Levantine

Hiplomacy cont.

2012-01-28T08:03:00.001-05:00

A while back, a young conservative wrote in the National Review questioning whether hip hop should be used for cultural diplomacy. I found his criticism to be shortsighted and culturally relativistic. Later, Alternet had another piece calling the use of hip hop as cultural diplomacy to be hypocrisy.

Fast forward a few months, and there are a few articles pushing back and pointing out the positive side of hiplomacy, the use of hip hop as cultural diplomacy.

-The Root offers an eloquent defense of hip hop diplomacy with some context of cultural diplomacy, with a look at the Jazz Ambassadors and concludes that Hip Hop is a logical progression for cultural diplomacy.

-HipHopDX has the first of a four-part series on Hip Hop Diplomacy.

Muralismo

2012-01-27T15:15:00.002-05:00

On a winter-turned-spring day, I ducked out of my house-turned-office and over to the Mexican Embassy-turned-Mexican Cultural Institute. An article in the Washington Post reminded me I needed to check out the Jorge Socias exhibit.
I was welcomed into the ornate edifice with a stunning mural that wound up the floors. I wandered in and out of the floors, through mahogany libraries that smelled of old world dust and a giant azulejo concert hall whose blue and white burned radiant in the afternoon light. The rooms oozed old Mexican colonial charm, and I was charmed. I miss Mexico, and its grandeur. Anway, the Socias exhibit was interesting, but I was taken by the mural that worked up the mahogany staircase. The mural, by Roberto Cueva Del Rio- a student of Diego Rivera, was a beauty. It depicted Mexican history, culture and festivals. I think Mexican muralism is an underutilized area of cultural diplomacy that Mexico could focus more efforts towards.

But the one panel that really caught my eye featured North and South America embracing, with leaders like Washington, Bolivar, San Martin, Marti, Lincoln and Juarez all looking on. The mural was painted in mid-1930s and is a reminder of FDR's Good Neighbor Policy and public diplomacy efforts to communicate to Latin America that the US wouldn't meddle in their affairs.

Dock Ellis' No-No

2012-01-27T07:57:00.003-05:00

Amazing

Old pics

2012-01-26T19:02:00.001-05:00

I realized I have some old pics I never published. Have at my pics from Washington State, Richmond, Charleston, DC & Baltimore

From Washington State

From Richmond

From Charleston

From DC

From Charm City

Supporting the troops

2012-01-26T18:50:00.002-05:00

Unlike Republicans who blithely talk about supporting troops, the Obama administration is actually doing something to help homeless veterans get off the streets and access to mental health facilities.

Remembering Havel

2012-01-25T08:13:00.003-05:00

There is a poignant story on the legacy of Czech President Vaclav Havel in the New York Review of Books, and a reminder of his dances with Truth:

Truth, by itself, is a malleable concept that depends for its truthfulness on who utters it, to whom it is said, and under what circumstances.

A Real SOTU

2012-01-24T23:48:00.001-05:00

#McDonaldsFail

2012-01-24T16:04:00.004-05:00

MickeyD's learned the hard way about trying to promote inorganic social media buzz:

A sponsored Twitter trend ended in one giant #fail for McDonald’s.The fast food chain began a friendly social media campaign meant to share the stories of McDonald’s commitment to fresh produce and meat was met with an onslaught of snark from the Twitterverse.The campaign, which sponsored the trends #meetthefarmers and #McDstories, aimed to share warm and fuzzy stories of where McDonald’s food comes from. Instead, many users hijacked the hashtag to voice their displeasure with the popular fast food chain.

Dated Dean, Married Kerry

2012-01-24T13:56:00.002-05:00

I remember this sticker around the 2004 Democratic primary and it seems to me an apt comparison to the current Republic primary. I was an early Dean supporter, after I saw him give a gravely, fierce speech on CSPAN with his "from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" line (originally from the bow-tied Paul Simon, but no matter). I loved his pugnacious style and his willingness to go right after Bush. As the campaign moved on, he caught a wind and seemed to be out in front. Unfortunately, the candidacy basically ran aground after Kerry's Iowa victory and the famous Dean Scream. There seemed to be an annoying anointment at play then, as if Kerry's two quick wins meant the contest was over.

I, among too many other Democrats, were willing to put aside our passion for Dean and go with the "smart choice" of Kerry. For years after the election, I still have held a what-if question about if Dean had been the nominee and how he would have gone for Bush's jugular rather than the waifey campaign that Kerry ran. A loss in fiery glory still seems somehow more appealing than a loss borne out of boringness.

All of this reminds me of the present Republican race because the GOP is equally bent on forcing out the president and is looking for the right person to do it. This is a question of head vs. heart. In their heads, Republicans know Romney is a better candidate, but he is sooo Kerry-esque. A rich guy who is square, out-of-touch and inspires no one. In their hearts, Republicans love the snarling Gingrich who they think will bring it full force at Obama, even if they run the risk of pulling down the entire edifice. While Gingrich scares me, because I ultimately think he is a dangerous demagogue, I can at least appreciate why the Republicans might be considering him. His fiery appeal is at least interesting and as a political junkie I would probably prefer an election battle between him and Obama for the sheer force of it. Choose a side, and let's turn it into a political street fight. I think Gingrich would probably bring out Obama's A-game more than a battle against the technocratic Romney.

Nation-whitewashing

2012-01-24T12:37:00.001-05:00

The shady side of nation-branding courtesy of Kazakhstan. Shoulda just let Borat run your campaign. It reminds me of an article in Harper's on the shady side of lobbying.

While I am on this tangent, there was a story done years ago on This American Life on "Hearts and Minds" that is still relevant and worth a listen.

Beard-2-Beard connections

2012-01-24T12:33:00.000-05:00

Great story in Tablet about an Orthodox shul in the Bronx ending up without a space, and receiving a place to worship from a local mosque. Only in America? Perhaps. Only in New York? Perhaps.

That which disgusts...

2012-01-23T10:04:00.001-05:00

Attracts moi. Strangely enough, I found myself craving stinky tofu over the weekend. On that note: an interesting book on all that disgusts and how it figures into the human existence. Thanks JB.

Spellling Bee

2012-01-23T08:45:00.003-05:00

A cute little list of the 11 funniest flubs in the Spelling Bee. Thanks Emma for sending it my way.

A modest proposal

2012-01-21T15:29:00.000-05:00

A great article about modesty and immodesty with regard to the Ultra-Orthodox. Thanks Abba:

Is it possible for a religious demand for modesty to be about anything other than men controlling women’s bodies? From recent events in Israel, it would certainly seem that it is not.

Last month, an innocent, modestly dressed 8-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, living in Beit Shemesh, described being spat on and vilified by religious extremists — all men — who believed that she did not dress modestly enough while walking past them to the religious school she attends. And more and more, public buses in Israel are enforcing gender segregation imposed by ultra-Orthodox riders in and near their neighborhoods. Woe to the girl or woman who refuses to move to the back of the bus.

This is part of a larger battle being waged in Israel between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of Israeli society over women’s place in society, over their very right to have a visible presence and to participate in the public sphere.

What is behind these deeply disturbing events? We are told that they arise from a religious concern about modesty, that women must be covered and sequestered so that men do not have improper sexual thoughts. It seems, then, that a religious tenet that begins with men’s sexual thoughts ends with men controlling women’s bodies.

This is not a problem unique to Judaism. But the Talmud, the basis for Jewish law, offers a perhaps surprising answer: It places the responsibility for controlling men’s licentious thoughts about women squarely on the men.

Put more plainly, the Talmud says: It’s your problem, sir; not hers.

The ultra-Orthodox men in Israel who are exerting control over women claim that they are honoring women. In effect they are saying: We do not treat women as sex objects as you in Western society do. Our women are about more than their bodies, and that is why their bodies must be fully covered.

In fact, though, their actions objectify and hyper-sexualize women. Think about it: By saying that all women must hide their bodies, they are saying that every woman is an object who can stir a man’s sexual thoughts. Thus, every woman who passes their field of vision is sized up on the basis of how much of her body is covered. She is not seen as a complete person, only as a potential inducement to sin.

Of course, once you judge a female human being only through a man’s sexualized imagination, you can turn even a modest 8-year-old girl into a seductress and a prostitute.

At heart, we are talking about a blame-the-victim mentality. It shifts the responsibility of managing a man’s sexual urges from himself to every woman he may or may not encounter. It is a cousin to the mentality behind the claim, “She was asking for it.”

