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It was bound to happen: complaints of racial profiling along the border with Mexico.
Authorities apparently tend to question people who "look like" they might have sneaked across the river.
Mexicans, perhaps?
Well, who the heck are they supposed to be looking for -- Canadians?
I never met Hugh Morton, but if you could know the man by his mountain, we were well acquainted.
Morton inherited one of North Carolina's most spectacular pieces of real estate and turned it into an attraction that preserved its awesome beauty but allowed relatively easy access to everyone.
Grandfather Mountain pulled me back time and again. I competed in Highland Games track meets at McCrae Meadows 30-plus years ago, hiked up and over the peaks and proudly brought friends and relatives visiting North Carolina to the roof of the Blue Ridge.
Morton's nature center and wildlife habitats, the mile-high swinging bridge, picnic areas -- where you could pick blackberries in season -- all made it the perfect family experience to spend a long summer day at Grandfather Mountain.
I love the network of trails laid out across the mountain. They're challenging and rough, but also fitted with ladders and guide lines to get you up cliffs. Sure, purists might decry these accessories, but the point was to improve safety and create opportunities for more people to take in the magnificent views that open up around every bend in the path.
Besides, nature always dominates the high country. It's a mighty force on Grandfather Mountain, where the wind blows as hard as an incredible 200 mph.
It's a different world up there. I remember one November day, sunny and about 65 degrees down in Hickory, when we drove up to the Grandfather Mountain visitors center and stepped out to 35-degree temperatures, wind gusting to 70 and banks of fog barreling across the ridges like truck convoys racing down the highway.
Morton not only loved Grandfather Mountain, he let countless others share the romance. I hope his heirs will always maintain it just as he did.
The Wichita Eagle reports today that the NAACP will officially recognize the Kansas city, rather than Greensboro, as the site of the first lunch counter sit-in.
"Wichita's protest was in July 1958, when about 20 black teenagers and young adults sat down at the lunch counter in the Dockum Drug Store downtown, rather than getting their food to go," the paper reports.
"Greensboro's protest didn't occur until more than a year later, when four teenagers sat down at a Woolworth's lunch counter in February 1960."
This is news to me. Of course, it doesn't diminish the importance of the sit-in movement launched in Greensboro.
Addendum: There's no mention of the Wichita sit-ins on the civil rights movement timeline at sitins.com
Further addendum: The International Civil Rights Center and Museum Web site does mention Wichita as one of several cities where "similar incidents" took place before the Greensboro sit-ins.
Yet another addendum (12:37 p.m.): John White of the NAACP clarifies that organization's position. It will extend some form of recognition to many sit-in events, he told me, but, "We're not judging which was first or most important. They were all important."
There could have been some before Wichita.
White, who grew up in Baltimore, added a personal note: "If somebody said sit-in, I thought of Greensboro."
Everybody's talking about Vernon Robinson.
You get the idea.
Robinson and Brad Miller already are hooked up in a 13th Congressional District death match.
Heaven help me, I'm almost sorry Robinson withdrew his original candidacy in the 12th District, leaving it to Ada Fisher to run against Mel Watt.
Ada Fisher is a nice lady, but as a candidate? Let's just say the 12th District campaign is going to be pretty quiet again this year.
As of this moment, she hasn't even modified her campaign Web site since April 10, the date of her most recent press release -- or been very active otherwise, as far as I can tell.
Sure, Robinson's kind of crazy. But he might tap a vein of public support on issues like immigration or opposition to same-sex marriage. Miller simply can't ignore him, and isn't.
Mel Watt, meanwhile, will find it the easiest thing in the world to ignore Ada Fisher. As poor a campaign Web site as Fisher has, she still beats Watt, who doesn't have one at all, unless it's tucked away in some hidden dimension of cyberspace. Well, doesn't matter. Watt can afford to pretend there isn't an election. I mean, he's not exactly running against Vernon Robinson, is he?
But, as a resident of the 12th District, I'd like to see a more vigorous, competitive campaign (I'd say the same if I lived in the 6th District).
Maybe not a campaign as nasty and noisy as voters in the 13th will endure. But at least they know there will be congressional election in November and they'll get to make a real choice.
