Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

Slow Saturday; Yousef’s Take in Fisherman Skyline Photo

I LOVE what Yousef did. It’s a slow Saturday, nothing much going on. If you want a crack at this photo, take it. Play with it. Send it back to me, show us what you’ve done. Keep it clean. 🙂

Yousef:
00fishermenbandarskyline_copy

is that a WOW or what?

So . . . I don’t have all these tools. Go for it. The shot is in the Eid morning photos you will find here so have some fun with it.

September 26, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Blogging, Photos, Public Art | Leave a comment

Amateur Finds Treasure Trove In English Field

I love stories like this one, which I found on National Public Radio where you can read more on this fabulous story. I remember hearing once of a person who thought everything had already been dug-up. . . . wrong! so wrong! There are so many things out there, just waiting to be discovered!

September 24, 2009

treasure

A member of a British metal detecting club is being credited with finding the biggest cache of Anglo-Saxon relics ever discovered, experts in England revealed Thursday.

Terry Herbert, 55, stumbled upon more than 1,345 gold and silver artifacts as he walked across a freshly plowed field with his metal detector in Staffordshire in early July. Experts said the number of items could rise to 1,500 when more relics are extracted from 56 mounds of dirt that were also removed from the site.

Herbert told the British newspaper The Independent that finding the historic artifacts was more fun than winning the lottery.

“My mates at the [metal detecting] club always say if there is a gold coin in a field, I will be the one to find it. I dread to think what they’ll say when they hear about this,” he said.

Referred to as the “Staffordshire Hoard,” the find consists mostly of items used in warfare, including 84 pommel caps and 71 sword hilt collars removed from swords and daggers, according to the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. No sword or dagger blades were found. One expert said the treasures appear to have been a collection of war trophies.

At least two Christian crosses and parts of a helmet were also discovered. The gold items weighed about 11 pounds, and many were engraved with Bible verses or decorated with garnet stones.

Michelle Brown, a professor of medieval manuscript studies, said the style of lettering on many of the relics dates back to the 7th or 8th century, and they are likely to be valued in millions of dollars.

September 25, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Cultural, Local Lore, News | 4 Comments

You Have Choices: Banned Book Week

September 26 – October 3 is Banned Book Week. I love Banned Book Week – it celebrates our right to access ideas. We have choices. I have a friend who limits what she reads because in her caste and in her religion, our daily activities can enhance or pollute the spirit. I totally get that. I totally get that there are images available online that can stick in our mind forever is we come across them accidentally, and I totally get that there are ideas that can bring chaos and disorder to a society.

I make choices. I choose not to watch TV unless it is something that interests me. I choose not to spend time on trivia if I can help it. I also choose not to pollute my mind and spirit with things I consider to be unwholesome, even unhelpful.

But I honor YOUR choice to read, watch, think what YOU choose.

Here is a list of the Most Banned or Challenged Books compiled by the American Library Association

Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

See also Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century from the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of “language and sexual references in the book.”

The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

Since its publication, this title has been a favorite target of censors. In 1960, a teacher in Tulsa, Okla. was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh grade English class.The teacher appealed and was reinstated by the school board, but the book was removed from use in the school. In 1963, a delegation of parents of high school students in Columbus, Ohio, asked the school board to ban the novel for being “anti white” and “obscene.” The school board refused the request. Removed from the Selinsgrove, Pa. suggested reading list (1975). Based on parents’ objections to the language and content of the book, the school board voted 5 4 to ban the book.The book was later reinstated in the curriculum when the board learned that the vote was illegal because they needed a two thirds vote for removal of the text. Challenged as an assignment in an American literature class in Pittsgrove, NJ. (1977). After months of controversy, the board ruled that the novel could be read in the advanced placement class, but they gave parents the right to decide whether or not their children would read it. Removed from the Issaquah,Wash. Optional High School reading list (1978). Removed from the required reading list in Middleville, Mich. (1979). Removed from the Jackson Milton school libraries in North Jackson, Ohio (1980). Removed from two Anniston, Ala. high school libraries (1982), but later reinstated on a restrictive basis. Removed from the school libraries in Morris, Manitoba (1982) along with two other books because they violate the committee’s guidelines covering “excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult:” Challenged at the Libby, Mont. High School (1983) due to the “book’s contents:” Challenged, but retained for use in select English classes at New Richmond, Wis. (1994). Banned from English classes at the Freeport High School in De Funiak Springs, Fla. (1985) because it is “unacceptable” and “obscene.” Removed from the required reading list of a Medicine Bow, Wyo. Senior High School English class (1986) because of sexual references and profanity in the book. Banned from a required sophomore English reading list at the Napoleon, N.Dak. High School (1987) after parents and the local Knights of Columbus chapter complained about its profanity and sexual references. Challenged at the Linton Stockton, Ind. High School (1988) because the book is “blasphemous and undermines morality.” Banned from the classrooms in Boron, Calif High School (1989) because the book contains profanity. Challenged at the GraysIaKe, III. Community High School (1991). Challenged at the Jamaica High School in Sidell, III. (1992) because the book container profanities and depicted premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. Challenged in the Waterloo, Iowa schools (1992) and Duval County, Fla. public school libraries (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled. ‘Challenged at the Cumberland Valley Nigh School in Carlisle, Pa. (1992) because of a parent’s objections that it contains profanity and is immoral. Challenged, but retained, at the New Richmond, Wis. High School (1994) for use in some English classes. Challenged as required reading in the Corona Norco, Calif. Unified School District (1993) because it is “centered around negative activity. “The book was retained and teachers selected alternatives if students object to Salinger’s novel. Challenged as mandatory reading in the Goffstown, N.H. schools (1994) because of the vulgar words used and the sexual exploits experienced in the book. Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, Fla. (1995). Challenged at the Oxford Hills High School in Paris, Maine (1996). A parent objected to the use of the ‘F’ word:’ Challenged, but retained, at the Glynn Academy High School in Brunswick, Ga. (1997). A student objected to the novel’s profanity and sexual references. Removed because of profanity and sexual situations from the required reading curriculum of the Marysville, Calif Joint Unified School District (1997). The school superintendent removed it to get it “out of the way so that we didn’t have that polarization over a book.” Challenged, but retained on the shelves of Limestone County, Ala. school district (2000) despite objections about the book’s foul language. Banned, but later reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, Ga. (2000). The controversy began in early 1999 when a parent complained about sex, violence, and profanity in the book that was part of an advanced placement English class. Removed by a Dorchester District 2 school board member in Summerville, SC (2001) because it “is a filthy, filthy book.” Challenged by a Glynn County, Ga. (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Source: “100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature,” By Nicholas Karolides. pp. 366 68; Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Nov. 1978, p. 138; Jan. 1980, pp. 6 7; May 1980, p. 5 I ; Mar. 1983, pp. 37 38; July 1983, p. 122; July 1985, p. I 13; Mar. 1987, p. 55; July 1988, p. 123; Jan. 1988, p. 10; Sept. 1988, p. 177; Nov. 1989, pp. 218 19; July 1991, pp. 129 30; May 1992, p. 83;July I 992, pp. I 05, I 26; Jan. I 993, p. 29; Jan. I 994, p. 14, Mar. 1994, pp. 56, 70; May 1994, p. 100; Jan. I 995, p. I 2; Jan. I 996, p. I 4; Nov. I 996, p. 212; May 1997, p. 78; July 1997, p. 96; May 2000, P. 91; July 2000, p. 123; Mar. 2001, p. 76; Nov. 2001, pp. 246-47, 277-78.

