Defining Lines at the Nasher

Much to see at three thoughtful, absorbing exhibits at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. "Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space" is one of them. ". . . [C]o-curated by Iftikahr Dadi and Hammad Nasar, brings together art across many genres . . . that have their common theme a preoccupation [pun intended?] with borders, boundaries and lines that divide and demarcate. . . " The British Empire, for one, "brought in its wake the geographic and cartographic division of much of the inhabited world . . ." Obviously, we're still living in the fallout zones from "the Middle East" to Africa and everywhere else in the world as we know it -- or really know it not. 

"Defining Lines: Cartography in the Age of Empire" takes a similar look at dividing lines, focusing on maps as cultural artifacts that carve up the world in ways that favor certain groups over others. "No matter . . . their claims to 'objectivity,' 'accuracy' and 'authority,' maps never simply show the world as it is; they are . . . 'a construction of reality, images laden with intentions and consequences.'" In the end, it's mostly about culture, power and economics. 

A third exhibit revolves around Doris Duke's spectacular "Shangri La" project in Hawaii, replete with beautiful Islamic-themed signs and wonders.

Very impressive all.

Today's Rune: Journey.   

In This World

On a shoestring budget, Michael Winterbottom and his small film crew have created a riveting docudrama -- In This World (2002) -- that combines specifics with universals. The main story line follows the efforts and harrowing (mostly overland) journey of Afghan cousins Jamal (Jamal Udin Tarabi, who looks sort of like singer Eric Burdon of The Animals) and Enayat (Enayatullah) from a Pakistani refugee camp, with the intention of finding de facto asylum in London during the still-ongoing Afghanistan War. Will they make it safely through Iran and Turkey and beyond?

In the tradition of John Steinbeck and many others, Winterbottom and crew's efforts are effective. By the end of this film, any alert viewer would learn a lot about the desperation and resilience of refugees and immigration efforts. From an international perspective, changing one's situation is hard, a long shot, unless one is extremely fortunate to begin with. On the other hand, if one doesn't make the attempt, one has no chance at all.

Today's Rune: Opening.   

It's 1968, Okay?

1968 is a year that keeps reverberating. Like the eclectic music coming out that year, it's hard to absorb.  The Tet Offensive and a series of massacres in Vietnam, MLK's assassination. The Prague Spring and the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat, related because Václav Havel was a fan of the band, an inspiration for engaged artists and protesters behind the Iron Curtain.     

I remember, as a little kid in 1968, a lot of excitement about Jean-Claude Killy, France and the Winter Olympics. Only later did I read about Opération Canopus, the first French thermonuclear test detonations that made France, in 1968, the fifth nuclear power after the USA, USSR, UK and PRC. Since 1968, the governments of India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have joined the club, with Iran's hoping to tag along shortly.

Today's Rune: Journey.   

Afghanistan and Iraq

Afghanistan, June 2011: NATO International Security Assistance Force

Under the Obama Administration, bin Laden has been killed and tonight, the President announced troop reductions in Afghanistan. The US and its NATO-led allies are making a socio-economic and political move that is pragmatic, a compromise solution -- they are all drawing down. The various home fronts have been clamoring for this and in country the majority of Afghans want it, too. Meanwhile, the Libya war ought to play out this summer. If this is surely not the best of all possible worlds, it's better than escalating what are already two (Iraq and Afghanistan) of the longest running wars in US history. Anyone out there disagree with the drawdown? 

Today's Rune: Possessions.  

Thunder on the Mountain

A date many of us will not ever forget! I was over in Oak Cliff (Dallas) when the news began rolling in: Bin Laden killed on the ground by U.S. special operations forces. I'd just stepped out of the Texas Theatre where Lee Harvey Oswald was caught, had just taken photos of the Dr. Strangelove listing on the marquee, had just spoken briefly with Terry Southern's son Niles on "Terry Southern Day." Had just earlier walked around Dealey Plaza, been on the Sixth Floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, taken a close look at the grassy knoll.

Best military-political news since the election of Barack Obama. Now, there's thunder on the mountain, a fitting lightning storm outside; the world is changed again. 

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.   

