Sorry, wrong link to multiply

Should have been. mcathens.multiply.com

Ok, I need email addresses so that I can you invites and then you can see pictures and that sort of thing.

Ok, that was too hasty

I am going to use the two sites together. This one will be four blogging in the traditional sense--that is, here is where I will type my thoughts and stories. At the mulitply site, I will show pictures and other media.

Things are very busy again. I have many tests to grade and grades to report and conferences are upcoming and, of course, the christmas concert at the end of next week. There will not likely be many posts for a while. Soon the term will end and I will be on vacation and then in Singapore where internet access is limited and censored. I will try to write whenever I can. Please send me email addresses so that I can invite you into to the multiply site.

This blog has moved to multiply

www.mcathens.multiply.com

possible move to multiply

I wanted to blog on Saturday but as has happened a lot recently, when I went to log the page froze. This has been happening ever since blogger switched me to beta blogger and I'm thinking that a move to Multiply may well be in order. If that happens, I will post you the directions.

J. went to Singapore to see a gamelan concert. The gamelan is a traditional javanese instrument. In less than two weeks we are going to Yogyakarta and will be able to hear gamelan there, I suppose. She also needed to see her doctor as she had a very bad cough and has a history of pneumonia. She's okay though, and returning tonight.

Today is the begining of exam week. They assign each of us to proctor a couple of exams throughout the day--though they call this process invigilation. So I will be invigilating twice today. The exams last august--which came from Singapore and were taken by only a small percentage of students, also had invigilators and that is where I first heard the word. J. said back then that, "I'll be in school all day. I'm the invigilator." And I thought, "if you don't mind saying so yourself." It sounds like a very important position, doesn't it?

I don't know what I'm supposed to do when I'm not invigilating. I'm told that I should be marking, but my exams (the ones I've written and must mark) will not be taken until later in the week so I'm at a loss as to what to do with the extra time. Later in the week, I will have no extra time because marking essay exams takes a sight longer than marking multiple choice questions.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. J. thinks that she and I should host a belated Thanksgiving/Housewarming party in her new house--we'd call it a "housegiving party", maybe. Of course,with no oven there will be no turkey--and am not sure we could find a turkey if we wanted to. So, it will be chicken, and then god knows what else.

picking up on the last thread

I think that it is important to remember, and well overlooked in public discourse over the past 5 plus years, that the Bush administration came into office ready to be very tough with China. The "war on terror" has distracted all of us, but a few months ago Rumsfeld was complaining about China's military build-up (still a fraction of the US defense budget), and then Rice echoed that sentiment a few days ago. China is happy to buy oil from African countries with no regard for human rights--that is,in fact, their official policy. They do not involve themselves in the 'domestic' issues of other nations when such issues would be inconvenient to China's energy interests. Russia is moving in the same direction, and both are following the US model of securing energy interests with military force. I think the recent deal the US made with India needs to be looked at in this light as well. We are hitching our star to the Indian rocket and hoping that they will develop faster and more powerfully than China. At any rate, we are looking for an ally against China.

As for the 'war on terror', India is a country with a government not much loved by Muslims, so the deal does a lot more to anger the 'muslim world' than a half-day stop in Indonesia for a picture opportunity with Muslim school children. They are also a country which proceeded with developing nuclear weapons in violation of International Law--the very same crime Iran is accused of committing. When the US gives India nuclear technology after such a violaton, it is the US who loses credibility and makes their reference to law in regard to Iran either very funny, or infuriating.

Oil is scarce and cannot last forever. The world's major economies have done not a thing to lessen their dependence upon it. The likelihood of a real world war with armies and bombs and all of that is a very real possibility. None of this is to mention global climate change. New energy sources should be the political demand of every citizen in every democracy--particularly in the US. Tomorrow I will write about nicer things.

5 comments, that's a lot of comments--for this blog

Thanks for sending along the Olberman transcript, I read it just now. I should not have used the word "journalism" as that is sort of all encompassing and stuck to the word "reporting." Traditionally, a reporter is supposed to be egoless and emotionless and interested only the facts of the case--all this in the exhaustive effort for objectivity. That's not a part of television reporting anymore as the reporters are presented as if they are, and should be, celebrated personalities. CNN advertises their reporters, I'm sure this happens elsewhere. That is one reason why I stated that no one "of substance" (I should have said no one who takes reporting and the ethics of news journalism seriously) would really want to work in television. I was not talking about commentary programs like Olberman's or the many others that exist. Secondly, a news reporter on television has but a slim chance of covering any story with depth. Network news broadcasts are about 19 minutes in length (after commercials) and only a small fraction of that time is dedicated to a single story. Studies have shown that networks focus less on "hard news" now than they did twenty years ago, and have less overall time in their broadcast. This is all corelative to the purchase of news outlets and networks by a few huge corporations and has had an impact of journalism in every medium-not only television.

