I nearly broke into tears watching CNN coverage of Sami al-Hajj embracing his son after six years of captivity in Guntanamo Bay. The way he held him, a son too young to remember his father, and a father robbed of six years of his son’s life. As a father, watching this reunion hit me like a ton of bricks, and makes me ashamed for my country.

Al-Hajj was working as a reporter for Al Jazeera covering the war in Afghanistan when he was taken captive by Pakistani intelligence before being handed over to US forces. He was held captive without charge for six years in Guantanamo, despite the fact that he was carrying full credentials from Al Jazeera. Upon his return he spoke of his treatment, saying, “rats are treated with more humanity.”

I watch this and I wonder what justification we have to vilify China, or Iran, or any other country we deem to be morally deficient. On what grounds can we claim the mantle of human rights when our own government is destroying innocent lives? What’s more, Al Hajj represented the media, which lies at the core of democratic values. I am inclined to believe him when he says it was a deliberate attempt to silence free media.

Of course there is a bigger picture than just this one man, whose life was torn apart by American fear and anger following 9/11. Maybe I take my own role as a father too seriously, that I personalize the scene of al-Hajj and his son. But in the end this is, to me at least, the big picture. It is the destruction of families, the loss or separation from loved ones, that is fueling much of the anger running through both America and the Middle East. – Peter Schurmann

I read the NYT Sat, op ed page last night. Every piece strikes a note of urgency, as if lives depend on how effective the media are in raising awareness, advocating relief, spotlighting distress.

Gail Collins’ piece about McCain’s compassion tour—one of the best I’ve read by her—argues that he’s less intelligible than Bush and hard of feeling, if nothing else. The court rejects workers’ right to seek compensation for wage disparities, and McCain opposes a bill designed to give women relief.

Sichan Siv, a Cambodian-American diplomat I knew nothing about until now, writes of his escape from the killing fields, his return home for the first time to find that Cambodia today reminds him of Cambodia just before the Khmer Rouge took power—divided between rich and poor, fearful, restless. God help us.

Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug who helped create the “green revolution” strains of wheat that were immune to stem rust, the most feared of all wheat diseases, says a more virulent form of the fungus is back and threatens deeper hunger and chaos than the present food crisis. He writes that the Bush administration reversed funding of agricultural science, and has closed down our worldwide research into new strains that could resist stem rust.

Bob Herbert writes that “you can almost feel the air rushing out of the Obama phenomenon.” He’s shown “a strange reluctance to fight”. Herbert urges him to hit what he’s going to do on jobs and the economy like a jackhammer.

I’ve been thinking about why traditional media seems increasingly flat, remote, deenergized, and how much journalism now is indeed about conversation (Jonathan Alterman’s phrase). We don’t just have to do good reporting and thinking, we have to disseminate it in a way that literally sucks people into the conversation, we have to transform our one way reporting into an exchange.

I know the answer is how we present ourselves on the Internet. I see the limitations now of a newspaper and any website that just resembles a newspaper more than I ever have before, although I also believe the convenings we’re doing are important, like that of black, Hispanic and Asian(Vietnamese) media leaders in New Orleans.

All of which is to say—we’ve got to let people post directly on our site to create more of a 24/7 news cycle; we’ve got to turn our site from a web-based newspaper into a hub for exchange; we’ve each got to blog as well as report and
produce video. By blogs I don’t mean just hyperventilated opinions, but thoughts that could be honed through collective consideration into ideas and insights.

SEOUL—While the protests that have dogged the Olympic torch around the globe have been focused on Beijing’s handling of Tibet, little has been said about China’s treatment of North Korean refugees.

But with the torch now on its way to Seoul before heading to Pyongyang the issue will hopefully garner more attention, though I’m skeptical it will outlast the news cycle. North Koreans, it seems, are truly isolated. And aside from Pyongyang’s nuclear activities in Syria, their plight continues to fall under the radar.

Experts are now predicting another food crisis in North Korea similar to the famine that struck in 1997 and sent waves of refugees across the Yalu River into China. For its part, Beijing continues to maintain these individuals are ‘economic migrants’, a term which opens a legal loophole allowing their return to North Korea.

With the Olympics approaching it isn’t inconceivable that human rights groups working with North Korean refugees may, like Tibet, take advantage of the games to highlight their plight. Pressure has already been put on South Korea’s president Lee Myung Bak to follow through with his promise to press the North on its human rights abuses. An article on the Human Rights Watch website calls on Lee to take China to task for its handling of North Korean asylum seekers.