Khyber Pass: Seven Years and Counting

Hard to believe the US/NATO has been engaged in Afghanistan for seven years already, with no end in sight. The complexities are enormous, the Taliban relentless. Now, additional fighting in Pakistan, near the Khyber Pass, and in various parts of Afghanistan. A regional approach draws in several more countries, including India, Iran, China and former parts of the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, back in the "Middle East" . . . fill in the blank . . .

But even lesser in general American consciousness, the return of Somalia into bitter fighting, after the Ethiopian withdrawal to pre-invasion points.

Permanent war as a way of life, forever? Or cycles of war, with ceasefires from exhaustion? There are some who see the Prusso-German ascendancy from about 1866 until final defeat in 1945 as one long conflict punctuated by such ceasefires, ending with Germany's "integration." Perhaps this latest round is part of a comparable arc.

Today's Rune: Joy.

Ten Eyes for an Eye

And so the sickening cycle continues. Happy freaking holidays, world. Violence and more violence, and the Earth does not yet stand still. An Israeli assault on Gaza, operation ten eyes gouged out for every one and no peace in sight.











Conflict from Somalia, which may revert to square one just two years after a U.S.-backed Ethiopian blitzkrieg intended to permanently topple the Islamic Courts; through the Middle East and Afghanistan; through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India, where armies as large or larger than that of the US (still, itself, mostly bogged down in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan) face off in an exercise of saber rattling or downward-spiraling miscalculation. And so it goes to Sri Lanka, former home of Arthur C. Clark, where Tamil Tigers fight on against government onslaught. And so it goes.









Where are the peacemakers?




















Today's Rune: Initiation.

Coming to a Town Near You: The Real RoboCop

This summer on the road, I started noticing, beyond the almost obscene proliferation of cell / mobile phone towers, the trappings of science fiction-turned reality in policing. It took weeks to find out what these mobile communication towers were called, but I finally found out at least one name for them: Sky Watch.

What is their purpose? To secure and protect shopping center parking lots and crime infested areas. Are they staffed with people, or merely computers, cameras and other surveillance equipment? Frankly, I'm wary of them even though doing nothing wrong, so I don't know yet. A little intimidating, with a potential for abuse, I'm guessing. Anyone else seen these towers of power? Pretty soon the powers that be might be deploying drones like the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan.

What more can I say? I renewed my ACLU membership.















By the way, there's supposed to be a new Robocop coming out in 2010. It would be hard to beat the biting satire of the dystopian original, from 1987, set in Detroit.

Today's Rune: Flow.

Savagery, Thy Name Is Human

Another voice of moderation was extinguished today. As to the specific details, more will be revealed but initially, it has the eerie feel of the riveting political film by Costa Gavras from the 1960s, Z.

Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and prominent opposition leader in the scheduled 2008 Pakistan national election, is dead by violent means. RIP. From the Vatican: "It is difficult to see any glimmer of hope, peace, reconciliation in this country [Pakistan]" (source: Reuters, "World outraged, fearful over Bhutto assassination," 12/27/2007).


Given today's events, now is a reasonable time to mention Iris Chang (1968-2004), The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997) and Nanking, the 2007 documentary film inspired by Chang's work. The events described in both began in 1937, same year as the ferocious aerial bombing of Guernica, Spain, by European fascists, but on a much larger scale (hundreds of thousands vs. hundreds killed or wounded). In Nanking / Nanjing, the Japanese military savaged the Chinese inhabitants from late 1937 to early 1938.

Neutral observers in Nanjing helped create a Safety Zone in an effort to protect and save thousands of civilians from the mayhem. Japanese soldiers aimed to kill all men close to military age, and raped tens of thousands of women. More information can be found at the official documentary film site at http://Nankingthefilm.com

Lou Reed contributed two songs, "Gravity" and "Safety Zone." For more, see also Lou's excellent website at www.loureed.com

Observant and sensitive souls like Philip K. Dick and Iris Chang may respond to such history by saying their bit and self-destructing, or like Voltaire and Costa Gavras, locating those who bear witness, and remembering, while still somehow finding joy in life. The pen may not be mightier than the sword at the time, but it will not let such history be "disappeared" from the annals of the human race.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Hey! Said My Name is Called Disturbance!