So the responsibility is now on the women. To protect men from their sexual thoughts, women must remove their femininity from their public presence, ridding themselves of even the smallest evidence of their own sexuality.

All of this is done in the name of the Torah and Jewish law.

But it’s actually a complete perversion. The Talmud, the foundation of Jewish law, acknowledges that men can be sexually aroused by women and is indeed concerned with sexual thoughts and activity outside of marriage. But it does not tell women that men’s sexual urges are their responsibility. Rather, both the Talmud and the later codes of Jewish law make that demand of men.

It is forbidden for a man to gaze sexually at a woman, whether beautiful or ugly, married or unmarried, says the Talmud. Later Talmudic rabbis extended this ban even to “her smallest finger” and “her brightly colored clothing — even if they are drying on the wall.”

To make these the woman’s responsibility is to demand that Jewish women cover their hands, and that they not dry their clothes in public. No one has ever said this. At least not yet.

The Talmud tells the religious man, in effect: If you have a problem, you deal with it. It is the male gaze — the way men look at women — that needs to be desexualized, not women in public. The power to make sure men don’t see women as objects of sexual gratification lies within men’s — and only men’s — control.

Jewish tradition teaches men and women alike that they should be modest in their dress. But modesty is not defined by, or even primarily about, how much of one’s body is covered. It is about comportment and behavior. It is about recognizing that one need not be the center of attention. It is about embodying the prophet Micah’s call for modesty: learning “to walk humbly with your God.”

Eight-year-old Naama could teach her attackers a thing or two about modesty.

-Dov Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi, is the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

Walters Charm in Charm City

2012-01-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

I had a bit of a check-out day on thursday, I was given a day away for all my hard work for the AMA process, so I headed up to Baltimore to take in some art. The day got off to an auspicious start as I ran to catch the metro, only to notice a few stops later that I had gone in the wrong direction to Ft. Totten. I counted the stops and realized it was closer to go back down the red line some four stops to Union Station than go back the way I came, so I switched lines and rode back down.

I arrived to Union Station and began to bask. I snapped pictures of the capital and archways. I wandered into a cigar store, and a woman was buying a pack of djarum cloves. I stalked her. I waited outside the store and pounced. I explained to her that it was dangerous for me to buy a pack, but I was wondering if she could give me just one. She laughed and handed one over. Harry termed me a "vulture" but I prefer "assassin." I got myself a Punch Champion, a short maduro cigar to save for later.

I walked my way down to the train, past the Pullman Marco Polo and groups of kiddies on a field trip. As I boarded the train, I thought back about previous rush hour commutes, like in Chennai- surrounded by black-dark hued commuters in colorful dhoti-sheets wrapped like Indian sarongs (in my mind, a South Indian kilt). It is when I am in motion that I am best able to tap in the the reservoir of memories. It is like something is jarred loose, and I begin to recall.

The train wire lines above on the way out of Union station looked like metal cobwebs as we pulled away.

And I stretched and shook off the dusty malaise. The yogi on the train. I reached up and grasped onto the coat rack and hung like a stretching monkey. I laughed at memories of my friend Seth hanging dangling in the Shanghai metro. He would hang from the bars, with the Shanghainese staring in a circle around him at this bizarre foreign spectacle.

We passed a blue water tower that hovered like a giant killer octopus, ready to destroy Hakodate.

We arrived into Penn Station, and I walked down Charles through Mt. Vernon. I stopped by the Washington Monument to enjoyed my perfumed clove. The tree opened its palm and dead branches cast nets over the park.

I made my way to Charm City's most charming collection at the sublime Walters Museum. I had read the the Walters Museum has one of the best art collections in the U.S., and I am happy to report on the veracity of such statements: the Walters collection is one of the finest I have seen anywhere.

I wandered my way past gilded clocks showing the gilded glory of the Sun King, with a dour bust of Voltaire peering down. There were wonderful delicate porcelains from a glorious age. Marco Polo compared the white porcelain to the interior of the marine snail "porcella" and that is where we get the term. There were cases of vestal vases with gilded trim, and vases with elephant faces with gilded trunks. And the nephrite green koush for the imperial czar's ladled drink.

And I don't know what I treasured more, the contents of the exquisite cases or the delicate silence that engulfed me.

The Walters collection had one of the finest collection of pocket watches I have ever seen. Pearled; gilded filligree; enameled watches of the Judgment of Paris. For once, I was envious.

A passage that caught my eye from the Collector's Study, a cavernous room of delights:

"Two aspects of these objects are celebrated: the artist's God-like creative 'genius' (or its less exalted ingenuity) that generate the idea, and also the 'art' that it took to complete it."

The Chamber of Wonders bore the words: "To Virtue, Add Knowledge"

This was a collection that ran the whole spectrum of collected artistic wealth and splendor. From langobard golden crosses from Pannonia to treasures of Byzantium; from Iznik Turkish hanging lamps to rock crystal Mughal daggers. I was stunned by one of the best collections I have encountered in this world, a notion I don't throw around lightly, but a phrase borne out of experience.

And I saw my own likeness in two pieces (craven images, perhaps). One in a portrait of a brother from another Egyptian Roman mother; the other in a statue of a Mediterranean-influneced buddha.

And of course, I found a PD side. William and Henry Walters were initiated to Oriental Art at various Expos, where they bought scores of objects. William Walters served as the Honorary Commission at the Vienna Universal Exhibition, and while there he bought up scores of Chinese porcelain from from the uncle of the Shah of Persia.

The exhibit offered a nice reminder of what the expos meant to a smaller world. Like introducing Japan to the world at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Expo. From Tokyo, some 7,000 crates were shipped to the American west coast, and then the crates traveled across the country by rail to Philly. Japan built two temple structures from lumber sent directly from Japan.

I actually found it hard to come up with enough superlatives for the museum, when each layer of the collection draws you deeper into a magnificent world and leaves you in front of supreme quality. The collection was a tad overwhelming but not overly so. In short, the Walters makes for a grand day of delights.

I left the museum late in the afternoon and had a nice lunch at a charming cafe down the street called David and Dad's Cafe. A held-over egg salad sandwich with a side of red potato salad, and a waitress that called
me "hon" with a smile.

From lunch, I made my way past a "6 degrees of Francis Bacon (From Aesop to Virginia Woolf) and over to a subaltern used book store, and picked up copies of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Mario Vargas Llosa's Time of the Hero. I am always a sucker for used book stores.

I went in to the Peabody Institute, where I listened from behind closed doors to a symphony practicing, and sat in the atrium of the grandiose library, thinking of the genius on the wall outside:

"The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment." -Keppler

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them." -Galileo

My own thoughts while sitting in the beautiful library related back to public diplomacy:

What is public diplomacy if not the diplomacy of the people. Who we are, and how we communicate. Diplomacy of the public in the public sphere. Diplomacy of the public, for the public and by the public.

I made my way back to the Washington Monument park to enjoy my Punch, until incessant beggars drove me away from the park. I regrouped to meet my old friend Andy at the Brewer's Art, a cavernous bar with its own wonderful beer and a catacomb to enjoy it. We caught up as I heard about his recent trip to Hong Kong and his recent engagement. As we were heading out, we bumped into a Goucher alumni gathering. With free drinks for alumni, I quickly became part of the Goucher Class of '03. We ended up hanging out with some of Andy's old friends and having dinner at the Owl Bar, an old speakeasy at a nearby hotel. Apparently, if the stained-glass Owl's eyes were lit, libations could be found; if the eyes were off, the fuzz was about. I liked the stained-glass words:

"A wise old owl sat on a rock
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard"

Working from home

2012-01-20T10:55:00.002-05:00

Thanks NL for the article on working from home.

The ties that bind

2012-01-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Great, Charles Taylor, one of Africa's worst tyrants, was on the CIA payroll. Nice work, guys.

The Case for Obama 2012

2012-01-18T21:22:00.002-05:00

Andrew Sullivan has the best case I have read for Obama's 1st term. Not one idealism, but hard practical facts of moderate accomplishment. Frustrations and false starts included, he makes a solid case for Obama 2012.

Martha and Me

2012-01-18T20:19:00.001-05:00

"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give."-Winston Churchill

An oft-quoted aphorism on this fair spot, but one that I love. Now that I am filling out my life again with work, yoga classes and other assorted things, I am returning to an activity I like to do: volunteering. I have found various ways to spend my time in the pursuit volunteer work.

