Protesting in verse: A Saudi woman criticizes Muslim clerics' in a TV poetry contest - latimes.com

 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It was a startling voice of protest at a startling venue. Covered head-to-toe in black, a Saudi woman lashed out at hard-line Muslim clerics' harsh religious edicts in verse on live TV at a popular Arabic version of "American Idol."

Well, not quite "American Idol": Contestants compete not in singing but in traditional Arabic poetry. Over the past episodes, poets sitting on an elaborate stage before a live audience have recited odes to the beauty of Bedouin life and the glories of their rulers or mourning the gap between rich and poor.

Then last week, Hissa Hilal, only her eyes visible through her black veil, delivered a blistering poem against Muslim preachers "who sit in the position of power" but are "frightening" people with their fatwas, or religious edicts, and "preying like a wolf" on those seeking peace.
Her poem got loud cheers from the audience and won her a place in the competition's finals, to be aired on Wednesday.
It also brought her death threats, posted on several Islamic militant Web sites

Full Story: Protesting in verse: A Saudi woman criticizes Muslim clerics' in a TV poetry contest - latimes.com

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American Patriots And Civic Minded People? I think not! These are Criminal Acts of Low Lifes.

The slashed gas line leading to a propane tank at the home of Bo Perriello was found Tuesday, one day after Tea Party activists * posted the address online and suggested that opponents of the reform bill should "express their thanks" to Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Va.

The FBI is working with local officials to investigate the incident.


Conservative activists* in Virginia posted the home address of Perriello's older brother — believing it to be the congressman's address — when suggesting in Web postings that those who disagreed with the Democratic lawmaker's vote should "drop by" to make their opposition clear.

The kind of people who would do this are criminal. Those who encourage this are accessories and just as bad. Grow up people. You seriously risk the life of other people and you show the rest of the world what a buffoon you are. What a way to shape American opinion.  *Replace activists above with anarchists and it pretty much explains who these people are.

Confession Tuesday

It seems like only yesterday I was here on my knees confessing, but alas it has been another whole week so let’s get started.

I confess dear reader that this confession may not be so revealing. I’m actually coming to confession this morning without any deeply reflective items to unearth and this is going to be a little more spontaneous then usual.

I confess that I didn’t get around to celebrating Valentines Day till last night. Yes, that is right. Least you think that I am a totally callous unromantic sort of person; this delay was by mutual consent. Cathy was out of town until late in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day and then having been on the road, we agreed to celebrate it at a later date. We got tickets for the first game of the Missouri Maverick’s Playoffs. They are our new hockey team. We had tried to get tickets earlier but they were sold out. When they made the playoffs, I was able to nab some tickets on the day they went on sell. If this sounds totally like a guy thing, the hockey game was actually Cath’s suggestion. We went out to dinner beforehand. Years ago, we had enjoyed going to hockey games when we had a team locally. This area has been without a team for a while.

I’m tired of snow. We’ve had one of the heaviest total snowfalls this winter – I heard 4th largest on record. This last one came and went fast, which I confess was kind of nice. We had one day of some awesome sights of snow covered tree branches but that was sufficient. I’m ready for baseball.

Dancing with the Stars has started again. I've watched this in the past but it has become less and less appealing to me. I confess that I am so tired of there ALWAYS being an NFL player on it. Why does this bother me? I confess I don’t know.

I confess that the older I get the more fragile the earth seems to me. I suppose it stands to reason given we are aging together. I suspect I’m more deeply into my life timeline, though sometimes the earth doesn’t seem quite as invincible as it did when I was an eight or ten year-old.

The climate changes, earthquakes, tsunamis all seem to encourage this feeling of frailty. That and of course the shrinking universe as we explore deeper into the far reaches of our galaxy. I know these things don’t necessarily point to doomsday but they do shape our view of earth. I confess this seem to make for good poetry.

The things we value most in life (besides monetary riches) the things that honestly are of the utmost value are those things we risk losing. Why does it a rose take our breath away? Its beauty is found in the fact that it doesn’t last forever. The same reason our love of another can be almost unfathomable. Some day, your lifeline or theirs will reach it’s conclusion on earth. Such is the world we are born into and we have no say in the matter otherwise. I confess like relationships all the power and savageness of nature makes a good basis for poetry. As we near National Poetry Month, I’ll try to keep this in focus as I write.

Journal Bits March 15 -21

March 16 - The morning is like an intersection with everything coming together at me all at once.

March 16 - There could be an IED / somewhere on this desk / who would know / till it were too late / till the florescent crackled / overhead the air crisp / with carbon / ashen paper particles


March 17 - and there among all other / was a single green rose / the bud still grasping itself
 
March 20 - where would we be without the moon / the moon that placates vampires / that romances our literature / that hangs in the trees / night after night until gone / its presence then in the conspicuous absence / until reappearing as a sliver resting against the night
 
March 20 - noted that late night I read "For the Year of  the Insane" by Anne Sexton
 
March 21 - Time to kill / on a messy morning / Sunday, graystone sky Sunday / silent cold / the air having scraped her teeth on snow that fell  / these past two days / crispy chattering

Unconscious Mutterings Week 373

You say.... I think:

• 1.Burrito :: bandito
• 2.Spike ::  railroad
• 3.Tougher :: love
• 4.Mock :: trial
• 5.Slurp :: drink
• 6.Knock :: out
• 7.Conference :: call
• 8.Madness :: March
• 9.Minds :: inquiring
• 10.Connection :: internet

Get you own list here!

It's Not All Academic in Tehran

Among the many debates the occur frequently around poetry, there is the well worn question of what can poetry do… what is it good for anyway? Academics are not the only ones with a view in this question. Evidently Iranian authorities have one too and apparently are fearful of the power of the poetic word. Last week they stopped Simin Behbahani, an 82 year old woman who is nearly blind, from boarding a flight to Paris. Behbahani, is a poet, and known to some as the Lioness of Iran. She was taken away from the airport, interrogated throughout the night, then sent home without her passport.

Behbahani has written poetry in Iran for decades…through the reign of Iran’s Shah, during the Islamic Revolution, and the reign of the ayatollahs. She has been twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. She’s been outspoken for women’s rights. It has not however been easy for her to publish work in the past few years. The government has become more repressive in years towards writers in general. Her last work of poetry published required the removal of 40 poems or fragments thereof once the government censors finished with it.

After the disputed presidential election last summer and hundreds of thousands hit the streets in protest, prompting government crackdown and violence, Behbahani wrote a poem, “Stop Throwing My Country to the Wind.” People who have followed her for many years now have considered her as untouchable. There will be a lot of eyes on Tehran watching how she is treated from here on.

Update on Mary Oliver Visit to KU

Unfortunately the Mary Oliver event for next week at KU has been cancelled. Originally scheduled for March 23-24, it has been scratched due to illness. The Hall Center will make every effort to reschedule this event at some point in the future. I'll keep readers updated as soon as I know something further.