View from Iran: A Blog

http://viewfromiran.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-you-say-you-wanna-revolution.html

ReVoLuTioN Lyrics

By Eric Clapton

I told you once, I told you twice
You never listen to my advice
Good kind treatment, I'm threw with you
Won't get to heaven, I don't care what you do

I seen you changin from day to day
Nothin never gets in your way
Don't feel nothin for no one else
Take what you want, jus help yo self

(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Now you want a Revolution
(Want a revolution)
A revolution now
(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Say you wanna a revolution
(Wanna revolution)
A revolution now

(Told you once) I told you twice
(Ya never listen) To my advice
(Now your out there) Your on your own
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no home

(Getting mad)
I'm gettin mad at you (Mad at you)
Just don't like the way you do
Don't know where you think you been
But your goin to wind up back there again

(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Now you want a Revolution
(Want a revolution)
A revolution now
(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
You wanna a revolution
(Wanna revolution)
A revolution now
Say wanna revolution
(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Do you wanna revolution now?

(Revolution, a Revolution now)
(Time has come) and it won't be long
For you to see where you come from
(You can't go back) Can't go back, can't stay the same
No one but yourself to blame

(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Now you want a Revolution
(Want a revolution)
A revolution now
(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
You wanna a revolution
(Wanna revolution)
A revolution now
(Say you wanna, say you wanna)
Do you wanna revolution now?
(Revolution, a Revolution now)

Jahan Aghdai and the alleged "Axis of Evil"

I enjoyed the visit from Jahan Aghdai on Wednesday. It seemed he confirmed a lot of our thoughts about Iran and about the US government intervening and calling for more sanctions and resolutions against his country, and was reserved in his own right. I also hope that he has a safe trip back to Tehran to visit his mom and friends. To be completely honest, his visiting his mother really personalized this current political issue for me. You have all these ideas in your head about America patrolling the globe to weed out the "evil," and sometimes it is easy to get caught up in that mantra, and lose sight of individual values and what's really going on. Especially when Andy and I discuss these topics, I feel like he has the "sickness" of taking all of the hype and controversy at face-value. I feel like President Bush's accusations are almost comparable to the Hollywood tabloids- outrageous claims that no one really take seriously. From a BBC online atricle addressing the topic:

Some Western powers believed the process was being used as part of a weapons programme although Tehran has always said its work is for peaceful energy purposes.

The NIE report also said Iran was keeping its options open on developing nuclear weapons. It said Tehran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three to eight years.

Mr Bush called the report a "warning signal".

"Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," he said.

If I had to guess, our actions are not facilitating a peaceful relationship by accusing them after they have found evidence supporting their innocence. As a good friend of mine would say, "Whatcha doin Mr. Bush?"

Zaydun Al-Shara's visit

I was very excited to hear Zaydun speak about his country and found most of what he said very fascinating. I was surprised at the way he almost seemed to dismiss the fact that they are so family oriented. I know Allen asked the question about where people live while they are at college, and Zaydun came off as bashful about saying that most college age adults live at home or with relatives during school. I think he said something to the effect of "Americans think it is silly or old fashioned for young adults to live at home" when really it is a mere cultural difference.

I also fancied the fact that mostly women are in their universities, and this seems to be an underlying trend in the Middle Eastern world. Peculiar as it is, I think it is wonderful that women go on to get higher educations than men, even though it is a necessity to survive and offer something valuable to the job market.

Hearing Zaydun talk about his experience living in Jordan was refreshing. I think culture is one of the many things that keeps our minds rich with new ideas and our hearts filled with traditions and customs that we carry with us forever. Having a defined culture in this world is having a unique take on life and makes the planet that much more special. We are all able to learn from one another and take from each other to better understand ourselves and to cherish our own heritage.

On a sidenote, I would also like to admit I had no idea what Zaydun had brought for us to eat (cultural unawareness at its finest :P) so I decided to look it up. Baklava was actually originated in Turkey and other former Ottoman countries. But, every ethnic group whose ancestry goes back to the Middle East has a claim of their own on this pastry.It is made of phylo dough filled with pisatchios or walnuts, and then sweetened with syrup or honey. It can also be cut up into many different shapes and sizes. Gaziantep, Turkey, is famous for baklava, and is regarded as the native city of the dessert. I thought it tasted pretty interesting. Very sticky and gooey, but good. :)

Blurb on final paper

Writing this paper has been so exciting. It offered such a different viewpoint than every piece of literature we have read! From the very beginning, we have read about the roles of women being completely inferior to that of men, and how they were required to be faithful or basically face death, to be blunt. This book is inspiring. There is a battle between the more conservative viewpoint and the more liberal, modern viewpoint, and it seemed like the people who were holding the more liberal viewpoint were trying to convince the conservatives to "get with the times."

Marjane Satrapi had a very sexual sense of humor, and it definitely came out in this book. Many things from my first paper about women and the value of their faithfulness in society. The whole point of this book was basically refuting tradition and sharing tips and stories about how to get around staying a virgin, keeping men in line, and so on. I laughed out loud a few times when I was readng it.

So my paper is going to include some research about the Iranian women's movement, since Satrapi is from Iran and this text is based in that country. I want to incorporate what is going on over there and how that pertains to Embroideries.

