I was, unfortunately, watching this video (thanks to a recommendation from a friend):

…and about half a minute in, I was reminded of this:

I should clarify. I find Sufism absolutely fascinating. I think many of the theories behind Sufi whirling are completely valid, have read enough Rumi to understand what it’s about, and realize that its purpose is a noble one. I hope to visit Konya if I am ever in Turkey. Nonetheless, I found ironic similarities between the two videos that made this worth posting.

Master Harold…and the Boys is set in a tea room in apartheid South Africa and explores the relationship between a white teenage boy (Hally) and his two black servants (Sam and Willie), who are far older. Hally’s father, a raging alcoholic, has largely recovered from medical issues and is soon to return home. Hally channels his disappointment that this is the case into his treatment of Sam and Willie, who are essentially his best friends and true parent figures. Though nothing all that violent transpires between the three of them, the dialogue that ensues provides a unique glimpse into apartheid life in South Africa.

I was initially surprised that the book had ever been checked out from the library at all–almost nobody frequents the back shelves with any regularity, especially in search of plays. Nonetheless, the book was filled with index cards that likely hadn’t been touched in over a decade, and as such, I found myself trying to figure out what this guy from 1996 was doing with a copy of Master Harold. The book must have been so much more relevant back then, but it’s still powerful today because of Fugard’s apolitical focus.

The last twenty pages of this book are brilliant. They use two central motifs–kites and dancing–to explain the painful qualities of life, even for someone in Hally’s position. As the afternoon passes, Hally looks back on some of his favorite experiences with Sam and Willie, but that is hardly the most poignant image offered by this play. Rather, Master Harold…and the Boys succeeds because it provocatively depicts Hally’s progression from a sympathetic teenager to someone deeply affected by the institutions of the time, and all too quick to dehumanize those closest to him.

Don’t give up on the play thirty pages in, at which point it might read like some hasty portrait of upper-class Afrikaner life. Some part of me decided that the play wasn’t worth it at that point, and I’m glad I kept going. Search the hidden corners and dusty niches of your retreat of choice, and you’d be lucky to find something this brief and meaningful. As far as I can tell, the last time an intense search led to a South African gem this significant, it was the Cullinan Diamond (not true, but see what I did there?)…

Also, Giants.

Though the play weighs in at a modest 80-some pages, García Lorca accomplishes a lot with it. I’ll keep my comments on the actual material of the play short with the hope that anyone who reads this review will pick up a copy of the work itself and pass their own judgment or even just read a summary of it. However, I do have to say that I admired his portrayal of The Mother and her emotional progression throughout the events that define the play. There’s a really neat denouement at the end with the Mother and the Bride in the same room lamenting their individual losses.

This play brought a lot to the table thematically. It’s set in two different villages in García Lorca’s native Spain, and a lot of the dialogue delves into the motives and understandings behind a wedding. This is most apparent in the discussions between The Mother and The Bride’s Father, who in a sense both strive to live vicariously through the successes of their children. The wedding discussions that ensue present an entirely different cultural paradigm from anything most would encounter today, and they’re well-described to boot. More significant is the idea of the blood feud and its effects on The Mother’s psyche. That’s easily the best-developed and most powerful aspect of the story, and the one that leaves a lasting impression on the reader at the end of the play.

For me, this play merits a second reading. In my excitement to see the plot develop, I didn’t appreciate the secondary characters (The Beggar Woman and the Moon, for example) as fully as I could have, and essentially sped through the lullabies that spanned several pages of each act.

In all, this was a great read and one I’m happy to have chosen. It’s nice to know that I can revel in the misery and subsequent descent into madness of others while trudging through my college applications. But seriously, pick up this play. It’s great. And if you’re really unlucky, I might decide I like the other two plays (Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba) and post about them, too.

1. Tomas Tranströmer
Ladbrokes says this guy has the highest odds of winning. I’ve talked to several well-read people who had no idea who he was. Being Swedish doesn’t hurt either. This is his poem titled “After a Death”…

2. Adam Zagajewski
Presumably hoping to join a Nobel tradition that includes fellow Polish poets Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz. Much of his poetry focuses on his nation’s postwar reconstruction and the general search for identity, seen here.

