Senegal
Video links
Finally got around to posting short YouTube vids from Istanbul, Suleimaniya and Dakar. Enjoy.
From Cali to Gambia
The welcome news from California on marriage equality has generated lots of reactions, so I thought I’d note something quite in the other direction: this headline, via Brett at Harry’s Place — “President plans to kill off every single homosexual.” That’d be President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, the tiny sliver of a country that bisects Senegal. In preparing for my
Senegal, odds and ends
Senegal is one of those places that, according to the preconceptions of many, shouldn’t exist — a 95%-majority Muslim population that maintains excellent relations with the U.S. In Senegal one finds proof that Islam and democracy can be compatible, and disproof that there is a unified “Muslim world” with a common chorus of grievances against the West. In part, this
Music in Dakar
Wednesday, Feb. 13 was a starry and perfect night on Île de Gorée, just off the coast of Dakar, where my colleagues and I saw Youssou N’Dour (top photo) perform in a temporary structure that sat about 200 people max. N’Dour is a magnetic performer, as audiences well beyond Senegal have known for a while (the classic live clip of
“Wake up, good morning, this is Dakar calling”
[From the lyrics to “Wake Up (Africa Calling),” by Youssou N’Dour.] This was the view from my hotel window on the dreary jet-lagged morning after arrival in Dakar (click to enlarge). My impressions of the city quickly grew more positive, although the grinding poverty to be found in this, a cosmopolitan hub in one of Africa’s most stable democracies, gives
Out of Africa
I’m just back from Senegal, after a long and nearly sleepless haul on trains, planes, automobiles back to Philadelphia. The plane may have landed, but my brain has not. I’ll post details of the trip in the coming days after I’ve sorted them out. Meanwhile, I thought I’d post this hasty pic of a North Korean tanker in the port