Talking back

Talking is a foundation of relationships. Yet words can betray us, too, especially if we don't completely understand the meanings and how they're received.

Besides parrots, a few songbirds can mimic human speech - including the Hill mynas, common mynas, some crows, European starlings, the Northern mockingbird. Among the top 10 talking birds, the Hill Myna is the only non-parrot.

The birds that speak are typically young, and the words are limited. Researchers may debate over just how much the birds understand, but the mynas seem to have minds of their own. They can pick up the odd phrase and surprise and reject phrases despite repeat recitations and pleas. Kaleo is a talking myna who goes through a repertoire of insisting he is a "turkey talker," a duck and a chicken - and it's hard to believe the bird does not understand some of what is saying.

The Hill myna, Gracula religiosa, is a native of south Asia - including Afghanistan and India, reports Encyclopedia.com. "Hill Mynahs are sought, in the west, as pets, because of their endearing mimicking of the human voice. Ironically they are rarely encountered in pet shops as demand hugely outstrips supply," notes GarrettPhelan.com.

Common mynas are less prone to taking and have been introduced to other countries, including Australia and South Africa, to eat insects, but now are regarded as pests themselves when they attack fruit crops. But the bird is adaptable. "The common mynah is one of the very few species that have greatly benefited from the sorts of ecological changes that humans are causing on Earth," Encyclopedia.com.

Mynas are believed to mate for life. The average lifespan is 12 to 25 years.

Animals can serve as  mirrors for their human caretakers, reflecting nature, moods and basic needs all very much in the present rather than past or future.

Talking about the future too much can disappoint or mislead. So-called goal-setting exercises may not be a good idea and dreamers should be especially wary when talking about big goals "Repeated psychology tests have proven that telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen," said  Derek Sivers in a TED Talk. He explains how talking about a goal can trick the brain into a feeling of accomplishment - long before the work is completed - and that diminishes motivation. "Ideally, you would not be satisfied until you had actually done the work. But when you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge it, psychologists have found that it's called a 'social reality.'"

Conversation should serve both parties - and the talking mynas abide by most elements of a good conversation: relying on words familiar to the listener, keeping an even tone that is respectful, sticking to the point. Cocking their heads, they definitely sound and look as if they are interested in what others have to say. But the myna can't resist being the center of attention and they do not understand open-ended questions. They also tend to change the subject, repeat a lot, and ask too much.

Talking may not be doing, but it is about connecting.

I first saw a myna bird many years ago at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. This tropical bird was kept in a display case that was two meters in height, width and depth - with a microphone. The walls were white and the Hill myna was alert, waiting on its roost for passersby. Sometimes the bird spoke and sometimes it did not. Sometimes the myna would speak only once the visitor started to walk away. Other times, the myna was on a roll, repeating words while cocking its head to listen.

I was only six years old at the time. but I felt sorry for the bird alone in its case. I visited the National Aviary earlier this year and asked about the myna but the staff members did not remember a creature who was once the popular star of the place. This is the myna I remembered for the scenes in Allure of Deceit.

Photo of Hill myna courtesy of  Spencer Wright and Wikimedia Commons; photo of parrot and open indoor space, courtesy of the National Aviary and D. Olsen. 

Heartbreaking

In Allure of Deceit, an antagonist incites murder of a rival by finding extremists and suggesting the woman destroyed a copy of the Koran.

Farfetched? Not really.

"Six-hundred people were charged today for the gruesome murder of a Pakistani Christian couple accused of desecrating the Quran in Punjab province," reports the Economic Times in India. The man and his pregnant wife, in their 30s and parents of four, were beaten and burned alive in a brick kiln where they worked after announcements in "two mosques of the village that Shahzad and his wife had committed blasphemy by burning pages of the holy Quran."

Entire families take on debt to work in such kilns. "According to the U.N., 21 percent of the population of  Pakistan lives below the poverty line and some are left with no choice but to take out loans in exchange for labor," reports the Borgen Project, which urges global leaders to make endign poverty a priority. "These loans can have very high interest rates, creating a cycle of bonded labor. Workers labor in the hot sun to pay off their debt and, many times, their family’s debt, which can be passed down through the generations."

Lies can be a form of self-defense or a motive for murder.

Photo courtesy of the Borgen Project.

Life imitates art

Authorities arrested 13 people in a Greater Manchester trafficking ring run by a gang, reports the BBC News. A 20-year-old woman from Slovakia was tricked into thinking she was traveling to visit a sister:

"She was met by a man who claimed to be her sister's friend and was taken to an address in Failsworth, Oldham before being sold to another man. In July, she was married under Sharia law in Rochdale. The woman was later taken to hospital for an appointment by a woman who acted as an interpreter and told staff she wanted an abortion."

An interpreter at the hospital uncovered the plot. Some gangs suggest that a pregnant wife is useful for securing immigration status in the UK.

Imagine the vulnerability of young women in a country where the CIA World Factbook reports the overall literacy rate is 28 percent,  12.6 percent for women; where the child labor rate is 25 percent; where more than 60 percent of the population is under the age of 24; the unemployment rate is estimated as high as 35 percent; and one third of the population lives below the poverty line.  Imagine a land where there is one physician for every 5000 people, one nurse or midwife for every 10,000 and one hospital bed for every 2000 people, as reported by the World Bank, with rates much lower for rural areas. The rates for Afghanistan are but a fraction of what's available in the developed nations like the United Kingdom.

Allure of Deceit is set in Afghanistan. No one should suggest that the tale of a sham abortion that haunts one caregiver, ruining the lives of many, is unrealistic.

Photo by Todd Huffman and from Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic license. He writes: "A woman in conservative parts of the country without male support can do nothing but beg to survive."

Vote

US voters head to the polls on Tuesday, and their decisions have influence over daily routines for Americans and sometimes for the rest of the world - from climate change to global security:

"As globalization’s forces buffet the world..., the internal politics of any state can permanently alter course for other nations."

