For those who are interested in how well Nepal is actually doing on its commitment to social inclusion, diversity and participation, I have some data on Dalits (formerly 'untouchables') in the CA, according to Durga Sob of FEDO -- the Feminist Dalit Organization.
Durgaji offered the following information:
49 Dalits are represented in the new 2008 Constituent Assembly
27 Men
22 Women
21 CPN/M (7 elected; 14 nominated)
10 Congress (all nominated)
10 UML (all nominated)
2 MJF (both nominated)
6 Other parties (this needs to be double-checked)
To put some of this in perspective, it's worth noting that the Congress nominated only one Dalit to run in the nation's 240 constituencies while the UML nominated four Dalits; none of these won. Surprisingly, seven Dalits won direct elections under the CPN/M. (I need to find out how many ran under the CPN/M.)
In all of the past elections in Nepal, I believe that no more than one Dalit ever won a constituency. Therefore, the seven Maoist Dalit MPs elected in 2008 is a remarkable achievement -- although, as other Dalits point out, the numbers are good but the quality (i.e. commitment to caste issues as opposed to ideological ones) remains uncertain.
Unfortunately, there are no Gaine, Badi, Dom or Chamar yet elected or appointed to the CA. Bandhs have been called this past week in Siraha and Saptari protesting the lack of representation by the Dalit Dom and Chamar communities. As some of you may know, the Dom and Chamar are among the poorest and most disadvantaged of the tarai Dalits in the country.
Of the 26 CA seats still to be nominated, it is unlikely that any more Dalits will be appointed. However, there may have been an agreement to nominate eight more indigenous communities (4 CPN/M; 2 Congress; 2 UML). Although until these lists are made public, anything can happen in the background to change earlier agreements.
As many of you know, the Government of Nepal (GON) demographic survey shows approx. 13% of Nepal are Dalits, while the Dalits claim closer to 20% of the population. The Dalits say that the GON systematically excludes them from the census due to the fact that the individuals interviewing for the census ignore Dalit homes and communities while other Dalits have taken on Brahmin names ('tars') and therefore misrepresent themselves to avoid the painful reality of traditional caste discrimination in their lives.
In addition, Article 21 of the 2007 Interim Constitution (IC) specifically commits the 'New Nepal' to Social Justice and more inclusive representation. The IC clearly directs the GON to ensure the full proportional representation of the disadvantaged communities of Nepal, especially the Dalits and indigenous communities.
However, in the current CA that is tasked to write the new constitution for Nepal, Dalits will only have 8% of the elected and nominated seats. Although there numbers are significantly higher than in the past, it is also signficantly below even the GON census of their proportion of Nepal's population.
Yet, sans doubt, the change that we are witnessing is historic and beyond the aspirations that many of us could have imagined even a couple of years ago.
Let's hope that the loss and blood of the past ten years war will find some moral restitution in the social, political and cultural liberation of those communities, especially the Dalits and indigenous, who have been the most repressed and discriminated under the Bahun-Thakuri rule of the past centuries.
As the Count of Monte Cristo said, we will have to 'Wait and hope...'
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Sweep of History's Broom
Friends,
In a nutshell, we're watching 250 years of history compressed into the last 25 years in Nepal. This week the royals are out and unlikely to return. Alas, poor Birendra... his death seven years unknowingly signalled the end of his family's long reign and the dissolution of a monarchy in the last Hindu nation on Earth.
Soon, the Maoists will likely form a government, hopefully with the Congress, UML and newly founded MJF (Madeshi party) as its partners.
Overall, there's a sense of calm satisfaction in the country w/ no less a trace of uncertainty about the future. So far, remarkably, the transition has been pretty peaceful (as I was bicycling among 5,000 young marching Maoists on Putali Sadak yesterday...). But, as they say, 'the future is unkown.'
I remain, as A. J. Heschel used to say, 'an optimist against my better judgement', given the disappointments in the past.
Still, no one can deny that the country's doors have been flung open and today there is a greater awareness and eagerness on the part of many of the formerly under-represented components of Nepali society to participate in the re-creation of the modern state of Nepal.
