YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett

actually I miss all Balkans area pre-paid cell plans compared to in the U.S. When you aren't paying for incoming you ARE paying Daily Access Fees. Both of these are really evil features of American pre-paid mobile phone plans I wish would go away like NOW
In BiH (and a lot of other Balkans countries...) you can call the police or get incoming calls even when you have no remaining credit, because those calls are free. The cell phone companies BIT doing that to us and they should STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT NOW!

I want to thank some people who have allowed me to use their computers:

They know who they are, they are lovely people for doing this for me! I go there when I need to put up pictures because the college library won't let me do t hat and because that often times out in the public library for some reason even though it's allowed.

They've been very good to me to let me do that and again THANKS! HVALA! GRACIAS! Go Raibh Mor Agaibh! Shukrun!

Well I woke up later than usual. I try to wake up early and get stuff done early especially this time of year, so that I don't suffer out in the heat.

I blame NatGeo.

They had some interesting documentaries on last night. One on Islam got my blood boiling because those people didn't know entirely what they were talking about, the NatGeo people, I mean.

Another documentary was on a thing called the Star Disk, a wierd Central European relic which had to do with calculating solstice, a sort of pre-historic lap-top if you ask me!

It was very cool. Anyway, I fell asleep during the documentary that followed and woke up about 9 am. This NEVER would have happened in the other place :)

I love how nice and cool I am at home, I don't have to go out for anything but shopping and other vital errenda and of course to use the internet.

If my computer ever gets fixed, we're talking about ways to get internet into the whole place. That's a ways dodwn the road though. It's questionable if my computer is fixable. I'm sicking a very good Nerd onto the problem :)

I wasn't warned at the clinic that getting back to what for me passes for normal would take this long. I still feel sort of weak and I have been feeling icky generally. It's hot too.

The new social networking site I've been messing with has frustrated me no end with how clunky it is. You have to get pix from your computer nor mobile phone, it won't do to upload them from your Flikr account like you can here for example.

Anyway I was annoyed by that. I have enjoyed meeting family members I didn't know I had. That has been fascinating. We all grew up so far apart geographically! Some I knew about but nieces, nephews and cousins have been added to my life. It's a TRIP!

I am going to wander a bit afield from the Yakima Gulag, to the Soviet counterparts. Saturday night I got to watch on National Geographic a show called 'Taboo'. This program is about body modifications and tatooing. The Soviet prison tatoos were a featured subject. There are some websites devoted to the tatooing that Soviet prisoners did on themselves, and artistically they often are remarkable.

What they mean is remarkable in other ways, not such nice ways. American gang members have some tatoos which mean special things also, so the parallels and differences interested me a lot. One big difference was that NAZI tatoos in the former Soviet Union mark one for death at the hands of fellow prisoners whereas in the U.S. they mean membership in a prison gang such as Aryan Nations. One aspect of prison fascist groups in the U.S. is they often blend Celtic and Germanic motifs. I never have liked this. Seeing a Celtic cross mean the same thing as a swastica is pretty offensive if you ask me! A LOT of Irish Americans have tatoos of Celtic knost and Celtic crosses and do not hold fascist views. Such people if they end up in prison for some reason or other, must cover these tatoos in order not to have problems with the NAZIs.

I was horrified that the people who study these tatoos sometimes take the skin off of cadavers of dead prisoners! They frame them, and the results look once framed like drawings executed (no pun intended!) 0n brown paper of the type used in the U.S. for paper bags! Eeeew!

Another show I've been watching lately is called '1000 Ways to Die' it's on Spike a 'guy' channed on cable. I really enjoy some of Spike's cheesier programming and '100 Ways to Die' is well up on my list of fun shows, as is 'Manswers' which is a kinky sort of trivia show, where you learn why beer gives women bigger breasts and other such things.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to like 'Oxygen' better! But when I want some light viewing it's kind of hard to beat Spike.

KYVE has been running s series called 'Global Voices' which is about immigrants to the U.S. They have followed families who have immigrated to the U.S. who still have contact in their countries of origin. A Mexican family where the father is legal and is trying to get his family in LEGALLY was particularly worth seeing. He was given contradictory information as to how many sponsers he needed. That was particularly sad, he either had to sponsor his WHOLE family or NOBODY! He needed to make a certain amount of money AND have sponsors. O.K. I understand the public interest in making sure people don't wind up on public assistance but this was still sad to watch since the man was trying to do the right thing and simply ran into obstacles on all sides.

which perhaps has something to do with the unusual number of shootings in the Yakima Gulag. People here are used to some heat but even we can get a little too much.

