Before I return the library's copy of The Grapes of Wrath, I wanted to blog something from the introduction that I find interesting. This is a bit long, but I think really gives insight to the structure of the novel.
The following is from the Penguin Classics edition, Introduction page xvi:
In early July 1938, Steinbeck told literary critic Harry T. Moore that he was improvising his own "new method" of fictional technique: one that combined a suitably elastic form and elevated style to express the far-reaching tragedy of the migrant drama. In The Grapes of Wrath he devised a contrapuntal structure with short lyrical chapters of exposition and background pertinent to the migrants as a group - chapters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 23, 25, 27, 29 - alternating with the long narrative chapters of the Joad family's exodus to California - chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 30. (Chapter 15 is a swing chapter that participates in both editorial and narrative modes.) Steinbeck structured his novel by juxtaposition. His "particular" chapters are the slow-paced and lengthy narrative episodes that embody traditional characterization and advance the dramatic plot, while his jazzy, rapid-fire "interchapters" work at a nother level of cognition by expressing an atemporal, universal, synoptic view of the migrant condition. In one way or another, Steinbeck's combinatory method has allegiances to the stereopticon, mentioned explicitly in chapter 10. The novel demonstrates how form itself is a kind of magic lantern, a shifting lens for magnifying and viewing multiple perspectives of reality.
...His "general" or intercalary chapters ("pace changers," Steinbeck called them) were expressly designed to "hit the reader below the belt. With the rhythms and symbols of poetry one can get into a reader - open him up and while he is open introduce things on a [sic] intellectual level which he would not or could not receive unless he were opened up, Steinbeck revealed to Columbia University undergraduate Herbert Sturz in 1953.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Every Soul a Star, Wendy Mass
http://www.amazon.com/Every-Soul-Star-Wendy-Mass/dp/0316002569 This title/cover caught me at Costco the other day. (Theresa, I think this is the one I couldn't remember much about when I asked you.)
Colorado Parent Magazine recommended it for kids ages 9 and up.
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Grapes of Wrath
"My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other. . . ."
- Steinbeck in a 1938 letter
The copy of The Grapes of Wrath that I have from the library has a really long introduction. I didn't read the whole thing, but read some of it. Two things in the introduction left an impression on me.
1. The title comes from the 2nd line of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, written by in 1861 and published in 1862 by Julia Ward Howe, after visiting a Union army camp during the Civil War. The Hymn has been used in many forms, often adapted for churches. Julia Ward Howe was actually a Unitarian Universalist. Here is her first manuscript version:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the wine press, where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightnings of his terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watchfires of an hundred circling camps
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps,
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
I have read a burning Gospel writ in fiery rows of steel,
As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal,
Let the hero born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Our God is marching on.
He has sounded out the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He has waked the earth's dull sorrow with a high ecstatic beat,
Oh! be swift my soul to answer him, be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that shines out on you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
Our God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, he is succour to the brave,
So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of Time his slave,
Our God is marching on.
2. Steinbeck wrote in his journal about the book:
"If I could do this book properly it would be one of the really fine books and a truly American book. But I am assailed with my own ignorance and inability. I'll just have to work fro a background of these. Honesty. If I can keep honesty it is all I can expect of my poor brain. . . . If I can do that it will be all my lack of genius can produce. For no one else knows my lack of ability the way i do. I am pushing against it all the time."
- Steinbeck in a 1938 letter
The copy of The Grapes of Wrath that I have from the library has a really long introduction. I didn't read the whole thing, but read some of it. Two things in the introduction left an impression on me.
1. The title comes from the 2nd line of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, written by in 1861 and published in 1862 by Julia Ward Howe, after visiting a Union army camp during the Civil War. The Hymn has been used in many forms, often adapted for churches. Julia Ward Howe was actually a Unitarian Universalist. Here is her first manuscript version:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the wine press, where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightnings of his terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watchfires of an hundred circling camps
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps,
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
I have read a burning Gospel writ in fiery rows of steel,
As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal,
Let the hero born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Our God is marching on.
He has sounded out the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He has waked the earth's dull sorrow with a high ecstatic beat,
Oh! be swift my soul to answer him, be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that shines out on you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
Our God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, he is succour to the brave,
So the world shall be his footstool, and the soul of Time his slave,
Our God is marching on.
2. Steinbeck wrote in his journal about the book:
"If I could do this book properly it would be one of the really fine books and a truly American book. But I am assailed with my own ignorance and inability. I'll just have to work fro a background of these. Honesty. If I can keep honesty it is all I can expect of my poor brain. . . . If I can do that it will be all my lack of genius can produce. For no one else knows my lack of ability the way i do. I am pushing against it all the time."
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I have book envy
Theresa had the most luscious copy of The Grapes of Wrath on Sunday night. Very happy for you, T!
I need to go get a (any!) copy, so I don't fall too far behind. These two months will pass quickly.
I haven't done the nerdy minutes from our meeting yet, but did want to throw out here that we discussed changing our meeting dates to Saturdays. Is that right? I think we had more to discuss. Not sure whether this is the forum to really have a discussion, maybe e-mail would be better than multiple posts here? But at least wanted to get it on the table again.
The other thing was our next meeting date. We were talking about maybe Saturday the 20th or even Saturday the 13th, since we won't be discussing a book. Is that right? And we mentioned maybe trying to do tea at Dushanbe again.
Okay, talk amongst yourselves.
PS, Sarah, how do you add the Contributors box to the template? I couldn't figure out how to do that for the Rad Cooks blog. I think I gave everyone who signed up to that site "Author" permissions, so if you want to just add it, feel free. But I'd like to know how too, sometime. :)
I need to go get a (any!) copy, so I don't fall too far behind. These two months will pass quickly.
I haven't done the nerdy minutes from our meeting yet, but did want to throw out here that we discussed changing our meeting dates to Saturdays. Is that right? I think we had more to discuss. Not sure whether this is the forum to really have a discussion, maybe e-mail would be better than multiple posts here? But at least wanted to get it on the table again.
The other thing was our next meeting date. We were talking about maybe Saturday the 20th or even Saturday the 13th, since we won't be discussing a book. Is that right? And we mentioned maybe trying to do tea at Dushanbe again.
Okay, talk amongst yourselves.
