Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
It’s the busiest weekend of the year for me. Which means, while I’d very much like to dig into the issue of Europe’s shameful collaboration with the CIA secret torture flights and prisons, and I’d like to talk about my worldcup fantasy team and why its interesting, all of that will have to wait until the weekend winds down. Til then… here’s a photoessay of one of the events I organized for this weekend… a cruise on the Ij.
An imaginary terrorist was killed today.
Check that. We are supposed to believe, because experts tell us, that an imaginary terrorist was killed in Iraq.
At the same time, political leaders, with almost invisible public approval ratings, and even less visible understanding of how many people’s lives they’ve helped ruin around the world though their modern day crusades, they like to imagine that this will somehow bring peace.
Politicians teach our children so many strange lessons these days: Violence is a good answer to violence. Killing people solves problems. Bombing them is good for them. And try never to think about or be considerate to your neighbors, no matter what you do.
Are there still humans on this earth that don’t work for the british or american governments that actually believe peace will now follow?
Still.. big day huh.. they killed that actor who plays that terrorist guy on TV.
My family members are pretty avid readers of blog. At least as far as I know. I try never assume that they are or aren’t reading. But I can tell you it’s been a world of help in keeping in touch.. for a boy that has lived across the ocean for the past 5 years. 5 years!
Years and numbers and family came to mind today as I had lunch with BlondeButBright. Truth is, BBB and I don’t see each other that much, but I’m one of her biggest fans in this life. Over some good soup we talked about how time passes here in Amsterdam, and we meet people who remind us of ourselves when we arrived. Sometimes thats a good thing, other times there’s just nothing more annoying then seeing yourself.. again and again. I think it has taken a toll on both of us. But we’re still hanging in, and we agreed that we still love this town and what we’ve done with our years here… it’s a work-in-progress.
She spoke of going home for much of the summer and I admit to yee the blog readers that I’m jealous. It seems like it would be great to be able to be back in New Jersey for a spell, with my parents and my bro and little A-Ren who now says “stop” when he thinks something is too much. Come to think of it, it would be great to be able to be in Portugal for a while and be with my grandparents, as grandpa goes for some important yet routine eye surgery. Is anything routine when you’re in your 80’s?
But back to my point, I wish I could be in these three places right now, and ultimately that is not possible and therefore, somewhat saddening. Time passes. Families grow and get older. I start to wonder if I’ve spent my time correctly; made the right choices, or if I’ve missed some of the most important moments with some of the most important people in my life… my family.
Then again, like BBB and I spoke about today, lots of things are happening and the way things are now is not how they will always be.
In the meantime, I pick up the cross word puzzle out of the newspaper every morning at work. I find time to try and do the puzzle.. not because I like crosswords, but because it is what my father does, and we always do together when I’m home. We’re connected you see… it’s a direct line through the crossword puzzle on a six hour time difference.
postscript thingy: happy birthday to my compadre the mindcaster, few hours late, but it’s the blog-thought that counts.
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In late May, violence erupted in the streets of Dili. For many, memories of the nightmare of 1999 resurfaced. But beyond that, the question of what will become of this tiny and young nation also returned. In this podcast I attempt to look at the economic and social factors that are working against East Timor, and how violence fits into the puzzle.
In this show I focus on 3 Timor based blogs:
–El Diario de la resistencia – Alexis Oriol Caceres of the Cuban Medical Brigade
– Dili-gence, with the subheading Random Observations from an English Speaking Foreigner in Dili,Timor-Leste
– Dili-Dalying (Two Years in Timor Leste), an Australian Couple
who work in East Timor and were evacuated to Australia around may 25th
And here’s the item on Coffee in East Timor
Every year I get invited by a friend at the U of Amsterdam who teaches a class on media, to do a guest lecture about alternative journalism internet and non-internet based. It is one of my favorite traditions, where I get to talk about all things from alternative weeklies to online newsites to blogs, vlogs, etc. Despite all the turmoil in the offline world, the internet continues to grow as a place for alternative voices and styles when it comes to journalism.
One of all time favorite weeklies in the united states, is the Seattle Weekly. I’ve never been to Seattle, and I’ve never actually had the pleasure of touching a real copy of the paper. But over the past 5 years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading it online, and it won me over long ago for its national news and yes- local news in the Seattle area. Which interests me in the general sense.
This evening I was skimming their feed, and right after I noted they had won several awards for their outstanding alternative reporting, I came accross an article that embodies the greatest part of being truely alternative:
Geov Parrish is a longtime journalist at the Seattle Weekly. On May 17th he wrote an article criticizing the US government’s Medicare Part D perscription drug plan. That in itself is certainly alternative. But here’s what makes it extra classic: he uses himself as the subject; his health and his expenses as someone who could and perhaps should enroll in the plan. He breaks down the numbers, his own personal situation, and presents evidence and arguements as to why the plan is a disaster, for him and most anyone.
Here’s a quote:
And if I can’t make sense of all this—I am a well-informed, health-care-savvy middle-aged guy—what about my 81-year-old mother? And if Mom, who’s still pretty healthy and sharp, is befuddled by all this (and she is), how’s someone who’s elderly and physically or mentally compromised supposed to cope?
As I read it, although the medicare plan itself is insanely confusing, I recognized the strength and the true alternativeness of this article. Big mainstream journalists with all there so-called professional integrity and distance from their topics would never admitedly write about a subject they’re openly critical of while sharing personal details to develop an article. Some people like that fact. Myself, I admire the Seattle Weekly and Geov Parrish; I’m glad to see the alternative spirit lives on, offline and on.
When I accepted an invitation to go cheer on a friend racing in the national bakbrommer championship, I had no idea what a unique and excellent event I would be attending. The neverending stream of competitors with their unique bakbrommer cycles was incredible. As was the location; a big squat community, a car/boat cemetary, and an old factory. I’ve never seen anything like it, hence this vlog.
