library buds

splendid archivist adventures today,
at the kabul public library +
the afghan national archives.













[kabul public library card catalog in dari - books available by author, title, subject]


kabul public library has significantly rebuilt since being looted during the taliban era, due in large part to the tireless efforts of abdul hamid nabizada, director general for the past 30 years. nabizada is hilarious + opinionated + truly a force of nature.

[the wonderful nabizada]

the library has no budget for purchasing materials, + the staff are paid about $60 per month by the ministry of information + culture. they are slowly building up their user base again after having to shutter the building when the talebs were in power. while the library is free, users must register + provide a letter of introduction assuring their research credentials.

[explanation of the library's complex user registration procedures]

how lovely, the children's room! + filled with donated books in many languages. they have a collection of v. rare magazines published for kids in afghanistan in the early 1970s in dari + pashto. they are actively seeking donations not only of contemporary books but also of toys + games for children who visit the library.









[kids' mag]


books and periodicals at the kabul public library are in fairly good condition, considering what the place has gone through over the years -- wars, lack of electricity, bugs, etc. nabizada explained the way they are treating their materials both to prevent and eradicate pests: they are sprinkling tobacco alongside the books! he claimed that tobacco kills the bugs inside + prevents new pests from entering them . . . and lamented the fact that he had just given me this preservation advice for free.








now, i did notice some *greenery* here in the library's park,


but i'm not sure those are tobacco buds . . . !

kabul public library even has a few bookmobiles! they go out to the neighborhoods around the city where there are no appropriate temporary rental spaces for a small library. nabizada needs popular books, dvds, and cds for this service offered to poor kabulis free of charge and with no operating budget.

[abandoned card catalog]

i wonder how we could best help them.

the problem with barking dog

barking dog speaks in a constant monotone from about 4am - 12am daily. he is tireless. in my effort to understand what he has been trying to tell us + concerned for his welfare, my mind has been aswim with grim thoughts . . .







perhaps barking dog is being trained for dogfighting + is being kept tied up so that he will become tough + angry. typically, dogs have short fighting careers, after which point they are released to the streets, where they rove in packs, scare people, + eat garbage.








or, barking dog has been abandoned, can't escape, + is starving. there is no aspca here, no dogcatcher, nothing of that sort. since dogs are not commonly kept as pets + there is a war going on, complaints to the police or even to our guest house management would be pointless. finally, all houses around here are surrounded by 12 foot walls and razor wire. any attempt to pay a neighborly visit to inquire as to the welfare of barking dog or even to throw him a snack over the wall is likely not to be met with much good will.

**********

barking dog, this morning, around 4:30: 'bark, bark, bark, bark, loud whimper, silence.' the shuttering of barking dog threw me into a panic + i couldn't return to sleep. downstairs, i told my two housemates what i had heard. one was sympathetic; the other seemed relieved. all day, i wondered about barking dog.

**********

i needn't have worried. b.d.'s voice is back to full capacity. curiousity got the best of me + i climbed onto the roof of peach house to see if i could find barking dog. he lives here, in the nice house where they've going doing remodeling.


he is tied up in a doghouse. he is a medium-sized black dog, sort of like a collie. near him, in the backyard, two little boys play + mom talks on the phone. none of them pay any attention to barking dog. i can't imagine their resolve. i guess they consider him to be a watch dog? but talk about crying wolf, barking dog! i imagine that he is lonely + confused + frustrated for being all of the time tied up when others are nearby having fun.



what to do, what to do? i hear ya, b.d.

burst

yesterday was v. special. as part of the kabul hash house harriers, i ventured on foot into the city for the first time since my arrival. hashers were divided into runners + walkers, guided by dedicated + safety-oriented leaders. many of the folks are in the security industry here in some capacity. they scout the routes ahead of time + carry concealed weapons. each friday, another adventure!













i cannot adequately express the thrill of being out on the streets with friends, scurrying along small dirt pathways through neighborhood locales, followed by hordes of kids alternately taunting us + asking us to take their photos for $1. the air was v. clear yesterday + the winds were good, so there was a lot of kite flying. in fact, we were perched on amir + hassan (the kite runner)'s hill above wazir akbar khan.





despite my pride in exploration, i was immediately reminded of the thread of brutality that runs through the fabric of everyday life here. our hiking up + down swimming pool hill took us through a few small graveyards, where we were saddened to see many large (presumably human) bones scattered under our feet.

