WBUR Please stop the obvious bias of the BBC against Israel ..Why do you have such a news organization presenting news here in the US?..This is a affront to our intelligence ….Google : BBC Watch

Oh R.M., wake up! The BBC, National Public Radio, and WBUR are no harder on Israel than they are on the United States! This fits right in with what this author is talking about… The weight of history on Jews/Jewish Israelis as well as on Palestinians is very heavy. This weight sometimes makes it impossible to solve political problems on the macro level (or even to grasp what solutions are possible) and to live a fully realized life on the individual level. And while in other parts of the world where there is no immediate urgency to process and overcome the weight of history, for the people of Israel/Palestine this is absolutely essential to stop the suffering of everyone.

Oh my poor johanna Drzewieniecki I am fully awake! I had my coffee this morning . Thank you !

Good morning! I listened to Junot Diaz this morning, December 30 at 10AM, and had hoped to call in, but apparently the show was not live today. I enjoyed his comments tremendously. I just finished Oscar Wao over the weekend, and had read Drown recently.

I am fascinated by the pull of history in his family drama, and my eyes were opened to the continuing legacy of the cruel dictatorships in the DR. In many ways, I now see the DR as a post-conflict country after reading his book.

My company works in the development of sustainable tourism worldwide, and one small project we have is to support artists and artisans in Puerto Plata in cooperation with the Vermont Institute of the Caribbean.

We are launching an artists/artisans cooperative in Puerto Plata which will have its first marketplace throughout weekends in February during Carnival. This effort is supported by a small grant we have through USAID. Our goal is to help local citizens of this region build and diversify their economy through their rich artistic heritage.

My personal observations in the DR, from my one reconaissance — which I took to research our project, is that people remain quite afraid to discuss their history. I had to ask many questions to find out, for example, why the coast is not populated by local citizens for the most part. I found, not to my surprise, that the development of tourism by large corporations via the all-inclusive tourism industry has left many citizens powerless to get involved in the positive aspects of a creative economy. We want to combat this trend, and the Vermont Institute for the Caribbean a small 501(c)3, based in Burlington, Vermont, is keen to help local artisans to use their creative talents to build a better life for their families and to take advantage of the DR’s huge and thriving tourism economy.

We were hoping that perhaps Junot Diaz will read this email. We would very much like to host him in Burlington, Vermont – perhaps as part of a rich day of celebration of Dominican arts and its arts heritage. We would love him to contact us, and we could involve many institutions that would be interested in hearing him speak so articulately about the relationship between arts and the development of the Dominican society and its people.

Best,
Megan Epler Wood

Why can’t Israel/Palestine be just a secular state for every semites(arabs&jews)?Does the existence of a state requires some form of ethnic cleansing?Does someone’s right to exist implies someone else’s unworthiness to live?Was the formula to grant the jews an exclusive state of their own to settle, the right solution?Was Palestine a no-man’s land? Aren’t all the countries in the world multi-ethnic? Promise land given by “God”?
As long as those questions will not be addressed head on, without passions and religeous biases, war and violence will continue. There is no reasons why yesterday’s victims should become today’s righteous oppressors.The US and the mostly one-sided press are not helping, au contraire!I’ve heard more balanced commentaries comming from some Israeli’s newspapers than from the US media.Arabs and Jews in a secular and democratic state, with a comprehensive immigration policy is the only fair solution!…But who am i kidding!?
To all of you outhere,”agents of intolerance”(christian-rights, Jihadists,fundamentalists arabs, jews,christians)You deserve each-other!!!WE ARE ALL SHADES OF THE SAME DNA!!It’s time for some of you RETARDS to get with the program!You have already infiltrated this coming administration to protect the statu quo, but remember: not everybody in Israel is hawkish, neither in the arab world nor Tehran(believe it or not!)

bobako ,you seem to live in Lala land ….grow up …..and go find out the truth for yourself ….don’t listen to what others with agendas tell you …..

@ RM

what’s your version ?