I am looking forward to being done with this paper.....although I think as soon as I finish it, I am going to want to fix it. (Christmas Break expedition? hehe)

New Book for final paper

I was very puzzled as to what to read that would compliment my other works. I wanted something that had to do with women, and I also wanted to do something that was different from what I had read. I picked up Midaq Alley, by Mahfouz, and got about 40 pages into it. It was about a dwon-trodden alleyway in Cairo during the second world war. It was interesting enough....the main female character, Hamida, was a "tease" of a woman, and liked playing with the minds of men. She ended up becoming a prostitute, and I really did not enjoy the way the story was going.

So, I switched to Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber, which was a mistake, because every page held a new chapter, and it was somewhat hard to follow and not particularly pertaining to women from what I saw.

So, my final paper is going to be on...*dun dun dun* on Embroideries. I think it will be good. It is going to be completely on female viewpoint and sexuality or so says Dray and Trisha. But I do feel like it is going to be good. I want to base my final paper on women and some point on them. We will see what develops.

Repsonse to Dr. Ellin and the Soliders

I enjoyed the visit from the Soliders who had been in the Middle East for some reason or another, whether it be for Operation Iraqi Freedom or previous occasions. I wanted to talk about what they said with Andy, and he offered his point of view on how and when we should withdraw troops from the region:

"My opinion, as a private citizen, is if we pull out now, we are going to leave ourselves open to having Iraq be a bigger threat than it was with Saddam. The reason we are still there is because of the instability, and the insurgents being stronger than the Iraqi government at this point. We should stay the course because progress is being made that the general public cannot see. What is reported on the news is not a fair representation of the actual war. Our primary mission is security, humanity, and to train the Iraqi security forces and that is going well. Deaths are going down. Attacks are becoming fewer. There is no reason to believe that trend cannot continue."

I agree with him. I think it is true what they say...the TV is a much scarier portrayal of the Iraq War than it is actually is over there. I know that the media sometimes portrays the culture of the Middle East in a negative light, which I find offensive, especially now after learning so much about it.

In one of those textbooks, there was a quote about how opposing militant groups viewed us....I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was saying something about killing all Americans, and don't worry about the women and kids, kill them too, they are all the same. That is somewhat scary to me.

I enjoyed the cultural aspect that the soliders focused on. I think cultural differences definitely put a hinderance on the way Americans view the Middle East and Muslim/Islamic culture. I think the "they hate freedom" and "they attacked us because they want us all to convert to Islam" is definitely false....but some people still believe it. The cultural awareness is key to understanding each other and who knows......if more people understood the real reasons things happened and where the opposing side is coming from, we could prevent such disasters, and prevent going to war and losing lives.

Nightmares of Solidarity (Dreams of Trespass world link)

http://lexicorient.com/e.o/harem.htm

Dreams of Trespass

So when I started reading this book, I couldn't help but notice the high contrast between this and Under the Persimmon Tree. Menissi grows up in a traditional Muslim harem, and as she grows and learns more, she yearns to leave her past and explore the world. On the other hand, Najmah and her brother Nur are offered an opportunity to leave the chaos and fighting and go to America with Nusrat and make a new and better life. However, they turn down this gracious offer to return to their home in the Kunduz Hills, where their house has been demolished, and the Taliban still roam, to carry on their family traditions and to keep their father's land in the family. The difference in the mentality towards tradition is very interesting. I will write some more about it later, but for now, my family is having our Thanksgiving and I need to go visit.

Persimmon Tree Link & GOOD Articles (esp. 2nd one)

So this is excruciatingly late, but better late than never.

So Ian, Diane and I all read Under the Persimmon Tree and found it to be very one-dimensional and Americanized. So as I was looking for some sort of worldly link to this, I can across a speech Colin Powell made to the Heritage Foundation in 2002. I was reading through it and found this little snippet:

"We also have a deep and abiding national interest in bringing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end. With our friends in the region and the international community, we are working to bring about a lasting peace based on President Bush's vision of two states living side-by-side in peace and security. This peace will require from the Palestinians a new and different leadership, new institutions, and an end to terror and violence. As the Palestinians make progress in this direction, Israel will also be required to make hard choices, including an end to all settlement construction activity, consistent with the Mitchell Report."

If you want to read the whole thing, it's here.

Anyway, back to the Staples book. I wasn't so much dissapointed with her writing style, but the content of the book was somewhat wishy-washy. It seems to me this would make a great second-string Dreamworks production..."the tragic story of Najmah, the orphan, miraculously reuniting with her brother and saving the family land from their evil uncle." As topical as the book was, however, it also raised some important issues. Why were Americans bombing innocent people and their villages? Was it purposeful? And how does this affect our perception of the war, our soldiers, and the people in the Middle East?

I found an article written by Ramzi Kysia, a Muslim-American peace activist, working with the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, who was also in NYC the day the planes crashed into the twin towers. He talks of terrorism, and the things he observed on 9/11. He makes some chilling comparisons and really makes you think about what we are doing in retaliation of losing those 3000+ lives on the day that changed America. This excerpt from his article is very powerful, and really makes you wonder:

"How comfortable would we be if Iraqi warplanes flew over our skies, bombing our cities and towns every few days, over 12 long years - with absolute impunity? September 11 tells us.


...How comfortable could we be if Iraq had thousands of nuclear bombs, chemical and biological weapons, the most powerful military in the world, and was threatening us with destruction if we didn't do whatever they wanted us to do? September 11 tells us.


