just spoke to a PEO chapter, here in pittsford, about my third film “partition stories” and the new series of artwork inspired by it. showed them clips from the film and a collage from “this heirloom.” excellent audience, great questions. more about PEO here.
Category: local
Dr Stephen Sheehi on Islamophobia and the Arab Spring, at Nazareth College
The War on Terror and much global conflict are rooted in Islamophobia. Dr Stephen Sheehi has written an excellent book on the subject. We are lucky that he will be in town this week and will be speaking at Nazareth College. Pls don’t miss this!
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“Sheehi’s analysis of Islamophobia as an ideological formation brings a much needed dose of fresh air, and analytical clarity, to the burgeoning field of research on how the a deep-seated psychological fear of Islam and Muslims has been produced and circulated to enable not merely war, but a globalized militarism of historically unprecedented scale that most Americans have come to take for granted as necessary and inevitable in the post-September 11 world. A worthy update of Said’s seminal discussion of Orientalism and one that leaves few players in the contemporary foreign policy establishment, in particular so-called liberals, unscathed.” (Mark LeVine, author of Why They Don’t Hate Us and Heavy Metal Islam)
Nazareth College’s Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue presents:
Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims
When: Wednesday, November 28th at 7:00pm
Where: Gerald G.Wilmot Hall, Arts Center, Nazareth College
The Arab Spring And Foundation Of Modern Arab Identity
When: Thursday, November 29th at 12:15pm
Where: Galisano Academic Center, Room 38, Nazareth College
Speaker: Dr Stephen Sheehi
Stephen Sheehi is Associate Professor of Arabic and Arab Culture and the Director of the Arabic Program at the University of South Carolina. He is also core faculty in USC’s Comparative Literature Program and the Islamic World Cultures Program. In addition to Arabic, he teaches courses on the intellectual, literary, cultural, artistic and food heritage of the modern Arabo-Islamic world. His work interrogates various modalities of self, society, and political economy within Arab modernity but takes particular interest in cultural, literary and intellectual history, photography and art of the Arab Renaissance. Prof. Sheehi’s latest book is Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2011). The book examines the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments in the West following the end of the Cold War.
The Event is free and open to the public. Pls park in Lot A of the Arts Center, Nazareth College.
Co-sponsored by: International Studies Program and Department of Religious Studies
2nd gaza solidarity rally, rochester, ny – november 17, 2012
gaza solidarity rally today in rochester, ny – november 16, 2012
iyad burnat in rochester – november 11, 2012
met iyad burnat yesterday evening. he was here in rochester to talk about 8 yrs of non-violent resistance to military occupation, in the village of bil’in. he’s been arrested 12 times and life is unimaginably challenging in palestine, but he’s as defiant as ever. when asked how he could remain hopeful in the face of politicians such as netanyahu or lieberman, he said simply: “they r not king of the world.” he added: “u should have a revolution in america.”
my artwork from the new series “this heirloom” up at the little theatre cafe!
my artwork is up at the little theatre cafe (nov 10-dec 7). thx to gallery manager kathleen farrell and photographer jason flack for helping me put it up – it looks brilliant. so happy!
my new collage series “this heirloom” on show at the little cafe, starting nov 10th
this is the first collage in the new series inspired by my filmwork on the partition of india and by the idea of bearing witness as a dynamic act. that’s my maternal grandfather in the foreground. he went to aligarh university (in uttar pradesh, india). he spoke fluent urdu, english and sanskrit. he was a lawyer, an excellent tennis player and a soccer referee. altho he and his family survived partition, he died soon after moving to pakistan. maybe he couldn’t recover from the trauma and dislocation. i never knew him. i’ve seated him in front of delhi gate in lahore, which is one of the doorways to the walled city. it’s 1946. my grandfather is my connection to the turbulent history of the indian subcontinent. what he witnessed binds us together. agha shahid ali talks about this inextricable bond in his poem “snowmen.” his ancestors came from the himalayas.