The 601 member Constituent Assembly does have many of the same incapable and corrupt high caste party leaders from the past, but even more new faces, young faces, tribal & Dalit faces, plus one third women's faces who are eager to participate and grow along with the late nascent start of a new era in Nepal.
Time will slow down again, sans doubt. Even slip backward, as much does on these Himalayan slopes, and yet, and yet, the world below our feet has shifted. Partially for better, partially ineluctably.
As the world spins, we have to keep our balance and adjust to the remarkable changes that history sweeps along our way.
In a nutshell, we're watching 250 years of history compressed into the last 25 years in Nepal. This week the royals are out and unlikely to return. Alas, poor Birendra... his death seven years unknowingly signalled the end of his family's long reign and the dissolution of a monarchy in the last Hindu nation on Earth.
Soon, the Maoists will likely form a government, hopefully with the Congress, UML and newly founded MJF (Madeshi party) as its partners.
Overall, there's a sense of calm satisfaction in the country w/ no less a trace of uncertainty about the future. So far, remarkably, the transition has been pretty peaceful (as I was bicycling among 5,000 young marching Maoists on Putali Sadak yesterday...). But, as they say, 'the future is unkown.'
I remain, as A. J. Heschel used to say, 'an optimist against my better judgement', given the disappointments in the past.
Still, no one can deny that the country's doors have been flung open and today there is a greater awareness and eagerness on the part of many of the formerly under-represented components of Nepali society to participate in the re-creation of the modern state of Nepal.
The 601 member Constituent Assembly does have many of the same incapable and corrupt high caste party leaders from the past, but even more new faces, young faces, tribal & Dalit faces, plus one third women's faces who are eager to participate and grow along with the late nascent start of a new era in Nepal.
Time will slow down again, sans doubt. Even slip backward, as much does on these Himalayan slopes, and yet, and yet, the world below our feet has shifted. Partially for better, partially ineluctably.
As the world spins, we have to keep our balance and adjust to the remarkable changes that history sweeps along our way.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Friends of Yer Son's, Yiddish Kulture and an Open Convertible along the Connecticut River in Springtime
[in response to ez's query about going out to dinner w/ joshua's friends...]
yes, well, i guess taking josh's friends out to dinner cud be awkward -- but it was really fun, in an awkward way, maybe...
josh was proud, methinks, to have his dad with him (and picking up the bill...) while mo, sebastian & sergio were thrilled to get a night out in northampton eating home-style mexican food and wolfing big, fat ice creams while strolling the streets of a real college town.
so, man, it was kinda cool to be footloose and fancy free in the evening, under the berkshire moon, away from the glaze of the student leaders and teachers w/ yer friend's long-haired, greying dad doing the honors, driving the car and the like.
'freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...' as janis & kris sang...
i actually did enjoy hanging with the boyz just b/c it's nice for us as parents -- hard as it may be for you to believe -- to hang w/ you guys and even your wild and wooly friends. go figure!
i mean we imagined you, birthed you, raised you, paid the bills, saw you laugh & cry, weep and worry, wonder and wikipedia over the many precious years. all good stuff. very good stuff, in truth. and now simply being together, near you, makes us feel happy and proud.
strange, of course, in the way of we fragile and fond human beings, but it's just true and deep and good. that's all.
of course, the mex food was yummy and the hot fudge sundae a treat, even for me.
plus, it's always fun to see your and josh's friends. i'd heard about sergio and sebastian and had had a dinner w/ mohammed last october over here, so it was good to get more of a sense of who they are in person and together w/ joshau. imagine if mom and i had heard narayan, sudip, silash or suraj's names w/o ever meeting them. or you never meeting scott or dave or davis or matthew. the face & soul fill in the empty box and we all feel more alive and real and good (again...good...).
