Poet Marilyn Nelson at Marygrove College

Poet Marilyn Nelson to Deliver 2007 Bauder Lecture

The Marygrove College English and Modern Languages Department is pleased to announce that poet Marilyn Nelson will be the nineteenth visiting author in its Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series. Dr. Nelson will deliver the Lillian and Donald Bauder Lecture on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 8 p.m. in the Madame Cadillac Building’s Alumnae Hall.

In her poems, Nelson probes her family history, records her struggles with religious faith, complicates our assumptions about race relations in the past and present, and grapples with the disturbing manifestations of evil in the contemporary world. A sure-handed poet, she writes in several different poetic forms including sonnets and sonnet sequences, ballads, villanelles, and free verse. Her major volumes of poetry include Mama’s Promises (1985), The Homeplace (1990), Magnificat (1994), The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997), and The Cachoeira Tales and Other Poems (2005). Yusef Komunyakaa has written, “Rooted in the basic soil of redemptive imagination, the voices in Marilyn Nelson’s poems seek a lyrical foothold in our daily lives. Her words teach us how to praise ourselves by praising each other.” And Mark Doty says that “Nelson’s bold and sure poems long for heaven and— happily for us—continue a lifelong affair with the occasions of earth.”

Nelson’s books of poetry for young people—among them Carver: A Life in Poems, and A Wreath for Emmett Till—have received high praise from critics and educators. About Carver, Herman Sutter writes, “The poems are simple, sincere, and sometimes so beautiful that they seem not works of artifice, but honest statements of pure, natural truths.” Kirkus Reviews calls A Wreath for Emmett Till “a towering achievement.” Publisher’s Weekly says, “For those readers who are ready to confront the evil and goodness of which human beings are capable, this wise book is both haunting and memorable.”

Marilyn Nelson is the author of thirteen books of poetry, six of which are written for children. Her work has received two Pushcart Prizes, two Coretta Scott King Book Awards, a Newbery Honor Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the 1998 Poets’ Prize. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Nelson is professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut and the former poet laureate of the state of Connecticut.

For more information about Marilyn Nelson’s April 20^th appearance at Marygrove, please visit www.marygrove.edu or call Laurie LePain Kopack at 313-927-1383.

Ella Shohat and Robert Stam

133 Greene Street, New York, New York 10012

Tel: (212) 260-4014

www.pomgallery.com

You are Cordially Invited to Attend:

Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices and Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism

Book Reception: Thursday, April 26, 6 p.m.

The Pomegranate Gallery is proud to announce a reception Thursday, April 26 at 6 p.m. to celebrate the publication of Ella Shohat’s Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices (Duke University Press 2006) and Ella Shohat & Robert Stam’s Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism (Routledge 2007).

Flagging Patriotism explores the interconnected issues of patriotism and Anti-Americanism. Drawing upon their extensive experience with Latin American, European, and Middle Eastern societies, the authors place the “why do they hate us discourse into a transnational context. While criticizing the right wing’s “Pentagonization” of patriotism, they also question the Francophobia of the right, along with certain culturalist forms of Anti-Americanism. Dedicated to Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and other “patriotic clowns,” the book uses humor and wit to discuss the most controversial issues of the day. Neil Smith writes: “A triangulation in the best sense between French and Brazilian and American exceptionalist skews on the United States, this book bores into the conundra of Anti-Americanism and American patriotism… Comprehending anti-Americanism while rejecting it as decisively as it rejects American exceptionalism, 'Flagging Patriotism' points toward a new, transnational patriotism. Easily the most thoughtful book on the subject, it packs accessible analysis alongside gut common sense and is excitingly and exquisitely written.” For Doris Sommer, “Stam and Shohat combine a shared flair for interdisciplinary analysis and also complementary perspectives on two hemispheres. Their book is a compelling account that calls for re-framing legislation and loyalties.”

Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices brings together for the first time a selection of trailblazing essays by Ella Shohat, an internationally renowned scholar of Iraqi-Jewish background. The essays trace a powerful intellectual trajectory as Shohat rigorously teases out the consequences of a deep critique of Eurocentrism. Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices not only illuminates many of the concerns that have animated the study of cultural politics over the past two decades; it also points toward new scholarly possibilities. Lisa Lowe writes: “From her keen observations about the politics of knowledge production in the U.S. university, to her canny elucidation of the gendered geographies of colonial cinema, to her critical engagements with post-Zionist discourse, Ella Shohat’s bold intelligence is unparalleled. This volume collects her key interventions that have shaped and illuminated the debates we have come to know as multiculturalism, postcolonial discourse, and transnational feminism.”

Ella Shohat is Professor in the departments of Art & Public Policy and Middle Eastern Studies at NYU. Her publications in the areas of cultural studies and postcolonial theory have also included developing critical approaches to the study of Arab-Jews. Her books include the award-winning Unthinking Eurocentrism (with R. Stam), Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation, Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age, and Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality and Transnational Media. A recipient of Rockefeller grant, her writings have been translated into various languages, including, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, German and Turkish.

Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University and author of over sixteen books, among them Subversive Pleasures, Tropical Multiculturalism, Unthinking Eurocentrism (with E. Shohat), Film Theory: an Introduction, Literature through Film and Francois Truffaut and Friends. His work has been translated into French, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, Farsi, Swedish and other languages. He has lived and taught in Tunisia, France, and Brazil, and received Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, and Rockefeller grants.

Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Reception attendees are invited to view current art on display. Artists currently featured include Farah Nosh, Ismail Khayat, Hana Mal-Allah, Hayder Ali, Qasim Sabti, Mohammed Shammerey, Nazar Yahya, Naziha Rashid, and gallery owner Oded Halahmy.

This event is supported in part by the Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization created to fund original artistic expressions that promote a greater cultural understanding of the Middle East, thereby fostering peace and hope around the world. The Foundation has already supported a number of Middle Eastern writers and poets by bringing their translated works to an American audience.

Virginia Tech Tragedy and Waleed Shaalan

From: Muslim Family Services
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:24:11 -0700 (PDT)

On behalf of the Virginia Tech Muslim Students Association we would like to
express our sincere gratitude to all of the MSAs and Muslims that have
contacted us here in Blacksburg, VA in the midst of this tragedy.
Alhumdulillah we have a national Muslim community that is supportive of each
other, like you all have been to us these past few days. Unfortunately we
lost a brother from our MSA here in Blacksburg. His name is Br. Waleed
Shaalan and he was a graduate student here at Virginia Tech. Waleed left
behind his wife of three years, Amira, and his one-year-old son, Khaled.
With the help of MSA National, we have set up a fund to support his family
during these difficult times. The link in which individuals and MSAs all
over the US and Canada can donate is below. Please keep the brother (may
Allah have mercy upon his soul), his family, and all of us here at Virginia
Tech in your duas.

Jazakumu Allahu Khairan for all of your duas and support.

Wa'alaikumu Assalam waRahmatu Allah,

Nassiba Adjerid
Virginia Tech MSA President

Please donate to support the family of Br. Waleed Shaalan

http://www.msanational.org/finance/vt07donate.html
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=bcdq75bab.0.0.dh4se8bab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msanat
ional.org%2Ffinance%2Fvt07donate.html&id;=preview>

Narration by a student in the classroom with Waleed:

The student mentions that Waleed saved his life and wants to convey this to
Waleed's family. Apparently, the murderer came into Norris 206 and shot Dr.
Loganathan and a number of students injuring Waleed. Waleed was sitting in
the front row where he always sat. Everyone jumped to the floor after
hearing the gun shots including the person narrating the story. The murderer
then left Norris 206 to go to another classroom. The student that narrates
the story was not shot but pretended to be dead and lay on the ground beside
Waleed who at that time was only injured. The murderer then re-entered the
classroom and was checking for alive victims. He had approached the person
narrating the story who mentions that his heart was pounding out of fear.
Waleed at that instant made a movement to distract the murderer's attention
and was shot for the second time. At that time Waleed died and the murderer
left the narrator to search for other victims.

