Sri Lanka's Foot, Meet Bullet.

A series of depressing articles have come out of Sri Lanka over the last three days. All of them have focused on the alleged kidnapping of residents in the embattled North and East provinces of the island. A few days ago, The Island reported that 24 students and two teachers were kidnapped by LTTE cadres during a tuition (tutoring) session in preparation for the O-Level exams which will take place at the end of this year. Apparently, the militants entered a classroom, hoarded the victims into a van, and drove them to a remote LTTE camp in the north. This was after 300 students held a public protest against the LTTE's infamous tactic of kidnapping children, and forcing them to enter their ranks against their will. The students and teachers were released yesterday while the LTTE and GoSL continued to sling semantical mud at each other. While the government maintains that the students were illegally taken, the LTTE continues to claim that the six male students had previously agreed to join the movement.

Meanwhile, the search for Vice Chancellor S. Ravindranath of Eastern University in Batticaloa continues. The VC of the university, who disappeared from his home two weeks ago, is rumored to have been taken by the Karuna faction of the LTTE. The Karuna faction, headed by a disenchanted former LTTE general who broke off from the main movement, is waging a quasi-Civil War among the Tamil populated areas of Eastern Sri Lanka. As the search enters the second week, Government officials have begun to admit that the likelihood that VC Ravindranath surviving captivity with the notoriously vicious Karuna faction is "slim".

These developments hint at the quality of life in the North and East, and the utter immaturity that is the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The LTTE has been flagged by human rights watch groups since the mid-1990s because of their kidnapping policies. The BBC reports that over 450 children were taken by the LTTE this year. Kidnappings have been on the rise as of late, which perhaps shows the financial and ideological troubles of the LTTE. By all accounts, the LTTE is on the run in the north, as GoSL forces push them deeper and deeper into the jungles. Reports also claim that the LTTE is nearing bankruptcy, given a series of military defeats, and crackdowns on terrorist cells (that continue to fund the LTTE) by the USA and EU. The LTTE, assumedly, kidnaps these children not only to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in Jaffna, Trinco and Batticaloa, but also because they are having an increasingly difficult time recruiting individuals to champion the cause. More than ever, the LTTE looks to be nearing the point of collapse.

This doesn't mean that the GoSL isn't without blame as well. Operations to resuce these kidnapped persons were non-existent, while the press secretary spouted patriotic drivel about SL Army forces establishing "a chokehold" on the embattled areas. If there is such a confident military presence, why aren't the kidnappings ending? Meanwhile, Mahinda Rajapaksa continues to be silent about the ethnic conflict, falling back on to his platform/crutch of economic progress before territorial conflict resolution. Rajapaksa has focused his attention on the opening of Sri Lanka's second internation airport (they don't need another) and improving the suburbs of Colombo. Anyone who doesn't think the war in Sri Lanka should be the number one priority in terms of politics and governance is a fool. Unfortunately, the GoSL is full of these fools, the biggest one being the president.

What to do? There's no question that the SL Army could probably overwhelm the LTTE at least in the North at this point. Perhaps a sustained attack (rather than joint-guerrilla warfare) to completely subdue the LTTE is the best idea. I would hate to think about the civilian loss that would be a result of such an operation. My guess is that both sides will first try to secure capital and supplies. for the LTTE this means tracking down more individual donors in India, Europe and North America willing to provide money and arms for the armed forces. Meanwhile, the GoSL will have to keep convincing donor chairs that there is tangible progress being made in the ethnic conflict, Tsunami reconstruction, and general development procedures in order to stay afloat. After this happens, I expect to see another spike in violence before cooler heads (hopefully) prevail.

It hasn't happened yet.

Summary on a Plane.

This is actually being typed on a Word document as I fly home from Northfield. My last few days in Northfield were a lot of fun, as was the time spent in Walker at Annie’s cabin. I’ll try to cover as much of the past week or so as possible.

I love Annie’s cabin. This marked my third time going this year. I have many fond memories there, and this trip was no different. The personnel changed slightly, but that was of no matter. In fact, the alteration probably enhanced the experience.

