tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1199064474729223612024-03-12T23:56:33.228-07:00Sound and fury, signifying nothingDade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.comBlogger1411125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-73936730250043909602022-02-11T07:36:00.003-08:002022-02-11T07:49:46.313-08:00Had a thought this morning...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJxk8yJFvrSC4obE6BFNaRhct_YKIi7BwnL-6PlW4g-MtEslxYJrlEZiBsHPQwLPJEx_RgaGFy2Kjtp8XFz5pJICDvrTmywqRMa4CI2zk8Jrznk6nf61hrXpyo-G264lA-zJtrPhDEaAZGRlQgNrwpy9invyBTjM8l_NryuBMHDo505Diw6v93dX580Q=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJxk8yJFvrSC4obE6BFNaRhct_YKIi7BwnL-6PlW4g-MtEslxYJrlEZiBsHPQwLPJEx_RgaGFy2Kjtp8XFz5pJICDvrTmywqRMa4CI2zk8Jrznk6nf61hrXpyo-G264lA-zJtrPhDEaAZGRlQgNrwpy9invyBTjM8l_NryuBMHDo505Diw6v93dX580Q=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I reflected this morning on the impossible tale that has been my life, so far. All the sights and sounds. All the people encountered, the lessons learned. All the places I've been.</p><p>I supposed that, in the hands of a master novelist or great filmmaker, it might be possible to construct a reasonably interesting story arc.</p><p>A prideful fancy, I grant. </p>Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-15848520069380320612022-02-09T05:35:00.004-08:002022-08-10T05:46:38.589-07:00Journal entry at 60<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLM8D4TqSvbs6_Y8xs9Cp4EWaRZlK7_W38_oWh85xfTnQE74vsG472qfvPslGVqJLsRjRoPuAn_vCyYkBeN8xpd__zQpgnwxCaPLdW4CdEcPmve3MeJ3gdglOou7iXdXabZbwMUzo7LWGvxg4VGZ98t7wad_C5BO4UuP4mvbLX7r17ZlLBGdpgrzElvQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="406" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLM8D4TqSvbs6_Y8xs9Cp4EWaRZlK7_W38_oWh85xfTnQE74vsG472qfvPslGVqJLsRjRoPuAn_vCyYkBeN8xpd__zQpgnwxCaPLdW4CdEcPmve3MeJ3gdglOou7iXdXabZbwMUzo7LWGvxg4VGZ98t7wad_C5BO4UuP4mvbLX7r17ZlLBGdpgrzElvQ" width="149" /></a></div><br />So foul and fair a day, I have not seen.<p></p><p>The world enters our third year of pandemic. Authorities now refer to COVID-19 as endemic. "Pandemic" is passé. In the new reality, COVID is just another danger in a perilous world. Like heart attacks and car wrecks.</p><p>The plague has swept the world, as it were castigating humanity for our profligacy and promiscuity. It is the greatest catastrophe visited upon mankind in my lifetime and may I never live to see such another. Everything has changed, is changing. </p><p>War looms. Environmental degradation accelerates its world-ending career. Societies are falling apart. </p><p>This is not without precedent. This is part of the human condition. Yeats expressed the mood perfectly, one hundred years ago.</p><p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming" target="_blank">The Second Coming by WB Yeats</a><br /></p><p>No answers.</p><p>I'm 60 years old, now. Being a man of an analytical and introspective nature, I always make note of these mundane facts. I have a distinct memory of walking home from Shasta Elementary School on a warm spring afternoon in 1969, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and saying to myself "I'm 7 years old, now." </p><p>Back then, my own little ecosphere was falling apart and the world beyond was fearful and unknown. Fifty-three years later, equipped with the experiences of a lifetime, I still find it so. </p>Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-64577733567632291992019-11-26T08:41:00.002-08:002019-11-26T08:41:52.086-08:00RB/RO CG: Fire on the Volga (Pt. 3)<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif;">Note to readers: </b><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif;">This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif;"><br /></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><i>Specifically, Stewart King and I are undertaking to play a modified CG that combines the Red Barricades and Red October boards and OBs to become a massive, all-encompassing campaign that runs for 30 CG days! I attached the moniker "Fire on the Volga" and undertake here to maintain a blog of the CG as we progress. Stewart is an old friend and has agreed to refrain from reading my blog until such time as I give him permission.</i></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/09/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga.html" target="_blank">Prelude</a> (Explanation of CG)</i></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/10/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga-pt-1.html" target="_blank">17 October</a> (CG Day 1)</i></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/11/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga-pt-2.html" target="_blank">18 October</a> (CD Day 2)</i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Feel free to leave comments. Let me know if you think my setup is crazy, or if you find my strategy hopelessly flawed<choose adjective="" own="" your="">. Just be sure not to reveal anything about my game to Stewart (nor vice-versa).</choose></i></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><choose adjective="" own="" your=""><br /></choose></i></span></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaClsLl_TUQNgvkkdSETKBODVdfytzFrGXCBQinhTZzloOm2c0xAVyOvj42V6aMYZUC7NMlgnpULurHthH5oMvuVp73RohqzIu1TxFOxpkvKddRO3dBlviQajnUB_TN4cvpCQFEkKNodn/s1600/funny.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaClsLl_TUQNgvkkdSETKBODVdfytzFrGXCBQinhTZzloOm2c0xAVyOvj42V6aMYZUC7NMlgnpULurHthH5oMvuVp73RohqzIu1TxFOxpkvKddRO3dBlviQajnUB_TN4cvpCQFEkKNodn/s320/funny.png" width="259" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><choose adjective="" own="" your=""><br /></choose></i></span></span>
<b>Aftermath of CG Day 2</b><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">Bleak, baby. Bleak. Like Yevgrev says in Dr. Zhivago:</span> "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">Even Comrade Lenin underestimated both the anguish of that nine hundred mile-long front, and our cursed capacity for suffering." </span><br />
<br />
The attack on the Chemist's Shop mostly succeeded, but Stewart yet clings to hex Z10, the southernmost of the building. The riverbank hangs like ripe fruit before my eyes, but is yet ungrasped. Along the railroad tracks we met with only slightly greater success than expected. After all, a savvy Russian player is not going to fight too hard on the western board edge. It's a fool's errand. In the factories, we took only what the Russians ceded. Behold, the perimeter!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXUy0BKGrNhk4XamPGBnkzBH9xCoAPFVLpJtqYs5RIz8v906oySLKNDU3toXej5oCuw28CGm4fji4-p9Gv3wyPHFXZ9nRCcQIdOq1c1_HnHNAqg0zicGlGgmx3AFF54qknnXe_bnWeGG5D/s1600/Day3_start.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1434" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXUy0BKGrNhk4XamPGBnkzBH9xCoAPFVLpJtqYs5RIz8v906oySLKNDU3toXej5oCuw28CGm4fji4-p9Gv3wyPHFXZ9nRCcQIdOq1c1_HnHNAqg0zicGlGgmx3AFF54qknnXe_bnWeGG5D/s400/Day3_start.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Continuing with the previous day's progress </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<insert diagram="" perimeter=""></insert><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Stewart fought tenaciously to hold the Chemist's Shop. My attack stalled in the trench at the very door of the (</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">thoroughly-</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">fortified) building. I made a risky decision, moving my 10-2 kill stack from his position on the 1st level of N5 over to the rooftop of hex P6. There were 2 modules of Red 80mm mortar dropping nearby, but I found the gap in his OBA missions, got up there and, as 10-2 kill stacks tend to do, laid waste to the Russian defenses.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">My retained forces are strong, especially with my battle-hardened 10-3, who will be directing machinegun fire very close to the front lines on the coming day. But my Sturm troops are reduced to a depleted company, which more or less dictates that I buy a Sturm Company with my allotted 17CPP for the day. Here's what I've got.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Retained forces: </span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li>10-3, 10-2, 9-1 x 2, 8-1, 8-0 x 3, 7-0 x 2</li>
<li>548 x 8.5</li>
<li>468 x 5</li>
<li>467 x 26</li>
<li>447 x 4</li>
<li>HMG x 3, MMG x 5, LMG x 4, Atr, x 3, Lt. Mtr. x 3</li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I've still got 2 full companies of rifle troops, which bodes well for the next few days. Since I'm compelled to buy a Sturm company, I will do so. And since I'm still fairly close to the board edge, armor is a good substitute for a second company of infantry. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I suspect Stewart has set up some nasty Russian MG nests in the Commissar's House. But I've got a Mortar OBA module that will smoke up that observation point, should it prove necessary. My 10-3 kill stack is set up to move into the first level of the Chemist's Shop as soon as the opportunity presents itself, from which location he will serve as overwatch as my Sturm troops on to the wire and trench line that Stewart has developed on the approaches to the Commissar's House. (I have definitely noticed that, as per our CG SSR) the Russians have a lot more fortifications than normal. And while it may have slowed my progress on the map, the casualties so far have still been about what one would expect.)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Here's what I bought:</span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li>I3 Sturm Company<br />548 x 12<br />MMG, LMG x 2, DC x 2<br />9-1, 8-1, 8-0</li>
<li>A4 PzIIIH Platoon<br />PzIIIH x 3</li>
<li>O5 Offboard Observer (Hex Q1)</li>
<li>O2 80mm Mtr OBA<br />Normal Ammo</li>
</ul>
Not much imagination to my assault, I'm afraid. Push to the river! Attack the Russian flank. These things write themselves...Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-5261661554436997792019-11-01T17:49:00.000-07:002019-11-19T07:40:18.919-08:00RB/RO CG: Fire on the Volga (Pt. 2)<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">Note to readers: </b><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 15.84px;">Specifically, Stewart King and I are undertaking to play a modified CG that combines the Red Barricades and Red October boards and OBs to become a massive, all-encompassing campaign that runs for 30 CG days! I attached the moniker "Fire on the Volga" and undertake here to maintain a blog of the CG as we progress. Stewart is an old friend and has agreed to refrain from reading my blog until such time as I give him permission.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i> <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/09/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga.html" target="_blank">Prelude</a> (Explanation of CG)</i></span></span></i></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/10/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga-pt-1.html" target="_blank">17 October</a> (CG Day 1)</i></span></span></i></span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i>Feel free to leave comments. Let me know if you think my setup is crazy, or if you find my strategy hopelessly flawed<choose adjective="" own="" your="">. Just be sure not to reveal anything about my game to Stewart (nor vice-versa).</choose></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></span></span>
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<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7v7FvbXCUFPiQ30isXLJoJOFtWbMJV6npxmw1Pzc4Ncr-nQ9gk1ISLR2l4kCNTfi3ID34F0AMpKGHzp3tDodqdBXMoicWQmSnLU9PpLi3_6a762yoxxbcooB3PO6hESlQQqWslJpOX5gQ/s1600/funny.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7v7FvbXCUFPiQ30isXLJoJOFtWbMJV6npxmw1Pzc4Ncr-nQ9gk1ISLR2l4kCNTfi3ID34F0AMpKGHzp3tDodqdBXMoicWQmSnLU9PpLi3_6a762yoxxbcooB3PO6hESlQQqWslJpOX5gQ/s320/funny.png" width="259" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Aftermath of CG Day 1</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I'm very satisfied with the results of the day. Behold, the perimeter!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="goog_307137424"></span><span id="goog_307137425"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqH4U6Tsp6FkYELgLSXNNjLc0OpJO_tSVImDgsjOjPvktLHQt4dfbMzDW4kCIm44WwYZ2nWmGTC-Xt9TpMCcsjXwUMreJR7_GZVVRlFKm0e61NfYqEZ32lgKLMrmAKXkk1gT4jkAoZuTLc/s1600/cleanperimeter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1346" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqH4U6Tsp6FkYELgLSXNNjLc0OpJO_tSVImDgsjOjPvktLHQt4dfbMzDW4kCIm44WwYZ2nWmGTC-Xt9TpMCcsjXwUMreJR7_GZVVRlFKm0e61NfYqEZ32lgKLMrmAKXkk1gT4jkAoZuTLc/s400/cleanperimeter.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perimeter, end of CG Day 1.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Not so impressive, eh? Yes, I did destroy his trench-and-wire fortifications, got across the V hexrow and, made progress toward the Chemist's Shop, but that's barely hitting par as the Germans on Day 1.<br />
<br />
The real story of the day was the destruction visited upon the Russian forces. As I stated in my previous post, I thought the Reds were set up too far forward. Between that and Stewart's natural tenacity and stubbornness on defense (I've been playing him for years) CG Day 1 was a Russian disaster.<br />
<br />
The CVP totals tell the tale. Germans suffered 20 CVP. Russians suffered 63 CVP. The Reds got tripled up! Despite their numerical superiority in the overall CG, that ratio is unsustainable. Stewart will have to find a way to adjust.<br />
<br />
In a more or less textbook blitzkrieg manuever, I was able to use my armor to bust through his line at several points (the Workshop Warehouse and his wire and trench line in the U-W hexrows) and follow up with my infantry, cleaning up behind the maurauding AFVs. In that way, I destroyed a lot of his troops for failure to route. My MG kill stack swept his mortar and ATR troops off the rooftops, and I captured a Russian HMG in L5. Stewart mounted a successful minor counterattack from building Z1 and drove me back a couple hexes, and he threw me out of Building K10 in another. But his losses were severe.<br />
<br />
The day was punctuated by a 7 CVP score on the last turn of the game, when my Sturm squad placed a DC, rubbling hex F13 which contained 3 squads and a 9-0 commie.<br />
<br />
German losses consisted of a PzIIIL and roughly 2 platoons of infantry.<br />
<br />
My triumph was somewhat mitigated when I rolled boxcars to have both of my armored platoons recalled. But, as per SSR #6 for this CG (see<span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15.84px;"><i> </i><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/09/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga.html" target="_blank">Prelude</a><i>)</i> I'm compensated 4 CPP for the next CG day, since the recall involved 4 fully-functional AFV. </span></span><br />
<br />
The Reds lost about 2 companies of infantry and a 45LL ATG.<br />
<br />
<b>The day that is to come</b><br />
<br />
Although my perimeter does not extend as far into the board as I might have expected, I'm nonetheless pleased that I have established my entry area to the east of hexrow V, which opens up the approach to the riverbank.<br />
<br />
As I see it, I've got 3 avenues of attack.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AXn_T9afafWuSDUiJMf10HJQBxdzuTmco2WYgRGBj_lY27Ju7mOvAkjIKMsKEiVdm6pkS4_TIxGCoAupwUUGOFXxY0HjyeJ9XRqPdvplK_z7HZDoc2bNM-KP1NgjjG8AWxAtk_bpuwaS/s1600/mainattack.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1346" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AXn_T9afafWuSDUiJMf10HJQBxdzuTmco2WYgRGBj_lY27Ju7mOvAkjIKMsKEiVdm6pkS4_TIxGCoAupwUUGOFXxY0HjyeJ9XRqPdvplK_z7HZDoc2bNM-KP1NgjjG8AWxAtk_bpuwaS/s320/mainattack.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<ol>
<li>Chemist's Shop and river bank. This is my default choice. I've mostly destroyed his fortifications by the river and it makes little sense to lay off now and let him regain his strength. And while Stewart may well predict this attack, he's so weak right now that there is not much he can do to stop me from gaining the riverbank and probably even the Chemist's Shop. This will be my primary attack for the coming day.<br /><br />But I have enough strength to also mount a secondary attack as well, which will be either of the following two options, depending on how I perceive Russian strength to be deployed.</li>
<li>Bust my way down the railroad tracks and make a grab for the Power Station. This is a safe attack. Reinforcements can join the battle immediately, entering from the western board edge, and any Russians any the area will be overwhelmed quickly.</li>
<li>Into the factories. I don't want to fight in the factories unless I must. The Russian fanatic bonus makes even conscripts (which are sure to be there) dangerous. There is nothing worse than losing a Sturm squad to a Conscript in factory close combat. However, if I perceive the center to be overly weak, I will charge into the factories, if for no other reason than to stretch the perimeter.</li>
</ol>
My retained forces from Day 1 are these:<br />
<ul>
<li>10-2, 9-1 x 2, 8-1, 8-0, 8-0 (wnd), 7-0 x 2</li>
<li>548 x 18</li>
<li>468 x 2</li>
<li>467 x 4</li>
<li>447 x 2 </li>
<li>HMG, MMG x 3, LMG x 5, Atr, DC x 3</li>
</ul>
I've got 1.5 companies of Sturm troops, which means the German spear point is still honed and lethal. This bodes well for Day 2.<br />
<br />
I'm awarded 17 CPP (remember, in this CG, Stewart and I are ignoring all CPP replenishment modifiers other than the historical modifiers), plus the 4 CPP I received for my recalled AFV, which yields 21 CPP for the day! My purchases are these:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I1 Rifle Company<br />467 x 12<br />HMG, MMG, LMG, Lt. Mtr. Atr<br />8-1, 8-0</li>
<li>I1 Rifle Company<br />467 x 12<br />HMG, MMG, LMG, Lt. Mtr. Atr<br />10-2, 8-1, 7-0</li>
<li>A5 PzIIIL Platoon<br />9-1 AL<br />PzIIIL x 3</li>
<li>O5 Offboard Observer (Hex Q1)</li>
<li>O2 80mm Mtr OBA<br />Normal Ammo</li>
</ul>
Two Rifle companies for the day. I'll buy them now, while I can. In my experience, the Germans are rarely afforded such a luxury, and since I have it, I'm going to use it. In the later game, my purchases will be constrained by competing demands for support and manpower.<br />
<br />
My AFV withdrawal reimbursement of 4 CPP goes directly to buying another PzIIIL platoon. The net effect of our new SSR, then, is that I came out more-or-less with a wash. Four AFV withdrawn, 3 purchased with the resulting CVP.<br />
