I’ve always had this strange feeling like the life I am living now is the first draft of my life.  

http://fadwas-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/10/lives-within-lives.html

 

“It often takes more courage to change ones opinion than to keep it.”

Pour vous amie, la douce clarté d’une lampe à huile,

ses reflets sur le visage des enfants endormis

et sur l’aimé veillant dans son désir.

Pour vous amie, le collier des étoiles

nous avons même ciel dans la brune nuit ;

Elles m’invitent au voyage à l’heure du sommeil.

Pour vous amie, une source murmurante

sous la clarté bleue de la lune

rayonnant sur votre espérance.

Pour vous amie, une belle terre, lourde de semences

au cœur du désert de ce monde où tant ont faim.

O, que leur soit donnés le pain, les sourires

et le thé partagé et les dattes et le miel.

Pour vous amie, le chant de la flûte

Ou la viole ou le luth si mélodieux,

qui apaisent les guerres et endorment les haines.

Pour vous amie, un vent brûlant venu du lointain désert

et nous, à l’ombre des tentes bleues de l’oasis,

Près de la jarre de terre qui garde l’eau si fraîche.

J’y pose un citron d’or dans un panier de feuilles

et des vertes olives du jardin de mon père,

qu’elles augurent notre amitié, sous l’aile des colombes.

 


Bonsoir

Christiane

This was taken a while back at DIMC Marina, Dubai, UAE. I just wanted to capture the simple and pure pleasures. Have a look, and tell me what you think:

http://fadwas-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/10/gone-fishing.html

Eric Flowny Hardcover, 228 pages 229 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x H) ISBN-13: 978-1-4208-9496-7 March 2006 Published by Author House Show more details for this product Very interesting, food for thought. I just finished this book last week.

Ever since I can remember, I have loved using green ink. I keep looking for pen refills in green - which are very hard to find, and I change the refills of all my pens (yes I have lots of pens). Green has always meant renewal, life, spring, the chance to start again, to be reborn and to try to make things better this time.

Here’s my new photo at my inspirational blog:

http://fadwas-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/10/colour-of-life.html

 

My own photography, El Gas at Moraira, Spain.

What’s on your “To Do List” for the next week? Mine:

1. Avoid chocolate and chips
2. Sleep earlier
3. Update this blog earlier
4. Finish one of the books I’m reading (my list of books I am reading has changed a little!)
5. Do all of the above J

الشعراء والأدباء العرب مذلولون

جمال الموساوي

يستدعي الحوار الذي نشرته مجلة الجوبة السعودية في العدد 19 مع الشاعر سميح القاسم أكثر من وقفة وأبعد من تأمل. ليس بسبب اللغة العنيفة التي غلفت أجوبة الشاعر الكبير فحسب، ولكن أيضا لأنه يرسم نوعا من السيرة الإبداعية لشاعر من زمن ىخر، في زمن آخر. من زمن المقاومة في زمن الانهيار والتآكل.

وقد بسط القاسم في هذا الحوار الذي استفزته أسئلته الكثير من القضايا بالإبداع الشعري العربي في الوقت الراهن ، ومدى ارتباط هذا الإبداع نفسه بواقع الناس وهمومهم، كما بسط فيه مفهومه ورؤيته للكتابة ولجدواها في زمن ما يميزه على حد قوله أنه زمن انهيار أخلاقي وروحي وثقافي، حيث أصبح الشعراء والكتاب يتبرأون من القضايا السياسة والمقاومة وانخرطوا في مرحلة من الرقابة الذاتية وكتابة ما يرضي الأنظمة وأمريكا والقائمين علبي الكبير حرجا في القول إن عدم تجاوب القارئ العربي الآن مع القصيدة العربية ليس مرده، كما اعتاد الشعراء والنقاد التأكيد عليه، إلى قصور لدى شعب القراء، بل إلى خلل في القصيدة نفسها التي انفرط اهتمامها بماهية هذا القارئ وبهمومه وبوجدانه أيضا، وانخرطت، كما قال، في استنساخ تجارب الآخرين في الغرب، بحيث تأتي هذه القصيدة “للجمهور العربي بلكنة فرنسية لا يفهمها”.