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Burned by the East St. Louis, III. Public Library (1939) and barred from the Buffalo, N.Y Public Library (1939) on the grounds that “vulgar words” were used. Banned in Kansas City, Mo. (1939); Kern County Calif, the scene of Steinbeck’s novel, (1939); Ireland ( 1953); Kanawha, Iowa High School classes (1980); and Morris, Manitoba (1982). On Feb. 21, 1973, eleven Turkish book publishers went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month’s and six months’ imprisonment “for spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state” and the confiscation of their books. Eight booksellers were also on trial with the publishers on the same charge involving the Gropes of Wroth. Challenged in Vernon Verona Sherill, N.Y School District ( I 980); challenged as required reading for Richford,Vt. (1981) High School English students due to the book’s language and portrayal of a former minister who recounts how he took advantage of a young woman. Removed from two Anniston, Ala. high school libraries (1982), but later reinstated on a restrictive basis. Challenged at the Cummings High School in Burlington, N.C. (1986) as an optional reading assignment because the “book is full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord’s name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it.” Although the parent spoke to the press, a formal complaint with the school demanding the book’s removal was not filed. Challenged at the Moore County school system in Carthage, N.C. (I 986) because the book contains the phase “God damn:” Challenged in the Greenville, S.C. schools (199 I) because the book uses the name of God and Jesus in a “vain and profane manner along with inappropriate sexual references.” Challenged in the Union City Tenn. High School classes (1993). Source: 2000 BBW Resource Guide.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Challenged in Eden Valley, Minn. (1977) and temporarily banned due to words “damn” and “whore lady” used in the novel. Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, N.Y School District (1980) as a “filthy, trashy novel:” Challenged at the Warren, Ind.Township schools (1981) because the book does “psychological damage to the positive integration process ” and “represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature:” After unsuccessfully banning Lee’s novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Challenged in the Waukegan, III. School District (1984) because the novel uses the word “nigger.” Challenged in the Kansas City, Mo. junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, Mo. Junior High School (1985) because the novel “contains profanity and racial slurs:” Retained on a supplemental eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, Ariz. Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use. Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, La. (1995) because the book’s language and content were objectionable. Challenged at the Moss Point, Miss. School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet. Banned from the Lindale,Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book “conflicted with the values of the community.” Challenged by a Glynn County, Ga. (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, Okla. High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, ILL Community High Schools sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, N.C. (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word “nigger.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide.

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

Challenged as appropriate reading for Oakland, Calif. High School honors class (1984) due to the work’s “sexual and social explicitness” and its “troubling ideas about race relations, man’s relationship to God, African history and human sexuality.” After nine months of haggling and delays, a divided Oakland Board of Education gave formal approval for the book’s use. Rejected for purchase by the Hayward, Calif. schools trustee (1985) because of “rough language” and “explicit sex scenes.” Removed from the open shelves of the Newport News, Va. school library (1986) because of its “profanity and sexual references” and placed in a special section accessible only to students over the age of 18 or who have written permission from a parent. Challenged at the public libraries of Saginaw, Mich. (1989) because of its language and “explicitness.” Challenged as an optional reading assigned in Ten Sleep, Wyo. schools (1990). Challenged as a reading assignment at the New Burn, N.C. High School (1992) because the main character is raped by her stepfather. Banned in the Souderton, Pa. Area School District (1992) as appropriate reading for 10th graders because it is “smut.” Challenged on the curricular reading list at Pomperaug High School in Southbury, Conn. (1995) because sexually explicit passages are appropriate high school reading. Retained as an English course reading assignment in the Junction City, Oreg. high school (1995) after a challenge to Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel caused months of controversy. Although an alternative assignment was available, the book was challenged due to “inappropriate language, graphic sexual scenes, and book’s negative image of black men.” Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, Fla. (1995). Retained on the Round Rock, Tex. Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent. Challenged, but retained, as part of the reading list for Advanced Placement English classes at Northwest High Schools in High Point, N.C. (1996). The book was challenged because it is “sexually graphic and violent.” Removed from the Jackson County, W. Va. school libraries (1997) along with sixteen other titles. Challenged, but retained as part of a supplemental reading list at the Shawnee School in Lima, Ohio (1999). Several parents described its content as vulgar and “X-rated.” Removed from the Ferguson High School library in Newport News, Va. (1999). Students may request and borrow the book with parental approval. Challenged, along with seventeen other titles in the Fairfax County, VA elementary and secondary libraries (2002), by a group called Parents Against Bad Books in Schools. The group contends the books “contain profanity and descriptions of drug abuse, sexually explicit conduct, and torture. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, by Robert P. Doyle.

Ulysses, James Joyce

Burned in the U.S. (1918), Ireland (1922), Canada (1922), England (1923) and banned in England (1929). Source: 3, p. 66; 5, pp. 328-30; 10, Vol. III, pp. 411-12; 557-58, 645.

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, FL (1995). Retained on the Round Rock, Texas Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent. Challenged by a member of the Madawaska, Maine School Committee (1997) because of the book’s language. The 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel has been required reading for the advanced placement English class for six years. Challenged in the Sarasota County, Florida schools (1998) because of sexual material. Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom. Jan. 1996, p. 14; May 1996, p. 99; Han. 1998, p. 14; July 1998, p. 120.