We left for Annie’s cabin Friday evening in Lippincott’s car. Lippincott, Ward, and Fowler joined me. On the way up to Walker (about a four hour drive), we listened to about a third of Al Franken’s Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. I had heard a lot about the book (and may actually own it…I’m not entirely sure) and it was some good background noise for the long journey. Al makes some good points, though not ones that were unbeknownst to any moderately aware liberal thinker over the course of Bush’s administration. Though it was dark most of the way up, I was able to observe and appreciate Northern Minnesota’s landscape. It really is beautiful land, complete with evergreen trees, rolling meadows, and crystal clear blue lakes. It’s too bad the people that live near these physical splendors are those who Franken despise (as he would say, “there’s something fundamentally wrong” with them), and blame for the current dishonorable state our country is mired in. While I, theoretically, believe that every individual human being is entitled to the right to free thought and idea, I do think that their political and moral conceptions of responsible rule and relation to other sovereign nations is, for lack of a better phrase, flawed.

But I digress. We arrived at the cabin at around 10:00 PM, filled with fun sized candy bars, soda, and liberal protestations from a possible candidate for Minnesota’s Senator in Washington. Annie, Lily T., Goodspeed and Heydinger had traveled the previous night, and had by all accounts started drinking/smoking at around 2 PM that day. Needless to say, they were ready to go. Graciously, they had made pizza hot dish, a regional treat, for us. Essentially, “hot dish” is Minnesotan for “casserole” (much in the same vein as “corn dogs” become “pronto pups” when they cross state lines…go figure), and this one surely took the cake: mozzarella cheese, canned mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef, smothered in pizza sauce, thrown unceremoniously over a bed of spaghetti, and baked in an oven for about an hour. Delicious, I tell you! After a few helpings of PHD, and a few Sam Adam’s, we were all in the cabin spirit. A few tired Seths collapsed almost immediately, while the survivors talked long into the night. In a strange twist of fate, I found myself curled up next to Heydinger in an upstairs bed. Though there was no cuddling, I have never felt closer to young Mr. Heydinger.

The next day was amazing. It would be pointless to recount everything that we did, for written out; it appears as if we did nothing. I got a lot of reading done (though none of it was comps related), ate a lot of fattening food, and smoked a lot of pot. My goal in going to the cabin was to clear my head in preparation for writing the 15 pages of comps due on January 3rd, and clear my head I did. There really isn’t anything like hot chocolate, a comfortable chair, and some good company to put everything in its right place. Lily left at around 1:00 that day to join friends and family in the cities. To our surprise, Laura Ambuel arrived, fresh from taking the GREs that morning in Milwaukee, and undertaking an eight hour drive to join us—a fairly impressive feat in my book. Our pattern of doing nothing continued for the rest of the day, interrupted by spikes of the consumption of vices.

We drove home the next day in spectacular, albeit unsafe fashion: passing bowls back and forth to one another as we sped home through the Northern Minnesota landscape. It was a great weekend all in all.

So, I’m on my way home. The flight seems interminably long and bumpy. Some precocious bitch keeps claiming that I am kicking the back of her seat. It’s actually my favorite thing to do as a 21 year old student: kick the back of airplane chairs of uppity blonde girls from Edina. Nothing gives me greater pleasure, in fact. I was sorry to leave Minnesota, as JJZ has an empty apartment to herself for the remainder of break. She arrived in town yesterday after spending the first part of break in Amsterdam and Berlin. I would’ve liked to spend more time with her, but one day was good enough. I’ve got a Hannukah party to attend tonight, and dentist (boo) and eye (whatevz) appointments the next day. I love coming home, seeing the family, etc. There’s not much by way of friends to see anymore, as they’re all either (a) in school, (b) huge fucking strokes, or (c) all of the above. Of course there are exceptions, namely Dave and Chels, some members of the Cutting Crew, and all the Frisbee players I have met over the past few breaks. I’ll focus in on those people to keep myself sane over the next few weeks.

And, of course, I’ll continue to procrastinate on comps.