In Houston, I played big brother to a group of Somali teen refugees. It was always a trip driving into their neighborhood, passing from Black and Latino apartments into Little Mogadishu with women in colorful robes carrying baskets on their heads and babies slung to their sides in H-town. I used to take the teens out to do teen activities like play basketball or go swimming, then we would try out a different fast food so they got a taste of American teenagerhood.

Back in DC, I used to volunteer to teach the U.S. Citizenship exam. I loved that program, as I used to help immigrants study for the test. We would mix civics and Americana as we would chat about what it means to be an American. I used to love when my newly-minted U.S. citizen-students would come back in after they passed, with their certificates and huge grins, and would share a little hope with the ones still studying.

This time around, I am volunteering at Martha's Table. Martha's Table is an organization that helps at-risk children, families and the homeless with educational programs, services, food and clothing. I am helping deliver meals to the needy.

I arrived in the late afternoon to help stock the vans. I chatted with a fellow named Jimmy, who had been volunteering for a few years. He spoke a lot about what volunteering means, and what the program means to those it serves. He said something that gave me chills: for those who the meals program serves, for most of the day, they are treated like dirt by society around them; in this case, this may be the only part where people treat them with any sort of dignity and respect. We chatted a bit about the value of time, and how much that time matters.

Anyways, we loaded up the vans, and I went off in a van with a few other volunteers near 4th st to hand out hot meals. There was a long line of people waiting when we arrived. Not everyone in the line was homeless, some just were struggling to get by and needed the food. We quickly set up shop and started handing out sandwiches to to the line that while they waited for a big plate of meat and rice. We did so for about 45 minutes, until all had received a meal and a bag of sandwiches to tide them over. People were friendly and appreciative, and we had a bit of banter with the guys. The food was ladled out, and the sandwiches distributed, and then we packed back up and headed back.

We returned, and unloaded the van, and I headed off back up 14th st from Cardozo back into Columbia Heights. At this point, I was hungry so I headed over to Sicky Fingers, a veggie/vegan bakery. I figured I had earned a dinner out, so I got a faux tuna melt with daiya cheese. It had them throw tempeh bacon on it for an extra treat. It was actually pretty good. Kind of gooeyier than a normal tuna melt, but a welcome treat for someone who hasn't had one of those in a while. And the tempeh bacon wasn't bad either. I am finding that when I am eating faux meat products, I tend to gravitate towards faux non-kosher meat like tempeh bacon or tofurky ham, just because I like the novelty of faux unkosher meat.

Muslim America in the public sphere

2012-01-18T15:23:00.001-05:00

The project My Fellow American is hosting a town-hall style program at the Newseum where a live audience and online viewers will get to discuss religious liberty, interfaith relations and Muslim-American life. Nice to see such dialogue taking place, quite a good use of the public sphere. Habermas would be pleased. Festivities begin at 7:30pm tonight.

Declining decline

2012-01-18T13:14:00.001-05:00

"The further back you look, the further forward you can see."
-Winston Churchill

Robert Kagan has a great article in TNR on the myth of American decline. He offer a lot of perspective and context on the notion of decline as compared to previous eras and situations. Although a bit long, it is worth a read.

Backpacking bibimbap

2012-01-18T10:00:00.004-05:00

Luv the Korean p2p gastrodiplomacy with backpacking bibimbapers

Obama-White 2012

2012-01-18T08:15:00.001-05:00

This video sums up exactly why Obama should be re-elected.

Middle East Cyberwar

2012-01-17T17:20:00.001-05:00

Just slightly under the radar, there is a fascinating hacker war going back-and-forth between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Annoying anointments

2012-01-17T15:51:00.001-05:00

I am trying to figure out why all the news media is circling around Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee. The media echo seems to be that he is all but crowned as the Republican presidential candidate. Hello...he barely won Iowa. 8 votes, and even that was in question. Then he won his backyard New Hampshire. This is the same media echo that made Kerry the all-but-the-nominee after his Iowa and New Hampshire wins. Stop shaping the news and just report it; let the race run on and play itself out.

Cooking up Change

2012-01-16T14:01:00.001-05:00

Fascinating story in NPR on the food and the civil right movement. Thanks Abba.

V-AMA Day

2012-01-16T13:54:00.001-05:00

That would be "Victory-American Music Abroad Day."

Today is our deadline for applications, and they are pouring in. The very question of whether we would get enough applications has been the bane of my American Voices existence for months now. The previous administrators, Jazz at Lincoln Center had some 3 months and Burson-Marsteller working on the PR; we had 5 weeks (including Xmas/New Years) and moi. ~~We have just about matched them, with an over/under bet on the books to see if we trump.~~ We burned past them, and looks like we doubled the apps.

With time short, we aimed at networks. Good ol' fashioned PUBD 504: who are your partners, how do you multiply your message. We advertised in music magazines aimed at particular genres, and tapped into networks by contacting music associations, record labels and talent management, music social networks, State and City Arts Councils, artistic foundations and institutes, and civil society organizations, and got them to help multiply the message. We reached out the old-fashioned way by making tons and tons of phone calls and sent scores of emails. And we got the networks to spread the message in e-blasts and social media outlets, tweet by tweet, facebook post by facebook post. We clawed our way to get the message out. And it seems to have worked.

Nothing like a victory to rip you from the jaws of malaise. I now know what I had been missing for some time: the sense of accomplishment. Not platitudes of praise, but good ol' fashioned Tiger mother accomplishment. Those who read this blog know of my perpetual pondering of Maugham's ephemeral question of the search for fulfillment. Perhaps I have an answer: achievement borne out of hard work creates accomplishment that is fulfillment.

As I smoked a cognac-sprayed hand-rolled cigar on the top of Meridian Hill, basking in the sun's soft light, I thought of Phadrus' joy for that which is Quality and felt a sense of ebullience that I had been without for a while. There is still much work to be done on this project, but these are solid first steps.

I will end this particular post by paraphrasing Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill, which was playing on my ipod:
Climbing up on Meridian Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Jeanne D'Arc was primed for fight
She was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
I just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
"Son," she said
"Grab your things,I've come to take you home."

SoCal Paradise

2012-01-16T00:05:00.001-05:00

Digging through the flower pot of history, the LA Times seems to have unearthed a wonderful essay on life in Southern California by James Cain.

Nothing changes. Summer follows Winter without a Spring, Winter follows Summer without a Fall. The citrus trees flower and bear all at the same time: you never get a riot of blossoms as you do in Western Maryland when the apple-trees are in bloom, or a catharsis of stinking, primitive accomplishment, as you do in Delaware when the tomatoes go to the cannery. Here the oil wells flow right along, so do the orange trees, so does everything. It is terrifying.

I had been wrestling with nostalgia of SoCal of late. I miss the endless possibilities of newness that Los Angeles offered; that California offered; that the West Coast offered. Far away from the well-trod DC. But I am also reminded of the words of Joseph Conrad: "vanity plays lurid tricks with memory." And I am also marveling at my first winter in a while and enjoying the crispness of the cold (so long as it is blue-cold, not grey-cold).

A Burmese Gorbie

2012-01-15T23:46:00.002-05:00

A fascinating article in FP on Burma's new president, who is pulling his best Gorbachev impression.

Luncheon of the Boating Party

2012-01-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

Barnes reportedly offered a blank check for it. But in the end, Duncan Phillips bought it for an immense sum of $125,000 in 1923. Phillips wrote in his journal he was afraid that the there would be riots in the streets of Paris- that the Left Bank would be aflame- when Parisians found that he had purchased it away from its original home. The fascinating thing I heard the docent say was that this painting was essentially a declaration of the modern man. In a canvas the likes reserved for royalty and religious scenery, Renoir chose to fill his corners with the banal impressions of modern life.

Years ago, when I was probably last at the Phillips Collection, I walked up to a girl and declared that she was more beautiful than anything in the entire museum. Ever the romantic, Don Pablo Quixote. Moira was her name, and she was a beauty. I got to go out with this Dulcinea once for my boldness.

"Every thing looks perfect from far away."
-Iron and Wine, "Such Great Heights."

America is number one

2012-01-14T15:19:00.000-05:00

"Kill them, yes, but don't pee on them."
-Nelson Strasser

I had been thinking the strange irony of the same thought.

