fait accompli

We No Longer Understand Each Other

After hearing Al Filreis read this essay at the convocation for Jerome Rothenberg's 80th birthday, I wrote to Al telling him I thought his essay was that rare piece of critical prose that rises to the level of (first rate) poetry. Here is the complete text:

Jacket 2: "Jerome Rothenberg The Real Revolution is Tragic" : Al Filreis, on the occasion of Jerome Rothenberg's 80th Anniversary"

"...what I take to be Jerry’s greatest contribution: that in unsuccessful societies, it becomes impossible for language to change commensurately, and a common language breaks down, and we no longer understand each other". (Al Filreis)

2011-12-10T19:23:00.003-05:00

Why Kenya is not making any strides in the war against Al-Shabaab two months into the incursion

2011-12-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

UN chief visits Somalia for the first time since 1993

2011-12-08T22:38:00.005-05:00

Al-Qaida offshoot hopes to turn Africa's Sahel region into a 'new Somalia'

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Kenya offensive in Somalia timely- UN

2011-12-07T22:26:00.000-05:00

Somalia: Rolling back the Islamic radicals

2011-12-06T23:35:00.003-05:00

Famine, death and suffering continues in Somalia (Humanosphere: Video)

2011-12-06T21:28:00.002-05:00

Somalia: Cabinet Approves AU Request On Kenyan Troops

2011-12-06T21:23:00.001-05:00

After serving as Somalia's prime minister back to work in Buffalo

2011-12-06T11:18:00.001-05:00

Dozens killed in Southern Somalia clash (Reuters Africa)

2011-12-06T09:52:00.002-05:00

100 tonnes of food ready for Somalia/ Human Plus e.V. is urgently seeking partners for distribution on location

2011-12-04T17:28:00.003-05:00

In Somalia the solutions are in the details

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Kenya praises Somalia role in fight against Al-Shabaab

2011-12-04T15:28:00.005-05:00

Joseph Nechvatal: viral symphOny

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Joseph Nechvatal Interview, part 2, part 1 ...:(Notes from the Vomitorium blog)

2011-12-04T09:43:00.002-05:00

Jeffery Sachs: Challenges at the Cutting Edge of Fighting Global Poverty

2011-12-03T21:53:00.003-05:00

Warplanes hitting Somalia bases

2011-12-03T18:34:00.002-05:00

Operation Linda Nchi: KDF says it's achieving objectives in Somalia (Video)

2011-12-02T21:54:00.002-05:00

Iranian TV station accused of faking reports of Somalia drone strikes

2011-12-01T22:40:00.003-05:00

Humanitarian agencies decry dangerous mixing of agendas in Somali war

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Somalia: Drought hit families complain of living hardships

2011-11-29T10:46:00.002-05:00

New challenges in Somalia: relief effort under pressure in Kenya and Ethiopia

2011-11-29T10:42:00.003-05:00

Uganda government news: China to support UPDF effort in Somalia

2011-11-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

Banned aid agencies warn of disaster in Somalia

2011-11-28T23:07:00.002-05:00

UN strongly condemns seizure of aid agency assets by insurgent group

2011-11-28T23:05:00.001-05:00

UK aims to step up international action on Somalia

2011-11-28T08:48:00.004-05:00

Al-Shabab militants close down UN famine aid offices

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Ethiopia likely to send troops to Somalia after Kenya

2011-11-25T22:05:00.006-05:00

Kenyan troops destroy al-Shebab camps in Somalia

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US intensifies its proxy fight against al-Shebab in Somalia

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African Union force makes strides inside Somalia

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Somalia: shocking images are not enough

2011-11-24T09:18:00.000-05:00

AU envoy urges negotiation with Somali rebels

2011-11-22T09:31:00.003-05:00

Locals unite against al-Shebab

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Somalia: Troops set to carry out major assault on rebels

2011-11-21T22:55:00.001-05:00

Kenya:Nation Seeks USA Help in Somalia

2011-11-20T09:28:00.004-05:00

Zucotti park re-occupied 11/15-video by Toni Simon

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Ethiopian troops said to enter Somalia opening new front against militants

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AU forces thwart al-Shebab attacks

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How war boosts Kenya's regional, global clout

2011-11-19T23:44:00.006-05:00

Poet- Bashing Police- poets Robert Hass (former poet laureate of the US) and Geoffrey O'Brien beaten by police in Berkeley (New York Times)

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Somalia: famine still looms large

2011-11-19T00:50:00.007-05:00

M/E/A/N/I/N/G Online 25th Anniversary Issue
"Our 25th anniversary comes at an unusual moment following upon a series of traumatic political events and a decade of war. It is a moment of global economic crisis, failure of capitalism and of progressive political movements, a moment of political impasse, and of generational shift. Methods of communication have changed since we began our project 25 years ago and concepts of privacy and individuality seem to be in a process of radical transformation.
We began planning this issue in the way we had planned other forums in the past: we discussed and tried to formulate our specific personal concerns and our sense of general contemporary concerns into questions and themes that we would invite a spectrum of artists to respond to. Our mutual and separate lines of thought and feeling merged into two themes:

Theme 1
How do public traumas like 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise in income inequality in the U.S., and the current recession affect, or frame, the production of your art works and art criticism? What is the role of individual style or idiosyncrasy in these times and circumstances? What is the role of the art market/fashion/art history versus such public or individual/idiosyncratic motivations and frames?