Anyone who saw the Erroll Morris documentary "The Fog of War" heard a recording of then Defense Secretary Robert McNamara telling the President that there was no military solution to the Vietnam problem, and the President responding that he did not want to go down in history as "the first president to lose a war." That was in 1965, before troop levels in Vietnam escalated to over 100,000 and then eventually to 500,000. At the same time these two men were telling Americans of the progress being made in that conflict.

The real question in both cases is, what was success supposed to look like? There was an excellent editorial in the Jakarta Post which I will try to find and scan and post (though that sounds like a lot of work and I already doubt my ability to deliver) about energy strategies and energy security. The US has a strategy of energy security which means that need to maintain "stability" in regions vital to US energy interests. If you were to look at a map of where the US has positioned its armed forces around the world, where its permanent bases are, and where it would like more permanent bases, you would see that they are where they are in order to be able to use force should US energy security become threatened.

What the US wanted in Iraq was a pro-US government that would ensure oil security. There may well have been some, there were obviously some (neo-cons), who really believed that the US could transform the region into a model democracy but even they had to envision a pro-US quasi democracy, and not a pro Iran quasi democracy. The situation we are in now is such that even a pro Iran democracy would be preferable to the current chaos. In fact, the war has been destablizing to the region and has actually done damage to US energy security, and that is why the I think we will see, if we are not already seeing it, the American media retreat from the drumbeating and "boots on the ground" talk of three years ago. I am a bit all over the place, but what I mean to say is this: When the government wants us to go to war we need to recognize that it is always about issues of economy and energy. If we think that it is right to force our will upon other nations so that we can continue our standard of living at a level far superior to 90 percent of the world, then we should support the war. If we think that it is wrong, then we need to push for a new direction in our foreign policy and more sustainability in our energy policy. It is well know that the US consumes more oil than any other nation in the world, but India and China are on the rise, and the US Secretary of State recently criticized China's increased military expenditure as "outsized for the nation's role in the region." Of course, we feel no qualms about telling others they have an "outsized" military budget.

As if he hasn't done enough harm...

Today the President of the United States prevented me from eating at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I began to walk in the direction of that fast food establishment when I saw many, many Indonesian policemen standing before a road block. Just beyond them, I could see people jumping around with signs in hand. A policeman said, "American?" And I said, "Yep." He said, "Danger. Go back." So I did what he said and returned to school and skipped lunch. The consequences of his failed foreign policy are impossibly far reaching.

Thanks to Jamison for commenting. I think the media fails to see Bush's remark vis a vis Vietnam as a gaffe because it is a very shallow media indeed. I have real doubts as to the intelligence of nearly everyone who appears on commericial television news. First off, I doubt anyone of actual substance would consider television journalism to be actual journalism. Second, said person of substance would also have to be physically attractive. The chances are too slim to matter. Kerry's "botched joke", as I said before, stumbled upon a truth Americans don't like to talk about.

Nevertheless, let's consider the two statements for a moment, Kerry seemed to say something that we don't like to admit about our armed forces (that they are comprised poor people with few other opportunities), that is not allowable. That must be contradicted, belittled, stamped down. Bush's statement says something that many would like to believe about our armed forces (that they are unbeatable, only poor leadership can explain any failure). Of course, that's not thought to be controversial controversial. To a generation of reporters who learnt their history from Rambo, it must make perfect sense. That he said it in Vietnam makes no difference largely because Americans and Westerners have always suggested, in fact asserted outright, that the nations we colonize and control are filled with people who do not know what's good for them. Take up the White Man's Burden...

Morning assembly is in the can

This morning my mentor class performed for the morning assembly. I think it went okay. We did a play version of a silent movie which was written by members of my class. It seemed to entertain the audience. Prior to the performance I gave a very brief talk about what they were about to see and the history of film. It's over, anyway.

Today Mr. Bush, or Meester Booosh, visits Indonesia. There have been many demonstrations opposing his visit over the last week and there should be many, many more today. Everyone seems to be excited about it, though angrily excited. Some are just bemused. It is not appreciated here that the government was told to build a special helicoptor landing pad for Bush at Indonesian expense--it was a requirement for the president's 10 hour visit. The Indonesian government has promised to offer stern words to the president regarding the Israel/Palestine situation.

