Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror

July 29, 2012 / Juliana Lightle / 1 Comment

This blog began as a vehicle to “make” me write more and share my writings, e.g. poetry, flash memoir, essays, with others and to learn from reader responses. Along the way, it morphed into my recipes—starting with friends requesting them, my travels and adventures, inspirations, and thoughts. This post will morph me into something I fear may be far more controversial, but also feel I must explore. Several years ago, a couple of friends and I enrolled as continuing education students in a course about Islamic thought and literature. Our hope was to learn more about exactly what the title indicated. Although I had already read quite a lot of Middle Eastern literature, especially Iranian, and also some Turkish novels as well as memoirs and nonfiction books, I had no one with whom to discuss my readings and thoughts. This presented an ideal opportunity. After a couple of weeks, it became quite clear that the teacher had a definite agenda. Although she never overtly discussed her own religious beliefs, she generally chose parts of readings to discuss to promote a certain, anti-Islamic bias. We read the Quran (in translation because none of us spoke or read Arabic—mine was a Pakistani translation), Ayaan Hirsi Ali—various works including Infidel, Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography, and short stories by Iranian, Palestinian, and other Middle Eastern authors. None were from Southeast Asia where the majority of the world’s Muslims live. None were from India. When we discussed the Quran, she chose very specific passages that zeroed in on what she perceived to be Islam’s oppression of women and promotion of violence and war. When the rest of us tried to also discuss passages about ones duty to the oppressed, the orphans, the poor, she would channel the discussion back to her chosen agenda. Some dropped out. The rest of us decided to stay because we wanted to read and discuss the writings in spite of the situation. Over time, our insistence on a broader based view seemed to affect her strong bias slightly. In the end, she even showed the Iranian movie, “Children of Heaven”, which presents the plight of a poor Iranian family in a very sympathetic light. The father overtly loves his wife and struggles valiantly to help her and his family in any way he can. This class has led me to further pursue my readings of literature from Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, India, etc., both fiction and non-fiction and to learn as much as I can about the past and present as it relates to issues in these parts of the world. Since then, I have also experienced the privilege of hosting exchange students from Thailand, Brazil, and Argentina. One of my closest friends grew up Muslim in Indonesia. I also have Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan and atheist friends from many parts of the world, and some who have little interest in religion. Recently, the librarian where I teach asked me to read Wanted Women, Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui. I finished it recently and highly recommend reading this book. The author, Deborah Scroggins, spent six years following the lives of these two women, including interviewing their colleagues, family members, self proclaimed jihadists, and government officials from several countries. She delineates an incredible amount of information and data. If you care about the political and spiritual future of this planet and the ongoing controversies surrounding Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, this book provides an excellent opportunity to explore history and the events of the last 20-30 years, and then to develop your own insights. My hope is that this post will encourage others to explore new avenues of knowledge and open wider venues of thought that encourage a better, kinder world in which we respect and value each others’ differences.

Recommended additional readings: This is one of my favorite magazines. It is free and covers art, cuisine, nature, history, literature, geography, just about everything imaginable. For teachers, they have suggested uses and additional materials at the back. It comes out six times per year.

If you are unfamiliar with literature from the Arab world, this is a good place to start. Mahfouz won the Nobel prize for literature. Although his novels take place in Egypt, the themes are universal.

In spite of the word jihad in the title, this is more of a “fun” read. The Iranian American author, a journalist, decided to go to the Iran of her roots and work and live there for a while. This book describes her adventures as a journalist in Iran.

Other books I recommend are Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith by Gina B. Nahai (this is one of my all time favorite books), No God but God by Reza Aslan, another Iranian journalist, The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak (this book is a novel about Rumi, whose beliefs Islamists do not find acceptable), and Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out edited by Afzal-Khan.

Another source of information about events, literature, art, etc. in the Middle East is a blog entitled “Sugar Street Review”. One of their latest blog posts, Top Five Female Arab Writers provides a list of these women with photos, brief bios, and some critique.

