Themes for Upcoming Seleda Issues
"Paranoia and..." :September 2003
Furrowed brow, squinted eye, and a muttered "mn maletu new?". You are no Ethiopian if you do not greet every greeting thusly. And you know - OF COURSE - that SHE has no better way of spending her few hours left over from selling her soul to the capitalist machine than scheming about you know what with you know who. And OF COURSE, EVERYBODY knows that new does NOT mean new. ...
Seleda says what? "As long as it is by August 20, 2003" ? hm.. WE can tell a cross-eyed fly let alone a so-called "hello!" wey dfret... demo eko August 20...
Irony and Platitudes: October 2003
And now, of all the effronteries, Seleda says ... ...mn? .... mn alu? 'TEna ysTln?'.. what the... ere qoy... lk lkachewn
True story. A couple of city slickers - tagging a translator/relative - walk along one of Ethiopia's rural roads, intent on scaling the heights of a distant mountain. In the other direction comes a short, slim, peasant - dark of skin, economic of movement, noble of bearing, stoic of expression. Peasant herds cattle. City slickers, swaying and gasping under weight of sweater, JVC Camcorder, HP Digital Camera and anticipation of tangible goal accomplishment, beam smiles of benevolent superiority at peasant. Gap closes. Herd starts acting in a manner that can be technically termed "freaking out". Translator/Relative asks peasant why herd is "freaking out". With no hesitation, peasant responds. City Slickers smile and greet peasant. Peasant gives measured bowing of head. After peasant passes, city slickers ask translator/relative what peasant said. translator/relative says peasant said herd is freaking out "perhaps because they saw a couple of monks." "Monks?" city slickers ask. "Yes, Monks." relative/translator affirms. "But we saw no monk!" city slickers say. Translator/relative says (after some thought) "Ah, but hereabouts, monk is a term peasants use to describe someone who does no physical work."... City slickers STILL believe they were being praised.
Take that as your starting point, and see if this inspires you to tell us your tales of irony. And the ironic is, more often than not, wrapped in the platitudinous - as obvious as a geTaTa Trs in its insincerity, dull as a duldum msmar in its witticism. Our traditions, and our languages are full of either stuff, and yet there is this marked absence of a recognition of the ironic in our interactions. Ply us with (about) platitudes and let your innate mSet sense draw you to that vein of iron. Please, since enderswo man alena? , let those trapped lifetime of scars loose and send them our way. By September 20, 2003.