Author: mara.ahmed

my review: la peste

recently i finished reading ‘the plague’ by albert camus, a meticulously crafted, philosophical novel, written with scientific clarity as well as breathtaking lyricism.

one of my favorite conversations, towards the end of the book, is between tarrou and the book’s protagonist, dr rieux. it’s a masterpiece.

first the convo itself. it’s a personal side of tarrou we’ve never seen before. there is an unsentimental, uncomplicated common decency/sense of justice to him that i find beautiful. here’s tarrou:

..So that is why I resolved to have no truck with anything which, directly or indirectly, for good reasons or for bad, brings death to anyone or justifies others’ putting him to death.

…The good man, the man who infects hardly anyone, is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention. And it needs tremendous will-power, a never ending tension of the mind, to avoid such lapses.

…I’d come to realize that all our troubles spring from our failure to use plain, clean-cut language. So I resolved always to speak, and to act, quite clearly, as this was the only way of setting myself on the right track.

…After a short silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace. “Yes,” he replied. “The path of sympathy.”

then rieux says:

…I feel more fellowship with the defeated than with saints. Heroism and sanctity don’t really appeal to me, I imagine. What interests me is being a man.

a brilliant exchange after which they go for a swim, to get away from the pestilence and its ravages, and camus describes the vast, velvety, moonlit expanse of the sea heaving gently.

a must read.

tea with uncle mussawir

yesterday we had high tea (beautifully done by ghanima) with uncle mussawir and his family. we were together in belgium, many years ago. as a child, i remember uncle mussawir well – tall, lean, debonair, always generous and kind. such a treat that his family is now based on long island. from brussels to new york, it’s a small world filled with some lovely people <3

rest in power sidney poitier

one of the most defining, unforgettable, stunning moments in cinema. and history. sidney poitier. a life of firsts. one of the most beautiful and elegant actors to grace the screen. proud. masterful. charming. electric. with a spine of steel. a giant. no one can ever fill his shoes. a staggering loss. may he rest in power.

#sidneypoitier #cinema #history #definingmoments #giantofcinema #changedcinema #icon #sidneypoitierfilm #sidneypoitiermovies #hugeloss #thereisnoonelikehim

The Magic Flute at the Met Opera

Life has been a lot of work since September this year (it’s been overwhelming frankly) and I have no time to do the creative work that sustains me, but I escape to NYC once in a while and get my fill of art. Saw ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Metropolitan Opera last night. Directed by Julie Taymor, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears. The Masonic symbolism and black/white dynamics are uncomfortable and the three boy-spirits downright creepy, but the music is brilliant and the Queen of the Night stole the show.

From the NYT’s review:
“when the soprano Kathryn Lewek, as the Queen of the Night, sang her character’s dazzling and demonic aria, many people started clapping halfway through, right after she dispatched the famous music’s bursts of coloratura passagework with eerie ease and enormous sound. Yes, she was quite a sight in her fantastical costume, a mothlike figure with multiple flapping wings.”

#themagicflute #mozart #metropolitanopera #opera #nyc #metopera #queenifthenight

Rest in Power Desmond Tutu

Palestine and Kashmir are the moral litmus test of our times. It’s not just that these occupations have lasted more than 70 years, or that generations of indigenous peoples have been exposed to extreme oppression and violence, it’s also the systemic censorship imposed on any call for justice and human rights. Those who speak up are ruthlessly silenced and punished.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke up and compared the apartheid in Palestine/Israel to the structural racial segregation that existed in South Africa.

He wrote:

“Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of ‘normalcy’ in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo.”
Rest in power Desmond Tutu.

The language of war

Solmaz Sharif: “I felt a need to interrogate the violence that is happening as a result of war by using the very language of war. I think any violence that’s committed against human beings is premeditated in violence against language itself.”

In a series of poems called “Personal Effects,” Sharif writes:

Daily I sit
with the language
they’ve made
of our language
to NEUTRALIZE
the CAPABILITY of LOW DOLLAR VALUE ITEMS
like you.

happy birthday to my BFF

friendships have always been foundational to my life. loyalty and being there for one another is what makes the world go round. according to me anyway. happy birthday to one of my oldest and closest friends, Amra. friends since high school when we found ourselves in the same class in islamabad, both uprooted from alternative lifeworlds (me from belgium, her from algeria). we spoke to each other in french and felt an immediate connection. we’ve grown with each other and shared the good times and the bad. over decades, many times across different continents. love u amra. may all ur dreams come true.

this picture is from a trip to london in the late 1990s. my son, standing in front of us, is 26 now mashallah <3

#friendsarefamily #friendsforlife #friendship #friendshipforever

vasily kandinsky: around the circle

went to see ‘vasily kandinsky: around the circle’ at the guggenheim museum in ny. the curators of the exhibit had suggested people start at the bottom of the circle (with his newest, most abstract work) and then find their way to the top of the goog (where his earliest paintings were shown). it’s a lovely idea because one starts with the most complex, symbolic, abstracted work, almost mathematical in its precision – he developed his own pictorial language, using shapes and colors with immense refinement. but then, as one steps back in time and climbs up the goog spiral, one comes across such unexpected gems. beautiful, expressive, simple paintings that charm and delight. reminded me of the voluptuousness and heart i find in marc chagall’s work. a breathtaking, deeply satisfying experience.

#vasilykandinsky #kandinsky #guggenheimmuseum #guggenheim #circle #painting #art #abstraction #color #line #shape #pictoriallanguage #symbolism #russia

thank u bell hooks <3

“It is essential to our struggle for self-determination that we speak of love. For love is the necessary foundation enabling us to survive the wars, the hardships, the sickness, and the dying with our spirits intact. It is love that allows us to survive whole.”

#bellhooks #loveisessential #allaboutlove #loveisthefoundation #justiceisloveinpublic #thankyoubellhooks

a land with a people: palestinians and jews confront zionism

at the people’s forum in manhattan, for the first time ever, to attend the book launch of ‘a land with a people: palestinians and jews confront zionism.’ brilliant space (look at the books and posters) and brilliant event. congrats sarah sills, esther farmer and ros petchesky.

i am reading the book right now and i recommend it strongly. it uses personal stories to deconstruct racist myths and make visible the violence of zionism. as one of the contributors said: it’s not about ethnicity or religion, it’s about supporting colonial regimes or decolonization.

pls read the book and share with others. name and confront zionism just like we name and confront racism, settler colonialism, and white supremacy. imagine a just and hopeful future for all.

#peoplesforumnyc #peoplesforum #booklaunch #jvp #alandwithapeople #zionismisracism #zionsimisapartheid #notocolonialism #notoracism #bds #palestinewillbefree #fromtherivertothesea #fromtherivertotheseapalestinewillbefree