PS, Sarah, how do you add the Contributors box to the template? I couldn't figure out how to do that for the Rad Cooks blog. I think I gave everyone who signed up to that site "Author" permissions, so if you want to just add it, feel free. But I'd like to know how too, sometime. :)
Friday, November 14, 2008
Persepolis 2
I've never blogged before. This is my first time. I really had no idea all of this chatter was even going on here. I love it. And I'm so glad that you're all enjoying Persepolis. Isn't the image of the little girl so compelling, if not just plain cute? The graphic novel format makes it easier to imagine that little girl growing up with all of that oppression and confusion around her. I finished P2 and am happy to lend it out to anyone interested in following Satrapi's story further. It picks up her life in Austria, where she's confronted with "everyday" problems like falling in love, trying to fit it, etc. She has a hard time reconciling her inner struggles with such mundane problems when at home her family is dealing with death and war daily. The book gets really good when she decides to return to Iran.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
the last page
Was the most heartbreaking of all, thinking of myself separating from my kids for their safety. I would have to be carried too. I loved the window into how exactly you continue to survive with war happening on top of you. It's something that shows how safe we are here. How luxurious our life is.
Imagine being us and told that we needed to start wearing a veil. It was so recent, I really identified with her mom.
Imagine being us and told that we needed to start wearing a veil. It was so recent, I really identified with her mom.
Persepolis
I just finished it. And, wow. I'm dying for Persepolis 2. Theresa, did you get to it?
Really, amazing book. Thanks for the recommendation.
Really, amazing book. Thanks for the recommendation.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Iran pathfinder
Hey all,
Last night, I finished my pathfinder on Local food, which I posted on my blog. Today all of us had to present one or two resources from our projects, and this guy did this one. It is sinfully long, but I was so amazed because I recognized what he was talking about from reading Persepolis last night.
What a great book.
Here is all the stuff. He's one strange dude, is all I can say, but I think he got together some great sites.
Sean Dougherty
LIS 4361
9/18/2008
Internet Pathfinder
Iran: its present, its past, its culture, its sport.
Iran/Persia is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. If the historians are to be believed, the region that runs from the Taurus Mountains in the west to Sind and the Hindu Kush in the east has been inhabited by ‘high’ civilization since nearly 2,000 B.C, and at least four times in this long history Iran has been a major world power, contending with the likes of Athens, Sparta, Babylon, Rome, numerous Indian dynasties, Byzantium, the Ottoman empire and Russia for prestige and power. Sadly, most impressions that most Americans get of Iran today are in the form of scowling old clerics and self-flagellating religious supplicants on parade, not of the poetry of Rumi, the ancient improvisational musical tradition that extends all the way back to Cyrus the Great, the Shah-na-meh of Fedowsi, the Cyrus cylinder (the first ever declaration of human rights in history), the glorious monuments of Ctesiphon, Persepolis, Isfahan, Bam, Firuzabad, the famed painted miniatures depicted the lives of great heroes like Rostam and the Prophet Mohammed, the religion of Zoroastrianism (a major influence on Judaism and a precursor to both Christianity and Islam), and more recent developments in film, television and other arts. Where can this ‘imbalance’ be re-dressed? Simple. The Internet, where sites of numerous kinds show off all that Iran and its long history have to offer to the world at large.
1st Group: meta-sites and history resources.
“History is a mirror of the Past, and a lesson for the future” Persian proverb
As stated before, the history of Iran is vast to say the least, with at least 4,000 years of recorded time having past since the ancestors of many modern Iranians first settled around the ancient city of Susa. Some notable meta-sites, who also devoted a lot of space to history and other cultural bits, include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Iran. Wikipedia is always a good start, especially where Iran is concerned, as Wikipedia has a specialized Portal for all things Iranian, ranging from the history of the Savafid Dynasty to biographical articles on such notables as graphic novel artist Marjane Satrapi, actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, and film director Abbas Kiarostami. That being said, the Iran Portal of Wikipedia is subject to many of the same issues as Wikipedia as a whole, especially in regards to citations and overall quality. Generally speaking, the best articles in terms of sources are the history and cultural articles, with worst being the military and pop cultural articles. Some computers may also have problems displaying the Persian scripts often embedded in the articles.
Internet Ancient History Source Book (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook05.html) a notable source hosted by Fordham University, featuring links and resources about the ancient world. Although the site is more well-known for its extensive primary-source coverage of Rome and Ancient Greece, its Iran coverage is still quite good. Also provided by Fordham University is an Islamic sourcebook, whose Persian section is at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html#The%20Persians. This section isn’t as good though, and items related to the famed Savafid Dynasty are non-existent.
The British Museum also has a presence with its Forgotten Empire: the World of Ancient Persia page at http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/. Although just focusing on the dynasty of Darius and Cyrus, this one has wealth of images of the famous Shah-in-Shahs and the archeological sites of Persepolis and Pasargadae in a generally easy-to-use interface.
The biggest of them all is the Iranian Cultural and Information Center at http://tehran.stanford.edu/, which has literally everything one can think of where Persian culture is concerned. In addition to history, this one also features a distinct political slant, ethnographic information, image galleries, recipes (!), and loads of links. Several of the ‘literature’ links, however, were broken or out-of-date. A good site overall, though, despite some of issue it has.
Another notable ‘all-rounder’ site is the Iran Chamber Society (http://www.iranchamber.com/), with just as much as the Stanford page, but with a much better interface and more scholarly articles for your reading pleasure. Also included are biographies, links and numerous other features. This is more scholarly and up-to-date then the Stanford-hosted page, with notables in Persian history and cultural studies contributing articles and other materials for the site.
