The death toll in Myanmar (Burma) from the cyclone is now at 22,000. During the government crackdown in September and October, I linked to several blogs within the country that reported on the imprisonment and beating of monks and other protesters. In the wake of the cyclone, however, it’s difficult to find up-to-the-minute blogs out…Continue reading Burma Digest
Category: Our World
fallout
Veterans of Bush’s war are committing suicide by the hundreds each month, but, apparently, our government doesn’t believe they really deserve health care. From the Chronicle today. More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and…Continue reading fallout
Poetry for Water
May 1, 2008, a very special literary event to bring clean water to the Samburu People of Northern Kenya. The line-up: Dave Eggers, best-selling author of What is the What, on the Writing Life; reading by acclaimed author Maxine Hong Kingston; poetry readings by Roger Housden (author of the Ten Poems series) and poet-novelist Elizabeth…Continue reading Poetry for Water
sex hormones in your drinking water
The AP reports that trace levels of prescription drugs have been found in drinking water of 24 major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco. The drug found in San Francisco’s drinking supply is estradiol. I looked up estradiol on Wikipedia. I’ve always loved the taste of San Francisco’s water, but this is frightening. Estradiol (17β-estradiol) (also…Continue reading sex hormones in your drinking water
More Literary Fraud
Margaret Seltzer’s memoir of Los Angeles Gang Life, Love and Consequences, was a fabrication, reports the New York Times. The book has been recalled by the publisher, Riverhead Books. This news comes just days after Belgian writer Misha Defonseca admitted that her book, Misha: A Memoir of the Holocaust Years, which details her, um, life…Continue reading More Literary Fraud