2007 -- What's Up, Jack?
1997 -- Move to Detroit.
1987 -- Iran-Contra.
1977 -- Sex Pistols/British Punk.
1967 -- Summer of Love/Riot in Detroit.
1957 -- On the Road, Sputnik, On the Beach.
1947 -- Israel, Pakistan formed; CIA, Defense Department, Air Force christened.
1937 -- Great Depression, WWII in gear.
1927 -- The Bubble.
1917 -- USA joins in the Great War to End All Wars.
1907 -- What's Coming Up, Jack?


Today's Rune: Harvest.

Just the Night for a Conquering Tribe

Notice the ever-widening gyre of strikes and protests this year? Factory workers, staff writers, transit workers, Broadway workers, and in Pakistan -- lawyers . . . A global arc . . . proving that all sorts of people are alive and kicking. And it beats the alternative, like the pissed off owner of a gas station in Detroit who shot and killed a competitor over pump prices . . .


Birthday: Iranian-born poet Sheema Kalbasi (b. 1974), English and Persian language.


Echoes in Exile (2006), English language.

Birthday: Veronica Hamel (b. 1943).

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Costa Gavras: Missing

I recently saw Missing for only the second time since it came out in 1982. First time, I was an undergraduate at UNC and thought it decent, if not as great as Z. This time, I was riveted not so much by the fact-based front story as I was by the chilling backdrop -- the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, the martial law and the rounding up of dissidents at gunpoint. Costa-Gavras knows how to create atmosphere: every time a burst of gunfire went off in the background, I felt jumpy.

In Missing, it's clear that Nixonian agents are abetting the overthrow of socialist president Salvadore Allende by General Augusto Pinochet. What makes it so pertinent now, of course, is Abu Ghraib, the Bush-Cheney government, the crackdown in Burma and martial law in Pakistan. And, we begin to see why Latin Americans are so willing to look for a new way forward.

In any case, Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek carry the acting; menacing curfew and street scenes do the rest.


Birthday: Bollywood star Sushmita Sen (b. 1975).



Birthday: Sandrine Holt (b. 1972). Superb in Black Robe (1991). See her also in Loving Jezebel (1999).

Today's Rune: Growth.

Pakistan: Another Daddy-O Suspends the Constitution

General Pervez Musharraf, President of nuclear-armed Pakistan and Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army, today declared a State of Emergency, suspending the constitution. Prior to this move, his approval rating was widely reported to be about as bad as US President G.W. Bush's. In both cases, power is the name of the game. Power, wealth, and corruption. Could the de facto Bush-Cheney junta be prevented from doing the same thing in the USA?


Citing external and internal threats and fearing the next election, Musharraf is desperately clinging to power.


Pakistan's strategic location is worth noting.


Never mind: it's time to put on some Lulu and "Take Your Mama For A Ride"! Lulu (b. Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) is only 59! In Pakistan, one is no longer allowed to listen.


Aria Giovanni turned thirty today. She was briefly married to guitarist John 5 (b. John Lowery, Grosse Pointe, Michigan). In Pakistan, images of Ms. Giovanni are now banned.

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Khudaa haafiz! All aboard for funtime!

Duck Soup: All We Have Is Now

Better to die free than live a slave? Nat Turner led an uprising in Virginia in 1831, directing his fellow slaves to break for freedom and "kill all whites." They killed 57 before he was recaptured and executed. He killed as a free man, but died as a slave once more.


Mahatma Gandhi outlived Adolf Hitler, but not by much. One died for peace, the other for war and conquest. Is there a Heaven and a Hell? Reincarnation? The Void?

If peace is better than war, why are humans so often in a state of war?


Assassinated in the wake of the creation of India and Pakistan.


Richard III: man of conquest and war. The best version of his tale via Shakespeare I can think of is set in fascist England --Ian McKellen in Richard III (1995). "My kingdom for a horse!" In this case, a black Jeep, if memory serves. Lived by the sword, died by the sword.


