My Muse, Parts 2 and 4

This muse is a tricky one indeed. I was on such a roll last night that I broke my own rule, the one that says "Do not bring your laptop to bed with you." Before I knew it I was surfing around, looking at some of the stuff that had been earmarked to read later, re-reading my own old posts and then it was some obscene hour and I was telling myself that morning Becca was really going to be upset with us when the alarm goes off at 6:45am.

So here are parts 2 and 4 in the series, and yes I mean 2 and 4 number 3 is a long one so I thought I'd save it for last.

Part 2

Going hand in hand with the first point on my list, I am offended by the wealth of misinformation out there, the people who create and propagate it and the smear tactics used by all politicians around election time. I watched actual US television for about 2 hours in the past 10 months and I saw enough of this to throw my hands up in disgust several times. Americans, please read about topics, and from several different sources. Do not blindly accept as fact that which your political commentator (on either side) is telling you.

Part 4

Finally, I am deeply and personally offended by thievery. I guess I have been fortunate to have only been the victim of a major theft once (that's if you don't count when the city of Philadelphia and their towing company thugs stole my car right out of its parking space), when my laptop and wallet were stolen out of my Kisumu hotel room (Never, ever stay at the Sunset Hotel!). I remember having this offended feeling then and I had it again on Monday night when, while sitting in traffic with my window down, talking to a friend on the phone, a hand reaches in my window and tries to take said phone away. I was lucky this time and managed to hold onto the phone and yell at the guy until he ran away across the street. The idea that someone can just come and help themselves to my stuff makes me feel so violated - in a way that I could never fully understand until someone stole from me.

My Muse, Part 1

I really wish I knew what it was that gave me this itch. The itch to write, that is. I have some friends who write, seemingly effortlessly, several times per month. I have others who are motivated to write by sadness, ok, I guess I'm glad that I don't need to be in a deep funk to write but knowing how to put myself in one of these creative moods would vastly help with the frequency of my blogging.

I'm starting to think that it might be those times when I feel deeply and personally offended. Usually this feeling is not directed at any one person but it still makes me feel not so warm and fuzzy that it's a negative feeling, the need to bitch, that could quite possibly be my best muse. So, what am I so offended about?

- Starting with the most timely, I am utterly offended that Wisconsinites voted out Russ Feingold yesterday in favor of some DB endorsed by the horrible Tea Party. Feingold was instrumental in Campaign Finance Reform, he was the ONLY senator to vote against the Patriot Act, he voted against invading Iraq and he's been quite active in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He has spoken out against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill here in Uganda and has also been watching closely the run-up to the presidential election here, concerned that it wouldn't be free and fair. HE is who I want representing me in Washington, HE was a superior senator who actually did some good work in Washington, I am sad to see him go.


I was going to go on, and I will but realizing that this four-part bitch session went on for several paragraphs, I decided to spread it out a bit. Oh dear, I may have to follow this series with a four-part love session, with actual warm fuzzies. I'll start taking entries now...

Things left behind

Alphabet Manor, my humble abode, where I live with two roommates and two cats, has become a repository of sorts. As we host couchsurfers and as friends leave Kampala for new adventures, we become the, sometimes temporary, proprietors of all kinds of stuff. Some of this is stuff that was used and well-loved while its previous owners were here, but for reasons of practicality were left behind. For this reason we have an entire library of books, wine glasses, Cranium and a camping back-pack full of things deemed unnecessary for a trip to Southern Africa (the owner is coming back for that last one). For the same reason, a young family on the other side of town has a new dog.

The other category of stuff is that which the previous owner thought would be necessary to bring to Uganda but then found no use for it/could buy it here/was unable to use up the copious amounts that they brought. This is why we give free gifts of mosquito repellent, sunscreen and condoms to couchsurfers who pass through and why I have a bag full of at-home pregnancy tests in my closet.

I'm considering an analogy likening these quirky little gifts to the effect that these people have had on our lives, leaving us with lessons, memories and love, but it is just too schmaltzy for the moment, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.