Parsifal, Women, and the future of Iran (and everywhere)

PBS/WGBH have published a really lovely piece of writing by an anonymous "Arts Correspondent" via Tehran Bureau. The writer ruminates on Iranian society and the role of women, how things stay the same, how they are shifting, all painted in words on a multilayered canvas spanning cultures and eras (as per the headline: "Iranian Women and Wagner's Parsifal"), and moving with supreme grace from intimate personal perspectives, both first- and third-person, to the broader social picture.

The conclusion:

...beyond the reach of government oppression, women work to transform the many cultural contradictions of contemporary Iran into generosity and tolerance. The future of this country will have women at its heart and this is a fact.

The "Iran" Facebook "public profile" page is worth following for the superior mix of material coming out of Tehran Bureau. I only wish more of their authors could post with a by-line instead of anonymously.

Every Time ... that you put bleach in your washing machine

... consider capturing some of the water that drains from the first rinse cycle and using it to wash your kitchen and bathroom floors and fixtures.

The first rinse contains very little dirt, and enough soap and bleach to clean and disinfect. Why send all those harmful chemicals down the drain, only to fill a bucket with more to clean floors, tiles, sinks, toilet?

(... and PLEASE use as little bleach as possible. It's deadly stuff to us and to marine life (all life, in fact). In our apartment we have a mold condition that I have never been able to clean up other than using chlorine bleach. And we do not purchase disposable sponges, but instead use squares ripped from old bathtowels to wash dishes, wipe down food prep surfaces, etc. Killing bacteria on these cloths is important. I have tried boiling them to disinfect but they just look so dirty and dingy with coffee & grease stains that anyone besides me would think I'm using filthy rags to wash dishes and wipe the cutting board. So I use perhaps 1/4 cup of bleach per week and then reuse some of it for surface cleaning)

D'oh of the Day

Survey of online access finds digital divide: "A first-of-its-kind federal survey of online access found that Americans in lower-income and rural areas often have slower Internet connections than users in wealthier communities."

Minorities as majority

Minorities are majority population in Montgomery County, reports WashPo in today's Metro section.

As recently as 1990, seven out of 10 Maryland residents were white. Now, they are barely a majority, at 55 percent of the population.

Y'know, in a world that is what, 10 or 15 percent white, given that apart from the pitifully few who have chosen to retain identity as Native Americans everyone else in this country is an immigrant "from the rest of the world", 55 percent white population in any area of this country is still hugely disproportionate.

We may not be headed for a country full of Chocolate Cities so much as salt-n-peppa-and-spice-and-everything-nice. Watch out for the White Fear Backlash but the optimist in me believes that is temporary, once people have the chance to live closer together with "others" and just, well, get over it.

What about Jordan?

Is al Jazeera's English-language site going the way of the U.S. MSM?

I've seen plenty of complaints, and have made them myself, on Facebook walls and in Diaspora aspects regarding the heavy focus on Egypt in the MSM when there is in fact very widespread regional dissatisfaction, upheaval and revolt going on in the Middle East. The understandable interpretation of that tight Egyptian lens is that it stems from U.S.-centricism. Egypt is, of course, the States' "second most important ally in the region" and also receives the second-highest amount of foreign aid from the U.S.

This morning I notice a news feed somewhere pointing to a Reuters blurb that follows up on recent protests in Jordan and recent promises made by King Abudullah II to make immediate changes to the government. Yesterday Abdullah swore in a new government. This is an important bit of news, the first instance in the region of an incumbent making immediate changes without huge upheaval, but only more like "vocal unrest", sparking the event.

But what we should want to know is, Did Abdulllah make good choices? Are the people satisfied? Is he also perhaps making good on his old "soft promise" of moving power away from his own monarchy and into the hands of Jordanians? It looks like Abdullah's choices for replaced officials have little to do with any democratic process, and it looks like the newly instated officials are not likely candidates for supporting a truly fresh and democratic future for Jordan:

U.S. ally Abdullah appointed Marouf Bakhit, a conservative former premier drawn from the ranks of the powerful security establishment, last week to replace Samir Rifai, who was dismissed after just over a year in the job.

But it sure is hard to tell from this tiny blip of a Reuters item. It's one thing for the New York Times and Washington Post to have written nothing yet on this event. But nothing on Al Jazeera?

Which really leaves me to wonder if at least the English version of aljazeera.net is now catering to what they think U.S. readers want to hear about. Or is this news organization (for which on most days I actually have a good measure of respect) in general, in any language, giving Jordan scant coverage? Jordan, the country that is housing millions of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees? The country that attacked Israel and thus lost the West Bank years back, but has since cultivated (and perhaps earned) a reputation as being a fairly rational and moderate state? No coverage?

Here is al Jazeera's English home page this morning. Note the choice of articles highlighted in the bullet points below the top story:

Let's summarize those bullet points:

• Egypt
• Turkey (another strong U.S. ally)
• Israel
• Egypt
• Obama
• Egypt
• Egypt

A search for Jordan on the site turns up only stale and slim news.

(I will try to remember to search again later and update as necessary if al Jazeera has added any fresh coverage of Jordan)

tanks, bowties and banking standstill - Jon Snow in Cairo

UK's Channel 4 News is in Egypt, with International Editor Lindsey Hilsum reporting from Alexandria and others from Cairo.

Jon Snow writes from Cairo:

I have had the surreal experience of entering Egypt’s Finance Ministry. A grand white marble structure ringed with palm trees. Drawn up outside are not only tanks but rows and rows of bulletproof security trucks that are usually used to cart cash around the country. But there is no cash. The banks are closed. Shutting down the internet and mobile phones has not only disrupted the protesters’ communication it has bought banking to a complete standstill. Egypt is now not only in political crisis, but financial crisis too.

I went up to the 16th floor in the Finance Ministry to interview the new Minister of Finance Samir Radwan. We were greeted by men in bowties and dinner jackets. The elegant secretary in the outer office was clad in Gucci black. The minister himself is a delightful intellectual with no previous political experience. He is in fact Egypt’s leading academic on unemployment, poverty and regeneration. He is perhaps Mubarak’s only appointment who actually knows how to handle his portfolio.

Channel 4 is also providing live video and a liveblog feed at http://www.channel4.com/news/live-blog-egypt-protests-a-million-march-against-mubarak and, true to the embedded info in that link, it does look like a million people in the streets.