Conflict Minerals

Ever since Blood Diamond, everyone's been somewhat conscious of conflict diamonds, but it looks like we should give some attention to this much bigger market:

Internal Conflict of the Day

Vote for the candidate I'm leaning towards or the candidate who is more electable...gah!

And there should be an "I don't know" bubble available for all the issues/referendums because frankly, I'm a totally uninformed voter on the Indian Gaming Compact issues in California AND it's not like a tiny paragraph "explaining" what my vote means clears anything up for me.

Bush's Visit To San Diego's Firestorm

Why is Bush coming tomorrow? We could have used his brush-clearing skills days ago...

OpenCongress.org

The folks at the Sunlight Foundation have been hard at work churning out projects to engage and inform the public about the government's dealings. Among them:

OpenCongress brings together official government data with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind each bill. OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement.

I love the Senate and House's "non-partisan" profiles. The photos look straight out of the Onion's "American Voices." And all that data analysis on the profiles? Something screams Fantasy Congress about it all.

Saint Nicholas Eve and Zwarte Piet

If you were brought up Christian in the U.S., there's a chance that you've already broken out the stockings and secured them to the fireplace since St. Nick's Day is December 6. Not everyone I know did this even at a Catholic school, but if you're not familiar, it's pretty much Santa's official feast day and you get treats in your stocking then. Sort of a Christmas appetizer, if you will.

If you're Dutch, there's a chance you've broken out your shoes and, uh, blackface makeup. Tradition in the Netherlands and Flanders has it that Santa didn't deliver the gifts down the chimney; his black slave, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), did. If your ass hasn't clenched yet, read for yourself. Rightfully a controversial issue every year there, the Wikipedia article is slap to the forehead amusing because the attempted "remedying" of Black Pete digs itself into a deeper and deeper hole. Slave or servant, sooty or clean face aside, the picture is enough for me.

Categories: Links/Miscellaneous, Politics

Why I Don't Score Well on the GRE

The evil of class and race hatred must be eliminated while it is still in an _________ state; otherwise it may grow to dangerous proportions.
(A) amorphous
(B) overt
(C) uncultivated
(D) embryonic
(E) independent

The answer is (D). But this sort of question trips me up because I read it, realize that they want me to select (D), but I'm sitting there in disbelief that they're considering class and race hatred in an "embryonic" state. Last I checked, race and class hatred had quite the history behind it. In fact, I'd say these issues are pistol-whipping, middle-aged adults who found the fountain of youth. Ask a resident in Mott Haven, NYC, and I might guess that "dangerous proportions" sounds like a nice day compared to the apocalyptic nature of her street.

Then once I get past that, I marvel at their choice of metaphor: an abortion. It's an interesting choice. I'm not offended by it, but I get back to the history of race and class issues and this is not an "embryonic" abortion. This is a third term, baby about to pop out abortion. These issues aren't recent occurrences!

You can imagine how much time I lose on instances like this.

Media Monday! "Nuestro Himno"

Silly foreigners and immigrants! The rule is: Freedom of Speech IN ENGLISH. It's actually in our Gettysburg Rights and something like the 63rd Amendment, but I'm not sure because I haven't studied all that government stuff since, like, sixth grade...or maybe sixth grade was Mesopotamia...either way some of you (like you Mesopotamians out there) might be thinking, isn't Freedom of Speech interchangeable with Freedom of Expression? And that's a good point. And as a gen-you-wine American I can tell you that we love expression! Why just the other day my buddy farted out a pretty close rendition of the Star Spangled Banner! My mom and neighbor thought it was dead on, but I thought it stunk, if ya know what I mean. Anywho, your confusion between "Speech" and "Expression" might be a sign that you need to study up a little more on your English because it DOESN'T mean speaking Mexican all over the place or translating whatever you feel like. Part of being American is understanding English IN ENGLISH. Just thought I'd do my part to help explain it all.

---

The sky is falling yet again in the Divided States of America:

Spanish version of the "Star Spangled Banner." Adam Kidron's controversial rendition featuring Wyclef Jean, Pitbull, Carlos Ponce, and Olga Tanon.

