Word: dogged
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From documentary fanatics (Ken Burns made an appearance) to adults who read kid lit (Chris Van Allsburg, author of "The Polar Express" was there, and so was Clifford the Big Red Dog) to spoken word poets, the inaugural BBF had something for everyone. Flyby is eager for the second edition...
...spoke, a band of children, perhaps bored with the kites for a moment, gathered around the nearby dog cages of the Mine Dog Center, a local landmine clearing NGO, and a more disturbing symbol of day-to-day life in the Afghan capital than kites on the wind. This was strange because Afghan children do not seem generally to like dogs, fearing them, perhaps, as much as the landmines...
There are indeed dangerous wild dogs in Kabul. This is one reason why the dogs serving at the Mine Dog Center are killed by injection when they complete their service at seven or eight years old, rather than freed into a realm of feral creatures and dog-hating locals. Another reason is that the dogs, even if they found homes, could lead likely Afghan owners into danger, even in retirement, because the German Shepherds would continue to search out ordnance. Explains Mohammed Nabi, 48, rangy and black bearded, "the trainers make the dogs acquainted with explosives from the very beginning...
Nabi, formerly a de-miner and now deputy at the Mine Dog Center, says that he is too busy to fly kites, even though he and his dogs lived in Kabul's premier kite flying spot. And he does not find it at all strange that the de-mining headquarters shares real estate with the kite capital. "Kite flying is like de-mining, except you use your brain more than your hands," he says, striding to chase away a child throwing rocks at his cages. The kid bolted off, back into the kite-running fray...
...jokes that were more venerable than the 2,000-year-old man - but they were new to 5-year-olds, who got a daily tutorial in how to make people laugh. He would parry with two animals seen on camera only as long paws: White Fang, "the biggest, meanest dog in the United States," and Black Tooth, "the nicest dog in the United States." Or he would go to the back door and greet some (usually unseen) visitor. One was his "girlfriend" Peaches - represented visually by Sales in a blond wig and baggy dress and vocally by either Adler...