David Michael Newstead's Blog, page 116
December 27, 2015
Annual 2015 eBook
By David Michael Newstead. 
This collection of posts offers highlights from throughout 2015. These range from short stories and reviews of books and movies to expert interviews and analysis of current events. Features include updates on Burkina Faso’s transition to democracy, the release of a groundbreaking report on fatherhood at UN Headquarters, and an interview with a leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
December 26, 2015
The Quotable Ben Franklin #3
December 21, 2015
Superman: America’s Jewish Superhero and an Immigrant Icon
By David Michael Newstead.
The greatest comic book hero of all time was created in the 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. And a large part of Superman’s mythology actually comes from the creators’ own experience as the children of Jewish immigrants from Europe. On one level, the story of an infant escaping danger, being rescued by adoptive parents, and destined for great things has clear similarities to Moses. Beyond that though, there’s a duality to the Man of Steel that’s reflective of the immigrant experience. He has two names, two homes, and an affinity for his culture of birth (Krypton) as well as his adoptive culture (America).
The massive franchise that followed has endured for decades in the form of books, movies, and merchandise. But at its core, Superman is grounded in the imaginings of two young science fiction fans from Cleveland who grew up during the Great Depression. Truth, justice, and the American way were ideals that made their parents cross an ocean. And no matter how elaborate the storylines became, it is essentially rooted in an immigrant’s dream of someone who will right society’s wrongs and stand up for the oppressed.
Someone who is both distinct from and the very embodiment of their new home.
December 18, 2015
Best of 2015
By David Michael Newstead.
As 2015 comes to a close, I thought I’d share a few blog posts from throughout the year that I’m particularly proud of. They range from short stories to interviews on current events, a report on my trip to UN Headquarters over the summer and a fun, but ridiculous photo series. Enjoy!
A Day in the Salvador Dimension
The State of the World’s Fathers 2015
The Life and Death of Thomas Sankara
Top Putin Critic Discusses the Legacy of Sergei Magnitsky
A Historic Election in Burkina Faso
December 15, 2015
From the NYT: Sikh Soldier Allowed to Keep Beard in Rare Army Exception
By Dave Philipps.
On his first day at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Simratpal Singh sat in a barber chair where new cadets get their hair buzzed short, forced to choose between showing his faith and living it.
Cadet Singh had grown up a Sikh. As part of his faith, he had never cut his hair or beard. But his faith also encouraged protection of the oppressed, which inspired him to join the Army.
The Army would not allow a soldier with long hair or a beard, so that day he watched his locks drop to the floor.
“Your self-image, what you believe in, is cut away,” he said in an interview. For a long time after, he would shave without looking in the mirror.
That was almost 10 years ago. The cadet graduated, led a platoon of combat engineers who cleared roadside bombs in Afghanistan and was awarded the Bronze Star.
Last week, the Army finally granted now Captain Singh, 27, a religious accommodation that allows him to grow his beard and wrap his hair in a turban.
“It is wonderful. I had been living a double life, wearing a turban only at home,” he said. “My two worlds have finally come back together.”
It is the first time in decades that the military has granted a religious accommodation for a beard to an active-duty combat soldier — a move that observers say could open the door for Muslims and other troops seeking to display their faith. But it is only temporary, lasting for a month while the Army decides whether to give permanent status to Captain Singh’s exception.
If it decides not to, the captain could be confronted with the decision of whether to cut his hair or leave the Army. He has said he is prepared to sue if the accommodation is not made permanent.
“This is a precedent-setting case,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at the Becket Fund, a nonprofit public interest law firm that specializes in religious liberty. “A beard is a beard is a beard. If you let one religious individual grow it, you will need to do it for all religions.”
The Army does not comment on individual personnel decisions, said Lt. Col. Jennifer R. Johnson, a spokeswoman. She added that future requests for accommodations would be evaluated “on a case-by-case basis, considering the impact on unit and individual readiness, unit cohesion, morale, discipline, and health and safety of the force.”
For years, the Army has argued that beards in the ranks — religious or not — threatened the very foundations of military order and discipline.
The United States military has become increasingly inclusive, allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly, and women to serve in combat roles. But it has held a stiff line on uniforms and grooming standards. Though over the centuries these standards have included powdered wigs and Civil War mutton chops, in recent decades the military has insisted on men being clean-shaven with hair shorn high and tight.
Resistance to departures from uniformity is so strong that while official standards allow for toupees, it took a Supreme Court case and an act of Congress in the 1980s to clear the way for skullcaps.
In recent years, almost all requests for a religious accommodation for a beard have been dismissed. In a 2014 letter denying a beard to a Sikh student at Hofstra University who had tried to join the Army’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Lt. Gen. James C. McConville, the officer in charge of all such accommodations, said beards under gas masks posed a safety hazard. The general added that any break from uniformity could erode esprit de corps and “damage the esteem and credibility” of the entire officer corps.
However, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Special Operations soldiers have had lax facial-hair regulations, and having a beard has even become a mark of elite soldiers.
