Photography Contest
I received this in the e-mail this morning – I wonder if there is any requirement to BE Muslim? I like the idea of the contest and thought I would pass it along to you, which is (I am guessing) the reason someone sent it to me:
Audio Visual & Cinematic Department of Culture in the East Azerbaijan provience in cooperation with the E-A Society for Artistic Photography is going to plan the “First International Artistic Photography Contest on Islamic Unity”.The organizers belive that there are many symbolic – abstractor real subjects around the world of Islam & Muslems that can be artisticly photographed – exhibited and saved to show the next generatins as well as gathering all muslems in one community.
The Contest will be held with the regulations as below:
1. All photographers form all over the world can participate.
2. Both B&W and Colour photos are accepted (up to 10 photos)
3. A copy of photos(1000 pixel) must be sent for judging and the accepted works will be asked to be sent or printed
in large size in full resolution after the first selections by the jury. (negatives and slide films can be scanned or printed in small size 13*18 cm to send)
4. Selected photos will not be returned. and will be exhibited in galleries. and will not be returned.
5. All selected photos will be published in a book and will be sent to the winners and those whose works are selected.
6. There will be 10 prize winners who wil be invited to attend the exhibition and the Winners Award Ceremony.
7. All rights of accepted photos belong to the photographers and organizers will only use photos to publish a catalogue and hold exhibitions.
8. All other unpredicted terms will be decided by the organizer.
9. Workshops will be held by the organizers during the contest.
10. Attach your name, address and the title of the work on the rear of each work.
Prizes:
Winners will receive An honorary diploma and prizes in cash as below:
1 st Prize (1000 euros in cash(
2 nd Prize (800 euros in cash)
3 rd Prize (500 euros in cash(
And From 4th to 10th selected by the jury (300 euros for each(
Closing date for arrivals of entries: 3/April/2008
Judging and announcement to the winners / selected works: 4/ May/2008
Exhibition: winners award ceremony 23/May/2008
All entries must be sent to:
info@akseensejam.ir
Corruption at the Morgue
Where is the Kuwaiti detective novel? I follow Guido Brunetti in Donna Leon’s series on Venice, Dave Robicheaux, the James Lee Burke detective in a small town just outside New Orleans, and now, Investigator Chen, who is a chief investigator in China, but where, oh where is the Kuwait detective / mystery? It is just waiting to be written.
In yesterday’s Kuwait Times is an article I would love to link you to, but it isn’t there, not even when I search “female coroner” from the headline on page 3. Did you know Kuwait had a female coroner, a la Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan and Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpatta? As you read the article, it makes sense, as the bodies are kept semi-segregated in the morgue, and women work on women (some of the time) and men on men.
I’m impressed. Any time a woman takes on a traditionally men’s job, it takes a whole lot of courage. I imagine the requirements to be a coroner here are similar to other countries – you have to have a medical degree (be a doctor) and then have advanced training in forensics. So when Nawal Boshehri speaks out, I listen. She’s got my attention.
Nawal Boshehri says conditions in the morgue are awful. From a personal point of view, she has been sexually molested by her superior and frozen in her position over false accusations that she has not been going to work or signing in or out. She has asked the minister of interior to look into her complaints.
As an institution, she reports serious issues – labs that lack necessary equipment, to do tests, such as those that measure drugs and alcohol in the bloodstream, outdated machinery, rusty machinery, lack of ventilation (in a morgue! horrors!) and she states they are constantly in fear of getting infections.
She claims that reports have sometimes been manipulated and twisted to give prosecutors the wrong technical information that would sometimes end up setting a guilty person free, and that one time they certified a murder had been insane without him ever having been examined by any mental health professionals. She was once asked to provide a report that made one citizen swap places with the assaulted expatriate, so that the assaulted expatriate would appear to be the guilty party.
She adds that she fears for her life. She says “a senior coroner at the department falsified reports, namely those related to detainees, who underwent police brutality during interrogations. He usually did this as favors to his colleagues to help them get promoted instead of being punished for their brutality.” She added that because she has reported these things, she fears for her own life.
Every nation has corruption. Corruption is chaotic, and when you get serious about rule of law, you still have corruption, but you do your best to root it out. You report it when it happens. I think that Nawal Boshehri has enough confidence in Kuwait’s institutions to go public with her allegations. While it may appear dirty laundry, that she CAN go public is a very positive sign. I can imagine she fears for her life, and yet, she seems to be fighting to retain her job. That’s very brave.
That the Kuwait Times will publish the article on page three, in three columns, that is also very brave, and speaks well of the increasing confidence in a free press.
Wouldn’t this make a great detective novel?
