Surfing the Middle East: "It's like Maui with rockets"

The lines have been quiet of late. But the truth is that I have been working like a methadrine hatter to craft this book, Surfing The Casbah, or whatever its final title shall be. So here is the first piece of press this project has received. It's in the Christian Science Monitor. Enjoy!

Surfing the Blue Line between Israel and Hezbollah

Surfers on both sides of UN-demarcated Blue Line between northern Israel and Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon have a burning question: How are the waves on the other side?

Beirut, Lebanon - Jesse Aizenstat says he is “surfing a détente – one wave at a time.”

Last summer, the California native embarked on a trip to Israel and Lebanon, chasing the region’s best waves and looking for new perspectives on the region’s conflicts.

“As a surfer, you’re always looking for new spots,” says Mr. Aizenstat. “I noticed that there was a question that both surfers in Lebanon and Israel had: What kind of coast is on the other side of the Blue Line?”

The Blue Line is the UN-demarcated line of Israel’s 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Despite travel restrictions, Aizenstat was determined to hear stories from surfers on both sides of the line, uniting them through a common interest across their political, cultural, and geographical divides.

Click here to read the rest at the Christian Science Monitor

Michael Caine on the paddy fields of Korea

I was reading a little Abu Muqawama today and found this ridiculously hardcore quote. It's from Michael Caine, a veteran of the Korean War.

“When I was nineteen and a soldier, I often wondered how I was going to be if I knew I was going to die. At one point, we were ambushed in the paddy fields, just four of us surrounded by Chinese. And my instinct — which has lasted me the rest of my life — was: All right, I’m going to die. And that’s O.K. But” — he paused and levelled a heavy finger at the recollected enemy, and at any future adversaries — “as many of you as possible are going to die with me. I’ll take the whole fucking lot.” He grinned. “I’m going to die expensive.”

It reminded me of this in a way.

BURMA: FREE NAY PHONE LATT NOW!!!!!

We here at this blog are united. We are united in our belief in justice, in our belief in freedom, and equality. We are united in our quest to bring to light the stories of injustices in the world around us that may otherwise go untold. We are united in our voice of reason, in our words we use to tell the stories of our brothers and sisters around the world who cannot. So, in this tradition, I tell again the story of Nay Phone Latt. No, I yell out to you the injustice done to a fellow blogger, now an imprisoned voice of a generation. His name is Nay Phone Latt, and he needs our help as much as we need his.

Nay Phone Latt is a poet and a blogger. He is a Burmese native, a smaller unassuming looking guy who wears glasses and tucks in his shirts. He is a gentle soul, a passionate writer who just celebrated his 29th birthday. He is entering what here in America might be considered some of the best years of our lives. Where ,if you lived in a free society, you might be flourishing in your career, planning a vacation, getting married or starting a family. But Nay Phone Latt is not in America, he is in Burma. And since he is a blogger that lives in Burma, you might be able to guess where he is spending his 29th birthday...as a prisoner in a Burmese hell hole prison.

Nay Phone Latt is the recipient of this years PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is a blogger, who has come to represent the voice of a generation of young Burmese, and for that matter all young bloggers worldwide who are finding ways around oppressive aging regimes of the world like the Burmese junta. Nay Phone Latt's blog was the "go-to" source for international journalists during the junta's bloody crack down on the peaceful buddhist monk led protests in 2007. As a result of his coverage, Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

So, for doing what I consider an essential right, no, an obligation, Nay Phone Latt, the peaceful passionate blogger who told the story of his people, was sent to prison. And there he remains, 29 years old, the voice of a new generation, silenced and alone in a cell. As we enter this new era, it is the writers and thinkers like Nay Phone Latt that will save us. We need his voice, his reason, his words. We need young people like Nay to continue to speak up, to write, and to stand up to giants.

So, we need Nay Phone Latt. But today, Nay needs us. He needs our voices, our words, our strength. He needs us to stand up to the giants.

We must tell everyone we know. Call our representatives, write to your President, join groups, write more blogs, tell this story everywhere.

PLEASE CLICK HERE AND READ MORE. THEN FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO HELP.

WE MUST HELP FREE NAY PHONE LATT.