'we are family! just my brothers and sisters and me!' as some soul collection sang a few decades back...
oh, yes, yesterday, sunday, after dropping joshu back at nmh for his day-long student leader training, i went down to hampshire college to see their well-known yiddish literature museum & collection. definitely a remarkable, awe-inspring feat to transfer a thousand years of european jewish kulture from the pale settlement to the woods of amherst, massahusetts for safe-keeping and memory. naturally, too, it touches the soul to see the ashkenazi kulture that was nearly exterminated in the middle of the 20th c. revived in spirit if not reality for future generations to admire and ponder.
no doubt, we jews are a 'people of the book'. for us, writing, literature, stories, parables, drama, spiritual events, messiahs, prophets, tzaddhiks and the search for g-d continue to define our existence, our identity and our longing.
then, for the first time in my world, i drove a convertible w/ the top down on a sunny, blustery, new england spring day along the connecticut river valley. the leaves are just starting to come out here, so they're tiny, blurts of color on the dark tree branches against a metallic grey-blue sky. beautiful in a rough, temperate way.
i look forward to doing the drive w/ you & joshu with mom and ms. leah next fall when we're all together here on the american side of the great and glorious global pond...
hey, now it's monday and as long as i catch my 7 am flight tomorrow from logan to jfk, i'll be home by the kindness of eithad airlines at 4 pm something on wednesday. amazing, no!!!
i'm ready to step back into real time reel life on the other side after this delightful and deeply meaningful time w/ mom and dad, joshu & friends, claudia, bruce & buff, plus friends, over here in america. we are fortunate to have such lives. love, work, family, friends, landscapes, museums, nature, life and all of its manifold manifestations.
soon, i'll see you at home on wednesday late afternoon when i stroll the garden to take the measure of the newest bamboo shoots to see how they've grown in the two weeks i've been away...
ok, gotta edit a paper for joshua, then take your computer to the apple store in an hour, get some clothes washed and go through the books on our family history that bruce has today. no rest for the wicked, as you know.
'while time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future...' sang the steve miller band...
yes, well, i guess taking josh's friends out to dinner cud be awkward -- but it was really fun, in an awkward way, maybe...
josh was proud, methinks, to have his dad with him (and picking up the bill...) while mo, sebastian & sergio were thrilled to get a night out in northampton eating home-style mexican food and wolfing big, fat ice creams while strolling the streets of a real college town.
so, man, it was kinda cool to be footloose and fancy free in the evening, under the berkshire moon, away from the glaze of the student leaders and teachers w/ yer friend's long-haired, greying dad doing the honors, driving the car and the like.
'freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...' as janis & kris sang...
i actually did enjoy hanging with the boyz just b/c it's nice for us as parents -- hard as it may be for you to believe -- to hang w/ you guys and even your wild and wooly friends. go figure!
i mean we imagined you, birthed you, raised you, paid the bills, saw you laugh & cry, weep and worry, wonder and wikipedia over the many precious years. all good stuff. very good stuff, in truth. and now simply being together, near you, makes us feel happy and proud.
strange, of course, in the way of we fragile and fond human beings, but it's just true and deep and good. that's all.
of course, the mex food was yummy and the hot fudge sundae a treat, even for me.
plus, it's always fun to see your and josh's friends. i'd heard about sergio and sebastian and had had a dinner w/ mohammed last october over here, so it was good to get more of a sense of who they are in person and together w/ joshau. imagine if mom and i had heard narayan, sudip, silash or suraj's names w/o ever meeting them. or you never meeting scott or dave or davis or matthew. the face & soul fill in the empty box and we all feel more alive and real and good (again...good...).
'we are family! just my brothers and sisters and me!' as some soul collection sang a few decades back...
oh, yes, yesterday, sunday, after dropping joshu back at nmh for his day-long student leader training, i went down to hampshire college to see their well-known yiddish literature museum & collection. definitely a remarkable, awe-inspring feat to transfer a thousand years of european jewish kulture from the pale settlement to the woods of amherst, massahusetts for safe-keeping and memory. naturally, too, it touches the soul to see the ashkenazi kulture that was nearly exterminated in the middle of the 20th c. revived in spirit if not reality for future generations to admire and ponder.
no doubt, we jews are a 'people of the book'. for us, writing, literature, stories, parables, drama, spiritual events, messiahs, prophets, tzaddhiks and the search for g-d continue to define our existence, our identity and our longing.