3. Ko Un
He’s been nominated for a long time now, and would be South Korea’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature. He’s written some short Zen-style poetry as well as some longer poems like this that make him a prime candidate to be the first Asian poet to win this prize since Rabindranath Tagore did it 97 years ago.

4. Adonis (or Adunis, or Ali Ahmad Said Asbar)
Another multiple-time nominee, this time from Syria. Despite the importance of poetry (and all literature) in the Middle East, the region boasts only one Nobel Laureate in Literature in Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish and Adonis can both make legitimate cases for the award, often accused of Eurocentrism. This man’s poetry is hard to find online, but is plentiful here.

5. Les Murray
An Aussie probably better known for his prose work than for his poetry. Compared to the other authors on this list, his work is intensely descriptive.

I tend to link to a few things in each blog post, but this is probably a high. Nonetheless, if you ended up reading at least one poem by each of these people, it may (or may not) interest you to hear my thoughts:

• Zagajewski is great. I related to a lot of what he had to say and am happy to have learned about him.
• Adonis is just as good. He’s thematically similar to Khalil Gibran (funny how these things work…) but far more abstract, so don’t take my comparison to heart. A reader of The Prophet and a reader of “New York” will emerge with radically different ideas about what I mean.
• Tranströmer was a different experience from the other two. I especially enjoyed reading parts of the book here because it seems like the translator went to great lengths to maintain a rhythm that allows the reader to hear the sounds that the words describe. I bet he’d be great to read on an island or on a craggy shoreline.
• Les Murray and Ko Un weren’t quite for me. I can see why people like them, as they’re both unique writers that go to lengths to emphasize specific elements of their culture, so maybe I’m not giving them their dues just because I read them on the same day as the three other writers above.

This was a lot of fun. I don’t know if I would’ve said that about this exercise four years ago, but I’m saying it now. There are still other authors that I’d prefer to see win the Prize, but Zagajewski and Adonis are now way up there. I plan on experimenting more in the future in terms of what I read. It definitely seems worth the time.

Passion in Politics

This merely furthered my respect for Rep. Weiner. The Democrats were attempting to pass a bill that would provide health care to Ground Zero workers that could have suffered deleterious health problems from working at that scene (the Zadroga Act). The cost of this legislation (although unrelated to the Weiner discussion) would have been $7.4 billion. In any case, Republicans were stalling the passage of the bill, hoping to ram through a medley of amendments that included a plan to divert spending from the monumental health care bill passed earlier this year. Rep. Weiner, himself from New York, called the Republicans out on stalling this reform, not on the basis of principle, but on that of procedure. Here are some of the best moments:

• “You vote yes if you believe yes! You vote in favor of something if you believe it’s the right thing!” (0:23-o:29)
• “The gentleman will sit! The gentleman is correct in sitting!!” (1:13-1:21)

My view? It’s about time. Procedural nonsense is preventing the Ground Zero heroes from getting the care they need, and the political games might be acceptable for some legislation, but Rep. Weiner is absolutely right in asserting that it is shameless to stall this reform for political points. Of course, the bill failed, but Rep. Weiner made a stand that the people of New York hopefully won’t forget.

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On a completely unrelated note, I was reading up on architecture today and I found that some of the coolest places to see it in action are airport terminals. I haven’t been to any of these, but there are some pretty awesome designs by well-known architects that are worth taking a look at.

Santiago Calatrava’s proposal for the Southern Terminal of the Denver International Airport. Still work in progress.

That’s César Pelli’s design for Arlington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.

I figure that last one is worth taking a look at on the inside.

Sir Norman Foster’s design for Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport. Completed in time for the Olympics.

Foster’s design also merits a second look.

Heathrow’s infamous Terminal 5, done by Richard Rogers.

More Heathrow, since I like it.

Heathrow from the outside.