...The sign at the memorial in Union Park last year that stands out in my mind more than any other simply read, "We don't want this to happen to anyone else ever again." It does happen, all the time, all over the world. It happens here, in Iraq, every day.


...It happens when U.S. warplanes accidentally bomb civilians, over and over again. Our defense is "self-defense" - we bomb every time Iraqis challenge our right to control their skies.


...It happens when uncounted Iraqi children starve to death, every day, because our bombings and sanctions have deprived them of adequate income, adequate food, and access to safe drinking water. According to UNICEF and the Red Cross, among others, hundreds of thousands of children here have died because of U.S. actions against Iraq over the last 12 years. That's a children's 9-11 every month - 250 skyscrapers filled with babies and toddlers, crashing to the ground. Are these innocents any less real than those killed in New York and Washington last year?"

The full article, which I recommend, is here.

What are we doing?

Response to Dr. Kramer

This is going to be an ongoing blog. I will be adding things to it as I find them and explore more into the issues that Dr. Kramer brought up. I felt like his argument was somewhat one-sided and failed to acknowledge the other end of the story. Though some of his points were valid, and I respect his opinion, I feel that some things were left out. To be honest, I disagreed with him on several issues and I will explicate my views as I add more links to this blog.

Al Qaeda: Osama's Network of Terror
Background information about Osama Bin Laden and his connections with terrorists

Missing US soldiers 'tortured, killed' in Iraq
My first article. Dr. Kramer talked of torture of Iraqis and the inhumane treatment of people. What about the crimes they have committed against us as well?

US Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,858

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS VIOLENT, DISTURBING IMAGES NEAR THE END
Beheading Desecration Article of Dead US Soldiers Released on Internet by Al Qaeda

Repsonse to Abu Gharib issue:
So my thoughts are, if they can brutally behead, murder, mutilate, and rip apart the bodies of our soldiers, then why the hell can't we get them naked and put them in sexual positions? I do not condone what they did, but the uproar about our misconduct seems astronomical, and what are we doing about the brutality they show us? I'd rather have someone exploit me than behead me. Why should the US be held to such a high standard and let our enemies get away with this shit? It's very disturbing. However you feel about the war in Iraq, truly you should be disgusted by the way our enemies there celebrate the killing and desecration of our soldiers' bodies.

Torture, Al Qaeda Style

VERY INTERESTING! If you want to see some drawings of their methods and photos of tools and victims, check this out. I'll also put some pics on here as an example. ***It was there, during an April 24 raid, that soldiers found a man suspended from the ceiling by a chain. According to the military, he had been abducted from his job and was being beaten daily by his captors. In a raid earlier this week, Coalition Forces freed five Iraqis who were found in a padlocked room in Karmah. The group, which included a boy, were reportedly beaten with chains, cables, and hoses. ***

Completely unrelated, but here is a link to some pictures of Israeli Soldiers and their actions with children in Palestine.

http://www.pcdc.edu.ps/children_under_occupation.htm

Under the Persimmon Tree

So I wasn't quite sure about what we were supposed to write for Monday, but I am going to give you my brief impressions of Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fischer Staples.

We begin in the small village of Golestan, Northern Afghanistan, in October of 2001, mere weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There, we are introduced to a small family: Bada-jan, the father, Mada-jan, the mother, Nur, the brother, and Najmah, the sister. The Taliban are passing through the Kunduz hills where the family resides and this creates conflict for the small farming family. I don't want to give too much away, because I know other people may read this book, but the story is based on the journey of Najmah, and her travels to Peshawar, Pakistan, in search of her family. We also encounter Nusrat, an American teacher who is leading a small school for refugee children who have been displaced from the violence and corruption of the Taliban. Her husband Faiz is a doctor who has left to set up a medical clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif to help the mujahideen, the men fighting against the Taliban. Najmah and Nusrat cross paths in the middle of the story and their interactions and the relationship that blossoms between them is heart-warming in times of such adversity.

The images conjured in this book of the violence and terrorism of the Taliban are very real, and very disturbing. This book was written, as I've implied, after the September 11th attacks, and is based on the aftermath of those attacks, but instead of the American point of view, we are able to get some insight from the other side of the playing field. However, the author is American, and this book reflects an outsider's perspective. It is definitely a teen book, and the functionality of this text on a higher level is slim.

I also read the article that Allen sent to us about the abuses of the Israeli soldiers. Reading the ending of that where the men were breaking the limbs of the four year old Palestinian boy made me sick. And to think that they believe they are being "ethical" makes me worry most. How can a person break the limbs of a little child and feel good about doing it? What sort of mindset does someone have to be in to think that it's ok? And what the hell else is going on over there that we never hear about. What is becoming of the world? I mean honestly!

There have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed. -Gil Bailie

Osama/Bin Laden/Al Qaeda Link???