German version

Yiddish version

Italian version (bottom of the page)

French version (bottom of the page)

:Arabic version

آه، قل: هل ترى،
في ضوء الفجر المبكر،
ما حييناه بعزة
في أواخر وميض المغرب؟
خطوطه العريظة ونجومه اللامعة،
طول ليلة الخطر،
فوق المتراس الذي رقبناه
كانت ترفرف بشجاعة.
ولمعان الصواريخ الأحمر
والقنابل تنفجر في السماء
بيّنت لنا طول اليل
أن علمنا لا يزال هناك.
آه، قل: ذالك البيرق المنجم
ألا تزال ترفرف
فوق بلاد الأحرار
ووطن الشجعان؟

Japanese version:
日本語訳（意訳）

1. おお、見ゆるや 夜明けの淡き光を受け
   先の夕暮れ 陽が落ちるとき 我らが歓呼しもの
   そは太き縞と輝く星なり 危うきいくさのあいだ
   塁壁の上に見たり 勇壮にひるがえりし かの旗／
   のろしの赤き炎立ち 砲音宙に轟くなか
   耐え抜き 旗はなおそこにあり
   おお、星散りばめたる旗は 今なおたなびくや
   自由なる大地 勇者の故郷に
2. 岸辺の霧 その濃く深きとばりのなか
   傲慢なる敵の軍勢 畏れ息ひそめたる
   かは何ぞ 断崖そびゆる向こう
   時折吹くそよ風に 隠れ 見ゆるもの／
   今まさに 朝の新しき光を一筋受け
   大いに輝き 風を受けはためく
   そは星散りばめたる旗よ とこしえにたなびけ
   自由なる大地 勇者の故郷に

Just to name a few. Many other languages can be found in the sidebar of Wikipedia's article on "The Star Spangled Banner."

Chew on This

(April 24, 2006)

My dental bill for a teeth cleaning was 12,93€. That's only $15.51.

Video Monday! Frontline

Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson from Country Boys

Frontline has gotten me through many a lazy day with the added benefit of educating me as well. The other day I chose a program solely based on the title I was least likely to pick and wound up watching Donald Sutherland's Country Boys. It's a three-part series (360 minutes available entirely on the internet!):

For everyone who remembers what it was like to be young -- when the whole world seemed to stretch out before you while you were stuck in your own backyard -- this special FRONTLINE series tells the story of Chris and Cody: two boys growing up in a hard land, determined to beat the odds against them, and struggling with who they are -- and who they can become.

Unless your backyard was in the Appalachian hills of Floyd County in eastern Kentucky, I think this description is a tad misleading. More accurately this is an incredible portrayal of poverty in America; how the system breaks down the family unit, health, education, and motivation and how two at-risk teenage boys who have seen a lot of failure and tragedy in life, succeed in scraping by. But don't let *that* fool you. These guys aren't wearing capes through the entire series and heralding the wonders of the illusive American Dream. They're taking one day at a time and some days saying, Fuck it, because that's the reality of a particular day. And this is why I loved this program...because the boys are so honest and smarter than the world will let them be.

Filmed over three years of the boys' lives, I highly recommend sitting down with this film and definitely checking out the additional resources and information on the internet. It's become my favorite Frontline.

Politics

The actual 2004 U.S. Absentee Ballot

Saint Nicholas Even and Zwarte Piet
Media Monday! "Nuestro Himno"
Video Monday! Frontline
No Excuse
Video Wednesday! Bush & Brokeback Mountain
Media Monday! Martin Luther King Jr.
City Hall Marriages
35 Days Till Chrismukkah
Translating Burning Cars & the French Riots
Video Monday! Subtitles
Every Culture Has Their "Asshole" Group
Voting Tuesday!
Video Monday! Bush's Speechalist
Most Important Peeps in U.S.
Banned Books Week
Euphemism Generator
Miserable Failure
Wait, I'm Confused...
Reverse Culture Shock
German Elections
Map Shopping
On Roberts' Contacts
The Onion's Hurricane Katrina Matching Fund
New Orleans, Katrina, & the Race Issue
Implicit Association Test
Pope John Paul II's Death
Che Cowan
Ani DiFranco & Andrew Bird in Frankfurt
The Fox Blocker
Physical Threat Advertising

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a good day to reinforce messages of abstinence to today's youth. Make the world a better and safer place by directing the teens you know to Sex is for Fags and Iron Hymen.

No Excuse

I figured I should post something before I'm not posting again when a slew of visitors will be coming in town.