then, for the first time in my world, i drove a convertible w/ the top down on a sunny, blustery, new england spring day along the connecticut river valley. the leaves are just starting to come out here, so they're tiny, blurts of color on the dark tree branches against a metallic grey-blue sky. beautiful in a rough, temperate way.
i look forward to doing the drive w/ you & joshu with mom and ms. leah next fall when we're all together here on the american side of the great and glorious global pond...
hey, now it's monday and as long as i catch my 7 am flight tomorrow from logan to jfk, i'll be home by the kindness of eithad airlines at 4 pm something on wednesday. amazing, no!!!
i'm ready to step back into real time reel life on the other side after this delightful and deeply meaningful time w/ mom and dad, joshu & friends, claudia, bruce & buff, plus friends, over here in america. we are fortunate to have such lives. love, work, family, friends, landscapes, museums, nature, life and all of its manifold manifestations.
soon, i'll see you at home on wednesday late afternoon when i stroll the garden to take the measure of the newest bamboo shoots to see how they've grown in the two weeks i've been away...
ok, gotta edit a paper for joshua, then take your computer to the apple store in an hour, get some clothes washed and go through the books on our family history that bruce has today. no rest for the wicked, as you know.
'while time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future...' sang the steve miller band...
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Going to Class w/ Joshua at NMH (and beyond...)
i think it must be about 10 or 11 pm now in k'du.
i'm in the nmh library just going through emails and newspapers. josh is in the gym w/ his sat test, so i've been sending him calming thoughts since the morning. i'll meet him about 1 pm and we'll drive together to choate for his volleyball game at 4 pm, then up to bruce's for dinner w/ bruce & buff, i think, about 8 pm or so. then, i need to get josh back here by 10 am tomorrow (sunday) as he's got a full day student leadership training. i don't know if i'll stay here or wander back to boston...
of course, it's been great to be w/ josh here, even if it's only been a day. we met yesterday morning, after another early 5:15 am wake-up to drive to western mass from boston by 8 am.
josh & i had b'fast together, then went to his anthropology, math & american literature classes. unfortunately, the anthro class didn't happen as the kids were working on an important paper. math was over my head. while the lit, of course, hemingway, fitzgerald and faulkner was rich in ideas, nuances and the idea of the disintegration of love. heady stuff for 17 year olds (and a 54 year old...). josh was really eager and active in both the math & lit classes. he was mostly on target in the math and full of stimulating ideas in the lit class.
even though it's been quite a hurdle coming to america on his own at a young age, i feel he enjoys the stimuli of this place, the challenges and his achievements. of course, at times, it's boring w/o an urban environment nearby, and his sense of isolation away from his beloved k'du crowd. but, as we know, some of this is normal and wud happen anywhere. after all, we all love to kvetch about our lives, especially as a teenager, although adults have refined skills in this way, as well...
friday afternoon josh also went to a college fair at deerfield in the afternoon yesterday while i read 'treasure island' (i picked it up from brian's room at bruce's and immediately fell into a boyhood story i'd never read...) in the cavernous dining hall (nibbling on tunafish and potato chips).
i then went to have a long chat w/ lea emery, the head of financial aid, who we met when they whole family came together for the first time to visit nmh last summer. lea invited me to stay at her home, as the school's guesthouse was full of trustees. ('i never do this, but we feel like friends...').
last evening, i took josh, mohammed, sergio (brazil) and sebastain (the american from barcelona) to northhampton where we found a very folksy, family-run mexican restaurant for dinner and a cold-stone-like ice cream parlor (that mohammed knew about) for dessert. as you can imagine, it was totally fun in a parental way to hang w/ the 'boys in the 'hood', esps. such an int'l collection of joshua's buddies. they're really good, smart and fun kids!
mo was especially thrilled saying, 'this has made my day!'. to which i responded, 'only your day? how about the week or month?' he was telling the others, 'we should do this more often. i miss you guys!' i guess being in different dorms and not playing football together, they don't see was much of each other as regularly.
sergio, gentle, funny, w/ dark, curly hair and somewhat broken english is off to clark university in worchester, mass this fall. while sebastian grew up with american parents living in barcelona since a child. he's trilingual, it seems, english, spanish and french and feels more spanish than american. his father has written a book on pilgrimmages around the world that i ordered on amazon and writes regularly for architecural digest. a very decent, handsome, thoughtful fellow and friend.
