Haiti told me: “We like to say that nothing works, but everything always works out. Lower your expectations…because efficiency is not going to be part of your experience in Juarez.”

Later, as we prepared to depart from the church parking lot, anxious parents thanked me for making the trip and keeping their children safe. Frankly, I am not terribly worried about security, although Juarez is a rough border town. We are staying in a locked compound, and we’re traveling with experienced, savvy, Mexican/New Yorkers – Canon Sylvia and Father Hilario, who is a towering, muscular man with a shaved head and neatly trimmed goatee. Priest or not, anyone would think twice before messing with this dignified, fierce-looking man.

I am more uneasy at the prospect of a week of physically hard work in 100-degree temperatures, using a sleeping bag in a sweltering bunkhouse, to say nothing of chaperoning nineteen teenagers. I know they are not used to this kind of hard work.

“Better you than me,” whispered one of the mothers as she reached past me to give her daughter a final hug.

Storm King Mountain: Mystery Artist

A silent sculptor

works the forest, stones

balanced with breaths of whimsy.

On moving to my new house

Moving once again.

How many fewer boxes

to hold the air I feel.

Autumn

Wet summer, gilt-edged fall,

gold trumps orange, auburn, red.

Trees, leaves made of light.

Moving Out

Spring dashing free

Trucks mired in mud leave tracks

that my heart memorizes.

Out There

It is four days until the American premiere of my new series, Out There. We just got a "Best Bet" mention from TV Guide, which is huge, and we're waiting for other reviews. Ironically, Sesame Workshop officially replaced me as the Executive Producer today. Michael Bourchier, the Australian producer with whom we partnered on the first season, is going to take over. I am very happy with this choice. Michael will ensure that if the show goes forward, there will be continuity and quality.

I must say, though, that I'm heartbroken. It was my choice not to return to the show (I need to earn a living, and they're not ready to re-up for another season) - but I am still so sorry. The realization that I won't be going back to Australia this year is a shocker, as they'd say in Oz. It feels like a kick in the gut. My favorite director (Stephen Johnson, raised in an Aboriginal community) emailed today to say that he thought he saw me chasing a dragonfly outside the window and thinks my spirit must be dancing.....which just made me feel worse. I heard a kookaburra call on an American cartoon yesterday (it's used here to evoke a jungle atmosphere), and my heart ached to be back in the bush. I feel so connected to that hot, dry, majestic country.

For the moment, I am in mourning. I've been listening to the Australian roots music CD "Dirt Music" in my car, and just living in that melancholy vibe. I am quite certain that although I have finished this particular project, I'm not done with Australia yet.

Photograph © 2003 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

Where are the Women?

Has anyone else noticed, looking at the pictures of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demonstrating in the streets, that they are all young men? This is a country that is quite affluent and well-educated (although twelve years of sanctions have undermined the overall standard of living that existed previously). Where are all the women? I wonder what their point of view is?

Save the Children Enters Iraq
I have contributed to Save the Children for 18 years. They do a wonderful job of assessing and addressing the needs of communities. Most important, they have very low overhead and use the dollars where they count. Please take a look at their website, and see how you can help the people of Iraq.

Congratulations!

Congratulations! 3/26/03 (To the Iraqi People on the occasion of their "liberation"

Mark Fiore's Flash-animated political cartoons are a treat. This is a great one.

Reagan Redux

Eleanor Clift writing about the proposed Bush tax cut. I must have missed the Oval Office speech when Bush called upon the elderly, the poor and the sick to make the sacrifices necessary to pay for the war, because they’re the ones who will bear the brunt of the budget crunch.

Amazon.com: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

I've been re-reading Thomas L. Friedman's important book (well, actually, listening to Tom Friedman read from his important book on a long car trip that I took this week), and I'm receiving the ideas somewhat differently in the current world situation. Forcibly taking down the regime that controlled Iraq without a plan for dealing with the consequences of dissolving that system (no matter what Donald Rumsfled claims) has left us pinned down in a dense grove of olive trees. We're struggling to gain control of the situation without a sense of how our choices resonate in a deeply interconnected, globalized world where superempowered individuals can challenge our status. The days of the superpower are clearly waning. We can impose our might on a situation to a point. But the Super Markets (the bourses worldwide that now wield more power than governments) will ultimately decide whether we have been successful, and we are fueling the wrath of superempowered individuals who will easily be able to attract the loyalty of people who feel dehumanized by our myopic crusade. There is a whiff of greed about this whole undertaking, and we're not going to get away with it.