PS: Saw pirated copy of Children of Men, staring Clive Baker, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. Highly, highly recommended as a smart, dystopian sci-fi thriller.

Cabin ho!

I'm off to Annie's cabin tonight. Joining me is Annie, Lily T., the Seths, Heydinger and Ward. Should make for fun times.

I'll be back Sunday.

This is Comps, Pt. I

I'm currently sitting in the Libe at Carleton, struggling with my comps. I came back to Carleton for a few weeks primarily to work on these blasted comprehensive exercises. My progress has been balanced, but largely positive. I found a bunch of new sources online and in the libe that will come back with me to California. I'm still relying heavily upon Tareq Y. Ismael's "The U.A.R. In Africa" in all sections of the article; perhaps a bit too heavily. It's not a subject that's attracted a wide amount of attention in History circles--at least, not as much attention as it's gotten in political science journals and books. Considering I've never actually taken a political science course, sloughing through pages and pages of political analysis of the Africa policy has been less than enjoyable.

I have enjoyed looking at personal accounts from Africa relating to Nasser's political advances into Tanzania, Guinea, Ghana and Kenya. I hope that I can use some of these documents into the memory/identity section of the paper, which I hope will make it "historical" enough. I won't be attacking that part of the project until sometime during winter term, so I'm just filing away those sources for another day.

It may help for posterity's sake to remind readers what my comps is actually about. My comprehensive exercise will focus on the Africa Policy designed and enacted by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. While the overarching focus of my paper will be chronicling the rise and fall of the Africa Policy from 1956-1964, I will investigate Nasser’s use of history and propaganda to legitimize both his and Egypt’s place at the head of the Pan-African movement. Moreover, I will expand upon larger ideological movements that affected the scope and success of the policy, including anti-hegemony and nonalignment. I want to show that Nasser’s failure in properly creating dual leadership identities in the Middle East and Africa lead to the downfall of the Africa Policy, and cast the impression of the United Arab Republic as an extension of colonialism on the continent. A page turner, I know. I think it'll hold up throughout the term without having to go through multiple sweeping revisions. I wrote about a similar topic in Jamie's 395. So far, the sanity's holding.

In other news, I'm off to Annie's cabin tomorrow. But not before going to the Cow with Varsha tonight.

Mew-Zookeeper's Boy

Whaddaya think?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3WwkN_EUhJc

I like it. Neat mix of Euro rock and good old American indie metal. The historical references are also pretty cool.

Making the Easy: Hard

The past two days have been a brilliant mixture of relaxed slowness and frantic speed. In terms of work, things have been progressing at a fairly leisurely pace. My bibliography is coming together nicely, and that's something I don't want to have to worry about when the actual paper writing gets underway. Working with Louis has been sweet. He's a really cool guy, and it's going to be pretty nifty when I get to drink with him and Samuel at the end of the year. But that man just loves to chat, and very little gets done by way of his dissertation. That's fine with me though...I'm loving the routine of this break.

And then today; this I claimed for my own. I got up late after last night (to be discussed in a moment), made a bowl of cereal, and bummed around on the internet for about four hours in basketball shorts. After much discussion, Varsha and I decided to go on an expedition of sorts in the countrysides of Southern rural Minnesota. So we embarked in my Grandparents' 1998 Chevy Prizm on a half a tank of Gas due southeast towards Faribau. After some initial confusion, we found ourselves upon a back road that took us to Medford. We continued due South through some empty, fridgid plains upon empty thoroughfares. I recalled briefly of the sad story of the San Francisco family whose father met a heroic, but gruesome end while trying to save his trapped family trapped in the Oregon wilderness. Luckily the Prizm was strong. We eventually ended up in Owatonna. We took the more direct route upon 35W back. We stopped at a Burger King and had some fucking amazing food. We agreed that those who say they don't enjoy fast food are full of it. You can't not enjoy it. It's so fucking good. After returning, I watched some movies (including Kung Fu Hustle, which is a neat little martial arts wonder. Highly recommended) and ate some pizza and subs with a bunch of great volk. Now I'm home, Lurged, listening to the Stones, and feeling fine.

