The Nerd's Eye View

A cheap pun I guess, but a pretty accurate description of what's happening. In about a month, there will be a referendum in the south of the Sudan to determine whether the region and it's people will be secede from the country. If they choose to do so they will end a tumultuous marriage that will have lasted for 55 years. If they don't they'll be stuck in a rather twisted affair that is both loving and loveless, abusive and tender. Other people have written far more eloquently on the subject of the South than I have and I don't want to add any more words to the heap that has been poured out so far. Instead I want to talk about the North, and what is going on in the minds of many northern Sudanese (or at least a few).

Whether or not you've been to the South, most northern Sudanese you run into were born and raised in a world where they were from Africa's largest country, and one that possessed a diversity of climates and environments, languages and cultures. Like a stately home that's seen better days, every bit of it feels familiar, even the ones that you don't spend time in, or that may be in disrepair. It feels like it will always be home and that's something that northerners are going to have to face soon is that it may not be. There is a distinct chance that part of our home will be gone in January 2011, and even though we've done little to keep it as a part of us, I feel like many people take it for granted that it will stay. Certainly, the government doesn't seem to believe it will be gone (and all it's oil reserves and revenue with it), and is making no attempt to convince southerners to vote for a unified Sudan. Even as the supporters of secession make a concerted effort, there is a lackadaisical attitude towards maintaining the union. The saddest thing for me is that no matter which way the vote goes, there will likely be lots of violence in a place that had hoped that those years were long past and would not come again.

Anyway ... I'm concerned about the whole thing and bracing myself for what seems inevitable. There doesn't seem to be much to keep it from happening, and I am hoping against hope, or in denial. Either way I sense disappointment coming my way.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:57 AM | Permalink

My mother (who has been visiting with me these past few months) was set to leave for home yesterday and after a weekend filled with running around to get last minute things done and stowed away etc, we headed to SFO early for a change. The counter area was empty and we all clapped ourselves on the back for finally being on the ball and getting some time for a proper good bye.

No luck there.

I guess the part where I started to get concerned is when the lady at the counter claimed that we didn't have a reservation, period. And she couldn't find my mother's name. At all. After some finagling she gives us a boarding pass - with the completely wrong name on it. And it's only to NY, where my mom was supposed to get another boarding pass to KRT. Yeah, I had flashes of my Mom in DHS custody trying to explain to them why she was trying to get on a long haul flight with a false name.

Rewind and point out the fact that this is not my mother's name. Then explain that she will have a hard time navigating the labyrinth of JFK immigration and airline representatives. Cut to an hour later. We have discovered that some rocket scientist has managed to not put my mother's name correctly into the original ticket and hence we have to figure out a way to make sure the two names correspond. It took forever, but the upshot was that the counter folks gave us passes so we could take my mother into the gate area.

That was a massive shocker. I didn't even know you could do that! I haven't been in to the gate area without a boarding card in 9 years. I kept feeling like I was doing something terribly naughty... but anyway, it was just lovely to be able to spend that last bit of time with my mother before she left. Now, I have all this time.... and I don't know what to do with it.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:29 AM | Permalink

This weekend I went to the wedding of my lovely friends, Carla and Don, who decided that the wedding needed a Dia de los Muertos theme. So after the ceremony, we all retired to the Verdi club for the reception where professional face painters were waiting for us. Luckily, myself and Dr Germ were the first in line and managed to get a pretty good set of masks done. I'll let you troll around for them on Facebook for now, but also I was set the task by our friend Bailey of commemorating the event with a mix CD. Since I love having my head in the clouds, I decided to go with a playlist to be seen below. I tried to capture the city, the venue, the music and the company. Enjoy!

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well just so I am not totally off topic, just wanted to congratulate the SF Giants and their fans for winning the World Series (despite it not being much of a "world" competition). It's nice to see a NY team win the World Series again of course (hyar hyar) but also, it's great to see a Texas related anything go home with it's tail between its legs (I'm looking at you, Dubya. Don't think I didn't see you sitting behind the dugout).

In other news, I voted this morning, did you? Get to it! Do your civic duty you slackers!

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:10 AM | Permalink