One of those days

Grrrrr.

Ever wake up in the morning and know -- just know -- that this is going to be one of THOSE days? You're laying there in bed... your eyes slowly open... and the very first thought that rolls across the still-foggy landscape of your mind is:

"Oh, hell."

Well, today was -- is -- one of those days. Not a tragic day, not a traumatic day... but one of those days when nothing will go your way.

One of those days when you feel the need to just "get through" your work. (I tried, but just couldn't muster much interest in the Italian elections, Bolivian autonomous regions, or kidnapped Iraqi generals. Sorry.)

One of those days that the spellchecker in Word automatically changes all of your correctly spelled words into words of a different language. (And no, I don't want to install the French dictionary.)

One of those days that you receive almost no email, and the letters you do receive are the ones you wish you hadn't. (You know who you are.)

One of those days that your internet connection melts down, your favorite restaurant doesn't have any open tables at lunch, and people give you wide berth on the street just because you have that look on your face.

One of those days that you think: "nah, I'd better not write a journal entry today, because it will come out all bitchy-moany." But then you decide: "no, what the heck, I'll try to do the right thing and write something." But then, halfway through, you realize that it is even MORE bitchy-moany than you feared it might be (no tables at a freakin' restaurant?!?!), but by now you can't bear the thought of having wasted all that time coming up with a journal entry that no one will ever read, so you decide to finish the damn thing as quickly as possible before you change your mind again.

One of those days.

Well, enough of that. In Guatemala today there was actually a small ray of light, something as close to good news as news gets here! If you thought the above journal entry was lame, self-indulgent, boring, pitiful, or just plain bitchy-moany ... here's a story of justice and hope for you:

Five get jail for racism against Guatemala's Menchu

By Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters

Five Guatemalans were found guilty on Monday of racial discrimination against Nobel prize winner Rigoberta Menchu in the Central American country's first racism trial.

During the month-long trial, prosecution lawyers ran video footage showing the five pushing, shoving and screaming racist abuse at Menchu during a 2003 Constitutional Court hearing related to a repeat bid for the presidency by retired Gen. Efrain Rios Montt.

"Go back to the market and sell tomatoes, Indian!" they yelled at Menchu, a Maya Indian, during that earlier hearing.

A tribunal of three judges sentenced each to three years and two months in prison for discrimination and disturbing the peace. Each must pay a $400 fine and can avoid imprisonment by paying additional fines of about $10 for each day of jail time under the sentence.

Menchu, an activist for Maya Indian rights, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, was cheered by supporters after the verdict. She described the sentence as "marvelous."

"Today we have a great experience that we can communicate to our children, that nobody should discriminate against anybody else, that nobody should offend the dignity of anybody else just because they speak another language or come from another part of the country," she told reporters.

The convicted are members of the opposition Guatemalan Republican Front and include Juan Pablo Rios, the grandson of party leader and former dictator Rios Montt. The four women are: former lawmaker Enma Samayoa; a member of the Central American Parliament, Ana Lopez; and two activists from the Republican Front party, Mirna Orellana and Elvia Morales.

The convicted declined to comment after hearing the sentence read in the Supreme Court. The defense said it would appeal after analyzing the sentence.

The ruling sets a precedent against the racism that is part of daily life for many of the Maya Indians, who make up more than half of Guatemala's 12 million inhabitants.

A United Nations representative last year described Guatemala's racism as "deep and serious," but until 2002 no legislation prohibited discriminatory behavior.

Maya women, whose vivid hand-woven clothes make them easily visible in cities and highland villages, are particularly vulnerable to discrimination.

Rios Montt's 1982-83 presidency coincided with the most violent years of Guatemala's 36-year civil war, in which some 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, most of them Mayan civilians killed by the army.