Ina Lillahi wa ina Ilayhi rajeoon. We ask Allah to forgive Waleed all his
sins and grant him paradise.

"Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in
goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those
who patiently persevere, Who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah We
belong, and to Him is our return":- They are those on whom (Descend)
blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive
guidance. [Quran 2:155-157]


F. Hafeez
Program Coordinator
Muslim Family Services
mfs_adm1@yahoo.com
http://www.muslimfamilyservices.org/

Talk by Dr. Raz Yosef: Fantasies of Loss

Fantasies of Loss: Melancholia and

Ethnicity in Israeli Cinema



THURSDAY, MARCH 29

4:00 P.M.

2022 THAYER BUILDING

202 S. Thayer Street



Dr. Raz Yosef

Tel Aviv University,

Film and Television Department





The migration experience of Mizrahim (Oriental/Arab Jews) is based on a structure of mourning and melancholia. When a person leaves his country of birth he has a wide range of things to grieve, such as family, language, identity, standing in the community, and assets. In the Zionist national narrative, Mizrahi mourning of the lost Arab-Jewish identity was forbidden
and invisible, and led to an ethnic melancholia. Mizrahi melancholia is double: the Mizrahi subject was required to negate and eradicate his Arab identity, but was also forced to reidentify with that loss, because he or she was prevented from fully participating in the Ashkenazi national ideal. These layers of loss were censored, forbidden and silenced in Israeli
culture. These losses have recently been afforded cultural visibility through feature films by second-generation Mizrahi directors. These films are fantasies of loss through which the Mizrahi second generation attempts to "solve" the enigma of the origin of the melancholic identification and identity of both their parents and themselves. Through the fantasy of cinema, the sons restage their parents' loss, with which they identify, in order to search for a lost desire, to talk of a repressed love, and thus to try and redefine their Mizrahi identity.



********************************************************************

Biographical Note:

Raz Yosef teaches in the Film and Television Department at Tel Aviv University and in Sapir Collage, Israel. He is the author of Beyond Flesh: Queer Masculinities and Nationalism in Israeli Cinema (Rutgers, 2004), and of numerous articles on issues of gender, sexuality and ethnicity in
Israeli visual culture.

********************************************************************

This event is sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Frankel
Center for Judaic Studies, and the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies.

RAWI CONFERENCE IN DEARBORN MICHIGAN

Please consider attending this incredible conference in Dearborn, Michigan!
It is taking place May 17-19, 2007 at the Arab American National Museum.
RAWI members are very excited and honored to be hosted by the AANM.
all are welcome to attend. see site for registration details.

NOURI GANA

HOMELANDS ANTHOLOGY

Homelands: Women's Journeys Across Race, Place, and Time

Contents

Foreword, Edwidge Danticat

Introduction

In Search of the Next Harvest, Guillermina Gina Núñez

The Reciters, Agate Nesaule

Journey by Inner Light, Meeta Kaur

Oburoni No More, Kim Foote

¡Venceremos! Words in Red Paint, Ananda Esteva

Filipino Secrets and American Dreams, Patricia Justine Tumang

Journeys to Jerusalem, Lisa Suhair Majaj

Different Blood: A Journey to Myanmar, Wendy Marie Thompson

Dakota Homecoming, Diane Wilson

Homeward Bound: The Journey of a Transgendered Korean Adoptee, Pauline Park

Identifying with América, Erika Martínez

Seeing Istanos, Nancy Agabian

Waves: My Haitian American Rhythm, Phoenix Soleil

Leaving Battambang, the City of Answers, Sokunthary Svay

Heartbroken for Lebanon, Leila Abu-Saba

American Viking, Sarah McCormic

Never Gone Back, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

What Is Home after Exile? An Iranian Greek American Homecoming, Aphrodite Desiree Navab

Yiddishland, Ellen Cassedy

Queer Heart in a Red-State Body, C.L. Carlton

Home, Adopted, Jill Kim SooHoo

Urban Nomads, Joshunda Sanders

The Route Back to Tonga, Loa Niumeitolu

Coming Out, Coming Home, Jenesha de Rivera

Embrace of the Motherland, Canyon Sam

Sowing for Lineage, Claudia Virginia Narváez-Meza

Voyage, War, and Exile, Etel Adnan

Off the Edge of the World: An Ethiopian Story in Metaphors, Maaza Mengiste

Ghosts, Monsters, and the Dead

5th Annual Conference of Ethnic Studies in California co-sponsored by:
Department of Ethnic Studies and California Cultures in Comparative Perspective,
University of California, San Diego
Program in American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California
Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday March 2 – 4, 2007
University of California, San Diego

Do you have this frightening sensation that issues of race and ethnicity are being erased from public and academic discourse? This might explain why on college campuses around the country, Ethnic Studies scholars and students are often regarded as either monsters or boogeymen providing an unsettling presence. The discipline itself is often treated as a ghostly world, populated by howling specters that refuse to relinquish the sins of the past, and have therefore not been properly laid to rest. Given this declining significance of race both as an analytical tool and an object of public discussion, both the work Ethnic Studies scholars produce and the communities they are engaged with appear to be banished to an obscene world, beyond intellectual mapping or recognition, which enters into the political in an almost horrific fashion.

Within this obscene world we find three key figures, ghosts, the dead, and monsters, which are not simply anachronistic grotesque echoes of an abstract past, but rather crucial reflections of the present moment. There are the ghosts, which always embody a violence that the nation struggles to forget, and create a persistent anxiety in their resistance to their “necessary” exorcism. Then there are the walking dead, forms of bare life, which exist as objects producing sovereignty, and whose only recognition lies in the calculus of domestic tragedy or international genocide. Lastly, there are the monsters, “unnatural” existences which mark a lack of rationality, and therefore defy belief and justify violence.

The focus for the 2007 Crossing Borders Conference is to encourage the submission of papers that go beyond an engagement at the level of a formal absence, and instead engage at the level of this obscene world, by interrogating the horrifying themes of Ghosts, Monsters, and The Dead. We invite graduate students in Ethnic Studies programs or producing Ethnic Studies work to submit abstracts comprised of critical inquires which either directly or indirectly relate to these domains of “terror,” and how they are deployed, produced, and contained in processes of racialization.

The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2006 and may take the form of individual paper presentations or proposed panels. Individual submissions must include an abstract no more than 250 words, a one page CV as well as a cover sheet which provides your contact info and any AV needs. Panel proposals must contain, contact info, an abstract and CV for each presenter, as well as a description for the panel not to exceed 150 words. Please email your submissions and any questions to crossingborders2007@gmail.com

For updates and more information please head to the conference website at http://ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/crossingborders

Visualizing Iraqi Politics & Cultures in Iraq and Diaspora

PANEL DISCUSSION

Visualizing Iraqi Politics & Cultures in Iraq and Diaspora
Friday, February 16, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street,
5th floor
(enter at 66 West 12th  Street)
New York City

Admission:
Free for Center for Book Arts members &
New School faculty,
staff and alumni with valid ID$10
$5 for student and faculty of other universities
$10 for general public

In the 1960s and 1970s, Baghdad emerged as a vital cultural center in the Arab world. After the devastation of the Hussein regime, and the developing civil war now,how do Iraqi artists today cope with the daily physical challenges most of us can barely imagine? In particular, the panelists will explore the proliferation of the book as an art form pursued by contemporary Iraqi artists, the relationship between Islamic manuscripts and contemporary book art, notions of identity and resistance to the erasure of identity, and the experience of exile.