Groucho Marx in the great anarchic anti-war movie, Duck Soup (1933). A brilliant wacky satire, it didn't prevent the rise of the Nazis or the outbreak of World War II.


After all is said and done, perhaps group therapy would be helpful -- and who better than Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the The Sopranos for treatment? Didn't work with Tony, either.

Enjoy the rest of the splendid little dirty war. It ain't gonna be over anytime soon, and most of us won't be asked to do anything but cheer, buy gas and shop.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.

Birthdays: Richard III, Nat Turner, Mohandas Gandhi, Groucho Marx, Annie Leibovitz, Lorraine Bracco.

In lieu of peace, ciao!

Hotter Than Five Hells

Still hotter than five hells in Detroit, though it's breaking up with storms, thank God. Meanwhile, the heat-related power outages in New York City must suck.

Near an air conditioner, I've caught snippets of the James Bond in 007 marathons on twin retro cable channels. Love it! I'd have to go with Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice, Thunderball, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service as tops -- if I had to choose. But I never saw a Bond I didn't like at least parts of.


Meanwhile, in the current REAL "real world," Tony Blair is out and Gordon Brown is in as British PM. Brown will want to wind down British involvement in the Iraq debacle, at least faster than Blair.

New poll data: global enthusiasm for the USA has fallen yet again. To me, it seems very significant that the vast majority of people in Pakistan and Turkey oppose American policies -- only 15% support the US in Pakistan, and a bare 9% approve of the US in Turkey. The ramifications should be obvious to anyone paying attention. VP Dick Cheney may be too busy concealing documents and hoping to bomb Iran to care. As for the president, who's he again?

In the USA itself, nearly 70% of Americans oppose the Iraq War and occupation -- including 38% of Republicans (a day late and a dollar short, but movement toward pragmatism). Overall 30% of the public (probably all Republicans) still support the misadventure. With cracks in the Republican ranks and continued bloodletting in Iraq, something must give. The "leadership" and the wishes of the preponderance of American citizens must converge in closer harmony -- and soon.


Images: Grace Jones, Karen Dor, Monday Michiru.

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Birthdays: Emma Goldman, Helen Keller, Robert Aickman, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo), Isabelle Adjani, Meera Syal, Margo Timmins, Pascale Bussières, Kim Gyu-ri.

The Ides of June

In case anyone hasn't noticed the Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya) vs. Fatah (Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini) civil war in the Palestinian territories, Hamas just seized power in the Gaza Strip, leaving Fatah to attempt consolidating what's left of their power in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Lebanon is anything but stable, with Hezbollah still very much in position after fighting Israel to a standstill last year; while today in the Nahr Al Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the Al Qaeda-aligned Fatah Al Islam crew continues to entangle Lebanese Army troops in ferocious combat. Palestinian fighters of the more radical variety must feel all proud now, proving that when sufficiently armed and trained, they can fight as well as anyone else.

What does it all mean? These latest developments in the Middle East are more symptoms of festering, unresolved struggles over land, resources, and raw power. But you know, the invasion of Iraq solved everything, yes? Let's not forget Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Somalia, and the rest of the blood-soaked daisy chain. Clearly, it's going to be a long summer.

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Birthdays: Edvard Grieg, Ramón López Velarde, Erik Erikson, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Lash La Rue, Alberto Sordi, Mario Cuomo, Waylon Jennings, Harry Nilsson, Xaviera Hollander (b. Vera de Vries), Nicola Pagett, Michèle Laroque, Helen Hunt, Idalis DeLeon, Pia Miranda, Elizabeth Reaser, Nina Liu, Cara Zavaleta.

Deepa Mehta: Water

Indian-born Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s Water (2005) is now available on DVD. It is subtly powerful, a gem, a work that I strongly recommend for upper school, public, and college/university libraries, and for home collections. Water is vivid, one of the most gorgeous looking films I’ve yet seen. Its elements are timeless, seemingly eternal traditions conflicting with modern change. It is compassionate and empathetic to all its characters (a rare thing in film), underscored with beautiful music and cinematography.

