"Arranged"

So, the first thing that my group did was present to the movie 'arranged'. I loved this movie and thought It would have been a great idea to share it with th class, and start off with this movie, seeing as how it was a smooth transition into our topic.
To me, one of the most memorable scenes was in the beginning, when both teachers are in the same class room, and the kids are wispering about how they two teachers are supposed to hate eachother because of their cultural differences (that becuase one was jewish and one was from palestine) that eachother wanted to kill one another. I thought it was very interesting and well-done how the teacher handled it, saying to the kids that she wasn't threatened or did she want to kill the other woman. Also, the exercise in class that showed the kids how everyone can put their differences aside and get along peacefully was an awesome way to show how these classroom situations should be handled. All that people need to do is keep an open mind.
Of course, like alot of the movies we have been watching about arranged marriages, the two women are at conflict with their family. Rochel is being pressured alot by her family to go through with this arranged marriage, while Nasria is also fighting with them about her religion, but almost to a lesser extent than Rochel.
Reading on some of the other blogs, I can now see how this story is actually quite western, and kind of a reach to have everyone live harmoniously and pro-peace and whatnot. However, I did like the movie alot and thought it was a good way to introduce our subject.

Two Women

In class on thursday we watched an Iraqi movie titled "Two Women". In short, the movie was about two female characters, Roya and Fereshteh, following them from school where they met and became best friends, to Fereshteh's awful marriage to a horrible and degrading man, to how Fereshteh, in the end, ends up with her freedom back.
The movie surprised me in the way that this movie portrayed a most likely common marriage that was unfair. Fereshteh was married off to someone she did not love, and did not want to marry. Her husband was horrible to her. Fereshteh started off in the movie very headstrong, knowledgeable, and independant. Her husband, however, stripped her of all this. He would belittle her, ridicule her, and pretty much make her feel like complete crap.
I'm guessing this is a common issue in Iraq. The women get married off and no matter what cannot get away from someone who is emotionally abusive. Just because a man pays the bills and takes care of children doesn't mean he is a good person. This man was awful!
In the end, her husband gets put into the hospital, and dies, leavinf Fereshteh and her two children on their own, which Fereshteh is only too happy about :)
I would definitely reccomend this movie to any class learning about the modern Middle East. The movie was interesting, and not out-dated. I liked it alot :)

Paradise Now

I just finished watching Paradise Now, and again wow! This movie was very powerful, I almost cried haha. The movie was well done, and I think it would be extremely easy to show for a large group of students. Paradise Now would be an amazing way to actually get to the heart of the issue.
Something that really fascinated me was the preparation the two main characters went through before the initial mission. They were to be cleanshaven, they both got haircuts, dressed in nice suits, and prayed. I thought it was interesting on why they were to be so clean, so polished. My thought process led me to believe that because they viewed the mission as something to be honored, and important, they had to be clean just like when they pray. I remember from our trip to the Mosque that it is extremely important to be clean before you worship. Maybe that is the religious connection?
However, I have to note that I completely disagree with Martyr missions. Suicide is a horrible thing - wether the victim commited suicide out of personal issues, or something like this. I think any suicide mission is a horrible way to try to bring change into a country - killing yourself to kill other people, all to hopefully bring a positive change to the bombers own people, and death and destruction to the other side. Suicide Missions are like terrorism 101, it doesnt matter how 'honorable' you think it is! Suicide, and suicide missions are completely hypocritical to any religion! First of all, your killing yourself, which is a sin if I ever heard one, and killing other people, ditto.
I think Paradise Now would be good to show to older students, ones that could handle the serious subject matter of suicide bombings. I really enjoyed the film, I felt like the story was really easy to get hooked on, I was glued to the screen the entire time!

War in the Land of Egypt

Okay, first off, let me apologize on not making this blog sooner - honestly I completely didn't realize I never blogged about it!
All I can say about this story is wow! I loved it.
I think that my favorite part was how the novel was written. It was very clever, and actually did a better job engaging me into the story than most of the others have. Having the story told from different perspectives is a huge symbol in itself - It makes me think of the movie "Vantage Point". Because your getting so many sides of the story, it really depends on your own personal beliefs which perspective you like the most, or you found to have the most impact/truth etc... Also, the fact that all the characters perspectives were from different social classes also made the different points of view more unique.
But perhaps the most compelling part of the story was the issue that the speaker in class brought up (well one of them). The fact that the main character, had no perspective. This is a HUGE literary 'technique', if you will. This emphasizes how much of a symbol Masri really is. Masri symbolizes the average Egyptian, and the struggles that the majority of them have felt close to home.
Putting the characters and symbols aside, though, you really get to the meat of the novel. War in the Land of Egypt is about corruption and the awful things said majority has to fight for (and against) everyday of their lives. The title doesn't really mean an actual war that Egypt is fighting, the war is internal. People are fighting against huge enemies in their own country, like the government. Its no easy feat.
All in all, I thought the novel was extremely well-written, a great read. Also, had a lot of good symbolism and techniques I really liked.

