Sirens on the Rocks
I have, over the last few days, seen three new birds for the year, namely Cedar Waxwing, Bushtit, and Blue-grey Gnatcatcher (as of my 15 minute break post-lunch). I was very surprised to see the Bushtit alone, as I almost always see them in huge groups. I've joked that you know when Bushtits are around, entire bushes move at a time, because they're always so gregarious. Poor lonely guy, with the chestnut cheeks. The gnatcatcher was alone, but that does not surprise me, as the most I've ever seen together at one time was a pair.
Fr. Nicholas came over yesterday for dinner, and to have the house blessed. It feels somehow less foreboding now. Slightly more like home, even though it doesn't feel like home at all to me. Dinner was also good. That might have been because I didn't cook it. My cooking skills aren't really up to par just yet...it doesn't help that I don't get to practice much, either. Meh. But anyway, it was good to see him, and it seems I am missed in the community there. Which is good, I feared I'd be ostracized for a while, because of the whole Marianna thing.
I've also finished two books this week, one for work (it was a new arrival), and one for pleasure. At work, WNPA sent us a new book, called 50 Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest. Nobody was warned about the new publication, it essentially just showed up last Friday, so the folks put it up. It took all of an hour to read. I try to read all, or at least, a lot of, the books we have for sale, so I can make better recommendations to people. And sometimes, the books are pretty interesting.
The other book I finished was Finn Mac Cool, by Morgan Llywelyn. It was a novel about the legendary Irish hero, Fionn mac Cumhaill. A rather interesting character, if I do say so myself...I rather enjoyed the book. I'm thinking that perhaps I'll read some more of her stuff soon, as I invariably forget how good her novels are, even if they're usually outside my general scope of historical knowledge.
Right now, I am finally reading the much-suggested Dance of the Wu-Li Masters. So far it's interesting, but I really haven't learned too much new stuff from it yet.
Speaking of interesting, Happy New Year to my Old Calendar Friends, and Happy Nika Revolt Day to those on the New Calendar (and who are Byzantinists or Byzantinophiles). The Blues and the Greens finally convince the emperor that chariot racing is, indeed, a full-contact sport.
I know I'm probably going to piss some people off with this, but I have some thoughts that occured to me last night about the Israel-Gaza conflict, that I'm sure some of you are sick of hearing about. I'm not going to be political here, these thoughts have nothing to do with politics, or really, religion for that matter, just drawing some historical parallels.
I had recently read in a blog, unsubstantiated mind you, that some of the wounds found on dead and severely injured Palestinians appeared to be caused some sort of new weapon, thus indicating that Israel might have been using Gaza as a training ground. Whether this is true or not, does not matter, but it DID lead to the following brainstorm. Namely, this reminded me of another long-term conflict that nobody really wants to acknowledge: America's Indian Wars.
The situations between Native Americans and Settlers, and that between the Israelis and Palestinians, upon reflection, are quite similar. The same problems exist, as you have a long-standing population that IS, like it or not folks, native to that region, or at the very least (thinking of the Comanche in particular here) had been there for a couple hundred years prior at most. The two populations have two different lifestyles in these cases, and both want the land to use for their purposes, their way of life. Naturally, this leads to conflict. Essentially, the native population is trying to overthrow what is essentially an immigrant population.
And yes, MOST of the Israelis are immigrants. They are, at most, second-or-third generation, most of the time. Their ancestors came from around the world in 1948. The Palestinian population had, more or less, been there for a LONG time. Some of them were descended from Caananites, others from Byzantine immigrants, or Arabs, or whatever, but regardless, they were there first, a long time before the Israeli settlers got there. It was the same in the Western United States, where you had this same Native American population...interacting with new settlers from Back East. The possibility for peace ended, invariably, when someone made a bad decision. The same occurred with Israel and Palestine. Well, is occurring. Peace can only be made if both sides want it, more specifically, the HEADS of both populations want peace. Read: Nez Pierce.
You have this band of Nez Pierce, tired of war, wanting to head to Canada. The US Cavalry wants nothing to do with it, of course, and harries them until they finally give into their terms. Or Wounded Knee, another spectacular fuck-up of this sort: the Natives wanted peace, the Army was not in that mindset, a misunderstanding occurs...and BAM! Hell on earth.
Something tells me that the Palestinian/Israeli conflict might be within the same mold. So, what will happen? I expect, what will happen is either the Israelis kick the Palestinians out completely, where they end up ceasing to be an ethnic entity (re: some Native American cultures of the Eastern US), or in a setup VERY similar to the "reservation" system. Who knows, there could be Palestinian Casinos, draining the Israelis dry of their hard-earned money raised by growing crops, within the lifetimes of our grandchildren's grandchildren. It's sobering--and sad--to think about, but if things aren't done to bring forth peace now, or soon, without more bloodshed...this could be the result.
