A New Perspective on the Other

I've just finished this book, and my overriding thought has been that I wish everyone would read this book.

First of all, it's a fantastic story, starting out a doomed version of Into Thin Air and turning quickly into a sociological study gone inspiring redemption and adventure tale. Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer nomad type, gets lost on a descent from K2 and ends up in an isolated mountain town in Pakistan, a turn of events that changes his life and the lives of thousands of people in the region who otherwise would remain part of the vast "them." 

Mortenson builds schools. Somehow he gets financial backing and local support and sets about the business of galvanizing communities around the ideas of non-religious education, especially for girls, building the facilities, staffing them, and making sure they continue to run.

It's a simple idea and an unbelievable undertaking, an inspiring story of the power of a single person to make significant change in the world. 

But, perhaps even more importantly, the book provides a window into a segment of a culture that has become too easily stereotyped and dismissed as something lesser. We in the West see the clips of groups of men dancing and chanting in the streets, firing guns into the air, any time a newsworthy event comes off anywhere in the Arab world. And we think this is how things are, this is what these people do. It's the easiest way to make sense of what we see.

Three Cups of Tea dispels the myth of there being some fundamental human difference between us and them. It also treads all over many other oversimplifications, from the liberal idealization of the primitive in culture to the assumption of violence as an accepted response to any violation of religious creed or cultural norm. 

Read this book. It's that rarest of printed works:  a page-turner that has something important to say and vital to offer to our understanding of the world.  

Happy Friday

http://lolpresident.com/

Cancellara TTs to M-SR V!

In an amazing performance, CSC's Fabian Cancellara stole one from the sprinters this weekend, soloing away from a group of a dozen about 3k from the finish line to take the monumental classic Milan-San Remo.

He's done this before, in last year's tour on the stage into Compiegne, and it was no less spectacular this time. When this guy gets those cranks turning, hunkered down into his world-champion time-trial mode, no group of a mere 12 riders (even a group including guys like Freire, Pozzato, and the on-form Rebellin) can catch him.

Check out VeloNews for the details.

(pic from VN)

The Race Dust-Up

The Obama-Wright fracas just won't go away. I've got lots of thoughts on this, but I've yet to put them into any coherent form that doesn't include anger or language insulting to a large part of this country's population (and a small part of the small number of this blog's readers). So, I'll wait until I can be civil about it.

But I have to at least say this:

• If you must judge, judge the man, not the soundbites.
• The truth sometimes takes a bit of work to find, and Hannity or Rush won't give it to you.
• Do you agree with everything your pastor/reverend/whomever has always said? And would you expect to be held accountable for their words?
• Where do you get your information, and are you sure you can trust it?

For now, here are a couple articles that I think put things into perspective. Enjoy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tananarive-due-and-steven-barnes/barack-obamas-testand_b_92976.html

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/20/obamas_odyssey_on_race/

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/the-speech.html

Yes, we all know where I stand. Any thoughts you wish to share? Please comment.

Happy Friday...

from your remaining candidates for POTUS.

http://lolpresident.com/

New on the Range

2008 is starting out strong. Here we are just barely past 2 months in, and the new music is streaming in.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the new release dropped by Why? today, Alopecia. I've been waiting impatiently since 2005's brilliant Elephant Eyelash for the next offering from this anchor of the Anticon stable, and Alopecia most definitely does not disappoint. It's maybe a bit darker, definitely a bit longer and more ambitious, and so far lives up to and surpasses its predecessor. More about that later.

Also hitting RadioBoise this Friday will be new stuff from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' excellent new record as well as tracks from the Raveonettes, Hands on Heads, Susu, Bon Iver, The Notwist, and Portugal the Man, along with further exploration of new records by Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend, and High Places. And I'll be diving deeper into the upcoming release by The Sword for you fans of the metal.

Tune in to RadioBoise Friday from 1 to 3 mountain time for Range Life.

Drool

I Was Busy Rocking Out

Last night was not the best of nights as far as the Democratic primary season goes, but it could be worse. Our man Obama was way way behind in both Ohio and Texas, and the fact that he gained much ground in both places and will come away with no significant delegate deficit is good. But any shift in momentum seems to carry such profound weight in this unfortunately long and, more unfortunately, negative campaign, so these things do matter.

But whatever, I was at The Bouquet, getting my head bang on to a little Fu Manchu. The SoCal stoner rock quartet played to a decent-sized and terribly enthusiastic crowd, and though I'd never seen them before, much of it was pretty familiar. Openers Saviour were strong baroque metal from Oakland. Good stuff.

Afterward, we headed over to Terrapin Station, the local hippie dive, to see a couple guys from the String Cheese Incident, whom I loathe, do an electronic-and-drums set, which was pretty fun. But of course I was out way too late and had one or two Pabsts too many for a school night.

Also, I won tickets to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which is tonight. We'll see if I can rally for it.

Viva Obama!

Check out this video from Amigos de Obama, posted to Andrew Sullivan's blog. Great stuff.

Leipheimer Wins 2nd Straight Tour of California

Smart riding, a strong second on the big climbing stage, and a smashing win in the ITT add up to Levi Leipheimer's second straight title at his hometown event, the Tour of California.

Crap weather and strong teams made for an exciting race, and the American teams didn't fair too poorly.