Gold Dust

After reading the novel Gold Dust, I can really admit that I wasn't a big fan of the book. This may be because I missed out on the discussion on Tuesday, after reading other people blogs I thought that I missed a good class period! :( But, I guess I should go on and blog about my feelings toward the book.
Honestly, to me the book started out pretty slow, I just couldn't get into it. I was just thinking "Alright..a boy and his camel..." and really couldn't get out of the slump. But after completing the novel and reading some blog posts on it I can obviously make the connection between Ukhayyad and his piebald. Ukhayyad is completely devoted to his camel, he loves him like nothing else. This is very apparent in the beginning. I thought that the major reason he was so devoted to this camel wasn't the fact that he had been given the camel at a young age by an important elder, but rather the fact that the camel's breeding was so 'high-end' if you will...basically is pedigree was amazing. In the beginning, at least.
However, after finishing and reflecting on the whole novel. I could see that the bond between Ukhayyad and his camel was much more than that. If he could, I'm sure Ukhayyad would have done anything to make his camel not feel any pain, or suffer under any circumstance. Unfortunatley he may have realized this himself a little late, seeing as I view his piebald Mahri getting sick with mange to be a punishment to Ukhayyad for all of his sleeping around with girls in other places...But thats just me. But, if anything the piebald's sickness became something like a catalyst - it heightened Ukhayyad's devotion to his camel, and the two became stronger than ever.
Again, a little slow at first, but overall a good read.

Short Stories

After reading the two short stories, The Lawsuit, and A Long-Term Plan, I felt a little unsettled. I actually didn't really like either of these stories very much.
The First was about how sa young man recieves a lawsuit from a woman who used to be married to his father. The first problem I had with this story is that I was completely confused by the fact that the wife was so fine that her husband was marrying a much younger, more beautiful wife. Secondly, the brother dying in prison for throwing a lamp at his father seemed quite dramatic, even for a story, and then his father dying from stroke, then his mother dying. One right after the other.
Also, I didn't need to hear about this old womans beauty in the past. Over. and over.
I guess there was a moral to the story though, I took it as a 'what-goes-around-comes-around" type of lesson. She married an older man, possibly for money, stole the family's fortune, and then went off, tried to do it again, but failed. Lesson learned - Karma sucks.
The second story, about an old man in his seventies who is so used to loafing off everybody, not working, and being poor, becomes an overnight millionaire. He meets with a lawyer and the guy who is buying his house, and tries to tell them what exactly he is going to spend all his money on. After recieving a new haircut, shave, and suit, he is put up in a nice hotel, then seems to eat his way into a coma. And then most likely dies.
Can anyone say Irony?
What a great example of irony. A man finally makes himself the money and security he needs to live the remainder of his life peacefully, and he dies from overindulgence. Classic.

The Day of Ahmed's Secret

This story was not what I had expected from a childrens story at all, with the exception of the secret itself.
Normally, chuldrens stories in American are full of fantasy creatures, both great and horrible. Take for instance the most common children stories, like cinderella and snow white. The stories both teach lessons to children, and paint pretty pictures in little kids heads while doing so.
The Day of Ahmed's Secret, however did not. It was full of words that described the Middle East, carts, donkeys, crowded streets with merchants everywhere. At first glance the class and I thought this was part of the 'Arab Land' deal, but at closer inspection we realized that was not the case. The pictures held those things, indeed, but also showed people in modern clothing, cars, and streetlamps. No fairytale dragons, though. :)
The ending was very cute, how Ahmed went through the whole day so excited to share his secret, he wanted to wait untill he had the perfect timing. The secret being that he could finally write his name brought up another discussion - one about how old the boy is, and if the reason he is so excited to write about his name could be the fact that he is much older than originally thought. I, personally, thought that Ahmed was about 8 or 9, in which case it isnt that outlandish for a worker boy to just learn his name.