Pura Vida: 2, Comida (Costa Rican food)

June 23, 2012June 24, 2012 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Costa Ricans appear to be very, very healthy. Their food mainly consists of rice, black beans, salad, cooked vegetables, chicken or fish, fruit (usually pineapple, papaya, mangoes) and sometimes fried plantain. In fact fried plantain was the only fried food, except occasionally cheese. The food is plain with few spices, even though hot sauce, especially their version of tobasco, is often available if you want it. The national dish is gallo pinto: left over white rice mixed nearly equally with black beans and sometimes a little chopped onion and bell peppers sautéed in oil. This is a breakfast staple, but frequently served three times a day. Sometimes, although black beans and rice are usually served at lunch and dinner, they are not mixed together then. Often salad is their version of cole slaw, but tastes nothing like cole slaw here. Usually both cabbage and carrots are very finely shredded and mixed together. I never did quite figure out the dressing, in part because it varied greatly. When the salad was with lettuce, it was also more finely chopped than we usually do here in the US and served with various dressings including olive oil. The freshness of the salads stood out–no little bits of brown edges in Costa Rica.

The coffee, well, just lets say, I miss it. Pitchers of steaming, strong, mountain grown coffee served with pitchers of steaming, rich milk. In the mountains everywhere Jersey, Guernsey, and Holstein cows roamed up to their tummies in grass. Happy cows for sure, producing rich milk for coffee and rich white cheese, which is served for breakfast. Yes, breakfast, sometimes plain and sometimes fried. Oh, and I cannot forget the ice cream. Beyond creamy and smooth and rich.

There are sweets, usually made as snacks with coconut especially. This was my favorite.

Obesity appeared to be non-existent. I did see a few chubby people but no one really excessively over weight. Perhaps diet is one reason, but they walk a lot even though most have cars. They appear to drive them only if going some distance. In the mountains I saw a lot of people riding horses.

The biggest food adventure for me occurred while waiting around near a little family owned restaurant at the top of a mountain. All but four of us and the bus driver had gone river rafting. We disembarked from the bus and walked around to kill time, chit chatting about this and that in Spanish. Suddenly the restaurant owner came out with his grandson, unlocked the fence gate, and invited us in. While sitting at the bar conversing with him and Hector, the bus driver, I noticed the menu posted on the wall. It included huevo de tortuga. Previous information given to us indicated that Costa Rican law protected turtles (tortugas). I asked how he could serve this. He told me it depended on the species of turtle and that he could acquire only a limited amount of them. Suddenly, in front of me, Lisa, the other woman who did not go rafting and is pregnant, and Hector appeared three glasses that looked like giant, triple sized, shot glasses. Each one contained a raw turtle egg immersed in red hot sauce the consistency of tobasco sauce. Instructions and gestures indicated this was to be downed like a shot of tequila. Lisa stuck her tongue in the sauce and said it was ok. She downed hers first and said, “This is not all that bad.” The restaurant owner told her it held great nutrition for her unborn baby. I translated. It became very clear to me that I had no choice but to down mine as well. Hector downed his; then I mine. Lisa’s assessment was correct; it was ok inspite of the turtle egg feeling like a rather solid but squishy mass as it slid down my throat. The hot sauce made it possible. Lisa downed a second one; Hector and I declined. This experience remains one of the highlights of my trip: relaxing in the middle of nowhere with a local family in their little restaurant. Pura vida!!!!

Ten Little White Indians, Final Volume! (Spoilers Already Spoiled!)

May 26, 2012May 27, 2012 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

This post by a fellow blogger says a lot about what I think regarding certain movies in which American Indians are portrayed or in which they act. It also relates in some ways to my own previous posted poem, “Blood Quanturm”.

northierthanthou

Bet y’all didn’t notice!

I am one short on my promise of 10 Little White Indians. Well, it turns out that my three-part series on White Indians has four parts, and there is surely a good Monty Python reference in there somewhere, but maybe we’ll save that for another day

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Let us start with a brief consideration of the near misses.

WIND TALKERS (2002): I remember when this movie was on its way to the theaters, rumor had it that the flick was about the Navajo Code Talkers. Working as I did then on the Navajo Nation, I was (like a lot of my students and colleagues) really excited to see this part of American history portrayed on screen. My enthusiasm waned considerably when I realized it wasn’t about a Code Talker so much as a white guy who might have to kill a Code Talker if things took…

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