<br />
The tactics for Day 2 will be much the same as Day 1. Schwerpunkt, aimed at the Chemist's Shop. I'm hoping the momentum of my attack will carry me beyond my primary objective and on to the approaches of the Commissar's House.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2hVgBVlrufNKbkcyY4-KdWQHcMCpJNVL75_vxEkMrAdlrPIx2o75rkpsWJeaJR7kUzY8yQUWxfHTtheHNdEkQsyHZvl2jF1-7rhXMbw9bTXvLTwbs_ox2KPZp9ilHmG0PNbemDHJmbltT/s1600/day2start.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="963" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2hVgBVlrufNKbkcyY4-KdWQHcMCpJNVL75_vxEkMrAdlrPIx2o75rkpsWJeaJR7kUzY8yQUWxfHTtheHNdEkQsyHZvl2jF1-7rhXMbw9bTXvLTwbs_ox2KPZp9ilHmG0PNbemDHJmbltT/s400/day2start.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And away we go!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_1386047625"></span><span id="goog_1386047626"></span><br />
Stewart is discouraged after the whipping he took on Day 1. But the Reds can recover from disaster. As the German advances across the board, he moves beyond the effective range of his offboard observers and increases the distance his reinforcements must travel to reach the action. That is, he becomes vulnerable.<br />
<br />
When I play the Russians, I find it useful to think of the German forces as a vicious dog tethered to the western and northern board edges. Don't fight the dog inside his tether. Just stay in front of him, back up and nick him where you can. When he reaches the end of the line, which in my experience seems to be at about hex row V on the southern half of the RB board, lay into him with everything you've got.<br />
<br />
And know that he still might shred you.<br />
<br />
That's life in the Barricades, baby.<br />
<br />
To be continued... </div>
Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-17198988696070878092019-10-08T09:00:00.002-07:002019-10-18T06:40:01.383-07:00A long overdue apology<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJu23tXmC5TvpV3EGQNGcIHUOx61yAZVReuRkeaohf1qnGiUt7sldOkeXojQyHIpk_Jn3ImAYTRuH_B0Vr-4lujl3rdSoqF7OeEPQFr2hHIqquhgeSvCFksMfnaw9lFPtZMxiz5H9F5fe/s1600/dade_pe.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJu23tXmC5TvpV3EGQNGcIHUOx61yAZVReuRkeaohf1qnGiUt7sldOkeXojQyHIpk_Jn3ImAYTRuH_B0Vr-4lujl3rdSoqF7OeEPQFr2hHIqquhgeSvCFksMfnaw9lFPtZMxiz5H9F5fe/s320/dade_pe.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blinded by Wrath</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dear President Bush,<br />
<br />
I write to you today to apologize for wronging you in my thoughts for many years. For excoriating you with the most bitter and hateful thoughts I could muster. I apologize for hating you because, as I saw it, you invoked war and destruction on innocent people.<br />
<br />
Eventually, I came to understand that whatever sins I may have attributed to you live within me as well. That, by succumbing to Wrath, I was your brother in folly.<br />
<br />
And thus, we being brothers, I can no longer hate you.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2007/09/rationale-for-faith.html" target="_blank">God</a> is great.<br />
<br />
Please forgive me, my brother.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Dade Ross Cariaga<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCgckuTxGMeKybXvUUJJ11OWJYJhk2Kh9Zn7M7MpwdshyphenhyphenT_2_Z3qztHaaOEK8hd8TKXWX4RlU_IDZijzQfHWJY3V2tvbe-PTJk1LbSr3ml5dTQT6V4g6dp9YHVNEhXL12Vvp5TZJK0lzv/s1600/2019-10-08+08.56.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCgckuTxGMeKybXvUUJJ11OWJYJhk2Kh9Zn7M7MpwdshyphenhyphenT_2_Z3qztHaaOEK8hd8TKXWX4RlU_IDZijzQfHWJY3V2tvbe-PTJk1LbSr3ml5dTQT6V4g6dp9YHVNEhXL12Vvp5TZJK0lzv/s320/2019-10-08+08.56.59.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Humbled by life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-61349342005406739902019-10-03T17:25:00.000-07:002019-10-28T07:43:43.138-07:00RB/RO CG: Fire on the Volga (Pt. 1)<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">Note to readers: </b><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i>It has been a while. But, now that fall is rushing like a wave upon us here in the Pacific Northwest, there is no better time for taking up another of those endeavors that both torment and delight its practitioners: an ASL Campaign Game.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i>Specifically, Stewart King and I are undertaking to play a modified CG that combines the Red Barricades and Red October boards and OBs to become a massive, all-encompassing campaign that runs for 30 CG days! I attached the monikor "Fire on the Volga" and undertake here to maintain a blog of the CG as we progress. Stewart is an old friend and has agreed to refrain from reading my blog until such time as I give him permission.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i>You can get the specifics of our CG in the Prelude <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/09/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga.html" target="_blank">blog post.</a></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><i>Feel free to leave comments. Let me know if you think my setup is crazy, or if you find my strategy hopelessly flawed<choose adjective="" own="" your="">. Just be sure not to reveal anything about my game to Stewart (or vice-versa).</choose></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7v7FvbXCUFPiQ30isXLJoJOFtWbMJV6npxmw1Pzc4Ncr-nQ9gk1ISLR2l4kCNTfi3ID34F0AMpKGHzp3tDodqdBXMoicWQmSnLU9PpLi3_6a762yoxxbcooB3PO6hESlQQqWslJpOX5gQ/s1600/funny.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7v7FvbXCUFPiQ30isXLJoJOFtWbMJV6npxmw1Pzc4Ncr-nQ9gk1ISLR2l4kCNTfi3ID34F0AMpKGHzp3tDodqdBXMoicWQmSnLU9PpLi3_6a762yoxxbcooB3PO6hESlQQqWslJpOX5gQ/s320/funny.png" width="259" /></a></div>
<i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;">Back, once again, to the Barricades. For the umpteenth time. It's testimony to the success of the Red Barricades campaign game that, all these years later, and after multiple playings, I still look forward to this all-engrossing, mental tormenter of a game. And this time there is the added twist of incorporating the entire RO module into the bargain. Please refer to the <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2019/09/rbro-cg-fire-on-volga.html" target="_blank">Prelude</a> for the specifics about how we plan to accomplish this. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;">Fate has dictated that for this game, I am to play the Fascist aggressors, while Stewart has the part of the Communists. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;">So, without further ado, let's get to it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.84px;"><br /></span></span>
In past AARs, I have explained my thinking about the importance, in Red Barricades, of the riverbank for the Soviets. It's critical to keep the Germans off the river and out of important strategic locations like the Chemist's Shop and the Commissar's House. (I refer you, dear reader, to "<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/11/asl-red-barricades-today-volga-tomorrow.html" target="_blank">A litany of Red Barricades truths</a>" from a previous AAR.)<br />
<br />
Does that mean I should push for the river on Day 1? I'm not sure. First, let's have a look at my given forces.<br />
<br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Rifle Coy<br />467 x 12<br />9-1, 8-0, 7-0<br />HMG, MMG, LMG, Atr, Lt. Mtr.</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Sturm Coy<br />548 x 12<br />9-1, 8-0, 7-0<br />
<style type="text/css">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; color: #000000}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
</style>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">MMG, LMGx2, DCx2</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">PzIIL Platoon<br />PzIIIL x 3<br />8-1 Armor leader</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">80mm OBA<br />Normal<br />Pre-registered hexes x 2</li>
</ul>
I have 15CCP for the day. The big choice is whether to buy a Sturm Coy or Rifle Coy as my 3rd company. And, since it's always good to open with a Big Punch, I'll opt for the Sturm company. These, therefore are my purchases.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sturm Coy (9CPP)</span>548 x 12<br />10-2, 8-1, 7-0<br />MMG, LMGx2, DCx2</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="p1">
<span class="s1">StuGIIIB Platoon (4CPP)<br />StuGIIIB x 3</span></div>
</span></li>
<li><span class="s1">Stukas (early entry) 2 CPP</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ORqkQT2SEOypFlpigKQ1jzjlG8lz11dIUpKBK-FqHhZWZU58g737STGm9BpLp4Py-pyN3S_ulXU9LbwA9xsmkSVvnxRMDAHr1MJAAkcTfaMaGicTs7Atstp5PQdyz9QPG5NBhWrfOhLE/s1600/pre-reg+hexes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1345" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ORqkQT2SEOypFlpigKQ1jzjlG8lz11dIUpKBK-FqHhZWZU58g737STGm9BpLp4Py-pyN3S_ulXU9LbwA9xsmkSVvnxRMDAHr1MJAAkcTfaMaGicTs7Atstp5PQdyz9QPG5NBhWrfOhLE/s320/pre-reg+hexes.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">80mm Mortar pre-registered hexes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The 80mm OBA pre-registered hexes are set to smoke up the northern approach. Beyond this I cannot go until I see the Russian setup.<br />
<br />
And here it is.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvWg60vzPWmaUs__TEfHlpSM5e1O3wn-ysASQFuRPSATrJP_55zDAF7p3HbYZe9dQfdkPmkmBa8dAmKspuegzUrY_m2dJpZNN_XQ248c3ygoH01MW8AoDRQ_Z9xZ7Okjuh88N3iVTLglE/s1600/Reds_turn1_setup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="552" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvWg60vzPWmaUs__TEfHlpSM5e1O3wn-ysASQFuRPSATrJP_55zDAF7p3HbYZe9dQfdkPmkmBa8dAmKspuegzUrY_m2dJpZNN_XQ248c3ygoH01MW8AoDRQ_Z9xZ7Okjuh88N3iVTLglE/s640/Reds_turn1_setup.png" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reds are ready</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The combined RB/RO map looks impossibly big when it's all laid out. How in the hell are the Germans supposed to conquer all of that?<br />
<br />
A closer inspection reveals that Stewart has set up to defend the riverbank in force. But he looks strong all the way across the line. My first instinct is to think that the Russians are too far forward and ripe to be destroyed. But wherever I choose to attack, the fighting will be fierce right from the get-go.<br />
<br />
A moment to consider...<br />
<br />
And I think the rule of the day is audacity. An aggressive push for the river.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeGzCIqlDyCICX8F_nVWP2k_BawurnGb7BkhdQjAcNklfqB7499eUNh6iYCLycsyzI9yz8gq7LSHjaFQNdwba9agZaLyVwigX0Zrlqh88qip7QAXH3fdQ3Ma7qZSwCb2_hY9iYnoD3uyu/s1600/plan_of_attack.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1317" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeGzCIqlDyCICX8F_nVWP2k_BawurnGb7BkhdQjAcNklfqB7499eUNh6iYCLycsyzI9yz8gq7LSHjaFQNdwba9agZaLyVwigX0Zrlqh88qip7QAXH3fdQ3Ma7qZSwCb2_hY9iYnoD3uyu/s400/plan_of_attack.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hier kommen wir, Russen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pretty straightforward. My rifle company will enter on the northern board edge between hexrows G and Q. Very slowly, one hex at a time. Their turn 1 objective will be to get setup to engage the Russians on the upper levels and the rooftops. I notice that Stewart has some Russians on the rooftops. Artillery spotter and light mortar teams, no doubt. My MG kill stack, which I hope to establish in G1, will soon be sited in on them. The PzIIILs will accompany the rifles across the debris field, laying smoke as necessary.<br />
<br />
My Sturm company will enter strong on the west edge and push straight for Building F5. They will feint at Building B12, and if the going seems easy, they might send a platoon to take it. But I won't fight hard for B12. I'm pushing straight for the river with these guys. Under no circumstances will I activate the reserves that Stewart has placed to the south across the railroad tracks.<br />
<br />
On turn 2, my reinforcing Sturm company will come in full bore at the river fortifications. I hope to maybe catch Stewart flat-footed. My turn 1 attack might suggest that my goal is the Manufacturing Hall or the string of buildings just east of the railroad tracks. But while my Rifles start shooting up his long range teams, and my Sturm company driving eastward, the Reds will suddenly be confronted by an armor-and-Stuka-supported Sturm company busting straight for his fortified area around V5!<br />
<br />
I don't necessarily want to reach the riverbank on this day (and it's doubtful I could anyway), but if I can destroy that fortified area and establish my perimeter east of hexrow V, drive the Russians in the center to the south, and maintain a good CVP ratio, I'll count the day as successful.<br />
<br />
That's an awful lot to ask, though.<br />
<br />
Hey, man. Nobody said Stalingrad was gonna be easy.<br />
<br />
Let's see how it goes...</div>
Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-19809320610363753742019-09-29T10:06:00.000-07:002019-11-19T07:37:22.783-08:00RB/RO CG: Fire on the Volga (Prelude)<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">Note to readers: </b><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84px;">This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader" style="text-decoration: none;">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Preamble</b><br />
<br />
First off let me say thanks to MMP for publishing the Red October historical module for the ASL system. It's the sequel to the most successful CG in the entire ASL system: Red Barricades. I foresee many long hours of obsessive delight in my future.<br />
<br />
That being said, it's become apparent to me that the playtesting of the various CGs contained within the module have left a bit to be desired. I've played CG I, X-Tag, and I've studied CG II Hubertus rather thoroughly, and I've concluded that they are both heavily stacked in favor of the German.<br />
<br />
(A lack of play testing is a minor lapse, in my opinion. When one considers the time and effort required to play these massive games can we really expect multiple play testings by multiple players before release? It's we, the players of the game, upon whom the responsibility of play testing must necessarily fall. The publisher gives us the concept, we put it to the test.)<br />
<br />
Of course, the original Red Barricades module had balance problems with its CGs, as well. As I've discussed on this blog before, the Barrikady campaign game is about 80% pro-Russian.<br />
<br />
But Stewart King and I have an idea that we hope may prove to be a fun CG that involves the entirety of both the RB and RO boards and the entire OBs from both modules. I present our idea here.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigr2x-6rStlb46U8mpRB6vUBJyntOh3HTGoTLr12uXwLFz1Zoe3KF5qM5gGax13qwNdNBLERh8SmIQRUHd4qu24tcBQO-avT055c94-FvCBCHv1hlrVLk7Q88batzbWwpGUVJQsxFf-uxf/s1600/FireontheVolga.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="551" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigr2x-6rStlb46U8mpRB6vUBJyntOh3HTGoTLr12uXwLFz1Zoe3KF5qM5gGax13qwNdNBLERh8SmIQRUHd4qu24tcBQO-avT055c94-FvCBCHv1hlrVLk7Q88batzbWwpGUVJQsxFf-uxf/s640/FireontheVolga.png" width="219" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All factories, plus 9 of the 12 objectives</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Fire on the Volga Campaign Game</b><br />
Game length
17 Oct - 15 Nov
<br />
30 CG days<br />
The entirety of both the RB and RO boards are used<br />
<br />
<b>CG VC</b>:
The German player wins if at the end of any CG day, there is a continuous <b>German perimeter that includes all factories on both boards</b>, plus the German controls all locations (even if isolated) 9 of the following 12 objectives:<br />
<br />
<b>RB board </b><br />
<ul>
<li>W9 (Chemist’s Shop) </li>
<li> BB18 (Commissar’s House) </li>
<li> GG21 </li>
<li> AA25 </li>
<li> V40 </li>
<li> V42 </li>
</ul>
<b>RO board</b><br />
<ul>
<li> V1 </li>
<li> Z8 </li>
<li> BB9 </li>
<li> All level 2 hill hexes (Slag Heap) </li>
<li> GG23</li>
<li>CC32 </li>
</ul>
<b>SSRs</b><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li> No depletion rolls. Purchases at full strength. </li>
<li> Whenever a reserve unit is activated by a German attack or by proximity of a German unit, all reserve units within 5 hexes of that unit are activated as well. </li>
<li>For CCP replenishment, ignore all modifiers other than historical modifiers. Add 3 CPP to the result. Example: Russian player rolls 12. Historical modifier is 0. Result: 13 CPP. Add 3 CPP. Russian total for the day is 16CPP. </li>
<li>Disregard the campaign balance provision. </li>
<li>Each CPP spent on Fortifications is worth the following: German 40FFP, Russian 80FFP </li>
<li>Whenever an armor platoon is recalled, the German receives 1 CPP for each surviving recalled tank with functioning MA and MGs on the following CG day. </li>
<li>Russian RO CGI starting forces (including FPP but not any CPP) are deployed on the RO map as reserves starting on 17 Oct. They must be deployed as reserves on that map (though they may be repositioned before each CG day [EXC: Fortifications) until activated or the 23 Oct turn. On 23 October, they may be deployed on-map (either map) as desired. If the Germans enter the RO map at any time before 23 October, all RO reserves are immediately activated. </li>
<li>The German RO CGI starting forces (though not the CPP from the RO CGI starting lineup) enter as reinforcements on 23 October. The German entry area includes all west edge hexes, plus any north edge hexes as per the RB rules, starting 23 October.
Starting 23 October, both sides make 2 CPP replenishment rolls each CG day. Starting on 23 October, both sides may choose reinforcement groups up to the maximum allowed in RB CG III, RO CG I and RO CG II. </li>
</ol>
<b>Notes </b><br />
<br />
In effect, this CG begins as a normal RB CGIII game and proceeds as such until 23 October, eight CG days into the game. In my experience, 8 days in is just about where the Germans start to lose their steam. But in this case, on 23 October, the Germans get a big infusion of fresh troops.<br />
<br />
When Hubertus comes, on 11 November, 3 days before the CG ends, the Germans will get their -3 historical modifier which may be the last bit of fuel they need to attain their objectives or to fall just short of them.<br />
<br />
Who knows if this is balanced? But we think it will be fun. It will literally take years to complete this game, but what the hell? We're gamers, after all.