The Lord of the Flies, William Golding

Challenged at the Dallas, TX. Independent School District high school libraries (1974); challenged at the Sully Buttes, S. Dak. High School (1981); challenged at the Owen, N.C. High School (1981) because the book is “demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal”; challenged at the Marana, Ariz. High School (1983) as an inappropriate reading assignment. Challenged at the Olney, Tex. Independent School District (1984) because of “excessive violence and bad language.” A committee of the Toronto, Canada Board of Education ruled on June 23, 1988, that the novel is “racist and recommended that it be removed from all schools.” Parents and members of the black community complained about a reference to “niggers” in the book and said it denigrates blacks. Challenged in the Waterloo, Iowa schools (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women and the disabled. Challenged, but retained on the ninth-grade accelerated English reading list in Bloomfield, N.Y. (2000). From Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom: an. 1975, p. 6; July, 1981, p. 103; Jan. 1982, p. 17; Jan, 1984, p. 25-26; July 1984, p. 122; Sept. 1988, p. 152; July 1992, p. 126; Mar. 2000, p. 64.

1984, George Orwell

Challenged in the Jackson County, FL (1981) because Orwell’s novel is “pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov

Banned as obscene in France (1956-1959), in England (1955-59), in Argentina (1959), and in New Zealand (1960). The South African Directorate of Publications announced on November 27, 1982, that Lolita has been taken off the banned list, eight years after a request for permission to market the novel in paperback has been refused.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

Banned in Ireland (1953); Syracuse, Ind. (1974); Oil City, Pa. (I 977); Grand Blanc, Mich. (1979); Continental, Ohio (1980) and other communities. Challenged in Greenville, S.C. (1977) by the Fourth Province of the Knights of the Ku Klux KIan;VernonVerona Sherill, N.Y School District (1980); St. David, Ariz. (1981) and Tell City, Ind. (1982) due to “profanity and using God’s name in vain:” Banned from classroom use at the Scottsboro, Ala. Skyline High School (1983) due to “profanity.” The Knoxville, Tenn. School Board chairman vowed to have “filthy books” removed from Knoxville’s public schools (1984) and picked Steinbeck’s novel as the first target due to “its vulgar language:” Reinstated at the Christian County, Ky. school libraries and English classes (1987) after being challenged as vulgar and offensive. Challenged in the Marion County, WVa. schools (1988), at the Wheaton Warrenville, III. Middle School (1988), and at the Berrien Springs, Mich. High School (1988) because the book contains profanity. Removed from the Northside High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (1989) because the book “has profane use of God’s name.” Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga, Tenn. (1989) because “Steinbeck is known to have had an anti business attitude:” In addition, “he was very questionable as to his patriotism:’ Removed from all reading lists and collected at the White Chapel High School in Pine Bluff, Ark (1989) because of objections to language. Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, Tenn. school system (1989) because the novel contained “offensive language.” Challenged, but retained in a Salinas, Kans. (1990) tenth grade English class despite concerns that it contained “profanity” and “takes the Lord’s name in vain.” Challenged by a Fresno, Calif (1991) parent as a tenth grade English college preparatory curriculum assignment, citing “profanity” and “racial slurs.” The book was retained, and the child of the objecting parent was provided with an alternative reading assignment. Challenged in the Riveria, Tex. schools (1990) because it contains profanity. Challenged as curriculum material at the Ringgold High School in Carroll Township, Pa. (1991) because the novel contains terminology offensive to blacks. Removed and later returned to the Suwannee, Fla. High School library (1991) because the book is “indecent” Challenged at the Jacksboro, Tenn. High School (1991) because the novel contains “blasphemous” language, excessive cursing, and sexual overtones. Challenged as required reading in the Buckingham County, Va. schools (1991) because of profanity. In 1992 a coalition of community members and clergy in Mobile, Ala., requested that local school officials form a special textbook screening committee to “weed out objectionable things:” Steinbeck’s novel was the first target because it contained “profanity” and “morbid and depressing themes: ‘Temporarily removed from the Hamilton, Ohio High School reading list (1992) after a parent complained about its vulgarity and racial slurs. Challenged in the Waterloo, Iowa schools (1992) and the Duval County, Fla. public school libraries (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled. Challenged at the Modesto, Calif. High School as recommended reading (1992) because of “offensive and racist language.” The word “nigger” appears in the book. Challenged at the Oak Hill High School in Alexandria, La. (1992) because of profanity. Challenged as an appropriate English curriculum assignment at the Mingus, Ariz.Union High School (1993) because of “profane language, moral statement, treatment of the retarded, and the violent ending.” Pulled from a classroom by Putnam County, Tenn. school superintendent (1994) “due to the language:’ Later, after discussions with the school district counsel, it was reinstated. The book was challenged in the Loganville, Ga. High School (1994) because of its “vulgar language throughout” Challenged in the Galena, Kans. school library (1995) because of the book’s language and social implications. Retained in the Bemidji, Minn. schools (1995) after challenges to the book’s “objectionable” language. Challenged at the Stephens County High School library in Toccoa, Ga. (I 995) because of “curse words: ‘The book was retained. Challenged, but retained in a Warm Springs, VA. High School (1995) English class. Banned from the Washington Junior High School curriculum in Peru, III. (1997) because it was deemed “age inappropriate:” Challenged, but retained, in the Louisville, Ohio high school English classes (1997) because of profanity. Removed, restored, restricted, and eventually retained at the Bay County schools in Panama City, Fla. (1997). A citizen group, the 100 Black United, Inc., requested the novel’s removal and “any other inadmissible literary books that have racial slurs in them, such as the using of the word ‘Nigger: ” Challenged as a reading list assignment for a ninth grade literature class, but retained at the Sauk Rapids Rice High School in St. Cloud, Minn. (1997). A parent complained that the book’s use of racist language led to racist behavior and racial harassment. Challenged in O’Hara Park Middle School classrooms in Oakley, Calif. (1998) because it contains racial epithets. Challenged, but retained, in the Bryant, Ark. school library (1998) because of a parent’s complaint that the book “takes God’s name in vain 15 times and uses Jesus’s name lightly.” Challenged at the Barron, Wis. School District (1998). Challenged, but retained in the sophomore curriculum at West Middlesex, Pa. High School (1999) despite objections to the novel’s profanity. Challenged in the Tomah, Wis. School District (1999) because the novel is violent and contains obscenities. Challenged as required reading at the high school in Grandville, Mich. (2002) because the book “is full of racism, profanity, and foul language.” Banned from the George County, Miss. schools (2002) because of profanity. Challenged in the Normal, Ill. Community High Schools (2003) because the books contains “racial slurs, profanity, violence, and does not represent traditional values.” An alternative book, Steinbeck’s The Pearl, was offered but rejected by the family challenging the novel. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, by Robert P. Doyle.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