EDIT Sidenote: This has nothing to do about whether or not the Jews should have Israel. It's more about both sides pulling their damn heads out of their respective asses!
Fr. Nicholas came over yesterday for dinner, and to have the house blessed. It feels somehow less foreboding now. Slightly more like home, even though it doesn't feel like home at all to me. Dinner was also good. That might have been because I didn't cook it. My cooking skills aren't really up to par just yet...it doesn't help that I don't get to practice much, either. Meh. But anyway, it was good to see him, and it seems I am missed in the community there. Which is good, I feared I'd be ostracized for a while, because of the whole Marianna thing.
I've also finished two books this week, one for work (it was a new arrival), and one for pleasure. At work, WNPA sent us a new book, called 50 Edible and Useful Plants of the Southwest. Nobody was warned about the new publication, it essentially just showed up last Friday, so the folks put it up. It took all of an hour to read. I try to read all, or at least, a lot of, the books we have for sale, so I can make better recommendations to people. And sometimes, the books are pretty interesting.
The other book I finished was Finn Mac Cool, by Morgan Llywelyn. It was a novel about the legendary Irish hero, Fionn mac Cumhaill. A rather interesting character, if I do say so myself...I rather enjoyed the book. I'm thinking that perhaps I'll read some more of her stuff soon, as I invariably forget how good her novels are, even if they're usually outside my general scope of historical knowledge.
Right now, I am finally reading the much-suggested Dance of the Wu-Li Masters. So far it's interesting, but I really haven't learned too much new stuff from it yet.
Speaking of interesting, Happy New Year to my Old Calendar Friends, and Happy Nika Revolt Day to those on the New Calendar (and who are Byzantinists or Byzantinophiles). The Blues and the Greens finally convince the emperor that chariot racing is, indeed, a full-contact sport.
I know I'm probably going to piss some people off with this, but I have some thoughts that occured to me last night about the Israel-Gaza conflict, that I'm sure some of you are sick of hearing about. I'm not going to be political here, these thoughts have nothing to do with politics, or really, religion for that matter, just drawing some historical parallels.
I had recently read in a blog, unsubstantiated mind you, that some of the wounds found on dead and severely injured Palestinians appeared to be caused some sort of new weapon, thus indicating that Israel might have been using Gaza as a training ground. Whether this is true or not, does not matter, but it DID lead to the following brainstorm. Namely, this reminded me of another long-term conflict that nobody really wants to acknowledge: America's Indian Wars.
The situations between Native Americans and Settlers, and that between the Israelis and Palestinians, upon reflection, are quite similar. The same problems exist, as you have a long-standing population that IS, like it or not folks, native to that region, or at the very least (thinking of the Comanche in particular here) had been there for a couple hundred years prior at most. The two populations have two different lifestyles in these cases, and both want the land to use for their purposes, their way of life. Naturally, this leads to conflict. Essentially, the native population is trying to overthrow what is essentially an immigrant population.
And yes, MOST of the Israelis are immigrants. They are, at most, second-or-third generation, most of the time. Their ancestors came from around the world in 1948. The Palestinian population had, more or less, been there for a LONG time. Some of them were descended from Caananites, others from Byzantine immigrants, or Arabs, or whatever, but regardless, they were there first, a long time before the Israeli settlers got there. It was the same in the Western United States, where you had this same Native American population...interacting with new settlers from Back East. The possibility for peace ended, invariably, when someone made a bad decision. The same occurred with Israel and Palestine. Well, is occurring. Peace can only be made if both sides want it, more specifically, the HEADS of both populations want peace. Read: Nez Pierce.
You have this band of Nez Pierce, tired of war, wanting to head to Canada. The US Cavalry wants nothing to do with it, of course, and harries them until they finally give into their terms. Or Wounded Knee, another spectacular fuck-up of this sort: the Natives wanted peace, the Army was not in that mindset, a misunderstanding occurs...and BAM! Hell on earth.
Something tells me that the Palestinian/Israeli conflict might be within the same mold. So, what will happen? I expect, what will happen is either the Israelis kick the Palestinians out completely, where they end up ceasing to be an ethnic entity (re: some Native American cultures of the Eastern US), or in a setup VERY similar to the "reservation" system. Who knows, there could be Palestinian Casinos, draining the Israelis dry of their hard-earned money raised by growing crops, within the lifetimes of our grandchildren's grandchildren. It's sobering--and sad--to think about, but if things aren't done to bring forth peace now, or soon, without more bloodshed...this could be the result.
EDIT Sidenote: This has nothing to do about whether or not the Jews should have Israel. It's more about both sides pulling their damn heads out of their respective asses!