U.S. Culture an Unveiled Treat

--Two Afghan children, severely wounded a year ago in a Soviet helicopter gunship attack on their villages, are alert and talkative after plastic surgery in Denver, officials said. Bibi Halima Bigiri, 11, and Nasir Ahmed, 7, were having a “good postoperative course,” Mercy Hospital nursing supervisor Jennie Shyne said. “They’re doing fine, no complications,” Shyne said. “They’ve been eating solid food, but they don’t like our food too well.” Also, Dr. John C. Lemon said, Bibi is experiencing severe culture shock, seeing unveiled women strangers for the first time and being spoken to by strange men. Lemon said Bibi suffered napalm burns across her chest, abdomen and left arm in a 1985 attack in southern Afghanistan. Lemon said Nasir suffered severe cuts and burns to his legs in a rocket and napalm attack on the village of Jalalabad. “Nasir’s grandfather and two aunts were killed in the attacks. His mother, aunt and he were all wounded,” said Lemon, a member of the Committee for a Free Afghanistan.

--The Jane Austen Society takes pride in its devotion to the 19th-Century English author, and is sensible in its discussions, but it’s not prejudiced against a little fun. The Chicago chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America meets March 22, and topics include “The Role of the Clergyman in Jane Austen’s Novels,” and “The Decor of Jane Austen, With Slides,” but it won’t all be stuffy and academic. “If you could just see those headbands!” said Patricia Latkin, an organizer of the meeting. The group will be selling headbands, which have become a fad in Chicago. Austen was one of the first popular female novelists. Her books were noted for dry humor and elegant insights into such issues as courtship and they center around a young heroine and end happily in marriage. Despite the hip headbands, organizer Latkin said people shouldn’t think the Austen fans are too freewheeling or inhabit singles’ bars. “They sit home on Saturday nights and brood about Jane Austen,” she said.

--The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is on again next Saturday--although the saint’s day is Monday--and Duffy’s Shamrock Bar in Denver will be marking the event in the same old way--with closed doors. Business was just too good in past years, said co-owner Len Lombardi, so the bar closed last year for the sake of the owners’ sanity. Customers were “coming from out of state,” he said. “It was a very profitable day but just not worth the brain damage and aggravation you go through.” The bar became so crowded “to the point we were taking booths and tables out. A guy could get killed here and be on his feet for an hour.”