Chaos Prevails

Yesterday was spent doing the usual activities associated with getting home from a trip: unpacking, laundry, newspapers, tidying/cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. and also trying to get my little tummy back in order. While resting in the late afternoon before dinner, I watched part of an Oprah show, which featured a story about/from the Congo and the plight of the people caught between roving warring tribal factions, who plunder each others' villages, rape the women and girl children and also otherwise torture them and their husbands, sons, and brothers. This has been going on for years, but is pretty much ignored by everyone in politics and the media. Apparently Oprah funded this trip to gather and disseminate information about the travesty and is trying to call attention to it herself. Another group, Women for Women International, is trying to help and the Executive Director of the organization was on to tell what people could do. I'm not sure why no one seemed to be saying that people should pressure international politicians, the U.N., and the mainstream news media to pay attention, but if you are interested in what Women for Women is doing you can read about it at http://www.womenforwomen.org/ You can also go to www.oprah.com to read more about Lisa Ling's trip to the Congo and her report.

This morning, of course, the news is all about the terrorist attacks in London. It reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when S.M. and I were on the subway, coming back from the Corcoran and lunch with Ann, on the Red Line. We sat across from a young woman who was covered from head to toe in the usual outfit some Muslim women wear. She was listening to a CD player and had a big backpack next to her. I had two thoughts, the first my usual frustrated one in response to her dress, of "How can women be so complicit in their oppression?" and my second, which I whispered to Carey, "I wonder when the backpack is going to explode." I can remember when I would only have had the first.