Posts from August 2004

the word is paradise!!

That's right, paradise. It comes from two Persian words, pairii (around), and idaeza (a wall), according to Dalrymple:

"The word was brought west by Xenophon, who introduced it into Greek when describing the fabulous garden built by the Persian Emperor Cyrus at Sardis; from the Greek paradeisoi it passed into Latin as paradisum; and hence into Middle English as paradis."

Funny that our vision of Heaven actually derives from an enclosed Persian pleasure garden. Paradise means enclosed by walls, which is not really to my liking. Perhaps that is the reason I don't want to go to heaven. Sounds so boring. God's watching you all the time. Everything's all ordered and good and right. Don't you see? It's all balance. Perfect white is no place to live a life. And you can't see in pitch dark. That's why the blend is so important. A little good, a little bad, a pinch of order, and a handful of chaos. Why strive for perfection when you can strive for life.Live to Learn. Learn to Love, and Love to Live (and all the other permutations).

Hey! Sometimes, you need your cheesy Zen entries. No?

The car needs a steady supply of quarters in order to function. It makes a syrupy cough sound that lets you know to pop another in. There was more to this dream but...

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will monitor the American presidential elections iin November . Think it'll make a difference? Will the people who elected George in the first place (the 9 in black) give a darn what the international org. thinks when it decides the race this time?

I wish I had a video of my gandma dancing.

Keith, I'm doing the naked picture thing too.

what more can a boy ask for?

Today we went for a trip to devil's hole in Niagara Falls. Paul's like, I know where it is, no problem... Paul sat in the back with Matt. I was shotgun, with @lilho driving. We get to the first questionable part...which way Paul?...Paul...PAUL...bPAUL...oh ummm...left.... The choice has unfortunately been made. And it was wrong, and the situation would repeat...4 or 5 times. We went to Niagara Falls...we went to the love canal...everywhere but devil's friggin' hole. Three hours later, we've spent 15 minutes outside of the car. Very fun. I guess the moral is: don't pretend to be no naviga-TOR if you ain't no naviga-tah. WTF?

I am publicly apologizing for the two errors made last night while judgement was somewhere left behind:

To @diana: My comments last night were purely jocular in nature. There was no harm intended. My humor gets dumber as the night goes on, and the quips leave my mouth without traversing the terrain of my mind. Though I still think that if you're gonna call me T-bag, I can call you D-licious or Di-uretic, but I won't again.

To becka, sorry for confusing you for Nicole. It's just that just about everytime I see you you're together...lame excuse, but yeah...

and so very adaptable.

I mentioned that the latest novel in my India phase is City of Djinns by William Dalrymple, and because I've heard that my journal entries are too long, I'm just going to post a couple random bits of triivia. All the following words were exported for English use by those great chaps at the British East India Company, but have their origins in a variety of India's languages:

• pyjamas (apparently this is how you spell it in high-falutin' England)
• cummerbund
• veranda
• bungalow
• pundit (how did that get in this list, I wonder?)
• candy
• ghoul
• thug
• [/list]
• And here are some that crossed-over and were used colloquially but didn't survive the journey back to the motherland and thence to us:
• [list]
• goont-from the Hindi meaning pony (don't look a gift goont in the face?)
• shikar-sport(s) (I am constantly amused to hear how Brits say sport instead of sports)
• cheese (as in it's the real cheese)- from the Hindi chiz meaning thing
• chummery-bachelor quarters
• rum-johny- mistress, from the Hindi ramjani meaning dancing girl
• goglet-water bottle

[inlink]chaibiscoot,29[/inlink] @chaibiscoot thanks for responding and adding your input into this discussion. My very limited knowledge of everything India (sorry, I didn't choose my fucked-up westerncentric education) makes me feel like a political voyeur. White Mughals is great, you'll definately enjoy it, and recognize many of the places since it's your hometown. Even I now feel like I have a sense of the city, albeit a two hundred year old sense. I'm on to City of Djinns now and a VS Naipul book. Thanks for the recommend.

and @emily, the Reinstein Park really is nice. I finally got there yesterday and it was a little rainy and there were deers (even a pair of cute little fawns) and turkeys and pretty pink lily pads. [inlink]emily,188[/inlink]

[inlink]sqb,30[/inlink] Yeah, I keep wanting to go there, it's right by my work. The picture looks great, maybe it's as nice as Tift, but maybe it can't match the remedied air of a landfill made over.

To @ajay[inlink]ajay,72[/inlink]: From what I've heard of Arundhati (from Democracy Now! and the books I've read) she has a great voice and good concept of what globalization means to the "rest of the world". Though I haven't heard of her palatial house in a natural forest preserve (I would like to hear more if you have details), I am not sure that is enough to disqualify her from having an opinion. Should we all ignore Michael Moore now that he is surely a multi-millionaire? His message is as clear as ever. And while at some intrinsic level, I balk at taking advice from those who are obviously benefiting from the system, do I turn away and not take their help/advice? I (and I assume you) are doing pretty well for ourselves (especially on a global scale where half the world worries about just eating) yet I feel that we are allowed to comment on the policies that are shaping our world. If from our priviliged position we are able to see the patterns emerging it becomes something of a responsibility for us to at least comment (though, of course, hopefully we do more). And I do know that Arundhati has gone to jail for her beliefs regarding the dams in India . That's more than I've ever done. I guess I should be out protesting the eminent domain of the new Peace bridge (though the scale here is a little different, here they expect to relocate up to 500 residents and give them fair-market value, in India they build the dam and the people have to flee the rising waters: and we're talking millions of people-according to Ms. Roy over 35 million. I would reccomend reading this article, though you're going to have to register: (F)&fodname=20040726&sid=1).