"THE PROOF THAT SADDAM WORKED WITH BIN LADEN"

"OSAMA-SADDAM LINKS 9/11 COMMISSION MISSED"

Sunnis vs. Shi'ites: An Outline Of The Differences Between The Sunnis and The Shi'ite in Matters of Faith And Doctrine

If anyone has ever heard of uncyclopedia, it's a spoof of wikipedia for entertainment purposes. If you care to look at it sometime, here's a link to a selection called "Things the government doesn't want you to know"

You tube Video showing an IED hitting a humvee : http://youtube.com/watch?v=_7yKgqtEZ_M

Explosions: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pZmkYDvNiqk

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS ROAD BLOW UP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTH-nVYdVXo

Intifada Picture from Wikipedia

The Book I'm reading

The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

I have only gotten about half-way through it, but it's definitely heart-wrenching. Hearing what the soldiers have to say about different topics such as living conditions in their FOB's (forward operating bases), their feelings on the Iraq War and Bush, their reactions to and interactions with the Iraqis, and how they feel about what they are doing in the Middle East. It incorporates several different blogs that are out there that military personnel have created to keep in touch with family and friends as well as get their thoughts out.

If you have any time, I would recommend this book. There are several blogs that are eye opening, shocking, and sobering. One of the most memorable to me would be one that talked about the first democratic elections that took place in Iraq. The viewpoint of this particular soldier was inspiring, and his experience with the Iraqis really makes you think about what we are doing and why we are there. Anyway, if it sounds interesting, definitely check out this book. It will give you a whole different perspective on what's going on in the Middle East.

Influence of the Israel Lobby

I don't think I've ever been this riled up about a conflict before, and with that said, I am having a hard time staying neutral on this issue. My fiance and I had a long debate over it last night (to his displeasure I might add) and the issues between the Israeli's and the Palestinians make me want to pull my hair out. I did a little bit of research on the Israel Lobby after watching Mersheimer and Foxman's debate, and here's what I came up with:

The Israel Lobby, or AIPAC, has been most influential on American foreign policy concerning Israel. I found an article called "Can American Jews unplug the Israel Lobby?" that shone some light on just how persuasive they are. Michael Massing, who has done reporting on AIPAC for the New York Review of Books, said "You can't have an Israel policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here." And later he quotes a congressional staffer, "We can count on well over half the House -- 250 to 300 members -- to do reflexively whatever AIPAC wants." How scary is that?

And what's worse is, the policies that the American Jewish people are trying to lobby for are detrimental to US security, or so Mearshiemer argues. John Mearsheimer, the author of the "Israel Lobby," believes that Israeli supporters in the US have too much influence on policy concerning Israel, which ultimately distorts foreign policy to take a shape that is favorable to the Jewish people in the Middle East. He states his tribulations as being accused of being an anti-Semitist and having his politics called "shotty" but I really cannot ignore his argument. We are doing things that are pissing the terrorists off, and that is going to stir the pot.

In the article, Mearsheimer makes some major points that quite honestly scare me. The US cannot really give good reason for it's showering of three billion (that is with a B) of aid to Israel other than the strong Israel Lobby "pulling the strings of the institution". Although I don't really understand all of why we support them, I do see the points Mearsheimer makes of why we should not.

One of the big points Andy and I argued last night was the military support that Israel provided and still provides to the US military during the Iraq War. In the article there is a paragraph that sums up why Israel has become a strategic burden rather than ally:

"The first Gulf War revealed the extent to which Israel was becoming a strategic burden. The US could not use Israeli bases without rupturing the anti-Iraq coalition, and had to divert resources (e.g. Patriot missile batteries) to prevent Tel Aviv doing anything that might harm the alliance against Saddam Hussein. History repeated itself in 2003: although Israel was eager for the US to attack Iraq, Bush could not ask it to help without triggering Arab opposition. So Israel stayed on the sidelines once again."

So we are giving them $3billion a year, 25% for which is unaccounted for, and they didn't even help us during the recent Iraq War. What's worse is that America cannot just "cut-off" their funding without major opposition from the powerful Jewish Lobby. And that $750 million they recieve without having to tell us what they do with it could be going anywhere, including building settlements in the West Bank.

What upsets me the most about all of this is the plight of the Palestinians. I do NOT in any way shape or form condone the terrorists' actions, because they are wrong and the people who commit them should be persecuted. But I can understand why they are making this desperate attempts to be heard. The Israelis are like a big brother picking ruthlessly on their little brother, and the US (mom) isn't paying attention. And taking away their 'allowance' may cause more damage than the US turning its cheek.

Something Abraham Foxman said about how the "deadliest lies" Mearsheimer is telling like "the Jews control the government to support their own interests" caught my attention. How is this a lie? The Israel Lobby, according to the article I found above, is the second most influential group behind the AARP, and they are even ahead of the NRA. They are pushing their goals and their views for Israel as its own nation and twisting it so our government caters to them. Meanwhile back in the Middle East, the Jewish people are doing the same thing-using their aid money to build settlements against the wishes of the entire Arab region for their own benefit.

I'm sorry if I'm getting "tunnel vision" as Andy calls it, but doesn't this all sound like the Jewish people are trying to control the Middle East? It's a reverse of the Holocaust....and it makes no sense to me that they would do the same thing to their enemies that Hitler and his Nazis did to them. I understand why the terrorists have done the things they have in the Middle East, and why they would be angry at us for aiding the people who are trying to control them by force. Again, the terrorists are wrong in the way they have chosen to react, but what how are they supposed to be heard under such oppression and with so few resources? How can they compete with the all powerful, American-backed Israelis? The reciprocations that are going to ensue from this conflict are not something I'm looking forward to seeing.

Carter's Book

I confess that I did not read all of Carter's book, but I did make some headway into the first few chapters.

