The first survey exhibition in the United States of one of Ethiopia’s most original and prolific contemporary artists. The exhibition, co-curated by Meskerem Assegued, a revered Ethiopian curator and anthropologist, and visionary theater, opera, and multi-disciplinary arts impresario, Peter Sellars, is comprised of more than 100 works in a variety of mediums, scale, and forms. A highlight of the exhibition is a series of striking thrones made of leather, wood, mud and straw, which will be integrated into conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts staged by Sellars in mid-April.
Now through April 18, Tues. – Sat., 11 am – 6 pm
Santa Monica Museum of Art
2525 Michigan Ave.
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 586-6488 www.smmoa.org
When Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar smashed the World indoor 5000m record* on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, running 14:24.37 in Stockholm, it confirmed a stellar start to the year after a 2008 that saw her lose both her outdoor World record and 2004 Olympic gold medal over the distance to fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba.
“It was great,” a high-spirited Defar told the IAAF in an exclusive interview on Wednesday night after her record run. “Today I was in excellent shape. From the beginning til the end, I felt very good. After I passed the first two kilometres, I was certain I was going to break the record and I began to speed up. I ran the last kilometre very fast and that’s why I broke the record.”
Defar smashed more than three seconds off Dibaba’s two-year-old 14:27.42 mark, running a last kilometer of 2:46.6, after being led through 3000m by three pace-setters. “The pace they ran for me was perfect,” said the World 5000m champion Defar.
Redemption for both Beijing and a near-miss in Stuttgart
“When I ran the 3000m in Stuttgart last week, I missed the mark by three seconds,” said the world indoor 3000m champion Defar, who on 7 February targeted the 8:23.72 world indoor record she had set in 2007 but clocked 8:26.99. “It was my own mistake, so today I was determined to make up for that.”
In Stuttgart, Defar was chased by Anna Alminova who finished second in 8:28.49. “A Russian was close behind me and I was of two minds, thinking, ‘What if I lose?’ So (in Stockholm ) I was determined to run a fast time.”
For the Athens Olympic 5000m champion who in 2008 took bronze behind Dibaba, Wednesday’s indoor 5000m World record even helped make up for her crushing disappointment in Beijing.
“Yes, very much so,” said Defar. “This year has been providing redemption for me from the start of the year.”
“Although the Olympics caused me pain because I came away with a result I never expected, since then I’ve had good races, especially in Stuttgart and here,” said Defar, whose Olympic defeat had at first been followed by another 5000m loss, at the Memorial Van Damme Golden League meet. “In Brussels, the weather conditions were wet. I was not in a good place because of the Olympics, and in the final metres I was beaten by Vivian Cheruiyot and was second.”
But she returned to her winning ways in a busy September that included a London road race and the Stuttgart World Athletics Final 3000m and 5000m. “In Stuttgart, I was able to win both races, and in Hyde Park, I ran 5K on the road in 15:01,” she said. “I ran a good time.”
“After the Stuttgart final, I took a one-month break,” said Defar. “I began training on the 5th of Tikimt, according to the Ethiopian calendar [15 October]. I competed after about three and a half months of intense training.” The fruits of that preparation include a huge improvement on her own best time in the indoor 5000, which she had only run a couple of times previously, clocking 15:53.14 in 2004.
Vacations and wedding wishes for Dibaba
Defar spent much of her 2008 month off traveling with her husband. “I was abroad on vacation,” she said. “I went to Spain and Greece.”
She was back home just in time for teammate and track arch-rival Dibaba’s wedding to Olympic silver-medallist Sileshi Sihine. “It was a beautiful wedding,” said Defar, who sent the happy couple a warm letter from abroad before the wedding.
“It was broadcast on the radio,” said Defar, who recalled the gist of some of the words she had written the pair: “I wish you a happy wedding. Sileshi, take care of Tirunesh. As I have entered into matrimony ahead of the two of you, I also want to tell you how wonderful it is.”
Defar’s husband, Tewodros Hailu, is her partner in her career as well and was with her in Stockholm when she broke the record. “I ran the exact time he predicted,” said Defar. “He had said, ‘I’m sure you will run 14:24.’ He was very happy.”
Destination: Berlin
An equally-elated Defar looks ahead to another indoor appearance in Prague and beyond to the outdoor season.
“So far, I’m just running indoor track and haven’t decided what I’ll run after that,” she said, but one thing is certain for the defending World champion: the 15-23 August IAAF World Championships. “My major goal is Berlin, the 5000,” she said.
I am Kenyan-born and was raised in Tanzania, which is — with a population of about 35 million — the thirdlargest country in the world at risk of malaria. Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, is the leading cause of death in Africa, killing almost 1 million people a year. Tanzania has 18 million cases of malaria and more than 100,000 deaths yearly — mostly children and pregnant women — meaning every five minutes a person dies from this preventable disease that can be treated at a cost of $10.