Ed Cone notes critical commentary about little boys decked out in military garb at Greensboro's First Presbyterian Church last week. Jerry Wolford's photo has been widely distributed.
I admit, as a Presbyterian myself, I was a bit taken aback by the image. It does seem a bit inappropriate for kids to play soldier at church. At the same time, this isn't worth an uproar.
The Presbyterian Church is hardly militaristic. Heck, it dropped "Onward Christian Soldiers" from its hymnal because of the martial overtones.
However, the Presbyterian Church is not opposed to national defense or the military, per se. People can be good Christians and soldiers. Even make-believe soldiers.
Update: I overlooked Sunday's Getting it Right column: The photo caption should have said that the program "Fit n' Fun" rented space from First Presbyterian Church for a kids camp. Fit n' Fun is not affiliated with First Presbyterian Church.
Congratulations to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other authorities for their weekend arrests of individuals allegedly planning terrorist attacks.
Their targets, authorities say, were Canadian landmarks like the Parliament buildings and Peace Tower in Ottawa and the CN Tower and stock exchange in Toronto.
Most of the suspects reportedly are Canadian-born.
This was a frightening plot because, even if you believe terrorists want to attack the United States in response to U.S. foreign policy, it's hard to find a similar rationale for targeting Canada.
Except that Canada is a Western democracy with Western values.
In the ideology of radical Islam, that's apparently reason enough.
Just as disturbing is the idea that these people, born and raised in Canada, could hate their own country enough to seek its destruction.
I've been to Canada a lot, and I don't find it a nation that anyone should hate. I mean, it's just a nice country.
But then, I haven't indoctrinated myself into a religious ideology that compels me to hate those who don't share my values.
It's reassuring, at least, that the Canadians are on the job, because it wouldn't be hard for terrorists on their side of the border to slip into this country.
Hey, I'm not a jerk. I have intermittent explosive disorder.
That's right, IED is the latest excuse for bad behavior -- a lot of it. It affects up to 16 million Americans, most of whom you see on your drive to work in the morning.
This also could explain overcrowded prisons, child and spouse abuse and political debates in Washington.
All this time, people thoughtlessly labeled as jerks have been undiagnosed sufferers of this unfortunate malady.
Yeah, right.
Forget this pscho-babble. Let's call a jerk a jerk.
I wonder whether Duke President Richard Brodhead's decision to reinstate men's lacrosse means he thinks the players charged with rape are not guilty.
After all, it would be highly embarrassing for the university if, during the team's 2007 season next spring, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were convicted of the charges.
My column today:
Hugh Morton was my kind of environmentalist. He made it easy for more people to see and feel for themselves what's so important about preserving nature's most awesome handiwork.
That might be seen as a contradiction by those who think a wilderness should be unspoiled, practically untouched, remote, even inaccessible to all but a few.
What was one of the first things Morton did when he inherited magnificent Grandfather Mountain in 1952? He built a road to the top and let visitors drive to the summit for a dollar a car. ...
Mark Binker reported on his blog yesterday about a flap involving Rachel Lea Hunter and Vernon Robinson (that's a pair for you). State Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek stepped in quickly to chastise Hunter.
Meek also said he'll recommend the party withhold an endorsement in the N.C. Supreme Court race between Hunter and Justice Mark Martin.
What a cop-out!
The Democratic Party press release states -- incorrectly -- that "Rachel Lea Hunter ran as a Republican for the State Supreme Court in 2004 and was defeated." She did not run as a Republican; she ran in a nonpartisan race.
The release adds: "After a falling out with the North Carolina Republican Party, Hunter switched her party registration to Democrat in 2005. She filed to run for a non-partisan State Supreme Court seat this year and will be on the November 7th ballot."
At least the Democratic Party understands that this year's judicial races are nonpartisan.
But why, when the party plans to endorse candidates in these nonpartisan races, would Meek recommend sitting out the Hunter-Martin contest? Why, because Martin is a registered Republican. Heavens, we can't endorse him.
Yet, that wasn't a problem for the state's three living former Democratic chief justices -- Jim Exum and Henry Frye of Greensboro and Burley Mitchell -- all of whom endorsed Martin. They believe partisan politics have no place on the state's highest court.
