Not a typical art post, yet one of passion.

I'm fascinated and a not a bit frightened by the goings-on in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, ... .  I've also been paying close attention to news of the Cairo Museum, a place to visit on my bucket list.  That local community members found it imperative to create a human chain around the building in order to save the artifacts is humbling to me, one who lives in the U.S. where we are cutting funds for art programs, art classes, city wide art activities, etc.

Human Wall to Protect the Cairo Museum

I am embarrassed to admit that Egypt and the middle east seem so other-world to me.  I barely understand unemployment, disaster, hunger, hopelessness but from what I witnessed in small hands on doses when teaching for 32 years in public schools.  

But how vivid it is to read and hear about the revolution in Egypt when a recent tweet offered up this article about 100 year old Manshiyat Naser aka Garbage City with accompanying pictures.  I had to follow a link to verify the truthfulness.  That these slums exist and that, I suggest, there is not a one of us who can even contemplate a life in such squalor is equally both embarrassing and horrendous.  We need to look deep before we pass judgment on the current protests in the mid-east.  

I wonder how long we, in America, would accept this state of affairs.  These stories and images also force me to contemplate the issues we complain about.

Garbage City  in Cairo