Brecht’s Good Person

After a very long day walking the streets of Amsterdam, I was due to meet friends at the Amsterdam Forest. I’ve seen it on maps and repeatedly ridden around it but never into it, during my over four years here. In my mind’s eye I never imagined it to be anything beyond a few scattered trees, a pond, and many bike paths. So I left very little time for getting through the forest this evening.

Was I ever wrong. Or at least, upon arrival at the forest entrance this evening, as I rode and rode, the streetlights eventually stopped, and it was just me, my dim bikelights, and the moon. Riding riding riding along a path I could barely see, so I turned off the mp3 player to hear the sounds of the tires on the ground, to determine if I was on grass, gravel, or somehow biking into the lake that seemed neverending and always just a step to my right. Allegedly I was riding to a theater, an open air theater, to see a Brecht play. But throughout the ride, as the darkness got thicker and the way back got further and further, I started to doubt I’d see any play on this night, or that there was even a theater. For a brief instance the world was flat again, and I forsaw myself falling off the edge.

But as luck, or a keen sense of direction, would have it… I eventually found the sillouettes of rows and rows of parked cars. I did my best not to ride into them, and when the rows finally ended, there began racks and racks of bikes. Hundreds of bikes, many scattered beyond my field of view, and up ahead, christmas lights strung up in the trees. I could hear what sounded like singing, or shouting, probably both… I had stumbled upon the theater.

The Good Person of Sezuan was the name of the play. And although I was tired and after the long strange ride, felt like I was stoned, the play put me into a tranz. Though the jokes in Dutch are almost always lost on me, feelings of sadness, happiness, and other character struggles came across very clearly. Lucky for me they didn’t try giving their Dutch a Chinese accent… most of them didn’t anyway.

Brecht is interesting as was this play. I understood the question, about being a good person and being taken advantage of, versus being a bad person and getting ahead in life, especially in the professional realm. I know Brecht was a Marxist, and it’s something I love to see in his plays (the few Ive seen).. in this case I saw his commentary about what capitalism forces people into and how desperate it can make people. There was also a sexual undertone, which was illustrated by the main character creating an alter ego which was a mean businessminded man who was very successful, in order to sustain her real self who was a good natured selfless girl who everyone loved and loved to take advantage of.

I was reading about how Brecht went into self imposed exile to the US. Which sounded impressive, until I read that he later faced the McArthy hearings as an accused communist and all that witchhunt. An irony which in itself sound like one of his plays.

After that, I had the long ride through the forest in the dark to ponder this post and the frisbee tournament I must play in 8 hours at the Hague.

New Look, Interesting Posts

Im still soaking in the new look. So I’ll leave you to take in the new look as well.

Lots of Amsterdam related stories to tell in the coming week. But tonight, I need to salvage whatever sleeping hours I can as a cousin is stopping over at the airport in the early morning and I must head there for tea.

In the meantime, I’d like to express how proud I am, like a proud video-father, as John has officially put up his own vlogs with himself as the star. There is no stopping him now. Look out disney.

Oh and on a more serious note, I’m reading more and more about Bolivia and the seeming political meltdown going against Evo. Or at least, that’s what it seems like. More on this one soon.

Watching and Remembering NOLA

I heard max and stacy talking about how they’d just watched the Spike Lee documentary about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. I suddenly remembered that it must have been aired on HBO already, and I could go find it on bittorent. Tonight, I’ve just finished watching parts 1 and 2 which go back over the leadup to the hurricane, and the week following, breaking it down in terms of how people lived it, how they remember it, and also how the authorities responded and their testimony about what they were thinking at the time.
It is a film that causes me to run the gamut of emotions:

Anger. Naturally, as a critical and passionate voice, I continue to find the response of the federal, state, and local government, to have been not only terrible, but a crime against humanity which should involve the president, his cabinet, and state officials, being tried right here in the Hague. But this anger isn’t all that new, what is new is the facts that come out in this documentary which I had never known… especially when it comes to the historical context where at several points in history, the city had blown up levees in poor districts to save the wealthy districts from flooding. And also how surrounding communities send their police to the county lines, armed to the teeth, to turn feeling citizens back into the city which had become uninhabitable, AT GUNPOINT!

Of course the next emotion is sadness, another logical one. I think the saddest moments for me where the dead bodies. The bloated, face-down, barely covered, left all alone, dead bodies, who didn’t have to die, and did NOT die because of the storm, but in fact, died because of the callous lack of response from the American government. Even sadder was hearing the personal accounts, sitting here staring at the face of this man as he describes his mother dying on her wheelchair at the convention center, all the time believing buses would be there any minute, as day after day passed.

Finally I felt a huge sense of admiration. There were those stories and personal accounts, of moments where people came together, reached out to care for neighbors. Did what they had to do to help others, because they knew there was no time to wait, and nothing reliable to wait for anyway. Spike Lee does an amazing job of capturing their stories, and his staff managed to get contributions from some truely honest and beautiful people.

I’m not yet finished watching. I will wait til tomorrow to see parts 3 and 4. The first half of this series has already left me with a profound sadness and a renewed drive, that people who are passed over and ignored, must have their stories heard and must be recognized as people who are valueable and worth of the same rights and priveledges as any fortune 500 son-of-an-investment banker.

