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…yeah I know you did not ask!
I feel sorry (among other things) for those men in societies that treat women as second class citizens, as property, as less than human. How wonderful it is to have a co-equal partner to share the world’s joys and sorrows with. I can only hope that if they had even an inkling of an idea of what a gift it is they would change their behavior. However, social and religious pressures can be an amazing force for the status quo.
To the young father jogging pushing a jogging stroller with his small child therein:
You looked at me sheepishly when I glanced your way as rode toward you on my bicycle. No need to do that, puff your chest out. How much more comfortable you must be in your skin than I was at the same age. You probably could not have gotten me to do that for love nor money as I erroneously thought it was not a manly activity. It was my lost.
I am glad this generation of fathers does not have that hang up. What could be a more manly activity that participating in the care of your children.
Jog on, young father, jog on.
When I think about describing this book the phrase, “utterly delicious”, comes to mind. Initially I had a hard time getting into the book. Wainaina has a unique way with language. While the story is linear, the prose is borderline stream of consciousness. Once I gathered in the rhythm of the language, the harmony emerged. Certain passages were pure umami tantalizing the brain much like a morel does the tongue.
The Kenya described therein is an olio of languages.
“There are many understood ways to address someone: sometime you shift quickly into English; often you speak in a mock Kiswahili, in an ironical tone, simply to indicate that you are not dogmatic about language, that you are quite happy to shift around and find the bandwidth of the person to whom you are speaking.”
The book is like this too. It weaves in little snippets of African languages that give you a feel of time and place. Many words seem to be a mash-up of English and a tribal language.
This is a memoir. It is a coming-of-age story. Continue reading “One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina”
…yeah I know you did not ask!
You know you are getting old when the young ladies start holding the door for you!!!
The CF continues. Apparently the Obama administration is in bed with InfoSys. To quote from the article from Computerworld in this link Court case offers a peek at how H-1B-fueled discrimination works :
“The passage of the Affordable Care Act brought with it a burst of IT spending and hiring. The District of Columbia, for instance, hired offshore outsourcing firm Infosys for $49.5 million to build its Healthcare Exchange.
The India-based Infosys brought in H-1B visa holders to work on the government project. And of the approximately 100 Infosys employees working on the healthcare project, only three were American, according to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court.”
Just to be clear the discrimination they are referring is against citizens of the United States in the IT field.
To quote from another article Lawsuit: Tech Company Hired to Build D.C. Obamacare Website Discriminated Against Americans Continue reading “Lawsuit Claims Obama Discriminated Against American Workers.”
You say you do not know who Alexander Selkirk is. Well, fair enough, I did not know either. But if Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe comes to mind then you have hit a home run. Defoe based his most famous character on the Selkirk. This fact caused Defoe some grief as many people felt he had plagiarized or inappropriately borrowed Selkirk’s story.
Selkirk was born of Scottish working class parents. Not being enthralled with the family business of shoe making, he joined buccaneer expeditions into the South Seas. The expeditions were not particularly successful. Selkirk argued extensively with one of his superiors, and finally asked to depart from the ship. They dropped him off on Juan Fernández Island off the coast of Chile. He immediately regretted his decision. He spent the next 4 plus years living alone on the island. He survived mainly on goats left there by pirates. Continue reading “The Adventures of Alexander Selkirk by John Howell”
I heard a really great definition of politics this morning on NPR, “Politics is about controlling the flow of money.”
Politics is, of course, about power. Frequently the flow of money is what it comes down to. Those in power receive more resources or are taxed less, and those who are not in power receive fewer resources or more of the burden.
I am leaving the house for work, driving along suburban streets to get to the Interstate that takes me downtown. In front of my pick-em-up truck appears a red tail hawk flying about eye level in the same direction of travel as myself. The hawk flies with me for a few second. It then veers off to the right, swooping up and disappears in a tree. I thought, “Wow.”
I stop watching.
Suddenly, out of the corner of eye, I see the hawk drop out of the tree. It is headed rapidly towards the ground. It has my attention again. At about six to 12 inches from the deck it snags a small bird out of the air, rises with its prize, and disappears again. I thought, “Ouch.”