The First Sip of Spring

Spring turns up in muddy boots
Suck…suck…suck at my ankles.
Born of a steady, velvet rain,
every breath tastes of rebirth.
Resurrection.

Dwarf irises spiky and erect
Freckled with purple tears and
Golden mouths dripping life dust
Clearly unaware of how tiny they are.
So proud.

Lyra plunges into the creek, retrieving
mouthfuls of icy water as it rolls
down the mountain. The last vestiges
of winter snow still sparkling,
but now in motion.

Why are the only evident colors
on a yellow-bellied sapsucker
his black and white checked waistcoat
and the dashing red crown on his head?
Shouldn’t I see yellow?

Aging in the Creative World

I had a conversation with a young executive at the production company where I am currently working that got me thinking about popular culture, and what it means to be "current." I'm nearly 50 years old, which is a risky place to be in a business where the overwhelming perception is that youth = creativity. I don't believe that for a second. Knowing what is "of the moment" is simply a function of doing your homework like crazy and making certain that you know the tastes of the audience that you are programming for. Experience matters, particularly experience at the head of a production, so that you can afford to hire young, brilliant, undisciplined, wildly inexperienced talent to crank out fresh ideas all day long! Those "out of the box" hires are only feasible when there is a steady hand of enlightened experience at the head. So far, so good for me in this respect. I do my homework, and consistently find myself introducing new music, new websites, explaining video games, explaining what a BLOG is and how to make one, to people who are much younger (and who are being paid handsomely to be much hipper) than myself. The ironic thing is that I'm able to be very current because of the career choices that I have made....gradually stepping out of 24-7 executive positions, and seeking a balance in my life. I feel that I've found a comfortable equilibrium between challenging, meaningful work, family involvement, and contemplative, spiritual time for myself. And you know what? That balance means I have the time to know what's going on. To have heard the latest music. To have dug deep enough into neopets.com that I know why kids are spending more time there than they are in front of the television. I made a choice, several years ago, to step off of the executive treadmill. I am earning less than I used to, although I've certainly maintained a comfortable lifestyle. My quality of life is infinitely better, and I'm much better equipped to do my job. Ironic, or what? Shhhhhhh! It's a secret.

McGovern Warns of U.S. Aggression

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that former U.S. Senator and 1976 Presidential candidate George McGovern believes that the White House is planning invasions of North Korea and Iran after the current campaign in Iraq is concluded. JS Online: U.S. planning more invasions, McGovern says "Even now, these wars are being planned by the current administration," McGovern said. "I'm positive, based on conversations with people close to the White House, that plans are in place for the next invasions." McGovern was a history professor before he became a senator, and president of the Middle East Policy Council from 1991 to 1998. Now 80 years old, he has no personal agenda...just deep, deep concern at what he is seeing and hearing.

Making Music with my Daughter

Last night was Duet Night at the Ann Farber Studio, where my daughter Julia studies piano. She has just gotten back into lessons again, after eight months off (no piano) while we lived in Australia. We played two short pieces by Kohler, and although we knew the pieces very well, we both felt quite nervous. I was so pleased to see Julia muster her concentration and play with great confidence and musicality. Fortunately Mom mastered her stage fright as well, so she didn't mess it up! The magical thing was the intuitive communication between us --- essential in performing a duet successfully. Numerous people commented on how they enjoyed seeing the tight, nonverbal synchronicity of us playing together. She felt great about it, and sat through the whole evening holding my hand - something she doesn't do much in public anymore. We felt so close to each other. A wonderful evening.

HTML - You won't believe where I'm learning it!

NeoPets has an excellent beginner HTML guide - it got me going, quickly and painlessly.
The NeoPets HTML Guide Check it out.
If you want to see my pets while you're there, you can do a User Lookup. In the Search box in the yellow bar on the left, type booradley21.

