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Themes for Upcoming Seleda Issues
"2015": July/August 2003
No, we are not talking about the new Dollar to nakfa exchange rate
(13.55),
nor the number of islands in the Federation of Micronesia (607), or
even the
number of genes a fruitfly has (13,000).
2015 is that number on the calendar, still far away and yet
tantalizingly
close, of a future just beyond. Having asked seledans to tell us about
a past
or a present, we now would like you all to peer into your own future.
Will
you change as a person, or will the world change your person? Can you
entertain the possibility that you can get measured up for a
replacement
(organic) eye on your way to get measured for your wedding dress? Or
that you
may just hop into the Tefer Teqqes plane for that afternoon tennis game
in
the enToTTo mountains and be back to attend your neighbors dinner in
Sacramento, CA?
Or better yet, how about those things that really matter? To love and
to be
loved? Your imagined child and that moment when those of us who have
none get
the chance to truthfully exclaim "aynEn be aynE ayehut"? The job vs the
bliss
that also finances your comfort? Happiness, fulfillment,
disappointment,
sorrow - can you imagine them all? Can you imagine a path that you can
look
back in the year 2015 and say that the interveninig years have been
fruitful,
enjoyable, blessed?
We won't be pedantic and quibble whether you choose the European
calendar or
the Ethiopian. We just want you to either extrapolate from your
present, or
simply imagine something completely different. And most importantly,
send us
your visions by June 20, 2003.
"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. ...
And now, of all the effronteries, Seleda says ... ...mn? .... mn alu? 'TEna ysTln?'.. what the... ere qoy... lk lkachewn
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
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.
Fathers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters; & Mothers and Daughters and Mothers and Sons: November 2003
For once... it is not your computer gone crazy. For once... it is not wanton ampersandphilia on our part. And no... we are fairly certain it is not overfermented ye gush Tela acting on your eyes. And a final no... we are certainly not shunning the word "family." This is an issue for exploring the one to one of parent and child. We wish you to tell us about THE special relationship with THE parent. About those moments when you suddenly become friends, or recognize a jerk in the other. Or when a father suddenly ceases being superman and becomes merely... a man. Or when heartbreak is shared with a mother. Or about the never fulfilled desire to satisfy a real, or imagined, expectation. Seeing as to how the characters are limited, some might inform us that the possibilities are finite. But we know the realities are infinite. Please allow yourselves to be inspired by a father-figure or mother-figure, and then just configure something. As long as the something is articulate, we want it. ASAYesterday before October 20.
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