9.22.2006
A new drive
So I gave up. Last year I really diligently and dutifully tried to use public transportation and walking and begging rides to get around Atlanta. And at the end of this summer, as I thought about the prospect of coming back to that life of endless frustration and humiliation, I just couldn't do it. So, reluctantly, regretfully, I bought a car. And I LOVE it.
The car is a 94 with 160,000 miles. It is surrounded with dents, has sticky locks, no horn, no aircon, no automatic anything, and a seatbelt warning sign that pings constantly. When I put gas into it, I have to pry open the little door, using my key as a lever. But I think it's perfect.
I still walk and take the bus to school, and during rush hour I still take the bus downtown. But in two weeks I've used the car to go to places I never would have gone to without it: to an Amnesty International meeting downtown, to the batting cage, to the grocery store, to visit a friend who was sick at home. As long as it runs for the year, it will have been completely worth it. I still think it's outrageous that public transportation is so bad in Atlanta, and it is just one more privilege of wealth that I was able to opt out of relying on it. But I love my car.
My baby.
The car is a 94 with 160,000 miles. It is surrounded with dents, has sticky locks, no horn, no aircon, no automatic anything, and a seatbelt warning sign that pings constantly. When I put gas into it, I have to pry open the little door, using my key as a lever. But I think it's perfect.
I still walk and take the bus to school, and during rush hour I still take the bus downtown. But in two weeks I've used the car to go to places I never would have gone to without it: to an Amnesty International meeting downtown, to the batting cage, to the grocery store, to visit a friend who was sick at home. As long as it runs for the year, it will have been completely worth it. I still think it's outrageous that public transportation is so bad in Atlanta, and it is just one more privilege of wealth that I was able to opt out of relying on it. But I love my car.
My baby.
9.11.2006
I am feeling hopeless about Darfur. An article in Sunday's NY Times (which provided the picture above) looks at a corner of the region where an internal displacement camp continues to receive new arrivals, although there is no water and no health care, and only a little food from the World Food Program. The African Union peacekeepers, ineffective as everyone knows they were, may leave, and government supported slaughter of the people in the camp is sure to follow. A UN peacekeeping force has been proposed, but the Sudanese government and citizens are rejecting it. An "invasion" by a European force could spark resistance, more bloodshed and then a premature pull-out. And then who will protect these displaced peasants already on the brink of survival?
I joined a local group that is advocating around the issue, because I was sick of doing nothing. The thing is, I don't even know what the US could do. It's the same way I felt about Iraq during the last election, or about the basketcase that is Zimbabwe. It's the most horrible thing I can imagine, and the only ones who could stop it are the same ones who are perpetuating violence. Destruction prevails again over human life, and all we can do is sit back and watch.
Slow progress in South Africa
Mbeki's government in South Africa has responded to activists' and international scientists' demands to fire their erroneous and immoral health minister, by appointing a committee.
South Africa has an internationally influential activist community, spearheaded by the Treatment Action Campaign, which has been putting pressure on the government for years to provide real care for people with HIV. And, in many instances, they have been answered with half-truths about drug toxicities and outright lies about the power of natural remedies. It's an outrage, ongoing, and I hope the new committee is a sincere effort to hurry roll-out of antiretrovirals, and not just a strategy for political appeasement. 140,000 patients may be receiving ART, but millions more are waiting. For them, time is running out.
South Africa has an internationally influential activist community, spearheaded by the Treatment Action Campaign, which has been putting pressure on the government for years to provide real care for people with HIV. And, in many instances, they have been answered with half-truths about drug toxicities and outright lies about the power of natural remedies. It's an outrage, ongoing, and I hope the new committee is a sincere effort to hurry roll-out of antiretrovirals, and not just a strategy for political appeasement. 140,000 patients may be receiving ART, but millions more are waiting. For them, time is running out.
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