“the muslims i know” will kick off the rochester high falls intl film festival by being broadcast on PBS (rochester) on may 12th, 2009 at 8pm! there will be a live chat with me, the director, after the broadcast.
check out wxxi’s program guide.
check out the rochester high falls intl film festival – lynn redgrave, cch pounder, and lesley stahl to attend the festival, may 13-18.
legal catch 22, with horrifying results:
‘We Could Have Done This the Right Way’ – How Ali Soufan, an FBI agent, got Abu Zubaydah to talk without torture.
by Michael Isikoff, newsweek, april 25, 2009
love this song – “no rain” by blind melon. 1993, lovely hot summer in west harford, connecticut. new country, new house, new school, new life.
philippe sands talks about his book “torture team” on bill moyers journal: “moving forward means acknowledging that errors were made.”
here is the interview on PBS.
philippe sands, british barrister extraordinaire, makes a solid case against the torture team: “i would think carefully before setting foot outside the united states. they are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.”
read the full story: “the bush six“ by jane mayer, the new yorker, april 13, 2009
marjane satrapi, artist, writer and director of “persepolis”, spoke at hallwalls in buffalo on april 1st, 2009. i was lucky enough to get an audio recording from my friend damien adia, an ardent satrapi fan. even though i wasn’t able to attend the event, satrapi’s presence seemed electric and the high level of energy in the room was palpable.
well-known for her wit and honesty, she delivered a lecture that was at once hilarious and substantive. like she said, humor is a great ice breaker – it facilitates frank discussion without anyone’s guard going up. it made me think of my own film where i used a mélange of cultural richness, everyday american life and familiar people and places to the same end.
many of the things satrapi said spoke to me in a very personal way. some i have said myself and others she expressed with such clarity that it became possible for me to articulate them with more keenness.
for example, the fact that we are all part of the same culture – it’s all one big hodgepodge with no clearly defined outlines. whenever people insinuate that it’s strange for me to like mozart and beethoven or to know the words to pretty much every billy joel song there is, it annoys me – massively. all i can think of is: “but you don’t own this music. why do i even need to explain? art belongs to everyone. it’s not franchised by geographic region!” so when satrapi talks about culture as being continuous links of the same global chain, it truly hits the spot!
she gave the example of omar khayyám, 11th century persian mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet whose quatrains or rubaiyat were translated in english by edward fitzgerald. not only did khayyam’s work leave a lasting impact on science and mathematics, but he also influenced english poets like donn, blake, wordsworth, shelley and eliot. persian ideas are also apparent in goethe and emerson’s writings as well as in victor hugo’s.
as i was researching this fact i came upon an interesting essay, “persian literature and its influence on europe and america from the 17th century up to the present time”
i quote from the article:
in “les miserables” of victor hugo, the story of the good bishop m. miriel and the thief jean valjan will always be remembered. the following is the story as it is told in the dabistan [ancient persian book].
muhammad ali of shiraz was the fellow student of shah fattah allah, and he traced his family to azar kaivan. he, however, attained perfection through the society of farzaneh bahram, the son of farhad, and had also traversed the seven climes. a thief came to his house one night. mohammad ali pretended to be asleep on his carpet. the robber searched the house carefully, but as all the effects were concealed in a secure place, he was unable to get at them. at this point, muhammad ali, raising his head, said to him, “i laid myself down to feign sleep so that thou mightest accomplish thy desires, whereas thou art in despair. be no longer uneasy”. he then arose, and pointed out the place where all the things were stored away. in consequence of this generous proceeding the robber repented, abandoned his vile profession and became a virtuous character.
ah, the cultural strata of the world – layer upon amorphous layer of cultural deposit over centuries of human thought and endeavor, like so many geological formations!
thus the idea of the clash of cultures becomes preposterous, an argument that i have poked holes in myself. but satrapi is not averse to talking about differences. the word “clash” conjures up images of head-on collisions and destruction. exploring different points of view is more interesting and it can lead to a fuller, more realistic, panoramic vision of the world.
on the other hand the concept of the “other” is dishonest and counterproductive, especially when the other is portrayed as evil. for example, terrorists have become a new category in and of themselves. they are not defined as human. they’re more like aliens. this makes it justifiable to dismiss them as evil without trying to understand them.
iran too was famously described by bush as being part of the axis of evil – satrapi is amused by the lumping together or iran and iraq (countries at war for 8 years with 1.5 million dead) and north korea which has nothing to do with either one of them! when evil has an ethnicity, a nationality, a name and address, then the impetus is to wipe it off the face of the earth. this was the basis for fascism. the truth is that evil is everywhere – it has no nationality, no religion, no particular “look”.