Panelists:
Hashim al-Tawil, Professor of Art History,
Henry Ford Community College;
Lecturer in Islamic Art and Architecture and in Arab Studies,
University of Michigan-Dearborn

Sharokin Betgevargiz, artist;
Lecturer in History of Graphic Design,
Central Connecticut State University

Michael Rakowitz, artist,
Associate Professor in Art Theory and Practice,
Northwestern University

Ella Shohat, Professor in departments of Art,
Public Policy, and Middle Eastern Studies,
New York University

Radio Tahrir

Lisa S. Majaj, poet and critic, featured on RADIO TAHRIR

"Claims," audio (2:07)
"These Words," audio (2:46)
What She Said, audio (2:30)
Arguments by Lisa Majaj
Majaj, co-editor of 'Going Global', a collection of critical essays, in an interview with host BN Aziz," (4:14)

MIXED by Jennifer George: Detroit Debut

“mixed”

a play by Jennifer George

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Beverly Lyons Jennifer George

PR Strategies “mixed”

(248) 360-9515 (248) 591-0337

blyons@comcast.net jengeorge@wayne.edu

NEW PLAY BY FERNDALE RESIDENT

TACKLES RACE, DIVERSITY, MULTI-ETHNICITY

DETROIT, Mich., (January 24, 2007) – Acceptance, unity, discrimination, privilege, ignorance, hope and healing – a new, locally created theatrical production, aptly titled “mixed”, tackles these and a varying assortment of other complex issues of diversity

and ethnicity.

Written, directed and produced by Ferndale resident and Wayne State University Theatre alumna Jennifer George, “mixed” is a thought-provoking, provocative play dealing with bi-racial identity, discrimination, anti-racism, abandonment and other such universal and time transcending themes. “mixed”, which marks George’s debut in the role of writer, director and producer of a theatrical production, will premiere in Detroit on Friday, February 23, during Black History Month.

Presented in three acts, “mixed” begins each act with a scene depicting three generations of African American women in the post Civil War South as they unveil their stories and secrets before the audience. Thereafter, the play alternates between ensemble scenes, which deal with issues of contemporary society, and character monologues. One ensemble scene, called Daddy, speaks to the father crisis in America, while another titled, It’s Time, calls for social advancement.

George, herself a product of a mixed-ethnicity household, hopes her play will serve as a springboard for creating more dialogue about race and diversity. ”It may not address all the issues, but hopefully “mixed” will prompt people to talk more freely and openly about this important subject,” she said.

-more-

New Play by Ferndale Resident – Page 2

Born in Granada, Spain to a Chaldean father and a third-generation Polish, Irish, Scottish mother, George, 37, was reared and educated mostly in metro-Detroit. She attended Wayne State University, earning a degree in theatre arts, and later returned to Europe where she studied acting, writing and directing at the La Sorbonne, in Paris, France.

George says her own childhood experience -- living between divorced parents, being of mixed ethnicity and diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and having experienced different cultures – was the impetus for pursuing this subject. Further fueling her interest were many frank discussions about racism with a diverse circle of friends, and the strong belief that there was a need for a more direct treatment of racism in film and the theatre.

Like Playwright and Poet Bertolt Brecht, who espoused the philosophy that theatre should not merely represent the world, but can and should, change the world, George hopes her new play, will motivate people to change the way they feel and think.

“I believe we have made great technological advancements in society, but comparatively little advancement socially,” said George. “I think that, on the whole, we can be better and do better.”

“mixed” runs through March 11 at the Boll Family YMCA Theatre, a 140-seat venue located at 1401 Broadway. Shows will be presented every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 each and $18 for senior citizens and students. For ticket information, call the Boll Family YMCA box office at (313) 309-9622 or visit www.ymcametrodetroit.org.

# # #

I'jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody: Sinan Antoon

I'jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody
By Sinan Antoon
Available June 2007
ISBN 0-87286-457-x
Paperback, 168 pp
$11.95
Pre-order Sale Price$8.37

An inventory of the General Security headquarters in central Baghdad reveals an obscure manuscript. Written by a young man in detention,the prose movesfrom prison life, to adolescent memories, to frightening hallucinations, and what emerges is a portrait of life in Saddam's Iraq.

In the tradition of Kafka's The Trial, or Orwell's 1984, I'jaam offers an insight into life under an oppressive political regime and how that oppression works. This is a stunning debut by a major young Iraqi writer-in-exile.

"Sinan Antoon writes with an assurance of voice, a clear redefinition of form and narrative, and compelling and beautiful language. Iraqi in origin, but global in its scope, this book is deeply human." ­ Chris Abani, author of The Virgin of Flames and GraceLand

"Sinan Antoon's I'Jaam is a stunning work, as it brings to the present a world of terror we know about, we have previously read about, but which usually seems remote, unreal. It takes a great talent to make it so specific, so Iraqi in this case, and so personal. This author shows the particular sadistic humor that goes with cruelty, a "cultural" slant that makes us identify it with the places where it happens. Evil becomes thus both general, universal, and particular. The nightmare gains familiarity, reality." ­ Etel Adnan, author of Sitt Marie Rose and In the Heart of Another Country

Sinan Antoon's novel traces, across time, space and faces, how the life of a young generation under a barbaric regime becomes an existential minefield. Life is no more what it is. Everything is a trace of itself. Even daily language is cluttered with debris from the mines of hell. Incessantly targeted in a nightmarish atmosphere, the individual can only save him/herself with the stubbornness of an animal." ­ Saadi Youssef, author ofWithout an Alphabet, Without a Face: Selected Poems

"In this beautiful and brilliant novel, Sinan Antoon expresses the voice of those whose voices were robbed by oppression, stressing the fact that literature can at times be the only framework to protect human experiences from falling into oblivion. I`jaam is an honest and exciting window onto Iraq, written with both love and bitter sarcasm, hope and despair. It does
not only illuminate reality in Iraq prior to the American invasion, but also the human experience in its insistence on resisting oppression and injustice." ­ Elias Khoury, author of Gate of the Sun

"Brief, bitter and bracing, I'jaam displays all the dangerous prismatic grace and light of shattered glass. Nuanced and direct, Antoon's razor-sharp voice rises out of the prisons and mass graves of Iraq during the era when Saddam Hussein enjoyed U.S. government support and no one heard these voices silenced in their tens and hundreds of thousands. The hopeful tenderness of this voice goes on speaking now, and we can be grateful that a new translation allows us, finally, to hear it. In this time of endless war, it tells (again) a story we needed so many lives ago." ­ Sesshu Foster, author of Atomik Aztex

Sinan Antoon (Baghdad, 1967) has published in leading international journals and has co-directed, "About Baghdad," an acclaimed documentary about Iraq under U.S. occupation. In June 2007, Harbor Mountain Press will be publishing a book of poetry by Sinan, The Baghdad Blues.

DIWAN

A FORUM FOR THE ARTS

TIMZ: Chaldean hip-hop artist

Already TIMZ, Tommy Hanna, is getting attention from the right wing media for the content of his video. TIMZ is going on national TV tonight, Hannity and Colmes /FOX NEWS/ not a good move unless you want to have your head split open.

My take on his video: It is very powerful but some of it is historially inaccurate. we have to get away from the dessert background. In an interview, he disses hip-hop. I know he is catering to a Chaldean audience but really, he should honor the work of African-American artists who use rap and hip-hop to convey political messages and who have created this genre of popular poetry. Hip-hop has been revolutionary and transformative and should be acknowledged not just co-opted! That said, his piece is powerful and I was happy to hear a Chaldean-Iraqi dissing Bush. about time!
CONGRATULATIONS TO TIMZ and to Ron Najor, filmmaker, for filming/editing the video. nice work, really.