Renzo Piano’s Kansai design. The whole airport is actually situated on an artificial island in Osaka Bay. Cool.

Kansai from the outside, island and all.

Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal in New York City.

Same one, from the outside. I rather dislike the yellow, but this man made the Yale Whale, so we’re on good terms.

This one’s my absolute favorite. Pelli’s design for Terminal 2 of Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.

More from the same airport. Not sure what this is.

I’m no architecture buff, so this limited display will have to do. Nonetheless, I’m content.

Ahmadinejad vs. Paul the Octopus
Yes, it’s certainly not the first time that Germany has aligned itself with enemies of America, but the repercussions are much smaller this time. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined Germany in criticizing Paul the Octopus; in Mr. Ahmadinejad’s case, as an icon of “Western propaganda and superstition.” I did some research and found a northern Iranian superstition stating that if one killed a frog, it would rain. And the Times of India brings up an interesting point here, noting a direct correlation between concerns for Paul the Octopus’s safety and an end to the killing of frogs through dissection. Connect the dots and you’ll see that Paul the Octopus (and consequently, the western world) has indirectly caused a decrease in frog killings, and therefore a precipitous decrease in rain in Iran. Sound silly? Well, only because the frog is an icon of “propaganda and superstition”, to use Mr. Ahmadinejad’s words. The point is that any of us can sit around and make lame inferences, extrapolate from said inferences, and use said extrapolations to release frenzied calls for revolution, violence, and radical change. But only Mr. Ahmadinejad has the legitimacy one gains from the backing of an omnipotent religious council.
Honestly, though, Mr. Ahmadinejad has too much time on his hands and not enough to say if his biggest complaint against the West this week is against a cephalopod that should be nearing its midlife crisis about now. I’d say we’re in solid shape if omniscient octopi are inciting terror among the leaders of potentially nuclear states. Good stuff.

Thing #2 I thought was funny is nothing short of fantastic. If you’re too lazy to click on this assuredly brilliant link, let me grant you this gem of a quotation before you do a 180 and click on the link anyway. “”I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile,” Ms Rahimi said.”
Um, wow. That’s seeeeeerious cultural leverage we have there. But even if one makes the reasonable assumption that Ms. Rahimi is exaggerating, the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults nonetheless has to fight a war against Western culture that isn’t experienced in the United States. The elections of 2009 saw an educated Iranian youth movement organize despite massive difficulties and use Western technology to challenge the Iranian power structure, and the nation failed to combat this desire to Westernize. From an outsider’s standpoint, the idea that a Polly Pocket, Strawberry Shortcake, or Barbie Beach doll can have enough of an impact to merit government action is laughable, and it’s a telling statement of just how misguided notions of firm government control in Iran are. The creation of Dara and Sara also leaves another question open: Why not just ban Barbie? I’m probably forgetting something here, but it seems like a government that can make real people “disappear” should be able to manage likewise with plastic figurines.

Another cultural phenomenon I find interesting is education. The young Iranian adults of today are already testing the bounds of their influence, so it’s only natural to want to check how the next generation might do. With banned Barbies and haraam haircuts, it’s obvious that the government wants to steer this generation clear of the West. Textbooks are, then, the clearest symbol of this movement. Freedom House published this insightful report on textbooks in Iran, and in case you don’t feel like doing 88 pages of reading right now, here are a few interesting tidbits:

• From page 9 of the report: “God willing, the day will come when Muslims will all be united and free Palestine and rescue the Holy Land from the clutches of the enemies of Islam.” (Grade 3 Social Studies textbook, p. 57)
• From page 36 of the report: “Imam Mohammad Bagher says, ‘Any wife who hands a glass of water to her husband will have gained more virtue than if she had fasted for a year.’” (Grade 11 Religion and Life textbook, p. 195)
• And most significantly, from page 59: “The appearance of audiovisual and written means of communication, such as…television, satellite, and the Internet, on the one hand, and of new means of transportation…has expanded communication among people in various parts of the globe…it is as though people everywhere know one another like the people in a village …the dominant superpowers have drawn up plans to make their preferred culture, thinking, and way of life global and then impose it on the rest of the people of the world…they receive support from…radio and television networks, satellites, the Internet, movies, books and publications, as well as extensive information and intelligence organizations…the U.S. support for these tools is furnished by the military, political, and economic power of the U.S., which is preparing the ground for the spreading of American culture, morality, and traditions by creating fear, dependence, submission or greed. (Grade 11 Religion and Life textbook, p. 133 )

