Shutki

During the trip, we went on a mini-trip to Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong, Bangladesh's major port city. My mom is obsessed with shutki, or dried fish and so this was heaven for her. Pictured are shutki from St. Martin's, an island located at the southernmost point of Bangladesh, near Burma, but my mom bought her stash from a market in Chittagong. I myself never ate shutki because I had a traumatic experience with Bengali fish when I was younger, but it makes for good pictures.

Bits: Linking Westchester and SF to NYC via Path & Ferries, Dining Over Graves, Magdalen Island, Broken Elevator Woes & Israeli Operations

1.

"Inwood-Westchester Greenway Link Planned" from Inwoodite

This pathway would connect upper Manhattan to my definition of upstate New York (or Westchester, same thing) and allow for access across the Henry Hudson Bridge, a bridge I've had the pleasure of rowing under twice. And they're improving/creating more bridges over the Harlem River

2.

"Cross a Continent by Water to Another City by the Bay" by Patrick McGeehan, from the New York Times

With the impending contract closure with Circle Line Downtown, California-based Hornblower Yachts is joining the mess of traffic along New York Harbor. These different boats will or already have journeyed to New York from varied distances: New Orleans, random places in New England and most notably, San Francisco.

That lucky boat, the Freedom, left San Francisco Bay last month and has yet to travel through the Panama Canal to its eastern goal.

Both McGeehan and the chief executive of Hornblower, Terry MacRae, had wonderful, water-related (anyone know a better word for that?) quotes that I just have to put here:

MacRae: [Referring to the scheduled arrival] In the ocean, anything can happen.

...

This is not the Freedom's first oceangoing tour. Before its stint taking visitors to Alcatraz, it ferried summer-vacation crowds to and from Nantucket. It made the long haul from Nantucket to San Francisco Bay in April 2006, Mr. MacRae said, so it has proven its seaworthiness. "It's been in the ocean its whole life," he said.

3.

"Indian Eatery Features Graveside Seating for 'Good Luck'" by Sam Dolnick, AP by way of the New York Sun

What's interesting about this restaurant in western Indian isn't its food or even its service; instead it is the location, more specifically, where it is built over, which, in this case, is on a Muslim cemetary. Customers sit right next to scattered gravestones throughout the restaurant.

And really, all that matters is:

Customers seem to like the graves, which resemble small cement coffins, and that's enough for him.

4.

"An Island in the Hudson, Plundered in Search of Indian Artifacts" by Anthony DePalma, from the New York Times

I'm pretty sure I've gazed longingly at Magdalen (a.k.a. Goat) Island during MetroNorth trips. And now, after reading this article, I want to go there. Rock shelter? Right on the Hudson? People who go there illegally anymore (I'm all about that--still holding onto my Bannerman's Island dream)? Possible buried goods?

5.

"At Bronx Court, Elevator Woes Slow Justice" by Leslie Kaufman, from the New York Times

Now that's just fucked up.

6.

"Israeli Forces Move Into Gaza" by Steven Erlanger, from the New York Times

What pisses me off about this is that the Israeli troops claim to be performing "routine" operations "to disrupt rocket and mortar assults" along the border. Come on, seriously, am I supposed to believe that?

Bits: Japan's Sexy Blue Fin, Too Hot to be a Journalist, Balkan Icons and Columbia & Israel/Palestine

1.

"Japan's Sacred Bluefin, Loved Too Much" by Blaine Harden, from the Washington Post

Read this article if only for lines like:

"'Tuna cannot look like skinny Japanese women.'"

"'I look for beauty and balanced plumpness," Ida said. "I am looking for a Catherine Zeta-Jones type of tuna.'"

Now I'm in the mood for sushi.

2.

"Hollywood Plugs Its Take of a Leak" by William Booth, from the Washington Post

So Hollywood once again dips into current events for ideas and turns the entire Judith Miller-Valerie Plame-Scotter Libby story into a movie. And what does the Washington Post point out, besides the major differences between the plot line (you know, in order to keep the narrative interesting for the viewers)?

"And while the real Judith Miller may be remembered as a stylish, slightly scary reporter of 59, headed off to jail in a quilted black jacket and tortoise-frame sunglasses, in the movie she is a sizzling Kate Beckinsale, 34, dressed in a, shall we say, form-fitting skirt."

"'People could say Kate is too good-looking to be a reporter,' admits Rod Lurie, the writer and director of the independently financed film."

What do I say to that?

3.

"Balkan nations put cultural stars on a pedestal" by Dan Bilefsky, from the International Herald Tribune

You know, you just have to celebrate those ever-great cultural icons, like Rocky and Tarzan with enormous statues.

Bojan Marceta, an advocate for the project, explained the reasoning behind the celebrity choices:

"Nobody from the wars of the 1990s or from the former Yugoslavia deserves a monument, because all of our leaders did was to prevent us from progressing. My generation can't find role models, so we have to look elsewhere. Hollywood can provide an answer."

Taking another view, Buka Sandor said:

"I don't like Rocky—it has nothing to do with this town, and the money could have been spent on something we need, like a new school. We are just showing off."

4.

"Bollinger's Backbone" Editorial by the New York Sun

Does this mean that a faculty that, among other viewpoints, is pro-Palestine/Islamic condemns a university to mediocrity? Oh yeah, and leftist equals anti-Israel apparently. I hate the NY Sun.

splitting fruit

Washington Monument.

from my senior work, Get Away First.

D.C. day,
he takes me to Dupont Circle where speed chess games
went lightening quick and shopping carts wielded by
men in drag and women in garters and inside,
light and shadows intertwine on walls from
a simple glass hoop twirling in place,
awe.

D.C. night,
he looks at the trees and i look at the blackened
blue sky and air with hints of winter, we stand
closer together and when letters run out,
one syllable words take over as
street names. i insist there is
reason behind the names
and he says it's just
coincidence, by
chance.

we first familiarize ourselves
with me & you (we slip hands
together easily, there is something

that feels
comfortable
that feels

good)

we walk along Davenport to
Rock Creek Park where
we stroll in the
middle of the street and
disregard cars

we jump the tiny creek
and are surrounded by
tall almost bare trees with
baby green leaves sprouting
the sun made them lighter and
lower branches lash at my feet


Rock Creek Park.

we sit and we eat
pasta and sauce and raisins
amongst fallen trees (unpredictable
rain storms) and we
watch deer
watch us
watching them

we familiarize ourselves
with us walking through
Arlington Cemetery
looking at rows of
chalk-white gravestones
trying to interpret the meaning of
a cross within a circle and
why unknown graves didn’t have numbers
at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider,
we watch in silence a soldier hand off
a gun after inspection with sharp turns
and clicks of heels

we wander across the Potomac and
venture to the western National Mall where
children play in unknown smoke billowing from
a grate and a man in orange play
handball against the marble wall
we sit near the Monument
watching that wall and the flags
dim gold
into darkened dusk



National WWII Memorial.