Alexandria is back

The relationship between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church of Alexandria has at times been marked by partition, misunderstanding and suspicion.

While much later than many would have liked, the process of rapproachment between the two has begun.Local medias are reporting that the visit by Alexandrian Pope Shinoda III can play an effective role in increasing the understanding and sympathy between the two churches.Here are three reports from ENA.

Alexandrian Pope Shinoda III arrives here

Meles hold talks with Alexandrian Pope Shinoda III

Alexandrian Pope confers with President Girma

George Bush: a good man in Africa

George Bush may not be a popular figure in his home country but the Guardian says he is something of a hero in our continent where he is now on a visit.Here is the start of the article.

They may not be George Bush’s natural constituency but Rwanda’s prostitutes have good things to say about him.So do poor South Africans abandoned by their quixotic government, and doctors across Africa who otherwise regard the American president as a walking crime against humanity.

Read the rest here.

Oprah the Believer

This piece by Washington Post’s African-American columnist was written on December 11, weeks before Iowans went into their Caucuses. Yes, it is inreasingly looking the whole idea of America electing a black president seems no longer impossible. 

Is it foolish to think that a nation stained by centuries of slavery and racism is prepared to elect a black president? Rarely phrased so bluntly, that’s the central question posed by Barack Obama’s candidacy — especially for many African American voters, whose doubts are informed by having seen many an oasis turn out to be a mirage.

Julie Mehretu’s City Sitings

 I just wanted to link this New York Times article that details on  how world-class Beaux Arts-style museum in Detroit city is in the process of unerasing from its former ruin and remolding itself  in the hope of attracting new visitors.

It is a story embedded in Diego Rivera’s renowned frescoes “Detroit Industry” (1932-33) at the Detroit Institute of Arts where the the Mexican muralist made murals celebrating workers as the engine of assembly-line production — of cars as well as weapons, airplanes, chemicals and vaccines — in a cycle of frescoes covering four walls of an interior courtyard.

 Julie Mehretu, an Ethiopian-American artist whose personal history entwined with the exhibtion, is addressing Detroit by creating works adjacent to the Rivera frescoes in tandem with the opening of the museum.

As it was stated in the article, born in Ethiopia to an American mother and Ethiopian father who is an economic geographer, Julie lived the immigrant’s experience when her family moved in the late 1970s to East Lansing for her father’s teaching position at Michigan State University. She was 7 years old.

It is very refreshing over there to hear postive news about a people whose roots are from here. Find out more at the NYT.

Kiosk Addis are on thier last legs

 By B.Mezgebu

The other day, I was looking all over the place for a ‘kiosk’ with the intension of buying a single sheet of lined paper which I needed at the time. Having lived in this city for decades, I was used to purchasing small items like a single cigarette, a single box of matches, razor blades, etc at the many small booths that dotted the city then. Within Addis proper, one needed not to walk more than a couple hundred meters to find one. But that day, I was in for a big surprise from something which all along I had felt but did so only vaguely: the kiosk, as we knew it was disappearing. I walked this side and that side up and down. There were indeed shops galore, but one landmark was missing: that space out of a wall, that widow-like opening was nowhere to be seen.

Nobel Peace Prize for Al Gore?

I came across a piece in the Daily Telegraph that raises a question which was in my mind since I heard Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize winning news. What has he done for world peace?

The commentator who see seems to be no fan of Al Gore argues for a need to declare an intenational smugness alert.Read it here.

Thousands visit scene of Che’s death

A story from the October 5 edition of the Independent on the pigrimage tens of thousands made to scene of Che Guevara’s death.

Jena, a Town in Black and white

Thought this might interest you!

A story from the New York Times  on a small town in the US that made headline for racial tension surrounding the school system and the Jena Six.

And curiously it all started in an oak tree.  

The Land of No Jealousy

This essay, “The Land of No Jealousy” written by the renowned writer Sebhat Gebre Egziabher initially appeared in Dec 1992 edition of Yekatit magazine. In it Sebhat portrays a society in the South of Ethiopia, which he says has solved a big societal and moral problem- jealousy. He relies on a tale from a friend and a famous incident to present a perspective on this particular society that he says has owned “a highly realistic and highly sophisticated arrangement”. In a typical Sebhat style, it was written in a simple yet elegant style.

China to crack down bad English

One more reason not to live in China.Read on to find out!

Along with spitting, run-down housing and bad manners, add unintelligible English to the list of things organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics want to ban.