[Schwartz] USA - Ahhh fame but alas, no fortune (yet)

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"The writer who draws material from a book is like one who borrows money only to lend it." "We demand freedom of press and freedom of speech, although we have nothing to say and nothing worth printing." --Khalil Gibran

I've been busy. My well-known piece, There must be peace between symbols, was published in The Journal News, which services Westechester County in New York, on February 12th, 2005. I recently tweeked this essay and have re-submitted to the New York Times and TIKKUN Magazine. Expect this (slightly) updated version in Thinking-East's Issue 3.

A piece published currently on Thinking-East, written shortly after Yaffir Arafat's death and burial, The 21st Century Palestinian, was published in the Winter 2005 issue of The Nonviolent Change Journal.

Unrelated to the Mideast but making (a very generalized) reference to the broader "Third World" and its perspectives on America, April 7th, 2005 I had a letter published in The Journal News regarding the Terri Schiavo controversy.

Before that, on March 23rd, 2005, I presented "The 50 Years War: An American Student's Perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" for the Diplomat-in-Residence Program at La Salle University in Philadelphia. I've wanted to make more presentations, especially about my time in the Oasis of Peace and about my "Symbols" article, but personal matters have derailed me (see the bottom of this entry.)

I don't usually enjoy self-promoting so shamelessly, but Ben's done a pretty good job of logging the rest of our crew's periodic accomplishments (those off chances when we realize our delusions of grandeur...) Click on "continue reading" [also: personal news for yours truly at the bottom of this entry.]

Ben has published a 3-part behemoth of an article about the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan (in German).

He also has published something in the Spirit, official publication of the School of Oriental and African Studies-- where we met, by the way (check out this other ancient blog entry.) He also had this great Thinking-East article published in the Spirit a few months back.

New to the crew is Olesya. Welcome! Expect good things from her. She is a profound and dark thinker. You really should read her discussion with Ben, The sky is so big and our lives are so small, about life in police states, as well as her uncompromising vision of Uzbek society, A very Uzbek game, a very Uzbek show.

And good news for Nathan over at the Registan. He was just interviewed by the BBC (wow!) You can find a link to the interview here.

In other news...

For those of you who don't know, a long-brewing crisis within my family finally exploded on May 9th. I have since removed myself from the old Schwartz house, where I had been staying when I returned from Israel-Palestine in February. I am currently looking for accomodations for the remainder of my time in Yonkers.

June 24th-26th, I relocate to Philadelphia, to be back in the arms of my lovely, Chon, and to begin an internship at the City Paper. All in all, I'm feeling good. I have been blessed with truly loyal friends and loved ones. I may be houseless, but I am not homeless.

I am in need of a good weekend/late weekday job to get some income (the internship is unpaid), so if you know of anything, give me a holler at te.schwartz at gmail.com (BTW many thanks to Ben for setting up this Gmail account for me, as my Thinking-East e-mailbox has been seriously malfuctional for a while due to my nomadic behaviors.)

Also, I shall soon update my huge photo-entry, Hail and Farewell, Holy Land, which currently resides in a perpetual state of "under construction" wayyy down the blog's archives.