Tag Archives: Greece

Detroit’s Jimmy Aldaoud, deported from Detroit to Iraq, dies without access to insulin

By Mark | August 8, 2019

This is Jimmy Aldaoud. He was born 41 years ago in a Greek refugee camp to Christian parents that had fled religious prosecution in Iraq. As six months old, Aldauod and his family made their way to United States, where they have lived ever since. This past June, ICE deported Aldaoud to Iraq. They did […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged American Civil Liberties Union, Andy Levin, Catholicism, Chaldean, Christian hypocrisy, Christianity, Christianity in the Middle East, deportation, diabetes, go back to where you came from, homelessness, ICE, Iraq, Jimmy Aldaoud, mental illness, Michigan, paranoid schizophrenia, petty theft, racism, refugees, religious minorities, send them back, white nationalism | 36 Comments

The perjurer, the scientist who wasn’t, and the world’s most accomplished barista

By Mark | November 2, 2017

Since we last spoke, a few interesting things have happened. Most notably from my perspective, Trump’s former foreign advisor, Carter Page, reportedly told members of the House intelligence committee today that, during the campaign, he had informed Jeff Sessions that he would be traveling to Russia. This, of course directly contradicts what Sessions himself said […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Franken, anti-science, barista, Carter Page, coffee, Donald Trump, ethics, George Papadopoulos, Jeff Sessions, Joe Manchin, perjury, Richard Painter, Robert Mueller, Russia, Russiagate, Sam Clovis, Sergey Kislyak, the plight of baristas, those anti-science Republicans, USDA | 80 Comments

Bulb Records’ Pete Larson reemerges in Kenya with a renewed purpose… to help document and preserve the Nyatiti

By Mark | June 27, 2017

My old friend and former bandmate, Pete Larson, moved to Kenya a few years back to oversee a number of public health related research projects. And, while there, he fell in love with the country’s culture and music. Now, like a good academic, he’s doing his best to document and preserve what he can, starting […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Uncategorized | Also tagged academic research, Africa, Barack Obama, Biggie Smalls, Boaz Jagingo, Bulb Records, Colin Crowley, cultural traditions, curses, Dagoretti Records, Dave Sharp, Dodo, drinking, Egypt, erections, folks songs, goat brain soup, Hillary Clinton, hip hop, impotence, iron roofs, Japan, Kaboge Chagala, Kenge Kenge Sound System, Kenya, Kenyatta University, Kikuyu, Lake Victoria, Luo, lyre, musical instruments, Nairobi, Nairobi University, Ndio Sasa, Nyatiti, Nyatiti Stories, Obokano, Oduor Nyagweno, Oduor Nyagweno and the Nyatiti Attack, Orutu, Peter Larson, poetry, praise songs, rap, rap battles, Rapasa, sex, shamisen, Siaya, Sick Trees, stringed instruments, Swahili, Tomo Tsukahara, tribalism, Tupac, vernacular, violin, witchcraft, world music | 9 Comments

Celebrating May Day in Ypsilanti with warnings of vampires, and camaraderie on Water Street

By Mark | April 30, 2012

I’m not quite sure how he pulled it off, but my friend Jeff, by calling in a few favors, and doing a bit of bartering, has been able to publish a new Ypsi-themed work by famed historian Peter Linebaugh. The 75-page pamphlet, entitled “Ypsilanti Vampire May Day,” is the first thing to be published on […]