The Mosque

What an amazing experience! I am so happy I got to spend time at the Kalamazoo Islamic Center this past thursday. It was such an eye-opening experience. And I am so gracious that the Imam himself gave us our tour and answered any of our questions.

Taking a tour of the outside of the building was actually pretty cool, getting to see all the new rennovations and additions they are adding to the mosque. The architecture reminded me of the Taj Mahal, with all the pointy spires and dome-like points.

After that we went inside, and saw the main prayer room where the men pray, and also all the little classrooms they have for sunday schools. Also there was like two kitchens and two gathering halls. This place was wayyyy bigger than I thought.

About mid-way through we sat on the floor in what I think was the womens prayer room, and he explained to us how the Koran came to be and what it meant to his religion. You could totally see the passion he had held for his religion and what it meant to him. He broke through common misconceptions and stereotypes that most people have about Islam.

It was such an amazing learning experience and I suggest that everyone, no matter their religion, check out a Mosque.

You Just Cant Deny It

I loved the movie I was shown in class on Tuesday. It was called The Road To Love, and was a documentary on the homosexual lifestyle viewed from a Muslim perspective. At first I was shocked at the subject matter, but excited to learn how another culture accepts (or doesn't) homosexuality. 

I was surprised to learn that the documentary was the brain child of a heterosexual male. The opening scene depicts him standing on the very dangerous side of a balcony, with his girlfriend begging lovingly for him to come back to her. 

In the beginning he was very hesitant towards the men he interviewed, but that was understandable considering most wanted to hit on him. It started as a laughing matter, but then soon became a bigger issue when he was confronted by one of the interviewees about exactly why he chose such a subject. He had to have interest, more so than most 'heterosexual' men. 

Towards the end he did fall in love with another man, possible indirectly, causing his girlfriend to leave him...etc.

The film made me think about how, in my own culture, many things parallel, for instance hiding what your true sexuality is. While some are open about their sexuality, many are not, they fear themselves. Knowing that a majority of society wont accept you is brutal, hence why the main person in the film (forgot his name..) could have been in such a deep denial. But until he shed light upon he subject he might have unconsciously suppressed his sexuality. B

ut that's getting me started on the psychology of sexuality.

Anyway, another parallel was the fact about parents. I remember he asked directly if the parents of the person he was interviewing knew he was gay, to which the person said "Yes" He then asked if they accepted it, or something along those lines, and he said "No" with a laugh. That is like much of my friends back home. The parents know, but act like it isn't even happening. Denial, once again.

The film was extremely educational on a subject I think everyone should be more open too, in other cultures and my own. Acceptance is upon us, everyone just has to see what a commonality homosexuality is across cultures, but perhaps because so many people fear it, its one subject that will stay unaccepted for awhile longer. We have an African American president, a huge and positive leap for our country (breaking down walls of racism and prejudice), but hardly anyone can accept gay marriage? The happiness and love between two people, however, can still not be celebrated openly?  

Blood and Oil

Although I was not in the past class due to medical problems, I did see the e-mail, and watched the film ‘Blood and Oil’. I loved this film, the subject matter actually has always interested me. I have knows about the American’s addiction to oil, I see it everywhere. My mother works for the county back home, so she is always talking about oil prices with my father, but mainly just saying that she is lucky she doesn’t have to deal with them. I hear it from friends and family, and the media. With the ties to the Middle East, America has always just barged in and thought that what was there should rightfully be ours. This happened so much that eventually we wanted to use brute force to get said oil, which makes my own country seem like the big bully on the playground, get whatever we want at whatever cost, just step all over the little guys.

It shocked me to learn exactly how far though America went when it came to military force, like the whole establishment in Saudi Arabia. Also, how the Chinese and Russians were then brought into it, if we are so prepared to fight for our oil, imagine getting into it with the Chinese and Russians! All in all, this movie was very enlightening, and shows my country in a different light. I can also now understand a little more on why we are so involved in the Middle East. It all comes down to they have what we want, oil!

Who is that talking in the back?