Last thing I want to mention, and I know it will anger a great many who grow tired of my logic; remembering Hurricane Katrina and the criminal negligence of the American government, in a country that is supposedly so wealthy and so capable and such a great place to live…. I’m sorry but I’m reminded of why I don’t live there and I don’t want to live there. This isn’t about a man named Bush, or a political party per say, it is about an entire class of powerful people who run the nation, and have either helped create a society riddled with inequality, hatred, ignorance, desperation, disdain, and indifference.
Now I know these things exist in many places. I know the country where I live is a long ways from perfect and deserves its share of criticism as they all do. But when I sit here remembering Katrina, and each time take a closer look into the gruesome and shameful details, my one thought is — With a political class that can discard human life so easily, and a citizenry that is hardly motivated to force their leaders to admit their crimes, is that really a country where I’d like to live?

Global Mayors Campaign

Dear longtime or recently new readers of the Communique:

Welcome! That’s the most important point I want to start with. Although my blog is very old (4 year anniversary just passed a few weeks ago), and you may notice alot of names in the comments, I want to make sure you understand this is one very open place, where you can comment and pick apart my sometimes not fully thought out ideas. You could insult too, but that’s fairly pointless if it isn’t backed by a real arguement. Still, I’m glad you stopped in and hope you’ll subscribe via RSS or at least bookmark me.

With that out of the way, I’d like to announce a new series I will be working on for my podcast. Throughout the remainder of 2006, I will be embarqing on a series of podcasts focusing on global mayors.

Why mayors? Because I’ve observed how all over the world, national governments rarely accurately represent their citizens. While I’ve also come to realize that the world’s cities are often led by very unique and wacky officials, who sometimes embody wonderfully creative and progressive ideals, or in other cases, do the exact opposite.

Therefore I will be focusing in on the personalities, who they are, and what policies they are implementing, all over the world. I will of course do my own research and presentations, but I also intend to find representatives from those cities to appear as guests on my program.

These programs should begin next week, as I already have a long list of some of the more well known cities and their famous mayors. But if you have a mayor that has either done very interesting or very terrible things for your city, and you’re willing to appear or recommend someone as a guest, please get in touch, either via comments or by emailing me: bicyclemark at gmail…

My purpose, by doing these programs, is for me personally, to learn about what is going on in different corners of the planet within urban centers, and more generally, I hope those following these interviews might learn something new as well, and perhaps we will notice some patterns regarding mayors and their policies.

So stay tuned.

Dare to Debate

For me, the most annoying part about listening to American politicians talk about the world, is when they decide everything is linked to Iran. It’s ponderous… a relatively small country in the world, yet everything bad somehow originates from there.. according to Us politicians regardless of which of the 2 twin parties they belong to.

While riding through fairly sunny Amsterdam en route from work, I once again had a fit of cursing and could barely focus on pedaling, as I listened to Santorum debate Casey, as both men are running for senate in Pennsylvania. You’d think that a love fest where two men profess how much they agree with each other and how they both believe the same things, that should be a lovely and touching occasion. Not so. The more they played the “who can play war better” game, the more I pitied anyone who lives and hopes to vote in the state of PA. And of course, the rest of the nation, that has to tolerate one of these ignorant assholes, once they get elected. But it makes it EVEN MORE annoying for me when they go on and on about how Iran is the true problem of the planet.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite and willing scapegoat, the president of Iran was on 60 minutes a few weeks back. It was a pretty funny interview, as he is a very stubborn and confusing man, but never mind what I think of Mike Wallace. (insert laughter)

No, seriously, the interview wasn’t terribly impressive. The president did the usual, speaking in a very round about, confusing manner, that allows people to read into his words and make conclusions like “he’s a halocaust denier” or “he wants to wipe Israel off the map”, both statements, which have actually been debunked (see On the Media Episode from June and the very confusing Spiegel interview i linked in June). But no doubt about it, it seems like he is too stubborn to speak in a more clear and direct manner about his opinions and plans for the country.

Regardless, throughout his many interviews in the past 6 months, one fact continues to shine through, and it is one I very much want echoed for all to hear: he is a human being that can be talked to and even… dare I say it… reasoned with! The latter being more certain. Yet the American government, regardless of party, seems obsessed with pointing fingers and making him some kind of madman. They need him to be a madman. Their last madman is currently giving long speeches in a Baghdad courtroom, they’re really hoping for a new figure to rally the country around and keep everyone nice and scared.

Now he proposed a televized debate with Bush. And yet, we don’t even need to ask, because you know Bush won’t debate him. Hell, Bush tries his best not to ever debate American politicians, nevermind the leader of Iran. And so the offer remains on the table, another sign this is NO madman. Annoying, perhaps. Conservative and a jerk, clearly. And yet, he proposes a duel of words, not a duel of weapons. But that’s not how the American government wants the story to read.. so they’ll keep pushing their version.

I guess I’ll keep pushing mine.

bm152 Portrait of American Journalists

Professor of communications and author of numerous studies related to the profiles and sociology of journalists, Mark Deuze joins me to discuss the latest statistics on American journalists.

Mark Deuze’s Post on David Weaver’s Profile of American Journalists