I wish I could say that I had some fantastic reason for not writing, like we bought a house or went to Madagascar or I found a job, but really I've mostly just been going through a reading phase and neglecting the blog. I just read Jeffrey Euginides' Middlesex and loved it, though I've found others who didn't...mostly males, which is interesting because I wondered to myself if this was the kind of book that won the Pulitzer because people were like, Wow, that man sure can write like a woman! and it's, in turn, proven because a mostly female audience likes it, designating it as something more of a "chick book," which will also turn most male readers away *despite* the fact that it turns out that Cal, the main character, errs more on the male side of hermaphrodite. I've found it to be an interesting, mindless read and an interesting counter to my recent thoughts about America possessing its own culture identity, without much influence anymore from Americans' ancestry.

And I know I'm coming late in the Frey/Million Pieces debate, and I haven't even been in the vicinity of a copy, but people...come on. Real or not you're reading it because it's, at minimum, a story. People don't watch "reality" television because it's true. Well...hopefully a good chunk of reality show audiences realizes this by now. After all of The Real World reunion specials, we've seen enough times that heavy editing portrays people in ways they don't feel are true to themselves but that producers and editors insist it helps advance the "plot" of the show. Photographs tend to show a buttload of smiling, happy real people, but are they a good measure of a person's happiness in life?

If I can find it, I'll post a bit Tim O'Brien wrote in The Things They Carried about emotional truth. It basically addresses the idea that we can either write what literally happened or we can write what the experience felt like. I wrote a story in grad school that I always felt matched up with this idea. Very briefly I wrote about the dizzying experience of the first couple sent to live in outerspace and the absurdity of NASA's treatment of them and the conception of their baby. Now I've never been to space, wasn't married at the time, ever given birth to a star-shaped baby and subsequently died from it (which also happens in the story), but that story feels more autobiographical to me in terms of dealing with my dad's death than having written about a man who had a heart attack.

If Frey never went to jail or whatever the detail is, who cares. Why isn't an addiction its own sort of imprisonment? I guess I'm just annoyed that society is more emotional and betrayed by a person undertaking an artistic endeavor than by lies our government tells about weapons of mass destruction or people like Bill O'Reilly who edit "reality" all the time.

Video Wednesday! Bush and Brokeback Mountain

My friend, Michelle, alerted me to this article (in German). I'd heard he was doing a round of speeches that were leaving extra time for more spontaneous question and answer periods and this is just the kind of moment I was hoping for...

Categories: Politics, Video/Media

Media Monday! Martin Luther King Jr.

Still as powerful and moving today...

Audio to "I Have a Dream"

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check --- a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds". But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We can not walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "when will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed --- "We hold these these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight,and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California.

But not only that --- let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Additional resources:

• The King Center
• The Seattle Times: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement
• The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
• The National Civil Rights Museum
  

Another Amusing Philosophy Brought to You by Donald Rumsfeld

On Monday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged that the insurgency has been stronger than anticipated, but he also said the news media have focused on the war's growing body count rather than progress that has been achieved.

"To be responsible, one needs to stop defining success in Iraq as the absence of terrorist attacks," Rumsfeld said in remarks at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

So when we say War on *TERROR,* terrorist attacks are now no longer included in that abstract fuzzy concept of TERROR? Interesting. Next time two suicide bombers blow themselves up at an Iraqi Police Academy, radically changing the lives of 59 people and their families and friends, it's good to know that I don't have to care about that as much...it's the responsible thing to do.

City Hall Marriages

Starting off the day with a wedding does something good for the mood especially when you see twenty various couples file in and out of the city hall with their various interpretations of how a celebration of love should appear. It's fun to witness a day so many people will never forget whether or not the marriage turns out okay. From white suits, to teal satin dresses, to 60-somethings tying the knot, diversity abounded, although the only group that lacked was a homosexual couple. That's not to say gay marriage is illegal in Germany. *A form* of gay marriage is legal, which grants some but not all rights as heterosexual couples. Gay couples have no adoption rights, peculiar for a country whose birth rate is so low that the government will actually pay a monthly allowance to heterosexual couples for each child they bear. Gay partners also lack tax or welfare benefits, though they benefit from same inheritance and tenants' rights and a foreign partner can gain the right to German citizenship. It's a step, anyway...because an uncharacteristically optimistic side of me likes to believe that the money "rights" of any marriage plays a smaller role than the declaration and celebration of love for those who desire to do so. Why *is* there a tax break for married couples anyway? Because the government is so happy over your newfound love? Oh-ho no! Let's just be clear that the government will reward heterosexual couples capable of producing children, aka future consumers and workers who will sustain the economy.

