history

From the IFC Center website:
November 26, 1956; led by Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir), a band of 80 rebels sails to Cuba. Among these young rebels is Argentine physician, Marxist, soldier, Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Benicio Del Toro, Best Actor winner at the Cannes Film Festival). Nation-less, strapped for resources and fueled only by determination, the group engages in swift, bloody battle to free the Cuban people from the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che and his soldiers wrestle the nation's resources and affection from Batista's grasp. Though considered a hero by some, Che becomes a hugely controversial figure. At the height of his fame and power, he disappears. Entering South America incognito, Che recruits another band of guerilla fighters in the harsh Bolivian jungles. They embark upon a mission to spark revolution throughout Latin America.

Related :
Four things you need to know about Ernesto Guevara before watching Benicio del Toro as "Ché"

This is an interesting monument in Warsaw, Poland, marking the boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto. For more info on the most famous event of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Ghetto uprising, go here (used to have pictures but those links seem defunct). This new info comes from the Jewish Heritage E-Report (November 13, 2008) Edited by Samuel D. Gruber (see also here.)

To my surprise, I came across a new monument on ulica Bielanska, not far from the site of the (destroyed) Great Synagogue that gave me a clue about the Wall. I had not heard of this monument and it is not yet included on any map or in any guide. As it happens it is but one small part of an ambitious new project by the City of Warsaw and the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) to bring back the memory of the wall. The work is still in progress, but will be officially inaugurated at the JHI next week, on November 19th.

Today is Veteran's Day and instead of saying something trite, I wanted to pay a small tribute to my baby brother, Frank Sabater-Tirado. My brother joined the Army at about 19-20 years of age and served for over 15 years after years of debating whether to join a seminary, go to college or join the army.

He ended up in the military at a very young age. He trained all over the United States, Korea (from where he has some hilarious stories about the kinds of foods he tried to eat with very little success) and Germany.

Then Bush #1 declared war on Saddam Hussein.

I was visiting with a friend in Italy and we had literally talked to him over the phone the very day before the war was declared. What a fucking mess it is to have the US declare war and have yourself carrying an American passport, looking like you could come either from the enemy country or its neighboring states. To say I was harrased in Arabic, Italian, French and English for looking Arab and having a US passport is to say the least.

Anyhow, I totally freaked out because, after all, he is my baby brother.

At the time there were no cell-phones, no web, no digital cameras nor mainstream use of email. The fastest I could get him anything was a week because even if I sent things Express Mail or money through Western Union, being he was in a war zone, he would receive things one or two weeks delayed.

I felt I wasn't doing enough. I felt that I was a pussy for being here while I knew he was over there in a war he really didn't look forward to. At the time, being in the Army was more about peace-keeping but this was Bush #1, who had a score to keep with the monster he and his covert US operations had created in Iraq. My brother was going to war to fight a grudge between a tyrant and a maker of tyrants.

Yet letters and care packages are what kept him going. In those little things I found that I least, I gave him a reason to go on. They were not only incredibly important to his sanity; they became important for mine as well.

9/25/1990

Dahran, S. A.

Dear sis,

[...]

If you've been keeping track of time (something that iI'm not doing because it's a mental health hazard) I've been in the desert for a month or so. I'm used to the climate (it's as hot as being caught in a traffic jam in Bayamón at noon with no A/C in the car) but the scenery sucks. There's nothing but sand, dust,, rocks, a few bushes and not a single cloud in the sky all around you and as far as the eye can see. The wildlife is limited to a heard of camels every once in a while, jackals or wild dogs at night and lizards, scorpions, sand vipers and ants as big as your toe nail roaming around you all the time. Oh, I forgot the never missed desert flies and sandfleas which manage to get anywhere --even inside your protective mask or the crack of the your ass after you've used the field latrines. It may or may not be funny to you but for me it's just a reality.

We work between 12 and 14 hours a day, our days starting at 2 o'clock in the morning or "o-too-dark-hundred hours" in our lingo. Then, if possible, we go to the rear in our trucks for a shower and a hot mean and a "beauty sleep" in A/C before we go back to work. We rest for a whole 24 hours but it's not enough for almost a whole day of scorching sun and no place to hide from it and working at a rate that makes ants look like the laziest creatures on Earth. But that's part of the mission and "ain't nothing to it but suck it in an' drive on", or so we say.

[...]

Love,
Frank

Together, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving are the foundation myths of America. I have been ambivalent, in the litteral meaning of the word, towards Columbus Day for years now. I celebrate America and Columbus' "discovery" of the "New World" because the result of his discovery and the ultimate founding of America is that my family, myself included, is alive and thriving today. Without America, my family would have been exterminated in the genocide of Nazi Germany if not before that in the genocide of the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Stalin's genocide in the Soviet Union.

But I am reminded every Columbus day of the genocides on which the founding of America was based. My family had a refuge from genocide because of a previous genocide committed against the natives of America. How's THAT for ambivalence?

This year I have read some new info to bring into my annual Columbus Day article. This last year I read two books that discuss the Americas before Columbus: 1421 by Gavin Menzies and 1491 by Charles Mann. Both present controvesial but interesting theories of what happened before Columbus in the Americas.

The year 1421 is the year when China possibly discovered much of the world. And 1491 is, of course, the year before Columbus sailed.

This comes from the Jewish Heritage E-Report of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments

Webwatch: Explore the Jewish communities of the Deep South with the Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) Digital Archive Project

The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) Digital Archive Project is designed to present a history of every congregation and significant Jewish community in the South. Currently, the Project team, led by Dr. Stuart Rockoff, has completed profiles for almost 100 Jewish communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee- and will add other states in the future. The archive has posted on-line a detailed, yet succinct history of each community. For most, there is information and photographic documentation of the synagogues and cemeteries. The History Department also houses a major oral history project that seeks to capture the stories of Southern Jews before they disappear. The ISJL Oral History Archive already houses over 500 interviews. The ISJL is committed to making its oral history collection a nationally recognized resource for scholars and students.

The Digital Archive is designed to be a continual work-in-progress. If you have additional information about any of the communities or congregations, please contact the archive at: rockoff_at_isjl.org.

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Geezus.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo found out about this gaffe via El País, Spain's "paper of record".

John McCain, is being interviewed by a journalist with an obvious Castillian accent. She asks him a series of questions about his future policies towards Latin America (which was the focus of the press conference).

Then in the last 30-40 seconds of the clip she asks him if he's looking forward to meeting with Jorge Zapatero, the prime minister of Spain. This is a somewhat tricky diplomatic question. Since winning the elections more than a year ago, Zapatero has not had a chance to visit the White House, nor has George Bush gone to Spain for an official meeting.

What does McCain do? Give his standard talking point about meeting with friendly countries only and standing tough against rogue and hostile countries.

The reporter re-frases the question 3 more times, with the last one being, "what about Europe? Spain is in Europe". McCain sticks to the talking about as if Spain were a Latin American threat to the United States.

Here's the audio clip :