Banned in Strongsville, Ohio (1972), but the school board’s action was overturned in 1976 by a U.S. District Court in Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District. Challenged at the Dallas, Tex. Independent School District high school libraries (1974); in Snoqualmie, Wash. (1979) because of its several references to “whores.” 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, Robert P. Doyle.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Banned in Ireland (1932). Removed from classroom in Miller, MO (1980), because it made promiscuous sex “look like fun” and challenged frequently throughout the U.S. Challenged as required reading at the Yukon, Oklahoma High School (1988) because of “the book’s language and moral content.” Challenged as required reading in the Corona-Norco, California Unified School District (1993) because it is “centered around negative activity.” Specifically, parents objected that the characters’ sexual behavior directly opposed the health curriculum, which taught sexual abstinence until marriage. The book was retained, and teachers selected alternatives if students object to Huxley’s novel. Brave New World was again challenged in Foley, Alabama (2000) because of the depictions of “orgies, self-flogging, suicide” and characters who show “contempt for religion, marriage, and the family.” The book was removed from the library, pending review. Source: 2001 Banned Books Resource Guide.

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Banned in Boston, MA (1930), Ireland (1953), Riverside, CA (1960). Burned in Nazi bonfires (1933).

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

Banned in the Graves County School District in Mayfield, KY (1986) because it contained “offensive and obscene passages referring to abortion and used God’s name in vain.” The decision was reversed a week later after intense pressure from the ACLU and considerable negative publicity. Challenged as a required reading assignment in an advanced English class of Pulaski County High School in Somerset, KY (1987) because the book contains “profanity and a segment about masturbation.” Challenged, but retained, in the Carroll County, MD schools (1991). Two school board members were concerned about the book’s coarse language and dialect. Banned at Central High School in Louisville, KY (1994) temporarily because the book uses profanity and questions the existence of God. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

The June 1929 issue of Scribner’s Magazine, which ran Hemingway’s novel, was banned in Boston, Mass. (1929). Banned in Italy (1929) because of its painfully accurate account of the Italian retreat from Caporetto, Italy; banned in Ireland (1939); challenges at the Dallas, TX. Independent School District high school libraries (1974); challenges at the Vernon-Verona-Sherill, N.Y. School District (1980) as a “sex novel; burned by the Nazis in Germany (1933). Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Challenged for sexual explicitness, but retained on the Stonewall Jackson High School’s academically advanced reading list in Brentsville, VA (1997). A parent objected to the novel’s language and sexual explicitness.

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

Excerpts banned in Butler, PA (1975); removed from the high school English reading list in St. Francis, WI (1975). Retained in the Yakima, WA schools (1994) after a five-month dispute over what advanced high school students should read in the classroom. Two parents raised concerns about profanity and images of violence and sexuality in the book and requested that it be removed from the reading list.

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

Challenged, but retained, in the Columbus, Ohio schools (1993). The complainant believed that the book contains language degrading to blacks, and is sexually explicit. Removed from required reading lists and library shelves in the Richmond County, GA. School District (1994) after a parent complained that passages from the book were “filthy and inappropriate.” Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, Fla. (1995). Removed from the St. Mary’s County, Md. schools’ approved text list (1998) by the superintendent overruling a faculty committee recommendation. Complainants referred to the novel as “filth,” “trash,” and “repulsive.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Banned from Anaheim, Calif. Union High School District English classrooms (9178) according to the Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association. Challenged in Waukegan, Ill. School District (1984) because the novel uses the word “nigger.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Native Son, Richard Wright

Challenged in Goffstown, N.H. (1978); Elmwood Park, N.J. (1978) due to “objectionable” language; and North Adams, Mass. (1981) due to the book’s “violence, sex, and profanity.” Challenged at the Berrian Springs, Mich. High School in classrooms and libraries (1988) because the novel is “vulgar, profane, and sexually explicit.” Retained in the Yakima, Wash. schools (1994) after a five-month dispute over what advanced high school students should read in the classroom. Two parents raised concerns about profanity and images of violence and sexuality in the book and requested that it be removed from the reading list. Challenged as part of the reading list for Advanced Placement English classes at Northwest High School in High Point, N.C. (1996). The book was challenged because it is “sexually graphic and violent.” Removed from Irvington High School in Fremont, Calif. (1998) after a few parents complained the book was unnecessarily violence and sexually explicit. Challenged in the Hamilton High School curriculum in Fort Wayne, Ind. (1998) because of the novel’s graphic language and sexual content.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey

Challenged in the Greenley, Colorado public school district (1971) as a non-required American Culture reading. In 1974, five residents of Strongsville, Ohio, sued the board of education to remove the novel. Labeling it “pornographic,” they charged the novel “glofiries criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.” Removed from public school libraries in Randolph, NY, and Alton, OK (1975). Removed from the required reading list in Westport, MA (1977). Banned from the St. Anthony, Idaho Freemont High School classrooms (1978) and the instructor fired¾Fogarty v. Atchley. Challenged at the Merrimack, N.H. High School (1982). Challenged as part of the curriculum in an Aberdeen, Washington High School honors English class (1986) because the book promotes “secular humanism.” The school board voted to retain the title. Challenged at the Placentia-Yorba Linda, California Unified School District (2000) after complaints by parents stated that teachers “can choose the best books, but they keep choosing this garbage over and over again.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, by Robert P. Doyle.