I was sort of feverish two nights in a row so I'm talking to someone at the clinic. It's really wierd I tried to find them in the phone book. Couldn't. Finally my untidy cell phone habits paid off, I found their number so I saved it.

Maybe their number was there and I just didn't see it. Don't see that well.

I was watching a film on National Geographic Channel about Megafauna in Australia and was impressed by the Original people of Australia on all sorts of counts. Fascinating.

My daughter once met someone of this unique background, a camp counselor named Karen, who showed her about 'Thinking Stones' sometimes called 'Clever Stones'

Then Road Trip Nation was on and they went to Ayer's Rock and Alice Springs. The Original Australian people have always fascinated me, both as people who have survived horror and as people who lived in a difficult place.

I learned that Original Australians actually were using grinding stones to process foods long before people in other lands! like 10,000 or 20,000 years before in the Middle East!

As well that they were originally much larger and taller people who left 12 inch long tracks and could run at high speed for long distances.

A few of my Hrvati Homies singing Saturday night during the Folklife Festival. They were one of the best acts in the festival. Just wish my camera that takes sound was cooperating more! :)

I was out getting ready to be examined, but it needs to be remarked on...

From Daniel:



Two Serb war criminals received Life Sentence and 30 years imprisonment for burning Bosniak women and children alive. Unfortunately, the Prosecution made mistake and failed to include rape charges against them.

Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic are from Rujiste village, located near the border with Srebrenica municipality.

Please write a word or two about these monsters on your blog. Thank you!

Daniel here it is:

These people had to know what they were doing was EVIL, yes EVIL!

Rape is evil, and burning people is evil, especially when they are alive.

People aren't even supposed to burn ants or cockroaches let alone their fellow human beings!

I am sorry that these guys can't get the death penalty, but then again hanging or whatever form of death penalty in modern times is too good for those guys.

I remember reading this in horror at the time, and thinking 'It's like the Partition times in India'

Killing people for their religion is wrong, killing for race is wrong, killing them to take their stuff is wrong.

Mostly these people were killed to take their land and their personal belongings. Black market goods that were war plunder are still out there. Refrigerators, stoves even things rugs and clocks. There were descriptions of the plunder in a few U.S. news outlets. I read them and remember them, this was before the internet became a part of my life, but I knew. I used to shiver thinking about people being burned and wonder why my government was doing nothing.

A friend has offered me the chance to go use her computer, it doesn't solve the problem of all my pix on the other one but it DOES seriously help with getting new stuff up, a LOT! Thanks you know who you are! :)

I went in for some medical testing this time of my intestines. I have had problems there for YEARS, BAD problems. Anyway they told me no signs of cancer, always nice news, but that I do have lesions which will be tested. They had me on the drug Micheal Jackson is alleged to have been fond of. If he was I can see why! Man all your problems go away, along with your brain..... And you feel so GOOD and you do come out as less than a klutz, but you need a keeper possibly for a few hours or days. I went into an early deep sleep, t hen I woke up repeatedly in the night to watch stuff about the Space Race and the original Moon Walk on Geographic Channel. I really was into the whole space thing so was my sister who lives in Idaho.

She got on all space related mailing lists and they all sent us lovely photos of the mone, of equipment and marvelous proganda and so forth.

My son's girlfriend is related to a former astronaut so there are even closer space ties in the family. So yeah, all night watching all spacy stuff. More posts later.

I really hope I can have my computer fixed soon. Given that internet clubs/cafes are thin on the ground in the Yakima Gulag, expensive and rare, that leaves coffee houses with WiFi as my easiest option. I need to have t he data pulled and then Windows needs to be re-installed. That is supposed to buy me some time.

Medjuvrijeme, I went to the public library downtown. Summitview is on a bus run that is hourly, it's Hellish hot here so I don't like waiting for the bus that long. You don't wait for a computer once you are there USUALLY, last time I did have to wait.

Downtown there's always a wait, but it's only half an hour between busses that would get me back. I am basically still on 3 bus lines.

Anyway, I don't know if it was their computer or Flikr that was at fault, but I sat there WAITING an HOUR for my stuff to upload, and it didn't upload, I had to leave before I even knew that it totally hadn't uploaded. I can't upload here at Raymond Hall. The college has some kind of rules enforced by modifications that prohibit me from doing it.

I also have to stand to use the computer which isn't good for me. 1. If anything goes razjebao, then I get too hot. I then get dizzy, and there isn't always someone I can ask for help. They ARE really good at extending time if it's really needed. But I can't upload here.

