A Book, Films and Music

Last week I finished Stephen Lewis's Race Against Time, a collection of lectures done for the CBC. I'm pretty lazy about reviewing books and often have nothing intelligent to add. For other's comments, go here. I do, however, wish to draw attention to the following gleanings:

Women, specifically grandmothers, have become the backbone of southern and eastern Africa. They tend to the sick, put food on the table, and support the orphaned young—in many communities, the mothers and fathers have all succumbed to AIDS.

Famine is still an issue, but often because of AIDS, not drought. There are simply not enough able bodies to grow, harvest, and produce food.

To get anything done in the bigwig political and U.N. spheres, you have to put up with a depressing amount of bullshit like sucking up to the boss, having to deal with egomaniacs and buffoons, and putting up with office politics, finger pointing, and a gross lack of accountability. No surprise there, but refreshing to hear it from Lewis who is pretty much no holds barred in his condemnations.

This year I have committed 0.7% of my net income to the plight.

Me being me, I question my motives. I can truthfully say that it's not the result of guilt brought on by some religious checklist of good deeds as I'm not religious. What then...?

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From Marc Ian Barasch's Field Notes On The Compassionate Life

Like most people, I adore my offspring, even when they drive me crazy; love my parents, despite the corkscrew of childhood; dote on my siblings (though there is that scrapbook of old slights); treasure my friends (even if they sometimes let me down). Conventional wisdom wouldn't fault me for saving the best stuff for my nearest and dearest and giving the rest of humanity the leftovers.

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I rented The Incredibles for the kids. Good entertainment. I watched Finding Home till 4:00AM this morning. A quiet film about place, love, and forgiveness. The first half is slow with some weak dialogue but it picks up admirably toward the end. The average rating at IMDb is 4.5*. I give it a 7*. Recommended.

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[Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris: All The Roadrunning—I first heard this playing at Chapters. Bought it immediately. Looking at the images in the CD booklet, Emmylou is ageless and still beautiful; even the post Dire Straits Knopfler is getting more handsome with time.]