josh & i also met w/ j's college counselor (and football coach), jim burstin. they've made a good list of colleges/universities, most of which are challenging, to say the least, to get into. (as most of the top schools are these days.) any of them would be great places, of course, to study, create life-long friends and gain insights into the larger world around him. josh wants to visit a few of these when he's in nyc before coming home, then we'll see about seeing some others in the summer or fall.
naturally, j feels under a bit of pressure, naturally, w/ the sat test today, ap test next week, the last few weeks of his 11th grade term (where the grades mean alot for college admission...) and thinking about the right college for him -- but josh seems relaively sanguine and wise about it all, at least on the outside. it's clear how much he's grown up and how maturely he views the reality of the world around him. i can feel how much this immense journey to the states has achieved w/in him.
also, many lovely and insightful compliments from sheila, lea and the nmh teachers on josh. they seem to really love and respect this guy of ours. so kudos all around to the many limbs on the leslie-chand family tree and everyone, esp. siblings ezi and leah, and josh's close kathmandu friends, for their support to joshua along the way.
i feel close to your/our world over there, even as i greatly enjoy the connections, freshness and inspiration of these american shores. i feel fortunate to be able to bounce b/n the two, now w/o (for now...) having to mortgage myself to redundant office or official meetings and games.
i feel liberated in some ways, free to explore my own life and interests. there's so much in life to learn and observe...
i'm in the nmh library just going through emails and newspapers. josh is in the gym w/ his sat test, so i've been sending him calming thoughts since the morning. i'll meet him about 1 pm and we'll drive together to choate for his volleyball game at 4 pm, then up to bruce's for dinner w/ bruce & buff, i think, about 8 pm or so. then, i need to get josh back here by 10 am tomorrow (sunday) as he's got a full day student leadership training. i don't know if i'll stay here or wander back to boston...
of course, it's been great to be w/ josh here, even if it's only been a day. we met yesterday morning, after another early 5:15 am wake-up to drive to western mass from boston by 8 am.
josh & i had b'fast together, then went to his anthropology, math & american literature classes. unfortunately, the anthro class didn't happen as the kids were working on an important paper. math was over my head. while the lit, of course, hemingway, fitzgerald and faulkner was rich in ideas, nuances and the idea of the disintegration of love. heady stuff for 17 year olds (and a 54 year old...). josh was really eager and active in both the math & lit classes. he was mostly on target in the math and full of stimulating ideas in the lit class.
even though it's been quite a hurdle coming to america on his own at a young age, i feel he enjoys the stimuli of this place, the challenges and his achievements. of course, at times, it's boring w/o an urban environment nearby, and his sense of isolation away from his beloved k'du crowd. but, as we know, some of this is normal and wud happen anywhere. after all, we all love to kvetch about our lives, especially as a teenager, although adults have refined skills in this way, as well...
friday afternoon josh also went to a college fair at deerfield in the afternoon yesterday while i read 'treasure island' (i picked it up from brian's room at bruce's and immediately fell into a boyhood story i'd never read...) in the cavernous dining hall (nibbling on tunafish and potato chips).
i then went to have a long chat w/ lea emery, the head of financial aid, who we met when they whole family came together for the first time to visit nmh last summer. lea invited me to stay at her home, as the school's guesthouse was full of trustees. ('i never do this, but we feel like friends...').
last evening, i took josh, mohammed, sergio (brazil) and sebastain (the american from barcelona) to northhampton where we found a very folksy, family-run mexican restaurant for dinner and a cold-stone-like ice cream parlor (that mohammed knew about) for dessert. as you can imagine, it was totally fun in a parental way to hang w/ the 'boys in the 'hood', esps. such an int'l collection of joshua's buddies. they're really good, smart and fun kids!
mo was especially thrilled saying, 'this has made my day!'. to which i responded, 'only your day? how about the week or month?' he was telling the others, 'we should do this more often. i miss you guys!' i guess being in different dorms and not playing football together, they don't see was much of each other as regularly.
