The Hazel Files
MY RECENT POSTS
- And in the meantime.....
August 12, 2012 01:58PM - The Chinese claim a new
approach for Africa...and
other problems
July 23, 2012 10:32PM - Big Wood=Big Oil=Big Wall
Street
July 10, 2012 11:15PM - Spice Wars, Opium Wars, Slave
Traders: the Past is Still
Present
June 28, 2012 02:13PM - Another triumph for Toni
Morrison
June 21, 2012 11:28PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Bell was an essential
component of my education when
I first
got to
university:…”
March 22, 2011 07:25PM - “Thanks John”
February 22, 2011 06:53PM - “Thanks for this...I
always find your posts very
meaningful to
me.”
February 17, 2011 07:59PM - “Thanks for this post. I
appreciated having the
accompanying
photos.”
November 13, 2010 05:00PM - “Glad I found this!
Thanks for thoughtful writing
and.... for
just
thinking.”
November 13, 2010 04:58PM
Hazel Singer's Links
AUGUST 12, 2012 1:58PM
And in the meantime.....
The news from
the Olympic Games, local election issues, summertime, blogging at
BlackPast.org Blog. Unfortunately, life is not so
pleasant for others: atrocities still continue in Syria, the vulnerable still remain vulnerable, and
Roma (most recently in the news, those in
France) and immigrants/migra… Read full post »
JULY 23, 2012 10:32PM
The Chinese claim a new approach for Africa...and other problems
The Chinese
President, Hu Jintao, made an announcement at a conference of
African leaders that China is embarking on a new approach to its
loans to and investments in African nations with resources needed
by the Chinese. An article in the New York Times on 19 July 2012
outlined the new/… Read full post »
JULY 10, 2012 11:15PM
Big Wood=Big Oil=Big Wall Street
The Big
Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by
Timothy
EganMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is as good as Norman Maclean's book on the fire of 1949: Young Men and Fire. Riveting in its build up, clear in descriptions of the people, politics, and place. What/… Read full post »
JUNE 28, 2012 2:13PM
Spice Wars, Opium Wars, Slave Traders: the Past is Still Present
A recent
story on the BBC about Afo, the mother clove tree in
Indonesia that survived Dutch 'extirpation', rounded out a number
of stories about the early days of European exploration and trade
development and exploitation that I have found compelling and
thought provoking. Barry
Unsworth, who/… Read full post »
JUNE 21, 2012 11:28PM
Another triumph for Toni Morrison
Home by
Toni
MorrisonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Toni Morrison has done it again: think The Bluest Eye and Beloved...this little book is as powerful, beautiful, horrific, and painful as both of those. It is hurtful and healing. The appalling violence on so many levels, the damage done t/… Read full post »
JUNE 17, 2012 11:40PM
Land Grabs in Africa
The Chinese
are making resource and land grabs in Africa and South America (I
have pointed this out in previous posts). Adding insult to
injury, investors from various parts of the world looking for
places to park their money have chosen, in this case,
Mozambique. Dan Charles, an NPR repo… Read full post »
JUNE 7, 2012 3:25PM
Albania
Snap Judgement, a
very interesting show hosted by Glynn
Washington, is a program of stories, usually grouped around a
theme. This last week the theme was "Apocolypse...the end of
the world as we know it". These themes are often not what
they appear to be and the stories can be intensely/… Read full post »
MAY 19, 2012 3:03PM
A bright spot
The New York
Times reported today that Malawi's new president, Joyce Banda, declared
on Friday she wanted to repeal Malawi's laws against
homosexuality. Malawi may be a small country, but this is huge
news on a continent that has become an increasingly dangerous place
for gays and lesbians to l/… Read full post »
APRIL 30, 2012 10:48PM
Revealed Lives
Half-Blood
Blues by Esi
EdugyanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This novel is tightly written and strings the reader along as the author reveals, not just an aspect of history not well known, the painful past of the characters and how some of them seek resolution in their old age. This is … Read full post »
APRIL 25, 2012 4:33PM
A Lost Opportunity
Epistolophilia:
Writing the Life of Ona Simaite by Julija
SukysMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book had so many possibilities for greater success! The letters and diaries of Ona Simaite reminded me of Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness" diaries: the difficulties of daily life, the minutia,/… Read full post »
