Remembering and Forgetting

1. The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. –Milan Kundera, Czech/French novelist 2. The Jews of my city are now forgotten, erased from its memory. Before, there were some…

Message from Elias

I’ve been reading a litte bit of Chomsky and thinking about you. Here is what I liked from Chomsky’s book:  “…you do not do anything unless you’re aware that there’s something that ought to be…

A Counter Friction To Stop the Machine

The case of Bradley Manning matters. The reason is simple: He touched a nerve. Before releasing over 250,000 diplomatic cables to Wikileaks, Manning commented, “Hilary Clinton, and several thousand diplomats around the world are going…

Three Passions

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. –Bertrand Russell

Nawal El Saadawi: Uncalled-for-boldness

This year I have invited people to participate in an Arab Writers in Translation Reading Circle. Last month, several friends and I met to discuss Egyptian writer Nawal El-Saadawi’s 1983 Memoirs from the Women’s Prison,…