Category Archives: Blog

If you are interested in Turkey, archaeology and/or military history, you might want to read this post on “The Archaeology of Conflict and Remembrance at Gallipoli”…

While watching Batkid save Gotham City at my computer here in Beirut, I couldn’t help but think of all the kids with cancer that I’ve gotten to know over the past year at St. Jude’s in Beirut. As I watched Batkid defeat the Riddler and receive the key to San Francisco, I wondered what wishes the Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian kids with whom I play each week at St. Jude’s would make–if they had the chance. Would they want to be a superhero too–and if so, which one (perhaps Spiderman, since our “Spiderman” computer game is the most popular one in the playroom)? Or maybe, since many of the children at St. Jude’s are Syrian refugees, their greatest wish would be to get better, and return home to Syria in peace…

Whenever I need a snack while I’m food shopping in Beirut, I like to pull up to the sushi counter for some vegetarian sushi–and it always hits the spot…

This morning in Beirut, my students and I took a virtual field trip to Sudan to study the history, culture, and language of ancient Nubia. One day, I hope to take some of them on an “actual” field-trip to Sudan–which has more pyramids than even Egypt–and work with them to decipher Meroitic (well, a professor can dream–can’t she?).

In addition to our discussion of Nubian pharaohs, “race” politics, and Nubian religious rituals, we also explored modern-day forms of religious devotion in Sudan–such as the ecstatic dance of the dervishes, who whirl like dust devils throughout the desert…

The roses are raining
From the sky to the rose garden, shouting,
“Anyone who wants stairs to the sky
Should throw his soul to grief.”
Come to your senses.

— Rumi

Today in Beirut, runners took advantage of the beautiful weather for an early morning run on the Corniche…

In the wake of Prince George being baptized with water from the Jordan River–where it is believed that John baptized Jesus–environmental groups are voicing their opinion that untreated sewage and industrial waste in the river make the water unfit for baptisms…

It’s been a busy 48 hours, witnessing how Ashura is commemorated here in Beirut, as well as all over the world–with large gatherings taking place in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan. Though some of these gatherings are known to turn quite bloody from self-flagellation and the ritual cutting of the scalp, some places like Azerbaijan have encouraged blood donation instead.

Years ago, while I was studying Persian and “non-western” performance as a student at Brown, I had the opportunity to study Ashura performances of Ta’ziyeh–the only “indigenous epic dramatic tradition in the Middle East”–with Professors Bill Beeman and John Emigh. Since I had long been drawn to performances of ritual mourning (starting in ancient Egypt), I was immediately taken with Ta’ziyeh for its dramatization of martyrdom and its ritual embodiment of mourning. This classical form of religious drama, usually performed in Iran (see video below), had a profound influence on the artistic vision and productions of several celebrated theatre artists, such as Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski and Robert Wilson. Further, Mohammad Bagher Ghaffari staged a Sufi-inspired Ta’ziyeh, entitled Moses and the Wandering Dervish, at Trinity College in Connecticut in 1988.

Unfortunately, however, Ta’ziyeh wasn’t what made the news today. Earlier today in Iraq, at least 30 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted an Ashura gathering, and to prevent an attack like this at Ashura activities in Pakistan, cell phone service was suspended in cities throughout the country.

Here in Beirut today, offices and schools were closed to mark this religious holiday. In the past 48 hours, Ashura has been used as a platform to speak about a range of current events, such as the war in Syria, and nuclear negotiations with Iran. And despite the holiday–or perhaps because of it–rockets from Syria were still falling on northern Lebanon…

Today in Damascus, a mortar slammed into a predominantly Christian neighborhood, killing two people and wounding seven others. The neighborhood where the attack occurred is located next to the “Bab Touma” gate. “Bab Touma” translated into English means the “Gate of Thomas.”

When I was in Damascus visiting Sufi sheikhs and shrines, exploring the churches of this historic neighborhood was one of the highlights of my trip. On the day that I visited this district, there was so much sunshine that I couldn’t even look directly into the lens of the camera–I was almost literally blinded by the light, while on the road in Damascus.

The street called straight is straighter than the corkscrew, but not as straight as a rainbow. St Luke is careful not to commit himself; he does not say it is the street which is straight, but `the street which is called straight.’ It is the only facetious remark in the Bible, I believe.

— Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869

The “Street called Straight” in this neighborhood is indeed not straight at all–and I had some trouble of finding the house and chapel of Ananias behind the Bab Touma gate. According to the Bible (Acts 9), after the apostle Paul (then Saul) was struck blind on the road to Damascus, God instructed him to travel to “the Street Called Straight”–where Ananias eventually restored his sight.