I guess, by their nature, the Democratic and Republican parties just can't admit that. Which means, in this case, the chairman of the Democratic Party would just as soon see Hunter win the Supreme Court seat as an experienced justice who's been endorsed by the top Democratic jurists of recent years but happens to be a Republican.
But, by the way, why didn't the party find a candidate it COULD endorse? Maybe because there's no mainstream opposition to Martin in the state's legal circles?
This is very heartening news from Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi was not only a terrorist mastermind, he was himself a vicious killer who may have personally beheaded helpless captives.
I'm glad he was killed, not captured.
I've already heard lots of spin that al-Zarqawi's death won't have a big impact on the insurgency in Iraq, that he'll be replaced.
We'll see. Of course al-Zarqawi wasn't a one-man show, and he didn't control all the insurgents in Iraq. Terrorist attacks won't stop immediately.
Yet, he was a dangerously charismatic figure fanatically devoted to the cause of jihad. He gave the insurgency much of its ideological force. Without him, maybe it will lose some of its drive, its reason for carrying on. We can only hope.
The death of his international criminal also reminds us that the battle in Iraq really does have something to do with the war against global terrorism. Because we killed al-Zarqawi there, he won't carry out any more attacks anywhere else.
Congratulations to the U.S. and Iraqi forces that brought him down.
I'm fine with yesterday's U.S. Senate vote against proceeding with a proposed constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.
I don't believe we should clutter the U.S. Constitution with that sort of thing.
I also agree to some extent that this was a political game by the president and congressional conservatives to stir up an issue for the November elections.
At the same time, the other side is at least equally disingenuous, in my view.
After all, conservatives didn't invent this issue. Proponents of same-sex marriage did. Conservatives are playing defense. Their detractors seem to think they should do nothing -- an absurd idea considering the fact that strong majorities of people in virtually every state oppose same-sex marriage.
Also, proponents of same-sex marriage criticize congressional action on the grounds that the federal government shouldn't intervene in an area where the states properly should exercise authority.
Yet, I doubt those same proponents would mind if federal courts intervened, overturning state laws or constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage.
If the states should decide, then let everyone agree to abide by the states' decisions.
If you were an embezzler, wouldn't you think someone might notice this much money missing?
Would you like your winnings in cash or lottery tickets?
It's not distracting to take a call from mom while driving, because teens don't listen to their parents anyway.
Forget LA, what about Edmonton?
The only thing hard to believe is that this guy was ever smart enough to go to MIT.
Possible sentence if found guilty: listening to fire-and-brimstone sermons until you-know-what freezes over.
I really like Rosemary Roberts, but she and I usually avoid talking about politics.
In her column today, she employed the famous quote by Vice President Dick Cheney:
"My general view is freedom means freedom for everyone ... People ought to be free to enter any kind of relationship they want to."
It's widely assumed that, because Cheney has a gay daughter, he was endorsing same-sex marriage. But, to my knowledge, he hasn't said a lot more on the subject. (Please update me if I've missed something.) So, what did he really mean?
You just as easily could assume he was endorsing polygamy. After all, some people might want to enter into that kind of relationship.
Perhaps, however, he had in mind private relationships -- meaning those not sanctioned or formally recognized by the government.
In their personal lives, shouldn't people have the freedom to pursue any kind of living arrangements that suit them? If a man can get three or four women to live with him, good for him (or not so good, depending on your view of such things). Certainly, no one should deny that little group its freedom to live together. Does government, therefore, have an obligation to recognize their relationship as a polygamous "marriage"? Of course not. The same principles can be said to apply to same-sex relationships.
The marriage debate will continue, in state legislatures, in referendums, in Congress, in the courts. I don't know how it ultimately will be settled, if it is. I do believe that consenting adults should be free to enter into whatever relationships they want, but that their personal choices do not obligate the government to give its stamp of approval.
There's no telling how many people Billy Graham has drawn to Christ.
Or how many Fred Phelps has repelled.
Yet Phelps, who calls himself a Christian minister, is going to picket the unveiling of a Billy Graham statue at the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro next week.
