aqumada

If there is one thing you should read at this blogsite this would be it. We are carrying this message in the same spirit that compelled the Reverend Martin Niemoller to articulate the following eternal quotable quote in 1945.

First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

A few months ago Google succumbed to the demands from the Chinese government to control what people in China could search from the Google search engines. The Chinese government which is desperately trying to control what sort of information its people will have access to, is now rumored to be helping out the authoritarian regime of the Ethiopian government to block out websites that the Ethiopian government deems critical of its policies. The following information was posted on one of these blocked blogsites that can not be accessed from Ethiopia. We encourage our readers to pass this information to as many people as possible via email or any other means possible to them, especially to people in Ethiopia who still want to have access to these sites.

Government Blocks Bloggers
Over the last two days, all blogspots blogs including http://www.seminawork.blogspot.com/ have been blocked in Ethiopia. Those who seek political quips from weichegud or intelligent analysis form other bloggers can't access the sites via the telecom servers. In addition, the government has blocked Ethiopian Review, cyber Ethiopia, quatero and "Free our leaders" websites. My sources (sources to "seminawork" blogsite) told me this is done by telecom authorities in Ethiopia with the advice and help of the Chinese. The "Seminawork" blog can't be accessed in Ethiopia so the following advice posted on "seminawork.blogspot.com" may not reach its intended readers. Other websites like Ethiomedia that haven't yet been blocked should carry the message to Ethiopian readers.
Readers can use an open proxy like this which allows to circumvent the blocks. Readers should click on http://securebar.secure-tunnel.com/cgi-bin/nph-freebar.cgi/110110A and enter the address that is blocked in the displayed box. Using the proxy we can access our beloved blogs and websites even though the government has censored them. The addresses you should enter to access the websites are listed below.

http://seminawork.blogspot.com/

http://weichegud.blogspot.com/

http://www.freeourleaders.org/

http://ethiopianreview.homestead.com/

http://www.quatero.net/

http://www.cyberethiopia.com/

http://coffeechillisun.blogspot.com/

http://ethiofilmsnbooks.blogspot.com/

One thing is for sure. Providing one proxy server is not going to solve the problem. The day telecom authorities block the proxy server we'll find ourselves back at square one. In the last few years Ethiopians have become politically savey and we feel it is time they start becoming computer savey. Here are 7 approaches to access blocked websites courtesy of http://labnol.blogspot.com

Approach 1: There are websites Anonymizer that fetch the blocked site/ page from their servers and display it to you. As far as the service provider is concerned you are viewing a page from Anonymizer and not the blocked site.

Approach 2: To access the blocked Web site. type the IP number instead of the URL in the address bar. But if the ISP software maps the IP address to the web server (reverse DNS lookup), the website will remain blocked.

Approach 3: Use a URL redirection service like tinyurl.com or snipurl.com. These domain forward services sometimes work as the address in the the url box remain the redirect url and do not change to the banned site.

Approach 4: Use Google Mobile Search. Google display the normal HTML pages as if you are viewing them on a mobile phone. During the translation, Google removes the javascript content and CSS scripts and breaks a longer page into several smaller pages. [link] View this website in Google Mobile

Approach 5: Enter the URL in Google or Yahoo search and then visit the cached copy of the page. To retrieve the page more quickly from Google's cache, click "Cached Text Only" while the browser is loading the page from cache.

Approach 6: An approach to access restricted web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy server. Basically, you have Google translate your page from English to English (or whatever language you like). Assuming that Google isn't blacklisted in your country or school, you should be able to access any site with this method. Here we asked google to translate from Arabic to English but since the orignianl text was in English it will just display the original article. Visit this site via Google Proxy

Approach 7: Anonymous Surfing Surf the internet via a proxy server. A proxy server (or proxies) is a normal computer that hides the identity of computers on its network from the Internet. Which means that only the address of the proxy server is visible to the world and not of those computers that are using it to browse the Internet. Just visit the proxy server website with your Web browser and enter a URL (website address) in the form provided.