وبالرغم من التصنيفات التي قد تكون خضعت لها قصيدة سميح القاسم، خلال كل هذه السنوات، في المشهد الشعري عموما والفلسطيني بشكل خاص، فإنه ينفي أن تكون قصيدته قد اهتمت بشيء اسمه الهم العربي أو الفلسطيني، مؤكدا أنها عنيت فقط بهمه الشخصي، وأن هذا الهم الشخصي هو المعبر الذي انطلقت منه لتكون مُعبِّرة أيضا عما يتجاوز الذاتي إلى العربي والوطني الفلسطيني.

ولعل من بين أكثر آراء الشاعر عنفا تلك المتعلقة باحتواء الشعراء والمبدعين من طرف الأنظمة والسلطة في البلدان العربية، ليس بقمعهم والزج بهم في السجون أو فصل رؤوسهم عن أجسادهم في ساحات الإعدام كما كان عليه الأمر في الماضي، ولكن بشراء أقلامهم وذممهم. ويقدم سميح القاسم ذلك بشكل غاية في السخرية عندما يقارن هؤلاء بقوائم الطعام في المطاعم “هناك شراء للأقلام ولكل شاعر ثمن، ولكل روائي ثمن، ولكل إعلامي ثمن. هناك قائمة أشبه بقائمة الطعام في المطاعم. لكل وجبة ثمن، والشعراء والأدباء مذلولون”. هكذا يدفع الشاعر بالمشهد الدرامي إلى أقصى سوداويته وقسوته، ويستعيد على طريقته ذلك الصراع الأبدي بين المثقف والسلطة، وسعي كل طرف إلى تقويض الطرف الآخر بأي ثمن، مع أن الغلبة نادرا ما كانت للمثقف في مواجهة الآلة الجهنمية للسلطة، وبالتالي ظل المثقف دائما الحلقة الأضعف في المعادلة.

وإذ يرسم سميح القاسم المسار الخاص لقصيدته ولشخصه كمثقف، فهو يرسم أيضا وبشكل متوازٍ مسار القصيدة العربية المعاصرة بمتغيراتها وثوابتها، وأسباب نجاحها وإخفاقها في نفس الوقت، معبرا في ذات الوقت عن انفتاح كبير على كل الأشكال الشعرية  من قصيدة النثر والشعر العمودي وشعر التفعيلة، وعلى أجيال الشعراء، وعلى تجارب الآخرين في الجهات الأربع، ولكن دون أن يمنعه ذلك من أن يكون ما هو عليه. أن يكون شاعرا فلسطينيا متجذرا في ما هو إنساني وكوني، وحيث يذهب يجد أصدقاء لقصيدته كما يقول.

لقد بدا سميح القاسم في هذا الحوار كمن يضع خطاطة لما ينبغي أن تكون عليه القصيدة العربية اليوم، تلك القصيدة التي تنفض عنها بقايا الأصوات البعيدة الساكنة داخل الشاعر من قراءاته أو انبهاراته، وتقدم نفسها،للقارئ العربي، خالصة من كل ذلك، معبرة عن صاحبها الذي هو جزء من كلّ، مما يؤهلها لأن تكون معبرة عن هذا الكل أيضا.

–
جمال الموساوي
شاعر وصحفي مغربي

http://jamalmoussaoui.maktoobblog.com
العنوان
ص.ب رقم 2789 البريد المركزي - الرباط- المغرب

E-mail: moussaouij@hotmail.com

Originality is the fine art

of remembering what you hear,

but forgetting where you heard it.

 

City Stories from the Middle East

Edited by Joumana Haddad

(source & more info: http://www.commapress.co.uk/?section=books&page=Madinah)
 

featuring:
Nedim Gursel (Istanbul), Gamal Al-Ghitani (Alexandria), Fadwa Al-Qasem (Dubai), Ala Hlehel (Akka), Hassan Blasim (Baghdad), Yitzhak Laor (Tel Aviv), Yousef Al-Mohaimeed (Riyadh), Elias Farkouh (Amman), Nabil Sulayman (Latakia), and Joumana Haddad (Beirut).

