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.