Yeh so the posts here on the G-Ville blogette have gotten a bit heavy. So here are some images with a lighter message."That Car" - some local has made an art car of found art applique' on his own car. I see this car at the most unexpected moments quite a lot. One of the more interesting aspects of life in grey and boring C-bus town...
Then my pal Ben who lives next to a railroad track a few months back photographed some heavy tanks being transported south through town. That corresponded to a day Palestine got hit rather hard in time for Christmas '08. How quickly everything gets forgetten around here. Ironic that for Christmas '08 Israel invades Bethlehem which last I checked was in Palestine...So yesterday I was at the corner shop run by this groovy Palestinian family and waiting in line to buy some phone credit for my cell phone and the guy in line next to me gets rung up and his total is $19.48 and he says to the woman "1948, Good year, hunh?" and she just sort of smiled back silently. And I am like ready to just yell out - "Dude, do you know your history? Do you know who you are speaking to? If it wasn't for the Balfour Declaration and that year - 1948 - this woman wouldn't even be here on this side of the planet!" - Instead I bit my tongue and keep my mouth shut. The man had no idea - People here just have no idea. I was always taught that ignorance is no excuse.
The donut shop bar stool still life photo is pretty much a feature of my weekend or occassional weekend of my solo life. I don't drink (well normally) but in central Ohio - maybe it's the pollution or just the perpetual overcast suicide skies but you wake up feeling hung over - that's when I go to the local donut shop and get coffee... It's an old Independent Donut Shop that looks like a forgotten relic of Route 66 - except this is no where near the forgotten, replaced and decommissioned freeway that headed West - from Chicago to LA.
You know I am trying to post happier ideas - but I don't really have too many.
I was watching Al Jazeera in English or maybe it was the Saudi 2 station via satellite - and they were saying that over 600,000 jobs in the US were lost in March. Hadn't heard any of that on the comparable US media outlets.
I'm unemployed too but who is counting?
Maybe it's the uncertain times we live in but I have been watching a lot of TV from the Arabian Penninsula. Mostly I don't want to forget how to haggle with Taxi drivers in Arabic in case I have the luxury of travelling back to magical Arabia sometime. But wether I am watching Saudi TV - from either channel 1 or 2 or Sharjah TV which I like a lot... Or Qatar - or even TV from Yemen - I don't know - I have to say that Satellite dish I bought sometime last year which wasn't really expensive - well, I got my money's worth of entertainment out of it. I've learned a lot more about life in Arabian Penninsula than I ever knew from my limited travels over there. What I miss about the Arabian Penninsula is the dignity of the place: People dressed up in Angelic beauty - and gracious people who, really, if you get the chance to speak with, are really the most generous and hospitable of people I have ever hung out with. I like how Arabian Satellite TV presents itself and it's various cultures - it's a different world - and it has the right to make its own rules - but the imagery I am impressed by is that the place doesn't cash in on passing itself off as disrespectable monied trash in way Hollywood is notorious for.
To be honest I've learned a lot from TV from Sharjah in the UAE or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - KSA, or Qatar. Sometimes when I look at the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia I think every citizen there is some sort of extended nearly divine angelic like Royalty - Right now in G-ville nothing feels respectable or pride inducing so watching programming from Saudi or Arabian Television in general has been a great reminder of the potential of human dignity from self determination.
So for that thanks Qatar, Sharjah in the UAE or from the Kingdom of Humanity - Saudi Arabia - from deep in the heart of G-ville.
You know, If you read my blog, I'm always complaining about something that shouldn't be so in this country here - the USA. Like, that we in the US live behind an electronic iron curtain of (mis)/information. Given that the general mainstream media in the US has it's military industrial complex propaganda agenda (that's no secret if you want to see it you can if you don't then you wont) - and that there is another side to that story that one never hears within the US - but then again - the US is still the land of the free in theory. So via the internet - if you are determined - it is possible to read about life outside and beyond the invisible electronic iron curtain of limited world media information that is allowed in - it is still legal to purchase a cheap satellite dish and receive free programming from around the world and watch whatever region that interests you - to find out about life outside. So I should stop complaining - I should try to be more optimistic. Thank God for Al Jazeera in English!
We have a unique President for a pivotal time in History - for this I am glad - really glad and hopeful. And when life within the confines of the US gets to be too much from all the social and economic decay - it is rather a relief to tune into Television from more dignified places like Sharjah, Dubai, Sana'a, from Muscat in Oman or Jeddah, Riyadh and even during religious time from Makkah and Medinah.
It's been a reminder of the potential for human dignity watching basic TV from those places. Plus the "soaps" even when you can't follow along with the spoken Arabic are hysterical and compelling because of the body language and the language of television. So, yeh, things here in the US seem grim - especially from here in depressed socially and culturally - Ohio - And so I'm not travelling uch these days - but while stuck at home inside - i'm usually - thanks to the internet and the satellite - off enjoying other parts of the world and learning something about myself along the way.
And the really nice part about watching TV from the Arabian world is that the sky is always blue and the weather sunny and warm!
2 comments:
I'm glad I could brighten your day....Greg, That Car
Greg - That Car of yours is the best! It makes my day everytime I sit in traffic with That Car nearby! I haven't seen such automotive self embellishment since traveling through Karachi where all the buses and trucks are adorned to the hilt. Columbus is lucky to have you - so lucky in fact - that they should give people like you a special tax credit for contributing to the unique art and culture of our central Ohio society for your self determined expression of individuality!
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