Theme 2
How do artistic intuition, creativity, community, production, and distribution function for you in the age of digital corporate conglomerates and the web 2.0? What is the nature of privacy for the artist or critic working in the age of social networking and global spectacle?"
[from the introduction by Susan Bee and Mira Schor, editors]

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Remember The Cream? Here is an interview with a poet who was their lyricist, Pete Brown

2011-11-19T00:39:00.003-05:00

Somalia's famine sees some relief but thousands still face 'imminent starvation'"

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Record surge of people flee Somalia for Ethiopia and Yemen

2011-11-16T22:21:00.001-05:00

Presidents talk tough

2011-11-15T22:54:00.005-05:00

Kenya envoy seeks US help on Somalia

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Somalia: Thousands cut off by impending conflict, rain
"According to the UN, 750,000 people in Somalia are at risk of dying if they do not receive urgent intervention".

2011-11-15T21:09:00.003-05:00

The people's library is open!

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Toni and I were at OWS for the grand re-opening. Free ponchos were being given out to those who planned to stay the night. I ran into Adam from Unnameable Books who plans to help restock the OWS library. Want to help? Go see Adam.

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The People's Library

2011-11-15T10:11:00.002-05:00

Somalia: terrorists fall back

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UN monitoring group to recommend al-Shabab sanctions

2011-11-14T22:45:00.005-05:00

Israel-Kenya deal to help fight Somalia's al-Shebab

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Somali refugees flee to Ethiopia (PBS video)

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Panelists propose solutions to conflict in Horn of Africa
"Kenneth Menkhaus, an expert on Somalia, began by discussing the famine, which he labeled as "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world."
"Somalia is facing the biggest famine in 20 years," Menkhaus said".

2011-11-13T18:01:00.001-05:00

Families in Southern Somalia in dire need of food (video)

2011-11-13T00:42:00.001-05:00

Establishing credible government in Somalia in 90 days

2011-11-12T13:10:00.000-05:00

30 members of Al-Qaida linked groujp living in Kenya accept amnesty

2011-11-12T10:27:00.001-05:00

Kenya develops plan of satellite region of Jubaland along Somali border

2011-11-11T18:09:00.002-05:00

Toni Simon and NIck Piombino's Contradicta (Green Integer) on PennSound

2011-11-11T17:41:00.011-05:00

Somalia

Madobe, a former Al-Shabab member reflects on why he left the group (Video)

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Foreign military actions seen worsening Somalia's humanitarian problems

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The downturn in 2008 led to a real problem in the US at food pantries. During that time I searched around for a charity that distributes food in the US, and I learned that the best one is Feeding America.

Ever since learning of the real possibility of mass famine in Somalia over the next few months (if things keep going wrong there more than a quarter of a million to 350, 000 people could very well starve to death there, or come very close to this). This is why I started linking to all the news I could find about the situation in Somalia. After a month, things have not improved very much.

Yet the relatively very comfortable life we live here goes on, and every now and again some small accident happens that leads to something interesting. In this case, my entire ipod collection got wiped out so I had to start from scratch. One of the albums of very long ago that I forgot how much I liked was Fleetwood Mac's 1977 triumph Rumours. I realized that of the many fine songs on that album, the one that most moves me is Dreams, by Stevie Nicks. After listening to it numerous times over the past week I looked it up on YouTube. There is the above very good video of Stevie Nicks herself, but then I began looking at covers. I found several I liked, and among them was this one, by Jessie Cole.

Dreams by Stevie Nicks (cover sung by Jessie Cole)

2011-11-11T11:37:00.001-05:00

Cholera claims 87 more lives in Somalia

2011-11-11T09:48:00.002-05:00

Al-Shabab steps up war propaganda (Afrique en ligne)

2011-11-11T01:22:00.000-05:00

UNICEF mission in East Africa-NIghtline Report

2011-11-09T09:51:00.001-05:00

Your questions: Kenya's campaign against al-Shabab (VOA)

2011-11-08T18:13:00.007-05:00

Don't force statehood on Somalia, in defence of Richard Dowden (Said Samatar, Rutgers University)

Don't force statehood on Somalia (Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa; altered states, ordinary miracles

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2011-11-08T09:21:00.002-05:00

Kenya in Somalia for the long haul (NTVKenya video)