First off, I was pleased with the historical chronology at the beginning of the book. It gave some good insight on what the Israelis and Palestinians have gone through already and up to this point. I thought it was cool to see Saladin's name in there, and a few other references to things we have already seen in class. It's mind boggling to think of how deep the divide is between these two, and how it has fueled such violence for so long.

Jimmy Carter wanted to help this situation in the Middle East, and he cared deeply for the region to establish lasting peace. In Chapter 4, he describes how he invited Menachem Begin, the elected leader of the PLO, and Sadat, the Egyptian leader, to come together at Camp David to discuss various possibilities of peace. Carter quickly found that the two were completely incompatible, and went back and forth between the representatives of each trying to establish a general peace agreement. After twelve days, the resulting agreement was called the Camp David Accords. This outlined the agreement to establish peace within the Middle East, what to do with Gaza and the West Bank, and granted full autonomy for the Palestinians. If you want to see the actual document, I found a website with the exact document in the Jimmy Carter Library.

The picture on the right was taken after the Camp David Accords and features Begin, Sadat, and Carter shaking hands, a sign of cooperation and peace.

It is really amazing how history has played out with the Jews and Palestinians. There have been so many attempts made to create peace and please people on both sides of the conflict. Each side, however, seems somewhat unwilling to compromise. It kinda sounds like they both want "all or nothing," which is completely impossible if lasting peace is to be achieved. One thing is for sure: this conflict has taken it's toll on a tired Middle East, and a sucessful peace agreement seems far away to me.

Oranges and Horses

The title “Land of Sad Oranges” made me giggle when I first read it- the childish image of oranges with Sharpie frowns running through my mind- but there is nothing funny about the plot of this story. It is about a family who is leaving Jaffa for a place called Acre, and eventually goes to a place called Ras Naquora in Lebanon. They were refugees abandoning their homelands because the Jews came to Palestine. They stayed very uncomfortably in Sidon for 3 nights and then the father somehow got money and bought a place on the outskirts of the city.

From what I can tell, the father had orange trees back home that he tended, because when the women had bought oranges in their journey, he looked at it despairingly. He was very angry at the political situation in their country and seemed to take it out on these foreign oranges. The children were sent out into the mountainside until midday to avoid being around for breakfast. One day someone had asked him for something, and he blew up and started frantically rummaging for a gun, saying he wanted to kill the children, and kill himself. After that, the kids ran away and no one asked for anything from that point on-if they were hungry, they kept quiet.

If You Were a Horse was most intriguing. The legend that a horse born with a reddish-mole-like spot on their body would kill someone close to them was what drove the father to fear his son. His wife was killed by a horse that had been born with such a spot on its side, and Abu Muhammad had told him to kill it or someone close to him would be killed, and he challenged the legend and lost his wife. His son, who had a reddish-brown spot on his skin as well, made him fearful for his whole life, as he told him at a young age, “If you were a horse, I’d shoot you.” Then in the end the father gets sick and needs surgery, and refuses to let his son, a doctor, perform the task. So during surgery, he told stories in his sleep about his childhood and what happened, and the surgeon was so intrigued that he almost lost concentration. So the son is walking away from the hospital and realizes that since he didn’t do the surgery, and the other doctor had gotten so distracted by the stories, that he probably had done something wrong and that would be the cause of his father’s death. This is so completely ironic, considering the father was afraid his son would kill him, but instead a doctor distracted by his unconscious stories would be the cause of his ill fate.

Men in the Sun

I was really surprised with this book. It begins with the stories of three different men: Abu Quais, Assad, and Marwan. All three of them want to get to Kuwait for the same reasons of finding work and getting opportunity so they can survive. Marwan has to support his mother and siblings, Abu Quais has a wife and two small children, and Assad was alone, but needed to find work so he could have the means to survive.

All three of them go to this man named Abul who helps smuggle people form Palestine into Kuwait for “the cheapest price” available, even though the cost was really steep for what the people could practically afford. And then, they risk their lives crossing the desert with the sun beating down on them like fire, and they follow this oil pipeline called “H4” to the road. They then meet up with others and eventually get smuggled into Kuwait.

I could not believe some of the stuff that happened, especially with Marwan, Assad, and Abu Quais dying in the tank in the end. After all of their plight, and their exhausting journey, they died. I was very disappointed; I wanted them to get to Kuwait. Unfortunately, this paints a very vivid, shocking picture of the Middle East for me. For one, if people are being smuggled out and risking their lives to escape, what kind of place was Palestine and how oppressive was their government that they were driven to do such things?

In the end when they die, Abul asks “Why didn’t you knock?” and I think this is significant. If the men would have knocked, even though they were suffocating, they would have given up what was going on, and then Abul wouldn’t be able to help anyone else get out of the country. There was also a good amount of trust between the three men and their smuggler, because he had agreed for them not to pay until they were done with their journey. They also trusted him with their lives, as they were in this lorry for so long and depended on Abul to get them across the hot desert. The bond between the men was important, as they only had each other to rely on for their survival.