On the ballots is every seat for the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate. But turnout is low for the mid-terms when the presidency is not being decided: 37 percent of registered voters turned out for the 2010 congressional race compared with 54 percent for the 2012 presidential election, reports the Pew Research Center.

Compare that to Afghanistan turnout, despite threats of Taliban violence: 50 percent in the 2014 presidential race, 29 percent in the 2010 parliamentary race and 67 percent in the 2004 presidential race.

The percentage of women voting was 35 percent in the first round and 38 percent for the second.

Voting is not compulsory in either country.

Intervention

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair questions the role of religion in politics, specifically Islam, and laments the lack of western support for military intervention against Islamic extremism.

The speech is less than convincing because of at least three contradictions that make foreign policy in the Middle East so challenging. 

First, he asserts the Middle East "remains of central importance" and "cannot be relegated to the second order." The first reason is global dependence on energy and a fourth is, "It is in the Middle East that the future of Islam will be decided. By this I mean the future of its relationship with politics." Saudi Arabia has the second largest reserves of oil in the world, the largest in the Middle East, and the country is governed by monarchy, enshrining inequality, funding extremist schools and exporting extremist theology to other Muslin nations: "For the last 40/50 years, there has been a steady stream of funding, proselytising, organising and promulgating coming out of the Middle East, pushing views of religion that are narrow minded and  dangerous. Unfortunately we seem blind to the enormous global impact such teaching has had and is having."

Even so, the United States and Britain continue to export arms to Saudi Arabia, despite grave human rights concerns and little assurance that those weapons won't land in the hands of extremists and be used against any sent to intervene. Education and trade cannot flourish without adequate security, true enough, but can leaders like Blair assure taxpayers in the west that such weapons won't be turned against political opponents, citizens or peacekeepers?

The US provides more military than economic aid to Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq and Egypt.


Second, in regard to the stream of funding and proselytizing coming out of the Middle East, made possible with oil profits, Blair mentions a time period - "40/50 years."  The influence from such extremist education was not overnight. Changing hearts and attitudes does not come fast. Fortunately or unfortunately, education and trade and cultural exchanges as simple as conversations can have more lasting positive influence on societies than unnecessary military intervention.

The nonmilitary interventions do take time - along the line of about 40 or 50 years.

Third, Blair urges modernization and democracy early in the speech: "Democracy cannot function except as a way of thinking as well as voting. You put your view; you may lose; you try to win next time; or you win but you accept that you may lose next time." And yet he criticizes the ideology emanating from the Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt, formed a political party shortly after the Arab spring protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak - a dictator long supported and funded by the west - and won the the nation's first democratic election. Yes, bad governance followed, but much came at the behest of a democratic election. Blair points to "a Titanic struggle going on within the region between those who want the region to embrace the modern world – politically, socially and economically – and those who instead want to create a politics of religious difference and exclusivity.... This is what makes intervention so fraught but non-intervention equally so."


Democracy and modernization do not go hand in hand, and votes throughout the Middle East would show that many indeed would oppose Mr. Blair's definitions of modernization. 

Mr. Blair is right on several points: Many people in Muslim countries, including the devout, oppose the desperate, bullying extremism. Chaos in one place spreads instability and extremism throughout the region. Also, as he says, "We have to stop treating each country on the basis of whatever seems to make for the easiest life for us at any one time."

He maintains that "the world of politics is uncomfortable talking abut religion" and that some say the problem is more political than religious. He adds that the terminology is inadequate, which an lead to misinterpretation, "so that you can appear to elide those who support the Islamist ideology with all Muslims." He claims to be fascinated by analysts' efforts to view the issues in the Middle East as "disparate rather than united by common elements," not really about Islam, not really about religion.

In one part of the speech, Blair suggests the problem is not Islam, but religion that fails to tolerate other beliefs with no social harm: "There is a wish to eliminate the obvious common factor in a way that is almost wilful." He notes that a strict Islamist agenda may not advocate for violence, but the "overall ideology is one which inevitably creates the soil in which such extremism can take root" and a few sentences later, he concludes that the days for such extreme interpretations of Christianity have been eradicated from politics.


Blair suggests that many "look at the issue of intervention or not and seem baffled." Yet those who take the time to examine more than just recent history, combined with the role of their own countries in the region and the fast, frightening pace of globalization, are less baffled.  More baffling is whether it's possible to engage in political conversation about religion and resolve anything of substance among citizens of different faiths. Should multiple and competing religions intervene in politics and how so? 

Blair concludes: "Engagement does not always mean military involvement. Commitment does not mean going it alone. But it does mean stirring ourselves. It does mean seeing the struggle for what it is. It does mean taking a side and sticking with it."


It's uncertain if the the citizens of the west could agree on a "side" and Blair's speech is not clear on exactly what that side should be, although he does offer recommendations on conflict in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and the Middle East peace process - much of which is more of the same methods of intervention.

Blair probably would not agree, but consistent foreign policies coming from the west, cutting off aid, trade, support when recipients violate agreements or human rights, could be helpful. Otherwise, we return full circle to what he earlier claims to oppose: "treating each country on the basis of whatever seems to make for the easiest life for us at any one time."

Photo of Jordanian with MI-19 40 mm grenade launcher during Exercise Bright Star 2009, a bilateral weapons exchange in Egypt, courtesy of US Marine Corps and Wikimedia Commons.  Data on foreign aid from USAID. 

Favoritism

No, it's not your imagination, but a central and age-old facet of human and organizational behavior in business, government, academia:

A group shares a task. and often one member of the group is the manager or coordinator. Sometimes, these managers hoard information, applying it to their specific assignments, withholding details and benefits from others. That manager also may cherry-pick assignments, avoiding challenges and judging assess in advance. The manager is calculating about when to help an in-group and when to work with an out-group. The manager's efforts to look smart and successful often undermine the organization as a whole. Some members of the out-group will try to join the in-group, but others will drop out of the charade, no longer offering necessary support and critical ideas as they set out on their own, while seeking alternative pay-offs.