This summer, a United States District Court judge rejected the safety argument, noting that more than 100,000 troops have been allowed to grow beards for medical reasons such as acne and sensitive skin. The judge ruled the Army’s denial was illegal. But the decision applied only to students enrolling in R.O.T.C., leaving the larger question of beards for active-duty troops untouched.
Sikhs say lifting the ban is particularly important to them because they have had a long history of military service. Sikhism developed in northwestern India as a religion centered on protecting the innocent and resisting tyrants during long bouts of conflict and oppression from invading Mughals and Afghans. Bearded Sikhs fought in the United States Army in World War II and Vietnam. Today, Sikhs in full religious garb serve in militaries around the world.
For centuries, Sikh teachings have required adherents to leave their hair and beard unshorn, and to wear a turban.
“It was a way to identify the Sikhs, who became a sort of military order that stood up against oppression,” said Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, a doctor who is a major in the Army Reserve.
Major Kalsi got permission to grow a beard in 2009. He was the first of only three Sikhs to receive permission before Captain Singh. Two Muslims and a Jewish rabbi also have been granted accommodations since 2009. But all apparently served either as chaplains or in specialty medical fields, a spokeswoman for the Army said. No combat soldiers had been given a pass.
The Army has used a procedural Catch-22 to sidestep the question of whether regulations protecting religious freedom allow for beards. For years, it denied requests from incoming recruits, saying accommodations could be granted only after recruits had formally joined. Recruits could not formally join without conforming to grooming standards. In short, to get permission to not shave, you had to shave.
After Captain Singh had his hair and beard cut at West Point, he continued following Sikh teachings. He went to temple on Sunday. While on roadside bomb-clearing missions in Afghanistan, he ate only vegetarian versions of military field rations. But he said his faith demanded that he do more.
“A true Sikh is supposed to stand out, so he can defend those who cannot defend themselves,” he said. “I see that very much in line with the Army values.”
During leave before a new assignment this fall, he stopped shaving and filed for an accommodation with the help of the advocacy group the Sikh Coalition. He received the accommodation, at least on a temporary basis, on Thursday.
He has made his own camouflage turbans to wear to his first day of work at Fort Belvoir, Va., on Monday.
“I hope this shows others that they can both serve their faith and serve their country,” he said.
December 10, 2015
A Historic Election in Burkina Faso
By David Michael Newstead.
In October 2014, the longtime president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, was overthrown in a mass uprising. At the time, Compaore was trying to amend the constitution, extending his 27-year rule indefinitely. But the backlash to those plans was swift and intense. People set fire to parliament and flooded the streets in protest. In the aftermath, Compaore fled the country, an interim government was established, and elections were scheduled for October 2015.
Not long after that, several high profile investigations were launched into the alleged crimes of the former regime. But those efforts and the 2015 elections were nearly derailed by a dramatic coup attempt staged by Compaore loyalists this September. Despite those obstacles, voting took place on November 30th, beginning the country’s first peaceful transition of power in decades. To find out more, I spoke with biographer and Burkina Faso expert Ernest Harsch about this historic election.
David Newstead: In your view, what are the main takeaways from the election?
Ernest Harsch: Roch Marc Christian Kabore of the People’s Movement for Progress was declared winner of the presidential election. The emergence of a clear victor will go a long way towards restoring political stability in a country marked by turbulence since a popular uprising ousted the autocratic government of Blaise Compaore.
Without a parliamentary majority, Kabore will first need delicately to forge alliances across party lines. To prove to skeptics that he has broken from his past with the former regime, he will need to tackle high-level impunity on past abuses and corruption. Without notable improvements, citizens disaffected by years of poor governance may again resort to street action to effect political change.
That said, the Independent National Electoral Commission enjoys wide credibility. A sign of this was the updated registration list to 5.5 million potential voters – 70% more than for the last presidential election in 2010. The election was competitive. After the exclusion of several prospective old-regime candidates, there still were 14 presidential contenders. Nearly 7,000 candidates stood for the 127 national assembly seats, from 81 political parties and 19 groups of independents. With no one form the transitional government allowed to run, the race was free of the favoritism of incumbency. The legitimacy and credibility of Kabore’s 53.5% win should be understood in this context.
David Newstead: The last time we spoke in June, you specifically cited General Gilbert Diendere as a possible threat to the country’s transition to democracy. In September, he led a coup attempt against the interim government and his forces briefly imprisoned the president and the prime minister. After the coup failed, I know that there was some talk about granting amnesty to the perpetrators. Can you clarify what happened next?
Ernest Harsch: Diendere never got amnesty. One African mediator had suggested the idea while his coup was still underway, but almost everyone in Burkina rejected it. Diendere was arrested as soon as the coup was defeated, and is now in prison, along with a bunch of other coup ringleaders.
David Newstead: How do you think the newly elected government will influence the on-going investigation into the assassination of President Thomas Sankara in 1987?
Ernest Harsch: A few days ago, General Diendere was also formally charged in Sankara’s assassination. That judicial process (in a military court) will probably proceed according to its own rules and pace, and there is little the new incoming government can do about it (and no sign that it would want to). So hopefully there will finally be some justice.