I almost didn't need to have a computer in Sarajevo, here I do, and for the time being I don't.

A lot of what I want to upload are the best fireworks pictures I've EVER taken. Plus t here's still stuff on my computer from Lopez Island.

That brings me to another annoyance, the social networking sites.... I just sort of got used to one social networking site... and then for varying reasons I have been forced (by family members who are loved, but....shall remain nameless....) to migrate to another site, just when I learned to use the first one....

That kind of thing annoys me. Next I suppose they'll want me to Twitter! jebiga bilo kako...

,,, ,,,stumps grumpily off into the hot noon sun.

My belief is that if there had been no massacre at Srebenica, there probably would not have been an attack on the U.S. on Sept 11th 2001.

The massacre at Srebenica was a disgrace to the Western world because had there been a more timely intervention in the Bosnian war by outside forces maybe it would not have happened. lives on all sides would have been saved. I think of all the people who died such cruel deaths and their families pretty regularly. I did before I ever went to Bosnia or knew part of my family was of Bosnian origins. I felt strongly enough that it was the first intervention by my country in my lifetime that I SUPPORTED whole heartedly. Incidentally thank you from the bottom of my heart to any service members who served in Bosnia and tried to help!

Not as good as usual, Dave and the Dalmatians, were excellent, I love that they don't repeat songs too much in a different set. Tracy Spring and members of the Spring/Snow family performed well, as did Ockhams Razor (sic)

What rreally irks me is that they are allowing more very comercial vendors like Scentsy, which is an MLM deal. I do think a line should be drawn on MLM type vendors! If they are at the Fair FINE! NOT FOLKLIFE!

I went to both Dave and the Dalmatians sets, at Burmaster's Bakery, which is really over-priced on food and drink, especially now for me, and which had few edible for me low cost items on the menu. To their credit, they didn't hassle me once I had eatten the over-priced little pizza and the bottle of Kalibur.

The festival won't be in Franklin Park next year, it's probably going to be at Ahtanum Youth Park, in Union Gap, or it will be in Dwontown Yakima.

I could live without the over-priced downtown venues, I will miss out on the festival entirely if it's at Ahtanum Youth Park. If they want t6o be so far flung, they should consider a festival where you could stay overnight Friday, and Saturday which would perhaps permit alchol to those who want it.

Or perhaps another nice all ages venue, with no alchol, they should talk to YVCC! That would be wonderful for all concerned I think!

Alright, tell me if you think these pix are in Yakima or Sarajevo?

tell me why for each one too! :)

I have been having a computer problem which co:incided with my move. The computer is just old and needs the attention of someone who is better equiped. So it goes...

Anyway I am doing stuff at the library and how these machines work is not my greatest pleasure. 1. I really hate the privacy screens, it makes them harder to read, and 2. I can be stuck waiting my turn if I go downtown, or risk being stuck WAY up town if I go to the Summitview Library. I really miss the cheap and plentiful internet cafes and clubs in Sarajevo! I mean damn near every corner has one or two! I miss Club BIT, I miss Easynet and Click big-time! All were cheap, staffed with helpful people and good machines. All had decent air conditioning too.

God I miss them all!

My hard drive isn't working on my lap-top, I have to wait to be in touch with my son-in-law to fix it. Meanwhile I only can be on in libraries. Hence my anger at the cost of the ONE internet cafe in the Yakima Gulag that I know if...

So if you see less of me than you'd like sorry....

Costs FIVE DOLLARS an HOUR! Those PIRATES, and you can't even have coffee or a drink like in BiH or Croatia!
I sometimes have stuff to do on a computer that needs that attention. The price is Very bad compared to the U.K. the Republic of Ireland, or BiH or Croatia as well. I NEVER paid more than 3KM an hour in Sarajevo and it was cheaper than that in Dubrovnik plus I could order a nice glass of maraskino! jebiga!

Michael Jackson's death I am sure is really felt in the Balkans. Incidentally the white funeral carriage is like right out of 'Tko tamo peva'! I watched stuff about him to all hours last night.

A friend of mine is really devastated. I got her a nice book with loads of really cool Michael Jackson pix. She'll love it I'm sure!

My favorite Cetnik died as well, Karl Malden, he was at an age where it's kind of normal, but even if I thought his politics reeked, I LOVED him as an actor!

Karl Malden paid for the funeral of Drazen Mihailovic. Whatever I think of his beliefs, he wasn't cheap about it!