Gentrification

This afternoon I was struck by the urge to play chess. I think the feeling came from running into an aquintence last week at the tea house playing chess, and then seeing her a few days later, again playing chess in front of said tea house. Did I mention the aquaintance is very pretty?

Anyway, I decided this afternoon, rather abruptly and without provocation, that I needed to go down there and play chess. I was distracted by free tacos and friends at Charly's Pub, so if Divine Providence had inspired me to get off my hind end and meet my future over mango tea and a chess board, I fear I stood It up.

Instead I got my pot of tea, chess board, and newspaper and sat down at a table on the side walk. Now the tea house is located on the south side of the tracks, in what some might call a sketchy neighborhood. Sure it has some nice shops and a few bars and hostels, but it also has the rescue mission and strip joint and for serveral other reasons attracts an interesting mixture of pedestrians.

Sitting out in front of the tea house, board set up and ready to go, I got a smile from a pair of pretty girls, a few apologetic refusals to play, and then up wanders this kid who looks to be about 14 years old, tatooed up both arms, smoking a cigarette, and offers to play me.

Naturally I gladly accept and when he begins with what I dimly recall to be a standard opening, I wonder if I am in over my head. Bear in mind it has been years since I last played. Anyway, he succeeded in taking several of my pieces before I managed to force him into check-mate, at which point we shook hands and he said he had to get back to the party.

I think I may make a habit of sitting out on the sidewalk with a pot of tea and a chess board some afternoons and just see who else might wander by for a game. Only next time I'll be sure to have another tea-cup.

39 cent protection?

I was paying bills this afternoon and happened to glance at the corner of the envelope where one would normally afix a stamp. In the little box, it said, and I quote: "For your protection please place stamp here."

Huh?

For my protection? Are the terrorists trying to sabotage my mail now to? And will a 39 cent picture of an ear of corn really stop them? Will these people stop at nothing in their hatred of my freedom?

More likely, is this another face in the growing trend to use fear in marketing, whether the marketing is for the evening news, a newer car, or a domestic spying program. "What's really happening in the produce aisle of your local grocery? Find out tonight at 6!"

What a crock of shit. You know as well as I do that driving to fast, eating double Mc-cheese burgers with a jumbo sized Coke, smoking Camel Lights, and driving the half mile to the store rather than walking or riding a bike, these are the things that will make you sick and kill you.

So, to the people who are wire tapping, engaging in survallienace, or mining and logging the data, thank you very much for your efforts, but please piss off and let me take care of myself.

PS is anyone else as pissed off as me that the guy who should be testifying to a congressional investigating committee about the illegal wire tapping and spying on innocent citizens is instead being confirmed as the head of the CIA? Am I taking crazy pills or has the rest of the country fallen asleep?

Complicity

Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, Guatemala, Iraq.

These are all countries that have witnessed genocide. In my life time. Hardly a definitive list, there are others, some from the generations of my parents, some from the generations of my grandparents. After the Holocaust, the world was shaken by what was learned, the depth of genocide. After Rwanda we were shamed by out silence and there by our complicity. In each case, the world cries “Never Again!”

Yesterday I attended a rally for Darfur, the region of western Sudan that has been ethnically cleansed these past three years. It was the first event of its kind I have attended in this country, so I was naturally curious. Organized and attended primarily by young women and a few young men from the university and community college, I wondered what these fresh young souls knew of suffering in hard places, of the realities of international politics and relations, the economics and structural violence that begets revolution, uprising, genocide. Is it necessary they know the complexity of the problems before them and hard road ahead for any meaningful solutions? Or is it enough that they know genocide, mass rape, and enforced starvation are wrong? For not staying home, silent yet knowledgeable and there fore complicity, they are to be commended. That they do not have a full grasp of the situation nor the solutions they ask for, I try not to be too hard on them.

I haven’t the answers either, though I am now conscious of the questions and for that reason question the wisdom of increased UN presence in Darfur, petitions to the President, of either the US or Sudan. Might some of these measures relieve suffering in the short term? Yes, perhaps. Will these measures affect the structural violence that begot the problems in the first place? Certainly not. Does the west risk another battle ground against religious extremism in Africa? Yes. But there is also a chance, however slim, that a well organized, funded, manned, and thoroughly diplomatic response on the part of the international community could halt the killing and promote social justice in this part of sub-Saharan Africa. But I have my doubts given the track record of the UN in my life time.

I don’t have may answers these days, mostly questions and ideas, and I am a late comer to the Sudan/Darfur issue. For more info check out www.savedarfur.org or look at archived information at www.theworld.org .