“There must be a limit, even to the neutrality of Switzerland. Today is the day? This is the man to speak? This is the outlook for the future?” -Shimon Peres

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079628.html

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079592.html

I’m not sure I have any more readers, but am curious: do you think that the boycott was the best way to deal with the problem?

Am I the only blogger who lacks hits from scandalous search terms?  At last check, you all googled “rivkahreport,” “arts transition statement,” “boaz mauda,” “gefilte fish gala 2008,” “murakami jerusalem,” and “avenue q downloads.”  With the notable exception of the gefilte gala crew, that makes you pretty dignified.

^{That came out horribly.  You’ll have to view it yourself: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/violence-against-women-poll?view=Binary}

Do I blog, or just create reading lists?  If it’s the latter, at least I do it well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Africa-t.html?scp=1&sq=saharan&st=cse  ”The Saharan Conundrum”

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070314.html The Syrian Chance

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068918.html Three Imaginary Conversations

In between l&d stuff, I’ve been taking a few minutes to think about Iran.  I think it’s important to know countries on every level, to understand their art, architecture, poetry, political structures, geography and more.  Today had me thinking of modern images, and nothing political.

http://flickr.com/photos/-lucie-/2674844090/

http://flickr.com/photos/sefroyek/2061791855/ This one reminds me of a certain place in Athens, towards the bottom of a hill on a crowded street; another street intersects about the point of the structure.  On the off-chance that you have any idea what I’m talking about, let me know.

http://flickr.com/photos/sefroyek/2068456093/

http://flickr.com/photos/hamed/207210147/

http://flickr.com/photos/hamed/203093850/in/photostream/

http://flickr.com/photos/hamed/162298430/in/set-72157600635817403/

http://flickr.com/photos/mehradhm/2725631582/

http://flickr.com/photos/shagreen/2745730031/

http://flickr.com/photos/waxypoetic/702409954/

http://flickr.com/photos/rfeiz/471237088/

http://flickr.com/photos/horizon/624794772/in/photostream/

http://flickr.com/photos/horizon/576154949/in/photostream/

Thanks, amazing flickrers.

One of the famous maxims of twentieth-century poetry is Ezra Pound’s directive to “Make it new.” He didn’t mean invent something out of thin air. That middle word, it, is the key, reminding us that something exists already and we need to see it again, for our own time, with our own eyes. For Pound, the “it” was a long history of civilizations, East and West, but also the tiny details of everyday life, a series of faces glimpsed in the Paris Metro, for example. So it can be very helpful to see a poem among other poems, to see what is shared and what has been made new.

-The Norton Anthology of Poetry

GOD HAS PITY ON KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN

God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first–aid station
covered with blood.

But perhaps he will watch over true lovers
and have mercy on them and shelter them
like a tree over the old man
sleeping on a public bench.

Perhaps we too will give them
the last rare coins of charity
that Mother handed down to us
so that their happiness may protect us
now and on other days.

                        Yehuda Amichai

I think Einaiych was the best of the four, although I don’t really love it.

Here’s the list to date (thanks to Wikipedia):

Semi-final 1

The countries in the list below are arranged alphabetically.

Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation
Andorra	Catalan, English	Susanne Georgi	“La teva decisió“	Your decision
Armenia	Armenian, English	Inga and Anush Arshakyans	“Nor Par“	New dance
Belarus	English	Petr Elfimov	“Eyes That Never Lie“	—
Belgium	English	Patrick Ouchène	“Copycat“	—
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian	Regina	“Bistra voda“	Clear water
Bulgaria	English	Krassimir Avramov	“Illusion“	—
Czech Republic	English	Gipsy.cz[41]		—
Finland	English	Waldo’s People	“Lose Control“	—
Georgia	English	Stefane & 3G	“We Don’t Wanna Put In“	—
Iceland	English	Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir	“Is It True?“	—
Israel	Hebrew, Arabic, English	Noa and Mira Awad	“Einaiych (There Must Be Another Way)“	Your eyes
FYR Macedonia	Macedonian	Next Time	“Nešto što ќe ostane“	Something that will remain
Malta	English	Chiara	“What If We“	—
Montenegro	English	Andrea Demiro	“Just Get Out of My Life“	—
Portugal	Portuguese	Flor-de-Lis	“Todas as ruas do amor“	All the streets of love
Romania	English	Elena Gheorghe	“The Balkan Girls“	—
Sweden
Switzerland	English	Lovebugs	“The Highest Heights“	—
Turkey	English	Hadise	“Düm Tek Tek“	Boom bang bang[a]

Semi-final 2

The countries in the list below are arranged alphabetically.

Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation
Albania	English	Kejsi Tola	“Më merr në ëndërr“	Take me into your dreams
Azerbaijan	English	AySel and Arash[42]	“Always“	—
Croatia	Croatian	Igor Cukrov and Andrea Šušnjara	“Lijepa Tena“	Beautiful Tena
Cyprus	English	Christina Metaxa	“Firefly“	—
Denmark	English	Niels Brinck	“Believe Again“	—
Estonia
Greece	English	Sakis Rouvas	“This Is Our Night“	—
Hungary	English	Zoli Ádok	“Dance With Me“	—
Ireland	English	Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy	“Et Cetera“	—
Latvia	Russian[43]	Intars Busulis	“Probka“[43]	Traffic jam
Lithuania	English	Sasha Son	“Love“[b]	—
Moldova	Romanian[44]	Nelly Ciobanu	“Hora din Moldova“	Dance of Moldova
Netherlands	English	De Toppers	“Shine“	—
Norway	English	Alexander Rybak	“Fairytale“	—
Poland	English	Lidia Kopania	“I Don’t Wanna Leave“	—
Serbia	Serbian[45]
Slovakia	Slovak[46]
Slovenia	English	Quartissimo and Martina Majerle	“Love Symphony“	—
Ukraine

Final

The “Big Four” and the host country are qualified directly to the final of the contest, and will not participate in any of the semi-finals.^[1] The five finalists listed below will be joined by ten entries from each of the two semi-finals; twenty-five entries in total will compete in the final.

Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation
France	French	Patricia Kaas	“Et s’il fallait le faire“	And if it had to be done
Germany	English	Alex Swings Oscar Sings	“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang“	—
Russia
Spain	Spanish, English	Soraya Arnelas	“La noche es para mí“	The night is for me
United Kingdom	English	Jade Ewen	“My Time“	—

Thoughts?

And, to remind you of last year and get you in the mood, Russia’s Dima Bilan, and Israel’s Boaz Mauda.

The Walking Stick Insect
Kay Ryan

Eventually the
most accident-prone
or war-weary
walking sticks
are entirely
reduced to antennae
with which they
pick their way
sensitively,
appalled by
everything’s
intensity.

1.  “It begins with a thought.”  When genocide against women happens in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Amy Elman, professor of political science at Kalamazoo College, does battle to bring Karadzic to justice. Published in Encore magazine, March 2001.  http://www.writesight.com/writers/zinta/article.php?article=224

2.  An arrest regarding the 2001 attacks in Rock Creek Park. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/04/chandra.levy.suspect.guandique/index.html

3.  As the International Criminal Court issues a landmark warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over war crimes in Darfur, CNN’s Nic Robertson interviews a man who was told to rape and kill children.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/04/darfur.rape/index.html