Dove's Eye View

Hillary Clinton erupts in laughter

Entirely appropriate, derisive laughter at the mention of a right wing demagogue:

Think Progress » Hillary Clinton erupts in laughter at the mention of ‘John Bolton.’.

(Secretary of State Clinton says) "It is a recognition that certain countries that I think are kind of beyond the pale the rule of law hold people and subject them to long prison terms that are absolutely unfair and unwarranted."

I agree that North Korea is beyond the rule of law. But when I point a finger I have to notice that the other four fingers point back at me. Who else holds people for long prison terms without trial? Who else acts beyond the rule of law , bombing civilians without mercy and detaining people for prison terms that are absolutely unfair and unwarranted?

Yes it's true I've been posting pretty pictures and summer updates of late. You may suspect that advanced cancer has made me retreat into a cocoon where I hum positive affirmations and prattle about The Light. Sometimes I fear that my blog stance has become that of the Good Arab: docile, conciliatory, anxious to avoid commenting on atrocity, and eager to share recipes. Never mind the murder, have some hummus!

The love light of God heals all errors and mistakes. I do affirm that. And when I see hypocrisy I still call it out.

I erupt in laughter at the mention of John Bolton too, and unfortunately I also erupt in laughter at the idea that Hilary Clinton applies the rule of law fairly to Arabs. May God heal this situation because I cannot.

Obama's Speech: The Roundup

I appreciate the symbolism of Obama's speech in Cairo. It's a significant gesture and took some guts. I am also tickled that my president has a new nickname in the Arab world: Abu-Hussein. For the rest of it - well, we shall see.

Other people are better qualified to pontificate. Among the most interesting:

Al Jazeera report here, with reactions. (thanks to Alison Chaiken).

Journalist Helena Cobban was in Damascus, interviewing Khaled Meshaal of Hamas, and got his reactions.

The Arabist, an Arab journalist in Cairo, writes paragraph by paragraph response.

As'ad Abu-Khalil has extensive coverage. His long, no-line-break rant here, worth reading. His News Hour appearance here. His link to another commentator here . I don't care to take on Abu-Khalil's negative view of events, but he knows whereof he speaks, and his critique must be considered. He gives no quarter to corruption and abuse of power.

A Syrian reaction by Ehsani, published at Syria Comment.

Juan Cole's roundup and comment, invaluable.

Philip Weiss, who was there in the room with our President, having just returned from a visit to Gaza. Weiss has had a transformation in the last five years. Scales of prejudice and tribalism have dropped from his eyes.

Anthony Lowenstein says action matters, not words. (At Mondoweiss which is on fire these days).

Ali Abu-Nimeh provides further criticism.

Richard Silverstein likes the speech and has hope.

Colonel Patrick Lang, Middle East expert and retired US Army Intelligence senior officer, says Baby Steps.

BBC roundup of reactions, including Hamas, Hizbullah, Teheran, Israel and other parties. Alison Chaiken points out that the NY Times (and the BBC) quote negative Hamas statements, whereas Al Jazeera pulls a more positive quote from the same spokesman.

Tony Karon wrote this on Facebook:

The most important part of Obama's speech today, I thought, was his invoking of the Nakbah and the Holocaust. In fact, urging the Muslim world to reckon with the legacy of the Holocaust in understanding Israelis is far more honestly a legacy of South Africa than is Obama's false suggestion, in passing, that the ANC's struggle against apartheid was based on non-violent civil disobedience a la MLK... For the record, Bam, the ANC never renounced violence until the regime agreed to democracy... But here's my 2006 piece on What Arab Holocaust Deniers Should Learn from Apartheid.

Saifedean Ammous posted a note on Facebook which he permits me to reprint, below the jump.

Art against the Iraq war - Bitter Fruits

Laura McCallum, a sculptor and teacher in Brooklyn, NY, began a project six years ago to draw a tiny image in honor of each American killed in the Iraq war. The scroll now has 4,259 images on it, and takes up an enormous hallway.

Laura stood up with me at my marriage to David MacLeod, and more recently traveled with me to Lebanon and Syria in 2008.