Fortunately, Graham will be remembered and honored for his ministries long after Phelps' hateful harangues are forgotten.
The best decision our editorial department made earlier this year when we were selecting syndicated columnists was NOT to add Ann Coulter.
The latest episode would be exceedingly embarrassing.
Why was Coulter even considered? She gets strong reader reaction. She "moves the needle." It would be good to have a "female conservative" writer in the mix.
None of that would be worth the baggage Coulter brings. Nowhere near.
Even Bill O'Reilly is denouncing her "vitriol" as "mean and counterproductive."
Coulter may have a following, but they can follow her somewhere else. I'm glad she's not our problem.
EOGs are done and school's out for summer. We all can hope North Carolina students passed their standardized state tests and qualify for promotion to the next grade.
Unfortunately, passing North Carolina's EOGs may be too easy, according to the latest "Strength of State Proficiency Standards" report by Education Next editors Paul E. Peterson and Frederick M. Hess.
North Carolina is one of three states, with Tennessee and Oklahoma, slapped with an F.
They fail because of the wide disparities between high passing scores on state tests and low marks on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
"Once again, we discover that Suzy could be a good reader in North Carolina, where standards are low, but a failure in neighboring South Carolina, where standards are higher," the authors say.
We wrote about this issue in March (apologies: I can't find an online version).
North Carolina leaders have done a lot of self-congratulating in recent years about school improvements ... by North Carolina standards. But our students are competing with those from other states and the world. Maybe it's time to drop our testing system and adopt national standards so we can get a more impartial measure of where we stand.
A serious write-in candidate will mean the defeat of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong in November.
The N&O reports today that Democratic Durham County Commissioner Lewis Cheek is considering the challenge.
Nifong won the Democratic nomination last month. No Republican filed to run. That gives Nifong a safe route to election, unless someone emerges as a certified write-in candidate.
By November, the biggest case Nifong has handled during his tenure as DA -- the Duke lacrosse rape case -- will have crashed and burned. He has pursued the prosecution despite evidence strongly suggesting that the alleged crime did not occur. It's already apparent that no convictions will result. The only question is whether the case will even go to trial. I doubt it will.
Cheek is a very credible public official. The fact that he is being recruited to run against Nifong as a write-in candidate -- normally an impossiblly uphill proposition -- tells me that the legal community knows Nifong is in trouble. They need a competent replacement as DA.
Addendum, Tuesday: In the meantime, the call for a special prosecutor makes sense. ... although an impartial review might lead to the charges being dropped.
Anyone interested in discussing the state's alienation of affection and criminal conversation laws (common laws, not statutes)?
They were the subject of today's editorial and a news story by Eric Collins Saturday.
Here are some other links to information:
Missouri Supreme Court ruling doing away with its alientation of affection law in 2003.
Information from the Rosen Law Firm in Raleigh.
Information from the Gilpin & Hatcher law firm in Charlotte.
A story from creativeloafing.com
A bio for Doyle Early, the High Point attorney quoted in the editorial.
Web site for Lonnie Albright, the Greensboro attorney whose client won last week's $500,000 judgment.
My column today:
Both political parties promote their judicial candidates in North Carolina.
Even though the elections are nonpartisan.
What's the difference between a Democrat and a Republican judge, anyway?
In the contest between Robin Hudson and Ann Marie Calabria, very little. ...
Continue reading "Some judges resist partisan stereotypes" »
The Associated Press reports that N.C. Democratic Party chief Jerry Meek has endorsed Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin.
If that's true, it's a development I missed before my column ran this morning. I relied on information on the party Web site (still posted there now) saying that Meek would recommend that the party withhold an endorsement in the contest between Martin and Rachel Lea Hunter.
I put in a call to Meek Friday seeking comment for my column but never heard back from him.
An endorsement of Martin by the Democratic Party, if it happens, would be a significant step toward real nonpartisanship in judicial races. Martin is a registered Republican, but he's obviously the better candidate in the race. All North Carolinians -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- should want the best qualified individuals serving in the judiciary.
Meek could take another positive step by changing some of the rhetoric found on the party's Web site:
"Judicial races are non-partisan, right? Tell that to the Republicans.