sergio, gentle, funny, w/ dark, curly hair and somewhat broken english is off to clark university in worchester, mass this fall. while sebastian grew up with american parents living in barcelona since a child. he's trilingual, it seems, english, spanish and french and feels more spanish than american. his father has written a book on pilgrimmages around the world that i ordered on amazon and writes regularly for architecural digest. a very decent, handsome, thoughtful fellow and friend.
josh & i also met w/ j's college counselor (and football coach), jim burstin. they've made a good list of colleges/universities, most of which are challenging, to say the least, to get into. (as most of the top schools are these days.) any of them would be great places, of course, to study, create life-long friends and gain insights into the larger world around him. josh wants to visit a few of these when he's in nyc before coming home, then we'll see about seeing some others in the summer or fall.
naturally, j feels under a bit of pressure, naturally, w/ the sat test today, ap test next week, the last few weeks of his 11th grade term (where the grades mean alot for college admission...) and thinking about the right college for him -- but josh seems relaively sanguine and wise about it all, at least on the outside. it's clear how much he's grown up and how maturely he views the reality of the world around him. i can feel how much this immense journey to the states has achieved w/in him.
also, many lovely and insightful compliments from sheila, lea and the nmh teachers on josh. they seem to really love and respect this guy of ours. so kudos all around to the many limbs on the leslie-chand family tree and everyone, esp. siblings ezi and leah, and josh's close kathmandu friends, for their support to joshua along the way.
i feel close to your/our world over there, even as i greatly enjoy the connections, freshness and inspiration of these american shores. i feel fortunate to be able to bounce b/n the two, now w/o (for now...) having to mortgage myself to redundant office or official meetings and games.
i feel liberated in some ways, free to explore my own life and interests. there's so much in life to learn and observe...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
America of My Past and Present...
Just a quick note before I go to sleep. I'm in Elisabeth's room at Bruce & Buff's sanctuary home in Newton, Massacusetts.
Mom drove me to the airport yesterday as Dad had a bridge appointment w/ friends. I flew up by JetBlue non-stop from West Palm Beach. Amazingly, they have DirectTV on the plane on individualized tv screens on the seat in front of you. Vat a world. I watched the Champions League semi-final in real time b/n Liverpool and Chelski! Just as I turned it on, Fernando Torres scored a wicked goad fed by Ben-Ayun, the lone Israeli on the Reds team. Alas, they lost in extra time, but a brilliant game by both sides. Then, I settled in to watch the last half of that lovely documentary on John Lennon, "Imagine", which Nick showed us years ago when we gathered w/ a small group to watch movies in the living room w/ the sound through the Bose. It ended w/ John's life, just as we landed in Logan...
Then, I rented a convertible from Dollar and drove by the Mass Pike to Bruce's with the help of one of these new-fangled computer screens w/ maps on the dashboard. It appears that technology is taking over the reigns, so better lay back and enjoy the ride...
Just after I arrived, Bruce left by overnight Amtrak train to DC for some orthopod meetings. Not the most comfortable way to go, but he was in some meetings about a new orthopedic surgery center that may cost $4-5 million, so he couldn't take the last flight. He seems quite excited by this new private venture as his practice seems to grow by leaps and bounds!
Before going he showed me some old photo books of the Rose-Fisher-Lipschitz/Leslie
clans w/ tons of Rose & Ben-Henry, Mom and Roger. Plus amazing ones of Dad's
grandfather Isadore and grandmother Eva before, during and after their 50th wedding
anniversary. (50th!!!!! Amazing, no?) Watching them age through the photos over
decades, while knowing that they are already gone to the heavens a few decades back, was amazing. After hearing the childhood stories from M&D last week in Florida, just peering into the faces of these long-dead ancestors, great grandparents, all of them Russian or Poland-born celebrating their peaceful lives in America left me with dreams and thoughts a Chagall or Ben Shahn lithograph would have inspired...
Plus, there were two separate leather-bound books of condolences after the death of B-H and Max in '62 and '65 with lovely hand-written letters et al.
Naturally, I took some notes for the continuing sages of PRL and SDL Back in Time that I have been writing and editing since arriving in the States. There's nothing like a family chronicle as it feels so personal, alive and still beating...