"God is dead!" declared the late 19^th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, in one of his famous writings. Personally, I don't have the heart to make as bold a statement as that because it would indicate an indirect admission that god was alive in the first place. I would then have to seriously.........well, let's leave that to the imagination since this article is meant to be about mental illness and not about god. My intention was to slip in my own simple declaration that God is a communist as well - not in the cheery theoretical sense of communism but in its real world applicability where endless divisions of labor are created to function with deliberate incompetence. Take for example the angel Raphael, the rainmaker according to Ethiopian orthodoxy, who has been doing such a lousy job as the famous poet, Mengistu Lema, once noted:

Similarly, the hospital in Addis dedicated to treating mental illness is named "Amanuel" which leads me to believe St. Emanuel is in charge of the mental faculties (FYI: the institution in charge of causing mental illness in Addis is called EPRDF which, to my knowledge, has no relation to St. EPRDF). If St. Emanuel is really in charge, I think he should get demoted during the next round of job evaluations or he better concoct a good story to explain how in god's name George Bush became the leader of the free world.

The classic form of "crazy" is what we call schizophrenia and one notable feature of its many symptoms is hallucinations; the hallucination that we are winning the war in Iraq, for example, or prime minister Meles' hallucination that genocide was committed by CUD leaders (privately, I always knew professor Mesfin's cane would turn into a deadly weapon one day. So I am happy that fucker ended up in Kaliti before he killed any more teenagers).

Let me preface by saying mental illness only affects those that have a mind and I have had a natural immunity to the disease since birth. On the other hand, most Ethiopians have acquired immunity to mental illness by taking "the mind is not really such a terrible thing to waste" vaccine or stance. Be that as it may, the number of people suffering from a metal disorder is a staggering 28%. Oh, wait, that statistic is for the U.S. In Ethiopia the prevalence of mental disorders is..........Ok, once and for all let it be known, the aqumada blog will not lower its standards by checking such things as statistics, facts or evidence. We have found it very essential to follow our gut feelings and our gut feelings tell us Americans are really fucked up, so the Ethiopian number has to be less than 28%. A good number to agree on would be 14%, not for any logical reason but since it is half of 28%. However, when you include the statistical outliers (sane looking crazy people who thought democracy in Ethiopia was a possibility) then we stand at a prevalence of 17% (if you want to cross check our gut feelings, please see Social Science Medicine. 1991;32(2):197-201). Considering an average Ethiopian family unit to have 6 individuals, a prevalence rate of 17% means at least one person in every family holds a membership to the crazy club. So how can you tell who it is? Sprinkle some holy water on the suspected individual and see if the evil spirit comes out of their body (if you have never seen what an evil spirit looks like, I can forward you my picture).

In the western world they use something called DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, AKA the psychiatrist's bible) to tell who is crazy and who is not. It is a huge manual that has the listing, description and criteria for all the mental disorders we are aware of. As we fabricate new mental disorders or as we become aware of them (Ex: ADHD, temporary insanity etc...) the manual gets updated and gets even thicker. Currently we are on the fourth volume of DSM and interestingly, despite my attempt to give you the biased impression, schizophrenic disorders (AKA crazy, cuckoo, insane, nut) are only a small portion of it. That indicates the existence of myriad forms of mental disorders with names just as spooky as schizophrenia (somatoform disorders, gender identity disorders, impulse disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders etc...) eagerly waiting to mess us up. My personal favorite is "personality disorders" which allows me to classify every chick that has ever turned me down (that would be about 99% of ‘em) into one of the clusters.

It would be impossible to discuss even half of the disorders in this forum so I will arbitrarily choose to address mood disorders because I am in the mood to do so. The easiest way to understand mood disorders is to look at my crappy graph below.

As you can see, at one end we have mania and at the other end we have depression. Between these opposite ends or poles we have normalcy as defined by society (i.e. making love with the lights off, going to church on Sundays, shopping for crap you don't need, watching American idol, talking about "sex and the city" by the water cooler etc...). If you are not doing the aforementioned, congratulations! You have just found out who in your family is suffering from a mental illness. If you are fortunate, you may only have one disorder but some folks suffer multiple disorders all compiled into one. If you've ever heard someone being described as a bipolar, it means the person has extreme fluctuations in mood between mania and depression (the two poles and hence bi-polar). These folks need medications like lithium to remain in normalcy. Everyone has their daily highs and lows so unless you are a trained psychiatrist it may be hard to tell what constitutes mania and depression.