So, this blog just hit me, like that time I ran into a chair. Just BAM! I was watching The movie my group decided to watch, Arranged, which I'm pretty sure I blogged about already...But anyway, I was watching it again, and about twenty minutes in, the main characters are in a classroom together, the Muslim one teaching the students, and the orthodox Jewish asissting a special needs child, when the class is interrupted by talking in the back. The the Muslim teacher asks them what is wrong, the kids just come out and say something to the extent of,

"We were told that you and Ms. Rachel can't be friends because you were from different religions, because you hate each other or something."

Obviously this caught my attention. Continuing, the teacher asks him why he would think that. He says,

"...I heard all the Muslims wanna kill all the Jews. Aren't you Muslim?"

And this perks an ongoing conversation that the Muslims are a massive group of people, and the teacher does not want to kill/hate Ms. Rachel. The thing that interested me the most though about this was that, the kids in this class look to be in about third or fourth grade, which was quite young to me. Even so, I don't think even now I would wonder something like that. It makes me think about what kind of negative press the Middle East is getting, so much so that the kids, perhaps, are picking it up on their evening news, surely they don't get this on their own, or their parents don't talk to them about it, I would guess. This movie is very interesting, not only does it have the influence of the Muslim and the Jewish, but the children too. I'm excited to finish the movie, and I'll try to get the clips up!

I know its there somewhere...

While I had no trouble finding books and movies that fill me in on information about how Western culture is influencing the Middle East, and also vice-versa, finding concrete information is proving to be a feat. I am finding small little tid-bits.
I guess the biggest thing that I could blog about is the movie i have started watching. The movie is called 'Arranged', was made in 2007, and tells the story of two women, one an Orthodox Jew, the other a Muslim. I read a little blurb about the movie, and it shows how the two women meet and their experience with arranged marriages.
So far, The two women have not met. I have seen how they are uncomfortable in social interactons dealing with the subject of 'marriage;' in the opening of the film the women are sitting in a lunchroom of sorts, awkwardly listening to three other american looking women talking about being proposed to and their own marriage.
Perhaps the arranged marriage is a bigger difference between cultures than I realized. I definitely have a fuzzy view of arranged marriages, to me they do not seem fair to either party. I hope the movie will change this.

The Square Moon

I just finished the first two short stories in the book I am reading, The Square Moon. The book is actually a collection of lebanese short fiction stories, taking place, so far in Paris. The stories have a fantasy/maabre twist, which actually makes them more interesting to me.
The stories, collectively, have a sort of Edgar Allen-Poe feel, and I feel that the stories would work well alongside Poe in a high school setting.
The first story was centered between two people, a matchmaker interacting with the main character, and a woman who the main character is infatuated with. The clash comes from the fact that tradition, family, and the matchmaker want him to marry a traditional Lebanese girl, one who is shy, mannered, and uneducated. However the character is in love with a lebanese woman, yes, but one who breaks all stereotypes. She is athletic, educated, and witty, and wants to be a mans equal.
That story actually broadened my thoughts on relationships in the Middle East. Even though the story takes place in (roughly) the 1980's, it was still apparent to my classmates and I that the culture in the Middle East is changing. Women are going to school, and then furthering their education and wanting jobs that they wouldn't have before. The Middle East wants to be more modernized, maybe wants to catch up with our culture in the West.

"Reel Bad Arabs"

After watching and discussing the film "Reel Bad Arabs" I was actually surprised by how many movies I had recently seen had villains that looked like Arab people. It very nearly disgusted me how I had fallen victim to such awful propaganda in 'The Land of the Free". Clearly, 8 years after 9/11, Americans are falling into the trap that, if it looks like an Arab, if it talks like an Arab, fear it. Surely I could rationalize with myself that all Arabs are not awful, horrible terrorists trying to destroy my life, no, this would be falling prey to one of the easiest fallacies ever created (slippery slope).

But, after I started to think about it, that’s exactly how I was when 9/11 happened. I was in fifth grade, sitting in my classroom with the same 30 people I had in my grade every year (small private school) when our teacher was called out of the room. She returned, and told us to go to recess (I remember thinking it was too early, but hey, I was a kid). When we returned from outside, she was sitting at the front of the room. I remember her exact words, "I hope that you are mature enough to handle the news I am about to give you...I have been told and saw on T.V. that two planes crashed into some very important buildings in New York City, and they collapsed. It has been realized that this is a very serious and devastating..," she paused searching for simple terms to put it in, "terrorist attack." After that our parents were called, and I was picked up etc. etc...