‘Madinah’ – the Arabic word for ‘city’ – may conjure labyrinthine streets and the hustle and bustle of the souq in Westerners’ minds, but for the inhabitants of the Middle East it is a much more mercurial thing, and one that’s changing today faster than ever. Here – in ten urban stories set across the region – the city reveals itself through a vibrant array of characters: from the celebrated author collecting an award in the city that exiled him decades before, to the forlorn lover waiting at a rendezvous as government officials raid nearby shops, confiscating ‘wanton’ Valentine’s Day roses. Whilst engineers race to complete another ‘world’s tallest building’ in Dubai, and American helicopters patrol the Martyrs Bridge in Baghdad, we realise it is the people, and not the landmarks, that define these places; like the language student in Beirut who tries to make a joke of being ‘war-broken’ to her friends, or the Israeli General who invites guests to his office to watch promo videos for the tank that will ‘win the next war’ whilst eating biscuits and reciting poetry.For all we think we know of the conflict and exoticism of the region, nothing opens more doors to what we don’t than its writing. Here, ten short stories by new and established writers have been selected and translated in English for the first time, to open just such a door…

About the Authors

Hassan Blasim was born in Baghdad in 1973. He is a poet, writer and filmmaker and co-editor of www.iraqstory.com. He currently lives in Finland.

Elias Farkouh was born in Amman in 1948. A novelist and short story writer, he has published seven short story collections - including Ihda wa Eshrouna Talqa lil-Nabeyy (‘Twenty One Shots for the Prophet’), which won the 1982 Jordanian Writers Association Award, Tuyour Amman Tuhalliq Munkhafida (‘Amman’s Birds Sweep Low’, 1981), Al-Saf’a (‘The Slap’, 1997), and Huqoul Al-Zilal (‘Fields of Shadows’, 2002) - and three novels. His first novel, Kamaat Uz-Zabad, translated as Foam Statures, won the State Encouragement Award in 1990. His third novel ‘The Land of Purgatory’ was shortlisted for the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction and won the Jordanian Writers’ Association Award of the novel in 2008. Elias has also won the State Meritorious Award (1997) and the Mahmud Sayf Ed-Din Irani Award (awarded by the Jordanian Writers’ Association), both for his short story writing. His work in literary translation, Other Fires, a volume of short stories by women writers from Latin America, appeared in 1999. In 1991 he founded Dar Azminah, his own publishing house.

Gamal al-Ghitani, is the founding editor of the weekly newspaper Akhbar Al-Adab - for many, the Arab world’s most active literary-cultural resource. He began his career as a war reporter and a left-wing activist, before embarking on a career in cultural journalism. Born in Juhaina, Sohag, Al-Ghitani grew up in Cairo, and became one of the founders of the literary magazine Gallery 68, as well as a central figure in the city’s café culture, and for many years the friend and confidante of the late Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz. His writing works to reconnect the stylistics of the Arab literary cannon with the grassroots vernacular of urban discourse. His best known novel in English is Zaini Barakat (Penguin) which mimics the cadences and rhythms of canonical Arabic to retell the story of the Ottoman takeover of Egypt. He received the Lora Betlouine Award for translated literature, the highest French award to be bestowed upon non-French writers, for his book Al-Tagalyat Illuminations (2205). In 2007 he was awarded Egypt’s State Merit Award.

Nedim Gürsel has been described by Yashar Kemal as ‘one of the few contemporary Turkish writers who have brought something new to our literature.’ Born in Gaziantep, Turkey, in 1951, Gürsel was forced - after the coup d’état in 1971 - to testify in court over one of his articles, which lead to his temporarily exile in France, where he studied at the Sorbonne. Gürsel then returned to Turkey, but the military putsch of 1980 sent him back into exile in France. He was awarded the Prize of the Academy of Turkish Linguistics and Literature for his first major prose work, A Long Summer in Istanbul (1975), which has been translated into several languages. In 1986, his novel La Première Femme received the Ipeçki Prize for its contribution to conciliation between the Greek and Turkish peoples. His autobiography Au Pays des Poissons Captifs was recently published simultaneously in France and Turkey. His first novel to be translated into English, The Conqueror, is about to be published by Talisman, New York.