"Cuius testiculos habes, Habes cardia et cerebellum"; If you have their balls, you have their hearts and minds."-Bytes

Perhaps. Nice find, JB.

Bubble Tea Diplomacy

2012-01-14T14:45:00.002-05:00

Branding of bubble tea as Taiwanese culture. I am still waiting for the bubble tea fight that I recommended.

Ma ma hoo hoo

2012-01-14T08:46:00.001-05:00

For long-time readers of this blog, you may remember that "ma ma hoo hoo" 馬馬虎虎 was my favorite Chinese word (it means "so-so"). Anywho, fun transition to noting that Ma Ying-jeo won the Taiwanese election, and I approve. Any president who makes gastrodiplomacy a centerpiece of the country's public diplomacy gets my vote.

The Onion on the BCS

2012-01-13T16:47:00.000-05:00

Oh the Onion Hysterical as always. Nice find, Danny:

NEW ORLEANS—During a postgame ceremony Monday in which the Bowl Championship Series controversially awarded the Alabama Crimson Tide the 2012 NCAA championship trophy, the increasingly unpopular selection system proceeded to endorse Rick Santorum for president; spit on Samuel Carson, an 89-year-old World War II veteran holding the American flag for the ceremony; and then kick Carson's wife Rose down the stairs of the trophy-presentation platform.

"As we present Alabama with the national championship—despite the fact that they just defeated a team that beat them in their home stadium earlier this season—we have only one regret: that our great friend, Osama bin Laden, could not be here to see this," the BCS's statement following the Sugar Bowl read in part. "Congratulations to the Crimson Tide football team. Also, the BCS hates blacks, Latinos, and Asians."

"And gays," it continued. "We do, however, love the Taliban."

In an announcement earlier this year that it would award the national championship to whichever team emerged victorious from the BCS Championship Game—blatantly neglecting worthy teams such as one-loss Oklahoma State—the BCS also called for tax increases on the working class, open-pit strip-mining in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the resumption of unrestricted whaling in the Pacific Ocean.Moreover, the BCS said it supports Sharia law, hopes everyone gets cancer, and considered awarding the national championship to Notre Dame just to see the look on everyone's "stupid, fat-fuck face."

"Alabama, in achieving this victory against another SEC team from their own division, even though they did not even qualify for their own conference championship game, has shown they are true BCS champions," the organizer of five bowl matchups announced on its website Tuesday morning. "They deserve it more than anyone! Also, Adolph Hitler had some really good ideas."

With many critics saying this season more than any other has highlighted the problems inherent in the bowl system, BCS officials claimed that kids should always be struck with leather belts if they get even slightly out of line, and that arguments will always be part of the culture of college football."Debate over who 'deserves' the national championship will never die, unlike these tiny 2-day-old kittens I am crushing in my fists," BCS spokesman Charles Campbell said. "In a way, you can never really determine a national champion in college football any more than you can rape a woman who dresses in a short skirt and high heels. It just isn't realistically possible."

Defenders of the current system point to the fact that the BCS computer has numerically proven Alabama is the undisputed national champion, as can be verified in detailed documents that also reportedly refute global climate change, provide a workable economic plan based on a national policy of child slavery, and outline a solution for global thermonuclear war that would allow what it called an "acceptable" survivability rate of 9 percent for the East Coast of North America.

Still, anger and confusion over the BCS remain."Naturally people have a right to be upset with what the BCS has done here, between its picking Alabama, declaring the era of Japanese internment to be a shining moment in American history, and saying James Earl Jones should be murdered execution-style,"

ESPN football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. "At the very least, it's time to tweak the system again.""You have to admit," Herbstreit added, "any selection system that gives three-loss Wisconsin a top-10 ranking is absolutely detestable."

Sweet Potato Fridays

2012-01-13T14:10:00.000-05:00

Using the privileges of a virtual office to do work over sweet potato pie at the Potter's House. Such is friday.

Big things in Burma

2012-01-13T13:09:00.002-05:00

Wow, things have been moving at a pace of fevered change in Burma as the government signed a peace deal with the Karen rebels, and released political prisoners. Now, the US is resuming full diplomatic relations. If this all holds up, big kudos to the Obama admin including Sec o' State Clinton for their role bringing Burma in from the cold.

The cricketer who would be king

2012-01-13T09:51:00.001-05:00

FP has an interesting article on the Imran Khan phenomenon, the rise of the Pakistani cricket champ-turned-politician. Khan is making waves in the Pakistani political sea.

Taiwan off to the polls

2012-01-13T08:53:00.000-05:00

My former stomping ground Taiwan is off to the polls on saturday in what is going to be a squeaker. President Ma of the KMT is in a closely-contested race with Tsai Ing-Wen of the DPP. The GlobalPost has a nice review of the race, but I am not sure I really buy the analysis that this election is coming down to economic issues. Anywho, I am more blue (KMT) than green (DPP) in that I like Ma's pragmatic policy to China over the more belligerent DPP stand. I think Taiwan does better by not causing China to lose face, and then they can go about their business.

The reality in Taiwan is that only the fringes want outright unification or outright independence. The vast majority in the middle want to preserve Taiwan's status quo. The DPP essentially argues that the more Taiwan shows it independence in public diplomacy, culture and policy, the more the international community will appreciate that they have a separate identity from mainland. Meanwhile, the KMT takes a more pragmatic approach of conciliation with China on the premise that the situation is a long-term struggle. To the KMT, if Taiwan doesn't piss off mainland to the point that it is left to its own devices, and has its economy roaring (at a 10percent clip last year), then ultimately it can outlast the Beijing regime. My kwai is on the KMT strategy, as I think it recognizes the reality that a healthy relationship with China will offer Taiwan more opportunities on the global stage, and will allow them to continue to carve out their own autonomy.

A Quixotic Reminder

2012-01-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

"Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be!" -Don QuixoteAnd a happy, happy birthday wish to Sancho Harranza!

Wages of Fairness

2012-01-12T10:42:00.002-05:00

My friend Aimee Ginsburg has an interesting article on the fight to be fair (lightly complected) in India.

A. Pope

2012-01-10T17:51:00.002-05:00

"Know then thyself,
Presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man."
-Alexander Pope

Thanks Sancho Harranza, for the best birthday gift in a long time.

A place to lay my head

2012-01-10T10:04:00.001-05:00

A great op-ed by Elisabeth Eaves on the peripatetic trying to settle. I can relate. She sounds like she is a bit farther down the path than I am.

Advermation

2012-01-08T08:24:00.003-05:00

Ezra Klein has an interesting article on the role of advertising in the communication of information. Thanks, Harry.

tres-deuce

2012-01-07T10:09:00.000-05:00

God grant you many and happy years,
Till, when the last has crowned you,
The dawn of endless days appears,
And heaven is shining round you.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

It is indeed my birthday, and I am celebrating it in one of the least-exotic locales in recent memory. If 30 was in El Salvador, then 32 is in the Salvadorean part of DC. 'Tis okay, I could use a birthday of tranquil passing after some more exciting affairs. I rang in the bday with my little brother Harry and my new roomie Leslie. We popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and washed it down with Cusqueña beer (the Gold of the Incas) which I found just for Harry. This was the first time I got to hang out with her without the long arm of the law about. Long story, I will explain that one at a later date.

32 is in the midst of process, so it feels pretty even keel. So...on with the 4 bday questions:

1) If you could have your b-day dinner with anyone (living, dead), who would it be?-Sidney Bosley

2) Best b-day ever?-11. I had a Redskins Super Bowl party, and the Skins won. Decades later, they aren't anywhere close to such glory.

3) Where were you last year on your bday?-Bangkok, getting a Shivisa for my b-day.

4) Where will you be next year for your bday?-Colombia, at the Wandering Paisa Hostel

Santorum is #2!

2012-01-04T14:09:00.000-05:00

What a rallying cry! Santorum is #2! Thanks to RE for pointing out the hysterical reality that Santorum is dropping a deuce on the electoral map.

Seborga

2012-01-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

The tiny Princely State of Seborga, a breakaway principality in Italy, looks like it needs some public diplomacy. I think I will offer my services.

Whine, the pubescent country

2012-01-03T08:43:00.002-05:00

Writing in FP, Eve Fairbanks has a good piece on South Africa's foreign (and domestic) policy and its teenager-like erratic behavior.

Harvest of Shame

2012-01-02T18:24:00.001-05:00

My brother Harry sent me this classic documentary "Harvest of Shame" by Edward R. Murrow. Great find, Harry.