My father said that Mr. Bush, when recently in Vietnam, had suggested that the lesson of that war was that America did not stay long enough. That's curious. In an article in the Jakarta Post yesterday the point was made the Vietnamese people are confused as to why Americans continue to talk so much about that war. As one woman put it, "they got out 30 years ago. We were left to pay for it." Others have said that the 2004 campaign was as much about Vietnam as any thing else. The American Right simply cannot accept that American force is limited even when all evidence is to the contrary. The Vietnamese find easy parrallels between the conflict in Iraq and the war which took place on their soil. The most obvious is that superior weaponry and training cannot suppress committed nationalism. The Vietnamese considered America as colonialists and the Iraqis assume America to be imperialist. We say that it's about winning "hearts and minds" and that we lose because we are unable to convince our opponents of our truly good intentions. We never allow it to be considered aloud that maybe we fail to win "hearts and minds" because we have a history that contradicts our rhetoric.

"A stinging defeat"

The general sense of most articles regarding Bush's upcoming ten hour stop over in Bogor, Indonesia is that it is a good thing for Indonesia, and that the President is no longer in a position to dictate its terms to the rest of the world as there are new sheriffs in Washington town. The mid-term elections are described, even in news articles, as a strong rebuke of the President's policies. It's an interpretation that is difficult for me to warm up to. People outside of the US seem to be expecting a sea change in foreign policy and I don't think that it's truly in the offing. The war is certainly unpopular in America, but the tenor of that attitude does not seem harmonious with the extreme anger expressed by many in this region. That is to say that Americans don't like the war but they don't regard as both genuinely imperialist and anti-Muslim.

Muslims feel quite certain that it is. History is on their side, though, in my opinion, American foreign policy is not ideologically anti-Muslim a la the truly racialist policies of Nazi Germany or Apartheid era South Africa. American foreign policy is, on the other hand, de facto anti-Islam. This, I believe, has less to do with some inherent incompatibility between democracy and Islam and more to do with the incompatibility between the materialistic consumerism inherent in free trade capitalism and the spirituality of a faith which is anti-materialist. Islam stresses that God should be a part of every aspect of one's life, it's a not merely rejection of a separation between Mosque and State, but a rejection of any separation between any aspect of one's life and God.

Consumerism, or the practice of searching for fulfillment through the accumulation of material items, suggests that one's life can be cleansed of difficulty by purchasing items that will ease not only your daily chores, but help rid one of one's deficiencies. Consider the number of ads in America for drugs that will roll back aging, exorcise social anxiety, or simply make you pretty. Nothing could be more self-absorbed and superficial and less spiritual. The anti-consumerist movements of the West have been defeated (i.e. Marxism/Communism) after a lengthy campaign that did not simply desire to defeat foes militarily but to discredit the very notion of community based thinking over indivualism. Those ideologies did not comport with Islam either as they were actually Materialist in the extreme--rejecting the possibility of anything spiritual. Nevertheless they did appeal to Muslims so far as they were also anit-imperialist philosophies (the actions of certain "communist" governments notwithstanding). Islam is one of the last great communalist belief systems standing in the way of globalization.

What the West, and 'free trade', find when encroaching upon lands committed to Islam is a belief system that fundamentally rejects the logic of capitalism. Capitalism is individualistic, rewards self-interest, and, in essence, is amoral. Value is strictly a matter of supply and demand, there is no inherent value in anything. This is not only anathema to Islam, but to all religions. Liberal ideas of tolerence allow religious people to practice their faiths, but they are kept in a private, separate sphere. Once one leaves Mass, the Mosque, or the Temple they return to billboard laden streets, and the commercial sermons of the mass media. Witdrawel from the world of materialism is difficult if not impossible.

Of course, this is not the only obstacle for Western Governments in Islamic lands. They also run into Nationalism, tribalism, and a widespread distrust of supposed good intentions of Western democracies. Things are far more complex, and Islam is not monolithic. Muslims do not think with one mind, nor speak with one voice. There are Muslims who welcome foreign investment, in Indonesia and elsewhere, there are those who want Western style capitalist economies. There are as many pragmatic Muslims as there are pragmatic people associated with any religion or ideology. Still, the essence of Islam does not welcome tenets of capitalism warmly. And its regionalist and nationalist flavours particularly bristle at a capitalism which seems to suggest the superiority of Western culture and is, in fact, brought to the East to line the pockets of Western businessmen.

The government of Indonesia knows that the Indonesian economy is woeful, and participation in global trade seems attractive. It may be their only option. Nevertheless, they struggle to persuade the masses.

