Never On Line

I'm in the USA now and enjoying every minute of it. I have promised various people that I will start writing again here but not quite yet. I am on the Massachusetts coast - with luck there will be a pic or two here to prove that - with one new family member arriving each day. So with so much to talk about, serious blog entries will have to wait. Perhaps if I list what I want to write about I will force myself to act.
1) Enjoyable experiences without exception at each medical caregiver I visit. (Since I benefit from the USAs "Socialized medicine" called Medicaid, I make the most of the chance to check up on everything while I am here, all at no cost.)

2)The well known friendliness of all kinds of people, something that is experienced most dramatically before, during, and after each 5 km race I take part in. So far Day of Portugal last Sunday and tomorrow, the 21st Father's Day Race in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.

3)My endless unsuccessful efforts to get the New York Times to accept and publish a letter from me in which I use Sweden as a guide for Barack Obama's Clean Energy Policy, which so far is only a phrase.

So let's see if I can sign off with a picture of my beloved Horseneck Beach. There is what I see as I walk from the dunes to the beach. And perhaps there is even me in my traditional stance - celebrating!

Time to talk about Energy, Swedish style

Added 18:07 Swedish time - At the bottom of this post is the URL to the comment on the Friedman article in the New York Times to which I refer.

On the other side of the Atlantic the two major news items of the day - 5 May 2010 - are about the BP oil-rig failure in the Gulf of Mexico and the capture of the Pakistani-American said to have admitted being the "Times Square (almost) Bomber."

The BP oil-rig failure has given at least some of the "Drill baby, drill" (for oil that is) enthusiasts cause for pause. Arnold S. (the one in California) has proclaimed "Not here, not now, never." Sarah Palin has not been heard from as far as I know.

This has led me to try to find a few free minutes to begin again my small-scale campaign to find someone in The Green Mountain State (Vermont), my home-away-from-home who is truly knowledgeable about what is called here in Sweden "bergvärme" and in the USA by some as ground-source heat.

I have sent a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times (always an exercise in futility), inquiries to the Burlington Free Press (only residents may have their letters published), and even to Senator Bernie Sanders who at least seems to know what geothermal energy means.

In today's New York Times OnLine I have already read Tom Friedman's plea for serious energy policy och till min förvåning see that already the Times had approved 32 comments. (Usually no comments get approved until around 7 AM Eastern Time). I have submitted mine. Let's see what happens. (Added 18:07 - The Times readers liked my comment)

Stay tuned

URL to my comment on the Friedman article recommended by 31 of the 109 and selected by the site.

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/opinion/05friedman.html

Marja, Afghanistan Reality

Yes, three weeks have gone by since I could report on something completely enjoyable. Since writing that entry I have listened to many of the tracks on Live at the Black Door and have ordered Tony Whedon's book from Amazon. These pleasant interludes are always played against a darker background, the daily reports of an America that seems more and more dysfunctional at home, yet fully willing to wage war half a world away.

Therefore I enter my comment just submitted to the New York Times "At War" section - NYT must approve every entry so if you were to go to the NYT OnLine and then to At War (today a box shows down on the right hand side on the first web page) you might not see my comment. I enter it here to tell anyone who might read this that that person would be well advised to go to the NPR URL further down the page and listen to one of the few people I would trust to report from Afghanistan, NPRs Soray Sahaddi Nelson who speaks Farsi and Dari and is therefore far better qualified than most to know what is going on there.

Submitted as Comment to the NYT At War
The At War entries are essential reading and should be given Front Page position. This particular entry originally titled Who Are We Fighting in Marja (still the title seen on the first web page) now corrected to Who Is Fighting in Marja is important and, of course, leads many commentators to raise the question “Why Are American Military Fighting in Marja?”

I recommend that you who are reading Who is Fighting in Marja and my entry here go ASAP to the following URL

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123898317

where you will be taken to both the transcript and the podcast of the gifted and brave Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson of NPR who reports in this podcast from her position as embedded reporter in Marja. You will hear her report on the death of a young Navajo American not long after the picture of him was taken that appears in this story.