Read this post.

My comments above are based on this article: http://cdbaby.com/cd/timz

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF HIS VIDEO OR THIS ARTICLE.

Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present

Dr. Nadje Al-Ali is an incredible scholar, and I recommend this book highly! I had the chance to read a draft of some of the chapters. It is an important and welcome book.

Athir Shayot exhibit in DC

Dearborn Michigan: 9 Parts of Desire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Ray Alcodray (313) 407-0740

or Scott Myers (248) 703-2645

Arab Theatrical Arts Guild and Water Works Theatre Company

present

the Midwest Premiere of

Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire

- Limited Engagement -

January 31 through February 11, 2007

Ford Dearborn Community and Performing Arts Center

What the critics are saying about Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire:

“Powerful! Impassioned! Vivid! Memorable!”

- The New York Times

“An example of how art can remake the world! A triumph! Thrilling!”

- The New Yorker

“Profoundly moving! Rated A!”

- Entertainment Weekly

“A beautifully shaped one-woman play! See it soon! See it today!”

- The Wall Street Journal

“Spellbinding.”

- Variety

Dearborn, Michigan. The Arab Theatrical Arts Guild (www.arabtheater.org) and Water Works Theatre Company (www.waterworkstheatre.com) are proud to announce the Midwest premiere of the smash hit play Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire for a limited engagement, January 31 through February 11, 2007, in Studio A at Dearborn’s Ford Community and Performing Arts Center (www.dearbornfordcenter.com). Tickets are now on sale ($23 - $29)

Starring Sarab Kamoo and directed by Edward Nahhat, Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire (see: www.heatherraffo.com) has been hailed as an example of how art can remake the world! Winner of the 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation and the Lucille Lortel award for Best Solo Show, Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire has inspired sold-out audiences in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Berkeley and Philadelphia and is now opening in the Midwest for the first time.

A Michigan native and Iraqi-American, Heather Raffo (graduate of the University of Michigan) wrote 9 Parts of Desire after an inspiring and life-altering trip to Iraq before the 2003 war. This beautifully shaped one-woman play is a powerful portrait of the ordinary lives and extraordinary experiences of Iraqi women. A free-spirited artist, a radical intellectual, doctors, exiles, wives, mothers and lovers share their voices: vivid, sophisticated, simple, emotional and moving. Together they tell a compelling story of what it means to be a woman in war-torn Iraq.

Detroit-area actress Sarab Kamoo (Iraqi-Chaldean heritage) teams up with award-winning director Edward Nahhat to bring Ms. Raffo’s play to life. The play is a performer’s tour de force; one actress portrays nine different characters. Mr. Nahhat and Ms. Kamoo have consulted extensively with Ms. Raffo for this production.

“I am very pleased that the premiere of 9 Parts in my home state of Michigan is in such good hands”, said Heather Raffo. “Ed Nahhat and his team have invested a lot of time and creative energy into it. I am confident that their production will be outstanding.”

Ms. Kamoo has starred in several productions with the Purple Rose Theatre Company, Performance Network, Meadowbrook Theatre, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, the Arab Theatrical Arts Guild and others. But this show has special meaning to her. “As an Iraqi-American I am very proud to have the opportunity to bring Heather Raffo’s play to Michigan for the first time. It is especially gratifying to be able to share this play with my family. I hope other families will enjoy the play as well.”

Ray Alcodray, President of Arab Theatrical Arts Guild (ATAG), agrees that this production is special. “This play is a gem. It’s extremely well written as well as very important and relevant to the current situation our country faces in Iraq,” said Mr. Alcodray. “It’s essential viewing for all Americans who desire to experience and understand the human side of the Iraq war.” ATAG specializes in presenting professional theatre productions with Arab-American themes. Mr. Alcodray founded ATAG in 1997 and has produced and directed its award-winning productions, including Me No Terrorist, Arabic and Broud, A Bullet to the Heart, The Marriage Proposal, and The Bear, among others. ATAG has also teamed up with internationally acclaimed theatrical designer Fawzia Reda of Cultural Connexion for this show.

Edward Nahhat is an attorney as well as a professional stage and film actor, director and producer. He won a Dearborn Press and Guide PAGE award for ATAG’s Marriage Proposal, and is the founder of Water Works Theatre Company’s Shakespeare in the Park in Royal Oak and KidShakespeare! programs.

Tickets for Heather Raffos’ 9 Parts of Desire are now on sale and may be purchased at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, by phone at (313) 943-2354 or online at www.dearbornfordcenter.com. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $23.00 Wednesdays and Thursdays and $29.00 for weekend performances.

There is special Afterglow immediately following the opening night performance on Wednesday January 31. Afterglow tickets are $45.00 and include the play. Note that Afterglow tickets cannot be purchased online, but are available at the theatre, by telephone credit card order (313) 943-2354 or by mailing a check to: Water Works Theatre Company, 320 W. Seventh Street Suite 200, Royal Oak Michigan 48067.

Editor’s Note: Interviews are available with Raffo, Nahhat, Kamoo, and Alcodray by contacting Ed Nahhat at (586) 915-0011.

attack on academic freedom at UM

December 5th
Kathryn Babayan

The following constitutes my response to the recent accounts given by
the UM student organization The American Movement for Israel (AMI),
Guest Speaker Professor Raymond Tanter, and Senior Information Officer
Diane Brown, of the Office of the Associate Vice President for
Facilities and Operations, as they were reported in the Ann Arbor News
(Dec. 2nd, 2006) and the Michigan Daily (Dec. 4th, 2006).

The rights of the speaker Professor Tanter to lecture on Thursday,
November 30th, were not abused as has been claimed by him, AMI, and
others.  Certainly the AMI’s own video recording of the event has
documented the facts:  he gave his ten-minute threadbare speech on the
“Islamic fascist ideology of Iran,” and then took questions, and
comments from audience members, though mockingly and condescendingly.

It was in fact the rights and personal security of dissenting audience
members that were egregiously abused that evening. According to the
university’s policies on the freedom of speech and artistic
expression,
event organizers, guest speakers, and campus police cannot determine at
will or arbitrarily what constitutes “undue interference” at
university public events attended by diverse and, at times, contrary political
opinions.  According to the University of Michigan’s standard
guidelines (which I encourage all readers to learn at:
www.spg.umich.edu), “protesters have rights, just as do speakers and
artists.  The standard of “undue interference” must not be invoked
lightly, merely to avoid brief interruptions, or to remove distractions
or embarrassment.” But that was exactly what happened: the standard
of “undue interference” was abused and wantonly invoked to lead to our
removal from the event. AMI organizers “sicked” the campus police
on the protesters in the audience and, by force of arrest, silenced our
voices, which are institutionally protected within the university
community “spectrum of opinion.”

As if this weren’t enough violation of university policies, what
ensued was excessive and abusive use of force by campus police officers
against the protesters. Targeting the most vocal, “foreign-looking,”and
obviously Middle Eastern protester, AMI Chair Josh Berman gave the
word and signal to the campus officers to remove her. At that, one male
officer lunged at her, grabbed her out of her seat next to mine, and
tried to shove her out of the room.  But because of the force behind
the pull, she tripped, and fell onto the narrow aisle at my feet.  The
Officer threw his body onto her and thrust his knee into her shoulder,
shouting “Get up! Get up!” though it was clear that, due to his
weightand sheer force, she had been rendered unable to move or rise. When I
and other audience members objected vocally to the officers’ undue
and excessive use of force, he and other campus police officers warned us
that, if we did not desist from our objections, we too would be
arrested. These threats and intimidations represent another flagrant
example of campus authorities’ suppression of the legitimate exercise
of freedom of speech.