Tests are done; nothing left but the failing

After two weeks of writing, revising and revising revisions, my tests are in the bank. It's a huge relief. No power cut last night, so perhaps we're being spared for a spell.

My class will perform for assembly next Monday and we will be putting on a silent play as an homage to silent films. J. has been helping out, but as of right now we are nowhere near ready. Soon after that will be the Christmas concert, and I've no idea what to do for that although we are having a meeting tonight on the subject.

Indonesians do not really want Mr. Bush to visit next week but he's coming anyway--for ten hours. There have already been protests and they will likely continue. I would be willing to bet that the President will laud Indonesia's "strong democracy" in answer to his image being burned in effigy. Democracies don't tend to favour the president lately (e.g. Palestine, Iraq, most of Europe, home). I wonder if he'll sour on them completely.

I must go now, class beckons. More soon.

Still seeking guest bloggers

There's an awful lot to bitch about these days at school, and I could vent here, but I am not going to do that, as it is exhausting and boring--although I may return to these matters another time.

Jamison has told me personally that he would guest blog. In fact, he and J. spoke to each other on the phone and it was established that she would guest blog as soon as he guest blogged. Last night she told me that this offer still stands but that she doesn't see herself blogging anytime soon. I said, "but if Jamison does write something, you will too, right?" She said, "I said I would" then trailed off mumbling, "but I never said when." So, my friends suck.

On saturday after school, J. and I took a cab out to a rural area where our mutual maid lives with her three children and husband. It's a very modest brick house, one storey, and maybe three rooms--the kitchen and bedroom is divided by a sheet, I think. They were very excited to have us and she made us dinner and served us snacks and drinks and all of that. We went for a walk around the area and attracted some attention from the neighbors. The neighbor children followed us around, and adult neighbors came by to say "hi." They had seen me taking photographs and the rumour spread that I was looking to make some kind of documentary or something of the region. They must have been very disappointed to learn the truth. I have pictures of all that we saw, I will post them as soon as J. uploads them.

After our walk, I was sitting on the porch/patio and looking around. There were coconut trees not far off, to my left a pineapple was growing out of the ground (I actually didn't know that pineapples grew out of the ground, but that only occurred to me later). We could hear the evening prayers from a nearby mosque, and it was all very relaxing. Suddenly, I was struck by how strange all of this should have seemed to me, but didn't. When one first enters a new culture they look at everything and everything seems curious. I have been here long enough that even things I've never seen before don't take me by surprise. The part stranger still was that it was not as if I was bored by what I was seeing, it was more that I just accepted it, and felt comfortable with it. J. looked at me and asked "what are you thinkng about?" That sort of took me out of the moment and I told her that I didn't really have the words to explain just then. I still don't.

The blackouts are nightly at the moment. Apparently they are regimented. We can expect to have no electricity from around 7 to around 1 in the morning. It's unpleasant. I expect things will change in a few more days, but am not too sure about that.

Back to the guest blogger question. I cannot blog everyday and my Mondays are nearly always unbloggable. Thus, others can certainly make their case to contribute to this on that day, over the holidays, or any other day. I am accepting not applications or resumes, but thoughtful comments and outright begging. I must warn that the pay is minimal and the working conditions are but a notch above those at WalMart. There are no observable benefits.

United Nations Day

The school attempted, in a haphazzard and ad hoc fashion, to put together a UN Day celebration. As per usual this was done with little communication and organization and at a time when there was little time to deal with it appropriately. Nevertheless, the power that be were apparently pleased with the results. J. is usually called upon to host such event, meaning to be the master of ceremonies. She did not want to do this this time and prevailed upon me, at the last minute, to be emcee--not at all my forte. So, I did my best, which I guess was servicable--not sure.

After the event, J. and I went for ice cream, ordered the "thick shakes" which were, well how do I put it, not thick. I guess the thin milkshakes were packets of powder. We then went for pizza at Papa Ron's which was alright. Here's the point though, we took a becak for what we thought would be a short run home. The driver was either dyslexic, insane, or unscrupulous--or all three. He took us all over creation with J. scolding him all the while, and then turning to me saying, "he can go whereever he wants, I am not paying him more that 15,000 rupiah." When we finally did get home, the right half of my body was numb. It had been a long, hot day and a shower was in order, but we've run out of gas in our water heater and so only a cold bath beckoned. Within minutes of completing (rapidly) the cold shower, the power went out, again.

During Ramadhan and Idul Fitri, power outages were rare, but this past week they have been frequent and lengthy. The worst part is the loss of airconditioning and so sleep is a difficult undertaking. The power came on at some point late last night and today we have school, on Saturday, because the parents don't think we work hard enough.