On a side note, also recommended: Varsha "The South Asian Sensation" Seetharam as a travel/life partner.

On the other hand: last night. Hoo boy, what a shindig. It involved roughly 100 cans of cheap beer, 10 pitchers of cheap beer, 2 bowls, and one kettle of curry flavored popcorn. It progressed from the basement of Dyson's abode, to J. Grundy's Rubenstein, and then back to the Dyson abode. It started at roughly 9 o'clock, and ended for some at 4:30, still dressed, and in some strange house. Confessions of incestuous intimacy were made, Frisbee sex history was explained. It ranks as a top 10 night at Carleton, and further solidified my claim of this break as one of my favorite Winter Breaks ever.

We tearfully bed farewell to Jessica Goad, who has returned to her native land of JonBenet, Colorado. God be with her where ever she walks, until she returns.

Ollie

I just saw this on Rec Sport Disc (which, for those not versed in Ultimate, is the UseNet forum for all things Ultimate), and am saddened. Oliver "Ollie" Todryk, a player on Winona State Experience, went into cardiac arrest at practice last night. He was rushed to the hospital, but the amount of time he was under and without a heartbeat have increased the possibility of permanent brain damage. When he comes to, it will be his mother's decision as to whether he'll remain on life support.

I guarded Ollie a bit this season when we scrimmaged Experience. They kicked our assess somewhat thoroughly. He was a tall guy (as the picture indicates), but was not terribly athletic. He didn't really have control of his larger body at the handler position, and as a result, was fairly easy to guard. Even me, a 5'8'' player, was able to win a battle in the air to get a D against him. However, this guy was obviously one of Experience's more important players, making smart (and sometimes spectacular) throws into the wind and through our pretty decent cup. He was the heart and a leader on a vastly improved team that finished second in the section last year.

Strangely enough, GoP had some personal history with Ollie. After Sectionals in 2005, my sophomore year, Ollie posted a thread on RSD called "Central Region Beware of GoP". His post was not hyping our darkhorse status in the region, nor warning potential foes to beware the hawaiian. No; the post was about petty theft. At Sectionals, a particularly bumbling GoP rookie was spotted while absconding a Winona State disc. Ollie, angered by the brash GoP action, wrote a scathing post against us. The thread turned into a war or words between current and former GoPalums against the defiant Ollie. He concluded the argument with the statement, "GOP, more like Group of Pussies." Classic. Don't worry though: Ollie was definitely a friend and fan of GoP, and we were certainly fans of him and his team.

I hope for the best with Ollie.

Ollie's current state:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.disc/browse_thread/thread/16de23066c2d8c0f/49741e0b2a38f0d1?lnk=raot#49741e0b2a38f0d1

Ollie vs. GoP

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.disc/browse_thread/thread/b995f8c68b0a3072/3dcf553ab24050a8?lnk=gst&q=beware+of+gop&rnum=1#3dcf553ab24050a8

The Master of Anaphora.

A shameless plug for my fifteen minutes of fame:

http://www.startribune.com/332/story/853582.html

Swanny referred the author of the article to me. In all, the interview lasted about ten minutes, in which I apparently said one useful thing. I got a pulled quote with ellipses, so that has to be the best thing that's ever happened to me. My quote, for those too lazy to read the entire article is this. Watch how pretentious I can be when prompted:

"There needs to be more flexibility, and there needs to be more communication. There needs to not be this knee-jerk reaction to call the police every single time."
-Jacob Greenberg, on proposed changes in rental ordinances in Northfield, MN.

I wasn't misquoted, and hopefully look rather moderate among some pretty heated claims from neighbors. Pound commented that the wording makes me seem like the master of anaphoa; something I've never been called, nor do I think I'll ever be called again.