The Israelis Control Hollywood

2012-01-02T12:18:00.001-05:00

Haha, not really. But there have been some interesting Israeli crossover hits on American television. The LA Times has an interesting article about the phenomenon.

On "Civilization"

2012-01-01T21:12:00.001-05:00

"Extending the Blessings of Civilization to our Brother who Sits in Darkness has become a good trade and has paid well, on the whole, and there is money in it yet if carefully worked- but not enough in my judgment to make any considerable risk advisable. The People that Sit in Darkness are getting too scarce- too scarce and too shy...They have become suspicious of the Blessings of Civilization."
-Mark Twain, 1901

Taiwanese gastrodiplomacy cont

2012-01-01T13:51:00.001-05:00

I think it is fair to say I had a bit of an influence on Taiwan's continued gastrodiplomacy push. The Government Information Office even has a new website to promote Taiwan's cuisine as culinary diplomacy.

Today

2012-01-01T11:48:00.001-05:00

"Yesterday's yesterday while to-day's here,
To-day is to-day till to-morrow appear;
To-morrow's to-morrow until to-day's past-
And kisses are kisses as long as they last."
-Oliver Herford

Welcome 2012. Come what ye may.

Sunset 2011

2011-12-31T23:30:00.000-05:00

The year began in an auspicious fashion, dancing in the revelry of the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan. In search of a visa that would take me to the inverted pyramid that is India, I was smack in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. The New Year's day revelry came and went, and I was on my way to Bangkok by way of ferry to Surat Thani and night bus into Bangkok. I arrived to Bangkok in the early hours of the morn and found my way to the farangbang ghetto that is Koh San Road. Bangkok let me do a lil Thai gastrodiplomacy, as I lived on yellow curry, red bull, papaya salad and pad thai. I felt the presence of my Nanny from years past as I got my Shivisa for my bday.

From Bangkok

I got out Bangkok's brawl and on to the old imperial capital Ayutthaya for some crumbled stupas and safron-wrapped buddhas.

From Ayutthaya

I returned and ended the extension of my Tradewinds chapter, and I headed on to the massive subcontinent. I arrived in the late of night, to cold weather I scarcely expected. The maruti sped out of the airport, and a Hindi high-pitched song welcomed my return to India.

I arrived to Delhi to work with INDIA Future of Change to push Indian public diplomacy in new directions. I stayed in under the auspices of one Venkat, a friend and a mensch with little compare. And I ate delicious curries, spicy chilies and sweet almond paste squares with their silver sliver still on.

While in India, I went on barefoot pilgrimages that brought me close to the face the Muse and her truths. I visited sprawling literature festivals in cities of pink. I hobnobbed with the Indian high class over polo, and I ate street food with the street (shaved too). I bathed in holy lakes, and dipped my toes in holy rivers. And I watched a holy victory in the cricket world cup, and danced on car rooftops in the center of Delhi.

India changed me, and my gastrodiplomacy habits as well, as I became a vegetarian- something that has remained with me a year on. India I love with little compare. It is a full onslaught, but it is brimming with such warmth and excitement that it is without equal.

From Rishikesh

But all dreams need to end, and I left Hindustan to return to Ihla Formosa. My return to Taiwan proved in some ways more meaningful and fulfilling in the short spell than the entire previous chapter. I got to see the mark I left on the little island. And I garnered what seemed to be some truths that I have been trying, in fits and starts, to implement since I returned.

I returned to the PNW, to stay with my little sister in the Emerald City. That proved a tad tricky, and I cut my stay short and returned to bounce around my former haunts in Lalaland.

That proved to be a wonderful time of seeing a world that was once mine, but no longer. I played the Phantom of Annenberg, and stopped in to witness graduations.

From Lalaland, I returned to fair Washington. My return proved a tad tricky as well. I bounced around the city, networking and building a network. This worked to varying degrees. I found a bit of what I was looking for not to exist, so I worked on making alternative arrangements. Things that started off well, trickled to a slow pace and I descended into limbo.

Limbo proved difficult as I found myself occupying a world not my own. I saved a pound of gold, but it cost a pound of flesh from my own psyche. But the stint in suburbia had its own rewards such as spending a lot of quality time with family, and I put things in place to help me move forward. I started a new job that practically had my name written on it. I began as Director of Communications for American Voices, and hit the ground running on our projects of cultural diplomacy. And I have a few things in the works that have longer-term designs in focus.

While it started off in an immaculate fashion, 2011 did not prove to be as exciting as some of the years passed. If you asked me where I would be at the end of 2011, I can't say I expected to be living in DC. I can't say yet if I am happy with this, but I am happier at present, and willing to give some more time and patience to see if But 2011 did seem to offer some steps forward, and I guess that is positive as well. 2012 starts off as a year of process and also some potential.

I will conclude the year with a poem I purchased at the poem store upon my return to Seattle, to America. The words still resonate with me today:

Yeats

Sudden end to verse, sudden

end to the roads we travel,

the dust kicked up, the thread

unraveled. There is a bell,

it is brass, it sounds

as long as the verses last,

but the echo carries on;

line to line, page to page,

further along. Hushed figure

on the road. Retreating,

but not gone.

-M. Clark

Poem Store

April, 2011

Let Poland be Poland

2011-12-31T02:00:00.000-05:00

Former VOA Associate Director for Central Programming Ted Lipien has a nice piece in his blog on Let Poland be Poland, and he quotes my work on the program. He even writes about it in Polish below the English. What a multilingual week I am having. First it was Dutch, now Polish. Dzięki, Ted!

White Blank Pages

2011-12-30T15:39:00.002-05:00

On the last working day of the year, I am forever reminded of the scene from Buenos Aires of the pages of old day planners ripped out and thrown out the windows of office buildings across the city. The pages fluttered down like leaves on the breeze, or white butterflies gently riding the wind.

Make Chai, Not War

2011-12-30T08:31:00.001-05:00

In one of the more original PD ventures, the State Dept is sending an Indian-American comedy troupe to India for some comedic public diplomacy. The Make Chai, Not War tour is set to kick off in January and will visit a number of Indian cities. State's spokesperson Victoria Nuland stated:

"The reason we decided to support this tour is because, among the things that they are known for is their talk about religious tolerance, about the importance of breaking down prejudices and about the positive experiences they had growing up as Indian-Americans in the United States."

I love the idea. I wonder if State ever considered sending the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour on pd rounds as well.

It kinda reminds me of the movie "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World"

(which, admittedly, I never saw)

PS: There is another Muslim comedy tour, "The Muslims are coming" that has been touring through the heartland of America doing some great comedic outreach to explain the Muslim community. Nice find, JB.

The Santorum Surge

2011-12-28T21:20:00.004-05:00

While Santorum might be Latin for "anus," I am pleased to see that my political perceptions are spot on. Over the summer, I called both the rise of Gingrich (and his expected fall too) and the rise of Santorum as my dark horse in the Republican race (at least in Iowa). So it appears that Santorum has picked up some "big mo" in Iowa. That frothy mix of a politician has whined enough about his lack of coverage, that perhaps Iowans felt sorry for that louse.

No Shabbat this week in Samoa

2011-12-28T20:10:00.002-05:00

There is a fascinating case of a disappearing friday in Samoa this week. Samoa is officially moving to the other side of the international date line, and will be losing Friday December 30, 2011. No one will be born or die on this day, it will simply not exist. Curios to know how this affects shabbat.

Operation: Eat Our Food

2011-12-28T19:47:00.002-05:00

I was interviewed today about gastrodiplomacy by DePers, a major Dutch newspaper. Specifically, about Indonesian gastrodiplomacy to Holland. That is a fascinating case of the colony returning to influence the former colonial master. To be sure, Indonesia has had a major effect on Dutch cuisine (see under: peanut sauce for frittes). I am wondering if my op-ed in the Jakarta Globe had a little effect on the Indonesian decision to embark on gastrodiplomacy. Anywho, here is the DePeers article thrown through the google translator (note, def not a perfect translation, but my Dutch is no good):

Operation: Eat Our Food
by Camile Driessen

Forget mysterious conversations embassies. Culinary Diplomacy is the new way to power. Countries are investing tens of millions in their own restaurants abroad.