Deciphering the Koran

Mary

I have to be completely honest- I don’t think I have ever been so confused trying to read something. It wasn’t so much the material, but between the way it was formatted and the three different translations, it was easy to lose my place and lose some of the story along with it. The stuff I could decipher was very interesting. I figured out on the last couple pages that the voices in the text were talking to Mohammed. The end sounded a lot like the Bible….damned will be people who stray from God, and rewarded will be the faithful followers. I also recognized some of the people from the Bible as well as Mary, the virgin mother, being discussed. The different perspective on these characters and their meaning in a different religion was very peculiar. I never recalled Mary by a palm tree in the Bible, but it has been a few years since I’ve seen the inside of a church. I was raised, baptized, and took my first communion as a Catholic, but my family decided to leave the Catholic Church for a Methodist one when I was 14. Unsatisfied with that, we stopped going when I was 16, and never really took initiative to find a church that really appealed to me. Though this is not a forum for my religious background, I can recognize the different people and relate the two religion’s views on them.

House of Imran

Again, the text is confusing! I am trying really hard to understand….but things get lost in translation for me. The “Book” was sent down by Allah for men to read and take guidance from so people can live as Allah wishes. Allah is the almighty god and sees everything, much like the Lord God in Christianity. Again, I found it very cool that Jesus Christ and Mary are present in the text, but they are of completely different importance. Jesus was considered a prophet, not the Savior of mankind. And the ultimatum that is given for those who didn’t worship Allah; “and whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him (Allah), and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers” was a threat to anyone who doubted his power. And if they did anything against Allah they would not be “washed from their sins” and a “painful doom” would ensue.” This reminded me much of the Bible warning against idolizing false prophets to avoid “eternal damnation.”

My Personal Thoughts

I don’t know why I am so fascinated by this, but it’s such an intriguing topic. Who does one believe? How can anyone really know if there really is one true religion? And if there even is one true religion, how could we ever know which it is? Who is right? Again, I was raised in a very religious household, and though raised Catholic, I don’t know what I should believe. What if there really are different Gods and different cultures really do have different places they go when they die? I grew up praying on a rosary, eating communion bread and drinking wine every other Sunday. I even took classes on Catholicism so I could be “eligible” to take my first communion. Now looking back at it from an objective point of view, it all seems so foreign. What is right? Do we even need to know what is right, or do we all just believe what we will and hope that we were the lucky ones who picked the right religion to put our faith into? I’m beginning to rant, but I just wanted to get my feelings out there. Does anyone have any thoughts on this topic? I’d be interested in some different points of view.

Orientalism

I thought it was pretty cool how Orientalism meant so many different things. The official definition, is the study of near and far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, and peoples by Western scholars. Opposite to “occident”, or “west”.

I also enjoyed looking at Orientalism in the fine arts. The architecture and different paintings and sculptures that were inspired by Eastern culture are truly amazing. An interesting fact about paintings I enjoyed was that “Orientalism” in the arts was not truly established until the 19th century, though Islamic Moors and Turks were depicted in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art.

Edward Said’s main argument was that “knowledge about the East is generated not through actual facts, but through imagined constructs that imagined "Eastern" societies as being all fundamentally similar, all sharing crucial characteristics that are not possessed by "Western" societies.” This is most interesting, because it is basically saying since the East is the anthithesis of the West, their culture and lives must also be the antithesis of the West. Said also warned against the "falsely unifying rubrics that invent collective identities," citing such terms as "America," "The West," and "Islam," which were leading to what he felt was a manufactured "clash of civilisations." I never really thought about it before, but what he is saying makes a lot of sense. Each of the topics is too broad and has way too many subcategories to define anything under a collective group name.

Funny...kinda.

My Stab at Rubiyat-Style Poetry

Warning: Poetry really isn’t my thing. But I gave it my best shot. Hope you like it.

Fiery passions from thy maiden’s heart wither cold
Of solitude and loneliness, thy patience grows old,
And now, the seasons turn, yet she remains alone
To neither friend nor foe her plight is told.

And neither note, nor song from her lips shall ring
To-morrow’s hope of dear life the rising sun may bring
Shattered by a thundercloud of reality closing in
The only remnants of him now are pictures; a ring.

But if a deathly fate shall obscure her delights of times past
Of love, memories, and the time he kissed her last,
The heav’n’s will smile upon her and relieve the sorrow
For from above, he shall lower the cloud’s gloomy mast.

Waste not your tears, nor your grief on me
For the most precious gift I have, it cannot be
With the mightiest power, broken, nor torn
For the love in thy soul ever remains a reverie.

My inspiration came from a jumble of different things. First, I drew from my own experience of being engaged to a military man. Andy is stationed at Ellsworth AFB, SD, and needless to say, I don’t see him very much. Between school and work and everything else, we barely get to see each other ever couple months, which is still good considering the circumstances. He is also deploying in January of next year for a 6 month tour in Qatar, which probably is mirrored in the "being alone" part. Another thing I drew from was a song by the Dixie Chicks (though I am no big fan of country) called Travelin’ Soldier. Set in the Vietnam era, a boy falls in love with this girl and writes her as much as he can, and then one day she finds out that he was killed in the war and is devastated. There’s also a song by Yellowcard called One Year Six Months that I also love (mostly because I love the fact that they incorporate a violin into their music…big orchestra dork) that influenced me. The song basically describes a guy being gone, but he tell the girl to hold on to the memories they shared. Even though he is gone, she can smile because she knows that they share this deep connection and love for each other. I guess I am a big sap when it comes to this stuff. Either way, I hope you like it.