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Challenged in many communities, but burned in Drake, N. Dak (1973). Banned in Rochester, Mich. because the novel “contains and makes references to religious matters” and thus fell within the ban of the establishment clause. An appellate court upheld its usage in the school in Todd v Rochester Community Schools, 41 Mich. App. 320, 200 N. W 2d 90 (I 972). Banned in Levittown, N.Y (1975), North Jackson, Ohio (1979), and Lakeland, Fla. (1982) because of the “book’s explicit sexual scenes, violence, and obscene language.” Barred from purchase at the Washington Park High School in Racine, Wis. (I 984) by the district administrative assistant for instructional services. Challenged at the Owensboro, Ky. High School library (1985) because of “foul language, a section depicting a picture of an act of bestiality, a reference to ‘Magic Fingers’ attached to the protagonist’s bed to help him sleep, and the sentence: ‘The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty.”‘ Restricted to students who have parental permission at the four Racine, Wis. Unified District high school libraries (1986) because of “language used in the book depictions of torture, ethnic slurs, and negative portrayals of women:’ Challenged at the LaRue County, Ky. High School library (1987) because “the book contains foul language and promotes deviant sexual behavior’ Banned from the Fitzgerald, Ga. schools (I 987) because A was filled with profanity and full of explicit sexual references:’ Challenged in the Baton Rouge, La. public high school libraries ( 1988) because the book is “vulgar and offensive:’ Challenged in the Monroe, Mich. public schools (I 989) as required reading in a modem novel course for high school juniors and senior because of the book’s language and the way women are portrayed. Retained on the Round Rock, Tex. Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent. Challenged as an eleventh grade summer reading option in Prince William County, Va ( 1998) because the book “was rife with profanity and explicit sex:” Source: 5, pp. I 37 42; 8, Jan. 1974, p. 4; May 1980, p. 5 I ; Sept. 1982, p. 155; Nov. 1982, p. 197; Sept. 1984, p. 158; Jan. 1986, pp. 9 10; Mar. 1986, p. 57; Mar. 1987, p. 5 I ; July 1987, p. 147; Sept. 1987, pp. 174 75; Nov. 1987, p. 224; May 1988, p. 86; July 1988, pp. I 39 40; July 1989, p. 144, May 1996, p. 99; 9, pp. 78 79; Nov. 1998, p. 183.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

Scribner. Declared non-mailable by the U.S. Post Office (1940). On Feb. 21, 1973, eleven Turkish book publishers went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing, and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month’s and six month’s imprisonment “for spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state” and the confiscation of their books. Eight booksellers also were on trial with the publishers on the same charge involving For Whom the Bell Tolls. Source: Haight, Anne Lyon, and Chandler B. Grannis. Banned Books, 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Bowker Co., 1978 (p. 80); Index on Censorship. London: Writers and Scholars International, Ltd., published bimonthly, Summer 1973, xii.

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1933). Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin

Challenged as required reading in the Hudson Falls, N.Y. schools (1994) because the book has recurring themes of rape, masturbation, violence, and degrading treatment of women. Challenged as a ninth-grade summer reading option in Prince William County, Va. (1988) because the book was “rife with profanity and explicit sex.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

Challenged at the Dallas, Tex. Independent School District high school libraries. Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Jan. 1975, p. 6-7.

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Burned in Alamagordo, N. Mex. (2001) outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic. Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 2002, p. 61.

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Banned from public libraries in Yugoslavia (1929). Burned in the Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair’s socialist views (1933). Banned in East Germany (1956) as inimical to communism. Banned in South Korea (1985). Sources: Banned Books, 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., 4th edition; Anne Lyon Haight and Chandler B. Grannis. Index on Censorship.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, DH Lawrence

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

In 1973 a book seller in Orem, Utah, was arrested to selling the novel. Charges were later dropped, but the book seller as forced to close the store and relocate to another city. Removed from Aurora, Colo. high school (1976) due to “objectionable” language and from high school classrooms in Westport, Mass. (1977) because of “objectionable” language. Removed from two Anniston, Ala. High school libraries (1982), but later reinstated on a restricted basis. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, ed. Robert P. Doyle.

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

Banned, but later reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, Ga. (2000). The controversy began in early 1999 when a parent complaines about sex, violence, and profanity in the book that was aprt of an Advanced Placement English Class. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie

Banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Quatar, Indonesia, South Africa, and India because of its criticism of Islam. Burned in West Yorkshire, England (1989) and temporarily withdrawn from two bookstores on the advice of police who took threats to staff and property seriously. In Pakistan five people died in riots against the book. Another man died a day later in Kashmir. Ayatollah Khomeni issued a fatwa or religions edict, stating, “I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses, which is against Islam, the prophet, and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, have been sentenced to death.”

Challenged at the Wichita, Ks. Public Library (1989) because the book is “blasphemous to the prophet Mohammed.” In Venezuela, owning or reading it was declared a crime under penalty of 15 months’ imprisonment. In Japan, the sale of the English-language edition was banned under the threat of fines. The governments of Bulgaria and Poland also restricted its distribution. In 1991, in separare inceidents, Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator, was stabbed to death and its Italian translator, Ettore Capriolo, was seriously wounded. In 1993 William Nygaard, its Norwegian publisher, was shot and seriously wounded. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence

In 1961 an Oklahoma City group called Mothers United for Decency hired a trailer, dubbed it “smutmobile,” and displayed books deemed objectionable, including Lawrence’s novel. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

The Strongsville, Ohio School Board (1972) voted to withdraw this title from the school library; this action was overturned in 1976 by a U.S. District Court in Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District, 541 F. 2d 577 (6th Cir. 1976). Challenged at Merrimack, NH High School (1982).

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Challenged in Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a “filthy, trashy sex novel.” Challenged at the Fannett-Metal High School in Shippensburg, Pa. (1985) because of its allegedly offensive language. Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, Tenn. school system (1989) because the novel contained “offensive language.” Challenged at the McDowell County, N.C. schools (1996) because of “graphic language.” Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, May 1980, p. 62; Nov. 1985, p. 204; Jan, 1990, pp 11-12; Jan. 1997, p. 11.

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

Found obscene in Boston, Mass. Superior Court (1965). The finding was reversed bu the State Supreme Court the following year. Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Women in Love, DH Lawrence

Seized by John Summers of the New York Society for the Suppression of vice and declared obscene (1922). Source: 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature. Nicholas Karalides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. pp. 331-32; “Banned in Boston,” Randy F. Nelson, in Almanac of American Letters, p. 142; A History of Books Publishing in the United States, John Tebbel, Vol III, p. 415.

The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer

Banned in Canada (1949) and Australia (1949). Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller

Banned from U.S. Customs (1934). The U.S. Supreme Court found the novel not obscene (1964). Banned in Turkey (1986). Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser

Banned in Boston, Mass. (1927) and burned by the Nazis in Germany (1933) because it “deals with low love affairs.” Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle.