Despite the depressing reality of this forgotten disease, today Tanzania and other African nations can be optimistic that malaria can be controlled and may be virtually eliminated due to President Bush’s humanitarian initiative.
In 2005, Bush created the President’s Malaria Initiative, committing $1.2 billion, which started with Tanzania, Uganda, and Angola, and then targeted eight additional African countries. As a malaria survivor with family, classmates, and neighbors who died of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS in Tanzania and Kenya, I am especially thankful for the president’s aggressive humanitarian program that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
The malaria rate has dropped significantly more than the 50 percent benchmark in each country. For example, in Pemba and Zanzibar, Tanzania, the malaria rate dropped 87 percent — proving malaria can be controlled.
Since 2001, President Bush has been committed to supporting various causes in Africa. U.S. aid to Africa quadrupled from $1.3 billion to more than $5 billion in 2005 and to almost $9 billion for 2010, representing the largest increase since the Truman administration. The President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief has touched millions of Africans — making PEPFAR perhaps one of his greatest humanitarian successes. Today, the United States and the Bill Gates Foundation are the largest contributors toward fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Additionally, the president’s Millennium Challenge Corp. identified nine African countries to receive $3.8 billion for infrastructure and agriculture. The president also implemented an African Education Initiative training almost 1 million teachers, providing more than 10 million textbooks, and giving hundreds of thousands of scholarships for girls’ education.
President Bush strongly pressed the nations being assisted to address the scourge of government corruption, asserting that Americans “expect countries that we help to fight corruption and to govern justly. There is nothing more pitiful than to have people’s hopes robbed by corrupt government officials.”
In 1977 as a child on a crowded street in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, I was among thousands of people cheering on a hot day as Fidel Castro’s motorcade passed. Now as a U. S. citizen who supports democratic principles, I watched and cheered President Bush’s visit last year to several African countries, including now democratic Tanzania, as thousands of people lined the streets cheering, singing, dancing, waving American flags, throwing flowers in his path, and some hugging him with excitement.
Even though millions of people watched President Bush’s visit to Africa on television, few were aware of the significance and substance of the trip. The media seemed more interested in the festive events and the president’s dancing and joking than in the thousands of lives saved due to his novel humanitarian approach that has benefited African nations.
The Bush administration also played various other humanitarian roles and was a mediator that saved hundreds of thousands of lives in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. Thus, it is no surprise that many newborn boys in Sudan are named “George Bush” and a day has been named George W. Bush Malaria Day in Benin.
Today, President Bush and the U. S. enjoy an 80 percent approval rating in Africa — including countries with a large Muslim population. Africa will remain a positive accomplishment of his administration. While some may not give President Bush full recognition, Africans throughout the world will long remember him and tell many success stories about George and Laura Bush’s extraordinary humanitarian legacy in Africa.
(Zarina Fazaldin, a local real estate developer, can be reached at 804 310-5051 or [email protected])
Troops from the Islamic Courts Union, a former insurgent group that now backs Somalia’s new president, have taken over {www:control} of checkpoints in the capital Mogadishu from government soldiers. The {www:development} comes as Ethiopian Woyanne troops, who patrolled the city for much of the past two years and began withdrawing from the country earlier this year, were reported crossing the {www:border} into Somalia again.
With much of southern and central Somalia under the control of hard-line Islamist insurgents opposed to the government, the immediate task for the country’s new moderate Islamist president, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, is to re-establish {www:security} in the capital, Mogadishu.
On Thursday, the government took one step toward this goal, replacing the government forces manning checkpoints in the city, who had had been accused of attacking and stealing from civilians – with fighters belonging to the Islamic Courts Union, an insurgent group that has thrown its backing to President Sharif, a former insurgent leader.
A spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union, Isse Adow, said the group’s soldiers had taken over early in the day.
He said the president, earlier in the month, had established a committee to look into security issues, which found that government forces at security checkpoints often held people up, seeking to {www:extract} money. The committee recommended removing the government forces from the checkpoints.
Security remains an immense challenge in the capital. On Wednesday, an explosion in the city killed at least two people.
But the challenge of exerting government control over the rest of the country is even greater. The new prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, repeated the government’s appeals for negotiations with the radical insurgent group al-Shabab, which controls much of the country’s central and southern regions.
There are some hopes that President Sharif can bring on board or marginalize the more radical Shabab. Both split from the same Islamist movement that briefly took control of the country in 2006.
A group of Islamic clerics who had been {www:meeting} in the capital issued a series of pronouncements Thursday, including that Muslims should not kill one another, and that Islamists opposed to the government should not use violence. But while other Islamist factions have entered discussions with the government, the Shabab has vowed to continue fighting.
