Category Archives: Blog

What amazing synchronicity — I’ve been blogging this week about performing Javanese gamelan music from NYC to Oman and beyond, and then an article on gamelan and Java appears today in the New York Times. Today’s travel article showcases Yogyakarta — one of my favorite cities to visit when I was living next to a volcano in Indonesia on a Fulbright to study Advanced Indonesian, research Islam in Java, and practice gamelan and martial arts. While Yogyakarta is certainly a buzzing center of creativity, the true epicentre of Javanese gamelan and traditional performing arts is actually Solo — where I hope to return soon to study with my teachers…

Since I’m on a gamelan kick after having been reunited with the gamelan in Oman, I thought I’d share this video of my gamelan group in New York City performing in concert at the Indonesian Consulate (I’m in the corner playing my favorite instrument in an Uzbek cap that I bought in Bukhara on the Silk Road)…

I had a lovely time this evening gearing up to teach Javanese gamelan in the Sultanate of Oman — playing Indonesian music in Muscat is a dream come true…

I had the pleasure of having lunch today with acclaimed poet and Kennedy Center Teaching Artist Glenis Redmond, after she spoke with my students in the Sultanate of Oman on poetry, Black History Month, Rumi, and Malcolm X. In the TED Talk above, Glenis shares one of the powerful poems that she recited today in front of the students. Since my fellow writer friends back home in the States and I are still mourning the recent death of award-winning poet C.D. Wright, who had a profound influence on our creative writing and teaching at Brown University, listening to Glenis recite poetry today in Oman was healing and inspiring on many different levels…

With sanctions finally lifted, more American tourists are traveling to Iran. With bookings currently surging, tour operators are scrambling to meet the demand. I’m looking forward to returning there soon myself — to polish my Persian. Thankfully, the Islamic Republic of Iran is right next door — since I live in the Sultanate of Oman…

Here’s a trailer for the first-ever Nubian short film, nominated for best Montage and Cinematography at the London International Film Festival…

Recently, I was inspired to re-visit one of my favorite comedic films in Arabic — Terrorism and Kebab (an Egyptian classic). Adel Emam, the star of the film, signed on this fall to star in a new TV series which will air during Ramadan 2016. Since being appointed a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2000, he has been committed to raising awareness about refugees and their needs. I’m looking forward to seeing his new work this summer…

While reading some Mongolian literature this morning, I felt inspired to share a few stanzas from the poem “Love Each Other While Living” (Амьдадаа бие биеэ хайрла) by Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar (Очирбатын Дашбалбар). You can read the full poem in translation here.

Love each other while living,
You need not be stingy with those things you hold dearest
Don’t hurt hearts with the spears of needless words
Don’t push one down into a dark hole.
Don’t laugh at the one who has fallen down sodden,
He might be your father, who knows!

If you’ve reached first the peak of fame
Open the gate of happiness for others
They should not forget your help!
Say the one nice word to the person
Who misses and needs it,
Days that are sunny outside and cold inside
Will be seen more than once on this earth…

Because everybody passes through cradle and coffin
Just love each other, nothing else is needed!
In this wide world,
Humans need not be short on love.

Because I imagine happiness as a fire in the human soul
Because the golden sun bestows its rays upon us equally,
For me, being alive is to deliver my love to others
And I understand that happiness is to receive love from others.

Love each other while living, people!

One of my favorite places to visit in Turkey is the southern ghost town of Kayaköy. Since I lead trips to Turkey, I’ve been there many times — yet I never get bored of strolling through the town’s abandoned houses bursting with overgrowth. Locals are now warning that nature (along with extreme weather and neglect) is slowly destroying the town. Though some have called for the ghost town to be transformed into a hotel and tourist center, there are no immediate plans to ensure its preservation. If you visit Turkey, be sure to visit Kayaköy — and admire the amazing mosaics in the town’s crumbling Greek Orthodox churches…

Starting this July, British Airways will resume direct flights between London and Tehran — paving the way for an increase in tourism and a foreign investment windfall.

Today’s Editorial in the New York Times notes that the Pentagon has put Russia at the top of its list of national security threats. Similarly, Putin recently named the U.S. a threat to Russian security for the first time. It’s funny — when I was studying Russian and Cold War history at Columbia University for one of my masters degrees (including Middle Eastern Cold War history with Professor Rashid Khalidi), it felt like I was a few decades late to the subject. Similarly, when I was studying Advanced Russian at St. Petersburg State University in Russia and getting in touch with my Russian roots, I wondered how relevant my studies would prove to be in the future. Now, however, I’m more grateful than ever for the Russian education I received at Columbia and Brown and in Russia itself — to make sense of the complex relationship between the U.S. and Russia in this particular historical moment…

I’m looking forward to the upcoming Broadway production of The Crucible starring Saoirse Ronan as Abigail Williams. I’ve long been influenced in my writing by the plays of Arthur Miller — and I was very fortunate to speak with him in person about his work several years before he died (we were introduced by one of my theatre mentors at Brown University). I was also invited to attend the Showtime taping of the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman starring Brian Dennehy — with Arthur Miller sitting directly in the seat in front of me! I was very grateful for the opportunity to thank him in person for all of his innovative and enduring creations — a dream come true. Now seems like a better time than ever to produce his Tony award-winning play on the Salem witch trials — since many in the U.S. are fearful that Donald Trump’s cheering crowds may stoke a new witch hunt. The upcoming Broadway production will begin previews on February 29th at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and opening night is scheduled for April 7th. With an original score by Philip Glass, it’s sure to be a theatre event that’s not to be missed…

Since I studied Tajik, Persian, and Russian in Tajikistan while on a Critical Language Scholarship funded by the U.S. State Department, I read with interest that the President of Tajikistan, Emomalii Rahmon, recently called for Tajik children to be taught English and Russian in addition to Tajik to help develop the country’s economy, educational opportunities, and new technologies.

A few weeks ago, my family journeyed here to the Sultanate of Oman to see my new home — and they loved it! Now back in the U.S., they’re telling all of their friends — and my friends — to travel to Oman and enjoy all the limitless beauty that the Sultanate has to offer. Tourism in Oman could use a boost more than ever, as many analysts are now seeing it as the best bet to help the economy thrive in the face of falling oil prices…