2nd Group: music
Iran’s musical tradition is among the oldest in the world, and one of the most famous of those that embrace improvisational techniques. In addition, because of the numerous invasions of Arabs, Greeks, Mongols, Turks, and others, Iran’s music embraces a wide variety of instruments and styles, creating a diversity that is only matched by the traditions of China and the four Celtic nations of Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany). Because of this, a separate listing for music is wholly appropriate.
http://www.kamkars.net/about_en/
Founded by master Hassan Kamkar, a Kurdish Iranian musician of some note in the years of the Pahlavi dynasty and currently lead by his grandson Ardavan, the Kamkars are a world-renowned Kurdish musical ensemble. The music of the Kurds, who are linguistically and ethnically related to the Persians, was reportedly the favored music of the court of the Sassinisid dynasty. The Kamkars site, while light on samples and downloads, has biographies, news, contact info, and other useful bits. The layout is also easy to use as well and comes with both English and Persian-language options.
www.kereshmeh.com
A specialty record label operating out of Los Angeles, California, this site is quite useful for the novice as it includes ‘quick-and-dirty’ details of various instruments, like the ancestor of the lute (and thus the guitar) called the barbat and the massive drums called damam, various traditions like the traveling bakhshi and the traditions of the eastern province of Khorasan, and profiles of artists, such as the aforementioned Kamkars, Kayhan Kahlor, and Hossein Alizadeh. The site is generally good, but might need a redesign.
www.iranianradio.com
Although its ‘bag’ is more modern pop and even Iran’s nascent hip-hop and rock and roll music scenes, this site run by Namak Magazine has a specialized stream called Sonati for traditional music, along with discussion forums, photo galleries (some from users) and some Iranian news feeds. A bit light on actual educational content, but a good site if you know what you are looking for. Some older computers, and slower internet connections, will have issues with playback and loading.
http://www.radiodarvish.com/
Another web radio site, but more heavily geared to towards the traditional end of Iranian music, and it is affiliated with the Tarschool (www.tarschool.com), a Persian music school located in California, so its pedigree is fairly good to say the least. That being said, most of the content available on Radio Darvish can also be found on some of the other sites listed, but what does recommend the site is that Persian classical music is its main focus. This alone makes it worthy of inclusion in this pathfinder. The site could use a bit of sprucing up, especially with regards to contact information and links.
3rd Group: Culture, both pop and high
As befitting a culture as old as Iran’s, resources online for Persian culture, both high and popular, are quite numerous.
http://www.beyondpersia.org
This particular non-profit, established in 2006, is a major organizer of Persian cultural events of many kinds amongst the Iranian Diaspora in California and other parts of the U.S. While site itself is rather lean on content, it does have a music feed, details of events, and profiles of participating artists, writers and musicians. The site design is a bit cluttered and it could use more ‘meat on the bone’ for those unable to attend the organization’s events, however.
http://www.persian-heritage.com/
An online and print specialty magazine available in both English and Persian, based out of New York, specializing in a much wider worldview, with many articles dealing with Iran’s recent past and the arrival of the Diaspora in both the U.S and Europe. Some articles from the magazine’s 13-year-long print run are available on the site, but several links were bad and the site is in serious need of a re-design. The articles are an interesting mix of cultural criticism, geopolitics, biographies, commentary, and reviews, all written for a fairly well-educated, but not academic, audience.
http://www.persianmirror.com/
A general meta-site, but with a focus on cultural issues and politics, and a clearinghouse for Iranian Diaspora businesses and professionals in North America and Canada. The culture content is pretty good, and with some political viewpoints as well, along with events listings and other bits. Although heavily commercial, the site has many features and articles from contributors to the less profit-driven enterprises listed above. A bit derivative, but it does illustrate the diversity of the Iranian Diaspora and Persian culture in the wider world.
http://www.persianartsfestival.org/
An event organizer out of New York, this particular group is affiliated with the New York Foundation for the Arts, and organizes a major cultural festival in New York City every year, with coverage ranging from visual arts to music and film. The best this one has to offer are a frequently updated culture blog and a massive batch of links of all kinds, but, other than the blog and links, this one is not as good as it should be.
http://www.iranheritage.org
A major player among the Iranian Diaspora of Europe, this academically oriented group is also decidedly non-political in its orientation as well, hosted a varied program of lectures, music performances, and cultural seminars in and around London and other parts of the U.K. The site itself is fairly well-designed, but is light on overall content, except for extensive details and schedules of events.
www.irandokht.com/
An interesting addition to the collection of cultural meta-sites online, irandokht.com is a meta-site on Persian culture and global current events, alone with advice, editorials, history, and pretty much everything else you can think of, but from a distinctly female point-of-view, and with more a blog-type feel to the proceedings as well. The only problem with this site is that it is very graphics heavy, and thus slower connections may have problems viewing, while the written content is a mixture of Persian and English.
http://www.iranian.com/
A similar offering to irandokht.com, but written from a broader viewpoint, and with more posts on history topics, a news ticker run by users and slightly more English-language content. The tone is also very hipster-esque, with a tag-line ‘nothing is sacred’, and has a diverse selection of blogs and extensive coverage of news, music and other topics. A bit too splashy, with a few too many distracting ads, but a good look into the minds of younger Iranians in the Diaspora in regards to their heritage and how they fit into the grand scheme of things.
Some notable Museums.
Unfortunately, the National Museum of Iran www.nationalmuseumofiran.ir, doesn’t have any English-language content, but several other museums located in Iran do, and one in particular is fairly interesting. The Reza Abbasi Museum (http://www.rezaabbasimuseum.ir/), has quite a bit of content on offer, including maps, virtual exhibits and virtual tours, but it also has an extremely annoying presentation to go alone with this, complete with a musical presentation on a loop that cannot be turned off. If this in particular is removed, this one could be a real winner.
4th group: literature and religion.
Iran’s literary tradition is relatively unknown outside of academic circles, but doesn’t make it any less influential, with the likes of Rumi, Fedowasi, and Omar Khayyam have a broader reach with their pens than many Persian governments have had with spears and guns. Persian literary influence is broad, with everything from the Old Testament to the Arabian Nights being touched by it in some shape or form. As the notable religions that Iran has either produced or influenced (Zoroastrianism, Baha’i, Islam, and Judaism) are all very much driven by the written, or spoken, word is some shape or form, sites dealing with these topics will be included in this group.
The Book of Kings: the Shah-na-meh.
Resources for the national epic of Iran are numerous to say the least. Besides the sites listed above like Iranchamber.com and the various cultural festivals, some notable sites for the Book of Kings include such diverse offerings as the (mostly) Persian-language www.shahnameh.com/, which features recorded recitations of the work and features some images of miniature paintings that often formed part of many printed editions of the Shah-na-meh during the Qajar Dynasty, but not much else for and English-language audience; www.theshahnameh.com/, an American-style comic book version focusing on the deeds of the hero Rostam, although this project seems to have petered out at only two issues, despite possessing a splashy site; and a noted meta-site at www.sacred-texts.com/, which also features extensive coverage of the Zend-Avesta, the sacred text of Zoroastrianism, and the writings of Baha'u'llah. The Sacred Text site features text files, PDFs, and other file formatted versions of numerous ancient texts and published works that are in the public domain, and its Iranian coverage is extremely good and is actually better, at least in terms of Iran’s literary traditions, then the Fordham sourcebook site. Sacred-Texts.com is a good site overall, and is a frequently cited source for many of the Wikipedia pages on Iranian literature and religion, but is a bit cluttered and not as well organized as it could be.
