(This essay is from 2007.)
If you visit distant parts of the globe, you'll often end up bringing back some exotic mementos. That certainly happened to me, although those pictured above are not mine, but a friend's.
These antiques come from Tibet, China, Nepal -- mostly from the Himalayan regions. There are antique daggers, religious artifacts, gems, carved ivory, hand-painted containers, and ancient coins.
A friend brought them by recently to show the kids and me. Of course, the large dagger from China caught their imagination, as they all crowded in to slide it out of its sheathe and admire its possibilities.
I lost most of my own Afghan and Indian antiques when our van was burglarized in the alley next to our SunDance office at 1913 Fillmore Street in late 1971.
I filed a police report but nothing ever was recovered. The cops said I should cruise the many pawn shops then in San Francisco, and I did so for months, but to no avail. What we lost was priceless, not so much in monetary terms (we'd never had them evaluated), but as memories of two years in a distant society that all too soon was going to be essentially obliterated by unending decades of war.
I still have a few tiny things from Afghanistan and Kashmir hidden away so thoroughly than not even I can find them easily. But my friend's collection inspired me to look for them. Someday soon.
Each and every item has its stories, of course, packed away inside itself. How and when and where I obtained these things is the only the last part of their stories and the only part I can tell --the rest have to be imagined.
NEWSLINKS:
Home intruder was election denier who yelled 'Where's Nancy?' before attacking Pelosi's husband (NPR)
The attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul is many things — but it’s not surprising (Independent)
Battle for Senate control marked by volatility as midterms near (WP)
Schumer says Warnock's Senate race against Walker is 'going downhill' in remarks to president (NBC)
2022 is turning into a stress test for the election system (Edit Bd/WP)
Dems’ chances for Senate control fall again, to only 52% (538)
Lindsey Graham’s surprisingly complex Supreme Court case about Trump’s Big Lie, explained (Vox)
After the 2020 election, Trump allies attempted to access machines in several states in the hope of finding evidence of rigged results. A Post examination shows how forensics experts, paid by a nonprofit run by a pro-Trump lawyer, were able to copy voting system data in Georgia. This data has been presented — wrongly — as evidence of fraud, sowing mistrust in election results ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms. (WP)
Democrats cautiously campaign on Jan. 6, democracy threats (AP)
GOP’s Cheney endorses Michigan Democrat Slotkin in a first (AP)
Gavin Newsom has quietly constructed one of the biggest digital forces in politics (Politico)
Russia ends civilian pull-out before Kherson battle (BBC)
Some Russian Troop Companies Down 94% in Ukraine, U.K. Intelligence Says (Daily Beast)
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no regrets for the war against Ukraine, insisting it was going to plan and playing down any nuclear standoff with the West, while both sides prepared for what could be a key battle in Kherson in Ukraine's south. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to cast his war in Ukraine as resistance to a Western plot for global domination. Putin said Russia isn’t the enemy of the West, but will continue to oppose the diktat of Western neo-liberal elites. [AP]
A rare insight into Elon Musk's troubled childhood (BBC)
Elon Musk cements his Twitter takeover, fires top executives — CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were fired, according to people familiar with the matter. Sean Edgett, general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said. (WP)
Elon Musk fired top executives at Twitter, including CEO Parag Agrawal, immediately after the world's richest person completed his $44 billion purchase of the social media giant. Musk vowed not to allow a “free-for-all hellscape," but he reportedly plans to reverse lifetime bans, which may allow ex-President Donald Trump to return. He changed his Twitter profileto "Chief Twit." [HuffPost]
Elon Musk has taken ownership of Twitter with brutal efficiency, firing top executives immediately but providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. (Reuters)
Musk has taken control of Twitter and fired its top executives (CNN)
Twitter takeover: fears raised over disinformation and hate speech (Guardian)
Why Don't Rich Muslim States Give More Aid to Afghanistan? (VoA)
Brazil’s Presidential Election Will Determine the Planet’s Future (NYT)
World ‘holding breath’ over possible N Korea nuclear test: IAEA (Al Jazeera)
Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View (NYT)
Lockdown babies may be slower to communicate but faster to crawl, study says (WP)
Massive learning setbacks show COVID’s sweeping toll on kids (AP)
Devastating bouts of drought, drought-related bark beetle infestations and record-breaking wildfires have killed 30 percent of California’s Sierra Nevada forests. (Sacramento Bee)
Space rock slams into Mars, forming a crater that revealed chunks of ice (CNN)
Pictures show 'biggest ever' meteor impact on Mars (BBC)
Shrew-like creature was placental mammals’ last common ancestor (Guardian)
Ancient microbes like 'Conan the Bacterium' may be sleeping beneath the surface of Mars (KSL)
A non-stop flight from Alaska to Tasmania may be for the birds — and a possible record (NPR)
Maze With Cheese In Center Enters Human Trials Following Decades Of Testing On Mice (The Onion)
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