Dispatch

The world is slow here in Ethiopia but it gets grace because the middle of nowhere is rarely know to be anything else. The land is a mess of green jungle struck in a desert air; nights are freezing and the day is hardly at all. I am teaching eight grades of English a day in the shade, starting early and ending around lunch at best. The kids are hilarious and only sit still when stunned at their teacher acting worse than they do. But they learn her and there and I teach like I only know how. Baboons troupe through the garden when walking to class in the morning and hyenas start sounding off before the sun sets. The whole place is wild life but of a different fashion from the skelter of Uganda. There is a bone of peace here thanks to nature enveloping everything. Not to mention being ten miles away from internet and without electricity for evenings during the week. This is just a smat of what all's happening. 

More soon too.

Easy

What world do we live in where Antony & the Johnson's new album The Crying Light enters the European charts at the number One slot, selling 10,000 copies in a tiny island nation with one fifth the population of the United States, where it debuts at 65 and sells an expected 7,837 copies. How is it that the greatest nation in the world is so backwards when it comes to the arts? Is the radio that awful in the United States or are the Europeans just just more sophisticated? Only interest is delved in the lowest common demoninator, the easy sell. Pretty ridiculous.

Antony Hegarty donated his vocals to disco DFA troupe Hercules & Love Affair in what's heralded as Song of the Year for 2008. Here is the night drive true colours remix. Real.
Hercules & Love Affair- Blind (Freddie Knuckles remix)

Egypt

Egypt is, above all else, old. The oldest things I'll ever see in my life are here, next to all the sand and smoke. Of course all the monuments and such were just an masked excuse to see my father, who wished he was flying here domestic like me.

My first evening was something else, looking back on it. I arrived pretty late from Uganda, two days before the start of the tour. I came off the plane dirty and eager, and was taken to a hotel a few lights away on the bank of the Nile, the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at. I caused a stir, waltzing into the lobby all wide eyed, dirty, cigarette dangling, shirt buttoned all the way up, and a synthesizer of all things under my arm. The evening's festivities were well underway and I wasn't at all fitting the black tie notice, much less the Egyptian nationality one. Looks of awe were all over both partys' faces, and I couldn't care less. I went Ape in the room, turning everything on and off, and tried on all the robes robe before going to bed.

The week flew by just as time flies. One cannot help but to be overwhelmed by the size, age, and perfection of the pyramids. Whenever I go to art museums and galleries, half the fun is figuring out how in the world would I steal the paintings before me. This doesn't translate well into the ancient world of chariots, pyramids, and stone tombs, but I was all over the conspiracies the pyramids naturally conjure up. Pretty ridiculous.

Going from austerity to struggling requires thought. Suck It Up, You Can Do This. You brace yourself. But if you going from not much to everything at once, there is no thought. You lose yourself immediately. I think I gained 20 pounds.

I was just happy to see my father. We sat and talked and talked forever, breakfast to long into the evenings, and it never seemed like enough. Everything under the sun was paid due attention, with college, basketball, what's next, and home as the highlights. I'm leaving the week with one big Life is Good reminder, in case I didn't know.

Megapuss-Crop Circle Jerk '94
Neil Young-Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Kid Cudi- Day 'N Night (Crookers Remix)