10 Days in China

As soon as we took the picture she shouted "Money!"

Money!

This is what the Chinese woman shouted at us after we took her picture. She was working in the rice paddies and she wanted us to pay her after we took her photograph. No one did, but this was only because she was too far away to get to us before we jumped into our buses and drove away. Her neighbors beat her to it though. Some of them followed us all the way there, others were waiting just for an opportunity to pose for unsuspecting tourists who would go camera crazy and then be badgered into compensating them Badgered is in fact is putting it mildly. A lady ripped the shirt off my shoulder until I paid her at the sight of some Chinese Yuan that I was lending someone.

Money is indeed the word that sums up my experience in China. It even threatens to overshadow the country’s impressive and immense history. Most of my colleagues, all of whom were undergrad business students were not aware of just how indebted the U.S. is to China and it is not surprising. The Chinese are the most aggressive and persistent business people I have ever met. Men and women, young and old to ancient, pound the pavement wheeling and dealing their knock off merchandise. “Never pay the price they tell you,” warns our tour guide, because shopping in China is a seemingly endless round of negotiations that are not for the faint of heart. A typical transaction can involve people following you out of the store when you leave, others pulling you into their store while constantly prodding and pushing new merchandise in your face, and if you resist them or insist on a price they don’t like, they will not be afraid to give you a firm but playful slap on the arm or even insult your manhood. Yes a colleague of mine was told after he refused to buy something, “you’re not a real man, you’re a lady!”

I asked an American business man what the Chinese work culture I like and he said, “My workers do what I say because I do their assessments.” No motivation required here, either do the work or go home!

Don’t let all this turn you off, China will blow your mind. Its like walking through the pages of National Geographic.  Our tour guide could not speak about the hundreds of students killed by the Chinese government in Tiananmen Square because the government forbids it, but the fury of the slain protestors was revealed in the immense heat from the sun beating down on the American tourists who finally came to appreciate the value of good air conditioner.

The Great Wall was indeed great among other things like gigantic and steep to the point where I had to walk on my tip toes, but with all that said China has taught me a very important lesson. Don’t underestimate the Chinese! The sweet Chinese lady in your local restaurant has a sister somewhere in China that is pounding the pavement, refusing to quit until she gets what she wants and until she and her children ultimately rule the world!

I find no fault with this woman

Ruling with empathy.
Since when is that a negative.
The GOP has finally gone mad and shown their true colors by condemning the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. 
The woman is a moderate at best and has ruled against using public funds to support abortion yet they rail against her and call her a racist.
Of course her experience as a female latina from the Bronx is richer than that of a white man without similar experiences. For saying this, they call her a racist. The attorney general was right, Americans are cowards when it comes to race.
Maybe the GOP and Fox news needs some diversity training!

Control

It comes like a thief in the night.
But all along it’s been watching and waiting in silent envy for the right moment to pounce.
Control is like a drug, some people need it to survive, but the same people hate to be in its arms.
Here we go again, we danced this tango many moons ago, now do you think I will willingly be locked in this embrace. I fought you before and won, and I will again!!

Barack’s win was lost on me until….

As an international student, I could not completely identify with the euphoria of SC State students when Barack Obama was announced the projected winner of the 2008 elections.

I was happy that Barack Obama won and I understood the historic significance theoretically, but I was used to black Presidents[In Trinidad and Tobago] so I did not jump out of my skin when I heard the news. In fact, election day was the first time I even heard the song “My President iz Black.” No I don’t live under a rock, I was just in University Village for a couple of days.

It was as if SC State won a collective lottery. Students mounted their cars in jubilation, and screamed at random persons in the street. As I was making my way back to to my room after working on The Collegian for the entire day, [13 hours, while everybody else had a holiday], someone said “the band is playing at Fine Arts.” I thought OK, one last stop to get more pictures.

As I stepped out of my friend’s car, I felt as if I entered a science fiction movie. Students were running towards the Fine Arts building, out of what seemed like nowhere, carrying clarinets, horns and other instruments. Dressed in pajamas and hoodies the look of anticipation on their faces was exciting, but eerie. I knew then and there, I would not get to my bed anytime soon.

As I followed the band along with what seemed to be the entire school, I marveled at the unplanned unison that Barack Obama created. Armed with a gigantic camera around my neck that I really did not know how to use, [I would later find out, that I did not turn on the flash, rendering all my pictures useless], I stood amazed and almost proud like a parent, of how students mobilized themselves, without direction from faculty or staff, and without fighting or any other stereotypical black youth behavior.

