Andy Carvin Reports from Benghazi

By John Ballard

Andy Carvin is one of the NPR guys in the Middle East. He is in Benghazi on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Libyan chapter of the Arab Spring. This morning, the "morning after," he Tweets out a brief report on last night's festivities.

[Last night...]
Just got back to the hotel after five hours on the streets of Benghazi. Only thing I can compare it to was New Years 2000 in Paris. Epic.
The streets of Benghazi were one long caravan of celebrations: kids hanging out the window waving flags; guys surfing on the car roofs.
One shabab with an AK-47 demanded my camera. I gave it to him. He handed me the AK and began taking pics of his buddies.
[End of last night's Tweets]
The courthouse square was jammed with people waving Libyan flags and singing songs about Benghazi. Mostly men, but women and kids too.
Sorry I couldn't tweet too much last night; the Internet in Benghazi was just as swamped as the phone lines and I couldn't tweet any more.
About half a dozen lantern balloons were launched by Benghazi courthouse, but the wind was so strong they kept crashing into people.
People also set off their own fireworks - some of them way too low. Amazing to watch, but startled the crap out of us.
We then went to Keesh Square, where dozens of would-be stunt drivers were drifting: racing across at high speed then spinning out of control
Some of the drifters would wheel their cars in tight donuts, burning rubber, as a crowd surrounded them so close they almost got hit.

Spent most of the night with @LibyaSupreme and guys from Midnight Fort & Blackwize - basically, almost the entire Benghazi hip hop scene.
One of the guys from Blackwize was working on new rhymes and I got to see him demo them in front of the other hip hop guys. Pretty cool.
We then spent the better part of 90 minutes driving around Benghazi to find food, but all the restaurants had run out. Lots of customers.

Photo captions -- And check out these two kids; the little girl is hilarious.-- Shabab blocking traffic on one of the busiest streets in Benghazi - just so they can dance.-- A very happy girl holding a Libyan flag that's bigger than she is Superman was there last night at martyr square..hundreds of lanterns released too

Benghazi man showed me a pic of him with UN amb Susan Rice. "She had excellent perfume; I told my wife I wouldn't shower for two days!"
Another man told me his brother was a doctor in Kansas. "Where in Kansas?" I asked. "Who knows. Kansas. It's a big state, yes?"
Some shabab celebrated by using aerosol cans as flamethrowers. Others danced on top of cars while they drove down the street.
And I swear I even saw a couple dozen Libyan soldiers in a conga line, waving their AKs in air.