Back in the US of A

Having been outside of the country for a full week, I'm struck by the over-wrought tone of the American media covering the WAR IN IRAQ! The coverage is omnipresent and the push for ratings is obvious in the urgent "updates" that really contain nothing new. Even my local news radio station, WCBS, gives the time like this: "It's 6pm. That's 2am in Baghdad." It makes me remember why most of my American television colleagues didn't attend the French media conference I just returned from. The tone of the coverage makes it feel very dangerous out there....and by "out there," I mean everywhere. Even here. People are stressed out, particularly in New York.

Boondocks

Yahoo! News - Boondocks I love Aaron McGruder's perspective and art; the "Doonesbury" of our times, although he's not yet awarded that distinction, and is accused at times of being racist. I don't see it that way - I just think the dominant culture isn't used to being probed by such an incisive minority voice. Love this guy.

From Provence

This trip I'm staying in Mougins - the ancient, mountaintop village that overlooks Cannes. It was a beautiful spring morning, and I started the day with a walk. The streets, lit by copper-hooded lamps, are so narrow that only one car can pass, almost touching the walls on either side. A little further up toward the center of the village, a car can't even fit - just motorbikes. The buildings are many hundreds of years old - tiny houses not more than 15 feet wide, built of either stone and mortar, or stucco frescoed in "couleurs Provencal." Every window has weatherbeaten wooden shutters, and foliage spills out of terra cotta flowerpots clinging all the way up the sides of the buildings. Many of the houses have been converted to art galleries. It's a magical place to walk and browse, with smell of lavender rising and mourning doves cooing in the gnarled branches overhead.

I turned one corner and came across a paticularly charming stone house. As is the custom here, the street number was hand-painted on a porcelain plaque next to the front door. This particular house also displayed a second plaque with small, neat letters that read "Chien Lunatique"....the most delicate, tasteful "Beware of Dog" sign I've ever seen!

The Netherlands Weighs In

This note is from my friend Thé Lau in Amsterdam. He is a recording artist and poet, so I've been eager to hear his thoughts on the current world situation.

Liz-
At the moment I'm often invited by tv and radio-programmes to comment on this situation. What I always tell them is, listen, I think there are many Americans. In 40 years there have been 3 Texan presidents, all of whom were at war. Bush, when watching him speak (and joke) does not resemble any American I know. This might well turn out to be a new Vietnam; I remember Henry Kissinger saying 'I refuse to believe that a third-rate nation like North Vietnam can resist a superpower like the US.'


They did.


Unfortunately people like that are in power, not only in your country. It affects the whole world. These arrogant hawks. Believe me, a huge amount of Europeans can still discern, they dislike Bush, and Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitsch and all the others, but they don't dislike Americans in general.


Let's pray for those poor GI's, who have to do a stupid job, and in case things go wrong will not be thanked for it, whom nobody blames but everybody pities.

Kiss,
Thé

WSJ.com - War Produces Rift in Media Between U.S., Other Nations

It's worth checking out this story, from today's edition of the European Wall Street Journal.

When a U.S. general in Qatar recently condemned the televised pictures of captured American troops....British television reporter Geoff Meade asked the officer what he would say to Iraqis and other Muslims who might welcome such images.

Some U.S. reporters looked stunned at the aggressiveness of the question. A hush fell on the room. The general eyed him coldly and parried the query. Afterward, says Mr. Meade, a veteran correspondent with Sky News, a service of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, "Somebody joked to me that I'd find myself at the back of the room along with the French and the Germans."

While voicing "great respect" for U.S. journalism, he says the British media tend to be "more robust, a little more barbed" in covering the news. U.S. journalists, he adds, are loath to risk their front-row seats by posing tough questions, "whether in Qatar or the White House."

British Perspective

Annie, my friend from London, has a unique point of view on the current world situation, in several respects. As she learned at her mum`s knee, "America is family - we will always be there when you ask us for help, as you were there for us in the two World Wars. We'll never forget that. That isn't to say that there won't be anything to talk about later....believe me, we'll be talking about what you've gotten us into!" She added that the French and the Germans..."well, they're our neighbours, and we do try our best to get along with our neighbours. But, you're different. You're family."

She also opined that the world might as well acknowledge that we're living at the height of the American Empire. "I know, you don't like to hear that word applied to the United States. But that's what you are. You may not have sent armies in to conquer other nations, but you've done it with your corporations. We might as well acknowledge it and start asking the real question, which is how the world can get the United States to live up to its imperial responsibilities." If you know Annie Miles, you know that this train of thought went on for quite some time. A very thought-provoking discussion, indeed.