START of my paper

After reading the Decameron, Othello, and 1001 Nights, I have noticed that though the women in each of these stories have very similar roles, they are displayed in very contrasting lights. The function of women in the Middle East was to be possessed by men and to honor them by staying faithful no matter what the consequence. If this fidelity was broken, the value and superiority of the man was decreased, thus deeming the woman evil and untrustworthy. The women portrayed in these three tales all share the typical inferior role, though some are held in a higher regard than usual for the circumstance. Their behavior is also widely contrasting, as some are eternally faithful while some jump into the arms of another man the first change they get.


More will be here in a few days. It's lacking a lot. Had a very long long weekend. :/

1001 Nights by Burton

First of all.....wow. I had not read nor was familiar with 1001 Nights before this class, and after reading the story of King Shahryar & His Brother, I was surprised. Everything has this erotic, sexual overtone and has to do with sex, sex, and the consequences of sex. Shahryar's brother kills his wife and the "black filthy cook" that he found in her bed without a second thought. The same ill fate comes to Shahryar's wife when Shah Zaman witnesses her and the concubines and Mamelukes getting it on in the pleasure garden. Then after that the guy kills every woman he marries because no woman is trustworthy and all are evil. I believe they said they were justified in killing her so no one else could endure her malice, and stopped her from further contaminating the earth.

Is it just me, or does this seem to set the stage for the current-day feelings that Middle Eastern men have towards their women? Is this where it started? Why haven't we gotten over the sexist and oppressive stance against Middle Eastern women in the 21st century? I might be making a big assumption here, but I don't think women today go around demanding sex and threatening death otherwise. It just seems that in this day and age, we have advanced so tremendously that it shouldn't be happening anymore. I guess, in all reality, we could ask the same questions about why 3rd world countries are so poor, and have so little healthcare and basic living functions. Here's a link I looked at that has to do with women in the Middle East and what direction the US is going with their Foreign Policy: http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n30women.html. I found that to be very interesting.

The picture is of Shahrazad and her younger sister in the bedchamber of the King, as she tells him stories.

The daughter of the Minister, Shahrazad makes a plan to try and convince the King to stop killing the women. So she is determined to marry him, against her father's will, and help him to see what he is doing is not right.

I still have to read three stories in 1001 Nights, but so far, the loud sexual overtone mixed with the dominance of religion and the infereriority of women is proving to be very, very interesting.

Turning Turk in Othello: The Conversion and Damnation of the Moor

Shakespeare’s Othello, as we all know, is a tragedy involving the "Noble Moor" who turns Turk and is cursed with eternal damnation after killing his wife and himself. In this article by Vitkus, he explains what the term "turking Turk" means and how it affected European culture between the medieval and post modern period.

During this time, the fears of religious conversion were paramount in post-Reformation England. Not only did they dread their Roman Catholic enemies and their threats of forceful conversion, but the growing imperial power of the Ottoman Turks and their colonization of Christian territories across Europe. Their fears of being captured, conquered, and converted were born from the sense of immediacy that early modern English authors created in their works about the Turks. After the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565, one English diocese established a common prayer asking God to protect England and Christendom from the Infidels.

When Othello was first performed in 1604, there had already been many run-ins with Muslim pirates along the Mediterranean. Throughout the 17th century, many Christians were captured during these raids, and were either enslaved, held for ransom, or they converted their religion. The English authorities were deeply upset and set up sermons to condemn the practice and promote martyrdom. As said by Kellett and Byam, "it is better to die than to turn Turk." However, most people who were converting to Islam were doing so due to economic reasons, and to avoid martyrdom and persecution, not because a sudden change in heart.

The thing that I personally found most interesting was how religious conversion was described in such erotic and sexual terms. Many English writers compared the Ottoman sultan with the Antichrist, and to convert to Islam was to engage in "spiritual whoredom" and "fornicate with the Devil’s minions" (pp. 153). John Donne, an English poet, also established a sexual relationship between the Christian worshipers and various other branches of Christianity. Personifying the worshipers as men and the various branches as women, he eroticizes the pursuit of "true religion" as the search for a pure female body in a world "full of whores."

Desdemona’s alleged infidelity is seen by Othello as a "turning" in his mind. He imagines her and Cassio in bed together and allows his heart to be turned to stone, filling him with a vengeful passion. Again, the sexual connotations associated with "turning Turk" are exemplified.

This erotic viewpoint of religious conversion is related, in part, to the way Islam was defined during this time period. "A licentious religion of sensuality and sexuality, Mohamet’s Islam was denounced as a system based on fraud, lust, and violence" (pp. 156). This is demonstrated in Othello when Iago plants the false sexual fantasy in Othello’s mind of Desdemona and Cassio in bed. As Vitkus states, "Iago is the evil angel who communicates a false message to Othello urging and justifying acts of cruelty and violence" (pp. 156). Othello is persuaded by Iago and he kills his wife; something he thinks is warranted. And as such, Othello was so lust driven by Desdemona that he allowed himself to convert to the cruel ways of the Turks.

As we have already discussed in class, the term "Moor" was widely used for peoples in Africa and other parts of the Middle East. Othello is Christian Moor, who is allegedly not "treacherous, aggressive and unstable" as early modern European texts have characterized them. However, in the end, as proven by the ancient proverb, "the Moor shows his true color-demonic black, burnt by hellfire and cursed by God" (pp. 161).