Then you will hear something expressed by her that Barack Obama should have considered before he, Nobel Peace Prize winner, decided to become the War President in Afghanistan. Sarhaddi Nelson first corrects one military estimate that it will take 30 days “to clear” this area, stating that the estimates she heard from military officials were 60 to 90 days.

Then, much more important, she addresses the question “What exactly does ‘cleared’ mean?” She says that the supposedly cleared area is still occupied by IEDs in the ground – a few feet away – and by people – call them what you will – who are shooting from scattered locations within the cleared area. Call it \"cleared\" if you will but consider carefully what that might mean.

In short, what happens the day the military leave? I asked my Iraqi friends and my lone Afghani friend on Friday what they think. The Afghani said – leave now. Many others said that Barack Obama, who first gave them some hope, should never have made the decision to send the 30,000 even though it might well have meant he would be only a one-term president. I agree.

Larry Lundgren only-neverinsweden.blogspot.com

Linkoeping Sweden - US citizen, however.

Sound of Surprise(s)

Whitney Balliett, long the jazz critic for The New Yorker, once, long ago, wrote a book The Sound of Surprise. That phrase SoS is never far from the surface in my memory because it so well captured what jazz has meant to me – there is always a surprise waiting just around the corner precisely when you thought the corner would not be taken by surprise.

So this is about a series of surprises that have captured me Body and Soul these last 72 hours. (Also at the surface of my memory are a thousand song titles, with lyrics to match – no chord progressions sad to say, so why not recycle them, titles and lyrics?)

"It’s Three O’clock in the Morning” on January 30th, and I am sleeping but in which state of sleep I do not know. Sounds are pouring in, however, sounds from Vermont Public Radio (VPR) OnLine, sounds that were first, when I was falling asleep those of All Things Considered.

A few minutes later consciousness began to take over, opened up by jazz from somewhere by somebody – the first of the surprises – and then, the second surprise superimposed on the first, a poetic voice - soloing. Now, briefly, short-term memory took over to remind me that I had read at VPR OnLine that a jazz and poetry group, PoJazz, would be performing live at VPR’s studio in Burlington, Vermont. All that a recently sleeping brain could take in at the time was impressions, mostly impressions of wonder and a question: "How was it possible for this to be happening – northern Vermont is not NYC but it sounded that way.

A few hours later – maybe 5 or so – my morning story began by opening George Thomas page at VPR to get a glimpse of the sources of my surprises. A few hours later – 7:30 AM Vermont time/13:30 Swedish time, I was composing an Email to Tony Whedon, trombonist and poet and leader of the group PoJazz. Then that Email was on its way across the Atlantic that my grandparents (some of them) and my great grandparents (some of them) had crossed a century and then-some ago.

Exactly one hour later there in my Gmail was the most delightful reply anyone could ever ask for – from Tony Whedon in little Johnson, Vermont, starting his day with words of surprise and coincidence. What surprise, what coincidence? How had he been starting his day?

Let him speak: “I’d been listening to Monika Zetterlund singing “Waltz for Debbie” with Bill Evans…it’s just beautiful”

Well Monika Zetterlund is, of course, the Swedish jazz singer who became a soulmate to Bill Evans. Coincidence right from the world of Paul Auster - Tony Wehdon gets the first Email in his life from Sweden while he is listening to Monika.

So lets let her (in Swedish) and Bill Evans (universal piano language)help you to understand how Tony Whedon started his day by hearing a voice from where I was writing (Sweden) with a piano “voice” from where I used to live (the US of A), two voices brought together here thanks to YouTube.

I have been able to embed the polished in-performance version, but the rehearsal version is blocked from embedding. (It is 23.00 here in Linköping and I have just come home from orchestra and am listening to the rehearsal version at the bottom of the post. I suggest you go down and copy the URL at the bottom of this post and just get lost listening and watching - if this does not speak to you, nothing will. But it will.)