"The Evolution of In-Group Favoritism" is a fascinating study of such calculating ways that analyzes such group dynamics with game theory:

Across a variety of scenarios, people tend to be more helpful to members of their own group rather than to those of other groups^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. In-group favoritism has been shown to occur based on real-world salient groupings, such as ethnicity⁶, religiosity⁷ and political affiliation^{4, 8}, and has also been artificially manufactured in the laboratory using trivial groupings¹ ....

In-group bias is common, yet the implementation of that bias is dynamic and flexible^{8, 25, 26}. Thus culture and cultural evolution²⁷ must play an important role in the evolution of bias. The dynamic nature of bias results from complex social network interactions which play a central role in human societies^{28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36}, with genetic as well as social components affecting network formation^{37, 38, 39}. Such network dynamics can turn yesterday's allies into today's competitors, and drive former enemies together in the face of a common threat.

Many endeavors allow only one set of winners.

But other endeavors might prevent an array of categories with the perception of "winning." The leader may focus keenly on one aspect for the in-group, say sales, while neglecting other categories, such as long-term reputation or acclaim. Focus on the in-group can inspire members of the out-group to tackle new categories of winning neglected by the calculating leader. And they may also appeal to outside arbiters.

Dynamics of groups can shift as in transforms to out and out transforms to in. In the end, all the favoritism, unfair processes and corruption can be dangerous, simply serving to motivate members of the out-group and strengthen their resolve.

So many scientific studies offer intriguing topics for mystery novels, and this is one of those studies. 

Image of Joseph from the Old Testament, being thrown into a pit by 12 brothers who resented their father's favoritism, by David Colyn in 1644, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Independence

An 1851 entry from the diary of Linka Preus of Norway, the night before her wedding: "A human being is a free and independent creature, and I would recommend that every woman consider this, and I insist that every maiden owes it to herself to do so . . . Rarely will it be to her disadvantage if she combines it with determination and self-confidence."

Another entry in the diary - about assisting a farmer girl who was alone, taking her on as a maid - inspired Preus's  great-great granddaughter, Margi Preus, to write West of the Moon, the story of Astri who runs away after being sold to a cruel goatman.  Preus describes her inspirations and ponders the influence of Norwegian folktales on children's character for Write All the Words! for International Women's Week.

The events that unfold from determination and self-confidence, escape and rescue, observation, assessment and transformation - are the building blocks to plots. Strength of character comes in many forms across cultures - and words like independence, agency, empowerment may not suit all women. We must test our assumptions, because "more often than not, it’s much easier to see and question the traps and obstacles awaiting women of another culture rather than our own," as suggested by another post in the same blog For some protagonists, the risk comes in testing accepted assumptions and new awareness, because as Honor McKitrick Wallace suggests: “Recognition and articulation of one’s desire can be a quest in and of itself."

And the discoveries that come from reading and writing are one of the ways to challenge our assumptions and routines.

By the way, the etymology of the word "assumption" is intriguing in relation to this topic. 

Image of the Assumption of Mary, oil on canvas, 1558, by Paolo Veronese, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Read all the posts for International Women's Week in E. Kristin Anderson's blog, Write All the Words!

Tough road

Afghanistan does not have many roadways but the few it has are treacherous -  a result of both roadside attacks and poor maintenance.

"Since 2012, the United States has refused to fund the Afghan government’s road maintenance projects because it has no faith in the country’s ability to perform even simple tasks, such as dispatching a contractor to fill in a pothole or repaving a stretch of highway," reports Kevin Seiff for The Washington Post. He adds that the US continues to build new roads to assist the economy. "The new, U.S.-built highways seemed to be a godsend for this impoverished nation. But the projects became notorious for their exorbitant costs and poorly implemented contracts."

Taliban fighters target the roads, knowing that they are security priority. Military vehicles patrol the road and regularly clear them of IEDs. Highway 1 is the "lifeline," suggests a member of the US Army’s 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry in a report from Alexa Pena for Stars & Stripes. As US troops prepare to leave this year, responsibility for patrols and checkpoints is being handed over to Afghan troops.

More than two thirds of Afghans live within 30 miles of Highway 1. The highway, also known as A01 is 2,200 kilometers, circling the country, connecting major cities. In the sequel to Fear of Beauty, two characters travel Highway 1 from east of Lashkar Gah in Helmand to Kandahar, and only one returns to the small fictional village of Laashekoh.

Photo of Highway 1 reconstruction in 2003,  courtesy of USAID and Wikimedia Commons. Screenshot of the 137-kilometer stretch of Highway 1 between Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, courtesy of Google Maps.

Search results

Search engines are a tool, and the makers not only try to please users but earn revenue and gain market share.

"On Tuesday, campaigners at FreeWeibo, a tool that allows uncensored search of Chinese blogs, revealed that Bing returns radically different results in the US for English and simplified Chinese language searches on a series of controversial terms,” reports Dominic Rushe for The Guardian.. Microsoft called it a system error.

Readers commented, one pointing out that searches for specific religions like "Catholic" or "Methodist" on Google produce maps showing the location of the nearest church. But a search for "Islam" or "Judaism" produced no similar map - even though an Islamic center is less than 2 miles south from the search location and the nearest synagogue is 1 mile north. A quick search on Bing and Google confirmed the commenter's observation. Christians and others also complain about negative search results. 

Alert users quickly detect the online discrepancies.  

Such exercises are a good reminder that search engine users should be vigilant - and that search results are only as good as the user. Search engine firms tweak algorithms, varying the results produced. Emphasis is placed on a users's own recent searchers. Discrepancies are to be expected. Vary search terms - for example, Rushe describes how Chinese users use "June 4" to get around blocks on "Tiananmen Square." Users should check multiple sources, and results should be double-checked and confirmed.

