34 weeks

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Wednesday February 07, 2007 · 1:05 PM PST

2007/02/07 · 13:05

I wrote most of this last night, but couldn't finish and post, so the days are one off now.

34 weeks ago I flew back from the first ever YK. I was very tired since my flight got FUBARed, but I was also high on life and full of hope—I just met the coolest people in the country, all dedicated to the goal of taking said country back. Suddenly it seemed possible that November would bring change rather than disappointment. I have had enough of November disappointments.

I know it was exactly 34 weeks ago today because that same week my son was conceived. And exactly one week ago he died in my womb.

Mozh

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Friday September 02, 2005 · 1:20 PM PDT

2005/09/02 · 13:20

If I hear one more white person who lives in their own house and drives their own nice new car say that the sorry state of affairs in NO is the fault of the people who didn't leave on Sunday, I am going to scream.

I never had to leave some place with just the clothes on my back. When we came to the States, we had some luggage. Not much, but still. And it was a conscious decision, and we had time to pack and leave. And yet I have an experience that in a very small way illuminates for me what the flood refugees are going through.

You see, I grew up in Kiev, Ukraine. I was there in April on 1986, when Chernobyl blew up. (more on the flip) Read More

Hotel Rwanda--"They are not like us."

Mozh

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Sunday June 26, 2005 · 12:48 PM PDT

2005/06/26 · 12:48

My husband and I finally watched Hotel Rwanda last night. Like MSOC, we have had the movie sitting around for a long time, but I just couldn't make myself watch it until yesterday.

After the movie ended, we couldn't really talk about it. We exchanged a couple of words, and went to hide out in our respective offices for a bit. As I read dKos, though, it came to me that the movie really wasn't about Rwandan genocide. It told the story of Rwandan genocide, but it was about our very human ability to compartmentalize, to explain away the bad things that happen to other people, or to actually hurt other people because they are different. They are not us. They are not like us.

It came to me why while the raw brutality in the movie was very difficult to watch, the thing the hurt me the most, almost physically, was the repeated use of the word "cockroach." Cockroaches are not like us. You can step on one and the worst thing about it would be that your shoe would get dirty.
Read More

One life

Mozh

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Monday June 20, 2005 · 11:26 AM PDT

2005/06/20 · 11:26

This is my first diary on dKos. This is not what I imagined I would write my first diary about, but this is what I needed to say today. So here goes.

My grandfather died today. It was last night for us here, but today already in the faraway country where he lived. My parents didn't call my sister and me--my father sent an email with "Sad news" as the subject. They didn't want to wake us up if we were asleep already. I checked my email before bed, but my sister didn't know until this morning. Read More

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34 weeks

Blame the victims-- "they should have left"

Hotel Rwanda--"They are not like us."

One life