Joumana Haddad (1970, Beirut) is a poet, translator and journalist. She is head of the cultural pages in prestigious An Nahar newspaper, as well as the administrator of the IPAF Literary Prize (often referred to as the ‘Arab Booker’) and the editor-in-chief of Jasad magazine, an Arabic cultural magazine specialising in the literature and arts of the body. She has published several widely acclaimed poetry collections, including I Did Not Commit Enough Errors, Lilith’s Return, The Panther Hiding at the Base of her Shoulders, Bad Habits, and The Mirrors of Passers By. Her books have been translated into many languages and published internationally. Speaking seven languages, she has also published several works of translation, including a compilation of Lebanese modern poetry in Spanish, and more recently an anthology of 150 poets who committed suicide in the 20th century.

Ala Hlehel was born in Jesh, Galilee, in 1974 and graduated from the Tel Aviv School of Screenwriting and Haifa University. He has written numerous short stories, plays, and scripts for film and TV, and in 2003 he took part in an international playwrights’ residency at the Royal Court, London. He has received a number of awards for his work, among them the 2003 Young Writer Award from the AM Qattan Foundation. Ala has also worked as a radio presenter in Haifa and has published three books to date: The Circus (a novel); Stories for the Time of Need (short stories) and The Father, the Son and the Lost Spirit (novel & five short stories). He lives in Akka.

Yitzhak Laor is a poet, author and journalist. He was born in Pardes Hanna, and completed his degree in Theatre and Literature at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of five poetry books, most recently Leviathan City, 19 novels, most recently Ecce Homo, plays, and article collections. He is best known for his poetry of political protest, particularly about the Lebanese War of 1982 and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Laor writes literary criticism for the Ha`aretz newspaper, is a founder and editor of the literary journal Mita’am and works and writes in Tel Aviv. He was recently awarded the Amichai Poetry Prize (2007).

Yousef al-Mohaimeed was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1964 and has published several novels and short-story collections in Arabic. His novels include Al-Qaroura (‘The Bottle’), The Dolphin’s Excursion, and Wolves of the Crescent Moon. The latter was published in English by Penguin USA and in French by Actes Sud (both 2007). All of his novels are widely published in the Arab world but banned in his own country.

Fadwa al-Qasem is a Palestinian author, born in Libya (1963), with Canadian citizenship. Her short stories have appeared in Akhbar Al Adab (Cairo), Al Adab Magazine and Al Hayat Newspaper (Lebanon), and Al Bayan (UAE), and in English in Banipal #27, In Our Own Words (USA), as well as on websites. She keeps a bilingual blog – www.gypsyexpress.com - and works as the Creative Director of Tabeer, a company providing bilingual content and translation services. Her first collection of short stories in Arabic The Scent of Cardamom, was published by Dar Sharqiyat in 2005. She is currently working on translating this collection into English and on her second collection of Arabic short stories.

Nabil Sulayman was born in 1945 and graduated from Damascus University in 1967. He founded Al-Hiwar publishing house in 1970, the same year that he published his first novel, now one of 16, along with 24 books of literary criticism and other cultural themes. He has lectured in many a number of Arab countries, as well as in Madrid and Austin, Texas.

Join me at my inspirational blog, again down the streets of Spain:

http://fadwas-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/10/golden-silence.html

List of 10 interesting websites for women (in no particular order):

1. http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/ - Bridge UK
2. http://www.ivillage.com/?par=nbc|us|iv - ivillage
3. http://www.totalwoman.com/ - Total Woman
4. http://www.bellaonline.org/ - Bella Online
5. http://www.nmwa.org/ - National Museum of Women in the Arts
6. http://www.womanmade.org/ - Art by Women
7. http://www.iwwg.com/ - The International Women’s Writing Guild
8. http://www.madre.org/index.php?video=1 - Madre
9. http://www.iwrp.org/ - International Women’s Rights Project
10. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/women/womensbook.html - Internet Women’s History Sourcebook

Want to review some of them and share?

“A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.”

 

Optimists are nostalgic about the future.