Back to UN Day. As a result of falling on a day in between numerous other celebrations, there was not a great deal of time to plan this out. In addition, the instructions kept changing, and in the end, most teachers just did what they did last year without regard to the instructions. Classes, which were supposed to go on as usual, were eschewed in favour of putting up classroom decorations and practising dances with little to no relation to the countries they were supposed to represent. Students did not spend time attempting to learn about other cultures but instead simply wore expensive costumes in which they moved their bodies to pop tunes. The notion that this day should be anything more seemed not to penetrate even the higher levels of the school's hierarchy. All celebrations include dancing and pop tunes. This is a shallow community. The time lost to preparation for these dances might have been used in preparing for the upcoming exams, but wasn't. When the students fail these, we,teachers, will no doubt be held accountable. Now the Christmas concert approaches, yet another, "really big show."

So the Dems won; what now?

The views I'd read over here prior to the mid-term elections suggested that regardless of the outcome, Asian countries expected a more cooperative Washington. Even Republicans were less brazenly unilateral in their discussions with nations such as Indonesia--who they now are hoping will be a moderating voice in Iran's ear and other Muslim nations. To this end, President Bush will be visiting at the end of this month, as he tours Southeast Asia. That view was expressed by government officials. The average person, assuming they give two hoots about the elections, may well expect a major policy reversal, and I think they will be disappointed. The folly of the Iraqi invasion is that it left America only a bread crumb trail with which to find its way out, and now the buzzards have picked up the crumbs. What can be done? There is no easy way out of Iraq. Withdrawel without an improvement in conditions will, as the GOP stresses, be seen as a sign of weakness. Prolonged stay will reinforce notions of an America obsessed with dominating the Middle East, and intent on occupying Muslim lands. If we continue on without being able to control the situation--this, too, will highlight the limitations of American power and "embolden" the enemy. When Colin Powel instructed the President that if he broke Iraq, he would have to pay for it, he was right on the money.

If we look back to the 2004 elections when the GOP insisted that the argument for starting the war in the first place was closed to discussion, I wonder how the media and the Dems could agree. The decision to begin this war was ideological and the outcome has exposed the limitations of that ideology. In my view, the Dems should have insisted and keep insisting on making the shortcomings of this ethos the defining characteristic of the American Right. The results have not been merely a matter of poor execution and planning, but much moreso a matter of misguided faith. We should stress this not merely because we believe it to be true, but as a politcal strategem. The GOP set out to tarnish the legacies of the most recent Dem presidents (not that these presidents were faultless)relentlessly, not to mention championing the Reagan mythology. The decision to invade Iraq under false and shifting pretenses at great American expense without so much as a snowball's chance in Cuba of succeeding should define the modern Republican party. The left needs to stick to this point.

What can the left do to remedy the situation? I don't know that they can do, or have the will to do, much of anything new. The Dems have kept so close to GOP on matters of "national security" that it's doubtful there is any chance of a bold new strategy. Harry Reid's remark that we traded in a Iraq run by a dictator for chaos and that neither is acceptable is quite close to the truth. What he doesn't mention is that the chaos was predictable.

Haven't had time to read today's papers

I have about 15 minutes before school starts. Skimming the headlines of Google News it appears the Dems did capture the house, though no headline said that as such. Rumsfeld is stepping down, didn't read the story yet, but my guess is that he would like to "spend more time with his family." I wonder how his family feels about that. I remember listening to the NPR show "Wait, wait, don't tell me" and hearing Roy Blount (I think that's his name, and I think there's a basketball player named that as well) saying that one's family never appreciates your company more than during a stretch of depression after you've been recently sacked. Of course, Mr. Bush didn't look too far and wide for his replacement but simply went back to the shortlist of cronies. Bush rarely lets anyone go, so his shortlist truly lives up to its name. My guess is that Gates was briefly head of the search committee. And I ask you, why not Harriet Myers?

The biography of Benjamin Harrison did not have a point. But if it did, it would be as a counter narrative to the ever popular glowing and gushing presidential biographies that populate most History sections of commercial American bookstores. I just made everything up, though, I don't know anything about Benjamin Harrison. But all that is beside the point, and as I said, it didn't have a point. It was my blog equivalent to something a friend of mine did back in college. He was writing a short story for a creative writing class and had no ideas as to how to finish it. He didn't like the story anyway. So in final few pages he wrote, "I may as well just finish this with random passages from a Judy Blume novel so far as anyone cares." And, this, he did. I don't remember what sort of grade he got, but I got a good laugh out of it.