After almost being knocked over by a swinging drum a couple of times, [because positioned myself too close to the band to get flash-less pictures] I exited the crowd, [pictures or no pictures.] It was not until the following day when a student showed me a power point presentation he was working on, did the significance of this even really hit me.

I remained stoic as the slides rolled on showing images of civil rights demonstrations and fire hoses bulldozing human beings; images I’d seen in a dozen movies. This was until slide seven; a slide showin an image of a black man and woman hanging from a tree surrounded by white on-lookers, introduced with a power point bouncing effect.

I got it then. “My President is Black;” It means he has our back. Yes this election was largely about race, but justifiably so. Barack Obama symolizes hope. Hope that Katrina would never happen again. Hope that a black child could become what ever he or she dreams of. Hope that black issues would not take a back seat and more importantly hope that America can see that we are just as good as every other race.

Interview with a Soildier – Is this war worth it?

With all the gloating from President Bush yesterday about the progress made in Iraq, I decided to talk to one of my professors who in Septemeber returned from Iraq to find out what is really happening over there. Are we winning? is there really a threat e.t.c

Here it goes

First of all, thank-you for the invaluable service provided for this country.

  

Q. What did your job in Iraq involve?

A. Helping to formulate missions, intelligence gathering and logistics.

Q.  Were you out on the field?

A.  Yes, our job entails training the Iraqi army. We were actually embedded with them and went out on joint missions, patrols or as show of force for example, based on intelligence about an ID (improvised explosive devices) maker, in a certain area, we would go out and see of that person was there and capture them. 

Q.  What were your first impressions of Iraq?

A.  I arrived in Iraq during the middle of summer and my first impression was how does anyone deal with this blazing heat (120 degrees plus) Q. Did you always want to be in the military?
A.  No.  My desire to be in the military began to peak as the need for financial assistance to attend college increased.

Q.  If there was a war going on at the time you signed up would you have still joined?

A.  (He laughs). On the personal side, no. I understand that I’m a solider and it was not a responsibility that I wanted to get out of but on the human side, you realize that in times of war people are going to die. It was a duty and I wouldn’t shun my responsibility.

Q. Is there a need for this war?

A.  I think there is a need for it but I don’t think its being fought on the right front. It has created something that wasn’t there in the beginning. There are other fronts that should have had more concentration or focused on first like Afghanistan and the border of Pakistan. But there is a need now because terrorists like Al Qaeda are in Iraq.

  

Q.  Are we winning this war?

A.  It depends on your measuring stick for success. In terms of the military, violence has decreased but at what cost? It’s a bit of a catch 22 in terms of the cost of American lives and money. Some people may also gauge from the reduced amount of terrorist attacks. It depends on how you measure success. I don’t even think the surge will be over until this summer. There will be something like 160 000 troops up from 125 000 to 130 000 troops.

Q.  What was your greatest fear while in Iraq?
A.  Fearing for my life.

Q. What do soldiers in Iraq do to relieve stress or entertain themselves?
A.  They try to communicate with family, workout, watch movies, read, etc…  Anything to keep their minds occupied.

 

Q. Some presidential candidates are saying that they will start withdrawing troops as soon as they get in office but many voters are under the impression that this would completed within a year. Is this realistic?

A. Some of the candidates are saying as early as 90 days I also heard some saying that they would start putting timetables on the Iraqi courses. I think that makes sense especially since this is the 5^th anniversary of the war. One year logistically may be difficult. The Presidential candidates want a substantial amount of troops withdrawn and I can agree with that.

Q.  What do you think would be the effects on Iraq of a withdrawal?

A.  A drawdown in phases could lead to co-existence in a civil way with the 3 dominating religions i.e. the Sunni, Shea and the Kurds. If drawn down is done too quickly, there is the potential for one group to dominate an entire region. If done strategically it could work out well if not it could lead to violence and bloodshed.

Q. Do the Iraqi people feel better off without Saddam?

A. It’s hard for me to really answer that. During my tour I had a chance to interact but it was not really educational we were thinking in a more combative mode. I did hear sentiments both ways. I’ve seen rallies in the street with people happy that Saddam was captured and eventually executed but I’ve heard people also say the opposite. It depends on the particular group. The group that was oppressed did not want dictatorship

In light of the contrasting opinions between the Democratic and Republican candidates, many argue that the race for the presidency will be a race to either stay in or get out of Iraq.

 

 With this said, on voting day, it will be the American people that will decide the fate of the Iraq war. 

Men really do like Mad Women

First let me clarify what I mean by mad. 

I’m talking about all those complicated women like extreme neat freaks, germa-phobes, wheight-aphobes or just women with weird hang ups.