Positivity: The Science

Four weeks ago I had a literary and spiritual crisis. I had just read a profoundly beautiful work of fiction that made me depressed about the future of humanity. The book is a masterpiece, and I felt there was no way I could write a story so well, nor could I stand to create a work that examined the cruelest impulses of human beings in such detail.

Upon finishing the book, I threw it on the bed and said aloud: I give up.

What did I mean? Give up on human beings. Give up trying to write fiction. What was the point? So many masterful writers describe war, poverty and suffering with such power (and many of them are friends or teachers of mine). I could not bear to write into such dark territory.

Furthermore, if the vision of human life I read in the book was true, then we're all screwed. What's the use of writing about signs of hope in the blog, even?

I called my friend Carolina De Robertis, who is a fiction writer of the highest caliber, and who is also wise in the ways of the soul. She came right over with her new baby and a photocopy of an article from The Sun Magazine:

The Science Of Happiness.

It's an interview with researcher Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina, who studies emotions and positive psychology. Dr. Fredrickson has developed a theory that positive emotions lead to novel, expansive, or exploratory behavior. One paragraph describes what I meant to do when I started this blog five years ago:

"Negative experiences can demand our attention so much that it takes self-discipline, willpower, and practice not to focus solely on them, and to look at all that's positive in our situations, as well. Negativity doesn't always feel like a choice; it feels like it just lands on you, and you have to deal with it. Positive emotions, I think, are more of a choice."

The interviewer asked "Isn't focusing on positive emotions a luxury available to only those who can afford it? What about people who are mired in conflict, or poverty, or awful social conditions?"

That has been my conundrum in this blog since the beginning. If I keep posting signs of hope while the world goes to hell, am I not just flaunting my own privilege and fortune? Perhaps I am even collaborating with evildoers if I chirp about kite-flying and school-painting while the forces of oppression commit great crimes, out of the way of the cameras.

Here is Fredrickson's answer:

"Positive emotions are available to everybody." Research conducted on the lives of slum-dwellers and prostitutes around the world suggests that "positive emotions have less to do with material resources than we might think; it's really about your attitude and approach to your circumstances.... "We think that having certain illnesses or physical limitations must be terrible all the time. But...you find that (people in extreme circumstances) still feel good when they are with their friends or families.... It's in the ordinary transactions of life that positive emotions grow."

My own experiences bear this out. I have had more than the usual share of trouble in the last eight years: illness, war, many deaths in the family in rapid succession. And yet even during chemo, even now with the shadow of cancer always hanging over me, I have moments, hours, days of great joy. Fredrickson also says,

"...Researchers have found some stunning correlations between expressing more positive emotions and living longer. My role is to ask, How does that happen? How do you go from experiencing these pleasant momentary states to living longer — perhaps even ten years longer?"

While she works on the research, I am going ahead with applying the theory. Yes the world is full of trouble. The Buddha famously said that all life is full of suffering. Our job while here is to refuse to be tossed away by the miseries. Our job is to keep breathing and be awake to the glory: the beauty: the power and joy of each moment of this life.

So I will continue to post signs of hope, and instructions for dinner, in order to keep myself and perhaps the rest of you going a little while longer.

Obama Foodorama: Mrs. Obama says processed food is bad

I read Obama Foodarama blog for fascinating analysis and information about the Obama administration's food policy. OF is media savvy and points out things about image and media presentation that I would miss.

This post tells us that Michelle Obama pronounces one of my rules of thumb:

First Lady On The Record At Bancroft Elementary School: Processed and Take-Out Food Is Bad, School Food Needs To Be Affordable, Accessible.

The First Lady was also promoting home cooking, as a way of encouraging better nutrition; teaching nutrition through cooking is another piece of the policy puzzle that the White House is interested in. The inclusion of the Kids Kitchen at the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll was just the beginning of this kind of initiative. --BTW, look for the processed food quote to be repeated ad infinitum for the next three and a half years.

It's not just that Michelle said this, it's the policy significance of the First Lady saying this. McDonald's, Burger King, and the Restaurant Association are not going to be happy. Thanks to Obama Foodorama for tracking these matters for us.

Marion Cunningham wrote a book several years back called "Lost Recipes" that urged readers to cook at home. Better nutrition, yes, but also reclaim family and friendship. It seems obvious, but in real life as we live it, it's hard to do: make meals regularly, share them with the people we love.