If anyone else wants to give this a try, let us know! Stewart and I will be maintaining a blog of our game as we go along, so stay tuned...Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-55661423410331151792019-09-26T08:08:00.002-07:002019-09-28T07:26:44.753-07:00ASL ROCGII: A hopeless case<b>Note to readers</b>: <i>This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyxKolSLHzxw0nNJ7ffI4c6S5LxQr5Dq2UpozqRmmjAYffnLMnkRGzycOuiFGP1qzJt2TbYCGU5You1KzXdDI88VjtUkTnOcksyjRTmzKB6wRHw5_7oDvkE-YYo2kSE99OuHnONMbbkdy/s1600/2019-09-24_6-01-09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="304" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyxKolSLHzxw0nNJ7ffI4c6S5LxQr5Dq2UpozqRmmjAYffnLMnkRGzycOuiFGP1qzJt2TbYCGU5You1KzXdDI88VjtUkTnOcksyjRTmzKB6wRHw5_7oDvkE-YYo2kSE99OuHnONMbbkdy/s320/2019-09-24_6-01-09.png" width="250" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<b>Preamble</b><br />
<br />
The Sound and Fury desk is mighty dusty. If the boss walked in and saw this, he would not be happy. Let's see if we can spruce things up a bit.<br />
<br />
Our return to form is another of our favorites: a write-up of an ASL campaign game. And this time it's for the long-awaited follow up to the best ASL CG of all time (and the only one that really works in my opinion): Red Barricades.<br />
<br />
(Valor of the Guards? Give me a break! The Barricades is where real men cut their teeth.)<br />
<br />
My joy at finally receiving this module can only be hinted at with words. Escapism! Obsessive organization! Calculating! Recalculating! The agony! The ecstasy! And so, immediately upon receiving the module and lacking an opponent, I set to work creating Russian defenses in anticipation of eventually finding one.<br />
<br />
But when I arrived at CGII, the Hubertus campaign I was flummoxed. When I set up the perimeter and looked at the respective OBs I determined that the Russians have no chance to win this game. I'm convinced this is an error on the part of MMP.<br />
<br />
(If there are political sensibilities around criticizing MMP publicly, I'm blithely unaware of them. This is just what I see, regarding the game.)<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry, Ivan. There's just no way...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Allow me to explain.<br />
<br />
When I create a defensive set up for a CG, I try first to determine the most vital points of defense. A look at the RO map instantly reveals that the northeast edge of the board is crucial for the Reds. Their reinforcement groups must enter on or between hexes JJ0 and JJ16 unless these hexes are no longer under Russian control, in which case the Russians may enter on the southern board edge. This makes the approaches to these hexes vital for the Russians. A shrewd German player will extend his perimeter 4 or 5 hexes short of the board edge, then in subsequent CG days, set up a devastating kill zone into which all Russian reinforcements must enter.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBf48kEMwL1hYNwoesfmN2UY3yu84fmW824eQD9rCCZcgdS8jDdVA_v85evrKDkyn1mswRR9Coo4qIvDeMTwzTJRtg1U83wwg1UtRilZ5bN5JmBY0pDv7QjRHt-0aPpjKpKbNlJPI6sRj/s1600/day1_perimeter_goal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBf48kEMwL1hYNwoesfmN2UY3yu84fmW824eQD9rCCZcgdS8jDdVA_v85evrKDkyn1mswRR9Coo4qIvDeMTwzTJRtg1U83wwg1UtRilZ5bN5JmBY0pDv7QjRHt-0aPpjKpKbNlJPI6sRj/s320/day1_perimeter_goal.png" width="126" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">German Day 1 perimeter goal. Reds must not let this happen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So, clearly, the Russian must avoid this situation at all costs. But when you look at the starting perimeter, the Germans are already three-quarters of the way across the map. Indeed, the Russians have been driven from all the factories except for the Martin Ovens in the middle of the board, which is surrounded on 3 sides. In fact, the Germans already have two toeholds toward the eastern edge of the Ovens in hexes X23 and V23. How many resources is a wise Russian player going to dedicate to defending that foregone conclusion?<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIz_2yXsEf4xHltJaVR-M5W1WWoZjMeWYUj3ciMA3V-cdEnM7CbH2vTz2gacuBkXbno3G9chZp1ropaWDe3oz_Lhje2nEfsTEjlSTZDHZhEUHkQJWO5JSXDwo_UevyhE9cEUgLosmHakq/s1600/centerfactory.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="585" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIz_2yXsEf4xHltJaVR-M5W1WWoZjMeWYUj3ciMA3V-cdEnM7CbH2vTz2gacuBkXbno3G9chZp1ropaWDe3oz_Lhje2nEfsTEjlSTZDHZhEUHkQJWO5JSXDwo_UevyhE9cEUgLosmHakq/s320/centerfactory.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, hell no!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My initial thought, as the Russians, was to set up a defense of the easternmost hexes of the Martin Ovens, and to fight like hell to protect the vital entry area. But then I looked at the German OB that I would be facing.<br />
<br />
The Russians are given 3 elite companies, a heavy weapons platoon, some AT and ART pieces, 85 FPP, and 12 CPP.<br />
<br />
The Germans are given 3 elite companies, 4 rifle companies, an infantry battery, a platoon of STGIII smoke-layers, and 17CPP.<br />
<br />
That, my friends, is a wipeout.<br />
<br />
Consider this German strategy for Day One.<br />
<br />
<b>Purchases</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Considering the manpower advantage the German is given to start the game (7 coy to 3 coy), I wouldn't bother purchasing infantry. My purchases would be thus:<br />
<br />
150mm OBA w/pre-reg = 7 CPP<br />
80mm OBA w/pre-reg = 3 CPP<br />
HW Platoon = 6 CPP<br />
<br />
Total CPP: 16, save 1 CPP for the next day.<br />
<br />
<b>Push to set up the perimeter for Day Two.</b><br />
<br />
The German player should recognize the importance of the JJ0-16 hexes to the overall CG immediately. Therefore, the spearhead of this awesome OB should be aimed directly at it.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhrr06Ek4HGCYWbsYb9X70MQ2l2L6whC1-K-gN03M0oHmFoMZ_XwS_6Ht9AvVXiV1bZnE3cBMTcXXr3R6UYtCxD5KxJ4i54gdfg7wDl_VHzF-1CoMZUUCug4MY3CJybrYpJ3c-6hHhw7ii/s1600/northernpush.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhrr06Ek4HGCYWbsYb9X70MQ2l2L6whC1-K-gN03M0oHmFoMZ_XwS_6Ht9AvVXiV1bZnE3cBMTcXXr3R6UYtCxD5KxJ4i54gdfg7wDl_VHzF-1CoMZUUCug4MY3CJybrYpJ3c-6hHhw7ii/s320/northernpush.png" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ouch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In this avenue of attack, the vital points are buildings V1 and BB9, plus the Slag Heap. So, I set up a Sturm Company to attack V1, the Pioniers to attack BB9, and the other Sturm company to attack the Slag Heap. Further, in support, I pre-register hex BB11 for the 150mm module and hex AA9 for the 80mm Smoke FFE. Since this attack is so vital, I also add in the StgIIIBs and dedicate my HW platoon to raking the Slag Heap and building BB11. Given that the Russians are stretched beyond their capacity, it's doubtful that they will do much to defend build V1. And whatever they put in BB11 and on the Slag Heap will be vaporized in short order.<br />
<br />
<b>Containment and attrition</b><br />
<br />
Everywhere else on the map, it's about containment and attrition. I've got 4 rifle companies that will surround any Russian pockets, advance to contact, and then maintain position. The key is to keep the Russians from expanding the perimeter in the south. Not that it matters all that much. That infantry battery will start pounding away at building GG23 to soften thing up for the next day.<br />
<br />
On Day 2, the Rifle companies will man the perimeter in the northeast, to shoot up Russian RGs as they enter, while the Pioneers and Sturm companies will begin reducing Russian pockets in the now-isolated factories.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7JywreMKtFaORpLowNelztpUlL_AHjFcxJ2miw6iV5PWuEa6raNWXIyEP72qxG0W4AyVakptfaSn2nljV-SDSx0Cxa9SU4xnKvsIDI8y29XZqDDoUPJCYu9hztCUED7dsSZQ7wBHX0NO/s1600/contain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="611" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7JywreMKtFaORpLowNelztpUlL_AHjFcxJ2miw6iV5PWuEa6raNWXIyEP72qxG0W4AyVakptfaSn2nljV-SDSx0Cxa9SU4xnKvsIDI8y29XZqDDoUPJCYu9hztCUED7dsSZQ7wBHX0NO/s320/contain.png" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Contain, don't attack</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is a pretty general description of a German plan, but it's as obvious as the nose on your face.<br />
<br />
And, hey, if you think I'm wrong, go ahead, Ivan! Set up your Elite SMG company, and your 2 Guards Rifle companies, your HW platoon, your 85 FPP, and your 12 CPP and see if you can stop me.<br />
<br />
Some folks claim that this is an intentional disadvantage placed on the Russians to simulate the desperate situation they faced historically during Hubertus.<br />
<br />
Well, that's as may be, but in terms of a competitive game, as printed this is not worth playing.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-4280439517152633082018-04-26T10:07:00.001-07:002019-05-07T10:50:42.279-07:00Comrades Against the Void<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrhX9Rnq7gVvLr0cH37mlpX4wMwG7vue8AOuEW6aL_-Jokmigtw_ZnQuwJ9MZtdBIW-gj5JFim6qpEv9u6WSX3h0IXU3CkyeLvSBB3Z7Vx7xab5ejHmqpR3bZKzAVkyB0wosfkx7G5tZP/s1600/310px-NGC_4414_%2528NASA-med%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrhX9Rnq7gVvLr0cH37mlpX4wMwG7vue8AOuEW6aL_-Jokmigtw_ZnQuwJ9MZtdBIW-gj5JFim6qpEv9u6WSX3h0IXU3CkyeLvSBB3Z7Vx7xab5ejHmqpR3bZKzAVkyB0wosfkx7G5tZP/s1600/310px-NGC_4414_%2528NASA-med%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Alone or no?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So humanity frets</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When gazing at stars.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"If not, are we wise," </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Some wonder, "to seek them out?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Space is deep water."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Worse for me to think</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
We are alone in this soup:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
God's only eyes.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Even conquerors are comrades against the Void.</div>
Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-75886363581584308692018-04-06T12:43:00.001-07:002018-04-06T13:05:41.524-07:00Things work out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Of late, I've come into the habit of believing that everything is going to be okay.<br />
<br />
Somehow. In spite of everything.<br />
<br />
It happens that way for people like me. Peace just pops up out of nowhere, overwhelming one's worries. Revealing them as absurd. Like laughter in the face of bigotry.<br />
<br />
In mirror of more agitated states, I'm overcome with emotion quite suddenly. As I walk through Creswell Park, tossing peanuts to the crows. As I lay at night beside my wife, watching her shoulder rise and fall with her breathing. In thoughtful moments at the office, watching the nesting mother honker from my window as she sits her eggs next the parking lot.<br />
<br />
But nowadays the emotion is joy. Is relief. Is gratitude. Rather than panic or despair.<br />
<br />
Life is easier this way. And I know how lucky I am. The world is full of people who will never in all their lives know this kind of peace. Many people. All the way from here to Kabul, Afghanistan. And that breaks my heart.<br />
<br />
But things work out. Things work out. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-79866096983832389902017-09-19T08:27:00.000-07:002017-09-19T08:58:54.607-07:00Fearful days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Oh, these fearful days!<br />
<br />
I'm a lathered, wide-eyed steed ridden cruelly by <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/08/beautiful-blustery-day-on-mt.html" target="_blank">Anxiety</a>, the demon jockey. His strength waxes and wanes, but at the moment he is firmly in the saddle, and does not spare the lash.<br />
<br />
Examples?<br />
<br />
At my place of employment, my boss has told me I'm doing good work, as have my coworkers. So, why am I <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/07/floatin-on-down-anxiety-river.html" target="_blank">fearful</a> for my job?<br />
<br />
Although my health is <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/06/back-on-pax.html" target="_blank">good</a>, and she is a strong and capable woman, I am visited by dreadful thoughts of the day when my wife, beloved <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/01/woman-i-married.html" target="_blank">Maty</a>, will be without me. After all, I am seventeen years her senior. Rationally, I know she will never be alone. Her family extends across two continents and she is much loved by all who know her. And yet I ache at the thought of her: bereft, grieving, after I am gone. (That she might pass before me is <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/01/that-dark-solemn-figure.html" target="_blank">unthinkable</a>.)<br />
<br />
The ascendancy of the new "normal," where racists and Nazis <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2017/06/portland-vents-luxuriously.html" target="_blank">demonstrate</a> openly in the streets and their views are given credence by a confused and angry people weighs heavily on me. I fear for my family. I fear for my people. <br />
<br />
Anxiety is indeed a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2014/11/anxiety-is-thief.html" target="_blank">thief</a>. I resent that it is robbing me of my life.<br />
<br />
My shrink gave me breathing exercises and a mantra to recite, in these situations: "All is well." At times, it works.<br />
<br />
But not now. Not today, nor for the past several weeks. I don't know why. There is no "why" to it. We are, all of us, dragging our crosses up Calvary Hill. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-7795567998807770802017-08-28T08:28:00.002-07:002017-08-31T07:11:12.595-07:00Book review: Paradise Lost: A Graphic Novel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWJcwIxU7ECt30AVthrTCZYgkCyl8CRK7RyvDOMHhJEsKPky2hhrfwboc0jSIXVzZWpQubTLxX1tRkJEiT1geUONcFEZ9q9zt8qTNOPSJJYyjNyjO46eJFI12gEY0-PKCBLHK7wakY2Kt/s1600/paradise_lost.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWJcwIxU7ECt30AVthrTCZYgkCyl8CRK7RyvDOMHhJEsKPky2hhrfwboc0jSIXVzZWpQubTLxX1tRkJEiT1geUONcFEZ9q9zt8qTNOPSJJYyjNyjO46eJFI12gEY0-PKCBLHK7wakY2Kt/s320/paradise_lost.png" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
Undertaking to reinterpret a classic is always an ambitious and perilous endeavor. To do it right requires herculean effort. The artist must re-imagine, but at the same time, remain faithful to the original work. More often than not, the effort falls short somewhere. The new work either <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/10/movie-review-cloud-atlas.html" target="_blank">fails to attain</a> the peaks set for it by the original, or the artist, enchanted with his own vision, <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/07/play-review-troilus-and-cressida.html" target="_blank">loses sight</a> of what made the original profound and significant. Examples are too many to count.<br />
<br />
(And we do note the significance of this latter propensity in the context of the title here being discussed!)<br />
<br />
Not so Pablo Auladell's graphical representation of John Milton's classic epic poem, Paradise Lost. Auladell's imagery, at times stark, at times deliberately vague, adds severity and depth to the abridged verse that captions the story-line. In particular, Auladell has a gift for depicting facial expressions: Satan's horror and glee, Adam's innocence and corruption, Beelzebub's unfathomable non-expression. <br />
<br />
When first I read the original work, decades ago, I was intrigued by the romantic vision of the ultimate anti-hero, just as Milton intended. (<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/12/blood-meridian-judge-and-forbearance-of.html" target="_blank">Judge Holden</a>, <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2007/10/mad-like-ahab.html" target="_blank">Captain Ahab</a>, meet the original!) Now, with the temperance of middle age and with Auladell's illustrations as a study guide, I more readily saw past the seduction of Satan's seemingly valiant defiance, clear through to the perversity and depredation behind it.<br />
<br />
I savored this book, poring over each illustration, parsing carefully the verse, comparing it to the haunting expressions of the characters. <br />
<br />
Paradise Lost is a disturbing tale --check that --it is <i>the </i>disturbing tale. In addition, it is the literary prototype for the anti-hero motif. Auladell treats the original work with the reverence it deserves and offers his own convincing interpretation.<br />
