Egypt Buff

These last few days I  have been filled with nausea at our federal officials. Really do they expect ANYONE to take their warning to Russia seriously? First they tie up our troops in a futile, pointless war that is killing our beloved troops( yes I do mean Iraq) then they set up situations that will prod the Russians into action, then we wring our hands about the inevitable. The poor Georgians did not learn a thing from the 1956 Hungerian Revolt, but the Russians did learn from the seperation of Kosovo from Serbia. Oh wait that was different, yes we supported the breakaway Kosovars so it was OK. Now Poland has signed an agreement to host ICBM’s that just happen to be pointed in Russias direction. No at Russia , but at “rogue states’. Hmm, for some reason the Russians told the Poles that this makes them a target, even for nukes.  How will we ever recover from the idiocies of this administration? We have record debt ( that is what a deficit means folks), our military stretched too thin, our reputation in shreds, and no coherent explanation for any of this.

But no not fear, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, & Micael Savage tell us that we never had it better and we are just a bunch of ingrates to complain about this regime in Washington. They are the Nixon administration minus the brains!

It occurs to me that an”Egyptbuff” who doesn’t write about Egypt is  confusing. So… I first fell in love with ancient Egypt when I was 9 and saw faces that looked like mine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Dark eyes, full lips, olive skin. Wow, my blond hair was the only difference.  Since then I have learned much  about the ancients and still love and admire their civilization. I was fortunate to live within walking distance from the museum, and live in a time when you could allow a child to go to the museum with a friend of the same age. No way will I allow my grandchildren to do that today. What, walk a mile & a half to go UNESCORTED to a museum filled with strangers?

I would visit the museum at least once a month. All the collections were familiar to me. This came in handy when I started teaching, the class could get at least one trip and all it would cost was the fee for the half day school bus. I had the least expensive trips in the school and lots of parents who came to help watch the kids. My classes filled me with pride as the very well dressed people from the upper east side would ask if we were from an international private school. I loved telling them that we were a parochial school in southeastern Queens. That that you elitists!

Today I have more books on Ancient Egypt than most branches of the libreries. My kids could research their papers right at home. I try to keep current of the latest finds and refinements of the history of Egypt. Dr. Hawas and Salima Hakram are my idols. Someday I may even visit Dier El Medina and Dier El Bahari myself, costs and politics have always gotten in the way. So now gentle reader you know why I’m Egyptbuff.