Let’s not leave out the high maintenance women in this definition either.

You all know these women and you know there not single.

I’ve been developing this theory in my head for some time but always rejected the notion that women have to play games like Vivica Fox in the movie Two can Play at That Game until I read the book by widely featured author Sherry Argov, Why Men Love Bitches.

Argov explains that it’s not really about looks or intelligence as we women have been conditioned to believe, it’s the ability to create intrigue that attracts the opposite sex.

It is the mental challenge that these women are able to create by simply not giving a f%@&

According to Argov, nice girls cook dinner for their man early in the relationship while the girl they decide to stay with makes them microwave pop corn and the men, after putting in sufficient effort, will finally work their way up to a tv dinner, which they would appreciate more because they had to earn it!

Nice girls get ready early for a date while the “dream girls,” as she calls them, make men wait 15 to 20 minutes.

Argov might be on to something. Ask any man if he hates it when his girl talks or whines about being bored during the game and they’ll be like, “ Yeah dawg.” 

None of them would say, “Well my girlfriend doesn’t do that “

…why?

Because those girls are single!!!….

Men like Mad Women…..deal with it!!!!!! 

Bye Bye Benazair

Well they finally got her.

The world still cannot beleive it.

Over several months the the world watched you. A beautiful woman with the balls to stand up against the freaking Taliban, the Pakistani President and all those Islamic extremists who oppose democracy. Most of us are too scared to stand up for our own basic rights.

Like Antigone in your own Greek tragedy, you dared to be a woman who demanded change.

Were you insane?

This is freaking Pakistan! No way would they let a democrat rule far less a woman!

And still you left the comforts of aristocratic life to fight for your country.

My wish for 2008? That more of us would have 1/2 the backbone you did!

RIP Benazair and Thank-You!
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Adjusting to Home

Around 11:15pm, I’m sitting in the toilet reading my O Magazine with the shit still fresh in my ass when I hear knocking and a woman’s voice calling, “Francis, Francis.”

No one in my house has that name so I assumed it was the neighbor even though I think only an empty plot of land exists on that side of my house or the remains of construction that started a few years ago.

The voice is unnervingly close.

She continues to call for Francis who she is convinced is at home since as she said, “ I can hear the water running from de pipe.”

I almost think it is some mad vagrant that has strolled into my yard until I remembered we have dogs, merciless ones at that.

As I exit the toilet I no longer hear her voice, I even went back a few minutes later to check but no voices.

Maybe she finally got the message and left. Francis don’t want yuh.

The whole point is, I’m back home from school and I am adjusting to what seems like the rurality of reality.

We have two bathrooms.

In the first, something is wrong with the sink and in the other the toilet does not flush. So this is my routine.

I use the first one, open the door with my elbow then walk to the next bathroom to wash my hands.

Thank God my mother got the pipe fixed yesterday.

The other thing is that we have a wire fence. It has been that way all my life.

When I got home from the airport I noticed that exactly one third of it is now a freshly painted brick wall. (I need to post a pic your you guys.)

Why one third you ask?

Well as my mother said, “That’s all the money I had!”

This is in addition to the 8 tiles I was greeted with at the front door. Again, that’s all the money she had.

Well though I being at school is a drag, the FREE INTERNET ACESSS, (I’m in an internet café now),air conditioning and not having to full a bucket of water to bathe in was comforting.

Regardless of these amenities, there’s no place like home bitches!

See you next semester.

Merry Christmas.

    

A Woman’s Right to Kill!

A woman’s right to choose.

A choice to kill.

How can it be justified?

Its not a baby, its just a blob of tissue they say.

Weren’t Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ and even you and I just blobs of tissue at one point?

Why do we get to live?

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Where do some Muslims get off?

Seriously I respect Islam but come on.

Sudanese Muslims came out in their numbers to demand the death penalty for British school teacher Gillian Gibbons.

Her crime?

She allowed her class of 7 year olds to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

According to The New York Times, Gibbon was pardoned after intervention from two Muslim members of Britain’s house of lords. Her original sentence was 15 days.

Under Sudanese law, Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and 6 months in jail.

Yikes.

Seriously it pisses me off that with all the poverty and loss of life in various parts of Sudan including Darfur, this is what people protest about.

Some people would argue that Gibbon’s deserves the lashes. Not for the blasphemy but for the sheer stupidity!

Is she for real? In such a radically Islamic country, why would you mess with the name Muhammad?

On the other hand though. Muhammad is a very popular name for Muslim boys. Thats probably where she got confused.

Anyway, at least she’s out. I bet she’ll be careful the next time she names a teddy bear.

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