I also found the sense of urgency for Othello to go to Cyprus and defeat the Turks interesting, because what this article tells us about the timeline of events, Cyprus was formally ceded by Venice to the Turks almost thirty years prior to the first performance of Othello in London. I also agree that the first scenes of the play set up the stage for a grandeur battle between the Turks and the Venetians. This is anti-climactic for the audience, and the frustration and violence once aimed at the Islamic Other is now turned onto the feminine Other. This also forges a link between military aggression and sexual transgression, between the Turkish threat to Christian power and the contamination of female sexual purity (Vitkus, pp. 169).

Overall, I found this article very informational. We covered several aspects of Othello and its characters in class, but this article really took apart the play piece by piece and provided a very extensive background to the issues and controversies during the period.

Iago

Othello and Iago

( Iago looks really "honest" and "good" doesn't he?)

My Take on Othello

So here is my basic interpretation of Othello so far:

Main characters:

~Othello
~Desdemona
~Roderigo
~Cassio
~Iago
~Emilia

Othello is a Moor from Venice and his wife, Desdemona, is the daughter of the Senator Brabanzio. Roderigo is a Venetian man who is in love with Desdemona and wants her. Cassio is a soldier who is appointed to be Othello's lieutenant. Iago, who also serves Othello, is angry because he wanted to be lieutenant, and Emilia is his wife.

The story starts off in Venice with Roderigo and Iago arguing about Desdemona, who has just married Othello. Roderigo was paying Iago to spy on Othello so he could be with Desdemona. So the two go to Desdemona's father, Brabanzio, and he is angry and accuses Othello of stealing her with his witchcraft. Meanwhile, Cassio shows up with news that Othello has been ordered to Cyprus to help fight the turks. They all go before the duke, and Desdemona defends Othello in that she fell in love with him. She insists on going with him to Cyprus.

Roderigo then believes he has no chance with Desdemona, but Iago tells him of his plan to sabotage Cassio and get Othello to think she is cheating on him. This proves beneficial to Iago by both getting promoted to his desired position as lieutenant and will keep him in good graces with Roderigo. After the quarrel later that night and Cassio had stabbed the Governor, he lost his post as lieutenant, and Iago is happy because his plan is working. Cassio laments to Iago about his misfortune and Iago tells him a surefire way to get back on Othello’s good side is through Desdemona…which Iago knows will only raise suspicion of her fidelity.

Cassio starts spending time with Desdemona in hopes she can persuade her husband to let him rejoin his ranks. Because of this, Othello becomes upset and moody, which Iago doesn’t help by suggesting an affair between the two. Furthermore, Iago tells him that he saw Cassio wiping his beard with the special handkerchief that he had given her. This greatly upsets Othello and he vows to get his revenge.

I also checked out a Wikipedia article about Othello and his ethnicity and how that may have affected his trust in his wife. In the article is says "The most common interpretation of Othello is that the title character is a black man." I found this very interesting because they further integrate his race into his distrust of his wife as they are "from two different worlds" and since he is a "stranger from a strange land" he is lesser and doesn't have the capability to integrate into their culture. Here's the link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello

I am going to finish this and see how this turns out, and I'll probably write some more later.

A Favorite Poem

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference

-Robert Frost

The Lawyer & Decameron

So I've made a few observations after reading The Lawyer and Decameron.

Religion played (and still does play) a key role in the Middle East. In The Laywer, Constance, a good Christian woman, is kept alive for 3 years as an inexperienced sailor by the grace and protection of God. Her faith enabled her to escape the seas after being exiled by her husband. Her husband, a Syrian sultan, had agreed to convert to Christianity in order to have her as his wife; though this plan was sabotaged by his mother, who decieved him in her willingness to change her religion. In the end, Christianity is glorified and Jesus saves Constance from being defeated and guides her to Italy where her arrival is seen as a miracle.

The Middle East is very big on hospitality. In Decameron, we follow Saladin in his journey back to Alexandria, and he encounters Messer Torello; whom he shows great courtesy. Saladin and his merchants are welcomed into Torello's home and fed, clothed, and escorted to their destination. The gesture is then returned by Saladin after he discovers that his Christian falconer is indeed the man who had showed him such honour in Pavia. Torello, who had left for the Crusades and whose wife was bid to remarry, longed to go home and rejoin her. So, Saladin arranged for him to be sent by night to Pavia, and he adorned him in fine robes and precious jewels after putting him to sleep. So Torello goes home and his wife is about to marry another, until he slips the ring she had given him before he left into her cup and she discovered it. Then, she realizes it is him and then Messer Torello is finally happy.

I also agree with John and was curious to see such a different portrayal of Islam and the Middle Eastern culture. It was very interesting to see the research on the authors and how that influenced the theme of each tale. As far as Decameron goes, the Sultan and his merchants are portrayed as good, chivalrous men, while The Lawyer gives a description of evil anti-Christs. After reading the Wikipedia article and learning of the great courtesies that the Sultan exchanged with other Christian Lords, the Lawyer seemed very stereotyped.

Much like in modern times, most people have been influenced by the Christian belief that the Middle East is evil and all Muslims and Islamic people are terrorists. Erroneous as that statement is, longstanding perceptions cloud the truth about their culture, as well as how closely tied the two religions actually are.