In Sharjah Dreaming of Ohio

The Devils or Shaytans can you find you anywhere...

There was some ancient writer from the Arabian world who wrote "in Cairo dreaming of Baghdad" or was it the other way around. It was something I read that now in it's half life is a half memory in its incomplete incorrectness... That's the way my mind works... Thank God for Google... If I weren't so lazy I'd "Google it"....

I'm imagining someone in Sharjah a city in the Arab Emirates dreaming of a strange place called Ohio - north of the Ohio River Valley and South of the most southern tip of Canada. Curious about a strange nowhere place somewhere else far away.

So for that imaginary friend or Brother or Sister in the UAE here are an odd assortment of photos. The photos for you presented as seen from dreaming of a strange place called Central Ohio - Columbus or more appropriately C-bus... "See bus?" because there is no public transportation in the urban sprawl of C-bus... and everyone dependent on public transportation chants "see bus" while standing precariously in the lanes of automotive traffic...

One photo is of a happy Bhuddha at some Chinoiserie hole in the wall type place where you order and pick up non-halal food through a barred up window in Ghettoville... stick to the vegetarian options like tofu because who knows where the meat comes from. That's probably why the Bhuddah is laughing. I rather like the odorless electronic incense sticks on offer. The barred up window hole in the wall eatery is neccessary in this neighborhood because here is more of a war zone than Iraq ever was which is a secret the media here will never tell you unless you watch Al Jazeera in English - Al Jazeera would do a story on that dirty little skeleton of an urban war playing out daily in the US on warmer nights thats confined to the US media in America's suburban closet... except as far as skeletons go its more like a 500 pound Gorilla named Ishmael chewing on a bunch of celery who doesn't even fit in the closet anyway...

The other altar is much more beautiful with its oil flame of Hindustani origin from the great Punjab. America is chock full of religion. I like life and culture from anywhere from along the old Spice and Incense Routes. Those Routes beat Route 66 any day any millenium...

The wetland and woodland photos are from OSU research area that is painfully all too small for the scale of the project - or for the downright dire environmental need. I want to see this research area become at least the size of all the combined central Ohio Wal-Mart parkinglots.... Scroll down to the subsequent entry for a link to the place - it is worth visiting and experiencing. There is a huge fallen tree that stands about three meters off the ground - I was able to walk my dog Rusty up there in search of squirrels and a view. Dogs will go anywhere you go even up a tree.

There is a funny cell phone self portrait of me on the phone with Barack Obama (pictured in the background on the poster in my kitchen). No I'm not on the phone with Barack Obama. I wish I were. But with him as President I don't have to call him: I have HOPE. Hope despite being unemployed and not having healthcare and having an insane (literally and figuratively) pre-existing condition. If I could call Barack Obama there isn't much I could tell him that he doesn't already know. That is probably the difference between the Barack Obama administration and the previous ones. The Obama Administration knows what is going on and they and we who support them are fighting to make the hope of change a reality for all the Ghettoville streets in the US of A.

But if I were on the phone with Barack Obama - I'd tell Barack Obama that 1000 square foot kitchen garden his wife Michelle is building at the White House is a brilliant idea! Sad to think that hasn't happened there since Eleanor, bless her soul, Roosevelt! Organic kitchen gardening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue now that hits me in a soft spot and makes me want to cry. I'd invite myself over for dinner for vegetarian styled Collard Greens. Well that won't happen because I prefer to eat sitting on the floor and eating off communal plates while eating with my fingers from my right hand for the sensual experience of food. That requires not just clean hands but well washed feet for dinner!

In Central Ohio dreaming of Sharjah... And in Sharjah dreaming of Central Ohio.

I want to go to Sharjah and write, blog and illustrate. In short I want a grant to Experience the UAE. Who knows - stranger things have happened. The UAE really needs a cultural injection right now to build bridges to the rest of the modern world. The world of Islam is full of unexpected opportunities and pleasant surprizes - anything can happen.