Rumi.
In addition to the Sacred Text site and a decent-sized presence on Wikipedia, the famous Sufi Muslim poet Rumi (1207-1273) also has several sites on the web. www.rumi.net/, a collective of poets and musicians from both the U.S and Iran who translate and perform Rumi’s poetry for a general audience. Their site is quite well designed, with lots of information on the Rumi and his religion and a link to the Rumi Network’s MySpace page, and is excellent supplemental to the more scholarly sources listed above, but it can’t stand alone.
www.forgottenbooks.org, a publisher of rare and obscure texts has a good selection of Rumi’s work in translation, all of which is either available for purchase on Amazon.com or viewable for free on Google Books. A commercially-driven site for certain, but the Google Books feature is quite useful, if somewhat prone to some of the quality control issues that Google Books generally has. The site itself is well designed and easy to navigate, with both an alphabetical listing of works and Google Search feature. The sacred text of Zoroastrianism, the Zend-Avesta, is also featured on this one in full translation from Middle Persian to English. A good site overall.
Omar Khayyam: the polymath.
Probably the most well-known Iranian in the west other then Cyrus the Great and Darius, Khayyam was a noted talent in the fields of science and literature. In addition to Wikipedia and some sites mentioned below, he has a dedicated site at www.omar-khayyam.org. This site is interestingly designed, but needs some work as brown text on a black background with some light brown highlights is not exactly the easiest thing to read. One highlight though is the extensive links to online versions, mostly from academic sites, of most of Khayyam’s body of work. A good concept with horrid execution.
Zoroastrianism: the first ‘revealed’ faith.
www.avesta.org is the heavy-weight champion in this category, despite its archaic design, as it hosts many obscure texts that don’t turn up on either Fordham Sourcebook or Sacred-Texts. The content is so extensive and the links so deep and interesting that it is easy to overlook the site’s poor presentation and lack of sourcing for most of its articles, although most come from a series of translations of Zoroastrian texts collected and translated in the mid-19th century, but out-of-print since that time. A directory, but a really good one.
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/ is a good overview site from BBC’s more culturally-oriented BBC Radio 4. This is a kind of ‘quick-and-dirty’ overview, which can be a good supplemental to the avesta.org site and Sacred-Texts.
www.religioustolerance.org is a noted ‘all-religions’ meta-site based in Canada, and features extensive coverage of Islam, and pages and essays dedicated to both Zoroastrianism and Baha’i. When this site first came to this writer’s attention it was a non-profit site with minimal ads, but it is now practically over-run with a slew of sponsored links and the like, vastly detracting from the overall presentation and authority of the site. A site in need of some cash to get rid of some very excessive ad clutter.
Speaking of Islam, the major ‘flavor’ of the religion in Iran is the Shi’a variety, which is often a cause of great confusion among most Americans, who not familiar with the many nuances and distinct schools of thought that characterize Islamic scholarship and practice. Sources on this topic are numerous, English-language content for a broader audience is rather thin on the ground, with Wikipedia being the only recourse for many sub-topics in this field. One interesting site did pop up on this user’s travels through the nets at www.shiacrescent.com. The tone is very scholarly, but the format and construction is of a blog-type flavor, with most recent post being in early October of this year, the articles themselves mostly concern points of Islamic law and debates, often acrimonious between Shi’a and Sunni Muslim scholars and government officials over almost anything one can think of in regards to religion and politics. A good supplement to this site would be a video site at www.shiaspot.com, which has a separate category for English-language media, although some material from the notorious Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is present on this one, which does give the site a distinct political slant, but this fairly well-designed site does offer some insight into Shi’a Islam’s collective ‘state of mind’ on topics of politics, culture, and social conflict in a very dicey part of the world.
Baha’i: the newest ‘revealed’ faith.
In addition to Sacred-Texts and religioustolerance.org, the best site for the rapidly growing Baha’i faith is the main site of the religion’s international umbrella organization at www.bahai.org. To say this site is well designed would be an understatement. An easy-to-read layout, RSS feed, excellent links and site navigation, and a high authority all make this one a real winner. One quibble with it is that it is trying to ‘sell’ you something on a certain level, which may turn off some users of a more theologically reactionary viewpoint.
5th Group: Sports
In sporting terms, Iran is a bit of a late bloomer, with soccer and wrestling being the society’s real sporting loves and sports in Iran in general has a large selection of articles on Wikipedia. All of the clubs that compete in the top level Persian Gulf Cup have a presence on the web, but not even the biggest club, Persepolis F.C, has any English content. Because of this, the best source on Iranian soccer on the web is at www.iranfootballonline.com, which features the national team, nicknamed Team Melli, and the Persian Gulf Cup. The site is a bit scattershot, with too cluttered a layout, but does have a lot of information and news items, along with details on competitions and the like. A good site overall, despite the design issues.
www.teammelli.com, is a site dedicated to the national team, and consists of player profiles, schedules of upcoming matches, results, match reports, and a really nifty traffic tracker. Although not an official site, most of the information is confirmed by other sources, including Wikipedia and, since most of the players on the national team play in the top leagues in Europe, their clubs’ websites. A good site, but could use a grammatical cleanup.
Other then Wikipedia, sources for traditional Iranian martial arts/wrestling, called zurkhaneh, are a bit thin, but these disciplines have a history that goes back at least to the Parthian Empire, if not before. One site with English-language content this user did come across was the official site of the International Zurkhaneh Sports Federation at http://www.zurkhaneh.com/eng/index.asp. Among some highlights are listings of rules and regulations, details on competitions, and various details about Iran itself and a fairly good ‘about us’ section. A good site, and quite educational as well.