The clerics also called for armed factions to stop targeting aid groups operating in the country; for foreign soldiers – most likely a reference to African Union peacekeepers – to leave the country by the beginning of July; and for a form of Islamic law to be established.
Meanwhile, Somali media has reported that Ethiopian Woyanne troops have crossed the border into southern Somalia, along with dozens of vehicles. Since withdrawing from the country earlier this year, Ethiopian Woyanne troops have remained deployed along the border, and Ethiopia’s prime minister dictator has indicated that soldiers could return if the threat of insecurity increases. But Ethiopia has denied any renewed incursions.
Organizers of the Boston Marathon announced today that they have completed their elite fields for the 113th edition of the race scheduled for Monday, April 20.
In addition to defending champions, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya and Dire Tune of Ethiopia, and key USA challengers, Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher, who had been previously announced, elite athlete coordinator Pat Lynch has signed an additional group of strong challengers.
On the men’s side, 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion Evans Cheruiyot of Kenya (2:06:25 PB), has been added along with Beijing Olympics fourth-placer and 2009 Chevron Houston Marathon champion Deribe Merga of Ethiopia (2:06:38). Other men who will toe the race’s famous starting line in Hopkinton include Kenyans Daniel Rono (2:06:58), Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (2:07:21), Timothy Cherigat (2:09:34), and Stephen Kiogora (2:08:24). Ethiopians Gashaw Melese Asfaw (2:08:03), Solomon Molla (2:08:46) and Abebe Dinkesa (debut) are also in the field.
In addition to Hall, another American Olympian, Brian Sell, has decided to run Boston again. Sell, who has a 2:10:47 personal best, was fourth at Boston in 2006, clocking 2:10:55. He was third at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in New York City in 2007, and finished 22nd in the Olympic Games in 2:16:07. Jason Lehmkuhle, fifth at those same Olympic Trials in a personal best 2:12:54, also plans to run.
On the women’s side, two Russian stars, Lidia Grigoryeva and Galina Bogomolova, should offer Tune a strong challenge. Grigoryeva won Chicago in 2008 and Boston in 2007, and has a personal best time of 2:25:10. The tiny Bogomolova is the Russian record holder with a 2:20:47 to her credit.
The 2009 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon champion, Bezunesh Bekele of Ethiopia (2:23:09 PB) is definitely a contender for victory, and so is veteran Salina Kosgei of Kenya (2:23:22) who finished 10th in the Beijing Olympics. Helena Loshanyang Kirop of Kenya (2:25:01 PB), Atsede Habtamu of Ethiopia (2:25:17) and Alice Timbilili of Kenya (2:26:45) are also in the field.
Two-time American Olympian Elva Dryer, 37, has also been contracted for the race. Her marathon personal best is 2:31:48 from Chicago in 2006.
John Hancock Financial, the principal sponsor of the race, provides the funding for Boston’s elite fields.
SEATTLE (AP) – Who loves Lucy? Far fewer people than a Seattle science center hoped when officials paid millions to show the fossil remains of one of the earliest known human ancestors.
Halfway through the five-month {www:exhibit}, the Pacific Science Center faces a half-million-dollar loss resulting in layoffs of 8 percent of the staff, furloughs and a wage freeze, President Bryce Seidl said Friday.
Lucy is a 3.2 million-year-old fossilized partial skeleton of a species with chimplike features that walked upright. The discovery in 1974 in Ethiopia forced a major revision of theories about the evolution of Homo sapiens.
The fossil exhibit was {www:successful} at the first stop on the tour, Houston in 2007, but the expenses have other museums reconsidering the planned six-year, 10-city tour.
The Seattle center’s staff redesigned the Lucy exhibit, adding a large section on Ethiopian history and artifacts, an audio tour and interactive displays in which visitors can put themselves in the shoes of a fossil hunter.
“It’s a powerful {www:story} of evolution and culture and history … but we’re not getting the attendance we need for an exhibit of this scale,” Seidl said.
The center had hoped to draw 250,000 visitors during the exhibit that ends March 8, but only 60,000 have come. Seidl blamed the recession, which has cut into arts and museum {www:revenue} nationwide, as well as December snowstorms that curtailed travel within and around Seattle.
The Lucy show cost the center about $2.25 million, Seidl estimated. That includes a $500,000 fee to Ethiopia, which plans to use the money for cultural and scientific programs.
The Field Museum in Chicago withdrew from the tour because of the {www:cost}. Debate over whether the irreplaceable fossil should be shipped around the globe led the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to drop the idea after early consideration.
“Lucy may not be anywhere other than Ethiopia after Seattle,” Seidl said.
But Donald Johanson, the American anthropologist who discovered Lucy, said fascination with the skeleton remained strong.
“As I {www:travel} around the country lecturing, people seem to have a deep interest in their origins, in their roots,” Johanson said.