"After the 2004 election, the Republican Party methodically sought to throw out the votes of people who -- in good faith and at the advice of elections officials -- cast legal ballots. Republicans turned to the courts, knowing that their appellate court judges would march goose-step to their every command. And their Judges did exactly what the Republican Party expected of them."
That refers to the contested outcomes of the state superintendent's race and the Parks-Wade commissioners' race here in Guilford County. The state Supreme Court ruled that the law required voters to cast ballots in their own precincts -- a pretty obvious conclusion. Improperly cast ballots were disallowed, although not enough in either case for the Republican candidates to defeat the Democrats.
Anyway, the offensive language here is "march goose-step."
It would be fine if it said judges marched in lock-step with the Republicans -- not really true in all cases, of course, but still well within the bounds of fair comment.
"Goose step," however, is intended to evoke images of Nazi stormtroopers. Get it? Republican judges are like Nazis. Very nice.
I guess that includes Mark Martin, whom the Democrats now have decided to endorse because he's better than Rachel Hunter who, in her own brand of Nazi-baiting, is calling Meek "Der Fuhrer."
Meek, not surprisingly, doesn't like that. Hunter's name-calling is way out of line. So how about dropping the goose-step slur, Democrats? Let's have positive, nonpartisan judicial campaigns that give the public more confidence, not less, in the men and women who serve on the bench.
Update: See my June 15 post. Democrats drop the goose step reference.
Condoleezza Rice delivered some deserved praise to Southern Baptists in Greensboro yesterday, according to Nancy's coverage:
"She applauded the denomination's compassion and mission work. 'Baptists were among the first on the scene in Banda Aceh, helping to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless and to care for the sick and the wounded,' she said, referring to the 2004 tsunami disaster.
" 'And of course, here in our own country, few have done more than Southern Baptists to help ease the suffering of our fellow citizens who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita,' Rice said."
That very important component of Baptist identity -- mission -- is too often forgotten, particularly by those who are quick to criticize the denomination for its supposed intolerance. Baptists carry a strong tradition of serving God by serving others.
Ministries include hunger relief, disaster assistance and much more.
Rice was right to recognize and give credit for all that.
More of the worst kind of publicity for Durham DA Mike Nifong:
The News & Observer details statements Nifong made during the first few weeks of the Duke lacrosse team rape investigation that "appear to have contradicted certain facts in his own files."
The paper quotes Duke law professor James Coleman: "Either he knew what the facts were and misstated them, or he was making them up. Whether he acted knowing they were false, or if he was reckless, it doesn't matter in the long run. This is the kind of stuff that causes the public to lose confidence in the justice system."
Not the system necessarily, but certainly in the DA.
Coleman has called for a special prosecutor, removing this case from Nifong's office. Fairness demands at least that much.
It's Attorney General Roy Cooper's call. A potential candidate for governor in 2008, does he want this hot potato?
Updating yesterday's post:
The N.C. Democratic Party has removed the language about Republican judges marching in goose step.
Thanks, Democrats. Good move.
Maybe we can have positive judicial campaigns in North Carolina and elect well-qualified men and women to our courts.
This is a more law-and-order U.S. Supreme Court.
Today's ruling, Hudson v. Michigan, allows admissibility of evidence seized during a search of defendant's home, even though police did not knock but merely announced themselves and waited about three seconds before entering.
The majority was 5-4 (Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito and Kennedy in substantial part).
The issue was not whether police should knock. They should.
It was whether, if they don't knock, any evidence found should be thrown out of court.
The Supreme Court, upholding the Michigan Court of Appeals, said no.
In this case, police had a valid search warrant. Defendant had illegal drugs and a firearm in his home.
In practical terms, when police knock and allow the occupant a reasonable time to open the door, they also give him warning in case he wants to dispose of evidence or put up violent resistence. It's understandable that police don't want to surrender the advantage of surprise.
But what about the occupant's rights? He might be in the bathtub, or tenderly embraching his wife. Isn't he allowed a decent interval to make himself presentable for unexpected visitors?
Besides, warrant notwithstanding, he might not be guilty of anything.