As Paul Gil notes, legitimate research requires more than a 10-second search on Google or Bing. Rushed results can lead to rush to judgment - both easy to avoid with a few more clicks.

Screenshots of Google searches for "Catholic" and "Islam."

Honored

Fear of Beauty has been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award from Mystery Writers of America and a Lovey for Best Suspense Novel by the Love Is Murder Conference in Chicago.

Illiteracy is a natural topic for suspense. And what an honor that the judges from Mystery Writers of America determined Fear of Beauty's protagonist, a woman in rural Afghanistan who is desperate to learn how to read, meets the MHC Award qualifications: an independent young woman whose life is disrupted and she must solve her problems with independence and courage.

Mary Higgins Clark is the best-selling author of 42 books, a legend whose work and life story have inspired many readers to try their hands at writing. Stories like Where Are the Children? and A Stranger Is Watching terrify yet steadfastly resist violence. 

"Here are some things you'll never find in a Mary Higgins Clark novel: an unmarried couple living together, a curse word, a body hacked to pieces. By today's standards, Ms. Clark's thrillers are quaint throwbacks, more in the Agatha Christie mold than the blood-curdling, titillating fare." So goes the lead to a profile of Mary Higgins Clark, "The Case of the Best-Selling Author," by Alexandra Alter for the Wall Street Journal. "Yet Ms. Clark—who at 83 still churns out at least one book a year—remains as lucrative a brand as ever." 

To be mentioned on the same page with such a writer is a huge honor.

And much thanks to Diana Belchase for her interview "Afghanistan, Women, Illiteracy, and Murder." She writes: "Susan’s books are full of current issues and vibrant people whose struggles and passion for life and justice keep you turning pages.  Her background as a journalist mixes with her literary talent to bring factual stories that both break your heart and exemplify the ability of people to endure and succeed in the most dire circumstances."

Photo of Diana Belchase and Susan Froetschel, courtesy of Diana; photo of Mary Higgins Clark in 2012, courtesy of Alvintrusty and Wikimedia Commons.

Corruption

The future of Afghanistan is in jeopardy, because of poor governance and basic hunger.  UN data suggest that 55 percent of the country's children have stunted growth because of hunger. 

"The statistic is a damning one for western powers that have poured billions into Afghanistan to fund development and reconstruction. The US alone has spent $90bn (£54bn)," reports Emma Graham-Harrison for the Guardian. "Such funding aimed to modernise Afghanistan, but return on the spending seems to have been low."

Not so much damning, but frustrating and challenging. Such funding from afar will slow if the Afghan government can't reduce waste and corruption. The funding will vanish if Taliban extremists resume control.

Surveys suggest that Afghans view corruption along with insecurity and unemployment as an even more pressing challenge than poverty, suggests the United Nations. Yet corruption is embedded in the culture, suggests the UN Office on Drugs and Crime:

While corruption is seen by Afghans as one of the most urgent challenges facing their country, it seems to be increasingly embedded in social practices, with patronage and bribery being an acceptable part of day-to-day life. For example, 68 per cent of citizens interviewed in 2012 considered it acceptable for a civil servant to top up a low salary by accepting small
bribes from service users (as opposed to 42 per cent in 2009). Similarly, 67 per cent of citizens considered it sometimes acceptable for a civil servant to be recruited on the basis of family ties and friendship networks (up from 42 per cent in 2009).

Corruption erodes community trust, and yet tolerance for corruption remains high in Afghanistan and contributes to poverty and misdirection of resources. Hunger is the most basic problem, one that hampers student learning and worker productivity. The CIA World Factbook lists other statistics that point to a weak, yet dangerous place: The country's literacy rate hovers around 40 percent.  Unemployment stands at about 35 percent. Half the population is under the age of 18. The average number of children among women is five. The country produces 90 percent of the world's opium and more than 5 percent of the population may be addicted.

The harsh truth is that only a fraction of any funds directed at Afghanistan will achieve their intended purpose, and donors must decide how to proceed. Weak governance and high levels of corruption ensure uncertainty in future foreign aid for Afghanistan.

Photo of member of US Army medical unit treating a malnourished child, 18 months old, in Afghanistan, courtesy of Capt. John Severns and Wikimedia Commons.

Cultural divide

My maternal grandmother was meticulous at ironing. Once I showed up at her home in a favorite pleated skirt, worn despite having fallen crumpled to the closet floor. She ordered me to change, then arranged the skirt on the ironing board. Pinching more than thirty pleats in turn and restoring the sharp lines, she made my skirt look brand new again.

More than once my grandmother shook her head about my reliance on a dryer to remove wrinkles. But she was also proud that neither she nor her grandchildren had to iron or cook or clean for a living.

Grandma had learned ironing from her mother, who had traveled to the United States from Ireland to work in a wealthy Pittsburgh household. For my great-grandmother, perfection in ironing and other household tasks was a survival skill that she passed along to her children. Many in the United States are children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of immigrants. We've heard the stories of our ancestors and respect the skills and the workers. We take pride in our homes and DIY, doing the work for ourselves, whether our role model is Erma Bombeck or Martha Stewart or Heloise Bowles Cruse. Sharing household tasks brings families closer together.

And so it comes as no surprise for many Americans that the Indian diplomat who underpaid a maid was quickly indicted and then allowed to return to India. India's outrage over the arrest of a diplomat in New York City has done more to highlight the plight of domestic workers than an international treaty that went into force last September or detailed reports. Before travel abroad, students and diplomats alike should review advice about social customs. As I wrote for the Asia Sentinel: 

"Many in India have argued that low wages for Indian diplomats justify low wages for domestic help and the United States could have handled the matter with more sensitivity. Critics in the developed world counter that the diplomat who cannot afford basic fair wages for a live-in domestic help should do without.... in a highly interconnected world through travel and communications, a single high-profile arrest unleashed globalization’s force to expose troubling cultural differences, ensuring that cross-border work arrangements and visas will receive more scrutiny – at least for a while."

