ARE WE PART OF THE PROBLEM?

I’m in the planning stages for another long trip to Asia—Sikkim (northern India), Myanmar, and the Tibetan community in and around Dharamsala—so I’m particularly sensitive to the news bombarding us daily, about the plight of the flood victims in Pakistan and Ladakh, as well as the disturbing information that many of the products we consume, like SUV’s, mobile phones, play stations, and laptops, add to the destruction of the rain forest or the continuation of terror in such countries as the Congo. And most of us are unaware of this.

I just watched the excellent new PBS program, Need To Know, last Friday night, the 24^th, and was stunned by the segment documenting the horrendous use of rape, torture, and murder as a weapon of war in the Congo. What further appalled me was the connection between these rampaging soldiers and the United States. These groups fund their weapons and, thus, continue to subjugate and terrorize women and girls, by selling a variety of precious minerals to companies in the United States (and elsewhere) for components in the above-mentioned products. Not all these minerals come from the Congo, but a large percentage does.

President Obama touched on this in his speech to the United Nations, but we need to examine our part in buying the products containing the minerals, and to insist on transparency by the U.S. companies as to where they buy these components.  Make sure that they have a supply chain that guarantees conflict-free minerals. They may be reluctant to give out such information, but by keeping the pressure up we can help eradicate the atrocities going on in this war-torn country.

I suggest that you look at this report on PBS.org and make your senators and representatives aware of how pervasive the problem is (just this past summer the number of rapes in a few isolated villages topped 500), and the urgent need to write legislation prohibiting U.S. companies from doing business with Congolese warlords and rebel groups. I may sound naïve, but pressure does work.

I plan to return to Myanmar in mid-January for a month, and this time I shall write the stories of some of the people I met on my first trip, and what has happened to them in the interim. The news out of Myanmar has been grim, and I have not dared make any overt contact, myself, for fear of endangering those I met.  But I think it’s time to take my own advice and stand up and be counted. I will not use names, but I will tell it as I see it. No holds barred.

The news from the Plainfield Symphony about last night’s concert is great! It was one of the most enjoyable concerts I’ve played, largely because of our new conductor, Charles Prince, and Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, who presided over a concert of Aaron Copeland’s Billy the Kid, Leonard Bernstein’s Suite from On The Waterfront, and Charles Ives’ Symphonuy #2. All these pieces were challenging, with six tympani and assorted percussion, an amazing brass and woodwind section, and strings that played faster than seemed possible. Jamie showed the many ways that these composers “shared” each other’s compositions, and, using song and placards to the audience’s delight, traced the use of American folk music by the inimitable Ives.

THOSE LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER ARE GONE…

but so is the heat and humidity. I must admit that it was difficult to drag myself out of the White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee this year. I wanted to stay all September and just float in the water, but the Plainfield Symphony was calling as well as the bills and all the minutiae that make up our post-vacation reality. But I’m grateful for a summer of almost no computer, no television, no newspapers, and no loud political discourse. Naturally, I was made aware of the catastrophic floods in my beloved Ladakh in August as well as the plight of millions of flood victims in Pakistan. Who can be immune to that? And I am prepared to come face to face with some of the suffering during my upcoming four months in India. But, then, there are numerous people who are trying to help and actually making a difference, so that’s encouraging. My friend, Tamara Blesh, who just returned from Ladakh, has related her first-hand experience of this crisis. I will write more about her work in a subsequent blog, but do check out her excellent website at: http://www.travelinglibrarian.org/

This summer was a time for family and friends at the cottage….

Leah, John, & Sarah Kelly

Leah and Judy Wyman Kelly

Tom...Shall I? It's pretty cold

Carmen, Tom's girlfriend, experiencing the Peterson family for the first time

….and it was also a time for work, as we repaired the road (thank you, Peterson muscle), stained the dock, and tried to ameliorate the damage caused by Old Man Winter.

Tom starting on 14 tons of fill

Nobody one-ups Martha!

Or me....

A partial view of the results, and there's more to go....for the remaining relatives

There were also some great mountain trips, the most outstanding being a hike up to Greenleaf Hut on Mt. Lafayette in Franconia Notch. It was son Tom’s treat, but he forgot to check with God about the weather. It was the only three rainy days of the month, which provided a very challenging slog up the Old Bridle Path, perilous even in dry weather. But you can see by the smiles that we had a great time. Unfortunately, we had to scratch the hike over the Franconia Ridge and down Falling Water Trail because of the fierce weather. But wait another year…we’ll be there.

Yours truly heading up the Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf Hut in the rain

Son-in-law Gary, Martha, Carmen, and Tom just after coming down the Greenleaf Trail, and preparing for a 4-mile hike to the car

My addiction to sunsets is almost as serious as my addiction to theater, so bear with me as I post a variety of scenes of the water and islands of Lake Winnie that we see every evening from our cottage. There’s no way I will ever be able to capture the soul-soothing images that bombard me each summer, but I keep trying.

The woods at sunset

Cottage in the evening glow

Evening shadows

The beginning of a three-day blow

Now the Day if Over

Really over....