<br />
The unease that crowds my awareness at this moment, several days after reading it, attest to the power of the story itself.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-53207208570733493482017-08-25T07:58:00.000-07:002017-08-25T08:00:12.500-07:00It is time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF3rkRy7EyJF14TQaz3InhuZvlE_zFTnFhLDGRhIWSOD5aPN6lqJAg02guV8Sm5wNpnf4WxCSPFFr0x_2cnCAjb0CiU7tWxcJusFV3m6GIGA8clYzKGIVQi8ssiJd2i_abi2G73w6AFRY/s1600/2017-08-21+10.18.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF3rkRy7EyJF14TQaz3InhuZvlE_zFTnFhLDGRhIWSOD5aPN6lqJAg02guV8Sm5wNpnf4WxCSPFFr0x_2cnCAjb0CiU7tWxcJusFV3m6GIGA8clYzKGIVQi8ssiJd2i_abi2G73w6AFRY/s320/2017-08-21+10.18.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Flex, ye once-dexterous fingers! Reawaken faith in your granted puissance!<br />
<br />
Are ye not those same that once skipped o'er keyboard? Articulating? <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-artificial-respiration.html" target="_blank">Expounding</a>? Positing? Did ye not, in your lent glory, give form to weeping <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/10/last-day-in-madrid.html" target="_blank">angels</a>, rioting <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/07/wherefore-this-penchant-for-self.html" target="_blank">demons</a>?<br />
<br />
There was a time when ye were not <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2014/11/anxiety-is-thief.html" target="_blank">afraid</a>; when, together, we would give voice to it all and damn the snarled lip, the pinched brow.<br />
<br />
What, now? Has the <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2017/06/portland-vents-luxuriously.html" target="_blank">madness</a> of the time rendered mute our passion? Doth suffocating dread now rule our <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/06/heart-of-oregon.html" target="_blank">heart</a>?<br />
<br />
We have known, we do know, the solution. Which is to write. <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2009/10/write-every-day.html?m=0" target="_blank">To write every day</a>.<br />
<br />
Arduous? Yes. Frightening? Yes.<br />
<br />
But also vital. To write is to <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/01/note-about-this-blog.html" target="_blank">live</a>. With <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/09/church-of-tabor.html" target="_blank">humility</a>. With <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/04/questions-for-catholics.html" target="_blank">sincerity</a>. With <a href="https://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/08/beautiful-blustery-day-on-mt.html" target="_blank">peace</a>.<br />
<br />
Bring it. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-9962703046332214602017-06-05T08:51:00.001-07:002017-06-06T09:46:11.358-07:00Portland vents, luxuriously<div class="x_p1">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQsLdF06t0iRv6viIW9Q69RqUdKieCkRurnYZ9skiIgF4RZBT8hyphenhyphenq0_hD2mOgDhah-XlbApIvx7OgFUZplGjqr2Zh63GSU7VHmhdk39LszhLG37Me_VNzZ5hlBv45CxFiC0shdbD2jto6/s1600/2017-06-04+13.03.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQsLdF06t0iRv6viIW9Q69RqUdKieCkRurnYZ9skiIgF4RZBT8hyphenhyphenq0_hD2mOgDhah-XlbApIvx7OgFUZplGjqr2Zh63GSU7VHmhdk39LszhLG37Me_VNzZ5hlBv45CxFiC0shdbD2jto6/s320/2017-06-04+13.03.19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Big crowd. High tension.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">The Big Event went down yesterday in downtown Portland.</span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"> </span>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">You're aware I'm sure. It's been all
over the news. In the wake of the <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/05/man_accused_in_max_attack_cont.html" target="_blank">horrific attack</a> that occurred on May 26, in which Jeremy Christian, a Portland man murdered two persons and wounded a third as they tried to restrain him from verbally assaulting two teenage girls, tensions in the city were high.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">A pro-Trump rally, scheduled (before the murders) by a group called "Patriot Prayer," was set to take place and many in the Portland community objected. Tensions were heightened when James Buchal, the chairman of the Multnomah County GOP (normally a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-ballot.html" target="_blank">low-profile job</a>) suggested he might hire <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/portland-stabbing-james-buchal-militias-oath-keepers-three-percenters-617353" target="_blank">private security</a> (read right-wing militia) to patrol the event in case Portland counter-demonstrators tried to cause trouble.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Like many indignant Portland progressives, I was determined to counter-demonstrate. Most especially in light of James Buchal's inadvisable suggestion. ("No one is going to intimidate me in <i>my </i>city!") So I set out from my home at about 10 am, to walk downtown, where events were scheduled to begin around noon.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">It was a strange day. </span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Lots of drama. Lots of cheap emotion.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">When I arrived, just around noon, the place was already hopping. The crowd was divided into 3 factions. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tA5QI4GOoLOPnzYx2KLsQ4mSBA_A4HuQ_xMWOhUSl8qxJUPdmIEFTdy4zSmQHqDPk-FAkgWTYmSQdRsHG4QNPc9N0OJXrARtohgGgP8sfUc94lPsy4y-KnYEJxwojnODJEKvjoNZcKrS/s1600/2017-06-04+12.01.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tA5QI4GOoLOPnzYx2KLsQ4mSBA_A4HuQ_xMWOhUSl8qxJUPdmIEFTdy4zSmQHqDPk-FAkgWTYmSQdRsHG4QNPc9N0OJXrARtohgGgP8sfUc94lPsy4y-KnYEJxwojnODJEKvjoNZcKrS/s320/2017-06-04+12.01.00.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Antifa:" Mostly skinny punks, hooked on drama</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">The "Antifa" folks were there, with their black bandanas. They were isolated to Lownsdale Park (the site of the "<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-portland-what-to-do.html" target="_blank">Occupy Portland</a>" demonstrations in 2011). There weren't very many of them and the few that were there looked like kids to me. Kids with bad attitudes. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KQ4S4MCxWLAdxFYWuTYhaLAQin-ugiIZf5GZgaXqW089XipixdV_FbP1LbFRbPb5dVyt2sj71x3WfIeqxwMPXq7ORbyC5aoGCd655yHZJEvy850I23G8Fj-9DBr24ZjjBXCQIkMdzObK/s1600/2017-06-04+13.03.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KQ4S4MCxWLAdxFYWuTYhaLAQin-ugiIZf5GZgaXqW089XipixdV_FbP1LbFRbPb5dVyt2sj71x3WfIeqxwMPXq7ORbyC5aoGCd655yHZJEvy850I23G8Fj-9DBr24ZjjBXCQIkMdzObK/s320/2017-06-04+13.03.50.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trump folks across the street at Schrunk Plaza</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Then, there were the pro-Trump, "Patriot Prayer" folks. Not very many of them, truth be told. Their rally point was Terry Schrunk plaza, which is a federally-maintained property. The perimeter of the plaza was surrounded by very serious federal cops. James Buchal's crazy idea of hiring militias for security didn't go anywhere. Those cops weren't letting anybody cause any trouble.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">When
I tried to enter the plaza, to have a look at the Trump folks, an armored, helmeted, federal officer with a rifle stopped me
and said he must see the content of my backpack. While I fumbled to open
my various pockets, he asked if I had anything that might be used as a
weapon. I showed him my leather-man tool. "You can't take that in
there," he said. Flatly. " Thank you officer," I said. I zipped up my
backpack, turned and walked away. Never have I felt so willing to comply
with an order.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwX2XW9IalKQgTU8DtVRDcL-P9kIvzlJeUs7YcYpsPR1LjtMVHZ_sPNNrqNxtM6iua82J-Io9uwGhf-Ky_hi4AU1D9jtwlnncHt-hhHdp4_wyMWeXE3OBeyHWeuUsCTo8iF35NIV7QXfx/s1600/2017-06-04+12.06.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwX2XW9IalKQgTU8DtVRDcL-P9kIvzlJeUs7YcYpsPR1LjtMVHZ_sPNNrqNxtM6iua82J-Io9uwGhf-Ky_hi4AU1D9jtwlnncHt-hhHdp4_wyMWeXE3OBeyHWeuUsCTo8iF35NIV7QXfx/s320/2017-06-04+12.06.31.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A faux-militia guy in army fatigues. He was one of the Trump ralliers and he was <i>not </i>happy when I took his picture.</td></tr>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I briefly glanced within the federal perimeter and saw 4 or 5 guys in racist costumes (Kaiser Wilhelm helmets,
white capes with racist symbols on them). But they were clowns. They
weren't serious. There were a few loudmouths and a couple guys with MAGA
hats. And some guys with their Don't Tread on Me flags. There was also a middle-aged woman sitting by herself with her hands folded in her lap. She had an honest
face and she looked upset. And there was a decent-looking fellow, maybe a bit older than me, in
jeans, cowboy boots, and a clean, western shirt standing off to one side. He looked to me like an Eastern Oregon
rancher. I admired those two. It seemed to me that they were sincere, well-intended. I felt for them.</span> </span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1k1R7HaE6t7DBQW9Do37SQNccZVgtkVwDuqgmzr75DhX70Ml0TuDQwvs-Ygu_Q9jIZTMrnr6j1JOuUE_mDVchpXZxtvoMOgqKYhaOkQrv7yemCbKAgKBo_VtncidV77yHWCcxlMU01pkO/s1600/2017-06-04+13.02.22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1k1R7HaE6t7DBQW9Do37SQNccZVgtkVwDuqgmzr75DhX70Ml0TuDQwvs-Ygu_Q9jIZTMrnr6j1JOuUE_mDVchpXZxtvoMOgqKYhaOkQrv7yemCbKAgKBo_VtncidV77yHWCcxlMU01pkO/s320/2017-06-04+13.02.22.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The biggest faction was the Portland Progressive group</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">By far, the biggest faction were what I'll call the "mainstream" Portland progressives, who had gathered across 4th Street at City Hall. These were the folks with whom I identified. </span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">This faction spilled out onto 4th Street and extended across several blocks.</span> Most of them were sincere, it seemed. But there were plenty of people who were angry and just looking for someone to scream at. </span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I
met a bald man with a white tee-shirt and an Old Glory cape who wanted
to debate politics. We were in the thick of the crowd, and there was
movement all around.</span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"> "Buddy,"
says I, "I really don't think this is the place." (Ignore the irony.)
He appeared stymied for a moment and then disappeared into the swirl.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CGh9-GXXU-dVpLDXaCZJclYQomlKqCNFguMYm3I3eHSynN_Aqh2CGa33G4APnYpl1YyfNNcz0REwChdsMlC5c1XphJOrj4HMtoNKHG_ltPl3m7rY_b8VV7LsIitHDSdlkEJH7S34gKXe/s1600/2017-06-04+12.10.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CGh9-GXXU-dVpLDXaCZJclYQomlKqCNFguMYm3I3eHSynN_Aqh2CGa33G4APnYpl1YyfNNcz0REwChdsMlC5c1XphJOrj4HMtoNKHG_ltPl3m7rY_b8VV7LsIitHDSdlkEJH7S34gKXe/s320/2017-06-04+12.10.20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heat was on.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Tension was high. And in
highly emotional situations, I detach. It's a defense mechanism from my
youth. The dispassion that comes with detachment reveals things.</span>
</div>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I
saw that there were people there who were on the prowl. They had come
because they hoped something would happen and were on the lookout to find it. They lurked around, waiting and wanting to be offended. That they might<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> </span>beat
their breasts and wail for justice.
That they might then be validated and anointed by the sympathies of
their fellows.<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> Who knows? Maybe they could even get on teevee.</span></span></div>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I
saw too that there were people who were out looking to be scared. People who
wanted to be scared so they could then tell themselves they were being
brave. But they couldn't be brave unless they were afraid. So they moved
through the crowd looking for something to be afraid of.</span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Perhaps fortuitously, my cell phone battery ran low and then died completely. I'd been so busy running around taking photos and absorbing the vibe that I hadn't really assessed the moment. But when I paused amid </span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">the drums and
the chants and the insults and outrage being hurled back and forth I
felt an old familiar feeling. I felt sheepish. Sheepish and foolish and
duped yet again. </span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I'd had enough. So I went to catch the 4 bus back toward home.<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeEDk_mR3sHGuAeEUNtBAtCW__OthZleALLcwtQcTNqcy5MMOQVBiusICCKABNfbrrnD1nKx-JUP2X6GwUWZ9m4rAXcUbRVY1M7E7C3bzy36BV_IXcy0KamMcTMFXB23KmeiY_Qf9ayvp/s1600/2017-06-04+12.01.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeEDk_mR3sHGuAeEUNtBAtCW__OthZleALLcwtQcTNqcy5MMOQVBiusICCKABNfbrrnD1nKx-JUP2X6GwUWZ9m4rAXcUbRVY1M7E7C3bzy36BV_IXcy0KamMcTMFXB23KmeiY_Qf9ayvp/s320/2017-06-04+12.01.40.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready for action.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">We're all just strutting and fretting about we-don't-even-know-what. Just like Macbeth said.<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>
</div>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">The
thing downtown yesterday was nothing more than another <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-portland-breaking-camp.html" target="_blank">tax-payer subsidized extravagance</a>: a big stage where everyone --every
teary-eyed, soap opera queen, every ardent, self-important lead man --might have his
righteous moment. His time in the spotlight. His indignant soliloquy.</span></div>
<div class="x_p2">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span><br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Foolish. That's how it all seemed to me.</span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">I
<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/07/ganja-never-hurt-no-one.html" target="_blank"> torched up</a> at the bus stop. Some vestigial paranoia from a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/04/jury-duty-for-citizen-x.html" target="_blank">different time</a> tugged at my mind as I did so. Police were everywhere.</span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"> </span><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";">Up the street, the drums thundered and the crowd roared.</span></span></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="x_p1">
<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"><span class="x_s1" style="font-family: ".sfuitext" , serif , "emojifont";"></span>"Relax,
baby," came the thought. "Today they got other things to worry about." Thin snakes of smoke slithered past
my lenses, delighting<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> </span>my eyes.</span></div>
Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-60294106961368202062016-11-02T17:03:00.000-07:002018-09-13T11:50:55.100-07:00Senegal and back again<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM3UQ9HskiubOhV83MmKo1YUDnsdCFT3yP_A-g1vNpWp2w_Bi47M1Em4VFZUFi4v7kekZeigWsPg6lZ4HU3jQkcLh9M_mgRrqAlp8gS8KYBa8ItAU6-ktoLPdu6FlaVl6UhEODu_drQzq/s1600/2016-10-31+20.33.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span id="goog_1707601899"></span><span id="goog_1707601900"></span><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM3UQ9HskiubOhV83MmKo1YUDnsdCFT3yP_A-g1vNpWp2w_Bi47M1Em4VFZUFi4v7kekZeigWsPg6lZ4HU3jQkcLh9M_mgRrqAlp8gS8KYBa8ItAU6-ktoLPdu6FlaVl6UhEODu_drQzq/s320/2016-10-31+20.33.58.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-boarding Maty. Near midnight, Halloween night. <span class="_Tgc">Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just back, last night. Sixty-two hundred miles and change. Between the tearful parting on <i>Rue de Impasse</i>, Senghor City, Thiés, and our determined stumble up the stairs back
home, 35 hours.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ICz4uD49zZ9tdnZCi_xVKLL6t3z56dXywk1TqchMLe1EgMPWS3wLowSDfB5_ZMPsQRbr1OmgIAotRPzqx6axlE2aASs2UFB_RpbJA24-tYpNogCBr974mnooUZ8dZEE2a0j3gRt2t1IE/s1600/2016-10-31+21.47.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ICz4uD49zZ9tdnZCi_xVKLL6t3z56dXywk1TqchMLe1EgMPWS3wLowSDfB5_ZMPsQRbr1OmgIAotRPzqx6axlE2aASs2UFB_RpbJA24-tYpNogCBr974mnooUZ8dZEE2a0j3gRt2t1IE/s320/2016-10-31+21.47.20.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myself, contemporaneously</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A grueling passage, with layovers in <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/10/vie-et-mort-paris.html" target="_blank">Paris</a> and Salt Lake City,