Les français e Gli Italiani

Today is a quiet day on the war front - activity is stalled due to dust storms. So, the networks are doing background coverage. It was so interesting to flip back and forth between stations to see how the French and the Italians led their evening news. The French angle was "Irak: La Guerre de L`Info" ---"Iraq: The War of Information"....a very controversial topic here in Europe. They presented a roundtable of serious talking heads debating the validity of American war coverage, which many here feel is simply propaganda. The Italian angle was "La Guerre Delle Mamme" --- "The war of the mothers." They did an emotional story about an NYC peace demonstration led by mothers of U.S. soldiers, with many heartfelt "mother on the street" interviews. The two cultures could not be more different, and it was perfectly illustrated by these two different takes on the events of the day.

Investigating the Oil Cartel

German United Distributors announced here in Cannes that they have sold a one-hour topical program called The Cartel, "investigating US president George Bush's connections to the stateside oil barons." The program has been picked up on a non-exclusive basis by a trio of French national networks, including TF1 and France5. "It's an unusual deal as programme sales are normally exclusive territory-by-territory," said GUD's Managing Director, Silke Spahr. This program is available to American buyers here, as well. I'd love to have someone pick it up, for American audiences to see/hear a European perspective.

War Protesting

Before leaving New York, Chris, Jules and I went to the Peace demonstration in New York City. It was a great day - sunny, spring-like weather...drums beating, chants raised, by a large, enthusiastic crowd. Jules is only eleven, and after we'd gotten ourselves situated among the hundres of thousands of demonstrators, she asked "So, what do we do?" I responded "This is it. You are protesting by standing here and being counted." And I was glad to be able to show her that it is indeed possible to support and pray for the safety of our soldiers while still objecting to waging the war itself.

I went straight from the march to the airport, and was having lunch with my friend Rolf from Munich what felt like just a few hours later. His big question is "what next?" Seeing the U.S. so comfortable in the role of an aggressor...people are shocked, and wondering where it stops...whom do we move against next?

We`ve done so much damage to our reputation as a model democracy based on hard won and inviolate principles of democracy and human rights. Once we`ve thrown that out the window, what next, indeed?

I was sitting in my room last night with a choice of either French or Italian news, struggling to follow the fine details of two very complex stories...the Muslim American Marine who ambushed his fellow soldiers as they slept, and the Al Jazeerah footage of our American POWs. The latter was particularly frustrating because (of course) the French announcer was translating over their voices, when I wanted so much to hear what they were saying in their own words. The translation paused for a moment, and I heard a soldier say "I`m sorry, I can`t understand you." I also heard "New Jersey." I cannot even imagine what it must be like for their families to see this footage.

I can understand why Al Jazeerah is broadcasting this footage. After the unending hours of CNN coverage of the triumphant American "March to Baghdad," American and British officers talking matter-of-factly about Iraqi troops showing no resistance, and "superior" American technology that has blanketed the airwaves (in the Gulf War, too) it has to feel unbelievably powerful to be able to broadcast the other side of the story to the Arab world....indeed, to all of us. The war of images is very sobering. I can only hope that seeing the reality of war will dampen everyone`s enthusiasm for combat as a solution of choice, rather than necessity.

Bon Jour

It's Sunday morning in Cannes. I think my entries from here will be pretty short - I forgot how annoying it is to type on a French keyboard - different configuration. Here's what the previous sentence would have looked like if I typed it using the keys I'm used to:

I think ,y entries fro, here zill be pretty short à I forgot hoz qnnoying it is to type on q French keyboqrd à different configurqtion:

More lqter:

War is On - I am Traveling

I will be posting for the next week from France, where I'm attending the MIP-TV conference. I was supposed to go with (and have my trip paid for by) Sesame Workshop. They, like many American companies, have cancelled out of MIP because of the war. I couldn't even imagine not going - so, I'm going on my own. I've downsized my accomodations, and I'll be there Sunday morning.