From left in photo: Great-grandma Mary, Grandma Sarah and mother Jeanne in Pittsburgh, circa 1952. 

Rigid

As an editor, working to display others' voices in print, I try to avoid the traps of rigid rules. I ask questions and propose alternatives and present my reasons, and nineteen times out of twenty, the writers tend to agree. And as a writer, I deeply appreciate editors, following most of their advice and offering reasons and my thought process for the few points on which we may not agree. 

Such is the writing-revision-editing process.

But some readers and writers try to impose restrictions on the choice of story or basic elements like setting, protesting themes or methods or research before the words even hit the paper. And this I resist, and I'll continue to rebel against such rigid attitudes fiercely. 

Virginia Pye writes about one category of writer-reader for the New York Times: "When I tell people that I have recently published a novel set in China, one of the first questions they ask is whether I’ve been there. My response seems to be a letdown. The expectant look on their faces shifts as they wonder why I chose to write about a place I’ve never visited. Sometimes I sense incredulity. What makes me think I can write about China?"

And Pye goes on to describe the beautiful and good reasons why China as a topic tugged at her, much how I described being drawn to write about Afghanistan despite having never traveled to the country. Readers don't have to read books written by those who have never traveled to those settings, but shrill demands that we stop writing about certain topics can only be described as censorship. 

I commented on Pye's article: 

"A story about a woman desperate to learn how to read cried out to be told, and a trip of a few weeks or months could not have compensated for imagination and my own life experiences with literacy. More essential for a tale is a writer's observations of ambition, relationships and affairs of the heart.

"As I wrote for a blog in 2013, 'I had so many strong ideas in 2009 about religion, extremism, women's rights, literacy, parenting, our troops -- how could I not set a book in Afghanistan? And as a writer, I realized that I didn’t need that many details other than the gut feeling that the parallels and connections between my country and Afghanistan are many.'

"Alas, for writers who think they must travel to write: Your readers will still conduct their purity tests. My first book was set in Alaska where I had lived and worked for five years, and readers still pepper the traveler-writers with questions on how long you stayed and where, and censor themselves accordingly."

And there was one response from Lucy of Becket, MA:

"I strongly disagree.... My forthcoming novel is set in the States and in the Pashtun area of Pakistan. I thought I knew what I was about after reading a dozen books on Pakistan and Pashtun culture. But I had no idea - none - about the true similarities and differences between my culture and theirs until I spent serious time in that dangerous, difficult, head-spinning place and got to know its people."

My experiences may not include travels to Afghanistan, and a village like Laashekoh may not exist. It may not matter to some readers that I grew up during early years in one household where dreams of travel or cultural exchanges were unthinkable, that I have read and researched and written and edited articles about globalization for the past eight years, or met with refugees and worked as a literacy tutor with adults who cannot read. I make no apologies for my lack of travel or life experiences. The story probably has errors - particularly on the military side - but the story about a quest for literacy and family relationships is not automatically inauthentic, as suggested by Lucy in her comment.

No worthy, caring teacher would discourage students against exploring by writing about a setting, a time period, a career, a condition that they have not personally experienced.  

The intention behind Fear of Beauty may not be a story about Laashekoh or Afghanistan but rather a warning for women of my own country about how the powerful use religion and fear and rules to restrict basic curiosity. Never, never let anyone restrict where you choose to direct your literary curiosity.

A happy new year, one that is full of exploring and curiosity. Photo of an Afghan National Civil Order Policeman in Wishtan, courtesy of Lance Cpl. Timothy J. Lenzo and Wikimedia Commons.    

Critical influence

Questions from viewers and readers influence writers and artists - with attempts to please these audiences or resist.

Sculptors from Zimbabwe display their skills and artwork in botanical gardens in Europe, North America, and the Middle East - and at the same time must field questions on politics, trade and culture. African Art on the Move in YaleGlobal Online addresses the challenge: "debate continues on culture, style and authenticity – is art global because it sells overseas or because artists respond to customer demands? Must African art be made in Africa, and must it address poverty and politics?"

Any work of art should be assessed on its own quality. Too often critics, amateurs and even professionals, are quick to dismiss work for any number of peripheral details: the style of art, national origins and geographical positioning, too much or too little authenticity, global versus local outreach, the level of academic training with mentors who are too influential or not influential enough, corporate or government support, functional or non-functional design, or an artist's own motivation to describe beauty versus conflict and poverty. "Rejection of artists because of borrowed or political themes, a mentor’s background, or a promotion style that’s too delicate or pushy – any number of reasons – can be as restrictive as commercialization," the article concludes.

Critics are particularly sharp in challenging creators who venture outside traditional boundaries, whether it's sculptors from Zimbabwe carving on the grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Canada or a journalist in Michigan who decides to write about Afghanistan. Some readers want to read descriptions and analysis only from native writers or those well traveled in a region. But this insistence means that connections can go missed as outsiders quietly compare values and use a new setting to relay cultural conflict in their own homeland.

Some artists comply, narrowing their study, and others resist by extending their reach. 

Photo of Zimsculpt sculpture at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, courtesy of Doug Olsen  

Winning

Malala Yousafzai, along with many other fine candidates, may not have won the Nobel Prize for Peace. But that does not make her quest or the others less worthy.

Most ideas for promoting peace are common-sense outlines for fairness and justice, and these ideals begin in the home, and such is the case about education as the basis for any endeavor. Motivation to improve one's self and one's community is an existential force. Yet, one individual's motivation can also be viewed as criticism of the status quo, an entire community or society, by the many others who think differently and fear change. Each individual must balance internal motivation, his or her own recognition of essential truths, with the ability to absorb the suggestions and understand the motivations of others. Critics can never be sure if their heated denial deters or strengthens the internal motivation of the other.