City hall marriages are interesting because there is a notable percentage of people specifically going through the motions *for* the privileges. I can say with confidence that about 70% of the married people in my class married in a city hall because staying with the person they loved in Germany depended on it--Ryan and I included. It might have been nicer to have done it more on our own terms, *if* we would have chosen to marry, but admittedly getting married did do something for me, at least, in terms of solidifying a trust and putting me in a frame of mind to do anything and everything in making our relationship work. It turned out to be a more emotional stamp for me than anything. Rationally I understand how a piece of paper and tax breaks have no way of validating a couple's love, but going through this bizarre process really isolated us in an emotional, intimate moment to confirm the abstract in a concrete way. Not to mention it was in front of people we knew and didn't know who will rightly or wrongly hold us responsible for making this work out. We stood there and said, I'm sure I'll be with this person the rest of my life, which is hard because part of being human is being uncertain so we can learn. I can honestly say that I've only ever seen people 100% sure about what they want when it comes to choosing what cereal they want to eat in the morning. Emotionally, though, I feel relieved and glad to be *married* to Ryan.

This morning's wedding was Irmi's, an Israeli friend in my German class. She was weirded out all week because she was confident enough in her relationship, but didn't like this feeling of being forced by the government to go through this. Then her sister sent her a white dress she didn't feel comfortable wearing. Weddings are funny because they have the potential to take you out of your comfort zone in so many ways, which winds up serving as a spectacle for an audience to see how well you face it. Irmi did fine despite her lack of comfortable atmosphere: different country, different language, being Jewish in a Christian country that slaughtered your people (note the 10 commandments in the picture taken at Heidelberg's City Hall), dress, prom hair, lack of family. She was clearly nervous, but I think that's better than an Academy Award winning act.

Translating Burning Cars and the French Riots

Sadly some people will agree with Village Voice writer, David Ng, in his article "CNN Got It Wrong: The Paris riots weren't that bad--and the French Government handled it well," but to do so would be to undermine the real race and class issues at hand in the French riots.


Ng writes,

But now, with the riots finally winding down, the café culture's reluctance to engage the riots—its choice of distance (or what the French call recul) seems the right response to the events of the past two weeks. As the cars stop burning and some semblance of order returns to the most troubled areas (albeit with the help of draconian curfew measures), now is as good a time as any to ask: Just what the hell happened? (And how did the American media paint such a distorted picture?)

To answer these questions, we have to first figure out what didn't happen. Contrary to the breathless dispatches from the American press, Paris was most certainly not burning. Those of us ensconced in the central part of the city could hardly tell anything was going on. ("This is not exactly the second French Revolution," another journalist colleague told me.) American media hyperbole served to heighten the distancing effect. Expounding on French social inequalities from their suites at the George V, the dashing reporters of CNN et al., their infographics a-blazin', created a sensationalized image of an entire country under siege.

Choice of distance is the right response to the events of the past two weeks? Read David Ng as saying, "Ignore them. Just ignore the riffraff lest they disturb the many little coffees I must get back to sipping and ma vie en rose." It's one thing to be unaware of a privileged position one holds in society, but Ng is as embarrassing and arrogant as Paris Hilton's new boyfriend paying a homeless man to dump a soda over his head. And to turn the focus on the media in this case is to undermine just how huge this problem most certainly *is.* I agree that an interesting report might contrast the burning cars with the sunbathing cafe culture because the rest of Paris' ignorance *is* integral to the history of colonialism, "emancipation," immigration, and integration, but to say that there wasn't enough of us in the clips is a shameful exhibition of privileged vanity.

The story of the French riots *is* in the burning cars because for the first time, the invisible (sub)urban culture has found a voice--and yes, their voice is through a burning car. We won't see any of the rioters interviewed, because the government and society has never equipped them with an articulate voice in the first place. Many people will say, They have schools just like anyone else, but refuse to apply themselves. The gross misunderstanding with the education system is that while there are a blessed minority of truly qualified, intelligent teachers that choose to "step down" and work at struggling schools in struggling neighborhoods, most teachers will apply for jobs in schools they know or "step up" for their own self-advancement. Children educated at a private school might be more inclined to teach at a private school just like a child educated in a lower class school might be more inclined to teach in their same lower class neighborhood. People stick to environments they're comfortable in, with the unwritten societal rules they know; hence the neverending cycle of keeping classes in their place. Why do we just expect that an African American should feel comfortable stepping into Whitey & Co.? Why do we expect that a son or daughter of an Algerian immigant should feel as though he/she can seamlessly blend into a middle-class business when the chances are that his/her legit application and resume is rejected 7 out of 10 times? I have Cincinnati, which has had its own share of very similar riots and racial tensions, as a ruler in terms of education training and it's absurd to think that the very affluent "new money" neighborhood of Indian Hill provides the same opportunity to students as the poor, crime-ridden area of North Fairmont. So while I suppose Ng wants us to take cushy comfort in knowing that the French government has "minimized casualties and bloodshed," we should be *very uncomfortable* with governments' and societies' inability even beyond the borders of France to provide a fundamental base of education, jobs and money, and acceptance.