“This heirloom,
his skeleton under my skin, passed
from son to grandson,
generations of snowmen on my back.
They tap every year on my window,
their voices hushed to ice.”
another screening of the muslims i know
just came back from a screening of “the muslims i know” at an OASIS community class called “the descendants of abraham.” the class is taught by jewish, christian and muslim instructors. extremely excited that they’ve been using my film in their introductory class for the last 3 yrs. a lady asked me a question that bothered me. i tried to stay calm but i might have seemed a bit cold. she said that the muslims portrayed in the film are well-to-do professionals. they r not the ones she’s worried about. she’s worried about the less well-off muslims who might send their kids to madrassas and teach them to hate others. ok. so my answer: first of all, the film is called the muslims i know. i refuse to stand up and pretend to speak for all muslims. the media do that. i don’t want to fall into that trap. i will not generalize. second, it’s interesting how people are uncomfortable with a certain “face” of islam. muslim doctors, lawyers and academics do exist. get over it. third, this connection between socio-economic class and violence is v disturbing. not only is that connection made with reference to muslims but also our own local communities, where poor inner-city neighborhoods are presumed to be violent as if, for some reason, they don’t share our civilized “values”. fourth, as one of the instructors added, violence is not just about shooting people, it’s also about enticing someone to take out a mortgage they can’t afford, foreclose their home and kick their family out on the street. pray, which socio-economic class perpetrates that kind of violence, which destroys the lives of many more people? finally, on the teaching of hate: how would u describe going to war with the second poorest country in the world, where most kids die of malnutrition, not extremism? who’s being taught to hate whom?
the playoffs are on!
brilliant interception by my son at the game against east high. 42-0 win for pittsford.
freud’s last session at geva theatre
went to see “freud’s last session” yesterday. written by mark st germain, the play is based on an imaginary meeting between freud and c.s. lewis. lewis is a young professor at oxford. freud is in his 80s and dying of cancer. england is about to launch into the second world war. they talk about the existence of god with intellectual vigor and enthusiasm (freud is a committed atheist while lewis has just converted to christianity), they parse reason as opposed to emotion, they psychoanalyze each other, they surprise each other by broaching the subject of sex at the tail end of their meeting. they realize the importance of humor in helping us overcome horror and they use it often in their successive verbal jousts. the play is witty and engaging. it was brilliantly acted by kenneth tigar (sigmund freud) and ron menzel (c.s. lewis), and directed by skip greer.
witness palestine film series 2012: “one family in gaza” and “home front”
MC melanie duguid-may along with panelists dr ismail mehr (who worked as a doc in gaza for 9 days during the 2008-2009 attacks) and “one family in gaza” director jen marlowe (who was skyped in from jerusalem), little theater, sept 27, 2012.
witness palestine film series 2012: “salt of this sea”
with haneen ali and julia c hurley both panelists for “salt of this sea” – second film in the witness palestine film series, sept 23, 2012 (photograph by elaine johnson).
Friends of Education Excellence: Helping Students Succeed
check out this pro bono project i worked on earlier this year. shot the footage in two days and edited/post-produced the video myself in another two days. worked with my friend bruce pollock, the man behind FREE partnerships.
palestinian film series starts on sept 20th
opening of the palestinian film festival today, at the little, with “occupation has not future.” terrific attendance, in spite of everything else going on in rochester, and enthusiastic response to the film. here is MC jim tiefenthal and panelists dianne roe and david zlutnick (director and producer of the film, being skyped in from a coffee shop near portland).
MOVIE PREVIEW: Witness Palestine by Dayna Papaleo
City News
September 19, 2012
It’s difficult to know where to even begin when discussing the conflict between Palestine and Israel, a decades-old schism with passionate stances on both sides, each believing theirs to be the just one. Yet as the powers-that-be lock horns over figurative lines in the literal sand, there continue to be human beings trying to make their livings and raise their families smack-dab in the middle of the fight, with no control over the political maneuverings but every interest in their outcome.