Today I did a bit more on the books above, as well as a few detailed footnotes gleamed from Wikipedia on places and aspects of Jewish and early 20th C American life our own children may not know as well as we do. Then I headed by the $2 T train into Boston to go to the Fine Arts Museum where they have a special exhibit of El Greco and Velaquez from the 17th C. Spain.
What a great show, as you can imagine! Such transcendent, hypnotic visuals and portraits of suffering/reflective Christ, plus the holy apostles on fire w/ their Good News, and guest appearances by Mother Mary (her misunderstood immacuate conception) and St. Francis (with his single-pointed vow of poverty). Brilliant!
I took the little audio program, which was fun to hear stories of the paintings and guides to look more deeply into special paintings.
Then, I was offt to meet Jerry and Monique at the Harvard Coop to have a bowl of new england clam chowder (me) and teas (JS & MS). Being Cambridge, there were two Nepali women behind the counter, a Gurungni and Tamangni, who'd been in the US for ten years already. It was fun chatting w/ them in Nepal, of course, with the other folks looking on w/ surprise. Except, the Indian graduate student who was enjoying, then said, "I'm speak Malayalym -- but understand some Hindi." He was delighted to see me speak Nepali while Monique explained that she preferred Bengali, since she previously lived in Bangladesh. Culture clashes and connection in the most gentle and enjoyable of ways...
It was great, bien sur, to see J&S, again. They are so totally engaged in their growing work, proud of what they have achieved, yet clear that another two years at this remarkable pace, would be enough, thank-you.
Monique also liked my beard, so extra points for her, too! ;-)
Then, alas, i cudn't see Samantha Powers (Obama's foreign policy advisor who resigned two months ago b/c she called Hillary 'a monster' in a tv interview)
present her new book in the Harvard Coop about Sergio Viera de Mello (the head of the UN in Iraq who was killed in the bombing of the UN in Baghdad).
But when I walked outside, in the heart of Harvard Square, there 50 Tibetans protesting the Chinese crackdown on Tibet. There was a mini-UN of only Tibetan
flags in a full circle on the side of the square. Go Tibet!!!!!
I was going to meet Jeff Janer and Dave Danzig, two friends from high school who i saw when i was here in October. Jeff is a venture capitalist, while Zig is a psychologist working with individual patients. I know Dave Ellenberg b/c he met Jeff when they went to Brown together while Scott and I were at Amherst. We united over games of frisbee and frisbee golf on each other's campuses. (Very high level academic intellectual endeavor, as you can see...)
We had dinner at an Irish pub with martinis and a pastrami sandwich. What a combination! But it was great to see them both and catch up on each other's
stories, work, insights and joys. Good gestalt and sctuff for friends to do -- especially friends who have seen each other more in the last six months than the previous twenty years...
Now home on Liz' Imac computer to say hello and good-night.
Such are these impressions of America, reuniting w/ my own past while stepping into time present. Both, I may say, are very good, indeed...
Far from the maddening crowd nearby...
Mom drove me to the airport yesterday as Dad had a bridge appointment w/ friends. I flew up by JetBlue non-stop from West Palm Beach. Amazingly, they have DirectTV on the plane on individualized tv screens on the seat in front of you. Vat a world. I watched the Champions League semi-final in real time b/n Liverpool and Chelski! Just as I turned it on, Fernando Torres scored a wicked goad fed by Ben-Ayun, the lone Israeli on the Reds team. Alas, they lost in extra time, but a brilliant game by both sides. Then, I settled in to watch the last half of that lovely documentary on John Lennon, "Imagine", which Nick showed us years ago when we gathered w/ a small group to watch movies in the living room w/ the sound through the Bose. It ended w/ John's life, just as we landed in Logan...
Then, I rented a convertible from Dollar and drove by the Mass Pike to Bruce's with the help of one of these new-fangled computer screens w/ maps on the dashboard. It appears that technology is taking over the reigns, so better lay back and enjoy the ride...