That's all for today. I have many exam revisions to do now, and classes and the god damned UN day that should be called "international stereotype reinforcement day." Someone pointed out that it has not a thing to do with the UN. The Aussie said all Australia does for the UN is to support the US. She asked what the US does for the UN, and I said, "dominate it." Well, we do our best to dominate it.

The Crazy Candy Monster

During our last term break, when J. and I were in Toba, it was cold and there was not a lot to do. At some point the two of us started writing a song that could be played for young children around Halloween--it was called "The Crazy Candy Monster" and was inspired by my own rapid consumption of candy sent to me by my friend Dave. J. came up with the tune to the verses and the first couple of lines to those and I wrote the rest. The lyric is:

Creep, creep, creep away 'cause the Crazy Candy Monster's coming
"
The Crazy Candy Monster's clad in jeans/his mouth is dripping jelly beans/his nose is stuffed with candy bars/ he's keep your goods in cookie jars

Crawl, crawl, crawl away because the Crazy Candy Monster's coming
You don't have to crawl so fast as he's not much good at running
The day just after Halloween/he can't fit in his favourite jeans/
He spends all day in the canteen reading Candy Digest Magazine

Stay right where you are 'cause the Crazy Candy Monster's tired
Stay just where you are 'cause he ate 'til he expired.

J. taught this song to some of her Drama clases last week. Anyway, as I went to teach my one primary level class (equivelent to sixth graders)they all had turned the lights out. They stood up and sang me this song. I guess she had told them I had written it. They were very enthusiastic about it. It was rather nice. I assumed that J. had told them to do this, but she denies that. So, it seems that they wanted to sing me the song. It's a smash hit.

It seems I ought to have something to say

I try my best to post whenever it is possible. That's not so difficult as I can usually think of something to say, although the value of some posts are indeed questionable, maybe all posts. I have finished writing exams and now will be revising exams according the corrections and suggestions made by my superiors who in this case is just one person, my dean. Since she is very capable and reasonable I don't mind abiding by her advice and so, tomorrow I will begin my revisions. At any rate that's about all that I have been thinking about for the last week or so and the last few days esecially. Thus, I am tired and I am blogging just because I feel that I should write something and if you've read all of this, you know you are wasting your time. So indulge me as I go one step further and present you with one of my highly regarded biographies of famous Americans (some of this will be familiar to C. who may as well just stop reading now and make use of her time).

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison knew early in life that he would achieve great things, but also that "great" was subjective. His mother, best known for having never wanted children, was a remarkable woman whose ascent from the Home for Wayward Youths and Unlovable Children to High Society impressed all though it was only two flights of stairs. Benjamin did not know his father which resulted from very careful planning on the part of the patriarch.

As a youth, Benjamin's one lament was that he was not taller--a late adolescent growth spurt would change all of that in spite of the fact that it happened to someone else. A dreamer, Harrison rarely left the confines of his home preferring imaginary friends and fits of dementia to boys his age. He was not a terribly successful student, nor even a successful terrible student. His school teachers generally celebrated his propensity to "keep his ideas to himself" while one added encouragingly in his year end assessment, "I see no reason why he shouldn't be easily forgotten."

Harrison spent the war flitting about and while he never saw combat, it was not because he was not near enough to see it. He graduated from college at the "top of his class", but of course, the phrase meant something different back then. Shortly thereafter, he met the woman he would marry--a handsome woman who turned out to be a distant cousin, and even more distant wife. They went on to produce three children who would grow to admire their father's talent for being away much of the time.

The happy homelife was interrupted once Harrison was bitten by the poiltical bug. He seemed born to a system based on patronage and used his lack of personality and general malleability to secure key positions in drudgerous local beaurocracies. This strategy landed him in the White House. In his memoirs, which he never wrote, Harrison would reflect that "politics is like a woman in one respect or another."

His time in the highest American office was not a happy one--for anybody. Harrison recoiled at the idea of having to work with Congress, though he later confessed he wasn't totally sure what Congress was. Still, in times of national crisis Harrison was at his best (but again "best" is relative). As America teetered on the brink of turmoil for reasons I can't recall, it awaited its great Captain's guidance. Harrison did not shrink from the challenge but instead delivered a speech that by all accounts was "not as bad as we'd feared."

Once out of office Harrison returned to his family and spent the rest of his life looking for his keys.

Harrison, the president, has been more or less forgotten by history, while Harrison the man has been completely forgotten--The Harrison's don't even bring him up much. He was survived by his three daughters who insisted that the emphasis in this sentence be placed on the word "survived."