(with jo + dana, wearing baseballcaps for the sun + headscarves for the locals)

i posted a link yesterday to an article about swimming pool hill, but in case you missed it: this olympic-sized pool was built by the russians atop a large hill in the middle of kabul to train their solders to swim in high-altitude conditions. the taliban made sickening use of it during its reign, forcing people off the high dive + into the empty pool below. now, it's about half-full of stagnant water + attracts unsupervised children, who play there.






little ones are everywhere. these boys had a v. sweet donkey, whose chest area they had henna'ed orange. many kids tend sheep + goats here + are v. creative about decorating them with henna -- it is wonderful to see multicolored flock scampering by -- esp. popular are posterior + billygoat-beard color modifications.









post-hash involves elaborate rituals -- code names, spoken + sung word games, + tons of drinking. 5 hashes makes you official. then, you must undergo a nasty hazing, after which you are branded with your sexually-oriented codename. while i'd like to think that's not something i would need to endure, i suspect that i will, as there's no getting around how unique this group is in such a closed-down place + how much it matters to have fresh air + adventures + to meet folks you may never encounter in business-as-usual kabubble reality.

out there

first hash today,
with dana + fiona,
whoa + whoa.

nearing the summit of swimming pool hill




more soon to follow. xoxo

wackenhut

i guess most people have heard by now of the shenanigans at the u.s. embassy in kabul. fratboys are the same the whole world over.




wackenhut (boss of embassy security miscreants) always seems to get itself mixed up in these sorts of situations. says one retired fbi agent: "it is known throughout the industry that if you want a dirty job done, call wackenhut." dirty? the web is chock-full of claims of the company's malevolent role in everything from el salvador in the 80s to the murder of nuclear plant whistleblower karen silkwood.







the excellent 1995 film by anne lewis, justice in the coal fields, distributed by appalshop, documents the 14-month united mine workers' strike of 1989 against the pittston coal company. who did the strike busting? why, wackenhut, of course.







some friends went to a party at the u.s. embassy a while back. got all dressed up, thinking they'd be meeting the ambassador. arrived to find everyone drunk + engaged in hijinx ranging from beer pong to belching contests. wherever you go, there you are.

audition

afghan-canadian nelofer pazira, whose quest to reach a childhood friend struggling for her very life under the taliban was beautifully told in mohsen makhmalbaf's 2001 film kandahar, and who played the lead role in the movie, has created a documentary currently making its way through the festival circuit: audition. it seems to mostly be about afghan women + i would v. much like to see it or hear more about it if someone has seen it.






re: kandahar: the dvd copy i watched here was from our library, and, as is the norm here, was a bootleg. it was likely bought on chicken street or thereabouts for 50 afghanis. all was fine with the library's copy until toward the end, in the stunning scene where nafas (pazira) and her companion, hiding under burqas, make their way through the desert toward kandahar as part of a wedding party.




at that particular moment, suddenly i was no longer looking at the rainbow of burqas but instead at matt damon, having a tender moment in the kitchen with a ladyfriend. mattie continued for perhaps 30 seconds or so, + then we returned to the kandahar wedding party processional. kabul bootleg dvds are a bit like palimpsests: underneath + underneath + underneath, a secret matt damon awaits.

kabul rock!

school started this week. the campus is filled with friendly students wearing the latest hipster/modest fashions + attending such courses as "protection of human rights." yeah!






a highlight of our work week at the library has been the introduction of my transistor radio, playing a new + brilliant station, kabul rock!



our morningtime soundtrack featured a whole radiohead album + afghan popsongs from the 60s, followed by the carter family's version of "worried man blues!" this afternoon, classic rapsongs + bonnie prince billy. oh, + sade, for good measure.



who are these djs, please?