There are strong individual stories set within the larger matrix of historical change. Much of Water is seen through the eyes of Chuyia, a lively eight-year old widow who is sent to an ashram to live out the rest of her days among other discarded widows. The year is 1938, and though in India, under British rule, there are legal alternatives to the ancient Hindu practice of sending widows to pasture, tradition remains well-entrenched. Besides living in an ahsram, widows could marry a husband’s brother if he and his family would accept her; or, more drastically, there was the sati alternative: self-immolation on the husband’s funeral pyre. These are obviously cruel alternatives, as even “the best” option, living in an ashram, is like being consigned to a lifelong oprhange for girls and women only.

Besides changes in law, other challenges to the status quo abound in Water. Indeed, the movie itself, simply by showing the marginalization of widows (still evident to a large extent in South Asia), has been taken as a challenge to societal norms. Deepa Mehta’s sets were attacked and burned by angry traditionalists during the first attempt to complete this film in 2000. She resiliently tried again and filmed in Sri Lanka in 2004.

Within the intertwining narratives of Water, widows, religious leaders, the ascendant Gandhi, and Narayan (John Abraham), a Gandhi proponent, all explore peaceful but often radical alternatives to the old ways.

All of the performances are outstanding. Chuyia (Sarala) is wonderful (and I’m not often a fan of children characters/actors) and serves as the perfect character for introducing the viewer to the milieu. Mehta’s use of a moving camera is particularly effective following Chuyia as she runs through narrow streets and alleyways. Madhumati (Manorma) is perfect as the slothful, crabby head of the ashram who pimps out Kalyana (Lisa Ray), one of the more rebellious widows, in order to pay the rent. Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), her eunuch pimp, is colorful and creepy, a Felliniesque character.

My favorite character in Water is Shakuntala, a strong, thoughtful, deeply religious Bengali widow played evocatively by Seema Biswas. She, perhaps more than most, subtly undergoes change in her outlook during the course of the film.

Water is the third in a trilogy of Deepa Mehta films. Earth (1998) is set against the backdrop of the partition of India and Pakistan. Fire (1996) involves intense relationships between women. Water (2005) is well-named, as virtually all of the film takes place against the backdrop of the sacred river, the Ganges (Ganga) where it flows by Varanasi (Benares). Metaphorically, of course, water represents a myriad of deep spiritual traditions, dreams, and possibilities.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.

Biday for now.

Mass Myopia

The news, dear readers, is myopic. Take one variable: population. The following are sample national estimates for 2003 (in millions) taken from UN sources and from The Economist. How should we suppose these estimates will change over say, the next fifty years? It's good to keep some perspective for our viewfinders.

China 1,304.2
India 1,065.5
USA 294.0
Brazil 178.5
Pakistan 153.6
Russia 143.2
Egypt 71.9
Turkey 71.3
Ethiopia 70.7
Iran 68.9
France 60.1
United Kingdom 59.3
Italy 57.4
South Korea 47.7
Spain 41.1
Sudan 33.6
Algeria 31.8
Canada 31.5
Morocco 30.6
Uzbekistan 26.1
Iraq 25.2
Saudi Arabia 24.2
Afganistan 23.9
North Korea 22.7
Taiwan 22.5
Yemen 20.0
Syria 17.8
Kazakhstan 15.4
Portugal 10.1
Somalia 9.9
Tunisia 9.8
Israel 6.4
Libya 5.6
Jordan 5.5
Georgia 5.1
Lebanon 3.7
West Bank and Gaza 3.6
Armenia 3.1
Kuwait 2.5

If one glances at the bottom of the list and compares the figures with recent headlines, one can see that when the Israelis lose nine killed in action in one day of fighting against Hezbollah guerillas, it is comparable to the U.S.A. losing about 450 troops K.I.A. in one day. So far, the U.S. has suffered about 2,570 K.I.A. and nearly 19,000 W.I.A. in Iraq in the last three years. The Israeli Army is facing an intense foe and are finding themselves in a nasty little war. The Lebanese have suffered worse than the Americans did during the 9/11 attacks by far in the last couple of weeks, proportionally. We'll see what happens next; but meanwhile, let's not lose sight of the rest of the world. There's a lot more going on than Israel and Lebanon. And just wait until 2025 or so, if we make it!

Hasta La Vista!