Middle East
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MIDDLE FILM FESTIVAL: Iraqi and Syrian Films
After seeing an opening night film in which half the crowd walked out and in a year where my limited opportunities to see films has left me until last night calling The Hangover my favorite film of the year, I’m delighted to now call Son of Babylon my favorite film of the festival and the Continue reading
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THE MIDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL: LEBANON AND SOME SHORTS
When I was a child, I remember my grandmother complaining to my mother about the war having ruined her fashion sense. My mother’s response was “Which war?” At that point both had lived through so many wars, as had the other people of the Arab countries of the Mediterrean, from North Africa and Egypt to Continue reading
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LIVE FROM THE RED CARPET: THE MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL GALA
In the end, rumors were false and Omar Sharif did not show up for the screening of Al Mosafar (The Traveler), the opening night movie of the Middle East Film Festival in which he stars. But most of the other actors in the film did, as well as several other stars from around the world. Continue reading
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Fatima’s Fig Tree
One of the last things I did before leaving Jordan this week was to go into the backyard of my family’s home to see if another fig was ready for the picking. It’s also the first thing I’d done when I arrived there, upon my mother’s insistence. We’re a family that gets pretty excited about Continue reading
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Jordan’s National Dish: Mansaf
It’s Friday in Jordan. Family get together day. Mansaf day. The first time I went to Jordan, my uncle took me to Jabri. “This is the only decent restaurant in town,” he said. “Order the mansaf.” I did and found myself faced with an almost intimidating amount of rice generously topped with lamb shanks simmered Continue reading
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RAMADAN IN DETROIT
Here in Abu Dhabi Ramadan is essentially a national event, a month of family celebration as well as religious significance, with virtually every Emirati fasting. In THE NIGHT COUNTER, Fatima doesn’t talk about Ramadan but she is someone who fasts the whole month. Fatima spent most of her life in Detroit, which is the largest Continue reading
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The Night Counter On True Talk in Tampa On Aug. 21
Here is the link to Samar Jarrah’s interview with me on NPR Tampa’s True Talk: http://www.wmnf.org/programs/256 Continue reading
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Mathematics and Olive Oil
In The Night Counter, Fatima is fixated on numbers and it is something that runs through the family for five generations. She thinks about math when’s she’s cooking, too, as any woman who raised 14 kids probably would—how much to make for each one, how much it was costing, and so forth. And how many Continue reading
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Updates: Book Soup and Christian Science Monitor And Entertainment Weekly
The Night Counter is still #2 Bestseller at Book Soup, thank you West Hollywood. I should be blogging about San Francisco and Seattle, which have been awesome, but I’m waiting for photos. Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, which reminded me of my students when they say to me, “A B+? Couldn’t you make Continue reading
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Overcoming Speechlessness by Alice Walker
When I was in college, I remember reading THE COLOR PURPLE in an American studies class and marveling at how someone could write of such horrible indignities done on to someone with such dignity. I still am in awe of such a skill, and I was reminded of it yesterday during a bout of insomnia–I Continue reading
Alia Yunis 