Ng attempts to bolster the government, praising,

It has also restored state subsidies to impoverished neighborhoods and has lowered the apprenticeship age to 14 to help combat unemployment (which stands at almost 30 percent in certain cites).

"Subsidies." How...specific. I suppose that when the lower class logs on to their Apple G5s and reads that the government has restored "subsidies," they'll log right off, hop in their shiny car, fill up on the sweet nectar of gasoline (after they've looked up directions on Mapquest, of course), and drive on over to the..."subsidy office (?)," which, I'm sure, will provide a straightforward pamphlet in lay-man's terms with no fine print on how to get some "subsidy." And thank god! Jobs are being provided to the educationally-incomplete 14 year-olds! Now they'll be pumping Super gas by the time they're 18 instead of Regular Unleaded! Oh how the government comes to the rescue!! And surely the combination of this shift job and top-notch 8th grade education will afford them excellent health care and the time and knowledge to invest their minimum wage into the French equivalent of Roth IRAs, 401Ks, and interest earning bank accounts!! What a certain and secure future ahead of them!

Oh wait. It's not at all. See, you and I get the luxury of even getting to think about the future, whereas providing for today is the concern for the lower class. And we need to remember that needs aren't limited to the food, the jobs, the shelter...what happens when love takes a second seat? Can you blame a kid or even an adult that seeks "love" and comfort in the other world of television, video games (assuming these are available), the drug feel-good culture, or rampant sex. There are a limited amount of areas left to these people that provide something to feel good about. And no one should understand this better than the American middle-class society obsessed with rearing their kids with an endless string of affirmatives. We understand that a person needs to be loved. We understand that a person needs affirmation. So when we see this being sought through a vice like drugs, why are there so many of us privileged people like David Ng, ready to critique and beat down the lower class just a little bit more--or add fuel to the fire, so to speak?

Yes their voice is through the burning cars and looting. They may not be as articulate as the fortunate in the Sorbonne, who subsequently step into the government, but make no mistake that a stripped down human being still has his emotions, and like it or not you can't argue with what another person feels. A burning car says I'm angry. And as Mathieu Kassovitz (see his News section) points out, a burning car says, "'Zero tolerance' works both ways."

Euphemism Generator

Not surprisingly in a German class full of foreigners, there are sometimes awkward interactions. And it's also not much of a surprise that this usually stems from not understanding the words the other person is saying, or not finding the words you need to explain yourself. But more interesting is when the misunderstanding comes from cultural differences and not because you lack the vocabulary. My interaction yesterday went like this:

S: I have a question.
Kell: Okay.
S: Sometimes when I read a sentence, I understand the literal meaning of every word, but I don't understand the whole sentence.
K: Okay.
S: Why?
K: Do you have an example?
S: No. I only want to know why I don't understand.
K (feeling slightly confused at this point): Well German is a foreign language that you're learning and sometimes the German mentality doesn't translate great. (This seemed to satisfy her to a greater extent than I expected...I thought I was being slightly funny).
S: Naturally it's another language, but if I understand every single word, why don't I understand the whole sentence.
K: I'm not sure I can help you without an example.

S became very frustrated with me. She simply wanted me to tell her why she couldn't understand. To her, a specific example was beside the point--this was all very clear and it struck me as very strange that another person wanted me to tell them what they were thinking. S is a Muslim from Turkey and it's the second course I've had with her and we're partners in 90% of our exercises. I don't like to readily label differences as something being cultural (because the more I get to know many of the people from various nations, the more I realize most of the world is frighteningly the same as far as personality types go), but the past six months have definitely manifested that a strange control has been exerted over this girl--sometimes elementary confusion over an aspect of sex that might come up, but a seemingly full understanding of the complicated relationship of a concubine, for example.

With much resistance she brought an example to me five minutes later. Turns out the sentences that were confusing her contained German euphemisms.

On that note, have a look at the Euphemism Generator. I don't know that it's "endless amusement" as they claim, but it might get a heh out of you.