Here is the URL to the both beautiful and touching session where Bill Evans and bassist Eddie Gomez are in the foreground and Monica Zetterlund is taking in what she hears before telling them OK "nu kör vi". I started by writing that jazz is about surprise but here you can see and hear that it is also about listening - so don't miss it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tp-nbchmHU&feature=player_embedded

Vi är bara - eller först och främst - människor/individer

Klockan är bara 6:23 på en mörk - what else is new - måndag morgon i det långa landet och jag har just läst en sådan fascinerande blandning av mejl och Facebook från 6 INDIVIDER att jag skriver några meningar medan jag väntar ringa en av mina döttrar. Jag skriver i fall Wide kollar bloggen innan jag hinner skriver något seriös.

Wide vi kan ej kommunicera via inlännings blogg som heter inlanning i html världen eftersom hon är på väg till Bangladesh och sannolikt har inte tid att kolla vad vi skriver där. Men jag gick tillbaka till boken Who Speaks for Islam och sedan till motsvarande OnLine bok som handlar om muslimer i USA för att se om forskarna vid Gallup Institute USA hade förklarat var gränsen gick när de valde "muslimer" som skulle intervjuas.

Så långt jag kan se har de inte förklarat men ett par intressanta fakta dök upp. I USA är muslimer genomsnittligt bättre utbildade än den genomsnittliga amerikansk medborgare. Det var nummer 1. Nummer två, de har högre inkomst än "the average". Never in Sweden, det är jag säker på.

Varför skulle du eller jag eller någon bry sig om någon är 100% muslim (kristen, jude osv) ellet 25% eller vad? Jag skall fråga mina vänner. Men jag vet att inom vissa kretser - judiska och islamiska - får man inte lämna den religionen man är född i. Jag googlade lite efter "apostasy" och man snabbt hittar seriösa artiklar som visar vilket stort ämne det är.

För mig borde var och en läsa On Identity av Amin Malouuf och försöker leva som han lever. That's all for now.

jag anger min alternativa epost adress temporärt Lawrence.Lundgren@tele2.se

Allt om muslimer i det långa landet

TGIF så bara ett litet inlägg för att hänvisa en tänkbar läsare till en som vet "Allt om muslimer i det långa landet".
http://inlanning.blogspot.com. Jag upptäckte hennes blogg då jag läste om 10 muslimer i Svenska Dagbladet. Hon har en fot i tre olika länder (kanske fler) och det innebär att hon har tre fötter. Länderna är Pakistan, Sverige, och Kanada.

Det pågår i Sverige just nu en sorts debatt om Who Speaks for Islam (jag skriver titeln till den bok som hittills finns bara på engelska). I Sverige verkar det som om olika regeringar lyssnar bara på självutvalda representanter som Dilsa Demirbag-Sten döpt i debatt artikeln i DN 10/1 Skäggiga män (jag fixar bättre senare). Dokumentär filmaren Evin Rubar erbjöd en suverän film som gav fyra sådana chansen att "put their feet in their mouths" (vet inte vad uttrycket heter på svenska. Men SVT tagit bort.

Sådana som bloggaren inlanning (som är muslim) och jag som inte är muslim vill försöka förklara för den stora gruppen som anser att muslimer är en homogen grupp att de har fel. Det är poängen med boken Who Speaks for Islam: What One Billion Muslims Think. Boken publicerades i USA där det finns många muslimer som talar ut som inte tänker som dem skäggiga gubbarna. Och inlanning kan säkert berätta eftersom hon är kanadensare att det finns kvinnor i Kanada som tänker fritt om Islam - fråga henne.

Jag tror att vi vill bara säga till var och en - försök hitta två muslimer som du kan prata med och bara försöka lyssna på dem och hoppas att dem kan lyssna på dig. Bara fråga dem - vad är några viktiga delar av ditt identitet?

Try it? Now TGIF som betyder Thank God Its Friday which translates into - enjoy yourself as I am writing this at 21.28 in Sweden where det är fortfarande skäggiga gubbar som media, regeringar (pluralis), och tidningar anser Speak for Islam. Om du säger så till mig säger jag tillbaka, Genenoni, genenoni!

Have a good one!