I, personally, have huge problems with the ordinance because of the negative effect it will have upon the rising immigrant population in Northfield. The ordinance proposes to reduce the number of unrelated individuals to rent a house in Northfield from five to three. In turn, this will make the individual rent more expensive, and cut down on the number of low-income tenants in the neighborhood. While this will surely affect college students in town, it will also have a deletrious affect on the migrant population, who rely upon cheap housing to stay in the area, and work the menial jobs that the White middle and upper-class residents refuse to take. I'm not knowledgeable about Northfield politics, but there has to be some sort of latent racism attached to the proposal. Northfield is certainly browner than it was five years ago. Perhaps residents are scared of an unavoidable trend.

Uncalculated casualties vs. calculated indifference.

So, for those who know me pretty well--and for those who don't--I have applied for a Fulbright scholarship to return to Sri Lanka next year. The fellowship would have me continuing research on the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project in Talawakelle. I'm not sure if I actually even really want to go back. Indeed, Sri Lanka was a beautiful country, and I established a life-long connection with my host family. However, I cannot forget the hundreds of lonely nights in my room, missing family and friends and hating and frustrated with everything foreign around me. Xenophobic maybe...I like to think that it was more culture shock than anything.

My fate is currently being controlled by two entities: the IIE, who will review and analyze my project proposal, and decide whether it is worthy of a few thousand dollars of funding. and more importantly, the US State Department, who are currently monitoring the political situation in Sri Lanka. Since 1983, Sri Lanka has been in a hot-cold civil war between the Sinhalese-majority government, and the minority terrorist organization (but default negotiating body) Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. While there was a ceasefire agreement signed in 2002, things heated up right after I left the country in late 2005. Since then, over 3,000 Sri Lankans have been killed, with hundreds of thousands displaced from homes. This has also furthered a rift between the Tamil and Muslim populations in the country.

It has arguably been the most heated and troubling conflicts in the world, behind the Iraq invasion and the Israel-Lebanon crisis of this summer. The country is it utter disarray. The LTTE has got remarkable terrorist connections all over the island, and have been able to execute crippling suicide bombings in the nation's capital of Colombo. Political assassinations have occurred on both sides. Meanwhile, the rising refugee crisis further complicates the ongoing Tsunami relief work along the coastlines, as NGOs continue to flood into the country to provide assistance. Meanwhile, the two sides, headed by hardnosed, nationalist conservative leaders, show no signs of removing the finger from the trigger. The war is not over territory. It is a guerrilla conflict between two corrupt regimes who wield selfish military and cultural power over an impoverished and faded population.

The country is not hurting for natural resources. There is an 89% literacy rate in the urban centers. It can draw life from the lush highlands, humid plains, or sparkling sea. However, it has not elected a beneficial leader or parliament since independence in 1948. It is truly a depressing situation.

I find myself wondering how I'll prepare myself to deal with the very real crisis. There's danger, sure. But, can I go with an impartial mindset. The short answer is yes. I find myself so utterly uncaring towards either side, I see no reason to pick sides. Mahinda Rajapakse has Bushian tendencies of possessing the industrial military complex, waging reckless and inhumane war in civilian-heavy areas of the North and East. The LTTE, more than the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, or even the Taliban, are a terrorist organization, with nothing but perverted evil coursing through their vains. No legitimate, innocent movement kidnaps children to be annihilated on the front. No body seeking peaceful autonomy will rape women and kill/kidnap husbands to establish a reign of fear and submission. There are no good guys.

Could I possibly live in a war-torn country without caring about the war?

Hell. I sort of live in a war-torn country that doesn't care about a war.)

Zombie Chickens!

I love home.

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/NEWS/611220399/1033/NEWS01

Break the bubble, come up for air.

My travels took me to the cities yesterday. Varsha and I left around 2 in the afternoon, and returned at around 6. Can't speak for her, but I had a great time, even though all we did was run various errands. She got her new MacBook at Southdale. I hate malls, especially during the holidays, but it was a fairly painless trip. We then traveled to Electric Fetus, the rallying point for hipsters and emo kids in the metro area. It's a pretty solid store, complete with a full selection of underground music, faux thrift store clothing, and a wide array of pieces and tobacco. I picked myself out a sturdy little piece that I hope can be a lifelong companion wherever I go. I'll try it out tonight. The neck seems a bit wide, so hits will be pretty harsh. I may try to filter it a bit if I find some time to mess with it. I got my sitar restrung by David, who was just a bizarre as he normally is. After stops at Target and Chipotle, we were home.