Campus police’s violence against ordinary citizens was not isolated
to this one incident.  When a group of us pursued down the hallway the
officers who had hauled away the female protester, we saw lying on the
floor there, with a bloodied forehead, another protester.  He had been
removed from the event venue by officers, handcuffed, and kept on his
back. Despite the protests by demonstrator and physician Dr. Willkinson
for medically humane treatment of the unconscious man, the male officer
ignored her and defiantly repeated, “They are not coming off.”

The institutional parties who have acted badly in this affair are
numerous. One is Diane Brown, whose statements in the two
afore-mentioned newspapers support and protect the police’s and
AMI’s decisions and behavior. In unquestioningly supporting the misactions
and misdeeds of both the student organization and the campus police,
and in concluding that “what happened” that evening justified their
responses, and that, hence, these responses do not constitute abuse of
power and negligence of obligations toward all participants, including
protesters, Ms. Brown has failed her institutional responsibility and
duties.

The one beacon of light in the midst of this dark intolerance was one
young man who did the right thing: out of the crowd he appeared and
held the hand of the female victim while she was being pinned down by
Officer West and a female officer. This young man remained by the
protester’s side throughout her detainment by the police. He
recognized that it behooved everyone to protect the rights of all
participatants’to free expression, particularly when that expression
is consideredonerous. This young man rose as the sole conscientious citizen
in that crowd and I salute him.

kathryn babayan

-----------------------------

Mideast talk leads to scuffle
Protesters allege police brutality
Kelly Fraser
Posted: 12/4/06
Campus police arrested three Ann Arbor residents accused of
disturbing a lecture on Iran at the Michigan League on Thursday night.

The protesters have accused campus police of using excessive force in
removing them, while event organizers say the protesters were
violating free expression by preventing a lecturer from speaking.

The lecture was sponsored by the student organization American
Movement for Israel. Raymond Tanter, a professor emeritus of
political science who now teaches at Georgetown University, said he
was interrupted repeatedly during his lecture.

The protesters were chanting things like "Hands off Iran" and "Tanter
is a pig," Tanter said.

Tanter said he was not advocating that the United States use military
force against Iran, but did say that it may be one option. The
protesters were not affiliated with a campus organization.

A 47-year-old woman was arrested for disturbing a public meeting and
resisting and obstructing an officer, campus police said. Two men
were arrested on charges of resisting and obstructing an officer and
interfering with an arrest.

Witnesses identified the men as Blaine Coleman and Henry Herksovitz,
two pro-Palestinian activists who often protest on and around campus.

When asked to comment on his arrest, Coleman responded by asking The
Michigan Daily to advocate for divestment from Israel and decried
what he considered "campus Zionists using their police to brutalize
us on campus."

Herksovitz did not respond to attempts to contact him yesterday.

Tanter said that although he mentioned Israel, his lecture focused on
diplomacy problems in Iran.

Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said Michigan
League staff made the first call to DPS because protesters were
blocking the building's entrances well before the event was scheduled
to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Organizers had not expected a protest and did not request police
presence prior to the lecture, said American Movement for Israel
Chair Josh Berman.

With about 150 people in attendance inside the Vandenberg Room,
Berman said the protesters began to heckle him before he introduced
Tanter.

Tanter said that in an attempt to abate the protesters, he began
taking questions from the audience, alternating inquiries from the
protesters with other audience members.

Tanter said the interruptions prevented him from continuing with his
planned lecture and using the PowerPoint slides he had prepared.

"I was bending over backwards in order to accommodate the
protesters," Tanter said. "The accommodations I made only resulted in
greater hostility."

The University's Standard Practice Guide for Freedom of Speech and
Artistic Expression provides rules for balancing protesters' freedom
of speech with that of speakers at events. The document says a person
may be removed from an event for "undue interference."

Heckling is accepted under the guidelines, but the interruptions
cannot block the speaker's communication with the crowd.

In situations where an event is disrupted by a crowd member, the
University has a formal warning procedure, with three escalating
warnings that should be read before police escort a protester from an
event.

Brown said it is not mandatory that the statement be read before
someone is asked to leave an event, but that it has become an
accepted procedure at the University.

Berman said he and other organizers read the three warnings.

Campus police officers then stepped in to remove the woman. The woman
resisted by going limp, Brown said.

This forced the police to physically remove the woman from the scene,
she said.

Berman said the woman was allowed to stay for more than an hour
before police asked her to leave.

LSA senior Stuart Wagner, who was in the crowd, said he saw Coleman
try to prevent the officers from removing the woman from the room. He
also said that an officer put his arms around Coleman from behind, at
which point Coleman fell to the ground.

"It was a circus," Wagner said.

Catherine Wikinson, an Ann Arbor resident who said she came to
support friends who were protesting, said Coleman was unconscious.

Brown said this could have been part of Coleman's strategy.

"Portraying unconsciousness is part of a protest strategy and up to a
medical physician to decide," she said.

Coleman refused to comment on whether or not he was unconscious.

An ambulance was called to the scene and took Coleman, 49, to the
University Hospital's emergency room to treat a cut on his forehead.

The other two protesters were taken from the League to the DPS
station for processing, Brown said. Coleman was taken to the station
following his treatment.

The three were released pending prosecutors' authorization of charges
late Thursday night or early Friday morning, Brown said.

DPS is investigating the incident. Brown said the results of the
investigation will be taken to the county prosecutor, who will issue
any warrants.

Wilkinson alleged that the police used excessive force when removing
the protesters from the scene. Brown said police were patient and
used only necessary force.

A 45-second clip posted Friday on YouTube.com, titled "Police
Brutality at University of Michigan," shows Wilkinson telling an
officer that Coleman can't breath. The video does not clearly show
the officer or Coleman.

Brown said standard police protocol is to use one level of force
above the resistance. Because the protesters used passive resistance
techniques, DPS used "open-handed techniques" to physically remove
the woman. Open-handed techniques could include applying pressure to
pressure points, but do not include the use of any weapons or
chemical agents, like mace, she said.

"(The allegations are) just not true - the police were so gentle that
they couldn't get her up," Tanter said.

Tanter has e-mailed members of the University's Board of Regents
about Prof. Kathryn Babayan's alleged involvement in the protest.

Babayan is an assistant professor of Iranian history and culture in
the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Tanter said that while
Babayan has a right to participate in the discussions, she also has
an obligation as a faculty member to not assist groups that interfere
with free speech.

Tanter suggested the regents and the Senate Advisory Committee on
University Affairs, which addresses faculty issues at the University,
consider the issue of a faculty member's role in disruptive
demonstrations during academic events.

Babayan did not return calls asking for comment yesterday. ©
Copyright 2006 Michigan Daily



-------------
Clouds, but no thunder
Despite rumors, protesters don't interrupt lecture
Kelly Fraser
Posted: 12/5/06
About five campus police officers and a bomb-sniffing dog swept
Auditorium B of Angell Hall last night before a speech by a strident
critic of Islamic fundamentalists.

Rumors that the event would be disrupted by pro-Palestinian
protesters circulated through campus and on the Internet yesterday,
prompting event organizers to request a heightened police presence.

Despite the precautions, pro-Israel activist Brigitte Gabriel
delivered a lecture in which she warned Americans about "the dangers
of Islamic radicals" without incident.

Organizers feared pro-Palestinian protesters would disrupt the speech
as they did at the Michigan League during a lecture on Iran last
week. During that lecture, Department of Public Safety officers
arrested three Ann Arbor residents after they resisted efforts from
police to remove them from a lecture on Iran.

