In 1982–1983, when Haitian “boat people” were surviving treacherous seas only to be incarcerated when they reached U.S. shores, Adi Gevins and I produced a documentary* about then-current U.S. immigration policy, and the parallels to the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans. In 1982, it was the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); now, it’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The boat people are now children separated from their parents at the southern border. It is […]
Read moreCategory: Culture
Out with the Old, In with the New
I forgot to post this last night. It’s a little video I compiled of a sight I encountered on my walk home. I was enchanted by the contrast between setting and action. Note the volcano in the background at the beginning. [Click three times to start.] [flashvideo filename=wp-content/video/guate_break.flv image=wp-content/video/guate_break.jpg /]
Read moreMr. Charles
You know what my mother said when I was in Delaware? (As you might recall, she is the one who observed, “Even chickens have pecking orders.”) “It is the youth of the evening right now, but come morning, that will no longer be true.” Now you know where I get my brilliance from. Here are some new pics of Emmy, which you’ve seen if you’re on Facebook. First picture: now that she has budding teeth, […]
Read moreThe Parting Glass
I don’t have time to do literary justice to my trip to Vietnam. All I can manage are representative threads. Graves Eleni said I haven’t told you yet about the graves in rural Vietnam. All-righty, then. Let’s take care of that. In the Mekong Delta, graves sprout up in the rice paddies like massive weeds: concrete slabs sloping into green. There’s no uniform layout. The graves lie like pick-up sticks, pointing in all directions. Some […]
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