In underreported news: 1. There is a complicated civil war taking place in northern Uganda. Children at risk of being pressed into unpleasant service by the Lord’s Resistance Army (see also this piece , and this one) have to hide at night, and are thus known as “night commuters.” There were peace talks and hopes … More Night Commuters
Looking back on my state of mind at the time, I am reminded by analogy of the enormous power of Christianity to convince the believer of his fundamental and never-ending guilt; I also stood (we all stood) before the Revolution and its Party with permanently bosed head, and so I gradually became reconciled to the … More Milan Kundera II
This is a tondero danced by students at the José María Arguedas National School of Folklore. I think it is beautiful. In reality, of course, I am posting it because I am a “professional race hustler indoctrinating young minds with […] simplistic ideas […].” No, I am not linking to the site that says that; … More Tondero Peruano
I am still Lima-oriented, and I consider it a good sign. Here is Alicia Maguiña on “Viva el Perú y Sereno,” with images of the city in the late nineteenth and I believe early twentieth centuries – not entirely different from what it is now. Meanwhile, this evening’s featured posts are from Lenin’s Tomb – … More Alicia Maguiña
Nicomedes Santa Cruz is brilliant, and this is a landó from his 1970 album Cumanana. A cumanana is a certain kind of verse composition and rhythm whose investigation will lead to an eye-widening realization of the fascinating complexity of Afro-Peruvian music. A glance at the Wikipedia entry on the tondero gives an idea. Axé.
A new, and I project very interesting book is Denise Ferreira da Silva’s Toward a Global Idea of Race (Minnesota, 2007). From the publisher (emphasis added): [W]hy, after more than five hundred years of violence perpetrated by Europeans against people of color, is there no ethical outrage? Rejecting the prevailing view that social categories of … More Toward a Global Idea of Race
Melissa reminds us that the U.S. invasion of Baghdad took place four years ago today. There will be impeachment rallies nationwide April 28. Here is the New Orleans information: The festivities will kick off with an impeachment bike ride on Friday, April 27. Meet at Jackson Square at 7:00 PM. E-mail nola_criticalmass@yahoo.com. And if you’re … More On the Former Iraq
When the Comrades classified my conduct and my smile as intellectual (another notorious pejorative of the times), I actually came to believe them because I couldn’t imagine (I wasn’t bold enough to imagine) that everyone else might be wrong, that the Revolution itself, the spirit of the times, might be wrong and I, an individual, … More Milan Kundera I
This is Lima marinera, which you must hear to believe. Axé.
Descanse en paz. There has been a video made in memory of Mr. Fuentealba which documents events leading up to his death, and Página 12 published an article chronicling his life. He grew up in the vicinity of San Martín de los Andes, which is in Patagonia. Our music for this piece of news will … More Carlos Fuentealba
coldhearted scientist وداد 