I have such a yearning to be with my European friends....it's hard to put a finger on exactly why. I suppose partly because I feel like my country has abandoned its principles.... we're acting as aggressors, instead of protectors. And, all the Americans who are meant to be at this conference are suddenly afraid to be in Europe, home of the people who refused to sanction this aggressive action in the first place! I can't bear to be one of those Americans. I want to show my face and speak with the voice of the many, many Americans who don't support this action taken in our names. As Susie said from Sydney, the world needs to hear that alternative American view as a shout. This is my shout...soon to be coming your way from the Cote D'Azur. Ciao.

Bombs over Baghdad

The skies over Baghdad were lit up tonight with anti-aircraft fire and hundreds of exploding bombs and missiles. "Shock and Awe" has begun in earnest.

Spoke briefly to Marijke in Amsterdam, and then received this email from her.
Liz,
Don't be sorry to be an American
Neither am I sorry to be European, although I should!
we all do wrong
Let's just be human, now and forever
Pray for the kids in Iraq and their families.........

Kiss your family
xxxxxXXXxxxx
and hope/pray for a more civilised world
M.

Light a Candle for Peace

When you are feeling discouraged, I guarantee this will make you feel better!

Light A Candle For Peace

The Big Melt

The Big Melt

This is a time of year that makes me wish I could slough my skin entire, like a snake, just walk away from that old integument and step out new into the air. Humans thrive on the metaphors of rebirth and regeneration, and the trouble is that they're nearly always only metaphors. But it's the actuality of spring that overwhelms us. Every hour peels back another layer of snow and shrinks the dominion of ice. The ground gives, and the sap streams upward. The finches molt into their mating colors. I walk out among it all and find myself hoping to change with the season, too.
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG

Sorrow

I shall believe in sorrow when it comes
like the first down-wandering of snow,
laying its drift of shadow on my heart,
hugging against the hedges of my soul,
gathering on the lintel of my door.
Its wide and still possession of the air
I shall acknowledge as necessity
and pray and pray, not for an early spring
but for the harvest that the year must bring.

By Jane Tyson Clement

The Presidential Prayer Team

The Presidential Prayer Team

I am speechless, having just viewed a website called "The Presidential Prayer Team." The whole idea of waging a war and pressing specific political positions in the name of God is beyond offensive. And, despite all the lip service paid to "liberating the people of Iraq," there is not one word of support or prayer for the people of Iraq, who are being subjected unrelenting stress, on this website....only prayer for American soldiers.

If I were a Jewish or Muslim parent trying to raise well-adjusted kids who are contributing citizens, I would be so discouraged to see this site.

We need to get this guy out of the White House, and refocus our country on a secular agenda that includes all people, and that recognizes our position as one among many stewards of the earth, the environment, and the fragile peace that we've nurtured with our allies over the past 40 years. This kind of a website, under presidential auspices, is completely unacceptable to me.

"Loser"

Loser

Political cartoonist Mark Fiore does animated commentary on the internet. He's always good - this one is a beauty!

The Pursuit of Liberty.....

The Patriot Act, passed in reaction to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gives the FBI and other federal agencies broad new powers to track down suspected terrorists by demanding records of books sold from bookshops and borrowed from libraries. Previously, Federal agents needed a court order to ask for records of books purchased or borrowed by a specific individual believed to be a security risk. Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can make a general request for customer lists, so that they can see who is reading what. According to a study by the University of Illinois' Library Research Center, 11% of the public libraries in the United States have received a request for member borrowing records since September 11, 2001.

Generally, I think the privacy advocates get a little carried away. People who refuse to use EZ-Pass at highway toll booths because they don't want the government "knowing their movements" seem silly to me. If you're not breaking the law, you don't have anything to worry about. I like the convenience of using EZ-Pass on the highway, and don't worry about the fact that there is a record of my movement in a computer file somewhere.

However, the Patriot Act feels more invasive, in a scary way. I started thinking about what I'm reading right now. Hmmmm.....likely to be a problem if someone cared to look. There are three books on my bedside table. THE QUR'AN: AN INTRODUCTION, by Mohammed Abu-Hamdiyyah. Since I believe that we must engage in dialogue to try to solve the current schism between the Muslim world and the U.S., I am seeking understanding. THE TALE OF ONE BAD RAT, by Bryan Talbot - a graphic novel about a girl trying to come to terms with having been an incest victim. A partner and I are considering pitching an adaptation of this book as a youth-oriented film. SMALL WONDER: ESSAYS, by Barbara Kingsolver - many of these pieces were written in response to the events of September 11, and focus on the growing social and economic inequities that she feels contributed to these events. Heck, I subscribe to a daily emailed devotional from www.bruderhof.com, who would technically be considered a "religious sect," if one was looking for a suspicious pattern.