APRIL 19, 2012 9:09PM
Grace in the midst of evil
Between
Shades of Gray by Ruta
SepetysMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
When the world claims to not know, we are all complicit. This book is not just a testament to the power of survival and grace, it is a demonstration that when humans are trapped in evil it takes courage for/… Read full post »
APRIL 16, 2012 5:24PM
Censorship in Africa: the Chinese Influence
Thanks to
Mohamed Keita, the Africa advocacy coordinator for the
Committee to Protect
Journalists, for his opinion piece in today's New York
Times. The title of his commentary is "Africa's Press Problem". This
press "problem" is one is related to other "problems" I have
commented on/… Read full post »
MARCH 27, 2012 10:04PM
Cypress Trees
House
of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by
Anthony
ShadidMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is told in two concurrent parts: Anthony Shadid's family history as shaped by the Levant and the emigration to America, and his restoration of his family's home in Lebanon,/… Read full post »
MARCH 15, 2012 11:29PM
The San Andreas Fault
It
is very strange to visit the San Andreas
Fault. I blogged about this last year upon seeing it from
above at
Joshua Tree National Park. Here is a photo seen from
there:
The two photos below show the Fault at ground level in the Coachella Valley Preserve: those butte-like formations/… Read full post »
MARCH 5, 2012 8:40PM
Overlords and the Underworld
Interesting
commentary in
Sunday's New York Times about the leader of North Korea and his
family: while the people of North Korea starve, the members of the
Kim family have been acting like mafia dons: they have put
millions into criminal enterprises.
There have also been both print and radio re/… Read full post »
There have also been both print and radio re/… Read full post »
FEBRUARY 29, 2012 2:50PM
Slaves at sea
A horror story: an investigation of chartered commercial
fishing vessels. Shame on the government of New
Zealand. Shame on the chartered commercial fishing
vessels. Shame on the slave runners. Read the story by
clicking on the highlighted sentence above.
FEBRUARY 27, 2012 11:14PM
How Rome almost succeeded in burying Lucretius
The
Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen
GreenblattSuch a great romp through the classics: history and literature; complete with scheming and corrupt churchmen, book hunters, purges, and discovery.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
FEBRUARY 16, 2012 11:10PM
Dislocation
Shards by
Ismet
PrcicMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The crazy-making that is war. The warping that is the result of growing up in war. The living in the present-past, past-present. The misshapen soul that results from all the above when children have to invent themselves over and ove/… Read full post »
FEBRUARY 9, 2012 1:26AM
Truth is better than fiction!
Perusing
today's New York Times, I found an amazing selection of news items
in the category of Wonders Never Cease.
1.Russia Plans to Prosecute Dead Lawyer in Tax Case
2.Myanmar's Guerrilla Golfers Take Time for a Few Rounds
3.Putin to Cut List of Officials Who Can Flout Traffic Rules
4. Letter: Tar Sand… Read full post »
1.Russia Plans to Prosecute Dead Lawyer in Tax Case
2.Myanmar's Guerrilla Golfers Take Time for a Few Rounds
3.Putin to Cut List of Officials Who Can Flout Traffic Rules
4. Letter: Tar Sand… Read full post »
FEBRUARY 1, 2012 7:47PM
Syria: Beauty and Pain
A great story
on PRI's
The World today about Syrian composer Malek Jandali
And here is another video of a different type from PRI
And here is another video of a different type from PRI
JANUARY 19, 2012 11:06PM
A story of Stegnerian reach......
On
Canaan's Side by Sebastian
BarryMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A book of utter and astonishing beauty and sadness and poetry.
JANUARY 18, 2012 4:20PM
Snow in the Northwest
JANUARY 14, 2012 10:00PM
The ANC turns 100
The 100th
anniversary of the founding of the ANC is a milestone to be
contemplated and considered. That it took 82 years to bring
about the official end of Apartheid, as South Africans had their
first free election in 1994, says something about the difficulty
of change and the tenacity of… Read full post »
Judy Mandelbaum
Stella Lambert
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