Final group: news and current events
As Iran, because of it position in between Iraq and Afghanistan, is ALWAYS in the news, it is only fitting that this pathfinder features a separate category for news and current events in regards to Iran. Besides several of the meta-sites listed in the culture and history groups, there are such mainstream English-language sources as the Guardian newspaper (www.guardian.co.uk) and the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk), both of which have specific sections dedicated to Iran. A more quirky addition to these two would be the controversial Arabic language broadcaster Al Jazeera, whose English-language service is located at http://english.aljazeera.net/, although generally speaking Al Jazeera’s focus is more on the Arabic-speaking parts of the region, with only the occasional mention of some things relating to Afghanistan and Iran’s political horse-trading there. Along a similar vein is the official Islamic Republic News Agency, whose English-Language page is http://www2.irna.ir/en/. While it’s a sort ‘official mouthpiece’ type of organization, it is always useful when keeping tabs on what the ‘powers-that-be’ in Tehran are thinking, and a lot can be gleaned from what IRNA doesn’t report and independent organizations do report. Finally, the most unusual offering is the official blog of the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (!) at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/. The English-language section, however, hasn’t had a new posting in almost a year, but the posts available do give an insight into the mind of a man who is something of a bogeyman among certain elements of the American political scene.
In closing, Iran’s web presence is broad and varied, but is surprisingly obscure, and it very much reflects the country’s long history and deep cultural well. As one criterion for this pathfinder was whether or not a site had English language content of some kind, so a lot of interesting stuff was left out, but the number of English-language sites with a (mostly) non-political slant is quite surprising. In the end, as much as some elements of America’s political class would seek to demonize Iran and its culture, the sites on this pathfinder offer a hearty riposte to such rhetoric. As the poet Saadi once wrote:
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
Last night, I finished my pathfinder on Local food, which I posted on my blog. Today all of us had to present one or two resources from our projects, and this guy did this one. It is sinfully long, but I was so amazed because I recognized what he was talking about from reading Persepolis last night.
What a great book.
Here is all the stuff. He's one strange dude, is all I can say, but I think he got together some great sites.
Sean Dougherty
LIS 4361
9/18/2008
Internet Pathfinder
Iran: its present, its past, its culture, its sport.
Iran/Persia is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. If the historians are to be believed, the region that runs from the Taurus Mountains in the west to Sind and the Hindu Kush in the east has been inhabited by ‘high’ civilization since nearly 2,000 B.C, and at least four times in this long history Iran has been a major world power, contending with the likes of Athens, Sparta, Babylon, Rome, numerous Indian dynasties, Byzantium, the Ottoman empire and Russia for prestige and power. Sadly, most impressions that most Americans get of Iran today are in the form of scowling old clerics and self-flagellating religious supplicants on parade, not of the poetry of Rumi, the ancient improvisational musical tradition that extends all the way back to Cyrus the Great, the Shah-na-meh of Fedowsi, the Cyrus cylinder (the first ever declaration of human rights in history), the glorious monuments of Ctesiphon, Persepolis, Isfahan, Bam, Firuzabad, the famed painted miniatures depicted the lives of great heroes like Rostam and the Prophet Mohammed, the religion of Zoroastrianism (a major influence on Judaism and a precursor to both Christianity and Islam), and more recent developments in film, television and other arts. Where can this ‘imbalance’ be re-dressed? Simple. The Internet, where sites of numerous kinds show off all that Iran and its long history have to offer to the world at large.
1st Group: meta-sites and history resources.
“History is a mirror of the Past, and a lesson for the future” Persian proverb
As stated before, the history of Iran is vast to say the least, with at least 4,000 years of recorded time having past since the ancestors of many modern Iranians first settled around the ancient city of Susa. Some notable meta-sites, who also devoted a lot of space to history and other cultural bits, include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Iran. Wikipedia is always a good start, especially where Iran is concerned, as Wikipedia has a specialized Portal for all things Iranian, ranging from the history of the Savafid Dynasty to biographical articles on such notables as graphic novel artist Marjane Satrapi, actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, and film director Abbas Kiarostami. That being said, the Iran Portal of Wikipedia is subject to many of the same issues as Wikipedia as a whole, especially in regards to citations and overall quality. Generally speaking, the best articles in terms of sources are the history and cultural articles, with worst being the military and pop cultural articles. Some computers may also have problems displaying the Persian scripts often embedded in the articles.
Internet Ancient History Source Book (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook05.html) a notable source hosted by Fordham University, featuring links and resources about the ancient world. Although the site is more well-known for its extensive primary-source coverage of Rome and Ancient Greece, its Iran coverage is still quite good. Also provided by Fordham University is an Islamic sourcebook, whose Persian section is at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html#The%20Persians. This section isn’t as good though, and items related to the famed Savafid Dynasty are non-existent.
The British Museum also has a presence with its Forgotten Empire: the World of Ancient Persia page at http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/forgottenempire/. Although just focusing on the dynasty of Darius and Cyrus, this one has wealth of images of the famous Shah-in-Shahs and the archeological sites of Persepolis and Pasargadae in a generally easy-to-use interface.
The biggest of them all is the Iranian Cultural and Information Center at http://tehran.stanford.edu/, which has literally everything one can think of where Persian culture is concerned. In addition to history, this one also features a distinct political slant, ethnographic information, image galleries, recipes (!), and loads of links. Several of the ‘literature’ links, however, were broken or out-of-date. A good site overall, though, despite some of issue it has.
Another notable ‘all-rounder’ site is the Iran Chamber Society (http://www.iranchamber.com/), with just as much as the Stanford page, but with a much better interface and more scholarly articles for your reading pleasure. Also included are biographies, links and numerous other features. This is more scholarly and up-to-date then the Stanford-hosted page, with notables in Persian history and cultural studies contributing articles and other materials for the site.
2nd Group: music
Iran’s musical tradition is among the oldest in the world, and one of the most famous of those that embrace improvisational techniques. In addition, because of the numerous invasions of Arabs, Greeks, Mongols, Turks, and others, Iran’s music embraces a wide variety of instruments and styles, creating a diversity that is only matched by the traditions of China and the four Celtic nations of Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany). Because of this, a separate listing for music is wholly appropriate.
http://www.kamkars.net/about_en/
Founded by master Hassan Kamkar, a Kurdish Iranian musician of some note in the years of the Pahlavi dynasty and currently lead by his grandson Ardavan, the Kamkars are a world-renowned Kurdish musical ensemble. The music of the Kurds, who are linguistically and ethnically related to the Persians, was reportedly the favored music of the court of the Sassinisid dynasty. The Kamkars site, while light on samples and downloads, has biographies, news, contact info, and other useful bits. The layout is also easy to use as well and comes with both English and Persian-language options.
