Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories

While reading Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories, I found the story very moving and wished to look further into the author Ghassan Kanafani.  

Ghassan Kanafani was born in Palestine in 1936.  We was a popular Palestinian writer and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.   He is considered a major moderining force in Arab literature.  Kanafani focused primarily on the short story.  It appears that writing was an outlet for him to convey his political and cultural aspects.  Like much of the Palestinians over the past 60 years their lives have been in limbo and often have resulted in violent actions.   His polotical involment with the PFLP would lead to his assassination by Israel in retaliation for a prior terror attack.  Unlike the other works and authors this blog has followed, Kanafani works and life are much more rooted in violence and speak of a struggle which violence is used as a tool.

Azalea Festival

This weekend, April 6-10, 2011, was the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC.  I attended this event on Saturday and Sunday.   There was an art show, shag dance competition, and Street Fair.

The shag dancing competition was very interesting.  This was my first time experiencing such an event and witnessing shag dancing. 

Wilmington was packed with people, one account was that over 400,000 people visited the city during the Festival.


The Festival was a prime example of Old South Tradition melded with a New South Atmosphere, the art show was a prime example of this mess of cultures and featured many different styles and genres.

Peter Godwin Book Talk

Peter Godwin was born and grew up in Rhodesia, present day Zimbabwe.  He spoke about his new book, The Fear and about his experiences with over the past thirty years in Zimbabwe. 

The Fear by Peter Godwin,  is about the recent elections in Zimbabwe and Mugabe's battle to impose his will on the voting public. The name of the book comes from what Zimbabweans called the period between the two elections.  In the first Mugabe lost and before the second the ruling party used any method possible to 'convince' people the change their votes.  The Fear refers to the torture, random beatings and repression that came to anyone suspected of having voted for the opposition party.

Godwin has been banned from Zimbabwe since 1983 but has found ways to cover the current issues.  His family still lives in the country.  Godwin is a prime example of current authors who are pushing the limits in order to tell a story which is attempted to be muted but those that repress people.  

Mugabe a former national hero, has now placed the country in a state of continues Fear. 

The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. Roy's style leads to a fractured story where the the time line is hard to follow.    The author focus of the items of the society, sex, love, trust and family which are often not discussed.  The novel is filled with scandal, the scandals end up define the characters. 

This book and the authors style is something that you are going to either love or hate.  There is no middle ground.  For me the novel is some thing I did not personally enjoy reading but it's stories are something I realize take place and I am glad that by reading it I am more informed on the modern issues of the caste system, women and the under represented in India. 

Hotel Rwanda

Today I re-watched Hotel Rwanda. The film is even more powerful than I had remembered.  The amount violence that took place.  The fact that even a small amount of lives that could be saved is extraordinary but at the same time very scary.  The movie shows just a glimpse of the violence that took place. 

I did just a small amount of research on the actual genocide. The below graph shows the large dip in the population.  This tend is very unsettling that in a short period of time so many people could be killed.

Graph showing the population of Rwanda from 1961 to 2003. (Data from U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization)

Spring Awakening

Spring Awakening, which is based on the 1891 German play Frühlings Erwachen by Frank Wedekind (1864-1918). Wedekind’s controversial coming-of-age story was originally banned because of its frank depiction of teenage sexuality, rape, child abuse, abortion, and suicide.

The Musical is very moving and presented very well.  It pushes the limits and contains many instance of sexuality and nudity.  These aspects are very well done and artistic.  Set in late-19th century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality.

The teenagers show how powerful of a toll it can take on youth when adults withhold information about sexuality. 

What Is the What

What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers.

The life story of Valentino Achak Deng is powerful and follows the Sudanese refugee and member of the Lost Boys of Sudan program.  It is mind blowing at what lengths Deng went to in order to improve his and attempt to save his own life.  While reading the book it is impossible to think that this is merely one of thousands of stories that could have been told. 

Sudan is one of the modern day places where genocide has taken place.   The rest of the world turned its back on the atrocities as they were taken place and only have responded in limited action.  It is hard to think that these horrible  events can take place and the major powers do very little.   Eggers tackled this subject and has succeeded in telling a much needed story.