Stepping down into the empty and quiet underground Chapel of Ananias was an experience I will never forget. Having studied the history of Christianity in Syria at Brown with Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey, I was thrilled to finally be walking through history that I’d only seen before in slides and books.

Today, it’s heartbreaking to think that this historic neighborhood in the heart of Damascus is suffering from such terrible acts of violence–car bombs, mortar attacks, and gunfire. When I was last there (before the war), my only concern was being blinded by the light of the sun while taking a photo above–but now this historic neighborhood has become a war zone…with no end to the Syrian violence in sight…

Happiness, then, is co-extensive with contemplation, and the more people contemplate, the happier they are;
not incidentally, but in virtue of their contemplation, because it is in itself precious.
Thus, happiness is a form of contemplation.

— Aristotle

From Brown to Beirut, students are learning how to ask the big questions. After two weeks of studying the philosophy of Plato here in Beirut, my students and I are now exploring Aristotle’s conceptualization of the relationship between “happiness” and “contemplation.”

While my students and I are continuing this week to discuss how to live the “good life,” we are now focused on “contemplation” as an essential ingredient for happiness–or, in fact, as a form of happiness itself. For Aristotle, contemplation was the highest form of moral activity, since it is continuous, self-sufficient, pleasurable and complete.

Again, contemplation would seem to be the only activity that is appreciated for its own sake;
because nothing is gained from it except the act of contemplation, whereas from practical activities
we expect to gain something more or less over and above the action.

— Aristotle

While my students and I are busy contemplating how to live the “examined life” here in Beirut–surrounded daily by extreme violence and overwhelming suffering–I am constantly reminded of the words of W.B. Yeats: “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul, than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.”

This morning, when I checked the news here in Beirut to catch up on today’s top stories I found articles on the dramatic rise in kidnappings, the recent polio outbreak among Syrian refugees, and the assassination of a Sunni sheikh in Tripoli–which some fear may trigger another civil war. Though we’re all swimming in uncertainty, one thing is for sure–there’s never a dull moment, here in Beirut…

Since I’ve been blogging lately about Roma in the Czech Republic, I was happy to receive an email today from the Czech Center of New York saying that next week they will be screening a new documentary by Helena Trestikova about a Roma musician/activist/reporter from the Czech Republic. If you’re in New York, czech it out…

VOJTA LAVICKA: UPS AND DOWNS (2013)
(Vojta Lavicka: Nahoru a dolu)
Tuesday, November 19, 7:00 PM
Followed by a Q&A with the director

Czech Center New York (UES)
89 mins, English subtitles

With a sweeping Romany music soundtrack that grabs your heartstrings and never loosens its grip, Helena Trestíková’s intimate documentary about the troubled life of musician, activist and reporter Vojta Lavička unfolds over 16 years and does double duty as a thorough examination of the marginalized Roma living in the Czech Republic today.

Despite enviable accomplishments—he was a pioneer of Romany TV and radio broadcasting, an activist with an NGO on behalf of the Roma and, most famously, a master violinist whose popular Romany hip-hop group Gipsy.cz played Glastonbury in 2007—Lavička is still trying to get things right. “Whenever I have the opportunity to be contented and happy I screw it up somehow,” he wryly notes. Trestíková details the, yes, ups and downs in Lavička’s life—for every triumph, a disappointment, for every slump of resignation, a moment of hope—over the last decade-and-a-half and the straightforwardness of her title is mirrored in the way she structures her film. Through it all, the increasingly desperate plight of the Czech Roma, marginalized and scorned by the Czech majority, hovers in the background, colouring Lavička’s every thought and action. And when it gets to be too much? The balm of music, enjoyed most when played with his son…

Traveling–it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

— Ibn Battuta

While visiting Sufi shrines in Morocco last month, I kept getting distracted by doors. But capturing the ornate designs around the medieval doors of Fez is almost impossible–especially with young men on motorbikes speeding by in both directions…

The shadows you fear are just a child’s fantasy.
There is no wound and nothing to be wounded;
all is mercy and love.
But you build up thought like a massive wooden door.
Set fire to the wood.
Silence the noise of the heart.

— Rumi

Whether I’m in Syria, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, or Kenya, I always try to spend time with children wherever I wander–especially with orphans and those in need (for reasons I’ll explain in an article coming out next week). The Sufi teachers I visited while traveling from Afghanistan to Mali weren’t the only ones who gave me a unique education on the road–since the children I met along the way were also some of the best teachers I’ve ever encountered…