demonizing an entire nation based on the actions of a few is ridiculous, especially in a country like iran which is struggling with dictatorship. the same is true of many other muslim countries. dictators, by definition, dictate – which means that they do not represent the views of the majority. otherwise iran would be the most thriving democracy in the world. in fact even in democratic countries, the president and his cabinet do not represent all citizens. “you have experienced that for the last 8 years” satrapi added to roaring laughter and applause. in fact, if you look closely enough, the differences between so-called dictatorships and so-called democracies can be illusory and tenuous at best.
another myth she exploded was that of western civilization. she called the smug assessments of degrees of “civilization” the biggest bluff ever. take the example of paris, a cultured, civilized city by any standard. now, cut off the power and water supply, empty its markets of food and see how people behave towards one another. “we are not more civilized” satrapi summarized, “just less hungry.” subsequently, some societies don’t have a natural affinity for democracy while others don’t. democracy and human rights are appreciated by all, equally. human life should have the same value everywhere. we should be humanists first and be extremely wary of de-humanizing others.
in reality, the division is between the fanatics and the rest of us. we are more than them but they are louder. they use emotion rather than reason. all intellectual work is therefore the opposite of fanaticism because it doesn’t rely on emotion, it doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, it simply asks questions. this process of intellectual exploration is more complex than fanaticism – it takes longer to find the answers but once you find them you can never forget them. it’s less feisty, less sensational and it doesn’t win elections, but it’s the only way out. this is why satrapi emphasizes culture and education (with the necessary backdrop of a functioning economy of course). she calls them weapons of mass construction. if we want to build fewer jails than we must build more schools. it’s as simple as that.
“Israel’s recent bombing and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, Operation Cast Lead, killed 1,417 Palestinians; thirteen Israelis were killed, five by friendly fire. Thousands of Palestinians were seriously wounded and left without adequate medical care, shelter or food. Among the Palestinian dead, more than 400 were children. In response to this devastation, Caryl Churchill wrote a play.”
here is the complete article in the nation, april 13th, 2009.
when a muslim man killed his wife in buffalo, everyone became obsessed with the news. there was a lot of “let’s study islamic culture and religion to understand this.” unfortunately domestic abuse and wife killing are not endemic of any particular religion or culture. each case deserves the same amount of exposure, analysis and condemnation:
most people seated in the orchestra section of the eugene o’neill theater (april 4th, matinee performance) probably knew that i was a jane fonda fan. when i turned to my neighbor, a middle aged woman with forbiddingly short hair, and asked her if she liked fonda, she could only manage a tentative “yes”. but she added with a smile: “you clearly do”. “i’m not usually like this”, i said to my friend sarita, by way of explanation. and that is the whole truth. i have seen many remarkable actors on broadway deliver extraordinary performances, but jane fonda is different. i have admired her as an actor, an activist, a feminist, a fitness guru, a woman, for as long as i can remember. i was enthused.
happily, “33 variations” turned out to be more than a mere platform for jane fonda’s considerable talent. the play is a perfectly orchestrated production of multi-media art mixed with a clever, multi-layered script.
intertwined stories: beethoven becomes obsessed with an ordinary waltz written by his music publisher anton diabelli, and devotes much of his precious time to composing not one or two but 33 variations on its theme. dr katherine brandt (jane fonda) is an accomplished musicologist obsessed with beethoven’s variations. she also has lou gehrig’s disease and is struggling to complete her monogram while losing control over her body. her daughter clara is obsessed with her mother and wants desperately to connect to her. over the course of the play, she becomes involved in a relationship with mike, her mother’s nurse. it starts off awkwardly but develops into something meaningful.
multi-media theater: projections of beethoven’s sketches (drafts and elaborations) become a luminous backdrop. moveable screens fashioned from fluttering sheets of music are used to transform the stage – they are lit as if by countless candles, twirled to create dynamic transitions, images are projected onto them while they slide back and forth and we are treated to the creation of a fragmented, impressionistic painting.
imagine this: the stage is framed by shelves containing neatly ordered boxes of archives, all magically lit. beethoven stands center stage. his hair is disheveled. he is barefoot, in his nightgown. he looks pale, possessed. with a crooked hand he draws notes in the air. he composes fitfully, changing his mind, altering, deleting, commenting. and as he articulates music on stage we actually hear what he is creating. live piano music is an essential element of the play and we are offered the aural dimension of every visual, every spoken word.
the core of the play: brandt is fascinated by beethoven’s attention to a mediocre waltz. she goes through several hypotheses. he wanted to show us what he could do with a trivial composition, he is mocking it, being ironic. he wanted to elevate the ordinary and “transfigure” it into the sublime. did he just do it for money? did he want to one-up bach and his 32 goldberg variations? parallels between brandt and beethoven are apparent – their passion for their work, their tenacity in the face of debilitating illness, their dogged pursuit of perfection. they are alter egos. as she lies dying on her hospital bed, he appears to her. she jokes with him. she was hoping not to hallucinate – not fitting for a scholar. he shoots back: it could have been worse, what if it had been tchaikovsky?