Giving a voice to the Palestinian point of view is the inaugural Witness Palestine film series. Curated by an interfaith group of individuals from the Rochester area who traveled to the Middle East for a firsthand look, Witness Palestine aims to address this hot-button issue through a collection of narrative and documentary features that put faces to those directly affected by the conflict as well as those striving for peaceful change. All the screenings are at the Little, and each program will be followed by an interactive panel discussion. Tickets are $8 (except for “Budrus,” which is free); visit witnesspalestinerochester.org for more information.
“We’re not even aware of all of the influences of the military,” Israeli conscientious objector Maya Wind says in “Occupation Has No Future,” an effective documentary that explores Israel’s militaristic culture through the eyes of those who have refused conscription, as well as those who have actually served in the West Bank but are now actively protesting the occupation. This film came about in the fall of 2009, when American antiwar activists traveled to Israel to learn more about the movement, opening an enlightening dialogue with refuseniks and former Israeli soldiers who have joined forces with Palestinians to embark upon a campaign of civil disobedience in hopes of bringing about peace. (Thursday, September 20, 6:45 p.m.)
Writer-director Annemarie Jacir’s gorgeously shot “Salt Of This Sea” tackles the Arab-Israeli conflict through a romantic drama in which Soraya (Suheir Hammad), a Brooklyn-born woman with Palestinian roots, travels to Israel to get in touch with her history (and, hopefully, her grandfather’s long-gone bank account). Soraya sparks with a waiter (Saleh Bakri, “The Band’s Visit”) who becomes her sidekick in both larceny and tourism, leading to a number of none-too-subtle scenes designed to illustrate Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. Soraya’s third-act tantrum at her ancestral seaside home threatens to derail the film, but it’s not impossible to believe that she would have become so impassioned during her brief stay. (Sunday, September 23, 2 p.m.)
The powerful documentary “One Family in Gaza” personalizes the conflict’s human toll through the story of Kamal and Wafaa Awajah, who suffered devastating loss during an Israeli siege in early 2009, but chooses to instead focus on a peaceful future for their remaining children rather than assign blame. Since 2008, Palestinians have been getting evicted from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in favor of Israeli settlers, and “Home Front” introduces us to four individuals of very different backgrounds, all fighting for Palestinian rights. We meet Terry, an American-born Israeli spurred to action in support of her protester kids, while young Mohammad, his Palestinian family now forced to share their home with Israelis, gets an eye-opening lesson in solidarity upon meeting a Jewish activist. (Thursday, September 27, 6:45 p.m.)
“We can accept this as God’s will, as we always do, or we can consider this an injustice,” says community organizer Ayed Morrar in the absorbing documentary “Budrus.” The “this” Morrar is referring to involves the Israeli initiative to build a separation barrier that encroaches way past the Green Line into Palestinian territory… and right through the village of Budrus, cutting its residents off from their beautiful, beloved land. As Morrar and his fellow villagers, including his feisty 15-year-old daughter Iltezam, engage in nonviolent protest against the barrier, we also hear from the Israeli soldiers doing their jobs without questioning their government’s tactics. (Sunday, September 30, 2 p.m.)
The gripping drama “Private,” by Italian director Saverio Costanzo, unfolds over a few tense days in the life of a Palestinian family of seven whose home has been commandeered by Israeli soldiers. Mohammad Bakri (“Laila’s Birthday”) plays the patriarch, a chilly academic type who’d rather endure the discomfort of coexisting with the military personnel than relinquish his home to them, no matter what his terrified wife says. Not content to remain banished to the first floor, however, the kids are a little more bold than their parents, and the film gets much nail-biting mileage out of some very close calls that convey the horror of an occupation. (Thursday, October 4, 6:45 p.m.)