Video Monday! Subtitles

No introduction needed...

Every Culture has Their "Asshole" Group

I moved to Germany a little over a year now thinking of myself as an expat...as someone who shunned many American policies and ways of life and would therefore give it up, but more importantly to experience other cultures and be something of a "better" representation of what an American is or can be since so many Americans come off as 100% patriotic no matter what the policy. That's not to say that I think my life choices are the way every American ought to live, rather I came here wanting to be something of an American individual that could at least have an unbiased conversation with "foreigners" over politics or culture or whatever. My example was to speak for itself as an person and not a stereotype. I by no means thought that I was going to mend international relations, but thought that as an individual I could do my part to listen to what other nationalities had to say and respond in as objective of a way as possible. I wanted to be an example of diverse American thinking.

I came here knowing that was going to be even harder to accomplish since we came here on the government's ticket. Ryan is a contractor to the Department of Defense and it's not easy explaining how you separate yourself from your government, when the government is your customer and actually helping your live abroad. I've stopped trying to separate myself. My short answer is this: when you disagree with policies or the way your government is run, the best thing you can do is to be active about changing it. And where else is a better place to change it, than from the inside? I used to think that working for or with the government meant that you supported it, but realize now that it's another form of being active in politics.

I've shied away from addressing Ryan's job because most of my experience has been that people (Americans and other nationalities) *do* assume that it means that I'm a full-fledged flag-waving American supporting the war in Iraq. I've shied away because it *is* related to the military, and military life involves an American culture I still don't completely understand and therefore feel I can speak for. I've shied away because I *do* take advantage of some of the "privileges" of being able to enter a military base (mostly shopping at the Commissary). And I've shied away because I didn't have the vocabulary (nor did my peers from a gazillion different countries including Iraq) to explain myself.

As time has gone on and I've entered an intermediate class where it's mostly conducted as a conversation course, it's hard knowing whether or not the acquisition of vocabulary has made it easier to have a conversation. Sometimes it's as easy as rolling your eyes when George Bush comes up and people "get" you. That's enough for them. But there has been a shift in how I feel I can relate to some classmates because with more advanced conversation skills comes personality and some personalities are decidedly anti-American. On one hand I welcome these personalities the most because I think I'm a pretty good communicator and have managed civil conversations, but on the other hand some of these people are so *decided* about their beliefs that it's like reasoning with a brick wall. And in reality "assholes" is a better label for these brick wall people than "anti-Americans" because you get the sense that these particularly close-minded people will upset anyone in their own culture just as fast...just as a matter of being an impolite, judgmental person.

This is all coming from my experience these days with a particular asshole in my class who criticizes me every single day and relates it back to my being American. When I arrive late it's a result of my being American and thinking that I'm free to do as I damn well please. When I arrive early it's because I'm a privileged American who can afford to live so close to school. When I express my desire for a job, I'm an ungrateful American who doesn't realize the luxury and privilege I have. When I express my happiness for my free-time, I'm an American glutton living in the lap of luxury. When I drive my husband to work in our only car so that I can use it later in the day, my husband is criticized for not riding on the train for an hour vs. a 20 min. drive, and I'm criticized for not wanting to carry 60lbs. of groceries for 3 miles. When I go to the Commissary I'm an American who can't get used to living in another culture since I can get most of the same foods at any given store in Germany. When I don't go to the Commissary I'm a rich American who can afford the higher prices for food in Germany. When I have access to the American base, I'm someone that can get the asshole his Zantac for cheaper. When I refuse to get the asshole his Zantac because he criticizes me everyday (and I need the car to get there), I'm a selfish American snob. Every day is like this. He cuts me off. He answers for me and is surprisingly good and raising a similar aggressive "curiosity" in others about what the fuck I'm doing here. About why the fuck the American military is still in Germany. About why I would want to stay here or leave Europe. Undoubtedly he's right about some things (though few). I do have privileges as an American which seem more like "normal life" to me. I'm not going to pretend like I'm a victim to all these assholes as though I'm part of an oppressed group. I'm simply venting on a frustrated day. My friend over at publicprivate articulated it wonderfully when she said, "I felt similarly when I was in India. Partly I hated being the pet American. And partly I didn't like feeling like I had to
defend my country all the time, when in any other circumstance I wouldn't."

Grr.

In conclusion, it's occurred to me that in times of war, it's not America vs. Vietnam, or America vs. Iraq, or America vs. (fill in the blank). War is, quite simply, the Assholes vs. the Assholes.