[Above photo: Lobster boats in Pulpit Harbor on North Haven Island: a view from the deck.]
26 November 2023
[I noticed that I haven’t posted an entry since October. My blog is definitely winding down, although I’ll keep it going, at least monthly, as a reminder for myself of where I’ve been!]
The National Unity Government, the Civil Disobedience Movement, the People’s Defense Force, and other elements of the Opposition to the military coup in Myanmar are seeing remarkable success, with battalions of malnourished, dispirited Tatmadaw soldiers surrendering and towns and military posts falling. The PDF has now acquired significant weaponry. The Military Government, in desperation, told government employees they must sign a paper agreeing to join the military, whereupon 8000 retired from government service. It is a thrilling time and while more blood will be needlessly shed before the civil war ends, the momentum is clear. Even China is apparently shifting sides, principals be damned, always wanting to bet on a winning horse.
My students and I are already talking about the aftermath. It began with one psychiatrist relaying the content of a group meeting with 7 PDF fighters. One of them feels he has been so changed by the war that he’ll be unable to fit into society when the fighting stops. It was an opener to talk about what happens after a civil war, with a populace divided and fighting. We then moved to their feelings about their colleagues who didn’t resign from government service (CDM) and their anger and bitterness towards them.
I fell back on S. Africa’s transition from white to black rule and Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There has to be a public airing of feelings. The country will obviously benefit if everyone can work together to rebuild it and will suffer if the rage and alienation continue. If you haven’t seen “A Long Night’s Journey into Day” about the experience in S. Africa, I recommend it. A terrific and moving film, especially the part where the parents of a young American peace worker (their daughter) who was killed by a black mob forgive her killers.
There will be such celebrations, not the least because, once again, Russian belligerence is defeated. Russia has supplied arms to the military and has likely supplied the pilots who have repeatedly and intentionally bombed civilian targets. I am drawn to return after a cease-fire and to help with the healing.
My Thanksgiving was on North Haven Island at the house of a friend’s son. My friend, his two sons, and their partners welcomed me. They had forgotten a meat dish, somehow, so being in Portland I was able to supply a large leg of lamb. I haven’t had roast lamb since…..college? Mom used to cook a roast every Sunday supper when I was young. Generally, it was pork or lamb. Pork was laced with garlic and accompanied by Worcestershire and apple sauce. Lamb was liberally seasoned with garlic and rosemary and complemented by mint sauce, which Mom created with mint, vinegar, and sugar. How we all eyed the crisp when Dad began to carve it! Being a surgeon, he was skilled at separating the meat from the bone in lovely even slices. A psychiatrist (me) carved our lamb this year. I don’t know about eating roast lamb, a traditional dish at Easter, to commemorate the death of Christ (the Lamb). Speaking of a god, I highly recommend a short story in the recent New Yorker AI issue. It is hilarious. Written with AI responses to questions.
Lindsey and I drove to the proximal end of the White Mountains and had a steep but easy and very scenic hike up Blueberry Mountain. As you can imagine, there are likely 35 or 45 Blueberry Mountains in this area; ours was off of Stone House Road. At the summit, after 1160ft in elevation gain, we ate lunch on a huge granite ledge overlooking a small lake in a bowl surrounded by mountains. It will be the perfect spot from which to view the Fall colors next year.
It has cooled off, in the high 30’s during the day and mid-20’s at night. We had a little snow flurry last week and another at the top of Blueberry Mountain. I thrill each time those white flakes fall from the sky. Although I look forward to winter sports—snow shoeing and cross country skiing—my excitement is mostly from the aesthetic experience, the simple beauty. I’m sure it is also colored by the joy of sledding and skiing in childhood, the former on days when there would be a snow-closure of my elementary school (double the fun!).
I expect that the Trumpers, if he isn’t already in an orange jumpsuit, will launch AI-generated images of Joe Biden taking an envelope with cash spilling out of it from Hunter, as they snort coke and make misogynistic and racial jokes a couple of days before the election. Steve Bannon is your guy for that sort of thing. He mostly needs someone to shampoo his hair and introduce him, gently, to basic principles of hygiene. A mommy. Remember the Crest ad about bad breath—“Halitosis. Even your best friends won’t tell you.”
Speaking of that, we would do very well to have a weekly TV show facilitating talk between opposite sides of our political spectrum. It would attract all sorts of viewers and ad revenue. Too bad I’m not more telegenic! It could help to bring out the underlying convictions and grievances, valid all in some way. We need healing here.
A Psychiatrist in Myanmar 