One protester was taken to the hospital with minor cuts and a bloody
nose, and his fellow protesters alleged police brutality. DPS is
investigating the incident.

Blaine Coleman, one of the protesters who was arrested on Thursday,
did not respond to e-mails asking for comment last night.

Police used a canine unit to search the auditorium before allowing
students and community members to enter at 7:45 p.m., 15 minutes
before the event was scheduled to begin.

DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said before the event that DPS had
briefed organizers on security precautions and the University's Free
Speech policy.

None of the protesters who disturbed Thursday's lecture showed up.

The lecture, which was originally scheduled in Auditorium C of Angell
Hall, moved to Auditorium B to accommodate a larger than expected
crowd. The larger auditorium filled quickly after the doors opened.

Before introducing Gabriel, organizers opened the event by reading
from the University's statement on Free Speech and Artistic Expression.

Rumors on the Internet yesterday indicated that the event could be
confrontational.

An e-mail signed with Gabriel's name was posted on the
thecoversativevoice.com. The e-mail requests support and protection
from protesters, who it alleges have sent e-mails to "Arab students"
asking them to "give Gabriel a proper welcome."

Shimaa Abdelfadeel, co-chair of the pro-Palestinian group Students
Allied for Freedom and Equality and political chair of the Muslim
Students' Association, said she had not heard of or seen such an
e-mail.

Except for frequent applause during a question-and-answer period, the
crowd remained calm and quiet throughout the event.

Gabriel is the author of "Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic
Terror Warns America." Gabriel, who now lives in the United States,
said her negative views on Muslim fundamentalists were shaped by her
childhood experiences as a Lebanese Christian during the Lebanese
Civil War. The book describes her experiences living in a bomb
shelter for seven years during the war.

Gabriel founded the American Congress for Truth, a nonprofit
organization that she describes as "dedicated to educating millions
of uneducated Americans on the threat of Islamic radicals."

Police were highly visible at last night's event, which was hosted by
the pro-Israel student group Israel Initiative for Dialogue,
Education and Action.

LSA junior Brad Stulberg, a cofounder of Israel IDEA, said the group
tries to host one big event a year. They said they chose Gabriel to
foster dialogue.

"Despite potential threats to Ms. Gabriel's freedom of speech, the
event was very successful," Israel IDEA member Nick Israel said. "We
were glad to see an audience composed of a diverse cross-section of
the student body and the local community."

Organizers collected audience questions on note cards and posed them
to Gabriel.Israel said organizers tried to select questions that challenged her
position. Gabriel called for Islam to reform itself and said Israelis and
Palestinians hold different ethical standards.

"(The mainstream television networks) need to take political
correctness and shove it in the garbage where it belongs," she said.
© Copyright 2006 Michigan Daily

Mary Gaitskill in Ann Arbor on Dec 7, 2006

I read her Bad Behavior oh so long ago. She's a great fiction writer. worth it!

5 p.m.
Mary Gaitskill: U-M English Department.See review. Fiction reading by this U-M grad, an acclaimed fiction writer and essayist whose novel Veronica was nominated for a National Book Award and named one of 10 best books of 2005 by The New York Times, one of whose reviewers called it "a masterly examination of the relationship between surface and self, culture and fashion, time and memory." Residential College Auditorium, East Quad, 701 East University, ann arbor. Free. 734-615-3710.

writing deadlines and dead space

In case anyone is attentive, I have been out of it. I have a number of pressing deadlines, so postings will be light until midDecember. please forgive and return then!

Incite! Women of Color Anthology

THE COLOR OF VIOLENCE: Incite! Anthology is available for purchase.

You can order you copy directly from South End Press

The Ann Arbor INCITE! Chapter invites you to:

Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology Book Launch and Fundraiser

Thursday, January 25, 2007

7:30 to 9:00pm

326 E. Kingsley

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Please RSVP to shalee@umich.edu by December 31

*Refreshments will be served

What would it take to end violence against women of color?

In Color of Violence, edited by University of Michigan professors Andrea Smith and Nadine Naber, more than 30 visionaries from around the globe call on both racial justice and anti-violence movements to collaboratively “develop strategies that challenge the criminal justice system and […] also provide safety for survivors of sexual and domestic violence” (223). Engaging the intersectional nature of violence against women of color, Color of Violence both expands the definition of violence against women and places women of color at the center of a movement to end oppression in all its forms. And unlike most examinations of violence against women that recast them as “victims,” this path breaking collection of essays highlights the work of survivors and activists in creating strategies of resistance.

In the tradition of This Bridge Called My Back, Color of Violence is an urgent, bold, and essential intervention in the war against women of color, their communities, and, ultimately, us all. Contributors to the anthology include: Andrea Smith, Beth Richie, Julia Sudbury, Janelle White, Nirmala Erevelles, Sarah Deer, Dorothy Roberts, Loretta Ross, Andrea Smith, Nadine Naber, Haunani Kay Trask, Dana Erekat, Nadia Tadiar, Eman Desouky, Lina Baroudi,
Dena Al-Adeeb,
S.R, Sylvanna Falcon, Rosa Linda Fregoso
, Renee Saucedo,
 Andrea J. Ritchie, Patricia Allard, Stormy Ogden, 
Aishah Simmons,
 Ana Clarissa Rojas Durazo, Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez,
 Sista II Sista,
Emi Koyama,
Critical Resistance and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence,
 TransJustice, Puneet Kaur Chawla Sahota
, Traci C. West, Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA), maiana minahal.

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and their communities through direct action, critical dialogue, and grassroots organizing. For more information about their work and mission, including how to get involved, please visit www.incite-national.org.

All proceeds will go to the Ann Arbor INCITE! Chapter

Out of Iraq: Meditations on the Homeland

Beginning November 3, The AANM will feature the work of three Iraqi American painters – Leila Kubba, Nadwa Qaragholi, and Mohammad Fradi – this exhibit explores the past, present, and future of a nation in crisis. Common themes found in all three artists’ work include the resurrection of memories and hopes, the interruption of dreams by war, and the dissonance of history with the present (both on a national and personal level).

We invite you to enter into these personal meditations filled with longing for, and anxiety about, an Iraq disappeared and an Iraq yet to come.

ARAB AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
13624 Michigan Avenue,
Dearborn, MI 48126
Phone (313) 582-AANM (2266)

Feminism and War conference in Syracuse

TWO really excellent conference both on the same weekend. LA or Syracuse!

Queer Studies Conference in LA

Remember Shaden

"Dear family and friends,

On my first trip to Palestine, Professor Saed Abu Hijlah in Nablus showed me his mother's grave. She was killed by an Israeli soldier in 2002. Today is her fourth martyrdom anniversary."

I received this email from my friend Saja. I also visited Um Saed's grave on a trip to Palestine this summer.

We send our love and blessings to her and her family and especially to dear Saed!

Congratulations to Kiran Desai

she won the booker prize for The Inheritance of Loss. a book I've been meaning to read......

hagar

Sometimes when I am trying to link to my blog, I don't wait for the whole address to come up, so I end up on this page. It's only happened a few times, and I think it's funny since THIS IS NOT THE HAGAR STORY I AM TRYING TO TELL.

what story am I telling? I am not in the mood these days to tell (I typed "try" by mistake) my story or anyone else's for that matter. I started the blog as a way of doing creative activism in my community. I kept hearing from the few Iraqi lefties I know that there are no other left- leaning Iraqis in Michigan. I did not believe it was true. I just assumed and still do that we just don't know one another. I also did not think that I would make it a very personal or intimate blog since I was not going to GO THERE. I have a few times. I've also been tempted to take down those posts. I haven't. I still might.