Alone and Mindful in Sweden - Abraham's Children

My reflections Alone and Mindful in Linköping, Sweden just as the Oak Tree in my Facebook Photo Album was Alone and Mindful on New Year’s Day 2010.

In Rochester, New York the families closest to me/us were either all Jewish or were families with either a Jewish husband or wife. I/we had the chance to get to experience the extraordinary range in some of these families – Orthodox to Reform to Secular – and something about their traditions and customs. One of them, our neighbor Nathan, born in Poland had fled from the Nazis and in Iraqi Kurdistan had had his life saved by Kurds who made it possible for him and his family to continue to India and eventually to Rochester, New York to become our neighbor.

In Linköping, Sweden the families closest to me have their roots in Iraqi Kurdistan and in African Eritrea. Some are Christian, some are Muslim. As I got to know these families I often commented that their family gatherings reminded me most of my Jewish friends in Rochester.

One of the great gifts given to me as a result of moving to Sweden was the chance to work at the Red Cross helping and being helped by people of all faiths and no faiths who have fled war and persecution to find refuge in Sweden. One of them, Ala B., is an Arab from Jerusalem who has been one of my windows into that world.

My message is very simple. We are first and foremost human beings (människor) who by the accident of our birth were brought up in an environment that was shaped in part by Judaism, Islam, or Christianity. All of us are in that sense the Children of Abraham (see Bono project in New York Times today 3 January 2009). None of us is better than the other because of that. Each of us is perhaps better at doing something we have learned to do thus far in life. We can use my good friend Sonia as example – she sings a lot better than any of the rest of us – and in more languages than you can imagine. She sings so well, not because of her religion or "nationality" but because she has worked so hard.

So read the excerpts from this story published in the New York Times on New Year’s Eve. Then just ask yourself – please, snälla – can I take a little step to try to understand someone who is different from me and then see if by getting to know them what human qualities we have in common. And if that someone needs help I might give, can I give it?

Marya in wheelchair (born a Palestinian Muslim) and Orel (born an Israeli Jew)

(Neighbors and close friends - in Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem)

Marya, her 6-year-old brother, Momen, and their father, Hamdi Aman all are in Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem as patients

Orel and his mother Angela Elizarov, á surgical nurse, share a room in the same hospital. Angela’s husband, Avrel, works with children, and comes as often as possible to the hospital. The couple came to Israel from Azerbaijan

All quotations from NYT story - see NYT 31 December 2009

“Friendship often starts with proximity, but Orel and Marya, both 8, have been thrust together in a way few elsewhere have. Their playground is a hospital corridor. He (Orel) is an Israeli Jew severely wounded by a Hamas rocket. She (Marya) is a Palestinian Muslim from Gaza paralyzed by an Israeli missile. Someone forgot to tell them that they are enemies.”

“When Orel arrived here a year ago, he could not hear, see, talk or walk. Now he does them all haltingly. Half his brain is gone--- Marya’s spinal cord was broken at the neck and she can move only her head. Smart, sunny and strong-willed, she moves her wheelchair by pushing a button with her chin”
“In a way, a friendship between two wounded children from opposing backgrounds is not that surprising. Neither understands the prolonged fight over land and identity that so divides people here. They are kids. They play.”

“But for those who have spent time in their presence at Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem, it is almost more powerful to observe their parents, who do understand. They have developed a kinship that defies national struggle.”

Angela Elizarov (Orel’s mother): “The wounds of our children, their pain, our pain, have connected us,” …“Does it matter that he is from Gaza and I am from Beersheba, that he is an Arab and I am a Jew? It has no meaning to me. He sees my child and I see his child.”

Hamdi Aman (Marya’s father): “(He) is asked how he can live among the people whose army destroyed his family. ‘I have never felt there was a difference among people — Jews, Muslims, Christians — we are all human beings,’ he says. “I worked in Israel for years and so did my father. We know that it is not about what you are but who you are. And that is what I have taught my children.”

My (LL) final comment. These people are human beyond belief. They are role models functioning at the “angelic” level that few of us perhaps can approach. But each can try to move in that direction – one step at a time.

Larry
Linköping, Sweden early Sunday morning the 3 of January 2009.