From:      Robel
To:          Munit
Subject:  Maelor-Daemon is really a bitter suburban-residing 400-lb. lesbian …

What are you doing now?
This damn life diary.
You don't like doing it?
It's alright … I'm liking it more and more now.
What's on your mind?
The midterm I just had.
What about it?
It went better than I thought.
Did you study a lot for it?
I pulled an all-nighter yesterday.
Did you study a lot for it?
I pulled an all-nighter yesterday.
Did you study a lot for it?
No.
Why not?
I'm a procrastinator by nature.
What did you do instead of studying then?
I don't know. I don't remember.
You should have done this life diary.
That thought had crossed my mind.
So why didn't you do it?
Because my berCHuma in the sky waved hello.
Huh?
Forget it.

Well, weyzerit Munit, now you know what's on mind. I think I'm in dire need of intense psychiatric care. Too much schoolwork … indyaw QuaQ lilegn new zendiro. I am really sorry for not responding to your last entry any sooner, but between real work and genuine procrastination I just didn't have enough time on my hands to type out my train of thought. Lemanignawim, the midterm went well this morning. Now I have another class in just over an hour, but we'll see how far I get with this entry before I decided if I'm going to meforef the class or not…

The racial stereotype you mentioned was quite amusing, by the way. Amusing, but sadly true too. But the trick, dear, is to use it to your advantage. Here in Philly, where you learn to sleep peacefully with sirens and megaphones blaring out loud, you have to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk. Unfortunately, being black nowadays is associated either with crime or, of course, the 'oly 'erb. Silezih, the thing to do is to be unpredictable. Look the stereotype, but don't live it – that's my motto for now. On the same token, though, we live in a world that worships appearance. No one appreciates teCHemari afinCHa or sostegna any anymore. What is this world coming to? Shame. But on a serious note, though, it's kind of unfortunate that what you look like automatically forms an immediate impression in your viewer's mind – beka iko indew si'il linihon minim alkerenim … just stand and let people scrutinize you inch by inch, while they interpret your demeanor in any way that they are comfortable with. And this is where the money thing comes into play … I remember I said I'd mention this issue sometime … so here goes.

What's wrong with money?
Nothing. People just think it's a pre-requisite for happiness.
Isn't it?
Ay, yene geta, aymeslegnim.
Lemin?
Because I'm talking from experience.
Agul deha neberku minamin yemilutin BS litnegregn new demo ahun?
No, not really. I'm just saying, the closest money gets to happiness is the fact that it occasionally puts a smile on your face.
Tadia isn't that happiness?
Yemanim necha chiba didun bageTeTe QuTir it's happiness litilegn new inde nefsu?
I'm asking the questions here.
Well ask the right ones then, mengaCHilahin salarbetebitew.
Are you threatening me?
Ouuufaa! Ahunis complexen anCHaCHahibign …

See, Miss Munit, even I can't figure it out yet. Either that or my alter ego is intentionally trying to spite me.

I have a strange feeling that the nefarious editors are spitting ye'irgiman zedem azmad hulu at me, as I have digressed from "science and technology" all this time. But let me make one last desperate lunge at it before I head out to class.

Just the other day, I was actually thinking about technology in Ethiopia and other developing countries today. I think yegna siQay might be trying to keep up with the rest of the world. 386, 486, Pentium Too, Pentium Tree, Pentium For, silu silefelifu, nalachan zoro new kuch yeminilew. And those of us – the very lucky few – who manage to somehow keep up with what's going on cannot help but increase the gap between the fortunate and the less fortunate (you notice I'm trying to use PC lingo … I guess a college education does come in handy sometimes) and as a result of that our chances of intellectually, emotionally, and societal (read: financially, too) developing becomes limited … hence, all the brain drain. I realize I will sound like yet another dreamer, who just spits politically correct I-have-a-dream speeches with no action to back them up, when I say this: we need to use technology to close the ever-widening gap b/n "rich" and "poor" instead of keeping all this information as some sort of esoteric mit'Hat among the lucky few. Yes, right now, words is all I have, but it's gotta start somewhere right?

Bey, bey, yene ashaTiregna … asleflifesh asleflifesh ke'Class litasQerign new aydel? Mesloshal! I gotta head out now. I apologize for the disconcerted writing. Do grant me the benefit of the doubt, though. I haven't slept since Saturday afternoon…

I await the choo-choo of your train of thought. Mine has apparently already derailed into oblivion.

Robel.

Let me tell you, though! Freud would have had a field day with you and your alter ego. (Is it your 'id' peeking through?) Let's hope Dear-Freud doesn't connect it to a certain…Atse Oedipus syndrome? Hehe! Despite the alter-ego, the advice on how to deal with the 'oly-'erb-lady following was a sound one. As of yet, I haven't succumbed to their image of me! This stems from my 'no need for deportation' sentiment, as well.

