November 20, 2020 — 0
View from my home office this morning
Photos
June 20, 2020 — 2
Wearing this until Wednesday
On Thursday I had a metal plate screwed into the broken radius bone of my right wrist. Today (Saturday) I’m in only modest pain, but I’ll have this cast on my right arm until Wednesday.
I’m right handed, so don’t expect much from me that requires a keyboard for the next few days. On Wednesday, I should be going back to a brace that lets me use my fingers.
Thanks to the folks at Georgetown University Hospital who made it look easy on Thursday. I was in and out in less than 6 hours, 2 of them spent totally unconscious.
June 10, 2020 — 0
On the disabled list
You can barely see it in the picture, but I’ve slightly broken my wrist in two places while being an idiot in the park on Sunday, trying to jump from a tree stump to a high branch.
I’m not in horrible pain, which is why it took me three days to even schedule a doctor visit. But now I’ve got a fiberglass cast immobilizing my wrist and much of my right hand (I’m right-handed).
My output on this website is likely to slow down for a few weeks, because I can’t type anywhere nearly as fast as I’m used to typing. Bummer!
March 26, 2020 — 0
Photo
After many years of accumulating home office-type gadgets, working at home is tolerable.
In the frame: Mac Mini with dual monitors, MacBook Air, sheet-fed scanner, podcasting mic, HD camera, blu-ray burner, printer, mechanical keyboard, mouse, Hue lamp, amp, LED lighting, speakers, turntable, headphones.
If you find this horrifying, I totally understand. If it’s any consolation, there’s a washer/dryer and a litterbox behind me.
March 25, 2020 — 0
Photo
Can I afford it? Barely. But a 2014 laptop with a busted trackpad connected to a big monitor just wasn’t working as my main work machine.
This fully loaded Mac Mini arrived two days earlier than expected. You may hear a bit less from me over the next day or two while I set it up.
March 19, 2020 — 0
Photo
As an urban runner, I always notice the air quality difference when I get a chance to run in a forest or a rural setting.
On this morning’s solo run in Washington DC, that’s what the air felt like. The air really is noticeably cleaner.
March 11, 2020 — 0
Cleaned out
After seeing that Italy closed all stores except groceries and pharmacies due to the coronavirus outbreak, I said to the family, “Maybe we should go to Costco tonight.”
Virtually everyone else in DC had the same idea; the place was jammed on a Wednesday night. Here’s the “organic brown rice” display.
February 17, 2020 — 0
Betelgeuse, the rapidly fainting star
I just went outside here in Florida, where I’m visiting relatives, and yes, Betelgeuse, one of the most familiar stars in the northern night sky (it’s in Orion’s shoulder), is way dimmer than it used to be.
I took this shot with my phone. Betelgeuse used to be about as bright as Rigel, the star at the very bottom of the photo:
This all happened quickly: before October, Betelgeuse was near the top ten brightest stars in the sky. Now it’s lower than 20th. Some speculate that the red giant, 600 light-years away, might go supernova. But the dimming has slowed over the past week. Here’s a good explanation in the New York Times.
February 9, 2020 — 0
Photo
The President of Colombia, the U.S. Ambassador, a dog, and a box of M-16 cartridges. Tumaco, Nariño, January 16.
Detail of this Colombian Presidency photo.
January 23, 2020 — 0
A few photos from El Paso and Juárez
From Tuesday and Wednesday.
December 19, 2019 — 0
Here’s a big new report about last week’s trip to El Paso and Ciudad Juárez
My visit to the border last week went well: logistics were flawless, the people we encountered were amazing, and we learned a lot. But I came home feeling disturbed. Even more than after my four visits this year to San Diego/Tijuana and to Mexico’s southern border.
Maybe it was the relentlessness of the Trump administration’s non-stop assault on some very weak people. Maybe it was the grinding fatigue that the cities’ activists and service providers exuded. But when I got home late Saturday I was having trouble relating to family and friends. I was only happy with my butt in a chair, typing up my notes and my thoughts about what I’d just seen at this part of the border.
I figured I’d write a memo about my trip. But I typed and typed. There was so much to talk about, as you can see from the table of contents below. I worked a late night Monday night, slept a lot Tuesday night (had to give a talk in Spanish on Wednesday), and last (Wednesday) night, I didn’t sleep at all: I pulled my first true all-nighter, not even a break to lie down, in many, many years.
I just wanted to get it done. So much that I saw and heard was so out of balance and awful, the holidays are nearly here, and the writing became like a form of therapy.
12,000 words, some graphics and several photos later, I posted this memo to WOLA’s website late today. It’s sprawling, and honestly I’m in no condition to judge whether it’s easy to follow. But I feel at least somewhat better for having written it.
I hope it helps you to understand what’s going on at the U.S.-Mexico border after a very trying year, and what is at stake there in the next year, for all of us whether we live at the border or not.
Hope you get something out of it too. The memo is here.
“I Can’t Believe What’s Happening—What We’re Becoming”: A memo from El Paso and Ciudad Juárez
- The big 2019 Increase and Decline in Family Asylum Seekers
- Box: a Terrible 2019 in el Paso and Ciudad Juárez
- The Decimation of the U.S. Asylum System
- Remain in Mexico
- Metering
- Conditions during the wait in Juárez
- Conditions for Cubans
- The July 16 asylum ban
- GACA: Sending people to Guatemala
- “PACR” and “HARP”
- Rights Issues
- Processing
- Migrant deaths
- Use of force and community relations
- Wall Construction
- Security in Ciudad Juárez
- The Helpers are Exhausted
December 13, 2019 — 0
This morning in Ciudad Juarez
By a drainage ditch on the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande, a soldier with a “National Guard” armband buys what looks like cigarettes from a vendor.
November 7, 2019 — 0
Back at the border
I’m here at the U.S.-Mexico border again. This is my fourth visit to San Diego and Tijuana this year. I’m spending most of this visit at a gathering of migration attorneys and experts from the United States, Mexico, and Central America. The situation is grim right now, but there’s a lot of talk of solutions.
October 23, 2019 — 0
Street scene in Arauca, Colombia
Going over my photos from our early October visit to Colombia, I found this one, taken on October 3 from our car window, while driving through the hamlet of La Esmeralda, between Arauquita and Saravena, Arauca. This area is heavily under the influence of the ELN guerrilla group.
An unremarkable photo of a tidy small-town street. Until you zoom in:
You’ve got a mom and 2 cute kids, some street-sweeping equipment—and, below the window on the right, some stenciled ELN graffiti.
A tranquil scene, marred by a message from a group responsible for, by all accounts we heard, the largest share of Arauca’s 130-plus homicides so far this year.