Small farm revival: Bay Area and beyond

  

Urban farm in Chicago, IL from Wikipedia Images.

Food security, local eating, food justice for the poor. This article in the Oakland Tribune describes a movement I see growing all around me. I have hope.

Security, business drive small farm revival - Inside Bay Area.

In counties around the Bay Area, there's a similar burst of agriculture in formerly empty fields, vacant lots and backyards.

Older farms, survivors of a long-gone pastoral era, are also facing a fresh future as new markets and policies support their operations. And a new generation of farmers dedicated to environmentally-friendly practices and equitable distribution of fresh foods are starting new endeavors with colorful names.

From 2002 to 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a surge in the growth of small farms in the Bay Area, with a 24 percent increase in Alameda County, 7 percent in Contra Costa County, 8 percent in San Mateo County, 4 percent in Santa Clara County, and 13 percent in Napa County. (The agency didn't survey San Francisco.)

It's a trend occurring nationwide, as the number of U.S. farms grew 4 percent during that time.

To Make Peace In The World

Advice for the President from my seven-year-old:

1. Don't litter.
2. Take down the war.
3. Save water.
4. Tell friends don't fight or I'll tell Mama and you'll be in a time out.
5. If somebody fights with you, take three steps back.
6. If you see a good teacher, tell him or her.

That just about covers it.

At Home In the Life of the Mind

Sharon Astyk at Casaubon’s Book defends domesticity - even for intellectuals.

the idea that these things are fundamentally split - that the life of the mind happens at the computer, maybe in the garden, but never, ever, while folding clothes, seems wrong, and kind of demeaning to all of us, male or female, who would rather not have the laundry piled up on the floor.

I think the choice not to find domestic life interesting is, in fact a choice. That is, I don’t find that laundry or dishes are inherently less interesting than, say, the annual business report - we have decided they are, but because we have done so, there’s probably actually much more to be said about how to do the dishes quickly and well, or how to manage laundry well than has been. The reality is that these things matter - they take up our time and energy and money, and the flow of those things - resources, time, personal and fossil energies, are important. I keep waiting for permaculturists to start writing books about domestic management, because I think this is territory insufficiently explored and of a great deal of use. Until they do, I’ll put it on my agenda.

I have been following Sharon for almost two years, not just because she is a peak oil "doomer" and permaculturist, but because she's as interested in domestic life as she is in literature and economics and the environment. She is an imperfect domestic goddess, like me - not Martha Stewart by any means, but concerned with the laundry and the getting of food and cleaning of cobwebs.

PS I decluttered the living room today and I just feel so happy every time I walk in there. Mission: declutter every room of the house, and keep 'em that way.

Google Rents Goats

Twitter world is aflutter: Google Rents Goats!

Official Google Blog: Mowing with goats.

This is old news to Californians, but we’re glad the rest of the world is interested. Goats are a good non-petroleum-fueled way to clear brush from fire-prone parks and open spaces. They fertilize, too!

One year when a son of mine attended a school in East Oakland, I was staggered to drive down the hill and see a phalanx of goats grazing in front of a Spanish-style church, part of an old college. The vista looked like Spain. In another block we were square in the middle of the ‘hood, with the liquor stores, the donut-tracks on the streets, the drug dealers, etc.

All our hills are goat-trimmed. The wildflowers in Redwood Park are gorgeous this year, and if you look closely you can see tiny dried-up pellets of goat turds strewn amongst the blossoms.

East Bay Regional parks also hire draft horses to log timber in steep areas where bobcats or big bulldozers would erode the hillsides.

Solar Geek President

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Originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream

Look I don't agree with Obama on everything; in fact, he's too centrist and cautious for my political taste. But I like his style. He's a skinny guy with a funny name, just like my own father, just like I was (I'm no longer skinny).

I love this picture of Obama on the roof with the solar panels. I spent a lot of time in childhood on roofs, or craning my neck at bridges and cathedrals, with my father, a civil engineer. Dad loved solar power, too. He worked on the structure of the solar array for NASA's space station as a research project while he was a professor at NC A&T State University.

Gobama!