I know I have not created a narrative or even a clear pix of who I am but clarity is not always good, and I am not looking for clarity, lucidity, easy answers to questions I cannot answer & have never been good at answering. I wanted to get personal since there is some comfort in the guise of anonymity; however, I have told some folks, friends mostly, about my blog and now I wish I had told NO ONE I know personally, so that I won't be so self-conscious about writing. I doubt anyone I know has time to look and read my blog or any blogs to closely.

I am sick of myself. sick of my worrying over the stupidiest things. I have so many deadlines right now-mostly writing deadlines. I have two conferences to attend soon. ASA and the Syracuse U's feminism and war. I have to write that paper and finish an impt application (with a fast approaching deadline), and I am in full avoidance mode but with none of the enjoyment. My writing anxiety is making me so exhausted, or maybe I am coming down with a cold. whatever it is, I am stressing instead of writing. Notice that I write in my blog when I have other writing that is more pressing? If I did not have writing deadlines then I wouldn't even be doing this writing but I am a writer right?

no, I am not that Viking in the cartoon, but sometimes I do feel like a bufoon, a fool, a cartoon cardboard non-entity who needs to figure out that I should quit advising other people about what to do since I need advice. I need to get my act together.

My application is very important to me. I have to address some personal issues and I don't want to go there. I don't want anyone to read what the hell I am going to say there. then I am waffling about saying any of it at all. I should just go for the straightforward and boring approach to my intentions, skills, interests.

anyway, back to it.

you don't know what the hell I am talking about and have your own life to worry about.

on with it.

Hayan's Scoop on the Arab American poetry scene

If you are poet who should be including in his anthology,his email is posted.
Give him a shout out.

Mohamad Bazzi, teacher and artist

Congratulations again. MB is from the Other collective

Israel's cluster bombs

"United Nations officials estimate that southern Lebanon is littered with one million unexploded bomblets, far outnumbering the 650,000 people living in the region. They are stuck in the branches of olive trees and the broad leaves of banana trees. They are on rooftops, mixed in with rubble and littered across fields, farms, driveways, roads and outside schools. As of Sept. 28, officials here said cluster bombs had severely wounded 109 people — and killed 18 others." New York Times, October 6, 2006

NO WORDS NO WORDS NO WORDS NO WORDS NO WORDS NO WORDS NO WORDS NO wOrD wwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddddddss
sssssssssssss

Kathryn and Al (Gore)

ACCESS’ Environmental Program Director, Kathryn Savoie was among 50 people selected to attend the Climate Project Training Session led by former Vice President Al Gore.

Congratulations to Kathryn Savoie! only one more piece of evidence that ACCESS rocks this community--Dearborn and Detroit!!

What does Bush owe the world?

An apology won't cut it. Have any creative, vindictive answers to this question? Mixmode gave me this idea to ask political bloggers, radical thinkers, writers, artists:

what does he owe us? what does he owe the world and how do we make him pay?

ANY ANSWERS?

I'll post them here.

I have more than a few words but I'll keep them to myself. I probably will just swear my butt off. I wait for you to say it more eloquently and more strategically. I think we should spend this week blogging the hell out of this question.

Detroit Literary Map

Who's your favorite literary figure from Detroit?
Add to this literary Detroit map.
Send the creator of this project some feedback at the following email.
Explore these sites and you will find Philip Levine, Lawrence Joseph, Joyce Carol Oates, Terry Blackhawk and many others. The piece on Eastern Market is especially well-written and mentions some lesser known writers like Loren Estleman and Lisa Lenzo

WRITE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF MY BLOG.

Recommend a writer or artist from Detroit.

My favorites include Lolita Hernandez, Kim Hunter, Kathleen Rashid, Athir Shayota (in New York now), Alise Alousi, Gloria House, Vievee Francis and many others. Detroit's literary life is kicking it. Go to the suburbs and find........lots of shopping plazas, many, many Caribou coffee and Starbuck coffee houses sans poets.

These days, the Detroit scene is vibrant and visual-- the young activists, artists at the Other collective, Ilana/Invincible, and other spoken word artists such as Legacy, Karega, and Omari are grabbing our attention! Katrina Redd, owner of the wonderful ReddApple Gallery (unfortunately no longer open) usually knows what is going on.
Tell me more? whom am I missing?

Iftar dinners in detroit, ann arbor

see solidarityfast for complete information.

UPCOMING IFTAR DINNERS:

• Wednesday, October 11th in Detroit 7-730 p.m.

Detroit solidarity fasters would like to announce the
DETROIT Iftar
Detroit Summer/CCNDC community space
7-8pm @ 3535 Cass
off the corner of MLK Jr blvd
It's a POTLUCK so please bring a dish to pass.
Featuring performances from
HARDCORE DETROIT BREAKERS
JITTERS
DULAB
BIG A
live painting by members of
OTHER collective, and more...
____________________________________________________

• Thursday, October 19th in Ann Arbor 7-7:30 p.m.

Sponsored by Muslims Students' Association and NOWAR committee
If you are attending the Iftar in Ann Arbor, sign up for
this fastathon
The 2006 Fast-A-Thon Iftar dinner will be held in the
WEDGE ROOM at WEST QUAD
on the UM -Ann Arbor campus
approximately 7:00 P.M.
Please sign up so MSA will have an accurate count of attendees.

Nadine Naber: an Arab feminist reading

Professor Naber offers an Arab feminist reading of the suicide bomber, Wafa Idris, and in general a feminist, class-based analysis of the crisis in Palestine. Here's an excerpt from her article, quoted in brownfemipower's blog.
Thanks BFP!!

"What is missing in much of progressive activism in the U.S. is a critique of colonialism that links the Palestinian struggle to other indigenous struggles and all struggles against imperialism. Where then, do radical feminists of color, with our focus on intersections of race, class, gender, sexism, homophobia, colonialism and imperialism locate Wafa Idris? Will we explore the impact of colonization on Wafa’s family? Palestinian families? Palestinian communities? increases in domestic violence? shifts in women’s labor? Will we take interest in Palestinian feminists’ analysis of women’s resistance?"

Defining Detroit series brings J Eugenides

MiddleSex is one of my favorite novels. If you are in Detroit, come to Marygrove College and hear him read. If you have not read his novel, check it out. Moorishgirl has an interesting discussion about Eugenides and multicultural writing.

"Marygrove College hosts the return of Detroit-area native and second-generation Greek-American author Jeffrey Eugenides on Sunday, October 29, 2006, at 4 p.m. in the MadameCadillac Building in Detroit. In a presentation titled “’All Swirl and Hubbub’: Jeffrey Eugenides and Detroit,” he will read from his 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

The novel cannot be reduced to one issue--the complexities of gender and sexuality although Calli's sexual identity is at the center of the novel-- the writer gives us a portrait that is painful, playful, seering, and sly. It is a must read.

Iraqis want U.S. out within one year

Thanks to Saja for the article link. To listen to the alIraqi community forums, one would think that the US is just so welcome and all Iraqis are happy to have them in Iraq. If you ask Iraqis INSIDE Iraqi, there is more fear, anxiety, suspicions --obviously!

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:20 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.

The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:

--Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

--About 61 percent approved of the attacks -- up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

--An overwhelmingly negative opinion of terror chief bin Laden and more than half, 57 percent, disapproving of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

--Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.

--A majority of Iraqis, 72 percent, say they think Iraq will be one state five years from now. Shiite Iraqis were most likely to feel that way, though a majority of Sunnis and Kurds also believed that would be the case.

The PIPA poll, which included an oversample of 150 Sunni Iraqis, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The State Department, meanwhile, has also conducted its own poll, something it does periodically, spokesman Sean McCormack said. The State Department poll found that two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to The Washington Post. McCormack declined to discuss details of the department's Iraq poll.

