2007-07-06

Za stan spreman!

Last week it was a prominent ex-legalist who was inviting folks to a fancy new Serbian-American war in Kosovo, if you recall. And who is willing to come with him on his wild ride? According to a survey by CeSiD (press release downloadable here, item as reported by B92), "around 70 percent of respondents are not willing to enter any kind of armed conflict over Kosovo, while 12 percent, most of them housewives and pensioners, consider it necessary to enter into war with the Albanians or with the international community." This core of support should not be underestimated.

Toothbrushes with celebrity


Prokleto dobro znam that I have not been updating much in the past several days, apologies to those resilient readers who keep dropping by here nonetheless. I cannot claim to have as good a reason for closing up shop as the ones offered by a fine Greek deli which offers outstanding toast in Minneapolis.

Most of the time here has been spent in gentle work. A little bit of preparation for my fabulous new arbajt, a bit of hanging out with the very beguiling Palestinian-Israeli conflict transformation group that has begun its visit to the region, a bit of writing, and a lot of the intense warm-weather research activity that goes by the name "sitting around drinking beer with friends."

Last night I made an arduous trek by wild Ikarbus to visit a dear friend in distant Žarkovo, beyond the mountaintops of Banovo brdo. Among his guests was a charming young fellow who knew every lyric, every incident, and every detail of the life of Bob Dylan, which put me in a position to try to dream up answers to questions like "who is Mr Jones?" Surprisingly I found that I had reserves of knowledge of which I had not been aware, or else a good capacity to make stuff up.

As far as I can remember, I have never felt that kind of relation to celebrity. But it may be time to pick it up.