U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders (Indep-Vt.) has filed a bill in the House of Representatives called the Freedom to Read Protection Act. It would restore the requirement for federal agents to produce a specific warrent at to bookstores and libraries. Sanders' bill would also require government agencies to report to Congress regularly on how many bookstores and libraries have been subjected to searches for records and what the searches have yielded that has actually reduced the threat of terrorism. I'm certainly going to let Sue Kelly, my congresswoman, know that I'd like her to vote YES on this bill!

I received this from Michael in Sydney, in response to the email I sent to his son Jack at the start of the war (posted 3/16).

Dear Liz.

I am in tears.

This is so wonderful for you to write this to the youngest member of our family and the one who will be around the longest to live with whatever comes out of this.

This is such a hard time for all of us but so hard for you all in the US.

Please know that you have our love, always, and that our thoughts will be with you through every moment of the coming days.

Let us hope that those of us who have peace in our hearts can win over those who see conflict as inevitable.

Howard (Australian Prime Minister John Howard) has been on television tonight saying that he is waiting for the call from Bush to formally ask for our assistance. There is no doubt that he will say yes though that is so far from the mood of the country. We don't take kindly to being an instrument of American foreign policy and I think that even Howard is no longer comfortable with this but he can't extricate himself. One of our commentators said that we don’t like someone in a cowboy hat invoking the power of the almighty. We don't and I know that you don't either. He calls our PM "Mr Echo."

When I was in the US with you, I told Susie that there was such a strong feeling against war in the America I came into contact with. She asked me then to let people know to shout harder because through all the bluster it is so hard to hear that message. This is such a shout. Pass it on to everyone you know outside the US and it will spread.

With love,

Michael

I find myself sneaking peeks at the "cheap airline ticket" offers - wanting get on a plane and be with my friends in Europe or Australia. It is such a momentous time for all of us and I'm longing to be in dialogue outside of the U.S. I feel less and less connected to the discourse here, where no one even bothers to listen to or read the actual facts. A CBS/NY Times poll last weekend found that 42% of Americans think we're going to war with Iraq because Saddam Hussein is directly and personally responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center. 42%! And, it's not that they can't know the facts. I listened to all of the members of the U.N. Security Council respond last week to Hans Blix's latest report (in translation, of course) on NPR. No one bothers to listen. No world view. I'm sick of the ignorance, and dying to talk to sit down in a smoky cafe and TALK.

In lieu of being able to be there, I decided to write to two of the sons of my friends, whom I know are terribly concerned about the current world situation and very articulate on the subject as well. This is the email I sent tonight to Max, the 14-year-old son of my old friends Thé and Marijke in Amsterdam, and Jack, the 8-year-old son of my friends Michael and Susie in Sydney.

Hi, Max. It's Sunday night, and Chris, Julia and I just got home from participating in the worldwide candlelight peace vigil. We had a good-sized group at the little traffic circle in Cornwall. Did you do it in Amsterdam? I'm not sure if we can stop this planned military action, but it feels good to stand up and be counted.

I guess you know that many, many Americans don't agree with President Bush and his advisors...about the war, or about how harshly they are speaking of our European allies who don't happen to agree with our approach. Our family feels great solidarity with our friends around the world and share your sadness and concern about what is happening. We will continue to express our voices of dissent here in America, and thank you for loving us, despite the wrong-headed ignorance of the opinions being expressed by our leaders right now.

On the eve of war, we are thinking of you, Oskar, your mother and father, and keeping you in our prayers. I know you are doing the same for us.

Love,
Liz

THIS IS WHAT WAGING PEACE LOOKS LIKE

My friend Phil forwarded this, which came from his friend at Rust and Associates. It certainly makes one look at the current world situation in a different way.


Dr. Robert Muller, 80 years old, is the former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica. He was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. This is a synopsis of his remarks at a recent U.N. event.