On the final stage, George Hincapie of High Road took the win after a long slog in the rain, and Levi finished safely with the bunch to secure his overall win.

Check VeloNews for the full report.

Levi Storms the TT

Holy crap. Levi Leipheimer takes the Solvang Time Trial in the Tour of California by nearly 30 seconds over 2nd place David Millar. He killed it!

So Leipheimer retains the lead in convincing fashion. He's set up nicely heading into the weekend's race finish.

Happy Friday

http://lolpresident.com/

Levi Leads California

Lots of climbing and a 2 man breakaway boosted Levi Leipheimer, now of Astana, into the yellow jersy at the Tour of California.

Levi's team blew the race apart, mostly via the legs of Chechu Rubiera, on the climb up Mt. Hamilton. Levi gave the orders, moderating the tempo, and had utter control of the entire fast-dwindling group on this climb.

George Hincapie, now of High Road, was dropped on the climb, but managed to latch back on and launch an attack on the descent that had him at a 35 second lead at one point. But the lead was not to last. Astana, with Leipheimer, Rubiera, and Chris Horner in the group, was just too strong.

Levi and the young Robert Gesink of Rabobank pulled away and never looked back. Gesink took the stage win and Levi took the yellow.

Check VeloNews for a full report.

Gods of the Earth

Holy shiznit, they're back.

Come early April, The Sword will drop two tons of metal on our asses in the form of their long-awaited follow up to Age of Winters.

I'm previewing Gods of the Earth right now, and all I can say is, Damn.

They'll be here in Boise, at the wonderful Neurolux, on April 24. Make your travel reservations now.

WTF Sasquatch?

What's this cryptic business?

Sasquatch, packing up, heading to Seattle? I've heard rumors of an indoor Sasquatch, but thought it couldn't be.

Anyone got anything on this?

A Sweep

Obama takes Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC in a night of primaries that has to have the Clintons very worried.

Andrew Sullivan is reading the writing on the wall with some help.

Everyone seems to make something of this except for Clinton herself, who won't even acknowledge that the primaries occurred. We've seen this ostrich-like avoidance of bad news elsewhere, haven't we?

The Powder Up There

These pics don't do it justice, but the snow here in Idaho has been amazing for the past couple weeks. I've been getting up at least weekly, sometimes more, and there's loads of new snow every time. That's Derek snowboarding up above.

Off-piste skiing has been fantastic, especially on weekdays when the crowds are down. These shots were taken on a Sunday, a day I usually try to avoid up there, but a day that had such great snow it was worth waiting in line for. That's me on the skis, and Derek and Carla taking a break on the boards.

Thanks for the photos, DV, not pictured.

Elvis Obama

We were up at 5:45 this morning, throwing clothes on and heading for the car to get down to BSU and stand in line, outside in the cold, for a long couple hours in order to get in to see Barack Obama speak. It was worth every minute of it.

He was introduced by Cecil Andrus, former governor of Idaho who has endorsed Obama's candidacy. When Obama came out on stage, the Taco Bell Arena--packed to the rafters with about 14,000 Northwesterners of all political stripes, with some hundreds more left outside to listen on speakers mounted for the overflow--exploded with energy.

I couldn't believe there were this many people in this city or state who would come out to hear him. But they did, and they were energized and vocal.

He gave what I assume is a variation on the usual speech, hitting many of the points you hear in all his speeches, but adding some detail and some personalized touches for this audience.

One thing is for sure: The man can speak. Even without getting too fired up, getting too inspirational or delving into too much of his now famous soaring rhetoric, there's a feeling that hits you when you see him and hear him. It's an energy I've not felt before--certainly not for a political figure.

One of the highlights of the speech for me was when he talked a bit more deeply about hope. Hope, he says, is not simply blind optimism, or wanting something and sitting back and waiting for it to happen. Hope is a motivating force to envision the future you want and then to work your hardest to make it happen, believing that it can happen. On a national scale, it's been a long while since we've felt this kind of hope. I think if Obama gets the nomination, that force can go a long way.

I also appreciate his call to service, to a more active citizenship. He places a lot of faith in people working for what they want, working to make this country a better place. And for people to get involved and work for it, they need to be inspired. That's the place for inspiration in this campaign. And he's the one who can do it.

I made my mind up a long time ago who I'd support. Shortly after he declared his candidacy I knew in my gut he's the one I'd be working for. He's young, post-boomer, which appeals to me greatly; he's a hometown politician, being a senator from Illinois; I'd read his first book and come away mightily impressed with the things he's done and the person he's realized himself to be. But I think by the end of this speech he'd won over a few more to his side. I can only hope.

Obama Comes to Boise

Barack Obama is scheduled to appear at the Taco Bell arena on the BSU campus tomorrow morning. Amazing.

His campaign set up an office here quite some time ago, which was surprising enough in itself--I believe he's the only candidate who has one. And tomorrow, I assume en route to California or somewhere that actually matters, he's stopping here for an early morning speech.

The town is abuzz, to say the least. Some speculate the expected turnout at 5,000, but the arena holds 12,000, I think, and many expect a capacity crowd. After, all, he just pulled in 18,000 in Denver, so why not 12,000 here?

This is a unique opportunity we have. So we'll be getting up at 6am and heading down to campus to get in line. I imagine I'll have plenty more to say after it's over.

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