After ping-pong and panda diplomacy is the newest form of influence from Asia. It's called gourmet or culinary diplomacy and is used by more and more countries. Yesterday announced the new Indonesian ambassador in The Hague to put in a lot of culinary diplomacy in Europe. Netherlands is the base for the Indonesian operations. The aim is to promote Indonesian culture and the economy a boost. Hearts and Minds rendang and gado gado win. Nice idea, but the Indonesians are not the first.

"Thailand has started," says "gastronomist" Paul Rockower the phenomenon studied and regularly publishes on the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. The Thai government introduced in 2002, the Global Programme to the number of Thai restaurants abroad to raise considerably. The aim was to make Thai food more popular, attracting more tourists and subtle relationships with other countries to strengthen. "The Thai campaign has so far been most successful, the kitchen has gone from exotic to mainstream and has given a boost tourism," observes Rockower.

Soft power
Culinary diplomacy used by countries to increase their soft power. That is to influence others through attraction rather than coercion. The cultural dominance of the U.S. through Hollywood is an example. Measuring political power in international relations often depends on hard power (military influence) and soft power (including economic, diplomatic and cultural influence). The idea is that countries seeking the right mix of soft and hard power to their power in the world to expand.

Culinary diplomacy is used by countries to create sympathy for their culture and act as a special mark on the map. "This leads to such successful nation branding to increase your soft power," says Rockower.

Meanwhile, many countries with its own culinary diplomacy unofficial nicknames like Kimchi diplomacy (South Korea) and Dim Sum Diplomacy (Taiwan). Even Peru is trying its brand around the local cuisine to be built under the title "Cocina Peruana para todo el mundo, Guinea-diplomacy so.

But the most ambitious countries in the Far East. South Korea began in 2009, the "Korean Cuisine to the World 'campaign aims at showing the number of Korean restaurants abroad to have quadrupled by 2017 to 40,000. It attracts tens of millions of dollars.

Taiwan also nice hammering on the road. The main goal is to people the difference between China and Taiwain clarify and to shake off the image that only LCD monitors and other electronic junk out of the country.

Taiwan set up including a culinary think tank and flying chefs the world over that as many culinary competitions to win. As Taiwanese restaurants are concerned is used for maximum exposure. These should mainly foreign malls and airports open.

Of course, even China is not behind. Plenty of Chinese restaurants you think. Here, but not in Latin America. Hence, the Chinese government in collaboration with business and restaurant owners is working to make Chinese food to promote. So they sent this year, including five of the country's best chefs to Chile to sixty emigrant Chinese chefs to train. A similar program exists in Costa Rica.

ChangJie Dong of China's State Council this year was clear about the goal: "The Chinese cuisine, with its eye-catching colors, irresistible fragrance and rich taste, can help the Chinese culture spread abroad." This is useful if you are strategic economic and political interests trying to build.

Pyongyang restaurant

South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, that they have any success with their international diplomatic offensives have given the kitchen even understand. They have also written a neighboring country which inspired an impressive kitchen is not exactly the first thing on your mind. North Korea is doing well now because of culinary diplomacy and is busy rolling out the state Pyongyang chain restaurants. Offices are now in Dubai including, Cambodia, Bangkok, China, Laos and Indonesia.

Nice surprise: Amsterdam is the next fortress. There is already a Dutch website to open restaurant in Chinatown. Which promises traditional North Korean songs and dishes such as hot stone and hot noodles. "For people who have ever visited North Korea will feel like a return to Korea."

Subaltern Gazan Break

2011-12-28T11:52:00.000-05:00

American Voices Education Director Marc Thayer tunneled his way in and out of Gaza to work with Gazan breakdancers. Talk about a commitment to cultural diplomacy!

The Bridge

2011-12-28T09:24:00.002-05:00

I have been saying for a little while that the most important relationship in the 21st century is that of India and China, and making sure they stay on amiable terms. Singapore gets this, and continues to play the bridge between the two titans of Asia. I have a feeling this will become a niche for Singapore, and an avenue for Singaporean public diplomacy.

Monte Pleasant

2011-12-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

In Taipei, I battled cockroaches; in Delhi, it was mice. I will triumph over the biohazard that is my kitchen. I will need to exert a little soft power to keep the kitchen clean, but I think I can manage.

So in short, I am settling in nicely to my new environs. I was not doing well in limbo. The pound of gold saved was costing me a pound of flesh out of my dignity, and I was getting ~~depressed~~ morose. I thought perhaps the rainy day perhaps portended that I made an ill-advised and rash call to get myself out of limbo, but the giant arco-iris that followed the rains made me think that providence might indeed approve. This was a silly arc, stretching up and down in perfect form as if a pot o' gold awaited in U street and in Piney Branch. The setting skies blazed pink and gold.

The new place has potential if I can fix up some of the lackluster things like the toxic kitchen. While I was expecting to work in the living room during the day, apparently another roomie has already staked his claim. So it goes. My room is spacious, and I have a nice bay window to constitute my corner office view. This is the first room I felt comfortable working in, and I can always escape the barrio outside.

Mi Barrio

2011-12-26T20:56:00.002-05:00

Now that I am out of limbo, I am back to my favorite hobby: blogging about what I occupies my time and my stomach. But I'll get there.

I made a tour of the barrio today, doing some grocery shopping in my little Korean-owned latin grocery. All sorts of fun products like salvadorean cheeses and creams, loroco and nopales. Nice to get cheap produce again, although as I am finding, DC is f'ing expensive- I think it is more expensive than LA.

Anyway, I wandered around Columbia Heights, and down 16th street to Meridian Hill (Malcolm X Park). I didn't realize that Meridian Hill referred to its location as a prime meridian point. I walked down to U St, then made my way back up. As I had been walking down, I passed by the Swiss Embassy, and noticed that it was home to the Cuban interest section aka the Cuban Embassy. This being DC, on my way back, there was a rally taking place outside. The protesters were out to show their support for Alan Gross, who has been imprisoned in Cuba for having the temerity to bring internet equipment to la isla. For crimes against the Castro state, Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was expected to be released in the amnesty wave of 2,900 prisoners let go ahead of the papal visit, but unfortunately was not on the rolls. There was a nice size protest outside chanting "Free Alan," and I ran into some old family friends, the Ackmans, who have a bit of a personal connection to the case as they know the family well.

After joining the rally for a bit, I returned to Mt. Pleasant to hang in Heller's Bakery- a MP landmark, and munch a delicious flaky cherry turnover. The afternoon involved more wandering, down to Adams Morgan and back up to the local pupusaria for dinner. O' pupusas, how you pupus so good. I scarfed down some delicious loroco and frijol-filled gooey cheese masas messes that are pupusas. The accordion on the jukebox and the spanish in the air made me feel like I was on the road again, back down in Salvador or some other former adventure.

Leaving Limbo

2011-12-26T09:44:00.001-05:00

From Mount Pleasant, the tree branches framed the cathedral on the hill. Dead, desiccated branch spires wove around the cathedral's masts in a perfect frame. Don Pablo Quijote hath finally broken free from his suburban shackles and left limbo; I have a new residence in DC, in the Mt. Pleasant barrio. Luv my new Salvadorean neighbors.

The return to La Mancha lingered on far longer than was expected. Poor Alfonso Quijano was feeling hemmed in as if his adventures had been flights of fancy. But a change of scenery should do this knight errant well. It's interesting that I have finally brought something into fruition that I once thought I wanted; now, I have the capacity to fully judge that thought to see if it was just a nice idea at a different place and time, or is a real bona fide thought. Or perhaps the Christmas notion to that thought: it doesn't matter where you are, you can find the kingdom of heaven everywhere.

Havel

2011-12-23T10:06:00.001-05:00

"Words that are not backed up by life lose their weight, which means that words can be silenced in two ways: either you ascribe such weight to them that no one dares utter them aloud, or you take away any weight they might have, and they turn into air. The final effect in each case is silence: the silence of the half-mad man who is constantly writing appeals to world authorities while everyone ignores him; and the silence of the Orwellian citizen."
-Vaclav Havel

When I was studying in Prague, I had the opportunity to see Havel. It was right after the 9/11 attacks, at the Forum2k summit. Amid a bevy of Nobel prize winners and other leading global luminaries, Havel's presence still loomed large. Despite his diminutive stature, he carried the tremendous weight and soft power of moral authority. I remember distinctly watching Havel, Shimon Peres and Elie Wiesel slip away together to chat. I was the only one besides their security to see the three men disappear, and I sighed at the thought of being a fly on the wall in that room.