Yet while several Korean torchbearers have recently declined to carry the torch, I’m skeptical Lee will use the event in this way. Still, it does highlight the fact that the many political fault lines that run through Asia intersect in China. Whether it’s Tibet or Taiwan, North Korea or Myanmar, China has truly become the “Middle Kingdom” when it comes to the region’s political turmoil.

The other day I asked an acquaintance of mine about her thoughts on the Olympics. She’s a young Chinese woman who grew up in Hong Kong, and is now studying Korean here in Seoul to bolster her job prospects back home.

She said at first she was excited about the games, but that over time she’s grown more frustrated with their politicization. “The Olympics are supposed to bring people and nations together, but instead they are creating more division.” I tell her it sounds a lot like the Hillary – Obama presidential race and she breaks into laughter.

Then she lowers her voice and casts a quick glance at the other students in the room, half of whom are from Mainland China. “When China made its bid to host the 2000 Olympics a lot of us in Hong Kong felt it wasn’t ready. I think it still isn’t ready… but maybe they think otherwise,” she says, referring to the others. — Peter Schurmann

Earlier in the year New America Media was invited to preview the new Contemporary Jewish Museum prior to installation of the Museum’s inaugural exhibitions. Accompanied by NAM editors we toured the new facility that will reuses the landmark Jessie Street PG&E Power Substation to explore contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas. The museum is part of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency’s Yerba Buena Redevelopment Project.

The architect Daniel Libeskind’s conceptual design sketch of the exterior of the Blue Steel structure.

Photo of the construction by Terrence McCarthy.

Photo by David Pham.

The significance of the number eighteen is evident in the design for the ‘yud’ space. A vertical space, which comes to a peak at the west end of the building and contains the Museum store on the main level and the special events gallery on the second floor, the ‘yud’ space features 36 (double chai) skylights installed amid the blue steel tiles.

The architect Daniel Libeskind’s comceptual design sketch of the inside of the Blue Steel structure.

Photo by David Pham.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum embodies a number of symbolic references to Jewish and Kabbalistic concepts. Most notably, Mr. Libeskind was inspired by the Hebrew phrase “L’Chaim” (To Life). He based the extension’s conceptual organizing principles on the two symbolic Hebrew letters of “chai,” the “chet” and the “yud”.

IN THE BEGINNING: ARTISTS RESPOND TO GENESIS – The text of Genesis—the story of the origins of the universe and the creation of humanity—is rich in universal themes related to religion, language, physics, creation, the environment, and ancient literature.

Photo by David Pham.

On June 8, 2008, the Contemporary Jewish Museum will open the doors to its new 63,000 square-foot facility in the heart of downtown San Francisco’s Yerba Buena cultural district. The Museum is a lively cultural center welcoming visitors of all ages and from all communities with a broad range of offerings, including art, music, film, new media presentations, and education programs for all ages.

Had a 911 experience lately?
This morning was my first, and God willing, last.

My colleague and I were on CA I-80 East headed for a campaign launch in Sacramento about driving green with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. I understood what she meant by, “talk about irony,” after it happened. I was tired since I woke up at 5 am and remembered joking with another colleague to go to Sacramento on my behalf the day before.

In the car, she was telling me all about her weekend and meeting her friend’s traditional “rodeo show star, cowboy” family. We both laughed hysterically after she let out a “YEE HAH!”

7: 34 am: It happened instantaneously. I didn’t feel tired anymore.

A green recycling truck, two lanes to our right began weaving uncontrollably. It crashed into the blue PT Cruiser directly to its right, which sent the PT cruiser spinning out of control. The impact sent it right, slamming into the metal fence, then left, crashing into the concrete divider. The truck parked in the shoulder a few minutes later.

I immediately called 911. I sensed no one else would. Few cars were on the road, and they were all going too fast.

I was on hold for nearly fifteen minutes. 7:47 am: I made contact with a live operator. I didn’t know what was more shocking: the accident or being on hold for so long.

Luckily, the obviously injured driver seemed she’d survive. We stayed for a few minutes, and I caught a quick glimpse of her moving her body slowly.

“Thank God they’re sending someone and she’ll be okay, but imagine, what would have happened if this were a serious life and death situation?” my colleague said. “15 minutes can make all the difference.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.