And how to assess such competing motivations? Motivation is notable when an individual has no personal stake or gain in the battle, no connection to the result, and instead fights for the many others who have no voice. Education can stir or restrain such motivations. 

The challenge is formidable for the Nobel Prize Selection Committee. It's wise for the rest of us to assess and reassess our own motivations and the characters about whom we write. To truly win at life, we must form and understand our own motivation, and not simply accept a set of plans or ideology.

Photo of outdoor classroom in Bamozai, Afghanistan, courtesy of Capt. John Severns, US Air Force and Wikimedia Commons.

A word

Censorship and religious extremism go hand in hand.  Fearful of free thought and the opinions voiced by other, the extremists are desperate to control others. The efforts to censor typically backfire and demean the religion or system of governance by suggesting it cannot bear scrutiny from others.

An appeals court in Malaysia has ruled that the term "Allah" is exclusive to Islam and use by others to refer to another god "could cause public disorder," reports the BBC News. Christians and people of other faiths in Malaysia often use the word to refer to their respective higher power. "Although religious freedom is guaranteed by Malaysian law, the country's Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities have long complained that the government infringes on their constitutional right to practice religion freely — accusations the government denies," explains Al Jazeera. 

Allah is not a Malay word. The origin of the word is Arabic and a contraction of al-'il‘h, or "the god," according to the Oxford Dictionaries. Arab and Christian Muslims alike rely on the word to refer to the higher power.

The court ruling does not address use of the word by non-Muslims to refer to the central figure of Islam. 

Fear of Beauty relies on the word at least 75 times, and, no, the censors in Malaysia would not enjoy the plot. The novel criticizes the constant pressure and bullying from those in our communities who try to censor and control others - and deny cooperation and commonality. Adherents who must control others are deeply insecure.

Photo of St. Paul's Church in Malacca, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Bjørn Christian Tørrissen.

Storytelling

Breaking Bad offered lessons on life and storytelling.

Trust is fleeting. Does anyone ever know who they can trust? Trust entails imagining what others say and think about you. Imagine the worst and then how they might describe you to others, whether they will will stop to listen or interrupt what they're doing to lend a hand.

What’s left unsaid can shape opinions as much as what’s said.

Any individual character has the potential for surprise. Do not make the mistake of dismissing others. They can guess what you’re thinking and will react. 

You can’t escape family. The bonds may vary, and the attachments will annoy, even enrage others who don’t have similar bonds.

Characters are invincible when they are calm and stop caring.

The ordinary can be extraordinary, and it’s up to you not to overlook it.

Your life is a story and, believe me, you want to shape the telling with the choices you make every day. Stories can go awry when choices are no longer made, when characters stop living deliberately and let events slide out of control. Confidence can slip into panic and resignation and back again. Yet characters who practice observation, patience, secrets, and other forms of cautious deliberation, their stories are suspenseful and no less meaningful.  

Photo of Bryan Cranston as Walter White, courtesy of AMC's Breaking Bad and Wikimedia.

How we read news

Anyone who loves newspapers hopes that Jeff Bezos can innovate and revive interest in the Washington Post, the newspaper industry and daily habits of reading news. Yet the motivation behind the purchase could be to protect the status quo of the internet rather than innovate. 

You see, it's in the interest of internet titans to protect newspapers. The loss of newspapers as a trusted source of news would eventually weaken most search engines, blogs, investment guidance and many other online offerings. Internet readers who devour news expect articles and opinion essays to be grounded in fact and research.

The news industry has ignored the demand side of the business and customer trends. Pricing models for digital news rely on old habits and not new ones. Newspapers like The New York Times continue to fund news reporting with targeted ads and digital subscriptions that offer access to the entire newspaper for a lump sum. 

But that's not how we read anymore, at least on the internet. Few internet users limit their reading to a single newspaper anymore. Few limit the activity to a half hour in the morning or evening, scanning headlines and then methodically reading most articles. Instead, we scan headlines throughout the day, bouncing about from newspaper to newspaper. And digital news services deliver indices based on our careers, political leanings, and geographic location - and we proceed to read a story from Hong Kong, then one from New York or London, before moving on to India. 

A digital subscription for the New York Times runs about 3.75 per week, or about 53 cents per day (and includes a Smartphone App - annoying for subscribers who don't own smartphones; internet customershave come to expect custom-tailored services and products, and refuse to pay for unwanted "extras," but that's another story ...)  Like many readers, I also want to read stories from the Washington Post, Asia Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, New Haven Register, Telegraph, Daily Sentinel, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel, the Guardian and many more. Of course, the cost of so many subscriptions - offering so few options would add up. Few readers will purchase more than several subscriptions, and a news hound who purchased three subscriptions would feel uninformed.

In the meantime, most newspapers offer a selection of articles for free, and adequate summaries can be found on blogs. And many sites are a source of free opinion essays like Project Syndicate, YaleGlobal Online, Reuters, Bloomberg and more.  Publishers of the New York Times and other newspapers aren't clueless and recognize all this - they should also realize that most subscription offers are absolute turn-offs. Circulation analysts should know, too, how many articles readers actually click, the length of time spent per article, along with traffic sources. I'd guess that plenty of entry and exit sites are other newspapers. Finally, newspaper subscription sites that offer special prices for the first 12 weeks and do not explain long-term pricing are not encouraging or expecting customer loyalty.

If anything, newspapers should find ways to reward loyal, long-time customers rather than gouge them. 

Newspapers must develop pricing models based on customer perceptions of value. Publishers could charge a small fee for each story, perhaps a penny or two, perhaps more for must-read stories. And eventually publishers might even charge a small fee for scanning all headlines. For the most loyal readers, publishers could offer package deals, say 20 articles a month, again for a small fee. Smart publishers would cap the weekly fee at $5 or so, giving those willing to pay that much complete access. 