When you say that people want the luxuries of modern convenience I understand. They're made to be alluring, and more than that they're marketed to be that way. I don't watch TV, and feel better because of it, but it's taken a great effort on my part, TV's easy. I realize we can't save people from their own desires, but what about preventing them from having new desires implanted onto them? Half the time I think life would be much better if I could just farm my own land. So I agree that people have the right to choose, but they also have the right to be informed about just what they are choosing, which is not just glamorous western-style TV, but also western-style markets, supply and demand, and the economic hardship that accompanies "westernization". I wish @chaibiscoot was here to comment, she's and Indian who respects Ms. Roy and I would like the comparison.

Also, the other books I were reading weren't fiction. The specific book about India revealed tons about the whole process of colonization. It was very imformative and I would reccomend it to anyone wishing to learn about India's history. Do you have anything you could reccomend as far as learning about your culture, @ajay?

Thanks to @chaibiscoot I have been reading some excellent books. She emailed me about a post I had written about India (coorecting many of the vague impressions I had) and gave me a few suggestions to read about her native land: India. She suggested William Dalrymple and Arundhati Roy among others. The problem with reading about India is that I don't speak any Indian languages and so am stuck with what English/American/a few others have written in English.



Dalrymple is an Englishman (though he makes reference to possible Indian heritage in a foreward) who studies Oriental/Asian culture. His first book, In Xanadu describes his efforts to follow Marco Polo's footsteps to the fabled city of Xanadu. The catch is that this is in the early 90's. So instead of Persian warlords we have an Iraq/Iran war, a closed Afghani border, and a communist China. This may sound like mere cultural tourism and to a large extent is, but Dalrymple's awe and love of the history of these ancient peoples is evident throughout the book. One of his emphases is architecture and so we are treated to lengthy comparisons of Persian vs. Byzantine columns and such. But he also has a clear message of inclusion that runs througout both books. He's describing these people not to show their alien aspects but rather to delight in how similar their idiosyncracies are.

White Mughals is almost a docudrama. James Kirkpatrick is the British Resident at Hyderabad, India, and finds himself sought after by an Indian princess. He eventually falls in love, and adopts many native customs in the interim. The tale is of the roots of the British Empire in India and shows how different things could have been, if Kirkpatrick's attitudes had been adopted by more. It's the turn of the 18th century, and the British and French are both vying for control of the huge indian "resource." This is a critical time because the whole tone of the next 100 years is being set, will India become a trading partner or a colonial outpost. We know the answer of course and this book delves into exactly why this happened and what percipitated the changes.

The Cheekbook and the Cruise Missile is a series of interviews conducted between 2002-2003. We hear of the huge struggle for power in India, where local people are being forced off their land for hydro-power, fundamentalist religion is being used on both sides of the political spectrum, and the WTO/IMF is dictating economic policy. It is great to contrast what is happening in India to what is happening today in America (and what has happened in the last 100 years or so). One of Arundhati's main points is the distancing of power. In other words, that bigger and bigger institutions are in control of more and more power. She asks, why does it always have to get bigger? Why must everything be more concentrated? To her, this is what globalization is about: the removal or distancing of power. But where is the logic that a room full of men half way around the world knows how to run your city/state/country better than those who live there? It's a good fast read, and because it's interviews you really get the whole Arundhati-flow of conversation. I am in love.

The library has all three books if you wanna read. Just go to their website and request the titles and within a few days you can pick them up at the library of your choice. Whoopie!

Ajay, I think this [inlink]ajay,68[/inlink] is a great idea. Now we just have to see who we can get involved and then schedule it. It would be great if we got not only writers but photographers, videographers, and sound artists involved. We could even turn the whole thing into a promotional CD.

sidenote: I think this is a neat idea too, but I actually didn't write this. It was Paul, erroneously logged in as me on our computer. Sorry Ajay, but I've transferred your thanks to him anyways.

the more you can see right through his liberal label.

Like always, Bush is lying. For months now he's been calling Kerry the Mass. Liberal, and Kerry's doing his darndest to put the horrible lie back in the closet where it's been resting since he came home from Vietnam and testified before Congress. The closer the election creeps, the more Kerry's thin liberal coat is sloughing away to reveal the snake of a different color (red?) hiding beneath. He'll increase Defense (read: WAR) spending. He won't back down on the hunt for terrorists (read: continue to check the stats of your civil liberites on a daily basis). "Special Units" (read: assassins/interogators/counterintelligence) expenditures will skyrocket. Who's the liberal now Bush?

It just makes me wonder what other liberal values we'll have to sacrifice in order to capture that suprememe slice of the electorate, these so-called moderates. What the fuck are moderates? People who have no opinions? People who don't like to make a distinction between right and wrong? Fence-sitters afraid of any decisions that might take a bit of comfort/convenience from their personal lives? Fine, I accept the fact that they exist but why the hell do I want to join their party? Anything but Bush will only get you so far. And if you creep closer and closer to the enemy, you may take a couple of his supporters away, but you're also going to alienate many people who still believe that it's not the man, but the values behind the man that we're voting for. If, in his rush to secure these moderate votes, Kerry continues to shed his more liberal values, he's going to lose a lot more than his credibility with me and the other weirdo-commies (or whatever we're labelled by the mainstream) on this site. He just might lose an election.