On the Road Tee Time Olympic Watch Body Politic Cybersurf Heroes in Our Time 100 Grand Evidence of the Culture Libations Send E-mail to Sky, post messages on the Sky Forum and answer this month's We Asked question. The scene at the Jemaa feels like a very chummy North African country fair. Snake charmers lull deadly asps into trances with recorders in one area while child boxers fight it out in another.
Acrobats turn somersaults, and trained monkeys perform tricks.
Rows of food stalls are assembled in the square, pouring steam and smoke into the early-evening air and offering sheep's heads and snails, lentil soup and tripe. I think of what happens at 6 o'clock in the Connecticut town I come from. That's the cocktail hour, and people do not go on to solo pursuits but instead head right for the bar. Perhaps the desire to congregate and socialize after work is universal. The idea behind those gruesome displays, I'm told, was to throw a little fear into the local populace.