القراءة علاج الأزمة الاقتصادية

واشنطن- ثمة علاقة عضوية بين الاقتصاد والثقافة، وعندما تسوء الاحوال الاقتصادية تضجّ المكتبات بالزوار الوافدين من كل حدب وصوب. هذا ما لاحظته المؤسسات العامة في الولايات المتحدة التي تنبّهت منذ أسابيع، أي عمليا منذ بدء التخبط المتسارع على المستوى الاقتصادي في البلاد، الى ارتفاع قياسي في نسبة ارتياد المكتبات. تدل الارقام الواردة من بلاد العم سام ان المكتبات تلقت في عام 2008 زيارة 1.3 مليار شخص في حين سجلت نحو ملياري اقتراض لكتاب، أي ان نسبة “الإشغال” ارتفعت فيها عشرة في المئة عما كانت عليه خلال آخر مرحلة تقهقر اقتصادي عرفته أميركا قبل سبعة أعوام، أي في 2001. استنادا الى “جمعية المكتبات الأميركية” وهي من بين أبرز المؤسسات العاملة في هذا المجال عالميا، قرر الأشخاص الذين عجزوا عن السفر داخليا أو خارجيا، بنتيجة غلاء أكلاف البترول ومشتقاته، ان يمضوا عطلهم صحبة الكتب. ذلك انه وبسبب الضيق المالي وانخفاض سقف النفقات، صارت المكتبة الملاذ المثالي لأكثر من غرض: للبقاء على اطلاع عما يدور أولا ولإجراء الأبحاث لمن يعوزه عمل ثانيا، فضلاً عن أنه مكان يتوافر فيه استخدام الانترنت. هذه كلها أفكار على هامش التمتع بالمضامين الثقافية، التي ربما تأتي في أسفل أولويات المواطن الأميركي العادي.

صحيفة النهار

أكتوبر 14، 2008

 

You Are a Rose

You are a total alpha dog who tends to be a leader. Your friends depend on you to hold things together and make decisions. Potential lovers are drawn to your raw power and strength. While you are the center of attention, you are secretly introverted and a bit shy.

What Flower Are You?

Just finished the book this morning; I don’t know. I sort of liked it, but I was also sort of disappointed in two ways. The first is that it was supposed to involve more erotica, more about the Daoist Art of Love or Tantric sex, but it did not. The author used a few sexual terms which to me were neither erotic nor sensuous. It seemed that they were inserted in an act of retreating courage, like she was trying but not succeeding at being brave enough. Second, parts of it were expected and predictable. I can’t say that I could not put it down. Having said that, I am now wondering a little more about the Daoist Art of Love! And the opium rooms.

A new post on my fadwas-inspirational blog. I have always been fascinated by water. I tried to capture some of this fascination and some of the magic of water in these photos.

Tell me what you think:

http://fadwas-inspirational.blogspot.com/2008/10/magic-of-water.html

So here we are in

Dubai, and things are changing fast. While the rest of world talks of before and after 9/11, or 11/9 – the British way, as my brother pointed out.

Dubai is divided into before and after Salik, before and after “the traffic jams”, before and after “the parking crisis”. For God’s sake, we used to go to Sharjah just for a falafel sandwich, but then again, that was before the cranes outnumbered the local population. And now more than ever, and because of all of the above, I feel Dubai is divided into those who live in Bur Dubai (read Jumerah and Umm Saquiem) and the rest of us here in Deira.  

Crossing one of the bridges over the creek is more like crossing an invisible but somehow clearly defined line between the Bur Dubai “elite” and everyone else.  

Those in Bur Dubai do not venture as far out as Deira; and why should they. The sand is more golden on their side. There are stylish pavements, stylish coffee shops, stylish hotels and stylish malls. The cars are different: the Porsches, the Mercs, the 4-wheel everything, and of course the BMW’s. We have Toyotas – everyone’s driving the Camry, we have the Hondas (not good enough by the other side’s standards) and we even have bicycles. Things get even less golden the farther away you are from any of the bridges. There are people actually walking in the streets heading to, of all things, work, and unfortunately there are people spitting where your foot is just about to land.

 One thing you love about being a woman – one thing you love about being a man? 

The one thing I love and hate about being a woman is being so sensitive.Let know what you think..

Something about the rain makes me feel so alive. Maybe it’s the pinch of coldness once the drops hit the warm skin. Maybe it’s the way rain makes everything glisten and gleam, the way the droplets have of sitting on leaves, petals and my eyelashes. Or the way the rain makes the earth smell. Or the realization that I am just as small as any of its drops, separate yet part of something bigger and far more important than myself. Or maybe I am reading too much about spirituralism.

(I took this photo from through the car windscreen during my summer in Spain this year).