When people experience mania, they sleep very little (2 to 3 hours), they will have an elevated opinion of themselves (they may say they are a prophet, god, god's messenger or somehow relate themselves to historically famous people etc...), they have so many thoughts going through their mind making it difficult for anyone to follow their train of thought and last but not least they tend to get involved in potentially dangerous activities such as gambling, reckless driving and SEXUAL PROMISCUITY. This is why you will find me looking for manic chicks every time I go out to the clubs. Incidentally my newest opening line also happens to be "hey beautiful, are you on a low lithium diet."

Depression is much more subtle to identify unless you are the person suffering from it. Everyone gets depressed from time to time depending on specific events that are taking place in our lives but major depression completely stops you in your track to the point of thinking life is not worth living anymore. Even getting out of bed becomes a meaningless chore and you stop caring about things that used to make you happy (including sex if it ever made you happy). Your appetite may go out the window together with your energy and recurring thoughts of suicide may creep in. Most Abesha folks won't seek treatment as they have grown up thinking of mental illness as taboo that should never be discussed. If the depressed person confides in an Abesha friend, he/she will most likely get the common response of "snap out of it buddy." If only it was that easy. Consider this. If you are suffering from mania, the risky activities you do will be signals to those close to you or to authorities so they can get you help before you reach the point of self destruction. In most cases of major depression, we find out the person was depressed only after the suicide has been committed.

Depression used to be the number one reason for suicides but due to the recent surge in anti-American sentiment it may have been surpassed by suicide bombings (I hope y'all realize I am making this shit up as I go). It is very alarming how fast the world population is increasing and we may need people to check out from planet earth a bit sooner than before but it is really sad to witness depression taking another life when it is so treatable. Not only that but since I have invested heavily in these medications, your death is directly affecting my finances (did you not read how much in debt I am).

By the way, the line on the graph between mania and normal represents a mood referred to as "hypomania" which is a great state to be in. Some of the most productive people in history are thought to have been hypomanics (ex-President Clinton was definitely one such person, if you know what I mean). The line between normal and depression represents the mood called dysthymia. It refers to a depression that is not severe enough to be classified as a major depressive disorder.

The great mood I was in when I started writing this has disappeared completely. I am so outta here.

I need to go find me a manic chick.

Ciao.

By Choma

Shuffling down side streets
Listless hoofing like dull beats
I stroll down my striver's row
With ambitions in tow
As I walk through the rain.

Brooklynites bolster themselves through blistering blizzards
Loose ladies survive sessions with lizards licking longingly
Amphibious animals hypocritical daytime words and deeds covering up nighttime needs
Miscalculating cruelty planting cultural weeds
Preventing fruit growing from seeds
And then blaming the dirt for not fulfilling our needs.
How do I know these secrets?
The earth spoke to me in vain
As I walked through the rain.

It seems like I have seen
My way in . . .
To fights and folly
Pain and jolly
But now . . . as I walk through the rain
I only feel numbness
After unstable highs and depressing lows
Exchanging blows
With myself
Succumbing to convention
Pursuing others' wealth and build a big pension
Rather than cultivating myself instead.
As I walk through the rain.
The surreal sunset above me looks as if the sky just bled
With ruby red sundrops dripping on my head
As I walk through the rain.

By Wegesha

It just occurred to me that I have been on a regular "moving" schedule. Unbeknown to me, it looks like the gods long ago conspired to have me relocate once in every decade. And so, I started from the toughest of relocations in the first decade of life when I refused to renew my lease for the single room, rent-free womb I had occupied for 9 months. Being that crammed had never really been my style and to top it off, the owner detested the type of loud, jammin' music I loved. After I left, that room remained vacant for about 12 years before a courageous young lad moved in only to vacate it 9 months later like I did. What can I say? It has become a cliché to state "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Anyway, home became the American mid west in the second decade of life, the east cost in the third decade and now, during the beginning of the fourth decade I am taking up residence in another mid west state.

