The Somali Saga: Didn’t You See It Coming? December 09, 2008 – 16:35

There is no consensus within Somali society, nor in the institutions on the outside that have “Somali Desks” or “Somali budgets.” Somalia and its friends are spiraling into a hell made by both the international power centers and a minority of Somalis themselves.

Peace Corps Rising

My years in Peace Corps Somalia were the best education I could ever have.

Confession by the Stream

I used to go to my special hiding place down by the river where I could just sit away from everyone and think.

Notes on Scars

The vamps and vampires wait on the barstools for the money to flow. The Angels sit there, too.

Notes on a Sunday in Addis

She comes by again with warm water and soap, she pours from a spout over a small basin, catching the waste water from my hands. Would you like some coffee?

Berbera Waiter

Serious professional evaluation bureaucrats, plan in hand, questionnaires in mind, skeptical, distant, removed from the moment, at least from my moment. They, too, wait in Berbera.

Ball

So there are modern boys and girls rolling the balls of yarn around the carpet, dropping them off chairs, tugging on them with the cat. Learning how the spheroids work in nature. A ball can be a great teacher.