Havel was among the few bohemian leaders who remained rooted to the world we inhabit. It will be quite a while until a man like him graces us again.

Hanukkah in Kerala

2011-12-23T08:29:00.001-05:00

PRI has an interesting story on the vanishing Jews of Kerala

Ba'al Zichronot

2011-12-22T18:40:00.003-05:00

The title meaning "master of memories."

Don Pablo Quijote made the mistake of wandering through the basement of old lives, and found some amazing remnants of former adventures. A bottle filled with the brackish water from the Cape of Good Hope; a film canister filled with the sands of the Sahara; a mortar and pestle for caiparinhas from Carnival. One should always be careful when descending into the murky recesses of memory.

The King of Albania

2011-12-21T08:16:00.000-05:00

O' the house of Zogu. I giggle every time I read about King Zog. The WSJ has a story about succession in Albania's royal family.

NK-NJ BBQ Diplomacy

2011-12-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

The NYTimes has an interview with the unofficial North Korean rep in New Jersey on the death of Kim Jong-Il, a fellow who owns a bbq joint often frequented by North Korean diplomats. Gastrodiplomacy at its finest.

Tunneling to Gaza

2011-12-20T15:15:00.001-05:00

American Voices Education Director Marc Thayer wrote in the St. Louis Beacon about his recent adventure taking the subterranean path to Gaza to help conduct a bit of cultural diplomacy.

Mexico: not under siege....

2011-12-17T12:17:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post travel section has a great article on Mexico and perceptions vs. realities of safety related to the tourism industry:

“There’s a big gap between perception and reality,” says Margot Lee Shetterly, a Hampton, Va., native who relocated to Mexico with her husband six years ago. “It’s a real shame for people to write off a whole country without looking at the map and at the statistics.”

Without a solid understanding of the geography (761,606 square miles) and the nature of the drug wars (internecine fighting), many foreigners assume that all of Mexico is a war zone. But it isn’t.“The episodes of violence are in very specific pockets,” says Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board, “and are unrelated to tourism.”

For proof, Lopez-Negrete rolls out the statistics, derived from a combination of government and non-government sources: Of 2,500 municipalities (what we call counties), only 80, or fewer than 5 percent, have been affected by the drug war, which accounts for only 3 percent of all crime.

Mexican cities are also safer than some urban centers north of the border: Mexico City, for example, has 8.3 homicides a year per 100,000 people. That’s fewer than Miami (14.1) and Chicago (16.1). On a global scale, Mexico is safer than many of its neighbors. In 2008, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported Mexico’s homicide rate as 11.6 per 100,000, significantly lower than Honduras (60.9), Jamaica (59.5) or El Salvador (51.8).

All-American Bigotry

2011-12-16T17:41:00.005-05:00

I posted a while back about the show All-American Muslim, a reality show about Muslim-American life in Dearborn, Michigan. I loved the concept, and thought it would make for great public diplomacy.

Well, the agents of intolerance balked at portraying Muslims as anything less than radical jihadis, so they unleashed their own jihad at advertisers who were associated with the program. Lowe's and other advertisers subsequently backed away in a particularly feckless fashion.

Jon Stewart's response to this mess was priceless .

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The funny thing about all this controversy is that it becomes more instructive of the nature of the American Radical Right and their own jihadist tendencies than anything about American Muslims.

In the end, I was reminded of the project My Fellow American, and the importance of such a project to show that Muslim-Americans are a vital part of the American mosaic.

A death in the family

2011-12-16T17:28:00.001-05:00

I was saddened to see that Christopher Hitchens passed away. I had a tremendous amount of respect for his brilliance and eloquence. My friend Daron posted this piece by Hitchens, I thought it was one of his more poignant: A Death in the Family

American Music Abroad Vid

2011-12-13T17:17:00.001-05:00

The Educational and Cultural Bureau of the U.S. State Dept just put out an excellent video on the American Music Abroad program.

Sugarcane

2011-12-12T09:53:00.002-05:00

A few years ago, when I was trekking from LA to Panama, I stumbled across the Flor De Cana protests in Managua, Nicaragua led by workers suffering from chronic renal kidney failure. That led me to contact with La Isla Foundation, which fights on behalf of the workers and families affected. La Isla Foundation has done a wonderful job bringing the workers' plight to global attention, including helping get out stories on I-Watch News, and on PRI's The World. Keep up the good fight, La Isla Foundation!

Cultural Diplomacy Idol

2011-12-08T18:00:00.001-05:00

Think you have what it takes to be a Cultural Diplomacy Rock Star? Apply for the new American Music Abroad program. Yes, we have officially announced the call for applications.

UM-Shmoom

2011-12-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

Life can be kind of funny. About a week after I started my present job, I got a letter from the UN inviting me to take a test for its Young Professionals Program in the area of public information. If you had asked me what I wanted to do after I got my Master's, my standard answer was "to work for the UN." Here was my chance to do public diplomacy for the UN; yet here I am invited to take a test to allow me into the UN and I am not taking it.

It was a hard decision, but I decided ultimately it wasn't where I saw as the direction my career path leading. The job would have kept me tied to the practitioner's side of public diplomacy, whereas I think my future is more on the academic side. Meanwhile, if I got the job, it would have some serious effects on my present project and future plans. Furthermore, I have had some recent glimpses with hulking bureaucracy, and I don't think I want to tangle with one as massive as the UN.

I had decided I wasn't going to take the test, but was vacillating back-and-forth about the decision. Here I was presented with an opportunity to accomplish something I previously thought that I wanted, only to watch it pass by from afar. I just kept wondering if I would regret not taking the test, as I always find that I regret more the things I didn't do than the things I did.

Ultimately, I did enough homework into the background of the test and found out it was really for an entry-level position. Thanks UN, but I am not starting at the bottom of your byzantine labyrinth, I will just have find another way into the halls of Turtle Bay.

PS: The title of the blog comes from the Ben Gurion's famous dismissal of the international body. After a one-sided resolution, Ben Gurion reportedly said "um-shmoom." "Um" is the pronunciation of the UN in hebew, "shmoom" means "nothing."

PPS: I have a funny story about my friend Beth Meshel storming the UNGA for anyone interested.

"We're not a country of snake charmers"

2011-12-06T07:42:00.001-05:00

The Indian newspaper Mid-Day has a great profile of INDIA Future of Change and its nationbranding efforts, under an immaculate headline.

Dog Bites Car

2011-12-05T20:56:00.001-05:00

Paul Krugman has a phenomenal op-ed on what ails the Republican presidential nominees, what ails Republican voters, and perhaps what ails the Republic: send in the clueless.

I am not SPAM

2011-12-03T15:32:00.001-05:00

So I have been having a somewhat unsuccessful search for a place to live. I had been using Craig's List to find a new abode, and was having little luck. I must have sent 60 emails, and I couldn't figure out why I was getting so few responses. Until I found out that I was using a word in my reply that was a major flag word: "advert." On top of my somewhat varied background (living in India, Taiwan; working w/ Iraq, Afghanistan, etc), I was apparently tripping major spam filters. So that explains why no one was replying to my earnest attempts at finding a dwelling.

Down the Nile

2011-12-01T23:16:00.001-05:00

Still early to tell, but the elections in Egypt were worrisome. The 40 percent for the Muslim Bros, I expected and could handle but the other 25 percent for the Salafis is troubling. We shall see who ends up in government and outside. The Muslim Brotherhood has been walking a cautious line and distancing themselves from the Salafis. If the MB can consolidate with the liberals, things might be ok. But naysayers may have been right about the titanic effects of the fall of Mubarak on Egypt and the region.

And then he gave him some silver candlesticks

2011-12-01T15:20:00.001-05:00

An amazing story about what we live by.

Collaborative Power

2011-12-01T07:53:00.001-05:00

Prof. Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton has a fascinating article on theoretical and practical notions collaborative power:

I will call it collaborative power and define it as the power of many to do together what no one can do alone. Consider the power of water. Each drop is harmless; enough drops together create a tsunami that can level a landscape.

Collaborative power can take many forms. The first is mobilization; to exercise collaborative power through not a command but a call to action. The second form is connection. In contrast to the relational power method of narrowing and controlling a specific set of choices, collaborative power is exercised by broadening access to the circle of power and connecting as many people to one another and to a common purpose as possible. A third form (many more dimensions of collaborative power will likely emerge) is adaptation. Instead of seeking to structure the preferences of others, those who would exercise collaborative power must be demonstrably willing to shift their own views enough to enter into meaningful dialogue with others. The first step toward persuading others is often an evident and sincere willingness to be persuaded yourself.