Ena elehalehu, ezih kelelitu hulet se'at lihon new. Do I have a plethora of unfinished work awaiting me…snickering in my back pack saying, "Go ahead! Try us, baby. Can you handle us?" Were those rhetorical questions? Hmm…

Koy gen. Are we supposed to be so stressed, sleep deprived and fatigued while we're so young, I ask you? "Gena lejoch aydelachehum endae? Keltef keltef belu enji!" At this moment, any keltef keltefing from my part would lead to my immediate and inevitable demise. I am surprised that my neurons eskahun ergef adergew telewegn alehaedum. They haven't surrendered in their fatigue and refused to translate / transmute / trans-something the message from brain to finger tip (the same fingertips that SELEDA editors might be kissing sometime soon….? Hmm. How titillating! The simple pleasures of life !) [editors reply: better your finger tips than your toes, what with mujale and all…]

So you hope / say / plan to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots using technology, bridge the knowledge gap? I commend you. Yes, they are hopeful, idealistic dreams…but what is a society without idealists? And remember, as many idealists as there are, there are twice as many pessimists! Ewneten new. Some might say that idealism and realism are mutually exclusive. Don't let them fool you! I don't know how to not make them not mutually exclude (goodness knows, I've failed) but I've seen it work somewhere else. It can happen!

So dreams, helmoCh, yes, dreams do have to start somewhere, and by verbalizing them, saying them over and over again like a broken record (or a better image, a Buddhist chanting his mantra for peace!) makes them real, and a part of our everyday existence. Keeps them close to our minds so as we may not forget what our larger picture of 'the meaning / purpose of our life' looks like. One needs dreams to understand, justify and motivate to go through all the little / big struggles we go through daily. Without a dream, to what end do we struggle?

As far as bridging technological gaps, I remember hearing, once, that the so-called third world countries are, in a sense, lucky because they do not have to go through the millions of models / ideas / machines that other industrialized nations have gone through as technology has constantly and rapidly evolved. They can simply jump from nothing to the best, "bomb-diggy" (to be colloquial and non-PC – what I learnt at Smith!) technology available. Hmm. Besides the fact that I can't see when exactly technology is going to stop bettering itself in the near future, I just wanted to say, "Is this for real?" The person making these statements was a hopeful / ambitious one, to say the least. I mean, where do these "bomb-diggy" contraptions come from? Who buys them? (Money money money money (space) money (space) money money money) (That was a song, by the way! :-) ) So, again, who buys them…'cause if there's one lesson one learns in this global economy we have going, nothing comes for free! (Bravo, Jubilee 2000!) And then, who runs and sustains these QiraQimbowoCh in environments not included in the specifications of the initial the production? What if it breaks down? Constant flow of electricity, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week everywhere in Ethiopia? Hey, if it happens, more power to us all, yeah?

(Here's a funny story. Italy donates computers to Senegal. All manuals and computer programs are in Italian. Italy hasn't sent a translator…not even an French-Italian dictionary, and the Senegalese people had stopped learning Italian a couple of years ago. Moral of story: with the toys are needed the boys and girls that can make them work.)

So, hold on to that dream like you hold on to your alter-ego…or the blanket when your 100 year old metal heater stops functioning in the dead of winter.

I hope to see you on the other side.

While we're talking about hopeful dreams…and closing gaps. I was talking to my brother the other day. Conversation wandered and we came to this topic of technology. At some point, he had an epiphany! (When was the last time I had one of those!?) He pointed out to me how all the gadgets that have appeared in what seemed like as-removed-from-reality-as-we-know-it sci-fi films (Space 1999 and that telewawach Maya person) shows were becoming realities. The particular show in our conversation was Star Trek and the gadgets? The watch with audio/video? Coming soon in a Wal-Mart near you. "Phones" with screens in computers? You don't have those yet? Ere menew? :-)

So here's my proposal. Following in this tradition, I propose that somebody should work on the teletransporter. "Beam me up, Scotty nefse!" Think about it! I mean, seriously! Can you see the potential here? Point A to Point B. Here to Home in a matter of micro-cosmic seconds. I know I need one of those teletransporters real bad! There's something about a New England winter, I tell you. It just makes waking up and stepping out…well…let's just say turning back the hands of time and waking up and stepping out are, to me, on the same caliber as far as a challenge goes. Right after those two comes doing the anthropology paper that is due…too soon. It's always too soon.

So, next stop teletransporter? Please, please, please! Benateh?

You know what? I was wondering about something. You said that you were a math and art 'wanaw neger' (major) aydel? See that's a brilliant balance. In talking about SCIENCE and technology, I have noticed lately that I don't hear much about young ethiopians taking the arts, or even the social sciences, as a major…or else I have been in the dark about their existence. I know I had my little struggle… Why did I use the past tense? I know I have my struggles. I am struggling to break away from the 'doctor wey engineer or mechanic wey…' mentality (Aluta continua), the,'these are the jobs that are real jobs that make you money' idea. But here's my question. What if money isn't your final goal..and your measurement for 'real happiness' like I think you might have said in that jumbled conversation? To what end is one going to pursue the 'proper / real job' whether or not that's your calling? Freedom of choice from those oh-so-subtle (at times) social pressures? Are we going to do the same to our young ones?

What you think?

I think enQelf is des yemetel neger!

So till we wander in each other's optic view…assuming I will still be a conscious person, adios!!

munit