and, in our case, an incident with an aggressive Senegali during the
exhausted shuffle from the plane to gate in pre-dawn <i>Charles de Gaulle</i>. The f-bomb was
involved. But my woman is a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2016/09/heart-in-africa.html" target="_blank">strong woman</a> and our teamwork in the moment
proved itself admirably. Even if I do say so myself. It gets better all the time.<br />
<br />
What have I learned?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6hDCel3Y6uy1C8uAAW3lRdT15dTZCB3Scs2LrbHuIlG__FGR32SOV2Htj9FPv2gr9ndciMd50g8bDBnLbO-5AAg8BpPbxuqJq-SDzSxOMXB6Jho2zGRG4IMoyIdjq-V6GZ57vC4q5X1q/s1600/2016-10-19+14.28.36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6hDCel3Y6uy1C8uAAW3lRdT15dTZCB3Scs2LrbHuIlG__FGR32SOV2Htj9FPv2gr9ndciMd50g8bDBnLbO-5AAg8BpPbxuqJq-SDzSxOMXB6Jho2zGRG4IMoyIdjq-V6GZ57vC4q5X1q/s320/2016-10-19+14.28.36.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maty and Mor, admiring the monkey-bread fruit, under the baobob tree, the day we went to Gorée.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Senegalese are a courteous and respectful people. An extended hand is always taken. An<i> as-salamu alaikum</i>
is always returned. Guests are always met
with an offer of food or a glass of minty sweet, strong <i>ataaya</i>.<br />
<br />
We met some North American college women in the restaurant on Gorée. Mama Nene's is an open-air venue, with a thatched roof, blessed by the breezes that come up off the water. Skinny cats prowl under the tables, alert for morsels. <br />
<br />
The women were curious about Maty and me. How had we <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/01/maty-and-i-how-it-all-came-about.html" target="_blank">met</a>? One of them said she hoped to marry a Senegalese man. I understood. Egalitarian Americans are swept away by Senegalese respect and courtesy.<br />
<br />
It comes from their <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/07/islam-is-not-your-enemy.html" target="_blank">religion</a>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0TjDC6Gn6od0h2pDcSSNYfcuXfJKs_caOUVvW0w6A-M6mIorbA_b02iJLWDjU5ouwG9cPYwixWfhwbkVZQxNNitU1G65k9aO1ns_bh4rDl-3OJL7LR1QV70LdLz1HSoTg-pPjImFZuh-t/s1600/2016-10-25+12.31.43.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0TjDC6Gn6od0h2pDcSSNYfcuXfJKs_caOUVvW0w6A-M6mIorbA_b02iJLWDjU5ouwG9cPYwixWfhwbkVZQxNNitU1G65k9aO1ns_bh4rDl-3OJL7LR1QV70LdLz1HSoTg-pPjImFZuh-t/s320/2016-10-25+12.31.43.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Mosque in Touba. (Construction continues, evidenced by the scaffolding.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We went to Touba, where
they're building the Great Mosque. Italian and Portuguese marble. Five
minarets. Three domes. In the Moroccan style. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiealMx2Unt8yX_2m0vC21WWTOpjaqOcTAXL8TpE8EDrILBozpTFZeLYEd96WWUbWZnYTMAsRhJi3Urjup5ShxVqHbydpZdPKMVbbO2BJL61i0oGlqjUA2EhQqT9c-wgCos6oukvHZTZ7La/s1600/2016-10-25+12.17.39.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiealMx2Unt8yX_2m0vC21WWTOpjaqOcTAXL8TpE8EDrILBozpTFZeLYEd96WWUbWZnYTMAsRhJi3Urjup5ShxVqHbydpZdPKMVbbO2BJL61i0oGlqjUA2EhQqT9c-wgCos6oukvHZTZ7La/s320/2016-10-25+12.17.39.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Within the Mosque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
As we drove to Touba, Senegal revealed herself. Heat-soaked countryside. Cattle. Baobob trees. Trash.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAdgwvH15MyH_wf-VmVjSClNlE2w9_b08gNDURZwef5duNpfE06CpGmhlM6_sl0nwvdXhbnnviRngxgaOuGpDSUL4YEqTnmrw-7OjAKWeGJDEP6-4moIPmA3UNdhuj87opbBFeMI_Xfds/s1600/2016-10-25+11.16.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAdgwvH15MyH_wf-VmVjSClNlE2w9_b08gNDURZwef5duNpfE06CpGmhlM6_sl0nwvdXhbnnviRngxgaOuGpDSUL4YEqTnmrw-7OjAKWeGJDEP6-4moIPmA3UNdhuj87opbBFeMI_Xfds/s320/2016-10-25+11.16.28.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the road to Touba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xpe0WreSd4nKcR8iRAm56ZlcusSLKQpV_Q6qKfDzaKWFUXLu7Ham89yliiUlHevQ_CGCxiA1oBdudNoa4ZKu2Y9UiOq44NbGvQyPeKaKNSWDPZDbkpgyl8TFMWjRtXyfKijOPflNR4Qu/s1600/2016-10-29+17.58.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xpe0WreSd4nKcR8iRAm56ZlcusSLKQpV_Q6qKfDzaKWFUXLu7Ham89yliiUlHevQ_CGCxiA1oBdudNoa4ZKu2Y9UiOq44NbGvQyPeKaKNSWDPZDbkpgyl8TFMWjRtXyfKijOPflNR4Qu/s320/2016-10-29+17.58.45.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thiés street scene </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thiés is where we spent most time.<br />
<br />
Thiés is a cacophony of noise and activity. Cars,
trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, and horse-drawn carts clog the
streets. Engines roar, people shout and laugh, livestock bleats, cocks crow,
and at intervals throughout the day, the local mosques broadcast the
haunting call to prayer over public address systems. The ululating voice serves as reminder that order encompasses chaos.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsKsX-OXgR8r0kDGyVneIJNkBgAAnQ5gv1lgRa_d5cX_A6oWb8Zuybz-jVMzGGng6T61wdsKjGj9AIh76ScMCUJbzAWxE9pZA3_qjr0fMmGn9JYIHe_6JtB4BQuxU2GHQ3SnsHF1sCUpr/s1600/2016-10-29+17.48.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsKsX-OXgR8r0kDGyVneIJNkBgAAnQ5gv1lgRa_d5cX_A6oWb8Zuybz-jVMzGGng6T61wdsKjGj9AIh76ScMCUJbzAWxE9pZA3_qjr0fMmGn9JYIHe_6JtB4BQuxU2GHQ3SnsHF1sCUpr/s320/2016-10-29+17.48.52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thiés grafitti</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Every third or fourth car that rambled down the street was a taxi: a dilapidated economy sedan
with a cracked windshield, dented fenders and windows that, as often as
not, would not roll up or down. A ride downtown cost 500 CFA or about 80
cents.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcJ1xv6jvJDAwmNTg2LglALSDesw9ccYyGIzaKacK2vcAIZNxYE0jMl0Yxx38sfON_BCnNCM9JVqyPk4hlizMfmWuxSUQL2cNXSuvTjF9xUA7Q6saL51roxyVq1pG_FZdqPS7KV6xD5rk/s1600/2016-10-27+18.17.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcJ1xv6jvJDAwmNTg2LglALSDesw9ccYyGIzaKacK2vcAIZNxYE0jMl0Yxx38sfON_BCnNCM9JVqyPk4hlizMfmWuxSUQL2cNXSuvTjF9xUA7Q6saL51roxyVq1pG_FZdqPS7KV6xD5rk/s320/2016-10-27+18.17.44.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thiés, from the taxi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For dinner, Khoumba prepared chicken or fish with yams and eggplants and carrots, which she served on beds of rice or couscous. We sat cross-legged on the carpet around the platter and ate with our right hands. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfV4CuGqDNfo-Dh8XrrCVVbxYkEEliHxhcGcb90P7xEmulnrCXsWSmJbAazpT4NlEOYuvvUNFkXDh8L5sYW41PD2fYvNOdt5Vt90akWAWqxvXEOk9aaqi_xbHKWYzvyDfk71xUYBOJPbKz/s1600/2016-10-16+21.15.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfV4CuGqDNfo-Dh8XrrCVVbxYkEEliHxhcGcb90P7xEmulnrCXsWSmJbAazpT4NlEOYuvvUNFkXDh8L5sYW41PD2fYvNOdt5Vt90akWAWqxvXEOk9aaqi_xbHKWYzvyDfk71xUYBOJPbKz/s320/2016-10-16+21.15.23.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My welcoming meal on Mama Diop's patio in Sanghor City. Sengalese-spiced chicken, yassa onion sauce, and french fries. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some
afternoons, a boy appeared at the entry to Mama's courtyard with an
empty coffee can. Maty or Khoumba would give him food. Whatever we had eaten or were going to eat. A drumstick. Yassa and couscous. Rice and fish curry.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7GlXDlWO4fQzIoOg2PyQlk8Yvo9sCEmm0lFrfODSO5urTib654HyEb-k2BZ7vObzYF_YwzFZTQimCBxxx3Bx0Z0nWQjSuXHiOxVx5DN03f9zJTo5JQLTvLjTj5LmTO0m50qxvmThslc2/s1600/2016-10-24+17.27.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7GlXDlWO4fQzIoOg2PyQlk8Yvo9sCEmm0lFrfODSO5urTib654HyEb-k2BZ7vObzYF_YwzFZTQimCBxxx3Bx0Z0nWQjSuXHiOxVx5DN03f9zJTo5JQLTvLjTj5LmTO0m50qxvmThslc2/s320/2016-10-24+17.27.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Khadim</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One day I stepped outside Mama's gate and stood watching the people go by. Suddenly, a voice in English boomed out: "<i>You</i>! Come here!" I looked. Khadim was sat on a plastic chair in the street, in front of his wife's coiffure shop. "<i>You</i>! Come here!" He jabbed both fingers into the ground in front of him.<br />
<br />
I called to Maty, in the courtyard behind me. "Honey, someone is yelling at me." She came to the gate and looked. "Ah, it's Khadim. He wants you to come talk to him."<br />
<br />
Which I did. Our talk was very limited due to the language barrier. But he shook my hand and taught me some Wolof words and introduced me to the neighbors. His wife served me tea. We were friends instantly.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6pEEj4e49dDKqPXirMxWNERNM8aspO5PGzd8Mr7D7UhnJAxQCTgEc4yEPAaKjOGMRrrxnHXDLF7IfeUcEWzs_Htvv-xAvR7FA8uC7EkID3k5dxGEytdCtPcBJEook5NTsbL27QJXabZY/s1600/2016-10-23+10.07.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6pEEj4e49dDKqPXirMxWNERNM8aspO5PGzd8Mr7D7UhnJAxQCTgEc4yEPAaKjOGMRrrxnHXDLF7IfeUcEWzs_Htvv-xAvR7FA8uC7EkID3k5dxGEytdCtPcBJEook5NTsbL27QJXabZY/s320/2016-10-23+10.07.54.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of Mama Diop's neighbors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Senegal. An immense experience. Made all the more momentous because of the love I have developed for my Senegalese family.<br />
<br />
I had not seen Mama nor Mor since 2007, when I visited <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2007/10/this-flat-red-earth.html" target="_blank">Ouagadougou</a> in the year after Maty and I were married. Since that time, Papa Diop has <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/11/may-i-ask.html" target="_blank">passed</a>. And my brother-in-law Pape.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGgZ6cnmU0pCWYFiVN4JZI2YLvKZq37kAeq_r0w7XiTc_LYP_70MDOOQVT5ChSw05PUWcVYdtksguqsxSrZQVBbP25xEWj-pVFLed_1VtNS1q0PkJnyazaLIA_0r_x77CZmjSpFU7swzk/s1600/2016-10-27+13.15.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGgZ6cnmU0pCWYFiVN4JZI2YLvKZq37kAeq_r0w7XiTc_LYP_70MDOOQVT5ChSw05PUWcVYdtksguqsxSrZQVBbP25xEWj-pVFLed_1VtNS1q0PkJnyazaLIA_0r_x77CZmjSpFU7swzk/s320/2016-10-27+13.15.54.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama, plucking a chicken for dinner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mama's limp has become more pronounced over time. Arthritis is not kind. Mor is now married to Khoumba, and they have a daughter, Khoudia, whom I loved in the first moment I saw her. My nephews, Omar and Abo, complete the household. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fUK_BN7ThyIdbH-PlZCAKVDO5UL6tfECYZEyh_9BTRFcuhX4K0D0_XjM_LR7MUMp2EaFSDO5GoLw37SwYq-DPzrZp9dPnkXQTPzoTzEOeFA15OHrAlEHeOKQ1SE3_FPATwads_npomPH/s1600/2016-10-31+16.24.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fUK_BN7ThyIdbH-PlZCAKVDO5UL6tfECYZEyh_9BTRFcuhX4K0D0_XjM_LR7MUMp2EaFSDO5GoLw37SwYq-DPzrZp9dPnkXQTPzoTzEOeFA15OHrAlEHeOKQ1SE3_FPATwads_npomPH/s320/2016-10-31+16.24.01.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mor and Khoumbah, with Khoudia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm humbled at the graciousness and hospitality I received while a guest
in their home. And, sitting here now, in my living room in southeast
Portland, I'm missing Mama's kindness and wisdom, and
Mor's friendliness, and Khoumba's shy smile, and little Khoudia's
sweetness and her face when she smiled. And I loved to carry her in my
arms, when Maty and I went to the bodega for water or juice. <br />
<br />
We're <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/02/oregon-my-oregon.html" target="_blank">home</a>. But I'm thinking about Senegal. And I'm missing my family.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BMUTBIang8Jzy95tdcSQ6rQjtLQO5k6VNOYA2JYqn0PkAoFbvY_w5V19YzroW7AydeT7YdJaKqrM2LDRSYY5w0oDC_NdBRW34U0OuitxtWvdbuw2SNOsISOz4zco6ie_wcGq-FQwRWvd/s1600/2016-10-31+17.15.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BMUTBIang8Jzy95tdcSQ6rQjtLQO5k6VNOYA2JYqn0PkAoFbvY_w5V19YzroW7AydeT7YdJaKqrM2LDRSYY5w0oDC_NdBRW34U0OuitxtWvdbuw2SNOsISOz4zco6ie_wcGq-FQwRWvd/s320/2016-10-31+17.15.24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My family in Senegal. Omar, Khoumba, Maty, Mama, Khoudia (on my lap), and Tonton Modou</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some more photos...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1myEX-pvLegR6E37Ugxb-7Ko3Gopwj9rIDdP9qYSy2oaIIVEchUXPta5U8xM7WNcfTBK24XwEGEwOwFZfVTYiTTPQfE0LlbWFIHEmvqjKfcOGCb7-i19wdRA0aMlx1nicJoYQyecPN7s8/s1600/2016-10-16+12.20.19.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1myEX-pvLegR6E37Ugxb-7Ko3Gopwj9rIDdP9qYSy2oaIIVEchUXPta5U8xM7WNcfTBK24XwEGEwOwFZfVTYiTTPQfE0LlbWFIHEmvqjKfcOGCb7-i19wdRA0aMlx1nicJoYQyecPN7s8/s320/2016-10-16+12.20.19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside cattle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjH71rNMUp_2htb5rQ6UBv95tp_F8JMjHmt0CyNDHJeCVCLNey8x_ImmpMZfTXnwNlF3K6tlQFBpejDkqkV6Sjs04qDCPDGtNNr_XBwkQ4vg5ean8E5E_AnNSWtKsKbvhmKMTNKyccS7__/s1600/2016-10-25+11.34.02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjH71rNMUp_2htb5rQ6UBv95tp_F8JMjHmt0CyNDHJeCVCLNey8x_ImmpMZfTXnwNlF3K6tlQFBpejDkqkV6Sjs04qDCPDGtNNr_XBwkQ4vg5ean8E5E_AnNSWtKsKbvhmKMTNKyccS7__/s320/2016-10-25+11.34.02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rolling down the highway.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqsdZcn87qTgU13xEmaCQxpSEdqvBc1kJzcKx8Y-AedgQtUxCccffczquWtaS7eYDMpbjKHPp8-adg4wyxxjw4qGp09PHIPksObB_lG7hNrxyk2CIX7cw7UC0rjj3DRMGm3mwV_BkTFTN/s1600/2016-10-26+16.49.10.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqsdZcn87qTgU13xEmaCQxpSEdqvBc1kJzcKx8Y-AedgQtUxCccffczquWtaS7eYDMpbjKHPp8-adg4wyxxjw4qGp09PHIPksObB_lG7hNrxyk2CIX7cw7UC0rjj3DRMGm3mwV_BkTFTN/s320/2016-10-26+16.49.10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baobob tree.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQiDxUhDNy73Yp7vxItTX1gVbqNA5K0RMzEaj3WpSUdEva5FVpTmgFq9w1Mx8dn2pqQGPIZBkYRNr_Ihoee3uMdoNnt3OJb9wlsXjNYafhNr29QlJELcbBfEtIRQhveEqRFT8j7IlxcBD/s1600/2016-10-19+15.20.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQiDxUhDNy73Yp7vxItTX1gVbqNA5K0RMzEaj3WpSUdEva5FVpTmgFq9w1Mx8dn2pqQGPIZBkYRNr_Ihoee3uMdoNnt3OJb9wlsXjNYafhNr29QlJELcbBfEtIRQhveEqRFT8j7IlxcBD/s320/2016-10-19+15.20.10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the Gorée beach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6laFwdxkXDQisDktrP6lfJ4a035Sm3W8ZqIFwhEidZ6N0nv_hdqE-4zZz7RZL1KL47nmtUZPGtZmzRj-r6xm8SwyCqln0Q_tgu5vXBjyYSWiYW9Q0Pl58RTQh7ohNMiIKzn8FfMyr6qhF/s1600/2016-10-20+16.39.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6laFwdxkXDQisDktrP6lfJ4a035Sm3W8ZqIFwhEidZ6N0nv_hdqE-4zZz7RZL1KL47nmtUZPGtZmzRj-r6xm8SwyCqln0Q_tgu5vXBjyYSWiYW9Q0Pl58RTQh7ohNMiIKzn8FfMyr6qhF/s320/2016-10-20+16.39.16.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garbage pickup service in Dakar.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUrLdDh69kcoiUXUto_OPQSIDmhJte3PNzX8B_dx2kk3J_7-9iIWawYxtU6455mfMHscNnxCNczG_XYsD1Qqt8rSmZOUPixQ8x_p1DPTcOb23fMwGrFMZTQjGoT2Az2H05U0QY5zAwahZH/s1600/2016-10-16+16.17.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUrLdDh69kcoiUXUto_OPQSIDmhJte3PNzX8B_dx2kk3J_7-9iIWawYxtU6455mfMHscNnxCNczG_XYsD1Qqt8rSmZOUPixQ8x_p1DPTcOb23fMwGrFMZTQjGoT2Az2H05U0QY5zAwahZH/s320/2016-10-16+16.17.17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama's courtyard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDf8QdRQdlBxSWwU0BAnE0cnN37UuhVTiHTsFk5bvVf44KCbNWYM11PuOvugtKNpF5ZP9zJXwFynyYpJ4CgKZKQ3ZKje7NpTnfcX7XIbkBgoNxB9sO2jVFkS2aKUBYJc2W8E7YVMDh7vBA/s1600/2016-10-19+12.55.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDf8QdRQdlBxSWwU0BAnE0cnN37UuhVTiHTsFk5bvVf44KCbNWYM11PuOvugtKNpF5ZP9zJXwFynyYpJ4CgKZKQ3ZKje7NpTnfcX7XIbkBgoNxB9sO2jVFkS2aKUBYJc2W8E7YVMDh7vBA/s320/2016-10-19+12.55.44.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishermen off Gorée.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BQODyuiLYD6wQ3um1ZkVCDYznnQ0sn87oVYHOnbt_-PDdLK4GduTK8USjs-5fmLCWMEVyGFo-HrsnjDMABN4eplhd-GjiegOd8b7DuQyPHKXzQOAeb5XL2rMXNpWAp4s4ilaJ1QFyPO5/s1600/2016-10-17+10.56.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BQODyuiLYD6wQ3um1ZkVCDYznnQ0sn87oVYHOnbt_-PDdLK4GduTK8USjs-5fmLCWMEVyGFo-HrsnjDMABN4eplhd-GjiegOd8b7DuQyPHKXzQOAeb5XL2rMXNpWAp4s4ilaJ1QFyPO5/s320/2016-10-17+10.56.17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rue de Impasse</i> in Sanghor City</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNIkLhI4tD4i69HOPWmH15h6kH0PYCEKYNMpofSOiruV8It4WmaQJcw0fPj285ZJ3D22Weq0K5Ufs83gAGXCNDPk-Wfszak7QnZHIpIxAKpOob2iG0P-PcHBXbCLrEeQwvCD3NQOt8Vjp/s1600/2016-10-18+13.44.