Mind Blocks and Final Exams

What is it about the end of semester, whether undergraduate or graduate work that makes your brain simply quit functioning? Is it just me? You know I have made about 20 of the most unbelievably silly mistakes in the past two weeks and I still have 10 days to go! My family is afraid that I'm going to get into a car accident because of my recent brain block problems.

I know stress can make you stupid, but I did not know how much it could affect the little things like picking up the wrong product and buying it without even noticing, or calling the wrong person on the phone and talking to them for a full minute before you realize you dialed the wrong number...or misinterpreting an assignment that reads "Do first ten problems odd" to mean do ONLY the problems 1-10, and only the odd ones." Oh well, it happens every year and I suppose I will survive; and if I don't I've had a really, really, good life all in all...it's been a lot of fun.

I have been thinking of all of you that have commented on my blog. I actually never REALIZED how important people's comments are when you have a blog. I never thought that I would open up this page twice a day and be disappointed if no one commented:). That's just silly right? Well, I learned that it isn't. Now, whenever I go to a blog I try to leave at least some small comment to let the person know that someone actually reads what they write and cares about their thoughts. What is it that Medya says "I don't see what you say at your mind, write it down...please". That's one of the sweetest and most endearing comments isn't it?

However, this also means that I feel like I have to have something really important and profound to say when I write. Then I get intimidated, and I'm afraid to write because it might not be "worthy" and it might bore people and..and...and....I can come up with a thousand reasons why I should wait until tomorrow so that I can do some research or collect more data, or maybe find a good picture or a funny joke...and then the page stays empty. Well, I will not let a blank page intimidate me like that! I must overcome this nonsense and speak from my heart.

Today CNN ran and excellent piece on the Kurds, showing the reconstruction and the new computer labs, where women are learning computers and life is busy, the streets are full and life is thriving. This American soldier was on, and he was so happy he was in Kurdistan...you could tell. He said something like, they protect us here (like this guy with full armor and a bunch of fire power on him needs protecting:)). He said there are secret police here (that would be the Peshmerga) and if anything happens they take care of it before we even know about it. YES! That would be the people that suddenly appear out of no where with AK's. It's quite clear to me that the US soldiers know that the Kurds are not the same as the people they are fighting in the South. I just hope it continues to make it to the news so the world knows this too. I wrote to CNN to thank Nic Robertson for his piece, I hope you will do the same. The more encouragement they get for doing great work, the more they cover the Kurds. They don't like to be criticized, so it's just best to reward them for doing good stories on Kurds.

I know I should answer the questions from some of you on the comments section. I think that oil should not be the economy for the Kurds....because it is one industry and it tends to benefit the elite and power corrupts them easily. Tourism is a good thing to have, but it to, has too many ups and downs depending on the world economy. The nepotism is also quite a problem and no one can overcome that without a lot of immigration, particularly from the west. If you look at success stories of countries that overcame this built in nepotism that almost all old countries have, you will find one of two things; 1. They were bombed back to the stone age and the west helped reconstruct them or 2. They were settled by many westerners, or people who had lived in the west for a long time and really cared about their homeland. That's the best way to overcome it. Get a lot of immigrants to come home. It may not sound like it can be done, but if nothing is attempted then it won't happen, so trying as hard as possible is the best.

As for Israeli help, well, you know the Israelis...the people are tough on the outside and sweet on the inside that's why they call them "SABRA"s because it's the name of a fruit, tough outside, and sweet inside. So, it's not only strategic, it's because they honestly have a kindred feeling for Kurds...I guess they should because the Kurds and Jews share more genes than any other group in the region. All the way from Abraham in Kurdistan to Israel, the gene pool is still close. There are about 200,000 Kurdish Jews living in Israel. I think that the help has gone back to the exodus of Jews from Iraq in 1948 and it was strengthened in the 1960's. Hey, Jews spent 2,600 years there, of course it's important what happens there. It has never been easy to be "dhimmi" and Kurds were always more tolerant. Some of the middle eastern Jews that were evicted from middle eastern countries are incredibly anti-Arab because some of them had it really hard (had to live in caves, never ride an animal higher than a Muslim, never have a home nicer than a Muslim...other strange torments) but that was never true among the Kurds or even among most of the tribes and clans in Iraq, even in Iran it was not so bad. I think Israelis have always admired the Kurdish resistance and determination to remain Kurds too. Jews and Kurds, Yezidi and B'hai all share that refusal to assimilate and allow our culture and ways to be taken from us...we will not convert to any lifestyle that strikes us as wrong or against our cultural traditions. It's a "natural alliance" as has been said before.

I will write again about Kurdish Jews and our shared traditions as soon as I get done with this semester. It's an enjoyable story.

Oh, and some people have asked me if I am in favor of "WAR" because I support the Peshmerga. Well, not exactly. I don't think anyone is really in favor of war, but I do admire people who will stand up and refuse to allow tyranny to rule. The soldiers, male and female, that simply will not allow their rights to be taken from them. They will fight, and sometimes die for something greater than themselves. This is the way of the warrior. I am a warrior, and nothing can change that in me.

But the truth is it's always better to get most of what you want peacefully...I just wish that were always possible...but it's not a perfect world as Kardox has said, and so we have to fight sometimes, when there is no other way. Perhaps one day we will put down our weapons and forgive and forget. This song that I like very much comes from the 1980s and I'm almost sure you've never heard it before because it was not a "hit" on the radio, but it summarizes how I feel about war, and my brothers and sisters in arms...and yet it points out that one day we must end the battle and make peace. I hope you enjoy it. I don't know how to make a wav file, but the music is very slow and beautiful. It's by "Dire Straits" and it's called "Brothers in Arms", but since this site is dedicated to my "sisters in arms" I'm going to change the words slightly:). I hope no one will mind.

To my Peshmerga sisters and true defenders of liberty everywhere:


These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be sisters in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My sisters in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every one has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our sisters in arms