December 5, 2015
The Typewriter Inheritance, Part Two
By David Michael Newstead.
I was eager to restore my grandfather’s typewriter. To start, I researched the company and the product as much as I could, but something told me I should seek out expert advice while such experts were still around. When I called one repairman though, I found myself struggling to explain the typewriter’s condition with the technical vocabulary for a device that had essentially fallen out of use. The man used terms like upright, portable, bracket, and ribbon, which surely referred to something specific that I couldn’t pretend to understand just yet. Later when I went by his workshop, I found a basement filled floor-to-ceiling with old typewriters as he explained how he has to cannibalize parts from one machine to repair others since replacements are no longer being manufactured.
Interestingly, the repairman was an elderly African-American gentleman who said he had worked for the NSA for 30 years, repairing typewriters just as he continues to do in retirement.
We talked for a bit and I tried to say something clever like, “You know, the NSA might be better off if they still used typewriters.”
Then, he said he’d take a look at my machine and get back to me. Weeks passed though and when he finally returned the device, he said there wasn’t much he could do. There were no replacements for that model.
“All the parts are there. It’s just gummed up a little,” he told me, whatever that meant.
I felt discouraged at the time that nothing could be done or done easily, I guess. And a few months would go by before I knew how to proceed. The internet didn’t have much information, which was frustrating. There weren’t a lot of people I could ask. And it’s not as if typewriters are a common thing you pass in the street. In the meantime, I moved apartments again, dutifully carrying my typewriter with me as I had done for the last few years. I mean, I was still interested in restoring it, but how? That was the big question.
Before I consulted another expert, I eventually came up with a new plan. With expert help, I’d be able to identify exactly what needed to be replaced and how and then I’d find a 3-D printer to make the part to specifications! I don’t even know much about 3-D printing, but it seemed like a good idea.
The trouble was, the few typewriter experts that are alive today are a very small group of eccentric old guys. And the knowledge that they possess on this subject also makes talking to them about something like 3-D printing almost comically impossible. So much so that the second repairman I met was a former restaurant owner who said his daughter often tells him that he needs to “get out of the Stone Age.” A self-described Afghan Hippie, he had moved to the U.S. in the early 1970s and got into typewriter school to help mitigate student visa problems. Yet, years later, he had a clear enthusiasm for his profession and a familiarity that could address any of the random questions I asked as he walked me through the particulars about my machine.
“I love these things,” he told me and I believe him.
Still, after taking everything apart and putting it back together again, we ran into the same problem as before. Lack of replacement parts. I needed a new “escapement bracket” for a typewriter model that hasn’t been in production since the mid-1960s. He couldn’t find one and neither could anybody he called. In futility, I tried to solve everything by talking about the wonders of 3-D printing, but I could see that none of my points were really connecting. It turns out that this generation gap was wide and impassible. No matter how much I tried, he didn’t understand. And once again, I’d hit a roadblock.
Later, when I stopped to think about it more, I realized that in a few short years no one will be left who has had any real experience with typewriters – either repairing them or writing with them and everything in between. This isn’t a tragedy exactly and one day the same thing might happen to all the devices I use now. Perhaps if I wasn’t compelled for personal reasons, I wouldn’t care either way. But it’s strange to think that something that was once universally in use is now all but forgotten.
My quest continues.
December 1, 2015
November 29, 2015
In Search of Theodore Roosevelt
By David Michael Newstead.
Few presidents are as accomplished or as iconic as Theodore Roosevelt. And as this year’s Movember wraps up, I wanted to explore the legacy of our 26th commander-in-chief who still manages to standout in interesting ways a century after his time in office. Of course, there are numerous biographies about him. There are whole websites dedicated to all of his speeches and quotes. And his tough masculine persona is so legendary that even his diplomacy and his economic policies are considered manly.
Beyond those things though, I was determined to seek out some of the real world examples of that legacy. And fortunately for me, I didn’t have to go far.
Teddy & the Bully Bar is a Theodore Roosevelt themed establishment in Washington D.C. The place is half beaux-arts and half faux ruggedness where they offer drinks like the Rough Rider and the Trustbuster, highlighting Roosevelt’s many achievements. It’s a restaurant with smiling portraits of the man all along the wall. I stopped by this week and, after some deliberation, I ordered the Conservationist, a bitter cocktail swirling around a chunk of ice.
Next, I decided to visit Roosevelt Island – a national park on the Potomac between Washington and Virginia. And in the middle of all the trees and the dirt paths, there’s a titan-sized monument of Theodore Roosevelt encircled by fountains and quotes engraved on four giant stone monoliths, presumably for archaeologists in the future to find. In the meantime, I walked around and tried to absorb the lessons of Roosevelt Island, reading timely advice about youth, manhood, the state, and the importance of nature. I listened to the birds and to the far off onslaught of traffic, taking it all in.
I leave you with one of the quotes I saw engraved there: A man’s usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals insofar as he can.