Any who, I remember that after seeing the pictures on the news and in magazines for much after that, I was terrified of people that looked to be Arab. I would get uneasy, and look down at my feet for years to come after. Only recently have I been able to not have any problems with people of other nationalities, skin color, looks, etc, simply because I grew up. I realized not everyone is out to get me.

To put it simply, media in general, not just fictitious movies with super-villains who look like Arabs has a massive impact on how the American people view their enemies. In my case, especially being so young, I was lucky to have grown out of it. I know many people, my age and much older, have prejudices that may never subside. But my certain hope is that they do.

Aunt Safiyya Ch. 2

I fell in love with the story after reading chapter 2. I loved how the book did an almost-paradox, it started with the mothers warning of her son going to see Aunt Safiyya (assuming that in the beginning the events of chapter two already happened) then Taher explains why his mother acts the way she does and says the things she does. The 'paradox', is you will, is at the end, when we return to the authors present day, where he visits his Aunt Safiyya.

I was shocked at the amazing dynamics the families of the village, and the village itself, had within the story. Everyone is so loyal and dedicated, both to each other and their religions. I was also shocked again, at the mother. Her choice to keep Safiyya out of school simply because she was beautiful, and also because the mother thought an education would ruin her ability to marry the best, surprised me. I am so used to the world around me where beautiful, hard-working, and educated women are, most often, the ones who are praised highest.

Perhaps the Middle-East is in a place that our own country was, not too long ago either. At one point in our history, women were responsible for the home life, raising children, cooking, keeping husbands happy. Women in our country did not go to school, work the farms, or attend town meetings. This got me thinking to the point that, although the subject of religion differs slightly (as we discussed in class), the Middle East just might not be as historically advanced as my own country. Again though, maybe the Middle East will stay that way. But as for now, my mind is telling me that I have no room to criticize that would be like me being harsh to my younger sibling, for not knowing calculus.

Chapters 1 "Aunt Safiyya"

After I finished the first two chapters of "Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery", I was a little confused. Not confused in the way that I didn't comprehend what I read, I know what had happened to the characters, the storyline, and such. I was more confused about the reason why the events had taken place.
The first chapter describes the actual Monastery, saying that you couldn't see it at all from the village, and was about a half an hour walk away. The reader is then informally introduced to the monks that reside there, and a sentence or two is said about their generosity (The speaker remembers that he was given sugared dates only grown within the Monastery walls, pg. 19)
The speaker then goes on about how every "Coptic Christmas" his mother assembles boxes of treats and sends them on their way to family member houses, and the Monastery.
I realized that only about two pages into the actual story there was already a connection between the Eastern world and my own, here in the 'West'. Is it not uncommon for families to send gifts, or gift-baskets and the like, to family members (and in religious families’ cases, their church, pastor, priest, etc...)? This was a positive thing in my mind, to be able to pick up my first piece of Middle Eastern literature and make an almost immediate connection between the culture and my own.
Then, however, my personal connection faltered. Within the same page (pg. 20-21) it was brought to my attention that a lot of responsibility is put upon the daughters in Middle Eastern families, and yet they are treated the harshest. Taher gives some insight into this 'twisted' (from my point of view) family dynamic, saying that if the responsibility of carrying a tray of cookies down the roads of the village went to one of his sisters, and by some twist of fate they dropped the tray, "The girl would return home with all this [smashed cookies and expensive ghurayyiba], in tears, and my mother would receive her with blows and kicks for her unforgiveable clumsiness, all the while bewailing the bad luck that had cursed her with the birth of such daughters."
This simple, yet harsh, sentence was the first picture painted in my head about the family dynamics in the Middle East. In America, it is very uncommon to actually hit a child as a form of punishment, unless one was talking about a small child getting a light 'spanking'. However the very words 'blows' and 'kicks' don’t exactly give the image of a light punishment. And then, add on top of it the fact that the mother would then go around 'bewailing and cursing' the fact that she was the mother of her children is definitely something that would be unheard of in America. I plan on researching a little more into this, however general knowledge I have gained about the Middle East ( no matter how little it may be) have me thinking that this type of behavior relating mother and daughter would not be uncommon. I know that men are above women in said regions society.
The rest of the chapter talks mainly about The Miqaddis Bishai, (Miqaddis being a formal title). The remainder of chapter one tells of his insight to planting and harvesting, and how he is a familiar face in the village, everyone knows him and he, in return, knows everybody. This is more embellished in the story, but so far the details don't relate back to the story, yet.