Yes, each reader will likely read a few articles, but more readers overall will click. With more tailored pricing models, title and content would become more powerful. The number of popular journalists would become more concentrated as some stories are irresistible and many readers would pay.
 
In setting prices, newspaper publishers focus too much on supply and not enough on customer demand. "The theory of price says that the point at which the benefit gained from those who demand the entity meets the seller's marginal costs is the most optimal market price for the good/service."  John Naughton of the Observer touches on this basic economic principal and transaction costs in an article that remembers economist Ronald Coase: 

"If the costs of making an exchange are greater than the gains which that exchange would bring," Coase wrote, "that exchange would not take place and the greater production that would flow from specialisation would not be realised. In this way, transaction costs affect not only contractual arrangements, but also what goods and services are produced. Not to include transaction costs in the theory leaves many aspects of the workings of the economic system unexplained, including the emergence of the firm, but much else besides."

- An online newspaper could distribute work from individual journalists or beats as blogs. Front pages and section content of newspapers are in constant flux, updated minute by minute, defeating the notion of a single newspaper edition. Deadlines come with every passing minute.

-  Editors may invite more readers to contribute articles and opinions, earn and interact – much like Kindle Publishing Platform.

- Advertisers could be given more choice on ad placement, not just with sections but specific articles or journalists. The publisher could also pass along detailed metrics on reader behavior. Online ad sales must offer paying customers more for their money.

- Expect more partnerships. Newspapers already collaborate with Reuters or Associated Press. They could also could collaborate and bundle online delivery services, similar to the distribution of cable television shows.

- The Post may distribute Kindles or other devices to subscribers at a low fee, which would increase dependence on the hardware and expand the market for other services from companies like Amazon. The company's model has foreshadowed such connections, suggested analyst Ben Bajarin in Tech.pinions before the purchase, “Namely, how hardware as an extension of a service may represent the ideal way to consume said service.” 

The best content online depends on newspapers and their journalists. Most stories in broadcasting start out from a newspaper report, and the most informed analysis in television discussions and blogs often relies on the solid, original reporting provided by print publications. Regular, organized delivery of information informs cultural, government, business and social trends, too, often percolating from grassroots reporting. Strong communities are well informed with the help of strong, independent newspapers that are in the business of observing communities, making decisions about what to cover, and pushing readers to venture into new territory and react and think on their own. People who read their local newspapers are smarter consumers. 

The online titans - and citizens - cannot afford for newspapers to go down.
 
The 1891 painting of Woman Reading a Newspaper, courtesy of Norman Garstin and Wikimedia Commons.Garstin was born in Ireland and raised by grandparents. "He first set out to be an engineer, then an architect, and then sought his fortune prospecting for diamonds in South Africa n the company of Cecil Rhodes," notes the bio from Penlee House Gallery and Museum. 

Susan Froetschel is a journalist and author of the novel Fear of Beauty. 

Pranksters

Dutch-Iranian filmmaker Bahram Sadeghi called the National Security Agency for assistance in tracking down an email that had been accidentally deleted, as described by Brian Fung in the Washington Post. The first NSA staffer was professional, going beyond the call of duty, patiently explaining that the agency could not help.

"We're not going to be able to retrieve something that you deleted. That's not what we do." He then goes on to explain that he was born in Iran, and perhaps is "a person of interest for NSA."  She insisted that is not what NSA does, and repeatedly asked for the caller's name and server. When Sadeghi requests additional assistance, the next NSA staffer is stern, no-nonsense and quickly disconnects the prank call.

Expect other pranksters, comedians or the loose-knit members of Anonymous to soon pile on with ridiculous calls and emails. Jokers claiming to be Iranian, Pakistani or Ohioan will include phrases designed to capture attention, with the hopes of overwhelming the surveillance machine. A small group working non-stop for a few hours, could send out thousands of notes to other email users with a cryptic phrase along the lines, "The attack begins 5 pm Friday..," referring to a marketing campaign, party or some other event. While it might be regarded as sedition for citizens to thwart their own nation's security apparatus, in a global world of communications, those opposed to surveillance could organize - US citizens prank-calling Britain's M16 or GCHQ or China's MSS just as a Dutch-Iranian filmmaker reached out to the NSA.

Recipients of calls or emails would have to be friends or acquaintances, at least in the United States. For example, the terms of agreement for most ISP accounts prohibit spam. "Federal law says that some spam may be lawful," according to attorney Timothy Walton on Internet Law Radio.  "Congress, in passing the CAN-Spam Act [of 2003], said that it is lawful to send spam if it does not run afoul of the specifics of the law, which generally means that it’s not deceptive, false or misleading." Successful suits by the internet service providers or the FTC could impose penalties per message sent, though the law is not widely enforced.

We can expect the NSA debacle to lead to new enforcement, language, secretive behaviors and efforts to maintain privacy of email addresses, along the lines of do-not-email lists, such as the US Do-Not-Call Registry, started in 2003 and already used by many telephone customers or unlisted numbers. Businesses will emerge to provide - or claim to provide - the desired phone numbers or emails.  

Federal law in the United States allows recording of phone calls and other electronic communications with the consent of at least one party to the call, according to a fact sheet on "Wiretapping and Eavesdropping on Telephone Calls" from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Telephone company and employers can listen to and record your calls as well. "To stay within the law, you may wish to refrain from taping calls you make, but be aware that in certain situations others may be recording your conversations with them," the fact sheet advises.

Who's at risk for illegal wiretapping?  According to the fact sheet, those who are "in a position where others might benefit from listening" to the calls: high-stakes corporate, political or legal organizers or planners.

The Can-Spam Act of 2003 and Do Not Call Registry offer guidelines on sending behavior compliance but neglect receiver compliance. In July of 2003, I described the public frustration with telemarketing calls and spam in an opinion essay for the Hartford Courant, "Running Rings Around Telemarketers":  

One day, after our family dinner was interrupted by the third telemarketing call, I recognized an opportunity. At first, I let my voice catch, telling the telemarketer that I was unemployed and losing my home But I quickly realized the need for a better line after the eager salesman assured me that my credit was still in good standing....