Rabbit, Run, John Updike

Fawcett. Banned in Ireland in 1962 because the Irish Board of Censors found the work “obscene” and “indecent,” objecting particularly to the author’s handling of the characters’ sexuality, the “explicit sex acts” and “promiscuity.” The work was officially banned from sales in Ireland until the introduction of the revised Censorship Publications Bill in 1967. Restricted to high school students with parental permission in the six Aroostock County, Maine community high school libraries (1976) because of passages in the book dealing with sex and an extramarital affair. Removed from the required reading list for English class at the Medicine Bow, Wyo. Junior High School (1986) because of sexual references and profanity in the book. Source: 5, p. 319-20; 8, Mar. 1977, p. 36; Mar. 1987, p.55.

Here is a more complete list from the ALA:

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 42 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.

The titles in bold represent banned or challenged books. For more information on why these books were challenged, visit challenged classics and the Banned Books Week Web site.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
23. Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E. M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

In conclusion, I refer you to one of my all time favorite essays, the Areopagitica, by John MIlton from which one of my all time favorite quotes comes:

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.

Character is built on our choices. If someone else is making our choices for us, we are not protected, we are kept from exercising bad judgement. While I would love to say that I have always exercised good judgement, it is not the case. I’ve learned a lot from my bad choices and I thank God that he is merciful and all-forgiving. Censorship protects us from exposure to challenging ideas and content. I agree with Milton – how can we fight that which we do not even know exists? To know that evil is out there, that it exists and that we CHOOSE the good – that is virtue.

The celebrate Banned Book Week, they suggest you read a banned book. If you need a suggestion, I recommend George Orwell, Animal Farm or 1984. If you are living in a country where politicians use words to disguise their meaning – and who isn’t? – I heartily recommend 1984.

September 21, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Books, Bureaucracy, Character, Civility, Community, Education, Social Issues | 13 Comments

Carnage on Karabaa

Running errands today in the heat and humidity gave me a new insight into these last few days of Ramadan. I briefly got annoyed with myself for forgetting to bring water, and then realized ‘oh no!’ I had left the water on purpose so I wouldn’t unthinkingly violate the no-eating/ no-drinking-in-public-during-Ramadan laws. When it is SO hot, and SO humid you sweat! You just ooze moisture! When I got home, I was exhausted. (It might also be a little bit of jet lag) I was so tired, I had to take a nap.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to try to live a semi-normal life and fast during this kind of heat. I cannot imagine how it will be next year. And the year after that. It is brutal.

I knew Karabaa street was going to undergo some changes for the new ‘Heart of Doha’ project, but the reality was shocking. Old landmarks are gone. Just gone.

The Garden Restaurant, where they had the purely vegetarian restaurant on the ground floor and the more elaborate carnivore restaurant upstairs:

00TheGardenRestaurant

This rubble is where the Garden used to be:

00WhereGardenUsedToBe

When visitors came to Doha, one of the standard stops was always the Yemeni Honey Man (he also sold baskets from the Asiri mountains in Saudi Arabia, gorgeous baskets, in a building I always thought of as the Beehive Building, because of the honey, and also because of the shape of the multiple domes on top of the building:

00BeehiveBldg

00YeminiHoneyMan

You can see a tiny remnant of the building in the right corner – all the rest is rubble. All the surrounding buildings are also empty, ready to be demolished:

00WhereBeehiveUsedToBe

00BeehiveRemnant

Here is the parking lot which used to be full – there used to be another restaurant, not a fancy restaurant but a very tasty restaurant called The Welcome – it was torn down, only five years ago, and now the building that replaced it is also being torn down:

00ParkingLotWelcomeUsedToBe

All the little shops are just gone, all the little jewelry shops and textile shops, gone:
00AllLittleShopsGone

I wonder how long these old shops will remain?
00LittleShopsStillThere

September 19, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Building, Bureaucracy, Community, Doha, ExPat Life, Living Conditions, Photos, Shopping | 6 Comments

How it is Meant to Be: Symmetry vs Asymmetry

As I was growing up, I learned asymmetry. I learned rules like “you never put even numbers together, you use three items here and one here” and that you vary items in height. I am guessing it is semi-cultural; there is a lot of Scandinavian influence in my background, and a lot of Japanese influence on the west coast of the USA, where I was raised.

My housekeeper didn’t have my Mom, or my upbringing. I am the boss and she is the housekeeper, right? Shouldn’t I be getting my way?

It’s not like these things are right or wrong, it is a question of style and what seems right to you – and a lot of that is cultural.

When I lived in Africa, my housekeepers would say “it wants to be here” or “it is meant to be there” and at first I laughed, and then somehow the ‘wants to be’ crept into my way of thinking. How can an object WANT to be somewhere? On the other hand, you place it and all of a sudden you know that’s where it ‘wants’ to be.

My current housekeeper likes symmetry. I carefully place objects; she dusts and she puts them where they tell her they want to be. I can tell in a heartbeat when something has been moved; it just doesn’t look right. I can change it back, but it will go back to being symmetrical within a week.

02nsohouse-0801

Most of the time, I just let it go. When you have a housekeeper who really cares about her job – and mine has helped me out many times with good ideas for how something can be done better – I just let it go. If I have people coming over and it really matters to me where things are, I can change it for that one occasion if it is really important to me, otherwise – I just accept that placement is a battle I am not going to win. And I really, really like my current housekeeper, so I will let her be the boss of placement.

What about you? Are you a symmetrical or an asymmetrical?

September 18, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Cross Cultural, Cultural, Doha, ExPat Life, Living Conditions | 9 Comments

Family Worship

One of the great blessings of visiting our son and his wife is just spending time together doing the normal things that families do when Mom and Dad don’t live many time zones away in a far and distant land earning a living. This last weekend, we were able to attend church together, which was one of the highlights of my visit with them.

We found a lovely church, Christ Episcopal, in downtown Pensacola. It has organ music, and as my husband says “they sing REAL hymns!” We smiled to see so many families there, from the youngest babies to older folk – the church welcomes us all.

00ChristChurchEpiscopal

00ChristEpiscopalInterior

And then AdventureMan spotted the Lutheran Church next door and said “Oh! They have a church souk!”
00LutheranChurch

It was a truly glorious day.