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNIkLhI4tD4i69HOPWmH15h6kH0PYCEKYNMpofSOiruV8It4WmaQJcw0fPj285ZJ3D22Weq0K5Ufs83gAGXCNDPk-Wfszak7QnZHIpIxAKpOob2iG0P-PcHBXbCLrEeQwvCD3NQOt8Vjp/s320/2016-10-18+13.44.43.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside fruit stand</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoPy5CA-eE6fKZ3LY8jNjsX8NG0qqlnQ6vm_vEJKOwFpyAkeRd17PjzxIQspx3fkzIYCpsl2DjQVeEBVQ3wsEIKgmgu5YA9so0HWsgnghWcAl87zzfBCbVjvquBvztViEqGZtmIU-qABH/s1600/2016-10-23+10.17.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoPy5CA-eE6fKZ3LY8jNjsX8NG0qqlnQ6vm_vEJKOwFpyAkeRd17PjzxIQspx3fkzIYCpsl2DjQVeEBVQ3wsEIKgmgu5YA9so0HWsgnghWcAl87zzfBCbVjvquBvztViEqGZtmIU-qABH/s320/2016-10-23+10.17.47.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neighborhood kids</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwB842QMlO-eOSfL0o4SW9HNHPj1u8wSkfTxiw3U4qiOTh8ofLeAnJtJi77EcicO2MvPx-i5-AsbHlZEOmiRfc9cmTeJzOVO_NJJgOLpPgWFPiEdufPr01CK7uYGDD-ZSZggILapxfqFG/s1600/2016-10-23+11.57.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwB842QMlO-eOSfL0o4SW9HNHPj1u8wSkfTxiw3U4qiOTh8ofLeAnJtJi77EcicO2MvPx-i5-AsbHlZEOmiRfc9cmTeJzOVO_NJJgOLpPgWFPiEdufPr01CK7uYGDD-ZSZggILapxfqFG/s320/2016-10-23+11.57.13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holy man</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_l0buId1sdb5xmbUsvyWQFy7HBxLkgVgps4v65_UiiawIevXR-ccFW2Mzx6P5LEvEoZj04ocSRVeDu5to6JqBPB2Yg3i1bj3cvWBdzkur-A1FUj_RVAnYP4Opqb4St69SThXTSxyN1KW/s1600/2016-10-25+09.44.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_l0buId1sdb5xmbUsvyWQFy7HBxLkgVgps4v65_UiiawIevXR-ccFW2Mzx6P5LEvEoZj04ocSRVeDu5to6JqBPB2Yg3i1bj3cvWBdzkur-A1FUj_RVAnYP4Opqb4St69SThXTSxyN1KW/s320/2016-10-25+09.44.24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maty, Khoudia, and Mor on the road to Touba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0RVLxLD7qsoC9bUUeKGXdJzVbSKQ5U6qmYMfJKchuCU6l3MtkWGxuGrw77dno6tS5BumR1btU4WOfivO4HSDP6t5JIpnDDFSG6fi3wGKx30nD5Dz8njf7qn7LrW-Vtmy2Hig_AT5HXcSZ/s1600/2016-10-25+12.06.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0RVLxLD7qsoC9bUUeKGXdJzVbSKQ5U6qmYMfJKchuCU6l3MtkWGxuGrw77dno6tS5BumR1btU4WOfivO4HSDP6t5JIpnDDFSG6fi3wGKx30nD5Dz8njf7qn7LrW-Vtmy2Hig_AT5HXcSZ/s320/2016-10-25+12.06.16.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Grand Mosque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-fldk0jiIiVZ4K3G_1c2dcr5CO6rm1C4IyRHG4KVK-N0Wu4SyLh0pOdVyw6xzaHu2GZJpugHbBiRyEObp5G5Nbs1Nm-AX758FEn1biShMJTWE_8jZkfaBJWM051Iyt24XyUNGiZtZmWc/s1600/2016-10-25+18.12.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-fldk0jiIiVZ4K3G_1c2dcr5CO6rm1C4IyRHG4KVK-N0Wu4SyLh0pOdVyw6xzaHu2GZJpugHbBiRyEObp5G5Nbs1Nm-AX758FEn1biShMJTWE_8jZkfaBJWM051Iyt24XyUNGiZtZmWc/s320/2016-10-25+18.12.32.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thiés </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRpcTtyaFrUevr2MrjfUSLaPgDawhTjtlG-tookecUMwq0AIZqzliZsGZC3Tf0t2hRv_6c3TweB79sS7T1EJqUyGF9nTvgO-PmE5TUlqI_KgxWhLF_LOUIsHceCiyyLatsxe7d40jst4t/s1600/2016-10-26+18.26.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRpcTtyaFrUevr2MrjfUSLaPgDawhTjtlG-tookecUMwq0AIZqzliZsGZC3Tf0t2hRv_6c3TweB79sS7T1EJqUyGF9nTvgO-PmE5TUlqI_KgxWhLF_LOUIsHceCiyyLatsxe7d40jst4t/s320/2016-10-26+18.26.15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swimming not advised, in Bandia reserve</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwajL12-zqtVZsiLkpOhD0Rx_86J28qBaJZOua5ou8nM1ml4K2_VE3MyNSYxjnfQr88yeec8FZOMS4EH_5VmDtzEl96tkI0ZhNPCSmXy9LffGap8BT7DdbBRRbIbztfLJlPOxvsY5qpos5/s1600/2016-10-29+16.17.03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwajL12-zqtVZsiLkpOhD0Rx_86J28qBaJZOua5ou8nM1ml4K2_VE3MyNSYxjnfQr88yeec8FZOMS4EH_5VmDtzEl96tkI0ZhNPCSmXy9LffGap8BT7DdbBRRbIbztfLJlPOxvsY5qpos5/s320/2016-10-29+16.17.03.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maty and Khoudia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Au revoir, Senegal!</i>Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-2307155335456662692016-10-14T17:41:00.000-07:002016-10-14T17:41:12.524-07:00Now, the waiting<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeMxuzsKKNmxUAqPKOwiO-Q0Qt-RBlR3krHfYvLj5Oryf1KxjXeuBIiQErviitIvFpKF5NsB6SCJC6Wp2VwpNrka9zWIytriruLtCXyVxkQPnhCBQycZqBU1kDinTJIgnHZkxrXmsXfRt/s1600/56dee13e-8dc4-4465-90d2-43c9471f8472-large16x9_wx4.PNG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeMxuzsKKNmxUAqPKOwiO-Q0Qt-RBlR3krHfYvLj5Oryf1KxjXeuBIiQErviitIvFpKF5NsB6SCJC6Wp2VwpNrka9zWIytriruLtCXyVxkQPnhCBQycZqBU1kDinTJIgnHZkxrXmsXfRt/s320/56dee13e-8dc4-4465-90d2-43c9471f8472-large16x9_wx4.PNG.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Storm's comin'.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Everything is prepared. What can be packed is packed. What can be arranged is arranged. Now, the waiting.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/05/laughter-without-malice.html" target="_blank">Maty</a>, woman of industry, had done the most of it in the days before she left. The tasks that remained to me were minimal. And now I've done. Except for the waiting. Which I am doing now.<br />
<br />
Portland, the Rose City, is waiting as well. Heavy winds and rain are on the way. Local news is breathless with it. Typhoon residue, they say. We may lose power.<br />
<br />
Everyone is waiting.<br />
<br />
In twenty-four hours I'll be waiting in the airport lounge at JFK.<br />
<br />
Not long after that, I will be in Dakar --in Senegal --with my wife.<i> </i>And <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2016/09/heart-in-africa.html" target="_blank">six weeks of waiting</a> will be over.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Inshallah</i>. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-78961164508729157802016-09-27T07:38:00.000-07:002016-09-27T07:58:22.154-07:00Horrific!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH_Q2MyzIbx7WnN6QEQxtau3L9CJzWyrG1ogsa0yj1y9-JQbzKwmnVw2yZSAidmbrrOQYuFpQP2-sSajvHONu6EbRPT_5t8rJv4dSFWN5vYDonsB07SYi_dJtc91tgGLC9ajc8P-JGoeY/s1600/160926224602-20-presidential-debate-0926-super-169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH_Q2MyzIbx7WnN6QEQxtau3L9CJzWyrG1ogsa0yj1y9-JQbzKwmnVw2yZSAidmbrrOQYuFpQP2-sSajvHONu6EbRPT_5t8rJv4dSFWN5vYDonsB07SYi_dJtc91tgGLC9ajc8P-JGoeY/s320/160926224602-20-presidential-debate-0926-super-169.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Last night, the two major party nominees squared off for the first general election debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.<br />
<br />
It was a highly unsettling affair.<br />
<br />
My nutshell impression is that the debate went to <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2016/07/heres-why-its-hillary.html" target="_blank">Hillary</a>.<br />
<br />
Yes, she came across as cold --almost imperious. Yes, her attempts to loosen up (for example, her "Whew! OK..." response to a Trump rant) were calculated and insincere. No, she did nothing to solve her "likeability" problem.<br />
<br />
And yet, she won.<br />
<br />
Or so it seemed to me.<br />
<br />
Trump, under-prepared and undisciplined as always, appeared unhinged. He constantly interrupted Hillary, attempted to wrestle control of the debate away from hapless Lester Holt, and tossed out word salad responses that were largely incoherent. Example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
HOLT: Why is your judgment -- why is your judgment any different than Mrs. Clinton's judgment?<br />
<br />
TRUMP:
Well, I have much better judgment than she does. There's no question
about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you
know?<br />
<br />
(LAUGHTER)<br />
<br />
I have a much better -- she spent -- let
me tell you -- she spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an
advertising -- you know, they get Madison Avenue into a room, they put
names -- oh, temperament, let's go after -- I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not have a...<br />
<br />
HOLT: Secretary Clinton?<br />
<br />
TRUMP:
Wait. The AFL-CIO the other day, behind the blue screen, I don't know
who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of
control. I said, there's a person with a temperament that's got a
problem.</blockquote>
Can anyone guess what he was trying to say here?<br />
<br />
Trump's remarks ranged from ugly to downright destabilizing. For example, consider this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
TRUMP: And, number two, I said, and very strongly, NATO could be obsolete,
because -- and I was very strong on this, and it was actually covered
very accurately in the New York Times, which is unusual for the New York
Times, to be honest -- but I said, they do not focus on terror. And I
was very strong. And I said it numerous times.</blockquote>
One must wonder what governments in France, Germany and the United Kingdom must think when they hear the nominee of a major party in the United States cast doubt on NATO. With his cavalier, off-the-cuff remarks, Trump has managed to shake the stability of an alliance that has held together for 70 years! <br />
<br />
Well, as I stated, I believe Hillary won the debate. But I'll be the first to admit that I'm not objective. To the husband of an immigrant, black, <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2016/09/heart-in-africa.html" target="_blank">Muslim woman</a>, and to a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-diverse-family.html" target="_blank">Mexican-American</a>, Trump's rhetoric was alarming in the extreme. From my point of view, anyone who votes for Trump is expressing hostility toward me and my family.<br />
<br />
But here's the rub: Trump's unscripted, cynical responses are right on the money for those who
are already in the tank for him. This is what <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/10/islamophobia-comes-to-portland.html" target="_blank">those people</a> call "telling it like
it is." Despite Hillary's seeming victory, the polls (which are tight as a drum) won't likely move very much.<br />
<br />
As of this moment, it is unclear whether most voters will be motivated by hope or by fear. Fifty-six days to go, people. Let's see what happens.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-25508641511088522562016-09-13T09:17:00.001-07:002016-09-13T09:21:59.406-07:00Heart in Africa<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipwmR85zK6Y1V589GGuVFnDzNPIfUKt5DTPl_VVGL_BLfp-6xPAJeDejn6wEeTEf43YIDpFBL3RCsm_Ev6m5CjUc6IhTzOJ6NqKzhOxz0j4_vwlKn-Q2zOycdrQgNI9T3SAvO_RuzLw7Fi/s1600/2016-08-27+16.41.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipwmR85zK6Y1V589GGuVFnDzNPIfUKt5DTPl_VVGL_BLfp-6xPAJeDejn6wEeTEf43YIDpFBL3RCsm_Ev6m5CjUc6IhTzOJ6NqKzhOxz0j4_vwlKn-Q2zOycdrQgNI9T3SAvO_RuzLw7Fi/s320/2016-08-27+16.41.31.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bygone moment of bliss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Cast adrift. Aimless and sad. Maty is half a world away.<br />
<br />
I keep myself busy with friends. I focus on work. I take advantage of the liberties afforded by her absence.<br />
<br />
But life is dreary.<br />
<br />
Mundane tasks (laundry, preparing meals, cleaning) are devoid of importance now she is not here to remind me that I matter. If for no other reason than to <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/04/lovell-take-man-down.html" target="_blank">love</a> her.<br />
<br />
I miss it all. Not only the <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/05/laughter-without-malice.html" target="_blank">laughter</a> and the intimacy, but the silly disputes: what to watch on television? Where to go for dinner?<br />
<br />
This bereavement is part of the price one pays when one is married to an <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/09/citoyen-des-etats-unis.html" target="_blank">immigrant</a>. There are times when we must be apart.<br />
<br />
She has people, half a world away, that she loves and must visit. And loving her, I must do what I can to help.<br />
<br />
For her, it must be worse. There is nowhere in the world where she can be close to all the people she loves. Wherever she goes, she is separated by continents and vast oceans. It is this knowledge that keeps me from indulging overmuch in self-pity.<br />
<br />
But today, and for the next several weeks, my heart is in Africa. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-66807672648253555112016-09-04T13:51:00.003-07:002016-09-04T13:51:16.744-07:00ASL: Stalinié Prostori Campaign Game (Pt. I)<b>Note to readers</b>: <i>This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Squad_Leader">Advanced Squad Leader game system</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Greetings, again, ASL players. I present here another series of blog posts dedicated to the hobby that we all love so much. This time, my opponent is Stewart King, another of the former Berserk Commissars, and an old friend. </i><i>We have a Gentlemen's Agreement that Stewart will not read my blog for the
duration of our campaign game.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ld6bTm_KRnptl73Lf5WuBFHGnqQq08CfBbiKUAOFWWkSaUoSRLHPwFRW7jwG2CJIqISFtO9fbCspzaH6aiXpJqZ3AAf36hvdQMSkXuuYAiLXz6cDN-4y_WxUKAZZcVyrfcqNMqXBY10C/s1600/sof1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ld6bTm_KRnptl73Lf5WuBFHGnqQq08CfBbiKUAOFWWkSaUoSRLHPwFRW7jwG2CJIqISFtO9fbCspzaH6aiXpJqZ3AAf36hvdQMSkXuuYAiLXz6cDN-4y_WxUKAZZcVyrfcqNMqXBY10C/s400/sof1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i>Stewart and I will be playing the Tactiques Campaign Game "Stalinié Prostori" (Plains of Steel) which depicts action during the Wehrmacht's Operation Citadel. That's right: the last great German offensive on the eastern front, and the biggest tank battle in history, commonly known as the Battle of Kursk. Stewart is commanding the evil Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler, 1st SS Panzer Division. I'll have the valiant V Guards Tank Army, striving to keep the very worst of the Wehrmacht from penetrating the defenses.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Readers are encouraged to comment! Do
you see a weakness? Do you have a better idea for a tank trap? Proclaim
it in the comments! </i><br />
<br />
<i>Thanks to Rodney Kinney for developing the VASL gaming engine which I've
used to capture images.</i><br />
<i> </i><b> </b><br />
<b>A ferocious fight</b><br />
<br />
I've never played this CG before, but one look at the respective OBs reveals that both sides are "loaded for bear," as the saying goes. The Germans have a huge armored force and elite SS infantry, fully supported by artillery and air support. But my Red Army heroes have plenty themselves: elite infantry, ample artillery and air support, and a horde of tanks. The Russian tanks may not quite match the German armor, but after all, for the Russians this is a game of attrition. Whittle them down in anticipation of the final CG scenario where, hopefully, they will be drained and exhausted by the time they make their push for the village in the final scenario.<br />
<br />
In order for the German to win the CG, he must capture a huge number of strategic locations (building locations, bridges, rubble, and level-2 hill hexes). In this initial scenario, most of the strategic locations are on the northern half of board 10 and on board 24. It seems to me that, with the German forces coiled like a spring for the initial assault, there is little chance of denying them the board 10 buildings, but I'll make him earn them. My hope is to prevent him from gaining the board 24 buildings and the the level 2 hill hexes on board 18. <br />
<br />
So, with that in mind, here is what I came up with.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7S2gapnteAwe3Dy91pBZ3YdNyOoBKzCv9qTiyNCP8YVnMLv5Bt_MwoHHkWgjmjQ8MJgXYSmMR5QO1-TthgM-6WxTcu_Wy-yT1bX0okHUPgbqA6so4rZyCxdWUkEA2XxnBVgey43KYd_q/s1600/russian+setup+unconcealed.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7S2gapnteAwe3Dy91pBZ3YdNyOoBKzCv9qTiyNCP8YVnMLv5Bt_MwoHHkWgjmjQ8MJgXYSmMR5QO1-TthgM-6WxTcu_Wy-yT1bX0okHUPgbqA6so4rZyCxdWUkEA2XxnBVgey43KYd_q/s400/russian+setup+unconcealed.png" width="400" /></a>Here are my initial forces:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Guards Rifle Coy<br />458 x 12<br />9-2, 8-1, 7-0<br />MMG x 2, LMG x 2, ATR x2, Lt. Mtr x 2</li>
<li>Guards Rifle Coy<br />458 x 12<br />9-1, 7-0<br />MMG x 2, LMG x 2, ATR x 2, Lt. Mtr. x 2</li>
<li>Medium AT Battery (depleted)<br />45LL ATG x 3<br />228 x 3</li>
<li>Heavy Artillery <br />150mm </li>
<li>40 Fortification Points</li>
</ul>
All in all, not too bad. My ATG battery is depleted, but I did score a 9-2 leader for one of my elite rifle companies. I have 12 CPP to spend. My purchases are these: <br />
<ul>
<li>Guards SMG Coy <br />628 x 10<br />9-2, 8-1<br />LMG x 2, ATR x 2</li>
<li>SP ART Battery<br />SU 76m x 4</li>
<li>40 Fortification Points</li>
<li> Sturmoviks (!)