but there are more subtle analogies. as brandt remains focused on the inferiority of diabelli’s work, she is incapable of fully understanding beethoven’s motives. in much the same way she thinks of her daughter as a second-rate waltz, an assumption that has doomed their relationship. as brandt begins to warm to her daughter (her deteriorating health has forced a level of proximity), her mind begins to open. she sees beethoven’s endeavor in a new light. all the pieces fall into place. beethoven is not mocking diabelli, he is slowing down time, he is exploring the potential that exists in every moment of the waltz. by claiming every fleeting moment, he is allowing us to savor it fully, slowly, bit by bit.
the parallel with life is crystal clear. every moment, every gesture, every happenstance is pregnant with significance, if we could only stop and partake of all its glory.
the play was written and directed by moises kaufman, set design by derek mclane, lighting by david lander, projection design by jeff sugg, and selections from beethoven’s diabelli variations were performed live by diane walsh.
when someone posted the number of civilian deaths in iraq (about 600,000 from 2003-2006) on facebook, there was a lot of brouhaha over how that number seemed too high. interesting how people sitting on their couches, watching cnn, think they have a better idea of deaths in iraq than the lancet journal which conducted an extensive study on the ground. anyway, for all the skeptics here is a great description of the methodology behind the stats.
Dear Mara, thanks for writing.
If you read my work you know I am totally opposed to Guantanamo and similar violations of human rights. I am not a defender of US imperialism. I don’t see why attacking “blasphemy,” “defamation of religion” and similar concepts makes me an imperialist. And just because the fatwas I mentioned are well-known doesn’t make them the less horrible and ridiculous. I think you are being a bit defensive there.
It’s true that in general I don’t see religion as a force for good in the world. Most of the time I discuss religion in my column I attack the Christian right, including for its intolerance toward other religions and of course its patriarchal views of women, something it shares with the other major faiths! But it would be inconsistent to attack the James Dobsons, Jerry Falwells, and Rick Warrens week in week out and never say a word about political Islam, which is imo a similar phenomenon.
Sincerely yours,
Katha
my comments: although i’m glad that ms pollitt took the time to answer my letter, i think that she didn’t really address the gist of it.
gave this lecture at nazareth college on march 25, 2009. it was sponsored by the art club and naz’s art department. here is a montage of the event – cinematography by toby orzano, music by bloodfest.
doug rice, who was director of artwalk for 10 years, has now renovated an old church building on atlantic avenue and created the latest theater space in rochester. small and intimate, with excellent acoustics and ample lights, the space is ideal for both fringe and community theater. it still needs some work and the space’s success will dictate how that pans out.
i made it on the last day of the method machine’s “edge”, a play about sylvia plath’s last day on earth before she committed suicide, a confession of sorts which gives us an insight into the whys of her decision. the subject of the play is all the more tragic since plath’s son nicholas recently committed suicide himself.
plath was played by marcy savastano in this one woman show. although she has the acting chops to summon tough emotions on stage, i think that she was cheated by the material she was given. the play written by paul alexander is a relentless vilification of poet ted hughes, plath’s husband and her apparent, psychological murderer. not only was he a brooding, violent, cold, cruel, adulterous, egomaniac with mediocre talent, but apparently he also practiced witchcraft whereby he hypnotized plath to become his slave, he didn’t love or even care to touch his infant son because he viewed him as a rival, and after he decided to leave plath both he and his mistress called her at odd times begging her to kill herself and get it over with. there was also talk of incest with his evil witch mother, repressed homosexuality and sadistic sex. i can safely say that cannibalism was probably the only accusation not leveled at the man.
ted hughes might have had his weaknesses and they might have been manifold but to write a 2 hour play about them is just too easy and boring. the end result is that plath comes out as a petty, nagging, resentful house wife whose tirades against her parents but mostly against her husband become increasingly irksome.
of course i understand the idea of exploring her state of mind at this crucial juncture in her life and to look at her thoughts with unflinching honesty. but i have to believe that at a moment such as this, the last moment before life is purposefully snuffed out, there is also some quiet refection, some understanding of final truths. for someone as sensitive as plath and as gifted in the ways of human language i would expect even more brilliance. instead we are confronted with the stereotype of a “woman scorned”, in its most generic and pedestrian of manifestations.
the play’s direction was lacking in other ways. savastano assumed a rhythmic pattern of fast barrages of words followed by 3 or 4 emphatic statements. over time this pattern became too predictable and annoying. but then i have to ask myself: how many interesting and innovative ways can you find to bitch and moan about a guy for two hours!