My night went swimmingly, with stops at Dacie's, Annie's, then back to Dacie's. The Cow would've probably been a stop had it not been overrun by St. Olaf students. There were literally no seats left in the entire joint, leaving Annie, Ward and the Seths free to abscond as much free popcorn as we wanted. Bed came early, and was welcomed as such.

Traversing the cities reminded me about how much I like having them as my nearest urban center in Minnesota. Mpls-St. Paul are about as managable as can be. They're big cities without a doubt, complete with the same music venues, restaurants, and shops as any other metropolis in the United States. Dinkytown's pretty sweet, and has the big university feel with all the chic restaurants. Uptown is one of the coolest neighborhoods in the nation. What differs Mpls-St. Paul from other cities is the complete lack of underwhelmance (not a word...yet). I can go there, drive to random stores downtown, and not fear getting lost or getting mugged. There's good diversity, and just like the rest of the USA, the Cities are becoming blessfully browned.

Today I've done nothing. I'll go to dinner at the co-op, and then probably head to wine night at the Tavern.

Pound in Town

Last night Becky arrived. We all went to El Tequila for a mighty Minnesota feast. El Tequila is one of the restaurants that make ex-pat Californians like myself cringe. It is supposedly owned and operated by an immigrant family here, but the food tastes anything like authentic Mexican food. Swimming in heavy sour cream and tasteless salsa, this is essentially ground beef dunked in tomato sauce and wrapped in a flour tortilla. Give me my tortas. Give me my chile relleno. Remove this this Tequila Burrito from my vision. It is not welcome here.

But, I ate it. We went to the Seths for awhile, and then Kelly and I went to Kate Clark's opposite party. It was far more low-key than I thought it would be. Basically an intimate affair with a few notable studio art majors from 2005 in a pretty nice apartment by Bridge Square. I enjoyed a delicious mixed drink with pomogranate seeds and gin that Kate made. Most notably, I met Oren, an alum from 2006, and one of the most thoughtful druggies I've ever encountered. This is a man who knows is mind altering substances, especially marijuana. He's been all over the world, sampled all different types of drugs, and has a lot to say on the science and cultural place of drugs in America. Mark Dyson and I found ourselves captivated by what he had to say. It was, frankly, a breath of fresh air from the sheer opulence and saturation that was toking up back home in SoCo.

To go on a bit of a digression, I've been considering the differences in pot culture in Northern California and Southern Minnesota. Don't get me wrong: I love coming back home. Undisputably, Nor Cal is home to some of the finest weed in the world, and smoking is prevalent and largely accepted among different social groups. You've got your experimenting teenagers, your hardcore dealers, your causal 9-to-5ers, and my personal favorite, the burnt out hippie who does it to reconcile that they now program computers. However, there's something about rolling huge blunts, going through half an eighth a day, and bragging about how you can smoke 8 bowls and not feel anything anymore that just seems to defeat the purpose. Minnesota's weed isn't terribly good, and one has to adjust as such. It's far more social here, though it seems to be confined to a smaller section of the general population. I think a lot of that has to do with the proliferation of lab drugs (acid, meth, PCP) that has ruined rural Minnesota.

But, I digress. After KC's party, I met up with Pound et al. at Dad's for about half an hour. We went to bed pretty soon after that. It was a fun night. I always love it when Becky's in town. We get along so well, and I don't think I've met a person who I could get along so easily with.

So, today. I'm going to the cities for a variety of errands with Varsha. Her computer "broke", and by "broke", I actually mean "dropped and a bit of plastic fell off the side, and the ethernet port got a bit dented". It's probably a $150 fix-up job. Instead, the South Asian Sensation is taking this oppurtunity to buy a new MacBook. Afterwards, I'm swinging by David's to have him re-string the sitar. Varsha promised me dinner, so I'll take her up on that offer, and then head back to Northfield for some fun at Annie's.

Comps is not on the radar.