After Dark with Beth LaMontagne

January 30, 2006

When the world is bringing you down

Call me sensitive, call me over-involved, call me a nerd, but sometimes listening to the national news makes me really depressed. There's the whole domestic spying program, Iran is going to get the bomb, Israel is flaring up again, the ABC News anchor and his photograher were almost killed in an IED attack, a wife and her baby were shot to death in their Massachusetts home and the police didn't find the bodies on the first check of the house, the Republicans are completely corrupt and out of control and the Democrats can't seem to put two words together that make sense. Need I go on?

I spend a lot of time on this blog writing about meaningless things like getting boozy, seeing stupid movies and listening to bands that will likely never play outside the Seacoast area, but lately I've felt that these endeavors have been keeping me sane, giving me a chance not only to forget about our global troubles, but a chance to hash out the issues of the day with my friends and vent a little.

In hopes of helping anyone out there that may have the "can't escape the crushing yoke of reality" bug, here are two events that are sure to spark some great political conversation and maybe even make you feel a little better.

Monday, Jan. 30
Alive in Baghdad
6:30 PM Dover Friends Meeting House
Central Ave. by the large cemetery
www.aliveinbaghdad.org

Whenever I interview a soldier who has just returned from Iraq, I ask that person to tell me what it was like. How hot is it? How smelly? How do people react when they see you? Do they hate Americans or do they understand we're just trying to help?

Not once has a soldier given me a truly descriptive, satisfying answer. When I told another soldier this, and asked him why he thought no one would tell me what it was like, he said, "Well, it's probably because there's no way to describe it. There's no way to make you understand what it's like over there."

Fair enough, but there's a part of me that still wants to know, and when I watch the news, I just don't get it.

Alive in Baghdad is an attempt to describe the indescribable, to document what the U.S. invasion means to the average Iraqi. Brian Conley, a 25 year-old journalist and filmmaker from Somerville Mass., started the project, according to his Web site, because he felt the mainstream media was failing to give voice to the people the invasion most affected. Conley is now back from Iraq and is trying to raise money for a return trip (so expect some financial begging at this thing).

For those of you unaware of the Society of Friends, a.k.a., the Quakers, they are a peace-loving bunch. Therefor, the evening will likely have an anti-war slant, just to let those of you know who may not take the same position.

Mon. Jan 30 through Thursday Feb. 2
Goodnight and Good Luck
7:30 p.m., The Screening Room
Newburyport, Mass. $7
www.newburyportmovies.com

When I was in the eighth grade, I had to do a biographical report on some historic figure. Not one to cop out by doing Betsy Ross or George Washington, I opted for Senator Joseph McCarthy, following my mom's suggestion.

I have always been fascinated with stories of powerful men who try, and inevitably fail, to gain more power by controlling people's views. McCarthy's story is one of the more interesting examples because the very thing he was trying to protect, was what he eventually started to destroy.

I won't pretend that there is no intended parallel between McCarthy's efforts and those of the Bush Administration. George Clooney has basically said that about a million times already. I do find Edward R. Murrow's bravery inspiring, especially when the national press corps seems so spineless these days. I mean, how many times have we heard Bush spin this whole domestic spying thing. I'm sorry, but I just don't feel comfortable with the thought of you possibly listening to me talk about my love life to my pals. What ever happened to the Republican tenet that the government should stay off our backs (and off our phone lines)?

If you've been as annoyed about the world as I've been, this movie will likely be the cure. Nothing makes people smile like watching the undoing of a despicable man.

Posted by blamontagne at January 30, 2006 12:52 PM

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