Remixes

This week has been crazy crazy crazy, with the U.S. history presentations to the students going to the US and the public speaking and the confronting students who cheat and the realization that Obama is in fact a mortal (and a politican) and the oooooogle.

I’ve been playing around with this non-Photoshop photo editing program. And I’ve been waxing (in a way that is quite nostalgic) about the Minnesota State Fair.

Here is a photo of a ride there, remixed. I’m so dang tired.

In case you didn’t already know

Here’s (approx.) where I live! 

More Photos from the Jewish Cemetery

 

 

 

 

 

A Jewish Cemetery in Aden

A Jewish cemetery in Aden

The following are pictures that were taken in what remains of a Jewish cemetery in the Ma’ala district of Aden, Yemen.

I have never taken any photos of a cemetery before, so I don’t know if doing so is offensive. I’m sorry if it is.

I don’t know much about Aden’s Jewish population, but there was a substantial Jewish minority in Yemen before 1948. Most emigrated to Israel or elsewhere after that, although a few Jewish communities stayed in Yemen, mostly in the north. There was a Jewish community living in tumultuous Sa’ada district, north of Sana’a, until quite recently. But they were pushed out of that area by the Houthi rebels, and relocated to a gated community adjacent to the American Embassy in Sana’a called Tourist City. I saw a few of them there when I was looking for a Russian bar.

The cemetery is situated on a slope, in between two roads, one that goes up and through a mountain ridge, and one that goes towards Ma’ala, along the sea, towards Tawahi, which was the seat of the British occupation. There is a tall brick wall separating the cemetery from the street on the lower side, and a flimsy guard railing separating it from the street on the higher side.

Like many other large, open spaces in Aden, this one is frequented, and seemingly inhabited by homeless men. On the far edge of the cemetery, which borders an area that is in the initial stages of some sort of development, there is a shack made of stones and cardboard. In that shack there are two or three more cushions, a radio, and a bushel of roses. The first time I went to the cemetery, there were a few men resting there. Next to the shack is a stone-enclosed area with a patch of grass (and a few cats).

If you walk from the shack towards the main area of the cemetery, past a deep and dry well, around a corner, you will find a crude two parallel stacks of cinderblocks which are used as a toilet. In between the stacks is a pile of feces. 

I used all caution and respect when walking around the cemetery. I didn’t move anything or in any other way alter the landscape. Most of the cemetery has been reduced to piles of rock, although some graves remain intact. One of the stones in the picture dates back to 1905, so it’s safe to say at least some of the damage has come from neglect. There are also signs of looting and vandalism throughout the cemetery, from stones that were obviously stripped of marble to marble engravings that were clearly smashed or desecrated for symbolic value.

I wrote this and took these pictures not to judge any one or to make a point.

So please don’t assume that these photos or words are meant to promote some socio-religious, politcal, or cultural idea or notion. Like the rest of you, I grew up with ideas and assumptions and all the rest. But I have tried my best to temper them. I try my best…

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Cemetery in Blue

 A dry well.

layla fii sanaa

Here is the last set of Sana’a pictures, taken at dusk and night.

 

had to come correctly vain for the ender.

 

 

 

sanaa 3

 Here are some tall pics and some comments. Most of these were taken in the narrow streets of the old city.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is bab al-Yemen, or the Gate of Yemen. It’s really old, maybe 1000 years old or so. The State Department thinks this area is dangerous. It seemed fine to me.

It’s the official entrence to Sana’a’s old city. Beyond the gate is the souq, which looks like this. 

 

 

These guys are crazy. They drive motorcycles through the extremely crowded and often narrow streets of the souq, dodging the people and stopping within an inch of pedestrians.

 

sanaa 2

The hotel Arabian Felix.

 

 

Right beyond the Gate of Yemen, in the main souq.

 

 

 

 

sana’a 1

صنعاء

sana’a

 Still on that first weekish steez. Weird Twilight Zonish buzz, bros.

Last weekend, or two weekends ago, I had a three day weekend. So I took a bus to Sana’a, from Aden. The trip was less than 200 miles, but took eight hours because the drive was almost entirely up and around these crazy mountains. Plus, the driver made about six stops, more than half of which were for qat.

I eventually got there and found a beautiful hotel in the middle of Sana’a’s old city (Sana’a Qadima).

I walked around for most of the time, except for a brief visit to ‘Tourist City’ in search of a cold one, about six thousand miles from the closest PBR. 

Within three hours of arriving in Sana’a, I was almost struck by two motorcyclists, hit by three cars, and I was riding shotgun in a minibus that ran a red light and was two feet from being broadsided by a Land Cruiser. The traffic there is crazy.

Here is the first set of the photos I took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SKETCHES OF THE FIRST WEEKISH

Into Crater

 

 

These photos were taken in and around the Crater souq. The area is called Crater because it is in the crater of a really old volcano. I’ve tried posting these like fifty times, but the internet connection here is slow.

In a minibus on the way to the souq.

 

 

 

Abandonded church 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the showbill at the Hurricane Cinema 

 

 

 

 

This guy was so hyped on his whip.