The court doesn't actually address all the issues. It concedes that "knock-and-announce," an ancient common-law requirement, also is implicitly required by the Fourth Amendment. It notes that the details are vague: How long must police wait after knocking and announcing before they enter? What about instances when danger increases the longer they delay?
This case was a knock-and-announce violation, plain and simple. The issue is the remedy. Should the evidence of guilt be discarded, even if doing so lets a bad guy off the hook?
The court's conclusion, by this narrow margin, is no. Suppression of evidence is a last resort, Scalia writes. The penalty of "releasing dangerous criminals into society" is too great.
His rights can be protected in other ways: a civil suit, for example. (Breyer, dissenting, scoffed at that idea.)
Scalia and the majority make a strong argument, in my view, against disqualifying evidence uncovered in searches when knock-and-announce is violated. That's a big price to pay, especially when it's so easy to split hairs about what's a proper knock-and-announce: three knocks and a loud yell, then wait 10 seconds? Five knocks, a shout and five seconds? A tap-tap, a hello inside, and three seconds?
The problem is that Scalia's weak on the alternative remedies. If the police just barge in with practically no warning, ruin your night and find nothing, do you really have a chance of collecting damages? And is the threat of a civil suit really enough to make sure police remember to knock the next time?
I agree with the ruling, but I'm only slightly more comfortable with it than with the alternative.
The roundabout at South Greene and McGee is up and running. I took a couple of spins on my way in this morning.
Congratulations to the city for excellent work. The circle is well-engineered and looks great -- as does the whole 300 block of South Greene.
The Guilford County commissioners' contribution of $75,000 to the International Home Furnishings Market -- out of $2.4 million allotted in total for "community groups," and far less than Manager Willie Best's $250,000 recommendation -- is paltry and shortsighted.
It fails to acknowledge the significance of the market to Guilford County's economy or to recognize the threat competitors pose to North Carolina's largest business event.
It's also an insult to High Point and High Point taxpayers, who are contributing $1 million to the market.
It's hard to believe High Pointers Bruce Davis and John Parks, who voted for the budget, let this happen.
Davis particularly. He ran for re-election on the boast that he'd gotten everything the market asked for from the county. He didn't this time.
James Coleman, the Duke law professor who's so critical of Durham DA Mike Nifong's handling of the lacrosse rape case that he's called for a special prosecutor, has big-time credentials.
He's a specialist in wrongful convictions, and he serves as faculty counsel for the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, according to his bio on the Duke Web site.
He also happens to be African American, in case anyone thinks race is relevant.
I'll be out of town for a couple of weeks.
Way out.
My son, Kenny, and I leave today for Mwanza, Tanzania, where my older son, Andrew, is serving in the Peace Corps.
Flying from RDU to New York to London to Nairobi to Mwanza, it will take us until Monday afternoon to get there.
This is the trip of a lifetime, probably the only time I'll ever go to Africa.
Through Andrew, I feel I already know quite a bit about Tanzania. I've also been prepped by Greg Jones, CEO of the Greensboro YMCA, who lived for several years in Tanzania. And, for the past few months, I've been trying to learn a little Swahili. If I can carry on a remotely sensible conversation with anyone over there, I'll be really surprised, but the effort might count for something.
Preparation aside, being there will be an entirely new experience, unlike anywhere else I've traveled. The culture, people, food and landscape will be a world removed from the familiar.
I've left a few posts that will pop up in the coming days and hope to update the blog when I can find Internet access.
So, wish us safari salama. Kwaheri!
We arrive late today in Nairobi, Kenya, reputed to be a fascinating and lively city, but one so crime-infested that it's also called Nairobbery.
Venturing out of the hotel at night is said to be unwise. We'll be very careful. Wouldn't want our trip to end before we get to Tanzania.
We've got a long layover -- our flight to Mwanza isn't until late Monday afternoon.
Kwaheri.
Finally, we land this evening in Mwanza -- and hope Andrew's waiting for us at the airport.
If not, we're totally lost already.
It's been exactly nine months since I dropped Andrew at PTI for the beginning of his adventure. It's going to be a joyful reunion. Furaha!
Now Kenny and I are the adventurers, and he's our host and guide.
He knows the people, the places and the language.