www.kereshmeh.com
A specialty record label operating out of Los Angeles, California, this site is quite useful for the novice as it includes ‘quick-and-dirty’ details of various instruments, like the ancestor of the lute (and thus the guitar) called the barbat and the massive drums called damam, various traditions like the traveling bakhshi and the traditions of the eastern province of Khorasan, and profiles of artists, such as the aforementioned Kamkars, Kayhan Kahlor, and Hossein Alizadeh. The site is generally good, but might need a redesign.
www.iranianradio.com
Although its ‘bag’ is more modern pop and even Iran’s nascent hip-hop and rock and roll music scenes, this site run by Namak Magazine has a specialized stream called Sonati for traditional music, along with discussion forums, photo galleries (some from users) and some Iranian news feeds. A bit light on actual educational content, but a good site if you know what you are looking for. Some older computers, and slower internet connections, will have issues with playback and loading.
http://www.radiodarvish.com/
Another web radio site, but more heavily geared to towards the traditional end of Iranian music, and it is affiliated with the Tarschool (www.tarschool.com), a Persian music school located in California, so its pedigree is fairly good to say the least. That being said, most of the content available on Radio Darvish can also be found on some of the other sites listed, but what does recommend the site is that Persian classical music is its main focus. This alone makes it worthy of inclusion in this pathfinder. The site could use a bit of sprucing up, especially with regards to contact information and links.
3rd Group: Culture, both pop and high
As befitting a culture as old as Iran’s, resources online for Persian culture, both high and popular, are quite numerous.
http://www.beyondpersia.org
This particular non-profit, established in 2006, is a major organizer of Persian cultural events of many kinds amongst the Iranian Diaspora in California and other parts of the U.S. While site itself is rather lean on content, it does have a music feed, details of events, and profiles of participating artists, writers and musicians. The site design is a bit cluttered and it could use more ‘meat on the bone’ for those unable to attend the organization’s events, however.
http://www.persian-heritage.com/
An online and print specialty magazine available in both English and Persian, based out of New York, specializing in a much wider worldview, with many articles dealing with Iran’s recent past and the arrival of the Diaspora in both the U.S and Europe. Some articles from the magazine’s 13-year-long print run are available on the site, but several links were bad and the site is in serious need of a re-design. The articles are an interesting mix of cultural criticism, geopolitics, biographies, commentary, and reviews, all written for a fairly well-educated, but not academic, audience.
http://www.persianmirror.com/
A general meta-site, but with a focus on cultural issues and politics, and a clearinghouse for Iranian Diaspora businesses and professionals in North America and Canada. The culture content is pretty good, and with some political viewpoints as well, along with events listings and other bits. Although heavily commercial, the site has many features and articles from contributors to the less profit-driven enterprises listed above. A bit derivative, but it does illustrate the diversity of the Iranian Diaspora and Persian culture in the wider world.
http://www.persianartsfestival.org/
An event organizer out of New York, this particular group is affiliated with the New York Foundation for the Arts, and organizes a major cultural festival in New York City every year, with coverage ranging from visual arts to music and film. The best this one has to offer are a frequently updated culture blog and a massive batch of links of all kinds, but, other than the blog and links, this one is not as good as it should be.
http://www.iranheritage.org
A major player among the Iranian Diaspora of Europe, this academically oriented group is also decidedly non-political in its orientation as well, hosted a varied program of lectures, music performances, and cultural seminars in and around London and other parts of the U.K. The site itself is fairly well-designed, but is light on overall content, except for extensive details and schedules of events.
www.irandokht.com/
An interesting addition to the collection of cultural meta-sites online, irandokht.com is a meta-site on Persian culture and global current events, alone with advice, editorials, history, and pretty much everything else you can think of, but from a distinctly female point-of-view, and with more a blog-type feel to the proceedings as well. The only problem with this site is that it is very graphics heavy, and thus slower connections may have problems viewing, while the written content is a mixture of Persian and English.
http://www.iranian.com/
A similar offering to irandokht.com, but written from a broader viewpoint, and with more posts on history topics, a news ticker run by users and slightly more English-language content. The tone is also very hipster-esque, with a tag-line ‘nothing is sacred’, and has a diverse selection of blogs and extensive coverage of news, music and other topics. A bit too splashy, with a few too many distracting ads, but a good look into the minds of younger Iranians in the Diaspora in regards to their heritage and how they fit into the grand scheme of things.
Some notable Museums.
Unfortunately, the National Museum of Iran www.nationalmuseumofiran.ir, doesn’t have any English-language content, but several other museums located in Iran do, and one in particular is fairly interesting. The Reza Abbasi Museum (http://www.rezaabbasimuseum.ir/), has quite a bit of content on offer, including maps, virtual exhibits and virtual tours, but it also has an extremely annoying presentation to go alone with this, complete with a musical presentation on a loop that cannot be turned off. If this in particular is removed, this one could be a real winner.
4th group: literature and religion.
Iran’s literary tradition is relatively unknown outside of academic circles, but doesn’t make it any less influential, with the likes of Rumi, Fedowasi, and Omar Khayyam have a broader reach with their pens than many Persian governments have had with spears and guns. Persian literary influence is broad, with everything from the Old Testament to the Arabian Nights being touched by it in some shape or form. As the notable religions that Iran has either produced or influenced (Zoroastrianism, Baha’i, Islam, and Judaism) are all very much driven by the written, or spoken, word is some shape or form, sites dealing with these topics will be included in this group.
The Book of Kings: the Shah-na-meh.
Resources for the national epic of Iran are numerous to say the least. Besides the sites listed above like Iranchamber.com and the various cultural festivals, some notable sites for the Book of Kings include such diverse offerings as the (mostly) Persian-language www.shahnameh.com/, which features recorded recitations of the work and features some images of miniature paintings that often formed part of many printed editions of the Shah-na-meh during the Qajar Dynasty, but not much else for and English-language audience; www.theshahnameh.com/, an American-style comic book version focusing on the deeds of the hero Rostam, although this project seems to have petered out at only two issues, despite possessing a splashy site; and a noted meta-site at www.sacred-texts.com/, which also features extensive coverage of the Zend-Avesta, the sacred text of Zoroastrianism, and the writings of Baha'u'llah. The Sacred Text site features text files, PDFs, and other file formatted versions of numerous ancient texts and published works that are in the public domain, and its Iranian coverage is extremely good and is actually better, at least in terms of Iran’s literary traditions, then the Fordham sourcebook site. Sacred-Texts.com is a good site overall, and is a frequently cited source for many of the Wikipedia pages on Iranian literature and religion, but is a bit cluttered and not as well organized as it could be.