'Every telemarketer has their favorite story about the tough customer, the funny customer,' says Tim Searcy, executive director of the American Telemarketers Association.... Searcy also says that telemarketers are trained to handle difficult calls with a polite farewell and an end to the connection.

I was cut from the list of companies selling long-distance telephone services, after callers asked to speak to the decison-maker of the household and I explained that our decision-maker was Bimp, the cat. My offer to translate was politely declined.

At the time, I wrote that consumers can't depend on lists and laws to protect them. Lists are ignored and laws are broken.

Many are determined to prove that mass surveillance is pointless and a waste of money. As Chris Chambers warns in the Guardian, "a warning: indiscriminate intelligence-gathering presents a grave risk to our mental health, productivity, social cohesion, and ultimately our future."

Citizens irritated about telemarketing or surveillance will find ways to needle the unwanted callers, spammers or listeners with uncivil language or acts of civil disobedience.

Legacy

The Linda Norgrove Foundation, based in Scotland, will partner with Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan to develop literacy programs for girls and women and expand the Afghan library network.

"Some 840 women will receive literacy classes and more than 20,000 people are expected to use the community libraries being set up by Afghanistan Reads, a community literacy project supported by the Norgrove Foundation," reports David Ross for HeraldScotland.com.

USAID has contributed funds for the programs. Norgrove, an aidworker in Afghanistan, was kidnapped and later killed during a failed rescue attempt.

John Norgrove, her father, maintains that education is "fundamental to the future of Afghanistan." 

Photo of Afghan girl reading from a comic book distributed by Afghan soldiers, courtesy of  US Sgt. Daniel P. Shook and Wikimedia Commons.

Privacy

At least one major telecommunications firm - the one I depend on - has changed its privacy policy to advise customers that they must comply with government requests to collect our connections and data.  The privacy policy was updated soon after a former National Security Agency contract worker exposed secret surveillance programs involving telecommunications firms.

Siobahn Gorman and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries report for the Wall Street Journal: 

"The National Security Agency - which possesses only limited legal authority to spy on U.S. citizens - has built a surveillance network that covers more Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed, current and former officials say. The system has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic in the hunt for foreign intelligence.... The programs, code-named Blarney, Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium and Stormbrew, among others, filter and gather information at major telecommunications companies. Blarney, for instance, was established with AT&T Inc., T -0.92%former officials say."

So I called AT&T today, introduced myself as a customer and asked if my data had been passed on to the NSA. My call was forwarded to the president's office and customer service.

"Customer service has no way of finding this out," responded the young man. "This is way beyond the scope of customer service." He added it was his understanding that the company was complying to "a legal request" of a government agency.  "The company has no choice but to participate and we can't share with you the level of participation."

As explained in previous blog entries, a mystery author who researches and writes about Afghanistan and terrorism and women's rights has reason to be concerned about compromised data and content. Notably, the new contract with my publisher prohibits submission of manuscripts by email and requests submission by physical disk and mail. Authors, business owners and anyone who prepares creative content can no longer trust that their trade and creative secrets are safe from government prying or abuse of unscrupulous government employees.  

The privacy policy is an eyeopener:

We may provide Personal Information to non-AT&T companies or other third parties for purposes such as:

• Responding to 911 calls and other emergencies;
• Complying with court orders and other legal process;
• To assist with identity verification, and to prevent fraud and identity theft;
• Enforcing our agreements and property rights; and
• Obtaining payment for products and services that appear on your AT&T billing statements

 The policy also points out it collects "anonymous and aggregate data" from customers on its own, separate from government surveillance requests:

• We collect some information on an anonymous basis. We also may anonymize the personal information we collect about you.
• We obtain aggregate data by combining anonymous data that meet certain criteria into groups.
• When we employ non-AT&T companies to anonymize or aggregate data on our behalf, the requirements for sharing Personal Information with non-AT&T companies apply.
• We may share aggregate or anonymous information in various formats with trusted non-AT&T entities, and may work with those entities to do research and provide products and services.

The policy also allows the company to keep "information about you in our business records while you are a customer, or until it is no longer needed for business, tax, or legal purposes." We cannot say we weren't warned, and we deserve as much for years of ignoring terms of agreement for software and services.

One contradictory aspect of the policy, though, is under the section on Customer Privacy Controls and Choices: "You can review and correct your Personal Information collected by us."  But how can we manage that if the company is prohibited from telling us what is being collected and how it is interpreted?


In calling AT&T corporate offices, the phone message responds: "Our vision is to connect people with their world and to do it better than anyone else."

AT&T: Your World Delivered. To the NSA?

Life is good

Nature and the fruits of labor from farming stand in formation, demanding our respect and attention and, like a beautiful choir, sing to us. Such are the late summer scenes off a highway in central Michigan.  (Photo by Susan Froetschel)

Women readers

Women led 58 percent of book spending in 2012, reports Bowker as reported by GalleyCat. Bowker also points out that ebook sales continue to take a larger share of the market, 44 percent in 2012: "The growth of ebooks varies widely among the different publishing categories with their deepest penetration focused in fiction, particularly in the mystery/detective, romance, and science fiction categories, where ebooks accounted for more than 20 percent of 2012 spending."

Sisters in Crime monitors reviews for authors' gender: "Coverage of women writers’ mysteries still lags in traditional newspapers, where fewer mysteries are reviewed, but is stronger in traditional pre-publication review sources and in born-digital book review blogs and websites, which publish three to four times as many reviews as the newspapers monitored."

Women do relish reading - but many will discontinue subscribing to and reading newspapers and magazines if they perceive coverage is imbalanced and unfair.

Woman With a Book, portrait by István Nagy; photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.