9 parts of desire

Nine Parts looks like it might be really good:

A portrait of the extraordinary (and ordinary) lives of a whole cross-section of Iraqi women: a sexy painter, a radical Communist, doctors, exiles, wives and lovers. This work delves into the many conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone that is Iraq. An unusually timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by war.

I noted that the star of the show is, in fact, of Iraqi-American decent:

Originally from Michigan, Heather divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. Her father is from Iraq and her mother is American.

The reviews all seem to be favorable, like this one:

The birth of this play almost reads like poetry: In 1993, against the backdrop of gargantuan portraits of Saddam Hussein’s oppressive face, Raffo discovered in an art museum a painting of a nude woman against a barren tree. Her research revealed that the free-spirited and notorious artist Layla Attar had recently been killed in a bombing raid. Thus began a journey that brought her further into her homeland, back into the arms of her relatives and ultimately into the lives of the numerous Iraqi woman who form the backbone of the show. Some plays seem to slip out of a playwright; others clunk. The rare, exceptional ones seem to burst out as an intense gut reaction – Raffo’s Nine Parts of Desire is such a play.

Good news

Maybe it’s because of Halloween, but there are some surprisingly good developments in international news stories today:

Bush thanks Chinese

Hizbullah confirms (indirect) talks with Israel

Let’s hope that tomorrow, when the costumes come off and the partying is over, people continue working together to solve complex security issues and the news remains positive. Ok, ok, so Halloween isn’t global, but you know what I mean; we often act more like ourselves when we can find solace in another persona.

Then again, maybe it is global:

Two sharp-eyed Germans saw what they thought were masked bank robbers in a car with tinted windows in front of a bank and called police, but the occupants turned out not to be thieves but children in Halloween masks.

Some context to Bush’s motions towards martial law

A sampling of the slope and notes to self:

How low can he go?

And lastly, for those who trust that Bush would never use martial law without reason, what about the next person in office? What about someone as ignorant and hateful as…Ann Coulter?

Brendan Nyhan, “Screed: With Treason, Ann Coulter once again defines a new low in America’s political debate”, June 30, 2003:

No longer content to merely smear liberals and the media with sweeping generalizations and fraudulent evidence, she has now upped the ante, accusing the entire Democratic Party as well as liberals and leftists nationwide of treason, a crime of disloyalty against the United States.

CIO poetry

I always advocate mnemonics for passwords. It is far easier for people to remember a phrase or a poem than a jumble of random characters. I’ve mentioned this before, but my favorite example is “I wish I had a dollar for every star”, which translates into something like Iw1h@$4e*

An editorial in CIO magazine from 2005 suggests considering poetry as a way for a CIO to reach out to his/her audience:

Mnemonic devices became a tool for Livingston to help his students remember the course material and feel more comfortable with difficult subject matter. Although a song may not be the ticket to explaining why the ERP system has crashed, Livingston’s point — that it’s a good idea to think outside the box when facing a communication barrier — ”shouldn’t be lost on CIOs. Use humor, tell a story, write a poem, do whatever it takes, he says, to ease the tension and get them ready to listen to what you have to say.

Funny that the article focuses on easing the pain of a crash, instead of opportunities for stability and improving systems. Perhaps something as alluringly written as Emily Dickinson’s garden poem (There is another sky) would bring users on board for a CRM improvement proposal…

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

The cup is half full.