Rumi.
In addition to the Sacred Text site and a decent-sized presence on Wikipedia, the famous Sufi Muslim poet Rumi (1207-1273) also has several sites on the web. www.rumi.net/, a collective of poets and musicians from both the U.S and Iran who translate and perform Rumi’s poetry for a general audience. Their site is quite well designed, with lots of information on the Rumi and his religion and a link to the Rumi Network’s MySpace page, and is excellent supplemental to the more scholarly sources listed above, but it can’t stand alone.
www.forgottenbooks.org, a publisher of rare and obscure texts has a good selection of Rumi’s work in translation, all of which is either available for purchase on Amazon.com or viewable for free on Google Books. A commercially-driven site for certain, but the Google Books feature is quite useful, if somewhat prone to some of the quality control issues that Google Books generally has. The site itself is well designed and easy to navigate, with both an alphabetical listing of works and Google Search feature. The sacred text of Zoroastrianism, the Zend-Avesta, is also featured on this one in full translation from Middle Persian to English. A good site overall.
Omar Khayyam: the polymath.
Probably the most well-known Iranian in the west other then Cyrus the Great and Darius, Khayyam was a noted talent in the fields of science and literature. In addition to Wikipedia and some sites mentioned below, he has a dedicated site at www.omar-khayyam.org. This site is interestingly designed, but needs some work as brown text on a black background with some light brown highlights is not exactly the easiest thing to read. One highlight though is the extensive links to online versions, mostly from academic sites, of most of Khayyam’s body of work. A good concept with horrid execution.
Zoroastrianism: the first ‘revealed’ faith.
www.avesta.org is the heavy-weight champion in this category, despite its archaic design, as it hosts many obscure texts that don’t turn up on either Fordham Sourcebook or Sacred-Texts. The content is so extensive and the links so deep and interesting that it is easy to overlook the site’s poor presentation and lack of sourcing for most of its articles, although most come from a series of translations of Zoroastrian texts collected and translated in the mid-19th century, but out-of-print since that time. A directory, but a really good one.
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/ is a good overview site from BBC’s more culturally-oriented BBC Radio 4. This is a kind of ‘quick-and-dirty’ overview, which can be a good supplemental to the avesta.org site and Sacred-Texts.
www.religioustolerance.org is a noted ‘all-religions’ meta-site based in Canada, and features extensive coverage of Islam, and pages and essays dedicated to both Zoroastrianism and Baha’i. When this site first came to this writer’s attention it was a non-profit site with minimal ads, but it is now practically over-run with a slew of sponsored links and the like, vastly detracting from the overall presentation and authority of the site. A site in need of some cash to get rid of some very excessive ad clutter.
Speaking of Islam, the major ‘flavor’ of the religion in Iran is the Shi’a variety, which is often a cause of great confusion among most Americans, who not familiar with the many nuances and distinct schools of thought that characterize Islamic scholarship and practice. Sources on this topic are numerous, English-language content for a broader audience is rather thin on the ground, with Wikipedia being the only recourse for many sub-topics in this field. One interesting site did pop up on this user’s travels through the nets at www.shiacrescent.com. The tone is very scholarly, but the format and construction is of a blog-type flavor, with most recent post being in early October of this year, the articles themselves mostly concern points of Islamic law and debates, often acrimonious between Shi’a and Sunni Muslim scholars and government officials over almost anything one can think of in regards to religion and politics. A good supplement to this site would be a video site at www.shiaspot.com, which has a separate category for English-language media, although some material from the notorious Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is present on this one, which does give the site a distinct political slant, but this fairly well-designed site does offer some insight into Shi’a Islam’s collective ‘state of mind’ on topics of politics, culture, and social conflict in a very dicey part of the world.
Baha’i: the newest ‘revealed’ faith.
In addition to Sacred-Texts and religioustolerance.org, the best site for the rapidly growing Baha’i faith is the main site of the religion’s international umbrella organization at www.bahai.org. To say this site is well designed would be an understatement. An easy-to-read layout, RSS feed, excellent links and site navigation, and a high authority all make this one a real winner. One quibble with it is that it is trying to ‘sell’ you something on a certain level, which may turn off some users of a more theologically reactionary viewpoint.
5th Group: Sports
In sporting terms, Iran is a bit of a late bloomer, with soccer and wrestling being the society’s real sporting loves and sports in Iran in general has a large selection of articles on Wikipedia. All of the clubs that compete in the top level Persian Gulf Cup have a presence on the web, but not even the biggest club, Persepolis F.C, has any English content. Because of this, the best source on Iranian soccer on the web is at www.iranfootballonline.com, which features the national team, nicknamed Team Melli, and the Persian Gulf Cup. The site is a bit scattershot, with too cluttered a layout, but does have a lot of information and news items, along with details on competitions and the like. A good site overall, despite the design issues.
www.teammelli.com, is a site dedicated to the national team, and consists of player profiles, schedules of upcoming matches, results, match reports, and a really nifty traffic tracker. Although not an official site, most of the information is confirmed by other sources, including Wikipedia and, since most of the players on the national team play in the top leagues in Europe, their clubs’ websites. A good site, but could use a grammatical cleanup.
Other then Wikipedia, sources for traditional Iranian martial arts/wrestling, called zurkhaneh, are a bit thin, but these disciplines have a history that goes back at least to the Parthian Empire, if not before. One site with English-language content this user did come across was the official site of the International Zurkhaneh Sports Federation at http://www.zurkhaneh.com/eng/index.asp. Among some highlights are listings of rules and regulations, details on competitions, and various details about Iran itself and a fairly good ‘about us’ section. A good site, and quite educational as well.