I am always amazed to read "moving" being listed as one of the stressful things in life. I beg to differ. The way I do it, moving barely qualifies as a minor inconvenience, mostly due to my limited worldly possessions. The last time I moved, I had 4 pieces of luggage in excess of the 2 per person allowed but all it took for the pieces to get to their final destination was the $60 I had accidentally placed with my ticket at the airport curb-side check-in. How I miss the good old days of pre 9/11 flights.

The pieces of luggage that will accompany my move this time around miraculously remain the same but somehow the loose ends I have to tie up here and there are pushing the stress-o-meter past the level of "extremely mild" where it had remained during all my past moving experiences. One thing that has become responsible for this mental strain is my newly acquired fondness for owning property. Considering the number of years I will have to stay at my new location (a minimum of 7 years but quite possibly 9), buying a house doesn't seem such a bad idea after all. I am sure the banks won't see it the way I do once they get a hold of my loan application.

We all instinctively know numbers lose meaning at a certain point. As it was well argued on national public radio recently, a news report telling a story about how 12 people died in a mining accident probably carries the same impact to a listener as a story about a natural disaster where 100,000 lives perished. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in my shoes, you may appreciate the significance of that argument. I remember how pensive I was when I took out my first loan in the amount of a measly $10,000. I obsessed over it for an entire semester and each dollar I spent reminded me of how much more in debt I was putting myself in. Nine years after that initial flirtation with the one directional money exchange system of capitalism, the word debt has lost all its meaning.

Before relocating to my new job I had to take care of some grueling paper work which included accounting for every single penny I ever borrowed in the name of education. No more in a pensive mood, I sat stretched out as the accountant flipped through the pages that had names of borrowers arranged in increasing amounts of debt. There, on that last page, with 6 names listed below it, he found my name next to an amount that read $175, 000. Fortunately for me, numbers had lost meaning after the first $30,000 and it would have saved the accountant at least one question if he had just realized that fact. But to his dismay, he went ahead and asked if I had consolidated my loans last year.

"Should I have?" I asked in my impossible-to-hide voice of disinterest.

"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know you should have consolidated at a 2.7% interest rate last year" he shot back and put my usually loose-lipped mouth in check only to notice the buffoon smile that had started to sparkle on my face at that very moment.

I once read a book by the famous comedian, Jerry Sienfeld, in which he mentioned the ridiculousness of enforcing the helmet law for motorcycle riders. He asserted that it was beyond silly to pass a helmet law to force people to wear a helmet in order to protect a head which is not smart enough in the first place to figure out it needs protection when riding a death-trap contraption at 60 mph. Well said Jerry! Well said! I wonder if I can do half as good a job as you.

Check 1, check 1, mic check 1 2 3 ....

"Mr. accountant, was it not really buffoonish to spend $175,000 in educating, shaping, and molding this slacker only to have him end up treating the one body part many have argued he lacks?" Well, if you ever come across this blog site you will know why I had that smile until I left your office.

About a year ago, a message was posted on one of the discussion forums claiming that Ethiopians would forever remember those students who lost their lives resisting the EPRDF regime. I was doubtful about the veracity of the statement. Almost a year has passed and the only ones who probably remember those students are their poor mothers and families.

It seems EPRDF had counted on our short memory when it decided to brutally crack down on those who tried to resist it. Not a bad gamble considering the fact that the protests (abroad and at home) have virtually stopped, the leaders of the main opposition are in jail, and, people have resigned to accept few more years of dictatorship.

I sometimes wonder whether the protests, rhetoric, and, rage displayed by those of us in Diaspora helped to instill a false sense of security and hope in those youngsters back home encouraging them to sacrifice their lives. Did we do more harm than good? Those of us in Diaspora can choose to express our rage whenever it suits us and go on with our lives at other times. Temporary rage, rhetoric, and, protests may not do much for our people back home. Perhaps if we are truly interested in helping our people, we need to remember and sacrifice a bit more.