September 15, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Building, Community, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Florida, Generational, Holiday, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Music | 4 Comments

Digging Up the Saudi Past


By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —
Much of the world knows Petra, the ancient ruin in modern-day Jordan that is celebrated in poetry as “the rose-red city, ‘half as old as time,'” and which provided the climactic backdrop for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans.

That’s because it’s in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in the 7th century.

But now, in a quiet but notable change of course, the kingdom has opened up an archaeology boom by allowing Saudi and foreign archaeologists to explore cities and trade routes long lost in the desert.

The sensitivities run deep. Archaeologists are cautioned not to talk about pre-Islamic finds outside scholarly literature. Few ancient treasures are on display, and no Christian or Jewish relics. A 4th or 5th century church in eastern Saudi Arabia has been fenced off ever since its accidental discovery 20 years ago and its exact whereabouts kept secret.

In the eyes of conservatives, the land where Islam was founded and the Prophet Muhammad was born must remain purely Muslim. Saudi Arabia bans public displays of crosses and churches, and whenever non-Islamic artifacts are excavated, the news must be kept low-key lest hard-liners destroy the finds.

“They should be left in the ground,” said Sheikh Mohammed al-Nujaimi, a well-known cleric, reflecting the views of many religious leaders. “Any ruins belonging to non-Muslims should not be touched. Leave them in place, the way they have been for thousands of years.”

In an interview, he said Christians and Jews might claim discoveries of relics, and that Muslims would be angered if ancient symbols of other religions went on show. “How can crosses be displayed when Islam doesn’t recognize that Christ was crucified?” said al-Nujaimi. “If we display them, it’s as if we recognize the crucifixion.”

In the past, Saudi authorities restricted foreign archaeologists to giving technical help to Saudi teams. Starting in 2000, they began a gradual process of easing up that culminated last year with American, European and Saudi teams launching significant excavations on sites that have long gone lightly explored, if at all.

At the same time, authorities are gradually trying to acquaint the Saudi public with the idea of exploring the past, in part to eventually develop tourism. After years of being closed off, 2,000-year-old Madain Saleh is Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open to tourists. State media now occasionally mention discoveries as well as the kingdom’s little known antiquities museums.

“It’s already a big change,” said Christian Robin, a leading French archaeologist and a member of the College de France. He is working in the southwestern region of Najran, mentioned in the Bible by the name Raamah and once a center of Jewish and Christian kingdoms.

No Christian artifacts have been found in Najran, he said.

Spearheading the change is the royal family’s Prince Sultan bin Salman, who was the first Saudi in space when he flew on the U.S. space shuttle Discovery in 1985. He is now secretary general of the governmental Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.

Dhaifallah Altalhi, head of the commission’s research center at the governmental Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said there are 4,000 recorded sites of different periods and types, and most of the excavations are on pre-Islamic sites.

“We treat all our sites equally,” said Altalhi. “This is part of the history and culture of the country and must be protected and developed.” He said archaeologists are free to explore and discuss their findings in academic venues.

Still, archaeologists are cautious. Several declined to comment to The Associated Press on their work in the kingdom.

The Arabian Peninsula is rich, nearly untouched territory for archaeologists. In pre-Islamic times it was dotted with small kingdoms and crisscrossed by caravan routes to the Mediterranean. Ancient Arab peoples – Nabateans, Lihyans, Thamud – interacted with Assyrians and Babylonians, Romans and Greeks.

Much about them is unknown.

Najran, discovered in the 1950s, was invaded nearly a century before Muhammad’s birth by Dhu Nawas, a ruler of the Himyar kingdom in neighboring Yemen. A convert to Judaism, he massacred Christian tribes, leaving triumphant inscriptions carved on boulders.

At nearby Jurash, a previously untouched site in the mountains overlooking the Red Sea, a team led by David Graf of the University of Miami is uncovering a city that dates at least to 500 B.C. The dig could fill out knowledge of the incense routes running through the area and the interactions of the region’s kingdoms over a 1,000-year span.

And a French-Saudi expedition is doing the most extensive excavation in decades at Madain Saleh. The city, also known as al-Hijr, features more than 130 tombs carved into mountainsides. Some 450 miles from Petra, it is thought to mark the southern extent of the Nabatean kingdom.

In a significant 2000 find, Altalhi unearthed a Latin dedication of a restored city wall at Madain Saleh which honored the second century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

So far, there has been no known friction with conservatives over the new excavations, in part because they are in the early stages, are not much discussed in Saudi Arabia, and haven’t produced any announcements of overtly Christian or Jewish finds.

But the call to keep the land purged of other religions runs deep among many Saudis. Even though Madain Saleh site is open for tourism, many Saudis refuse to visit on religious grounds because the Quran says God destroyed it for its sins.

Excavations sometimes meet opposition from local residents who fear their region will become known as “Christian” or “Jewish.” And Islam being an iconoclastic religion, hard-liners have been known to raze even ancient Islamic sites to ensure that they do not become objects of veneration.

Saudi museums display few non-Islamic artifacts.

Riyadh’s National Museum shows small pre-Islamic statues, a golden mask and a large model of a pagan temple. In some display cases, female figurines are listed, but not present – likely a nod to the kingdom’s ban on depictions of the female form.

A tiny exhibition at the King Saud University in Riyadh displays small nude statues of Hercules and Apollo in bronze, a startling sight in a country where nakedness in art is highly taboo.

In 1986, picnickers accidentally discovered an ancient church in the eastern region of Jubeil. Pictures of the simple stone building show crosses in the door frame.

It is fenced off – for its protection, authorities say – and archaeologists are barred from examining it.

Faisal al-Zamil, a Saudi businessman and amateur archaeologist, says he has visited the church several times.

He recalls offering a Saudi newspaper an article about the site and being turned down by an editor.

“He was shocked,” al-Zamil said. “He said he could not publish the piece.”

Associated Press Writer Lee Keath contributed from Cairo.

August 31, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Cultural, Generational, Leadership, Living Conditions, Saudi Arabia, Travel | 4 Comments

The Edmonds Market

The Edmonds Market is one of my favorite things in my hometown, just north of Seattle. Street vendors set up early, and by nine in the morning the market is already going strong. I like to get there early, to get a good choice and – to get a parking space.

It was a wonderful, cool, cloudy morning, but there was no rain. I stopped at Celebrations, a bakery/catering booth, and bought chocolate covered brownies for a gathering later in the day, and an orange/cinnamon roll for my own sinful indulgence. (It was sticky and wonderful!)