Andrew has told us about the beauty of the Lake Victoria area -- but he's also tried to warn us that our first impression of Mwanza won't be favorable.
You and Kenny have never been to a Third World country, so you don't have any real idea what to expect, he pointed out in a letter. Be prepared for the worst, but it's not as bad as you'll first think it is.
Andrew said the mission trip he took to Haiti with his campus ministry group a few years ago first introduced him to what immense poverty looks like and, maybe more striking, smells like. Now it surrounds him.
The brilliant travel writer Paul Theroux, a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa in the 1960s, returned to the continent a few years ago, then wrote "Dark Star Safari" about his journey from Cairo to Capetown.
From his account of landing in Mwanza off a Lake Victoria freighter:
"I walked through the crowd of people who were welcoming the ferry -- the ferry's irregular arrival being one of the highlights of life in Mwanza. Walking toward town I could understand why. The place was just ruined and empty shops and an unpaved main street that was almost impassable because of its entrenched corrugations. Old buses swayed, almost toppling as their wheels descended into deep potholes. This was another haunted border post, a dismal and interesting one, that the safari-going tourists who flew into the international airport at Arusha would never see. They would see only some slavering animals and colorful natives.
"In Mwanza, the natives were not colorful, merely numerous and ragged, and so many of them had attached themselves to me that when the first taxi came by, I flagged it down and got in ...
"We went down the lumpy road to the railway station, which was crowded with food sellers and people carrying plastic-wrapped bales of their belongings. Their bustle looked odd -- the dressed-up people, some of them running -- for it was drama in a place where drama and urgency were in short supply."
I'll share my own observations when I can.
Kwaheri!
Andrew, Kenny and I are on safari today to the great Serengeti.
This is the time of the massive migrations of wildebeest and zebra. We also hope to see elephants, lions, leopards and other large animals roaming this "land that moves on forever."
I plan to shoot as many of them as I can, although not quite in the way the blustery Theodore Roosevelt did on his famous 1909 East African safari.
He blasted his way through what is now Kenya and Uganda, taking hundreds of trophies.
My weapon of choice is the camera, not the rifle.
Tonight we'll camp on the African plains. I doubt I'll sleep much for listening to the nocturnal comings and goings outside our tent.
Unlike Teddy, I may have more to fear from the local wildlife than it has to fear from me.
I'll let you know what I see.
We hope to experience a view like this today on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.
Before we descend 2,000 feet to the wildlife conservancy below.
The Ngorongoro is one of the natural wonders of the world, a bountiful habitat for 30,000 of Africa's most beautiful animals.
Those include Tanzania's only population of black rhinos.
Maybe I'll get some photos of my own to post.
Andrew warned me it would be different than I expected, and he was right on target.
During the first week of this journey, I've met a Hollywood movie producer on his way to Kenya to work on a film, spent a day in Nairobi Hospital, endured a 15-hour bus ride from Nairobi to Mwanza, experienced a safari that exceeded anything I could imagine, and returned to find that, during our three-day absence, Andrew's house had been broken into and ransacked, at considerable loss.
Kenny and I are learning a lot about Africa in a hurry.
I can't wait to see what Week 2 has to offer!
Until I have more time, kwa heri!
The word Kenny and I have heard most commonly here in East Africa is karibu. In Swahili, it means welcome and much more. There's a strong hospitality culture, and people are warm and friendly.
Maybe next in frequency has been pole, an expression of sympathy. It's a gracious way for people to say, "Hey, I feel your pain."
While we've had a few bumps on this trip, the overall experience has been amazing. This is a different world, a real land of contrasts.
The wildlife parks are almost beyond belief. Mile after mile through the Serengeti, animals practically lined up for us to view. Great herds of wildebeest, zebra and impala. Elephants, lions, cheetahs, so much more. In Ngorongoro, we spotted seven of the park's 22 rare black rhinos.
The beauty of the land is awe-inspiring. That's true here in Mwanza as well, on the shore of Lake Victoria, blessed with a temperate climate and cool breezes. Sadly, however, what people have built on this landscape is for the most part a blight. This city is a shambles, a jumble, a mass of humanity and construction thrown together seemingly with little rhyme or reason. It barely seems to function.