</li>
</ul>
This first group of purchases may set up on board. The Sturmoviks will be interesting. Since the Germans
will undoubtedly have Stukas, we have the potential for aerial dogfights, something that I've never before experienced in ASL. But honestly, I suspect that as the game unfolds, I'll be more concerned with German armor than with trying to shoot down Stukas.<br />
<br />
My 80 fortification points are allotted as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>ATM x 7</li>
<li>HIP vehicles x 4</li>
<li>HIP squads x 3</li>
<li>Trench x 3</li>
<li>? x 13</li>
</ul>
Then there are my reinforcements (both purchased and allotted) that are set to enter on the northern board edge on Turn 3:<br />
<ul>
<li>T70 Platoon<br />T70 x 3<br />9-2 AL</li>
<li>T34 M41 Platoon (Inexperienced)<br />T34 M41 x 3</li>
<li>T34 M43 Platoon (Depleted)<br />T34 M43 x2<br />8-1 AL</li>
<li>T34 M43 Platoon<br />T34 M43 x 3</li>
</ul>
Boxcars on my armor leader roll for the T34 M41s! Inexperienced crews! A big disadvantage. But at least it will simplify any future decisions about which tanks to sacrifice, should the need arise. (And I'm sure it will!)<br />
<br />
Now a breakdown of my setup.<br />
<br />
<b>Board 10 Village </b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7ozbDU4n7AhwLy9t1RPI1fTF8WoTkbhIncN4IKfiAdPaD1fy1eQviP2fqgvlWBnv2qVCbSQEWu6LAD6W0sytlAOXFiBfCvfq1KdwKDnAO_eGXOh83-k_0V8kcFZTUoUr7q8FnzabHOTY/s1600/board+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7ozbDU4n7AhwLy9t1RPI1fTF8WoTkbhIncN4IKfiAdPaD1fy1eQviP2fqgvlWBnv2qVCbSQEWu6LAD6W0sytlAOXFiBfCvfq1KdwKDnAO_eGXOh83-k_0V8kcFZTUoUr7q8FnzabHOTY/s320/board+10.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Units surrounded by a red square are HIP</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Given the strength of the attacking force, the board 10 village seems destined to fall. But I aim to bleed the Germans in the taking. And the task of the leeching falls to my largely unsupported elite SMG company. The idea here is to lure the Germans into a street fight. I've placed hidden squads at various points that seem likely to afford street-fighting opportunities as the German tanks come rolling in. I fully expect the Germans will possess this village at the end of the scenario. But the units I've placed here will not attempt to escape. They're not under any illusions. No one will be seeing them in the chow line this night.<br />
<br />
<b>Western defenses </b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREoFwPYvRGhC6PC0Bh6NEw0ZjFHIYlIhIFVA2R7TrXAIjcaRHU0FfNKCuow07Uf6VcV3xnjC4yu-jbW556kmitPEbwdZuk2Oz9XXYzUCWkg39whzXKmnxOL2ImPhhLsbsIThZpvW1_E12/s1600/western+defenses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREoFwPYvRGhC6PC0Bh6NEw0ZjFHIYlIhIFVA2R7TrXAIjcaRHU0FfNKCuow07Uf6VcV3xnjC4yu-jbW556kmitPEbwdZuk2Oz9XXYzUCWkg39whzXKmnxOL2ImPhhLsbsIThZpvW1_E12/s400/western+defenses.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Units surrounded by a red square are HIP</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here, the objective is to place fire on the Germans as they emerge from the board 10 village and attempt to push further north. If the Germans push for the board 24 village, the crest-status infantry in hexes A9-C10 will use the gully to fall back toward the village. The two hidden SU76 M artillery pieces will protect the infantry from being overrun, hopefully. And the 9-2 with his MMG stack will attempt to entrench, but he'll be prepared to fall back to the gully post-haste against a major German thrust. I'm hoping that the board 24 village will prove to be beyond the German tether. <br />
<br />
<b>Eastern defenses</b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgAFuIwmSI7zETcPZtgNxb3uD1ZKrWI-pTvdM9j_W-FOxH1J65KsyQ2OjVnw0lm6zxGnoGFE4amMpgnG6JW60-g4gNOvuGju7d8a5PsC6nVPiNX2s3GXrJFNPfJ6DoFyKySWI-zmJHmxI/s1600/eastern+defenses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIgAFuIwmSI7zETcPZtgNxb3uD1ZKrWI-pTvdM9j_W-FOxH1J65KsyQ2OjVnw0lm6zxGnoGFE4amMpgnG6JW60-g4gNOvuGju7d8a5PsC6nVPiNX2s3GXrJFNPfJ6DoFyKySWI-zmJHmxI/s400/eastern+defenses.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Units surrounded by a red square are HIP</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've strung an AT mine field (1 factor each) on the near side of the forest road that goes through 16B5 and across the gap between the woods masses to the west (16C9 through 16F10). I hope that this gap will appear inviting to the German panzer commanders who might imagine that it will allow them to advance <i>en masse</i> rather than through choke points like the B5 road hex.<br />
<br />
Woe upon them! When they hit the mines, I open up with the 45LL ATG (18E5), the 2 hidden SU-76M SPAs, and the infantry light mortars to the north. That minefield is Hot with a capital "H."<br />
<br />
The 45LL ATG is emplaced on the forest road in 19X2, aimed at the open ground to the west. But his position allows for easy man-handling to 19X1 to guard against a German advance on Board 18 as well. The infantry in the area are there to place fire on the mine fields to the south and to protect the ATG against infantry.<br />
<br />
<b>The hill</b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5-j_ab71LyC1UV7-AcpyHmyu_Rbtv4fgzlyPfVCTvGZ_smteT7310_hjq_tY7RnuyB8U-yoeiORf_1bHZD2IM4WXW8MCQPZ8k6Ey53Jzw8MgBlFSpkTUCYf6SJPMN4R8RVnhgzyqTHWDU/s1600/hill.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5-j_ab71LyC1UV7-AcpyHmyu_Rbtv4fgzlyPfVCTvGZ_smteT7310_hjq_tY7RnuyB8U-yoeiORf_1bHZD2IM4WXW8MCQPZ8k6Ey53Jzw8MgBlFSpkTUCYf6SJPMN4R8RVnhgzyqTHWDU/s1600/hill.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep those binoculars clean, Comrade!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Besides being Victory Locations, the level 2 hill hexes on Board 18 offer a sweeping view of the potential German approach for my artillery observer who is entrenched and hidden in 18Y7. Not only can I see important locations on Board 16, there are some long lines of sight that allow for calling down some 150mm love on the big grain field on Board 33. I have a couple squads up there to protect the field phone observer.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvisJEHkP157k_d2SwgUWiE9lcSO8n_ZFVdtukM3FvKlShKTM_eT1qRmhEU8Ubt0AOyOOIie-evwHA6E_0MbkL2lASqjJUXJQfrUj9HzoYmempu5vMCmuAph4XKSHhjdEbBzjDytTvkLq/s1600/OBA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvisJEHkP157k_d2SwgUWiE9lcSO8n_ZFVdtukM3FvKlShKTM_eT1qRmhEU8Ubt0AOyOOIie-evwHA6E_0MbkL2lASqjJUXJQfrUj9HzoYmempu5vMCmuAph4XKSHhjdEbBzjDytTvkLq/s320/OBA.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nein, Henrich! Not this way....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The idea with the artillery is to drop harrassing fire on the Germans in the early game, while they are massed up. With luck, this will strip off tank riders and impede the advance for his infantry, perhaps separating them from the advancing panzers. Anything I get beyond that one fire mission I'll count as gravy. Subsequent fire missions will drop concentration on whichever tanks are foremost.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAt_HCohMJ8_2CqB5IUrngUMlwguwv2xm-ssYvwsyfxACvRTVxaN95c6VdSE_XvPAkVoskRU9v4qrwBXtlOA6aFN3cSR0gosNIgRmifLANH2M5-Q83RwfB4NCDuWUA8XF6wFDakg56jcnA/s1600/OBA2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAt_HCohMJ8_2CqB5IUrngUMlwguwv2xm-ssYvwsyfxACvRTVxaN95c6VdSE_XvPAkVoskRU9v4qrwBXtlOA6aFN3cSR0gosNIgRmifLANH2M5-Q83RwfB4NCDuWUA8XF6wFDakg56jcnA/s320/OBA2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...nor this!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Reinforcements</b><br />
<br />
My armor arrives on Turn 3 and will enter to confront any German breakthroughs. My tanks are outgunned and out-armored by the big Tiger tanks, but have an advantage in maneuver. The problem, of course, is that Stewart will have plenty of versatile STUGs and PzIVs to engage my tanks as I attempt to flank the Tigers. By the time we get to Turn 3, it will probably be apparent as to where they should deploy. I'll just have to wait and see.<br />
<br />
So, there it is: The initial Russian defense in the Plains of Steel CG. Looking at my forces, I feel very strong. Stewart would seem to have a daunting task before him. let's see how it plays out!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5MjOIEOdLjsNDHVI40I_Q-puMszgQBm0xMNB5jBXlfiRFkn9C7Kyj2rg3L2eXqF8rFL6D_Nl9VuQPgDs0k-FA9DSIAMa83UTIyW7txylsbCes8IZs_Pnh7pqHyRT_hKB2mu5w7A_kdZs/s1600/Plains+of+Steel+July+11+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5MjOIEOdLjsNDHVI40I_Q-puMszgQBm0xMNB5jBXlfiRFkn9C7Kyj2rg3L2eXqF8rFL6D_Nl9VuQPgDs0k-FA9DSIAMa83UTIyW7txylsbCes8IZs_Pnh7pqHyRT_hKB2mu5w7A_kdZs/s400/Plains+of+Steel+July+11+AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gulp!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-9675549948487903902016-08-24T10:17:00.005-07:002016-08-24T10:17:59.939-07:00Sympathy for a foolish young man<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJwJ7pwvi7AT3IjGH7TlhKcOCpHIjiupE7URg9-HvSu33pE0rHjJMIpVkbpocslX-_NUVYY52pf7sErIUdSZXfCZRj5oQIZJNnEONIWFIp_qUPA9u0Uc-j4D9pHFFWLOfLVehZdclFz7C/s1600/2016-08-23+17.04.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJwJ7pwvi7AT3IjGH7TlhKcOCpHIjiupE7URg9-HvSu33pE0rHjJMIpVkbpocslX-_NUVYY52pf7sErIUdSZXfCZRj5oQIZJNnEONIWFIp_qUPA9u0Uc-j4D9pHFFWLOfLVehZdclFz7C/s320/2016-08-23+17.04.45.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Yesterday, when I was out walking, I saw a shrine at the intersection of SE 43rd Avenue and <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2009/09/trippin-through-hawthorne.html" target="_blank">Hawthorne Boulevard</a>.<br />
<br />
A teenage pedestrian was hit and killed last Friday afternoon by a car speeding down the center turn lane, westbound, on Hawthorne. Eyewitnesses estimate that the vehicle was traveling upwards of 60 miles per hour in an area rife with pedestrians. The driver of the car, Abdulrahman Noorah, faces manslaughter and other charges. (You can read about it <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/08/man_faces_manslaughter_hit_and.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
A young life ended and a grieving family left to pick up the pieces of their shattered existence. A terrible tragedy that will leave the survivors, including the victim's mother who saw the event firsthand, forever scarred.<br />
<br />
The shrine, decked with flowers and placards posing impossible questions ("Is your convenience worth a death?"), reminded me of the <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/01/that-dark-solemn-figure.html" target="_blank">fragility of life</a>, of how everything can change in the blink of an eye. <br />
<br />
And while we all grieve for the victimized family, is it impertinent of me to suggest that there might be another party deserving of sympathy?<br />
<br />
I mean the perpetrator.<br />
<br />
I mean Abdulrahman Noorah.<br />
<br />
Almost certainly, he will go to prison. He is forever cast a villain and outcast.<br />
<br />
If he is human enough to care (and the sight of him on the local news, weeping at his arraignment, convinces me that he is), he faces an impossible karmic debt. Even were he to dedicate his life to winning redemption, the odds are long. He can never redress the hurt he has inflicted on his victims. One moment of impetuousness and impatience (Hawthorne Boulevard is
interminably congested on Friday afternoons) invoked his doom. <br />
<br />
It's a terrible fate, made all the more terrible by the fact that it is utterly just. By our human reckoning, Noorah deserves opprobrium. <br />
<br />
But here's the thing. I don't believe he meant to harm anyone with his reckless behavior. Rather, I see him as a foolish young man who made an astoundingly bad decision. When I recall my own youth, enraptured, as I was, with myself, with my priorities, with my desires, I can see how easily I might have shared his fate.<br />
<br />
At 20 years of age, Noorah is saddled with a debt for which he must atone. Years from now, he will undoubtedly remember his foolish decision last Friday, and wish with all his being that he had had more wisdom in that fateful moment. To live one's life like that would be an unspeakable horror.<br />
<br />
I hope my words won't be interpreted as lacking in sympathy for the victim and her family. But I can't help but remember those times in my life where my own <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/07/wherefore-this-penchant-for-self.html" target="_blank">bad decisions</a> have earned me the condemnation of the people around me. It's a lonely and terrible place to be. And it is where Noorah has placed himself, irretrievably, for the rest of his days.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-27706902980149591892016-08-09T08:45:00.001-07:002016-08-09T08:45:54.132-07:00Democrats, say 'no' to complacency!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHDmGxIVGHtwnQj983V2oHszV8hhimzOTMXp8P3ixu5qRC7SQFtuqKLNdVCcC_Qr_bF2qdJcrWhYLMs7iX8CgtmYmqAftWxUbPgi0V1maz5OSWJ7OlEKpeCCly7YR-AHSXFjP-BWdKiP9/s1600/538_prediction.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNHDmGxIVGHtwnQj983V2oHszV8hhimzOTMXp8P3ixu5qRC7SQFtuqKLNdVCcC_Qr_bF2qdJcrWhYLMs7iX8CgtmYmqAftWxUbPgi0V1maz5OSWJ7OlEKpeCCly7YR-AHSXFjP-BWdKiP9/s320/538_prediction.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Hoo boy!<br />
<br />
One glance at this <a href="http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/" target="_blank">election forecast map</a>, created by Nate Silver's organization, <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/">fivethirtyeight.com</a>, and anyone can see that, as of this moment, Trump is on the verge of destroying the Republican party. Never mind the traditional swing states of Ohio, Virginia, and Florida where she's leading comfortably, as of this writing, Hillary is leading in Arizona! In North Carolina! In Georgia! She's on track to win 365 of the country's 538 electoral votes.<br />
<br />
<b>Important note about this map</b>: it estimates the <i>probability </i>that each candidate will win a given state. It does not indicate the polling margins. So, according to the map, Hillary has an 87% chance of winning the general election based on <i>current polling data</i>. She does not have an 87 to 13 lead in the polls!<br />
<br />
If it falls out this way, the way this map seems to indicate --well, that's a blowout. It could very well kill off what is left of the Republican party. And I sincerely hope that it comes to pass.<br />
<br />
But, of course, as the son of an ultra-competitive <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2009/12/way-it-worked-with-dad.html" target="_blank">football coach</a>, I'm well-acquainted with the folly of taking comfort from an early lead. <br />
<br />
So, in the interest of firing up my fellow liberals and progressives, consider what we stand to gain if Trump is routed in November:<br />
<ul>
<li>This would be the fourth popular vote victory for Democrats in the last 5 national elections. Republicans have long known that they're losing the demographic war, but a blowout this year means it's over. It means they have lost. The much-mentioned-but-ultimately-ignored <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/6-big-takeaways-from-the-rnc-s-incredible-2012-autopsy" target="_blank">GOP autopsy</a> performed by Reince Priebus in the wake of Romney's 2012 loss will have proven both prophetic and futile. In spite of <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/05/hillarys-immigration-remarks.html" target="_blank">recognizing the need</a> to build bridges with minority voters, the GOP will have proved itself incapable of overcoming the racism they began nurturing with their infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy" target="_blank">Southern Strategy</a>. </li>
<li>A Hillary victory will mean anywhere from 1 to 3 Supreme Court nominations from a Democrat rather than a Republican. For many years, progressives have endured horrendous decisions handed down by an anachronistic, reactionary court shaped by Republican presidents. (<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/01/supreme-court-ruling-strips-away.html" target="_blank">Citizens United</a> is the most egregious example.) But, with Antonin Scalia's death earlier this year, and with Anthony Kennedy (80) and Ruth Bader Ginsberg (83) getting a little --er --long in the tooth, we have the chance to pack the court with young(ish) progressive justices. As we all know, the Supreme Court molds our national culture as much or more than does the President, or even Congress.</li>
<li>And here's a tantalizing morsel for any Bernie Bros out there who can scarcely stomach the thought of voting for Hillary: if the Republican party collapses, the Democratic party won't be far behind. I wrote a piece about this idea back in 2010 (you can read it <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/10/if-you-want-to-kill-democrats-kill.html" target="_blank">here</a>). My hopes that year didn't bear fruit, but I think the idea is still valid. Quoting from my earlier post: </li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If the GOP ceases to exist, it will kill the Democrats! If the Democrats are deprived of their ability to define themselves against the Republicans, they will fracture into their component parts: labor unions, environmentalists, racial and religious minorities, blue-collar workers, <i>et alia</i>.