All of the people photographed here gave permission for their photos:

The honey man who mixes all his own honeys and brings his bees to pollinate crops for various farmers:
00EMHoney

The relish makers – a variety of homemade chutneys, condiments, relishes, made by them from herbs and vegetables they grow:

00EMRelish

This lady sells wonderful lotions in divine fragrances – sandlewood, ginger and lime, etc.
00EMLotions

This woman and her daughter knit and crochet darling little clothes for babies!
00EMKnitters

00EMBabyBundles

I found these wonderful squash / pumpkins:

00EMSquash

There are all kinds of vendors selling flowers, at wonderful prices:

00EMFlowerSellers

Just outside the Edmonds Street Market is the gazebo round-about, and every now and then, some kids think it hysterically funny to pour a little detergent into it, making it bubble over:

00EdmondsFountain

There is a Starbucks by the fountain, with several tables outside to accommodate dog walking patrons:

00EdmondsStarbucks

August 30, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Community, Cultural, ExPat Life, Food, Living Conditions, Marketing, Seattle, Shopping, Travel | 7 Comments

Guerilla Art at the Gas Works

Yesterday Mom pulled out a clipping from the Seattle Times about an unknown sculptor who had left a collection of fascinating sculptures – papier mache’ with golden highlights – of people emerging from their shells. They were delivered by stealth to the park by by the artist and friends, and left displayed to the wonderment of runners, joggers, walkers and picnicking families who discovered them at the Gasworks Park.

“Guerrilla-art in Seattle
In what was advertised as a gift to the citizens of Seattle, a gold-colored sculpture by an unknown artist turned up in Gas Works Park on Tuesday, August 25, 2009. “Anew is gifted to the citizens of Seattle in the spirit of awakening,” the artist wrote in a plaque attached to the sculpture.”

2009735663

(This is not my photo; this photo is from the Seattle Times Photo Gallery and you can purchase a copy of it from them)

How cool is that? The park officials were all set to pick the art works up and dispose of them, but people started calling in, by the hundreds, “no! leave it there! It is wonderful!” And, amazement of amazements, the city listened, and left the sculptures there.

In today’s Seattle Times is a follow up:

Guerrilla artist goes public; golden man already taken

By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter (you can read the entire article by clicking on the blue type)

The artist who left a sculpture in Seattle’s Gas Works Park earlier this week says she was “amazed and overwhelmed” by the response to the art.

“I spent some time both in the afternoon and evening standing with the crowd, watching their reactions, and I am overflowing with joy,” said Cyra Hobson, 31, in an e-mail sent Wednesday night.

The Seattle Parks Department said Wednesday it will leave the multipiece sculpture in place until Labor Day rather than removing it today, as had been planned.

So Mom and I decided we wanted to take a look, which is a lot braver than you can imagine. Mom has always been active, but she is no longer able to walk as long as she wants to walk – at 86, she hates to accept any limitations, so off we go.

We get to the Gas Works Park and it is another gorgeous day, warm, without being hot, and we walk. And we walk. And we don’t see one single piece of sculpture. People have taken her at her word – they are all gone!

Oh well. We missed an ephemeral moment in time, a great happening, but we still had a great adventure. The view from the Gas Works park (which is – no kidding – on the site of a defunct Gas Works factory, so they turned it into a park for families, joggers, dog walkers, etc.) is phenomenal – at one time, there was a jet, a helicopter and a pontoon plane in the air, a car/boat, several kayaks and a fishing boat in the water, and dogs and children everywhere.

Of course I took some photos to share with you:
00GasworksPark1
00GasworkPark2

00GasworksParkViewSeattle

This is a “Duck.” Right now it is a boat, but it can also put down wheels and function as an open tour bus on land:
00GPDuck

00GPPontoonPlanes

August 29, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Bureaucracy, Character, Charity, Community, Events, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Health Issues, Living Conditions, Seattle, Travel | Leave a comment

Here There and Anywhere

It’s not like “Here, There and Everywhere” is something I made up and trademarked. No. It was an old Beatles song I liked a lot:

And when I started blogging, I couldn’t think of one area I wanted to specialize in, like news commenting, or recipes, and my life isn’t so fascinating that I can just spin tales and keep you dazzled, so Here There and Everywhere just sort of expressed the serendipity that I wanted, and gave me the space that I needed to tackle lots of subjects – and, more important, to me anyway, to get feedback and input from others who might know a whole lot more than I do about things. I was always ready for things to take a wild jag, and, to my utter delight, they sometimes do. 🙂

It’s worked for me. It keeps life interesting.

But I have to admit I sometimes get a twinge of proprietary feeling about the name. One time BitJockey sent me a reference to a blog – a Kuwait blog! and the author had a name so similar that if it was a coincidence, it was a very eerie coincidence. It sort of totally annoyed me, but I didn’t want to give the blog any attention or thought at all, and actually, so far ignoring it has pretty much worked for me, too.

But today, in my very own home town, I saw this big orange van:

truck

“Oh!” I said! “Oh, Look at that van! It says ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ on it!” and my Mom said “Oh, that’s the Here and There and Anywhere Grill” and we order things from them all the time. They are only here on Wednesdays. After two or three weeks,” she added, “I get a little tired of the food and then stop for a while and start again later. They have really good food.”

I love it that Mom is stepping out, taking college seminars, ordering from the Here and There and Anywhere Grill, doing her physical therapy, keeping active.

“How can I help you, Mom?” I asked, and she had a good list ready. At the end was “Buy a new chair” so today we went searching for the perfect chair. In one store, we were the only customers so the saleslady suggested we push Mom around the huge, cavernous store in a dining room chair with wheels. Only problem is Mom has to hold her feet up off the floor, it’s not like a wheelchair with a base you can rest your feet on, but she was a really good sport, except for the one time maybe I was moving too fast and I hit an edge of carpet and almost dumped her by stopping too abruptly.

She found a totally great chair, one I don’t think my Dad would have approved of at all. I love it that she made the decision herself, and bought the chair and it is going to be delivered tomorrow – a gorgeous cherry RED leather chair. Wooo HOOOO on you, Mom! 😀

RedChair
(You are going to have to imagine the cherry red part; the only photo I could find online is black.)

August 27, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Community, ExPat Life, Experiment, Family Issues, Humor, Living Conditions, Relationships, Seattle, Shopping | 2 Comments