Monthly Archive for October, 2009

quote to tickle thought: sport builds bridges (Wilfred Lemke, UN Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace

in the news: UK warns of lack of urgency over (December) Copenhagen (climate) talks; 18th typhoon of the season set to hit Philippines; US hunters, anglers lobby for climate change

Reuters reported on October 18 that 20 national hunting and fishing groups had written to their senators to urge them to support climate change legislation. That normally conservative set of sportsplayers took that action because they were concerned about changing migratory patterns they had observed.

“If you go out and hunt at the same time in the same seaon and the same place every year, then you understand the changes that are happening,” a National Wildlife Federation official was quoted as saying.

Also stated in the article was the fact that hunting and global-warming activitism usually mixed about as well as oil and water. But a 2008 survey of 1,000 hunters and fishers found over half classifying themselves as conservative and yet holding the view that the environment could be improved and the economy strengthened by investing in renewable energy technologies.

Recently, a conservative southern senator teamed with a liberal northern one to write a New York Times op ed piece outlining a compromise on limiting carbon emissions. The action was praised in his state, which had a “robust outdoor sports culture woven into its rural fabric”.

On October 19, the United Nations General Assembly gave observer status to the International Olympic Committee, the first organization with a non-state membership to be given that standing. The Assembly on that day also called for an Olympic truce during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games in February and March in Vancouver, Canada. And finally, the Assembly welcomed the holding of the 2010 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup tournament in South Africa, a first for the continent in hosting a major sporting event.

On Octber 22, the Olympic torch left Greece to make its way across the world to Canada. Its message will be greatly strengthened by the right decisions in Copenhagen as led by America on behalf of sportspeople everywhere in the world, whether as players, observers or even as just bettors.

Fiction

The Midas Maze

A suspense novel about the UN global network

Journalist Kaye Ravez is newly married to United Nations diplomat Jorge. Then he becomes second-in-charge of a trillion dollar US/UN Fund to fight global terrorism and when the Fund Head begins to hunt his estranged wife in the world’s back alleys, Kaye is drawn into saving the wife, crossing her husband and bucking the megalithic bureaucracy being exploited in the chase that leads from New York to Switzerland to Nepal and Saudi Arabia.

“…gives life to public policy, funding and cultural snags as well as cultural synergies…makes the flavor of the UN universally accessible…renders in full color the movement of the United Nations. It shows there is much more to politics than fancy suits, podiums and cameras. Passion, integrity and fun are involved.” Sherri Rosen

“Cleverly woven plot and personalities.” Suzanne Sheppard

The Light of a Destiny Dark

A romance novel about the Euro-American cultural gap through Hungarian eyes

Hungarian refugee Julia Kertesz gets engaged to American WWII veteran Arnie Smith just as the Iron Curtain comes down in 1989. When Julia’s eldest daughter tries to manipulate her into returning to the country they fled after the 1956 revolution, Arnie’s American aloofness and Julia’s European intensity clash over family loyalties to threaten the engagement.

“Hungarian heat and American cool change places in this sweeping novel of mature love against a background of young love…in a uniquely personal portrait of Eastern Europe through the continent’s two great wars and their Communist aftermath.” Adam Salviani, Raider Publishing

“Very touching.” Suzanne Sheppard

Some have drawn parallels with Milos Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being…

Mix Bender

A contemporary novel about a Magic Mountain experience set in the Caribbean

Mix Bender is a thoughtful, brooding New Yorker unhappily involved a superficial relationship when he quits his job to take a week-long time-out in the Caribbean. There he meets an earthy islander, a woman of depth and a psychiatrist who all provide an insight that keeps him from returning until the New York girlfriend comes to claim him and exposes the shallowness he had tolerated with her.

“…a strong and convincing grasp of emotions and passions…” M.R. Aig, Associated Press

“…one of a kind, and must reading. EXCELLENT!!” Gary Skeens, Green Feather Magazine

“Intelligent and entertaining…Mix Bender’s travels are those of every first generation American, torn between two cultures and trying to make himself whole.” David Gurewich, Travels with Dubinsky and Clive

Nonfiction

Mission Improbable

The World Community on a UN Compound in Somalia, a nonfiction tribute to the UN’s work in the field and to the people of Somalia

The 1993 United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) was a first-of-a-kind mission. The United States-led humanitarian intervention against warlords ruling the country in anarchy since the turn of the decade ended in fiasco when the bodies of American Army Rangers were desecrated on live global television. The back-story to that event emerged on the ground from Somali and international journalists as the nearby Rwanda massacre took place and the Somalia mission wound down despite best efforts on all parts. Failure to succeed in the mission was due to cultural presumptions and faulty coordination between international and national actors, as well as to current global communication, which rewards with attention the kinds of behaviors seeking to be curbed.

“A unique insight into UN operations at all levels.” George Parker, Department of Public Information, United Nations

“This book puts the record straight…it appeals for a tapping of the UN’s extensive facilities for information the commercial media can use.” Abdul Rahman Turay, Deputy Chief of Staff, the United Nations Operation in Somalia

“…perceptive and ethical…” Lidwien Kapteijns, Department of History, Wellesley College, in H-net reviews

Articles

EzineArticles hosts some of Ms. Fogarassy’s published artcles on politics. religion and other topics.