New alliances and coalitions would necessarily form, unrestrained by the corrupted two-party system. At long last, progressives would have a chance to make real change. We'd have to do it the way liberals always do: by bringing people together, building coalitions, working with others. But we'd have a better chance than we have now." </blockquote>
Folks, complacency is our enemy. Donald Trump's shocking implosion offers tantalizing possibilities for reshaping the political landscape. But it will only happen if he is not just beaten, but crushed.<br />
<br />
So don't get overconfident in this period when Trump seems to be crashing and burning. The polls (and thus, the probabilities) will change. And, as we learned on that terrible day of November 2, 2004, one must never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-71456062383568760362016-07-29T16:19:00.001-07:002016-07-29T16:20:05.065-07:00Here's why it's Hillary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGj6NxFxUU4PPcx_3al_q-Mn5sUnZ3N0X3cgf-_uKinGBu_Mq3Mmh5My-YEUt_bQtnEEi_6jqXSfYRFYatb1dBzx0M7z3y1x0zH9jNzZZ8pySQbpvxPi6ucsqu7-J-69-U6btnV1Gk8h4T/s1600/dnc_20161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGj6NxFxUU4PPcx_3al_q-Mn5sUnZ3N0X3cgf-_uKinGBu_Mq3Mmh5My-YEUt_bQtnEEi_6jqXSfYRFYatb1dBzx0M7z3y1x0zH9jNzZZ8pySQbpvxPi6ucsqu7-J-69-U6btnV1Gk8h4T/s320/dnc_20161.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Like a whole lot of Republicans, I've got a problem or two with Hillary Clinton. But, unlike Republicans, they have nothing to do with her personal email server or Benghazi. <br />
<br />
I'm a <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2015/05/bernie-sanders-for-president.html" target="_blank">Bernie guy</a>. My issues with Mrs. Clinton have to do with her shameful compliance when the chips were down in 2002. She voted "aye" to the <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2007/07/what-manner-of-creature-is-george-w.html" target="_blank">lies</a>. She cut Junior loose on Iraq. I haven't <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2008/02/problem-with-hillary.html" target="_blank">forgotten</a>.<br />
<br />
But you better believe I'm going to vote for her.<br />
<br />
And, although in itself it is incentive enough, the fact that her opponent is a mob orator, an avatar of the <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2011/03/cookin-up-pogrom.html" target="_blank">ugliest parts</a> of America, is not the only reason I'm going to give her my vote. I'm going to vote <i>for</i> Hillary, not just <i>against </i>Donald Trump.<br />
<br />
Here's why: Bernie Sanders and his supporters won a great victory this primary season. Although they could not carry the nomination, that awoke something. The groundswell of support the Sanders campaign received surprised everyone. Sanders ran a fully-funded campaign, receiving donations from some <a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-sanders-donors/" target="_blank">7 million people</a>! Even with an average donation of $27, that's a lot of money. But more importantly, Sanders won the votes of young people by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/20/more-young-people-voted-for-bernie-sanders-than-trump-and-clinton-combined-by-a-lot/" target="_blank">overwhelming numbers</a>, outpacing Trump and Hillary combined!<br />
<br />
Folks, we're at the dawn of a new era. The Sanders campaign, progressive politics, is the future of the Democratic party. Access to health care, racial and religious tolerance, justice both economic and social, affordable education: there is a great groundswell of support for these ideas.<br />
<br />
Hillary, the consummate politician, can smell what's in the wind. Just as her husband did, when he mastered the art of political triangulation halfway through his first term, Hillary will position herself to be at the front of this new movement.<br />
<br />
And as for the caricature that Fox News and the Republicans created? Well, they've been doing a multi-million dollar hit job on the woman
for 25 years now. One can hardly be surprised that many people believe she is Jezebel incarnate.<br />
<br />
She has her warts, like all politicians. But I believe she's a competent, even an exceptional, administrator. She will surround herself with competent people. And, far from fighting progress at every turn, she will encourage it.<br />
<br />
So, yes, Hillary. Hillary 2016! Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-65743012168190311862016-07-01T08:19:00.000-07:002016-07-01T09:00:23.957-07:00In the end, it will be the racism that kills the GOP<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kqRz85yrJgonNar15k6WJ5N0hnx-nEMCGjQY28F4Dg909BOgrHZPIt2_7NvPcNxnwImVgMeYPNgbDKJhnm6MXHKZlYPDlipko2zHyA8WWbViy0WV-Da94jCI-V_Atcypvf3ON3whw3TO/s1600/151002a-trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kqRz85yrJgonNar15k6WJ5N0hnx-nEMCGjQY28F4Dg909BOgrHZPIt2_7NvPcNxnwImVgMeYPNgbDKJhnm6MXHKZlYPDlipko2zHyA8WWbViy0WV-Da94jCI-V_Atcypvf3ON3whw3TO/s1600/151002a-trump.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just the first of many racist comments by the presumptive GOP nominee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Even though, as of this writing, presumptive Democratic nominee <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/02/problem-with-hillary.html" target="_blank">Hillary Clinton</a> appears to be walloping her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, in the polls I expect that between now and November, there will be enough fluctuation in the numbers to have liberal hearts palpitating like those of frightened rabbits.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, I believe, ultimately, the GOP will crash and burn this fall. In an historic fashion. Because history teaches that any cause that has racism and hatred at the core of its philosophy is doomed to betray itself.<br />
<br />
<b>Example 1: The Third Reich </b><br />
<br />
In the summer of 1941, the German Wehrmacht was rolling across the steppes of the Ukraine, swallowing whole divisions of Red Army troops. The Ukrainians, who had only recently been overrun and oppressed by Russia, at first welcomed the Germans as liberators.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMChnmqNT4QrjL8qg8OTldaGOmgvwUcjSO8435rW4IwQwMWjyJjG607mdjQwfyYjeoHsAnr2XeCLRfTAriDBWboW8SYdNdaVwS8nSuv1lSFWfw7BiDrsWksl8VG3NqaDcwitDd9iD1Ql8/s1600/main_900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMChnmqNT4QrjL8qg8OTldaGOmgvwUcjSO8435rW4IwQwMWjyJjG607mdjQwfyYjeoHsAnr2XeCLRfTAriDBWboW8SYdNdaVwS8nSuv1lSFWfw7BiDrsWksl8VG3NqaDcwitDd9iD1Ql8/s320/main_900.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kiev or bust!</td></tr>
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But they soon learned the error of their ways.<br />
<br />
As bigwig Nazi and lead administrator of occupied Ukraine Erich Koch said: "[Gernans] are a master race that must remember
that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand
times more valuable than the population here." <br />
<br />
Well, the Nazis acted on that sentiment. During the occupation, whole villages were lined up and shot. Men, women, children. Those who weren't killed outright were enslaved and worked to death. If you've got the stomach for it, you can read more <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204160/Darkest-atrocities-Nazis-laid-bare-secretly-recorded-conversations-German-prisoners-war.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Soon, Ukrainians began forming partisan paramilitary groups to fight the German occupiers. No longer were the Germans liberators, but brutal oppressors. Rather than a welcoming populace, they faced a desperate, no-tomorrow resistance that contributed mightily to their <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/05/blog-post.html" target="_blank">defeat</a>.<br />
<br />
The Nazi creed was infested with the cancer of racism. Even as they drove for Moscow, that cancer was eating away at them.<br />
<br />
<b>Example 2: Confederate States of America</b><br />
<br />
Or consider the case of the Confederacy during the War Between the States:<br />
<br />
In 1862, the Confederate States of America were at the height of their success. They had successfully stymied Union advances into Confederate territory. Their morale was high and bungling Union generals seemed impotent against the military mystique of Robert. E. Lee and his lieutenants.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaClL3def1jJ1zjeoZMucVu0T4hR5zq62wz00V7af_xaXWQ_DGTuimixOdz5nX3krH52HBP1QDrnxJ663i64Xlpx4NKWZTOCh1W6VKfoEvn7a-FtomDqJ3Hium5Su-gzlshH-B7Id6p9WD/s1600/a-group-of-slaves-including-men-women-and-children-gathered-outside-a-building-at-the-Foller-Pla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaClL3def1jJ1zjeoZMucVu0T4hR5zq62wz00V7af_xaXWQ_DGTuimixOdz5nX3krH52HBP1QDrnxJ663i64Xlpx4NKWZTOCh1W6VKfoEvn7a-FtomDqJ3Hium5Su-gzlshH-B7Id6p9WD/s320/a-group-of-slaves-including-men-women-and-children-gathered-outside-a-building-at-the-Foller-Pla.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Confederates fought to preserve their "property rights"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Things looked so rosy for Jeff Davis and his gang that Britain and France, ever wary of the growing power of the United States, considered official recognition of the Confederacy as a nation, which would have been a tremendous boon to the "Cause."<br />
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But what stayed the foreign interventionists' hand was the institutional racism of slavery. Britain had abolished slavery in 1833; France in 1794. Slavery was so abhorrent to the British and French populations at large that their governments dared not recognize the CSA.<br />
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The inherent racism of the Confederacy closed off the life line of international recognition that they so desperately needed. Although it took another <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2012/07/gettysburg-exposed-unvarnished-truth.html" target="_blank">3 years</a> for them to recognize it, their cause was doomed from the start.<br />
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<b>GOP today</b><br />
<br />
Which brings us back around to Donald Trump and today's GOP.<br />
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Let's not get carried away here. The GOP's evil is but a pale shadow of the Confederacy's, and not at all comparable to that of the Nazis. Nonetheless, with modern-day racists <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620" target="_blank">flocking to the Trump banner</a> , one must accept that Trump's message resonates with them. <br />
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"[Trump] has sparked an insurgency," frothed Don Black, founder of Stormfront, a white nationalist group.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDZ9KVy2HAqAoGB3ogykATJN4MnnIk5pbmAhx-DFo3572iiNdgH-9erfK6bzueeE-Thve8iBIvI5vxtOBGnxXlpZiHjwgTH_tpif_W-kUJAS_wopnEq6ACDpAqBEZsiA3McypKEqfnXMX/s1600/151207165855-trump-bar-all-muslims-entering-u-s-dana-bash-lead-00002518-exlarge-tease.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDZ9KVy2HAqAoGB3ogykATJN4MnnIk5pbmAhx-DFo3572iiNdgH-9erfK6bzueeE-Thve8iBIvI5vxtOBGnxXlpZiHjwgTH_tpif_W-kUJAS_wopnEq6ACDpAqBEZsiA3McypKEqfnXMX/s320/151207165855-trump-bar-all-muslims-entering-u-s-dana-bash-lead-00002518-exlarge-tease.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making friends all over the world.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With every racist pronouncement that Donald Trump makes, he wins ardent support from a certain element in this country. But at the same time, he drives away people who might agree with his trade policies (such as they are) or who are attracted to his thumb-your-nose-at-authority rhetoric, but who are absolutely repelled by his demagoguery against Muslims, Mexicans, and women.<br />
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Just as the Nazis and the Confederacy enjoyed early success in their horrific efforts, despite any successes the Trump movement may have as we progress toward November, the malignancy of racism dooms it. Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-60762218078678442942016-06-28T09:11:00.000-07:002016-06-28T09:26:35.713-07:00The future of Sound and Fury<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZS2uheDXUJDL94apbLu67hLarCKh79ZIbhs8DSEQPt6SJYZoR0JjKyN20ZuHd-lak9umOZKVsQ1n8wQ4IMJ8wMWMN_n0LZcjtbpKo9ocrYidgOJJs4XQhsxL7-eUFU1r5JR-2s4K07QF/s1600/2016-06-24+09.45.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZS2uheDXUJDL94apbLu67hLarCKh79ZIbhs8DSEQPt6SJYZoR0JjKyN20ZuHd-lak9umOZKVsQ1n8wQ4IMJ8wMWMN_n0LZcjtbpKo9ocrYidgOJJs4XQhsxL7-eUFU1r5JR-2s4K07QF/s320/2016-06-24+09.45.47.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A serene stretch of the wild and raucous Deschutes River</td></tr>
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Funny, isn't it, how things change?<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2007/07/begining.html" target="_blank">Sound and Fury blog</a> has been running for nearly 9 years. As of this writing, there are a total of 1387 posts. However, over the past several years, posts have been a lot less frequent.<br />
<br />
There are a number of reasons for this:<br />
<ol>
<li>When first I conceived this blog, the idea was that I would produce 5 posts per week. I held more or less true to that goal for six and a half years. Frankly, I don't know how I did it. The burden to write something original, that revealed genuine insight, was huge. Sometimes I succeeded, as with this post: <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/03/witchery.html" target="_blank">Witchery</a>. Other times, I mailed it in, as with this post: <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/08/teem.html" target="_blank">Teem</a>. Well, the truth of the matter is that, with increased responsibilities at home, in my social life, and at work, I simply don't have time to throw together (an accurate description of my writing technique) 5 posts per week.</li>
<li>Whatever it may say about my passions, much of the drive for this blog came from my utter rejection of Junior Bush. Anger and abhorrence fueled most of the political posts that I wrote. Some of the more successful political posts included these: <br /><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2007/08/senator-gordon-smith-moderate-hardly.html" target="_blank">Senator Gordon Smith: Moderate? Hardly!</a><br /><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2008/02/problem-with-hillary.html" target="_blank">The Problem with Hillary</a><br /><a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2015/07/junior-bush-still-cashin-in-on-iraq.html" target="_blank">Junior Bush: Still cashin' in on Iraq</a><br /><br />But Junior is gone now. And while an even greater demagogue is at the helm of the GOP, I (perhaps foolishly) view Donald Trump as a joke and the final nail in the party's coffin. (By the way, for what it's worth, I've been predicting the crack-up of the GOP since at least 2011:<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/05/gop-crumble.html" target="_blank"> GOP Crumble</a>.) Watching the GOP die in such an ugly and obvious fashion doesn't inspire passion so much as disgust. And disgust is not the most inspiring of emotions.</li>
<li>This one is painful to admit: I committed so much of my credibility to writing and completing the story, <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2011/07/river-pt-i.html" target="_blank">River</a>, that when I hit a creative roadblock that, try as I might, I could not overcome, my confidence as a writer plummeted. Everything I wrote after that seemed trite and empty. </li>
</ol>
However, I've made the decision to continue this blog. When it was going successfully, when I was producing mostly quality output on a regular basis, I had as much self-esteem and sense of purpose as I've ever had in my life. Further, certain folks (I guess I can accurately refer to them as "readers") have expressed disappointment in my decreased activity.<br />
<br />
So, for those interested, look for new posts. They will appear less frequently than before. (I won't be producing 5 posts a week.) My goal is to produce on a weekly basis. Subject matter will be as it has been: Politics, movie and book reviews, verse, travel logs, Advanced Squad Leader replays, posts in Spanish, posts about family and friends, short fiction. I might even resurrect the River story.<br />
<br />
And so, dear reader, please forgive the self-indulgent nature of this post. There will be more, and better, posts to come. In the meantime, please know that I am deeply honored by your interest.<br />
<br />
With gratitude,<br />
Dade Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119906447472922361.post-41915692827797838382016-05-18T13:29:00.001-07:002016-08-09T09:01:37.398-07:00Oregon comes through for Bernie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRJsZRxAEka3UBWfJnxusSqAFWz8d76hDNMmeb2lj4iE5Ll25le5xz2RqySuKMMoQbuY5w5iZ4XbTUzjJgtfdALGT_s8iGRteUI8skUq6Gqsh3efgVV_K_k85btlbf7eKzbtnHofjwWjS/s1600/by+county.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaRJsZRxAEka3UBWfJnxusSqAFWz8d76hDNMmeb2lj4iE5Ll25le5xz2RqySuKMMoQbuY5w5iZ4XbTUzjJgtfdALGT_s8iGRteUI8skUq6Gqsh3efgVV_K_k85btlbf7eKzbtnHofjwWjS/s320/by+county.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not so fast, Hillary.<br />
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This morning, Oregonians awoke to the news that <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2015/05/bernie-sanders-for-president.html" target="_blank">Senator Bernie Sanders</a> won a big victory in our state's Democratic presidential primary election. Polling data before the election was sparse, but the polls I saw had Hillary ahead by a significant margin. So, this was a big upset. The margin of victory? A whopping 12 points!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwlYXXO7H_eBwjH6JfLAMyqfw0ZJ-uLrHKUHun0laBNjygojQDGNLZyP2atnxpMJXWPBfA-7POFKCN864fCc-j5nB5p_eCPu6HLXn3DqiP-EWkphKgotFpvvJWGlsMB-G0xeUf5TSjKUtx/s1600/bernie+wins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwlYXXO7H_eBwjH6JfLAMyqfw0ZJ-uLrHKUHun0laBNjygojQDGNLZyP2atnxpMJXWPBfA-7POFKCN864fCc-j5nB5p_eCPu6HLXn3DqiP-EWkphKgotFpvvJWGlsMB-G0xeUf5TSjKUtx/s400/bernie+wins.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Nonetheless, Hillary's delegate lead of ~700 delegates still seems insurmountable. The realist in me is resigned to it: Mrs. Clinton will be the Democratic nominee.<br />
<br />
But Bernie's victory in Oregon, especially when aggregated with his other victories earlier in the season, is still important. Bernie has won approximately 43% of the popular vote (or roughly 10 million votes) in the primaries. That's a lot of voters, and it illuminates a very import political reality: Hillary needs the support of Bernie voters if she's going to win the general election in November.<br />
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I'm not among those who believe that a Clinton victory over the Republicans is assured. Hillary's "<a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2008/02/problem-with-hillary.html" target="_blank">unfavorables</a>," on the Left <i>and </i>the Right, are very high. There is a large portion of the electorate that will never vote for her. <br />
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Hillary knows that; and she knows that without Bernie's supporters, she will lose. Even to Donald Trump. So the manner in which the primaries conclude, and the manner in which the Democratic convention is conducted, becomes very important.<br />
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While they march to victory, the Clinton campaign is invested in making sure that Bernie supporters feel heard and respected. And the way to make that happen is to adopt positions that Sanders supporters can get excited about. Access to education, universal health care, increasing the federal minimum wage, Wall Street reform-- these are all issues on which Hillary must move to the left. Indeed, she has already done so on a number of issues. The campaign she is running today has changed for the better as a result of Bernie's success.<br />
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Today, I'm very proud of <a href="http://dadecariaga.blogspot.pt/2011/02/oregon-my-oregon.html" target="_blank">Oregon</a>. We held true to our values in spite of the enormous weight of inevitability. It's going to pay off for us, too. Watch and see.Dade Cariagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13431049944346345893noreply@blogger.com1