I mentioned our break-in. The next morning, we traveled to the police station to file a report. The police compound is reached over an incredibly bumpy dirt road. Goats roam through the yard. The lone vehicle, a rusting Land Rover truck with a broken windshield, holds up a bicycle and gives shade to a few ducks.
The office is crowded and includes a couple of people watching television. A policewoman takes our report, first using a ruler to line a plain sheet of paper to create the official report form. After painstaking description and transcribing, the report is handed to another policewoman for copying into a ledger. Finally, we secure the assistance of a detective who agrees to examine the crime scene, as long as we provide his transportation. Grabbing his kit, he joins us in our cab. On the way, we have to stop off at a store where he attempts to buy tape to help him take fingerprints.
After the detective completes his work, he leaves in our cab. We expect not to hear anymore from the police, but apparently someone from Peace Corps headquarters in Dar es Salaam has called to encourage greater police attention to this case than normal. That night Andrew gets a call from the police informing him they're coming back.
Sure enough, at 11 p.m. they drive up in the same rusting truck - eight of them, two carrying automatic rifles. All eight file into the house, milling around, examining the crime scene, asking questions, offering theories. One takes Andrew aside and advises him to get a pistol. Another says they're working on a plan: The next time Andrew leaves overnight, they'll station an officer in the house waiting for the thieves to strike, then nail them.
We appreciate the concern, but modern police work this is not.
Sometimes things take on an up-to-date appearance but lack the function. For example, when Kenny and I boarded the bus in Nairobi for the long, long ride to Mwanza, all passengers were given a security check. But, as the wand passed over Kenny's pack, then Kenny, then my pack and then me, it beeped every time. No matter. We were invited to board without further scrutiny. Later, as passengers got off and on along the route, a man was allowed to board with a machete and sat behind Kenny. Just what sort of weapon might keep someone off?
I admire Andrew for how well he's coped with living here. Last night, he cooked us a fine dinner of rice, tomato sauce and mchina (like spinach) despite having no electricity or running water. These hardships, which ordinary Tanzanians take for granted, make one very resourceful.
Kenny and I will be home in a week, and Andrew in a year-and-a-half. The millions and millions here, and so many more throughout the Third World, will never leave their lives of inconvenience and hardship. And yet, when they see strangers - and believe me, we're easy to spot - their first word is always karibu.
Then, if necessary, pole.
Gender differences are pronounced here in Tanzania.
You see it right away in clothing. Most men dress in Western style, while most women wear the traditional kanga, the colorful, beautifully patterned wrap-around dresses.
That's not all that's old-fashioned.
Yesterday, Andrew's friend and fellow teacher, Kassim, took us to his parents' home for midday dinner. We sat in the living room and were served a bounteous meal of many dishes -- beef, two kinds of rice including one cooked in coconut milk, bread, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, mchichi and more -- by Kassim's mother and older sister. The women did not eat with us, just served. That's standard here.
Later, we attended a sort of wake for the grandchild of a woman who works as a secretary at Andrew's school. The child had died Wednesday of malaria.
We walked about 15 minutes to a village by the lake and found many people already outside the home -- men sitting in one area, women in another. Soon, the burial party returned, with the men joining the men already seated outside the house, the women joining the other women. After everyone was settled, one man got up to make a speech, then another.
After that, some younger men came around with water for the assembled men to wash their hands -- the custom before a meal is served. I didn't expect that, but sure enough bowls of rice, beans and mchichi were handed around -- to the men only. After we ate, using our fingers, more water came around for washing up.
Why the women were excluded from this I don't know; it's just the way it is.
After the meal, people made small offerings to the family, and then it was OK to leave.
Outward expressions of affection between men and women are not considered proper here. It's common to see two men holding hands or tow women, but not a man and a woman. Women also are very modest in their dress, although breastfeeding in public is OK.
There are women in professions, and you see a few women dressed professionally in Mwanza. Also, some young women wear jeans. No short skirts, however, or anything as daring as the average American teenage girl wears without a thought.
While women deserve better opportunities to gain an education and develop professional careers here, and equality between the sexes is long overdue, some aspects of modernization might not be as welcome.