The Halloween Party, et cetera

As are all major events at my school, the Halloween Party was an extravagent, expensive, disorganized affair. In fact, "organization" is not a concept known by the administrators of this school who, I am guessing, believe that ideas that pop into their head should become manifest at their will without them having to lift a finger, let alone speak to anyone about their vision.

I did not wear a costume as work and other factors prevented me from even having clean clothes. We had forgotten to buy detergent last week and the maid did not do any laundry until Saturday morning when I did buy the detergent and so, all of my clothes were wet--our dryer does not work.

At yesterday's assembly, we were visited by former Singaporean drug addicts turned evangelical Christian folk singers and that was every bit as much fun as it sounds. They wanted all the kids to sing along, and one testified about his grandmother, a former "idol worshipper" finding Jesus at age 86. Perhaps they were not told that roughly half of the students were Buddhists/"idol worshippers". In fact, I would bet money that they were not told. It was weird, and unnecessary as one asked the kids how many had parents who were drug addicts, not a hand was raised. Drugs are not an issue at this school. One of the administrators is an evangelical and she booked the gig because, well, who the hell knows?

Making hay out of the truth for all the wrong reasons

There are certain truths one never utters in politics in America. For one, no one in American politics will ever directly and clearly apologize for the actions of past American governments no matter how heinous and despicable. You will never hear an American politician stand up and say that it was wrong to overthrow a democratically elected official in Latin America simply because he wouldn't allow American companies to loot his resources while his poorest citizens toiled in abject poverty. That happened more than once, but no American politician visible to the national media will ever admit to that.

For another, it is simply a matter of fact that armies tend to be composed of those members of a society who have little choice but to join the army. President Bush and Vice President Cheney never served in combat and we all know why that was. If John Kerry "botched" a joke at a recent political rally by saying that one should get educated or they'll find themselves "stuck in Iraq", he still told, however crudely, the truth. As the army goes about trying to meet its recruitment quotas they target demographics of the poor and undereducated, they don't go to gated communities. Are they being disrespectful to the poor and undereducated? Do they owe the poor and undereducated an apology? Hell yes! But who's calling for one? Kerry is also correct in pointing out the obvious, that the GOP machine will try to use this to distract voters away from key issues, but I have my doubts that this accidental honesty will really draw voters in anger to support the GOP. In fact, I'm sure it won't matter at all.

The key issue is that the media acts as if he said something traitorous. If families of members of the armed forces are really offended, they're kidding themselves. The truth is that in America, lacking a lot of education or some ridiculously valued physical attributes and minor singing talent, you may find the armed forces your best employment option and then, you will be subject to the decision making processes of the American government and its foreign polocies. So you may well end up stuck in Iraq, serving longer than you'd signed on for, against a multiplicity of foes, for a now thoroughly discredited pretense of a cause. And maybe you'll come home and tell this truth. And maybe people will listen, and maybe some will get angry. And maybe in 30 years you'll be an American senator running for president and those who got angry will still be angry, and the media will present your truths as possibly traitorous and question your respect for the armed services in which you served and your critics, rich kids mostly, did not.

In Singapore I met, briefly, a German fellow and a Saudi Arabian fellow--the German was drinking whiskey, the Saudi a mixture of juices. They both asked if I thought America would get out of Iraq after the mid-terms. I said that I doubted it. We are stuck there. Maybe because we lack a genuine education, don't know our own history, don't know anyone else's either.

To Dave, my cell phone has a converter option so I am remaining faithful to the masculine and pure of heart American measuring system--ol' what's its name. What is it called, anyway? Although it does no one any good here. I am 1.89 meters tall and around 83 kg. J. is 1.54 meters and around 48 kg. So, she's small enough to be punted, which might be fun to try later. Last night we went in for another round of the basketball game at the mall arcade and she not only did not make as many hoops, but one shot caromed back and smacked her in the left eye. I missed that but turned to see her scampering across the room to chase down the ball. I don't think that's supposed to happen, but when you can't catch for nuts...

Friday post; but likely more this weekend

This promises to be a very busy weekend--Halloween Party and still exams to finish writing, not to mention the usual duties. Next saturday, we have that other extra school day, and there is UN day and on that following Monday my class must perform for assembly. So, no rest in the immediate future.

I don't think I have any more Singapore stories to tell, I was there only two days plus. Singapore is a pricey city and very commericial. Christmas trees were going up when I was there, as they might in America, even before Halloween. In a tropical climate with no discernable change in seasons, it is difficult to track time. It doesn't feel like November. The actual day of Halloween passed without my even noticing.

Last night, I made popcorn over a burner for the first time. It was really easy, and I liked having to do it that way. Microwave popcorn just never cut it for me.

