Oh Yeah. Them
just as a quick follow up to my post last week about Lebanon and Syria and the assassination of Hariri:
today's NYT reports,
Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian protesters poured into a central Beirut square this afternoon in a demonstration called for by the militant group Hezbollah that vastly outnumbered recent rallies demanding that Syrian forces leave Lebanon.
that's as opposed to:
On Monday, in the biggest demonstration yet of anti-Syrian anger, more than 70,000 Lebanese shouting "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" filled central Beirut. The demonstrators waved Lebanon's cedar-tree flag and shouted, "Syria out!"
if hezbollah mobilized hundreds of thousands, i'm now curious to know who's mobilizing the anti-syria protesters? anybody? or just discontent? and why did the pro-syrian government resign if the balance of favor appears to weigh in their favor?
what does a man need to do to get some real news around here?
in answer to your question, one needs to become a journalist in order to get decent news.
you're a blogger. you can make up the news.
xz:
i thought of you today when, in a very ambitious move, one of my students brought in an article on this topic for today's weekly current events assignment. to her credit, she had read it thoroughly and highlighted all the key points and she was about four seemingly-endless minutes into trying to explain the historical significance of the conflict when, to break the rapidly-rising boredom among the class, one of my boys with horrible allergies sneezed so hard he threw up. this of course cut her insightful commentary short as my both my TA and i stopped listening in order to deal with the vomiter/his grossed out neighbors, so finally in defeat she picked up the meter stick we use as a pointer, waved it at the middle east to show the only two kids in the entire class who were still listening where these countries are, and sat down.
i find this a metaphorical answer for the question as it was initially stated...if dissatisfied with the news as presented, throw up without warning on your unsuspecting neighbors and create your own breaking news.
to clarify:
...she waved the pointer at the middle east ON THE MAP OF THE WORLD HANGING UP IN THE CLASS THAT WE USE TO ORIENT OURSELVES WHEN DISCUSSING CURRENT EVENTS. not just out the window towards the middle east in the real world, i.e. towards berkeley. that would be confusing for everyone if my students thought all you needed to do was go north on telegraph to end up in lebanon/syria.
that is preposterously funny.
and the most apt description of middle east politics that i have ever heard.
i feel a powerful urge to put that scene into a movie.
you should absolutely put it in a movie--much of what happens daily at school deserves to be on the silver screen for all the world to see, either for its beauty or its hilarity or just its painful, growing-up earnestness. my one request is that the role of miss nelson be played by none other than myself, since i don't trust anyone else to pull off my signature knee socks with the style, grace, sophistication, attitude, and badass sexiness that have become a hallmark of all my students' third grade experience.