Category Archives: Blog

Lombok, one of my favorite places in the world, is currently the centerpiece of an Islamic tourism drive in Indonesia. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, is trying to increase the number of Muslim tourists visiting from the Middle East. Though Lombok is a relatively small island, it’s called the “island of 1,000 mosques.”

THE GRIFFITH CRITERION 
STATION
March 5, 6, 7 and March 12, 13, 14 at 8:30 pm

The Griffith’s Criterion refers to the maximal stress point beyond which a material breaks. This constraint depends on the material’s elasticity and the energy necessary to cause fracture. The Griffith’s Criterion is a theatrical installation fusing text, dance, music and video projections. Based on an original text, the show is put together by Camille Brunel, (actress, director, author), Caroline Hatem (dancer, author, actress), Zalfa Seurat (actress, filmmaker, author) and Danielle Labaki (director). Three women play around their strengths and frailness, their fears, their resistance to the world’s jolts and barbarism, exploring their paradoxes and reaching within to avoid cracking under pressure. From hell to the stars, from Paris to Beirut passing through Arizona, these modern witches make their questions and their quest for the absolute heard.

Inside the Great Mystery that is,
we don’t really own anything.
What is this competition we feel then,
before we go, one at a time, through the same gate?

— Rumi

A few years ago, when I had the opportunity to see Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani perform his Axis of Evil Comedy Tour at Brown University, the event was completely sold-out. No doubt his appearance with Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef at Harvard next week will be sold-out too–even though it’s for Harvard ID holders only. Fortunately, however, the event will be livestreamed here–and it promises to be both topical and hilarious.

Today in Beirut, my students and I enjoyed translating Classical Ethiopic sentences into English–we’re officially gaga for Ge’ez…

Vijay Iyer Trio in the Temple
Saturday, March 7, 8:00 p.m.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing

Over the past decade, Vijay Iyer has become one of the most vital and distinctive voices in jazz. With this concert, Iyer (one of jazz’s “ascendant pacesetters”—New York Times) and his trio, bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore, celebrate the release of their brand new album ‘Break Stuff’ (ECM). Known for their intuitive and intense performances, the trio brings their individual voice to an incredible setting—The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing. To buy tickets, please click here…

Rediscovering Pakistan: The Untold Tale
Screening and Q&A with Filmmaker Moin Khan
Columbia University
Hamilton Hall, Room 702
Friday, March 6th at 6:00 pm

In the 2015 edition of City Debates, we are planning to explore the processes of urban change associated with gentrification. The debates are set within the international field of gentrification research, focusing on urban contexts facing issues of (post-)conflict and (post-)crisis reconstructions, foreign and domestic investments and dis-investments, communal and political tensions, as well as regional insecurities. The conference brings together scholars and practitioners working on cities across the region who will critically investigate the relationship of Western-centric analytical frameworks to the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern contexts.

If you travel to India, enjoy the brilliant blend of Islamic, Persian, Timurid and Hindu architectural styles displayed in the marvelous marble palaces hidden behind Agra Fort’s massive red sandstone walls…