They call me...Mr. X

2011-11-30T23:37:00.001-05:00

The New York Review of Book has a great review of the new book on George Kennan. Brings me back to my days at Yohuru's history class at Edmond Burke, where I diagrammed the Cold War out of ice cream: french vanilla, milanos, and heath bars on one side of the Hershey's Syrup Curtain, and pink Cherry Garcia as the USSR.

Gay Marriage and Equal Rights

2011-11-30T23:13:00.001-05:00

This is a a stirring and poignant defense of gay marriage fr the son of a lesbian couple in Iowa

I have had a complicated view on gay marriage. I always said that if it was about rights, then I was all for it, but if it was about defining marriage, I had a harder time supporting it. I tried to have a little nuance in an issue I am finding not very easy to hold a nuanced position about. My position is evolving because I am not finding any middle ground anymore. If marriage as a religious covenant between a man and a woman, then I am not sure if I support that being applied to a same-sex couple. If there was an option for civil unions, I would prefer it. But that middleground doesn't often seem available, and if it comes down to being for or against gay marriage, then I have to side with being for it. If this is about an issue of rights, then to me that trumps other considerations and I support it.

Last Dictator Standing

2011-11-30T09:24:00.001-05:00

Hysterical Nando's commercial!Although, apparently Mugabe's cronies didn't find it so funny.

Fishing

2011-11-29T22:52:00.001-05:00

"Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world." -? via JW

Muslim Democrats

2011-11-28T23:42:00.001-05:00

As Egypt goes to the polls, following Tunisia and Morocco's elections (and as Libya transforms), a fascinating wave is possibly overtaking the Middle East. Not in the manner of the war and occupation of Iraq, but rather this homegrown, organic wave of change that is shaking the calcified foundations of the Middle East. The question has always been whether the Middle East can fashion a party of Muslim Democrats along the lines of the Christian Democrats of Germany. The answer is still yet to be determined, but with the help of the Arab Spring, of Qatar and Al-Jazeera, of Turkey's Ak Party and perhaps with the help of the quiet diplomacy of the Obama administration, we may find out.

Call Central

2011-11-28T08:28:00.001-05:00

The NYTimes reported that the Philippines overtook India as the capital of call centers. Interestingly, the article notes that this came about because of culture, not wages:

Executives say the growth was not motivated by wage considerations. Filipino call center agents typically earn more than their Indian counterparts ($300 a month, rather than $250, at the entry level), but executives say they are worth the extra cost because American customers find them easier to understand than they do Indian agents, who speak British-style English and use unfamiliar idioms. Indians, for example, might say, “I will revert on the same,” rather than, “I will follow up on that.”

It helps that Filipinos learn American English in the first grade, eat hamburgers, follow the N.B.A. and watch the TV show “Friends” long before they enter a call center. In India, by contrast, public schools introduce British English in the third grade, only the urban elite eat American fast food, cricket is the national pastime and “Friends” is a teaching aid for Indian call center trainers. English is an official language in both countries.

On truth and distance

2011-11-27T18:19:00.001-05:00

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." - Mark Twain

Rising Power PD

2011-11-27T18:07:00.001-05:00

Prof. Robin Brown of University of Leeds has a very interesting article about Brazil's public diplomacy challenges as a rising power, given the growing apprehensions of its neighbors. I wrote a bit about Brazilian consensual hegemony and its attempts to use soft power to "soften" its rise regionally. I am quite interested to explore the topic of rising power pd further.

With great examples found in China, Brazil, India and Germany (and Japan in the 1980s), there is ample wonky pd fun to be had. I have been kicking around a working concept of what rising power (or emerging power) public diplomacy entails, and how it differs from the public diplomacy of middle powers. It is kind of a middle power+ pd strategy, that relies on a broader version of niche diplomacy, a more pronounced approach to soft power projection and a consensual hegemony model of projecting value and utility. Perhaps it could be mixed in with conceptualization of the public diplomacy of regional hegemons, and then I could include South Africa or Nigeria into the mix. Sounds like some fun stuff I will get to work on for PhD research.

On Obama and context

2011-11-26T20:52:00.001-05:00

Nick Kristof has a great op-ed on a lil perspective on the Obama presidency and his chances for re-election:

President Obama came into office with expectations that Superman couldn’t have met. Many on the left believed what the right feared: that Obama was an old-fashioned liberal. But the president’s cautious centrism soured the left without reassuring the right.

Like many, I have disappointments with Obama. He badly underestimated the length of this economic crisis, and for a man with a spectacular gift at public speaking, he has been surprisingly inept at communicating.But as we approach an election year, it is important to acknowledge the larger context: Obama has done better than many critics on the left or the right give him credit for.

He took office in the worst recession in more than half a century, amid fears of a complete economic implosion. As The Onion, the satirical news organization, described his election at the time: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.”

The administration helped tug us back from the brink of economic ruin. Obama oversaw an economic stimulus that, while too small, was far larger than the one House Democrats had proposed. He rescued the auto industry and achieved health care reform that presidents have been seeking since the time of Theodore Roosevelt.

Despite virulent opposition that has paralyzed the government, Obama bolstered regulation of the tobacco industry, signed a fair pay act and tightened control of the credit card industry. He has been superb on education, weaning the Democratic Party from blind support for teachers’ unions while still trying to strengthen public schools.

In foreign policy, Obama has taken a couple of huge risks. He approved the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, and despite much criticism he led the international effort to overthrow Muammar el-Qaddafi. So far, both bets are paying off.

Jesus Saves

2011-11-25T22:40:00.001-05:00

And so does Northern Europe. America spends. Moses invests.

Thanksgiven & Black Friday

2011-11-25T21:58:00.001-05:00

I am thankful that tofurky was better than expected. Ok, it wasn't exactly tofurky but rather Quorn Turk'y Roast. It actually kinda tasted like turkey and had a consistency that wasn't too far off, especially when slathered in all the trimmings. And I made some ginger garlic mashed potatoes that were money. But the upside of the faux turkey was that when everyone was in a tryptophan coma, I was still awake.

Meanwhile, Black Friday is a reminder why the 1% will reign forever.

Watching the people fight over Walmart crap, I was reminded of watching mindless carp fight for food.

From Down Vietnam, by way of Hue

PS: Since my faux turkey was made by a company that sounds like Quran, now is a perfect time to bring up the lunacy of the American Right Wing and their anti-Islamic rants. Apparently, the rabid Muslim-haters like Pamela Geller and her ilk are incensed that Butterball turkeys are halal. Sacrificed in the NAME OF ALLAH! More like an issue sacrificed in the name of gobble.

Happy Tofurky Day!

2011-11-24T13:40:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday. No rampant commercialism or bubbling patriotism, just food and family. This marks my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. I was having a bit of a veggie existential crisis over whether I would make a Thanksgiving exception and eat the bird or opt for faux turkey. I ultimately decided that I would remain meat-free and got some strange faux turkey log. Given that last year I was in Sumatra eating steak and durian for turkey day, I am used to going without the traditional bird. In any case, Happy Thanksgiving to all. I will close out this entry with a great story about Butterballs in Baghdad.

Korean Tacos come to Korea

2011-11-22T07:55:00.001-05:00

Korean tacos have officially gone full circle, and are now popping up in Seoul. Fascinating bit of a cultural diplomacy boomerang.

Fox and Facts

2011-11-21T22:36:00.001-05:00

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." ~Mark Twain

Apparently if you watch Fox News, you are less informed than if those who don't watch any news. A new Fairleigh Dickinson poll found Fox News watchers to be less informed than those who watch no news at all.

stuck in the bizarre bazaar

2011-11-21T17:31:00.001-05:00

Fouad Ajami has a great piece on the folly that is our continued business with Karzai.

Bull Connor is alive and well

2011-11-20T11:43:00.001-05:00

Indian Gastrodiplomacy Down Under: Vindaloo against Violence

2011-11-18T17:01:00.001-05:00

MPD student Hend Alhinnawi has a great blog for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy on Indian gastrodiplomacy to smooth out relation in Australia after the violence against Indian students. She notes a phenomenal Vindaloo Against Violence campaign and how students in Oz used food diplomacy to foster cultural understanding.