The Combat Zone

Oh how I love my podcasts!

As I was listening to one of the segments on Tell Me More, one of my favorite programs on NPR, East Africa correspondent Gregory Warner used a term that hooked me and took me straight back to braces in Boston: the combat zone.

His reference to the combat zone had to do with a refugee camp located in the spot between the heinous group M23 and the not so impeccable Congolese army.  My point of reference had to do with the porn area in downtown Boston.

When I was 14 I got braces.  My mom took me to Tufts University dental school the first couple of times for the consultation and the "putting on" but after that, I took the bus and subway downtown on my own for the routine adjustments.

On our first walk through that dirty neighborhood, literally speaking, who was I to judge the wonts of others in the figurative sense, I was flabbergasted!  Despite my Catholic school uniform, what transpired between people in the sexual realm was not a secret, but I had never seen so much of the not-so-secret in just a few blocks!  This area was called the combat zone.  And there was no getting around it to get to the orthodontist.

The first time I went to an appointment by myself, I was intimidated walking through there alone.  No one ever made any inappropriate gesture or comment, that I can recall. Had they, at that age I imagine I would have let out with a razor sharp come back. Perhaps it was the plaid that kept others on their best behavior.



PS
If you don't much about what goes on in Congo, take a listen to this segment and then listen to the one following it.  The doctor Denis Mukwege was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee this year.  Or just listen because this is a truly an inspirational human being.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=243720241