''What I hear from government representatives and other anecdotal evidence that you hear from Iraqis that is collected by embassy personnel and military personnel is that Iraqis do appreciate our presence there,'' he said. ''They do understand the reasons for it, they do understand that we don't want to or we don't intend to be there indefinitely.''

Iraqi officials have said Iraq's security was improving and expanding throughout the country, and most U.S. troops might be able to leave eventually.

Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talibani told the United Nations that coalition forces should remain in Iraq until Iraqi security forces are ''capable of putting an end to terrorism and maintaining stability and security.''

Program on International Policy Attitudes: http://www.pipa.org

Doris Bittar exhibit in Chula Vista, California

DORIS BITTAR

Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and other Stories of Resistance

October 12 - November 2, 2006

Two Opening Receptions:

Thursday, October 12, 11 am - Noon

6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Southwestern College Art Gallery Patio (Building 710)

900 Otay Lakes Road

Chula Vista, CA. 91910-7299

Information & Directions
(619) 216-6605

Gallery Hours
Monday - Thursday 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Wednesday & Thursday 6 - 8:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Closed School Holidays

The photo installations Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and Khaldiyeh's River Rock Story are the centerpieces of the exhibition, along with photographic selections from Kul Shay/All Things and paintings from the Stripes and Stars series. Kul Shay/All Things is a work in progress whose database entails the gathering of nearly 4,000 photographs from a six-month sojourn in Beirut, several visits to Syria and a trip to Iran taken in 2005 The project catalogues and articulates my Arabic heritage and how I negotiate between several locations and contexts within the Middle East. The photographs were culled from a wide array of subjects, places and events taken at the onset of Lebanon's political upheaval in early 2005. Kul Shay means "All Things" in Arabic. It is an apt and convenient phrase that both excuses the inclusion of varied experiences and describes my feeling about Middle Eastern cultures as a mix of decorum, abundance, nurturing and contradiction. The main photo installations, Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart and Khaldiyeh's River Rock Story, are of two individuals who show how private acts of domestic creativity become examples of resistance. Through passionately creative efforts and strength of personality these individuals act as agents of resistance in the face of extreme political circumstances. Doris Bittar 2006

Photo:© Doris Bittar
'Uncle Hanna's Electric Heart' Kfarhoune, Lebanon, 2005

archival pigment print; 11 x 14 inches; ed. 10

Bittar's work is incredible! She was part of the Arab American's first major art exhibit IN/VISIBLE and she also was at the DIWAN arts conference. check out her work if you are in/from that area.

The icon of the Virgin Mary reminds me of all the pictures Chaldeans have in our homes.

Writing While Arab:

Politics, Hyphens, and Homelands

RAWI – the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc. – is organizing its second national conference in Dearborn, Michigan on May 17-20, 2007 at the Arab American National Museum. The conference welcomes RAWI members and others who are interested in engaging in the Arab American literary community. The conference will provide a venue to present our writings and ideas to one another and to the Detroit and Arab communities. Our gathering will offer an opportunity for colleagues to share strategies for publishing and circulating our work and also for confronting academic, community, and political barriers.

This year’s conference theme, “Writing While Arab: Politics, Hyphens, and Homelands,” seeks to address the multiple challenges Arab American writers face in an intensified post-9/11 climate. How is Arab American writing impacted by the targeting of Arabs (and Muslims) as the national enemy inside and outside of the U.S. and by the wars waged in our homelands? How do politics influence our writing – we are not only referring to how political events in the Middle East and the U.S. inform our writing, but also the politics around the circulation of our writing. Are some Arab American writers benefiting from self-commodification and perpetuating Arab stereotypes? What kinds of narratives receive wide circulation and which do not? Is writing a form of political activism? How do RAWI members write out these tensions?

The organizing committee is accepting proposals for individual papers, entire sessions, presentations, performances, films, roundtables, workshops, conversations, and other non-traditional formats that address the theme of Arab American writing. All genres welcome – memoir, children’s writing, poetry, performance, journalism, translation, fiction, blogs, spoken word, creative non-fiction, academic writing, screenwriting,playwriting, etc. Proposals are welcome from those who are published and non-published, teachers and students, activists, publishers, historians, journalists, artists, novelists, filmmakers – experienced and beginners.

Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

Writing about War: How have Arab American writings been influenced by the crises in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon?

The Politics of Publishing While Arab: What kinds of challenges have Arab American writers faced in publishing? Is the nature of these challenges exclusively political?

Beyond Coffee and Grape Leaves: What is the significance of Arab American writers
working within these cultural motifs? What are their limitations?

Conversations with other Hyphenated Writers: A dialogue with South Asian American, African-American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American writers.

Poetic Textual Analysis: How do Arab American poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction perform aesthetically as works of art and as literary document?

The Arab Blogosphere: How have blogs become an important site for Arab American writing?

Mentoring and Offering Publishing Advice: What advice can experiences writers and editors offer to those who are starting out?

Crossing Over & Bending Genres: Exploring the role of creative nonfiction, academic poetic writing, and other innovative forms of writing.

For individual submissions, please send a one-page abstract of
approximately 250 words. For collective submissions please provide panel/ roundtable/ workshop title, list of presenters, and an abstract for the session that includes a description of what each individual will present.

Please send your RAWI conference proposals as Word attachments via e-mail to
Evelyn Alsultany (alsultan@umich.edu) and
Deborah(debnajor@rawi.org)
by December 1, 2006.
Please include a 1-page resume or
CV for each presenter.

Cognitive Dissidents & Arabisto

TWO NEW PLACES TO FIND ENGAGING ARTICLES

Cognitive Dissidents
"CognitiveDissidents.org is a diverse community of engaged philosophers and philosophically oriented intellectuals. We are interested in writing about social and political issues, both historical and contemporary, domestic and international. We view ourselves as contributing to well informed and analytically substantive discourse focused on issues of moral concern in the public domain."

WHAT CD does is engage the reader on so many diverse subjects like suicide among young people of color, eating ethically, Israel's right to exist, and many more topics that ask moral, ethical, and philosophical questions and expect the readers to expand their terrain of thinking.

Joe Namy from OTHER is the webdesigner
--he also designed Rawi's page! (next post up)

Arabisto
NEWS AND COMMENTARY ON THE MIDDLE EAST by writers, stand up comedians, journalists, such as Lebanese-American writers Hayan Charara and Ray Hanania.

THESE ARE BOTH THE PREMIERE ISSUES so check them out!! and pass the word!!!!

Spoken Word Poetry: Detroit

a sizzling Friday night spoken flame session featuring
Deph-Onyx: Legacy Leonard, Omari King Wise, and Karega Ani.

The 411: Friday, September 29th @ 9:00pm
The Spot: 1515 Broadway, Detroit, MI
The Grip: $10.00

Be there for words and beats giving birth to the sound of......

Visit the site @ http://www.myspace.com/dephonyx

Young Jews Speak Out

an article by Mike Medow

DV DINNER in Dearborn, MI

Fundraising Dinner to Bring Awareness to Domestic Violence

The ACCESS Community Health and Research Center and the Arab American Domestic Violence Coalition are joining forces to host a community fundraising dinner on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 5:30pm-8:30pm at the Lebanese American Heritage Club.

Speakers include Imam Mohamad Mardini, from the American Muslim Center, along with ACCESS Prevention Team Leader, Abdul Wahab Nasse. Tickets are $20. For more information call Joanna Ladki, domestic violence prevention coordinator, at (313) 216-2226 or via email at

jladki at accesscommunity.org

October is “Domestic Violence Awareness Month”.