Final group: news and current events
As Iran, because of it position in between Iraq and Afghanistan, is ALWAYS in the news, it is only fitting that this pathfinder features a separate category for news and current events in regards to Iran. Besides several of the meta-sites listed in the culture and history groups, there are such mainstream English-language sources as the Guardian newspaper (www.guardian.co.uk) and the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk), both of which have specific sections dedicated to Iran. A more quirky addition to these two would be the controversial Arabic language broadcaster Al Jazeera, whose English-language service is located at http://english.aljazeera.net/, although generally speaking Al Jazeera’s focus is more on the Arabic-speaking parts of the region, with only the occasional mention of some things relating to Afghanistan and Iran’s political horse-trading there. Along a similar vein is the official Islamic Republic News Agency, whose English-Language page is http://www2.irna.ir/en/. While it’s a sort ‘official mouthpiece’ type of organization, it is always useful when keeping tabs on what the ‘powers-that-be’ in Tehran are thinking, and a lot can be gleaned from what IRNA doesn’t report and independent organizations do report. Finally, the most unusual offering is the official blog of the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (!) at http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/. The English-language section, however, hasn’t had a new posting in almost a year, but the posts available do give an insight into the mind of a man who is something of a bogeyman among certain elements of the American political scene.
In closing, Iran’s web presence is broad and varied, but is surprisingly obscure, and it very much reflects the country’s long history and deep cultural well. As one criterion for this pathfinder was whether or not a site had English language content of some kind, so a lot of interesting stuff was left out, but the number of English-language sites with a (mostly) non-political slant is quite surprising. In the end, as much as some elements of America’s political class would seek to demonize Iran and its culture, the sites on this pathfinder offer a hearty riposte to such rhetoric. As the poet Saadi once wrote:
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
Nehemiah
I'm reading Nehemiah, one of the books in the Old Testament. Nehemiah is a prophet sent by God to organize the Jews to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem--no easy task. Well, Nehemiah was pretty brave and possessed the charisma to rally hundreds of Jews to get the job done, but he ran into issues. See if this doesn't sound familiar:
Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, "We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain."
Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine."
Still others were saying, "We have had to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others."
When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!" So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said, "As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us! . . . Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them."
Hey, there really isn't anything new under the sun, is there? Usury, interest, and mortgaging homes has been giving us grief for thousands of years. It was pretty cool, because Nehemiah, as the governor, stood up to the nobles and government and told them to knock it off. And they listened. Now that's the amazing part.
I finished Persepolis over the weekend, and like so much I read, it makes me realize how good we have it in this country. Even when we get really frustrated at it.
See you all on Sunday!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Persepolis Plus
I'm really enjoying Persepolis. It helps my self esteem to think that I read about 50 pages in 20 minutes last night. :) If a picture can tell a thousand words, and there are about 6-8 frames on a page, how does that math work out? 350,000 words in about 20 minutes? Hahahaha.
Seriously, though, this book reminds me a lot of Maus. Serious subject matter told in this format allows readers to take in the content without it feeling quite so heavy. Do you think? It's amazing how much history she can pack in. Theresa, have you started Persepolis 2? I'm eager to find out where this one ends and where 2 would go from there?
With graphic novels, I do find myself quickly reading over the words, and it takes some restraint to examine the pictures as well. Obviously, they are important, or the story would have been written in a different format. I wonder if that's what she was telling us in the second frame of the story, where she has a class picture (?) and tells us she's the one on the far left, so "you can't see me." Pay attention to what the images say as well.
Happy Reading! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Seriously, though, this book reminds me a lot of Maus. Serious subject matter told in this format allows readers to take in the content without it feeling quite so heavy. Do you think? It's amazing how much history she can pack in. Theresa, have you started Persepolis 2? I'm eager to find out where this one ends and where 2 would go from there?
With graphic novels, I do find myself quickly reading over the words, and it takes some restraint to examine the pictures as well. Obviously, they are important, or the story would have been written in a different format. I wonder if that's what she was telling us in the second frame of the story, where she has a class picture (?) and tells us she's the one on the far left, so "you can't see me." Pay attention to what the images say as well.
Happy Reading! Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
my update
Well, I'm a slow reader. I always want to read more than I can!!
I'm just finishing Obama's book, Dreams From my Father, and I feel more connected with PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA than I have about any President of my lifetime.
I am also in the midst of reading Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, on the recommendation of my mom. It has helped me through a really tough time of parenting with Sofia. It appeals very much to my AP parenting style, but also allows us, as parents, to forgive ourselves, saying that when a conflict occurs, you did your best in that situation, and so did your child. That thought has been very comforting to me lately!
One book that has been sitting on my shelf, wanting me to read it, is Dave Eggers' What is the What. I don't know when I'll get to it...
I am excited to begin reading Grapes of Wrath for our next meeting!
I'm just finishing Obama's book, Dreams From my Father, and I feel more connected with PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA than I have about any President of my lifetime.
I am also in the midst of reading Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, on the recommendation of my mom. It has helped me through a really tough time of parenting with Sofia. It appeals very much to my AP parenting style, but also allows us, as parents, to forgive ourselves, saying that when a conflict occurs, you did your best in that situation, and so did your child. That thought has been very comforting to me lately!
One book that has been sitting on my shelf, wanting me to read it, is Dave Eggers' What is the What. I don't know when I'll get to it...
I am excited to begin reading Grapes of Wrath for our next meeting!
What I'm reading
Well, I confess, I haven't started our book yet, but I did want to record what I have been reading, and create a place where we can post about the books we are reading as a group, and those that we are reading on our own.
Right now, in odd moments, I have This Common Ground, by Scott Chaskey, Second Nature, by Michael Pollan, and Coming Home to Eat, Gary Paul Nabhan bookmarked, and am snacking on them. I am doing a pathfinder on Local Food, and all of these have to do with this theme--even though all of my resources in my assignment are internet based.
I will post this by noon on Tuesday, because that is when it's DUE!! Let me also state for the record that Barak Obama got elected on Tuesday night, to my great delight. On the daily show that night, there was a scene where they leave the studio, run up to the rooftop, and even though it's midnight, the sunlight bursts through the door when they get there, and the sun is shining... One of them says... so this is what life is like after Bush!!!! Very funny.
Right now, in odd moments, I have This Common Ground, by Scott Chaskey, Second Nature, by Michael Pollan, and Coming Home to Eat, Gary Paul Nabhan bookmarked, and am snacking on them. I am doing a pathfinder on Local Food, and all of these have to do with this theme--even though all of my resources in my assignment are internet based.
I will post this by noon on Tuesday, because that is when it's DUE!! Let me also state for the record that Barak Obama got elected on Tuesday night, to my great delight. On the daily show that night, there was a scene where they leave the studio, run up to the rooftop, and even though it's midnight, the sunlight bursts through the door when they get there, and the sun is shining... One of them says... so this is what life is like after Bush!!!! Very funny.
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