Just after I arrived, Bruce left by overnight Amtrak train to DC for some orthopod meetings. Not the most comfortable way to go, but he was in some meetings about a new orthopedic surgery center that may cost $4-5 million, so he couldn't take the last flight. He seems quite excited by this new private venture as his practice seems to grow by leaps and bounds!
Before going he showed me some old photo books of the Rose-Fisher-Lipschitz/Leslie
clans w/ tons of Rose & Ben-Henry, Mom and Roger. Plus amazing ones of Dad's
grandfather Isadore and grandmother Eva before, during and after their 50th wedding
anniversary. (50th!!!!! Amazing, no?) Watching them age through the photos over
decades, while knowing that they are already gone to the heavens a few decades back, was amazing. After hearing the childhood stories from M&D last week in Florida, just peering into the faces of these long-dead ancestors, great grandparents, all of them Russian or Poland-born celebrating their peaceful lives in America left me with dreams and thoughts a Chagall or Ben Shahn lithograph would have inspired...
Plus, there were two separate leather-bound books of condolences after the death of B-H and Max in '62 and '65 with lovely hand-written letters et al.
Naturally, I took some notes for the continuing sages of PRL and SDL Back in Time that I have been writing and editing since arriving in the States. There's nothing like a family chronicle as it feels so personal, alive and still beating...
Today I did a bit more on the books above, as well as a few detailed footnotes gleamed from Wikipedia on places and aspects of Jewish and early 20th C American life our own children may not know as well as we do. Then I headed by the $2 T train into Boston to go to the Fine Arts Museum where they have a special exhibit of El Greco and Velaquez from the 17th C. Spain.
What a great show, as you can imagine! Such transcendent, hypnotic visuals and portraits of suffering/reflective Christ, plus the holy apostles on fire w/ their Good News, and guest appearances by Mother Mary (her misunderstood immacuate conception) and St. Francis (with his single-pointed vow of poverty). Brilliant!
I took the little audio program, which was fun to hear stories of the paintings and guides to look more deeply into special paintings.
Then, I was offt to meet Jerry and Monique at the Harvard Coop to have a bowl of new england clam chowder (me) and teas (JS & MS). Being Cambridge, there were two Nepali women behind the counter, a Gurungni and Tamangni, who'd been in the US for ten years already. It was fun chatting w/ them in Nepal, of course, with the other folks looking on w/ surprise. Except, the Indian graduate student who was enjoying, then said, "I'm speak Malayalym -- but understand some Hindi." He was delighted to see me speak Nepali while Monique explained that she preferred Bengali, since she previously lived in Bangladesh. Culture clashes and connection in the most gentle and enjoyable of ways...
It was great, bien sur, to see J&S, again. They are so totally engaged in their growing work, proud of what they have achieved, yet clear that another two years at this remarkable pace, would be enough, thank-you.
Monique also liked my beard, so extra points for her, too! ;-)
Then, alas, i cudn't see Samantha Powers (Obama's foreign policy advisor who resigned two months ago b/c she called Hillary 'a monster' in a tv interview)
present her new book in the Harvard Coop about Sergio Viera de Mello (the head of the UN in Iraq who was killed in the bombing of the UN in Baghdad).
But when I walked outside, in the heart of Harvard Square, there 50 Tibetans protesting the Chinese crackdown on Tibet. There was a mini-UN of only Tibetan
flags in a full circle on the side of the square. Go Tibet!!!!!
I was going to meet Jeff Janer and Dave Danzig, two friends from high school who i saw when i was here in October. Jeff is a venture capitalist, while Zig is a psychologist working with individual patients. I know Dave Ellenberg b/c he met Jeff when they went to Brown together while Scott and I were at Amherst. We united over games of frisbee and frisbee golf on each other's campuses. (Very high level academic intellectual endeavor, as you can see...)
We had dinner at an Irish pub with martinis and a pastrami sandwich. What a combination! But it was great to see them both and catch up on each other's
stories, work, insights and joys. Good gestalt and sctuff for friends to do -- especially friends who have seen each other more in the last six months than the previous twenty years...
Now home on Liz' Imac computer to say hello and good-night.
Such are these impressions of America, reuniting w/ my own past while stepping into time present. Both, I may say, are very good, indeed...
Far from the maddening crowd nearby...
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