All Hallows' Eve

The wind whispers through the trees and the leaves scuttle down the road with a manic desperation as if in warning.  You must run!  You must hide!  For it is All Hallows' Eve, the night of the dead, when out of the shadowy mists of time rise the demons of hell searching for the souls of the unwary.  Witches stir their cauldrons casting their spells of enchantment, vampires scratch at the window panes of the innocent looking to quench their thirst, and werewolves prowl the night stalking their prey.

Get your attention? I couldn't resist. Why is it that so many of us love to scare ourselves silly with the supernatural? Throughout history we have devoted countless hours to books and movies depicting the occult. Perhaps it is that delicious rush of adrenaline we experience when we are afraid? Or is it that stepping out of reality and into fantasy provides an escape from the day to day grind of the mundane? Whatever the reason, we have found a natural outlet in Halloween.

Samhain is the early Celtic festival our modern day holiday of Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, derives from.

Here in the States Halloween is best known for trick or treating, which is a common practice, with kids scurrying from house to house intent on collecting as much loot (candy) as possible.  In Minnesota we have one town which is the self proclaimed Halloween Capital of the World , with numerous acivities , including the Grand Day Parade, which lasts three hours. I kid you not. Woe to the unlucky who make the mistake of forgetting and are caught in town when they block off the streets. The parade's original purpose was designed to give kids an alternative to playing tricks or pranks, which had gotten out of hand. And from there the celebration just grew and grew. For a kid it was always an exciting time, marching in the Big Parade of the Little People, and watching the floats and marching bands in the Grand Day parade. Dressing up in costumes and running around in the dark from house to house looking for the house with the best candy was the highlight of the celebration. I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, the dressing up in costumes or the hunt for candy. Lol!

For most people Halloween is merely an opportunity to have some fun. They have long since forgotten the reasons for some of the customs. But there are still those who believe in things beyond our physical reality, and for them a ghost story may be more than a story. So, if anyone out there happens to run into something inexplicable, this is for you...

Happy Halloween!

Lake Gitche Gumee

I have been so focused on world events recently that I feel I should take a bit of a break and do a post about something different, if only to give us a bit of a respite. After some thought, and false starts, I have decided to do a little bit about my home state of Minnesota. Since we are known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, I can't think of anything more appropriate than talking a bit about Lake Superior. It is, after all, the largest of the Great Lakes and is shared by both the United States and Canada.   Here is a snippet of background on the Great Lakes and Lake Superior in particular.

As is mentioned in the video our city of Duluth is actually more like a seaside port, servicing the large ships carrying goods for export and import.  One of the most popular tourist attractions is the Aerial Lift Bridge, which allows ships to enter and exit the port.  

And this:

Lake Superior, like any large body of water, has been known to swallow ships and their crews whole.  One of the more famous wrecks was immortalized in this Gordon Lightfoot song:

As you can see waves on Superior are to be taken seriously.

There, I have done my small part for the Minnesota tourism industry. :)  

Life Under the Thunderdome

Images of Raqqa

[Source: Vanity Fair]


Na’eem Square

Na’eem in Arabic means “paradise,” but ISIS changed this beautiful public place into the complete opposite. The square that was a favorite place for boys and girls to have dates, for little kids to play, and for the elders to relive their youths by taking in the activity of the city, is now the awful place of spikes upon which chopped-off heads are placed. The story of this square sums up the dark story of the whole city.

The Library

The Cultural Center was built in the 1960s. It has hosted many cultural activities, art exhibitions, and literary lectures since its opening. However, culture is not something of value in the eyes of Islamists. Ahrar al-Sham, one of the Islamist rebel groups fighting in Syria, deemed its strong building suitable for a headquarters. This prompted the Assad regime’s fighter jets to target it.

On March 4, 2013, the aerial attacks damaged and burned the library. Thousands of books turned to ash, and, according to a lecturer at the local Furat University, an entire heritage vanished in minutes.

A Wounded ISIS Soldier

Syria is a country where the concept of healthcare is totally uncommon. After more than three years of war, the situation of hospitals and medical-care centers is simply critical. The conditions of the already poorly equipped hospitals in Raqqa are serious—just like the conditions of their patients. Under such circumstances, the state-owned National Hospital is the hospital upon which the whole city depends.

Unlike other shortages, the lack of various kinds of medicine categories is severely fatal. Hospitals in Raqqa witnessed numerous deaths that would have been avoided if the required drugs and specialists were available. And with the ISIS threat to foreign aid-work organizations, the situation is descending from bad to worse. However, the National Hospital provides medical treatment not only for civilians but for ISIS fighters as well. 

I was going to place this in the comments section, but I felt it deserved a post of its own.  As we watch the fighting from the safety of our homes far away I felt we should be reminded of what the unleashing of ISIL has entailed for the people living under their rule.  And what it means for others in the region.