Fast forward, I’m standing still

In predictable tabloid fashion, all Norwegian newspapers have been dominated by the Heath Ledger’s early passing, and in the days before this unfortunate event, the thriller that is the European Handball Championships for Men. Its exactly what I expect when I point my browser to these websites. But alongside such sensational news, I also expect some proper analyses of what we might call pressing issues or say, events of significance. And I usually do. The situation in Gaza is reported on daily, thoroughly, with coverage from both (or all) sides. With the last power station now shut down, Gaza is indeed in a state of emergency. Hospitals are shut down, supplies have run out and a great number of lives are at risk.

The reason for the power station shutdown are not as immediate or as violent as in 2006, when Israeli forces bombed the Enron-funded power station to pieces, but its no less controversial. The Israeli blocade of Gaza has drained the strip of all resources, and there is no more fuel and no more funds to keep it lit and heated. But y’know, that is the sort of thing you’ve got to expect when you democratically elect Hamas to govern you.

But I’m not writing to complain about Israeli politics (substitute more fitting word after Israeli, if you please), rather, I want to express my surprise about the invisibility of the situation in US media. Browsing my regular news feeds, therewas no sign of Palestine until tonight. In trying to make intelligent small talk at a reception tonight, the subject of Heath Ledger more than exhausted, I brought up power stations in Gaza .. and the conversation ended. Only now, after days of coverage in norwegian media, was there mention of it in major US newspapers and news channels. Is Palestine out of fashion? Are primary elections all consuming? Or do the Americans simply listen to Olmerts "assurances" that this is not a crisis and suggests the Palestinians "try walking"? Norwegian tabloids manage to squeee in handball, the young dead, Clinton, Obama, space travel, asylum seekers gone M.I.A., cross country victories and Gaza all at once.

I’m just saying ..  

Take a bunch of Africans and Asians, send them to the north of Norway and make them live like the Samis. Now laugh at them for not being able to put up the lavvo tents, catch a reindeer with a lasso or ski without falling. This is entertainment.

Bring a Kenyan to the Olympics and let him ski 50 km and cross the finish line 3 hours after the last Northerner. 10 years later, bring his son to Norway (his son is obviously named after the most famous living Norwegian skier) and repeat the process with mom, dad and son Kenya. Watch them slide backwards, fall over, try to get up and fall over again. Laugh a little more. Then say "That’s so cute!" Norwegian television at its finest.

We like watching foreigners try to do grown-up, or human, things. Much like we enjoy monkeys who draw and squirrels who surf. Mom says its nothing different to Americas Funniest Home Videos (we don’t have our own ..) - I am not so sure. Brown and yellow people against a white background appear especially attractive.

Sociological explanation to follow.  

Its an age-old joke, or juvenile remark rather, "What, are you on your period?" And no girl is ever amused by that. Especially not when you’re twelve and having your preiod is the most embarrasing thing you could possibly imagine. So the response is likely to be aggressive, thus "proving" that you in fact are on your period.

I never understood what people  meant by PMS. I never felt any different that week. But over the last year or two, its been sneaking up on me. I am grumpy. I start crying for no good reason. I become paranoid. I pick up on signals that aren’t being sent. And I send out emails and messages that don’t make sense the next day. It’s getting a bit embarrasing, but I’m not really sure what to do about it.

After finally identifying raging hormones as the cause of my irrationality, I did some research. And this is what Wikipedia had for me;

While most women (about 80 percent) of child-bearing age have some premenstrual symptoms,^[1] women with PMS have symptoms of "sufficient severity to interfere with some aspects of life".

Common symptoms; Abdominal bloating, Abdominal Cramps, Breast tenderness, Itching of the breasts, Stress or anxiety, Depression, Appetite changes and food cravings, Trouble falling asleep (insomnia), Joint or muscle pain, Headache, Fatigue (medical), Acne, Swelling of Breasts, Trouble concentrating, Body temperature increase, Worsening of existing skin disorders, and respiratory (eg, allergies, infection) or eye (eg, visual disturbances, conjunctivitis) problems.

Some miss work every fourth week. Some need "reassurance therapy". And all because of a little change in hormone levels.

Luckily, I am not one of these women. But I do sympathize with those who have been exposed to the Maria Menstrual Mess over the last year. I didnt mean to yell at you, and I probably didnt mean to cry over that thing that didnt happen and I most certainly didnt mean to panick over things you didnt say. Disregard half the messages you receive from me during this period. But not this one.  

I think I just landed myself in what must be the epitome of American suburbia. Its pretty much what I expected from a small island town off the south of Long Island, but up close and in the rain it sure hits you in the face.
I’ve been to suburban America once already but that was before I was old enough to realize the absurdity of it all. It was also before America stopped being something to look up to and started being ridiculed .. and even feared.  

The people that I’ve met have been lovely. They are friendly in the friendly American way. But the place sure seems like a parody. The pink and yellow bungalows form identical rows of houses with their identical red, white and blue flags waving in the wind. One house down the street has a plastic Uncle Sam on a stick between each rose bush in their flower bed. I still haven’t seen any pink plastic flamingoes, but they are sure to be around here somewhere. I’ll keep you posted.

And then there was grocery shopping. My host warned me. "This place is awful", she said "But its the only place I can find the chicken tenders. So we gotta go. And you gotta see it". I know everything in America is big. I remember everything in America being big. But I just wasn’t ready for this. As we walked into Costco I couldnt help but laugh. Huge people pushing even bigger shopping carts, ones that would seat four grown men. My host and I had to push it together. We gave up on buying eggs - can’t get less than 40 at a time, it seems. This was just too grotesque - and certainly not a place for single people without overweight families to feed. (Neither is it a place for the lactose intolerant - its fascinating all the things you can get, covered in cheese .. ). Any description I give right now won’t do it justice.

I know I’m a snob. I like my food organic, varied and fat free. I like my cities either thriving or picturesque. I like front porches to be free of nationalistic and patriotic symbols. Still, I’m pretty open to other life styles. But the "Buy a packet of potato chips, get a free American flag" is just absurd, no?

I think the pouring rain and grey horizon adds to picture, which at the moment is of a run down holiday town with a very high proportion of nail salons and Kosher delis, a sort of nationalistic, conservative Brighton. I wonder what it all feels like in the sun. 

"How much is a human life worth?" is not an uncommon question in development economics. Every day for the last month I’ve been dealing with this question when investigating the measures used for compensating people in the case of loss of lives, livelihoods, culture and social safety nets. What is the market value of living in a reciprocal economy? What is the going price for close family ties? The dams that I am reading up on have both human costs and benefits, but no one can agree on how to measure them. Thankfully.

The value of human life made headlines in Norwegian news today. A representative of the Progress Party entered an opinion in my local newspaper arguing for the abortion of handicapped children. Carrying handicapped children into this world is repulsive, she writes.  Although some argue that handicapped children help create a richer and more including society, she does not see this need - this selfish need. She sees costs. Knowingly giving birth to children that will cost the society a tremendous amount of money in health care and equipment is selfish. We have more important things to spend the tax payers’ money on. And is it really fair to those around you? Your conscience should tell you that this will be too time consuming and too costly. Its just not fair to society.

Economic arguments and estimates are the basis upon which to genetically cleanse our society.

I don’t think I need to add anything to this.