I'm so honored to to be alive at such a miraculous time in history, he said. I'm so moved by what's going on in our world today. Never before in the history of the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war.

The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue - listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking - "Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for declaring war?"

All of this, he noted, is taking place in the context of the United Nations Security Council, the body that was established in 1949 for exactly this purpose. He pointed out that it has taken us more than fifty years to realize that function, the real function of the U.N. And at this moment in history - the United Nations is at the center of the stage. It is the place where these conversations are happening, and it has become in these last months and weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the most powerful container for the world's effort to wage peace rather than war. Dr. Muller was almost in tears in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream.

We are not at war, he kept saying. We, the world community, are WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let up. It is working and it is an historic milestone of immense proportions. It has never happened before - never in human history - and it is happening now - every day, every hour - waging peace through a global conversation. He pointed out that the conversation questioning the validity of going to war has gone on for hours, days, weeks, months and now more than a year, and it may go on and on. We're in peacetime,he kept saying. Yes, troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined up. Yes, the aggressor is angry and upset and spending a billion dollars a day preparing to attack. But not one shot has been fired. Not one life has been lost. There is no war. It's all a conversation.

In the process, he pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia and China on the same side of an issue is unprecedented. France and Germany working together to wake up the world to a new way of seeing the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the history of the world are taking place - and we are not at war! Most peace demonstrations in recent history took place when a war was already waging, sometimes for years, as in the case of Vietnam.

"So this," he said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace " looks like.

I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO....

Amazon.com: Music: A Good Tip for a Good Time

The Cato Salsa Experience is the disk most often jammed into my CD player these days. A garage band from Oslo (of all places), this retro sound is so danceable I can't stop listening to it. You can check out the song "The Circus is Back in Town" on the Amazon link above. They also have another cut called "Lucky Girl" that is a killer - I defy you not to tap your foot, if not jump out of your chair and start dancing! If I can ever get the new Blogger audio link to work, I may even post a little bit as an MP3 here.

I'VE BEEN READING.....

Amazon.com: Editorial Reviews: If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State
Could it be that there is something so subtle, so magical, so intoxicating-and so dangerous-about this land that it leads parents to willingly sacrifice their children?

In 1998 Rabbi Gordis accepted a one-year sabbatical in Jerusalem, moving his wife and three children from Los Angeles. When they arrived, there was great hope in Israel that a lasting peace was finally being achieved. Things quickly deteriorated, however, and they found themselves (and their children) living in the middle of escalating violence. Amazingly, they decided to stay - they realized that they had never felt such a sense of "home" anywhere. And, despite the danger, they were captivated by the experience of living in the Jewish homeland. Gordis is a moderate - uncomfortable with the Zionist views his children are learning at school, and volunteering in Palestinian refugee camps. His voice is clear and honest, and presents a fresh point of view. I came away with a much clearer understanding of how complex the situation in Israel really is. We hear so many voices dictating "what the Israelis must do" or "what Arafat must do" to achieve peace. Seeing life through Gordis's eyes, it will never seem quite so cut and dry again. This book is a very readable way to dig for a deeper understanding of the current situation without being subjected to the rigid rhetoric that's so often present from both sides of the conflict.

My daughter Julia gave me this book for Christmas. She did the research on amazon.com and decided this was something I would be interested in. She was right. I was captivated.

We're heading for a very close vote in the U.S. Senate regarding whether or not to allow drilling for oil in Alaska. The integrity of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at stake. This is the moment to let your senator know how you feel about the drilling. {alternative energy source development, hello?!} If, like me, you live in New York State, you can write to our senators at:
Senator Schumer Website: Contact
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: Contacting My Offices

Seems to me there are two countries defying the United Nations - the U.S. and Iraq. I don't understand why we think it's ok to blithely undermine the UN's authority. It pains me to see it.

I take consolation in the fact that the 2004 election is merely months away. So many dissenting voices now. Let's hope they're still there and that people continue their activism, when election time rolls around. We're going to need it to defeat George W. Bush. Though he's an intellectual lightweight and has proven himself to be clumsy and inept as a world leader, he has a powerful machine behind him. Democratic candidates and voters have been non-factors in the previous two election cycles. We (the voters) are going to have to step up, be active and be counted if this is going to change.