J. is very busy but will post at some time not too far off, or so she says. Hold off on calls for her to post as they simply go to her head. She is very excited about dressing up for the Halloween party and this must have something to do with being the drama teacher. Last night I was being asked repeatedly if I favoured the fortune teller or "gothic bride" costume. As for myself, I can't think of what costume to adorn, and am leaning to none. Superman might be the obvious choice, but since that annoyance has recently died down, it would be unwise to rekindle it now.

I've got to go teach about the difference between direct and indirect colonial rule now and why Siam (Thailand) remained independent. The answer to that question seems to be that they gave up the store of actual independence for a nominal one and that Britain and France preferred a "buffer state" between French Indochina and British India, Burma, et al. Now, I'm late. More history and whatnot later.

Post posting remorse, or I just feel like writing; hard to say

First,it is quite difficult to know what the nature of this thing here should be. It is read exclusively, with a few random exceptions, by friends and family--however it is public domain. J. has told me that I could switch it over to another blogging service that would allow me to pick and choose who among you gets to see and read what. Thus, I could post picture of myself and her and not have to worry about protecting privacy and all of that. That may be the route to go. I'll be considering it.

On the other hand, it's easy to get the impression on my end that no one aside from two to three people ever reads this, and so what is the point of switching to a different format? And, if I stay here, you can be assured that what you read and view is what everyone else is reading and viewing and the only censor is my judgement at the moment I hit the publish button. Also, I googled this site to find that J's Street Kids post was picked up by an Indonesian blog that concentrates only on that subject, and so that was sort of cool.

I have been working like crazy the last few days and it seems to give me more energy. I am writing exams and should be doing that now but I have a class soon and need a break, so here I am writing. About the previous post, it was a difficult to decision to bring up Islam in such a public forum, but I have to admit that I didn't know how to tell everyone I know, who may not know much about the religion aside from the misinformation so prevalent at home, about this decision. At the same time, I don't want to be accused of not giving the people I know and care about enough credit for being tolerant and understanding. I am happy to talk about it privately with anyone who wishes to engage in such a conversation, but for me it was a difficult thing to have to repeat over and over, so I blogged it, for better or worse. I hope that you will comment (even more than I usually hope people will comment).

The saga continues and the nature of blogging

First, there are details I left out that would have made for a more interesting story but the question in blogging (at least for me) is what do I have a right to tell, and what do I need to tell, and how much honesty do people want? and certainly those closest to me would prefer that I tell them personally and not let them find things out over an internet broadcast. So, I don't know, but here goes. I met with J.'s mother and sister for lunch (of course, J. was there too) on Thursday and this was a big deal. Her mother understands english but is uncomfortable speaking it around native english speakers; so she was quiet, but very nice. At one point I somehow (and this is so unlike me) got a bit of food on my chin which J. pointed out and I must have blushed or something. Her mother spoke quietly to her and she laughed and then told me--"she just scolded me for embarrassing you." So, I like her mother very much as God knows J. needs scolding.

J., her sister, and her mother all eat very, very slowly so a simple lunch lasted longer than I would have thought possible. When it was over J.'s mother said that I should visit their house next time, and later told J. that I seemed nervous and smart. So, she's very astute. In all, I don't think it could have gone better as I am generally shy when first meeting anyone and have what qualifies as a phobia of my friend's parents.

On Saturday J. saw me off to the ferry. I was to catch a plane in Batam, an hour's ferry travel away, and believed my flight to be at 4pm. I caught the ferry at 12:30 Batam time or 1:30 Singapore time. The plane ticket was handwritten and the numbers were difficult to make out and J. was certain that it read 16:00 and not 18:00 or 10:00. It was actually 18:00 and so I waited a long time in Batam airport reading about the Intellectual traditions in Islamic cultures. The plane again stopped in Perkanbaru and I did not get in my own house until 10:00 Medan time, some 10 hours after starting out. I hadn't eaten and the only thing open was McDonalds. God help me, I ate there and liked it.

The day before J. and I spoke to a woman at the English speaking Islamic center in Singapore and this woman agreed to let me take classes (free classes) that are usually offered on a set schedule individually in December over my break. This is also a big deal, and something I was not sure that I should blog about. What could be more personal, I suppose, but there it is. The classes are a step toward conversion and this is something I've studied for a while now, but I welcome questions and comments; I won't be offended, I like to talk about these things.

Sunday was J.'s birthday, and yes, she got a birthday week. Maybe she'll post and tell you about it, or maybe she won't; perhaps, if you scold her.