The Eritrean School Director

He sits in my class, clinging to every word. Hoping that he will catch every nuance, but castigating himself for his self-perceived lack of understanding. Every break in my lecturing he comes to me and apologizes for his inadequacies. I talk to him of patience and self-compassion. I remind him in every class that learning takes time and also that he is doing better than he thinks.

I ask him one day after class, "What did you do in Eritrea?"
"I was the director of a school. I studied and taught mathematics. I am not good at languages."
I smile and shake my head. I draw an upward sloping line on the whiteboard with plateaus along the way. I explain that learning anything goes along this line. He nods his head and smiles, but I can tell from his eyes he does not believe me. He smiles and thanks me for my time. Apologizes again for his incompetence. Then he heads out the door, heading back to work. He gives up his dinner break twice a week to come to my class. He works as an orderly at a local hospital.

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Undecided by David Sedaris

ILLUSTRATION: ZOHAR LAZAR

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Beautiful

I'm a little behind on my outrage...

I knew some things would slide when I decided to have one full time job and two part time jobs, but I am aghast at some of the things I have been catching up on..

In Ohio, Muslim children were gassed. Please explain to me how this is not terrorism? How exactly can attacking innocent babies be justifed? What am I missing here? We, as a nation, decry senseless violence, and yet since 9/11 have allowed, as a nation, the perpetuation of racism and religious intolerance against Muslims and people with darker skin tones in the name of protecting our country from the Islamic jihad?

And while I have been kind of keeping up on the crashing of AIG, WaMu, Wachovia, Lehnman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I was astounded to hear more and more people blaming the average Joe for being greedy and wanting more house than they could afford and thus causing the crashes of the mortgage companies.. Please, people, read this and then ask yourself who/what was really at fault? This collapse is not about the the average Joe/Jose/Jane/Juaquina, it's about bad business practices, and government allowing lax standards. And then ask yourself who has been in power the past 8 years in order to mess things up this badly.

Rwanda: Lest we forget

Maryam as usual had a story to tell. But this one made me cry. This one should not be forgotten. This one should be written on walls, blasted from the airwaves, and shouted from the rooftops. First, give your attention to Vestine's story as told by Maryam. Then give a little from your pocket to represent the amount of your heart you would give to make Vestine's world better. No one deserves what she went through. No one. And yet hundreds of thousands were faced with the same tortureous happenings.