I bolded the three parts of that last excerpt that I thought were the most significant. First, the idea of a global village manifested itself in the protests after the 2009 elections, when American news agencies could connect with Iranian citizens, eager to spread their side of the story. Second, the sources that helped make this happen were all American. CNN, Twitter, and YouTube, three American institutions, became the means by which the world could witness the protests.  Even the success of Iranian government-led propaganda today is invariably a result of successful operation of Western technology (televised Friday sermons and the like). Third, it is American culture that is being spread through these media.

The textbooks seem, then, to do a fair job of conveying the power of modern media and the threat it poses to the Iranian establishment. And the youth seem to be doing an even better job of using that media precisely “for the spreading of American culture, morality, and traditions.” From a soft power standpoint, the West has Iran on a Barbie fishing rod, and that country’s establishment seems to have fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.

Café Fernando

Tomorrow’s post will be less underwhelming. But seriously, check out the link. It’s great.

But that’s all old news.  Roughly a third of the oil has been removed to date, solutions are trickling in seemingly as quickly as the oil is trickling out (over 110,000 suggestions on BP’s hotline, or roughly one for every 1500 gallons of oil dumped so far) , and our government is shifting to other priorities as it senses both public fatigue on this issue and the importance of pushing political goals in time for midterm elections. Though the BP spill might soon be a thing of the past, new reports suggest that the company could find itself in yet another sticky situation, this time in California. This investigative report by Mother Jones news magazine finds that BP used its ownership of Arco (and consequently, Sacramento’s Arco Arena) to appeal to state politicians by offering them free tickets to popular events ranging from World Extreme Cagefighting bouts to Beyoncé concerts to Sacramento Kings games. This use of corporate power to influence political issues reeks of the same unfortunate disregard for the public good that became apparent when it was found that the federal government had turned a blind eye to BP’s security issues for years. Of course, this problem is undeniably smaller, and it’s understandable why it has only recently surfaced. But it’s an issue nonetheless, as BP attempted to use the political capital it had with state employees to block sweeping climate change reform several years ago, and there’s no telling what damage this system of backdoor dealing, if unaddressed, could do to the interests of the people of California. The article further mentions that such giveaways are forbidden at the federal level so as to check the power of corporate interests. Unfortunately, the greater effects of this problem are often circumvented by offering freebies at the state level and influencing policy change there.

It’s easy to see why these stories often go under the radar. There are no dying pelicans, stunning Russian spies, or even washed-up Disney stars with DUIs. But this problem seems avoidable through the beauty of direct democracy, and in that regard, California is king. More than any other state in the Union, ours puts power directly in the hands of the people, offering them the chance to affect change with propositions, resolutions, and referendums (or referenda, if you’re a Tory). While this system does have unbelievable flaws, with Fareed Zakaria describing it as “a system as close to anarchy as any civilized society has seen” and noting that “85 percent of the state budget is out of the legislature’s or the governor’s control” in his book The Future of Freedom, it can address issues like these with greater success. Californians can push for the state government to follow federal precedent through legislation that bans these freebies (essentially mirroring the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007), reducing the effects of corporate influence without an associated negative effect on the budget. If almost 700,000 Californians can sign a petition to legalize pot (in many regards a far more controversial topic than this one), there’s no reason a proposal to end these practices couldn’t pass on Election Day. Companies and politicians attempting to block such legislation would only risk their respective public images, and voters would gain confidence in the powers that be. It’s time to start plugging the holes that risk the health of California’s political pipeline, and I think this is a good place to start.