Deemaland
You know, I always visit my commenters to make sure they are not someone marketing drugs or enlargements or some kind of objectionable filth, and also because I often find a blog I haven’t seen before, and I really like.
I found one like that yesterday – Deemaland. When you go there, the first thing you see is this:
Oh my friends, is that gorgeous, or what?
Then, she tells us about an exhibit:
9-13 Mar. 2008
Event: “Architectural Catwalk”
5th Annual Exhibition of Architecture
Host: Kuwait Architectural Student Association [KASA]
Type: Exhibition of the students work.
Location: Al-Raya Complex, Sharq district, Kuwait City.
(the exhibition is in the Ground floor of the mall side)
Only on HER blog, even the information looks artistic.
This woman has an EYE. She publicizes events that otherwise might go unnoticed. Go visit Deema’s starkly beautiful blog. Also, take a look at her gorgeous Flicker photos.
College Level Classes for Older Adults
AdventureMan and I fantasize about what retirement will look like, even though it is a few years ahead of us. It helps to think about what is coming and how we are going to handle it.
We have a house near my Mom, and Mom sent AdventureMan a clipping from the local paper about classes being taught for “older adults” (WHEN did THAT happen, we wonder, when did we become “older” adults???) with the sweet note that AdventureMan could teach a few classes.
Here are some of the classes offered at the college near us:
Africa: A Closer Look
The Canterbury Tales, Part I and Part II
Civil Liberties and Security
Current Issues Forum
End of Life Decisions
Geology of National Parks
The History of the Supreme Court
Jazz: Can You Dig it?
The Many Faces of Hinduism
Native Basketry of the columbia Plateau, Northwest Coast and Arctic Alaska
The Poetry of Billy Collins
The War of 1812
He’s excited about the idea. So as we were planning to pray together before he left for the day, we were chatting excitedly.
“You could teach some classes on buying hand woven carpets! or on Arabic culture! or you could teach about some aspect of Africa!” I suggest. (I have my own projects that keep me very busy.)
“I was thinking more about organizational classes – managing organizations, financial management, that kind of thing . . ” he responded, “You know, like organizing your life . . .”
(I can see that manic gleam come into his eye and I know what is coming next might well be something I don’t want to hear. . .)
“I’ve got it!” he exclaims, and he starts laughing, because he is already cracking himself up. “I can teach a class called . . . HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR WIFE! Ha ha hahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahhahahah.”
I can’t help it. I am laughing too. But it’s not THAT funny, AdventureMan.
Old Mosque Near Mubarakiyya
I really wanted to include this photo just to show you how very blue the sky was yesterday. The white of this mosque’s minaret provides contrast:
Just as the Sabille is placed on the street to provide water for the thirsty, the local mosques usually have a place to wash before prayers.This washing is required and is called Wudu. Some places are very utilitarian, but the mosque above, and the nearby women’s mosque, have a beautiful place for washing:
The tile pattern is intricate:
Twilight 7 Mar 2008
Last night had to be one of the most beautiful nights I have seen in Kuwait. The weather was perfect. The haze lifted – have you noticed that Fridays are often the least hazy day of the week?
Is it less automobile traffic? Is it some factory not active on Fridays which pours out pollutants during the week? For some reason, if there is a really clear day in Kuwait – and that is a big “if” – it will be a Friday.
People were eating outside everywhere it was possible. The weather was warm, without being hot. It had a different feel to it; it felt like living in a more European country. Last night, when it got dark, you could even see stars in the sky – 90% of the nights in Kuwait, it is too hazy to see all but one or two of the very brightest stars with the naked eye.
Here is what it looked like at twilight:
Yes, there is still that worrisome band of thick hazy something on the horizon, but at twilight, it goes that lovely purple grey color, surrounded by bands of pink in the water and the sky as the sun is setting. A total WOW.
Goat Grope
I love living in Kuwait. Just when you start to take everything for granted, you get a little jaded, you even start driving a little like a Kuwaiti, something happens that reminds me I’m really not in Kansas, and I get a big grin. The other day, on a back highway, we came across a whole herd of camels. We used to see these all the time in Qatar, but this is my first time seeing camels just out roaming in such large numbers in Kuwait. Just reminds me how amazing life is, this little girl from Alaska is out watching a camel herd in Kuwait. Just too amazing for me.
In the middle of the most opulent housing areas in town, you will hear roosters crowing. Sometimes, near the Eid festivals, you will hear sheep baaaaaahhhhhh-ing.
Leaving a local store recently, I heard a very very loud, desperate cry, like “NNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” and I looked around and there was a woman, and her son, and a very reluctant, very large, totally freaked out goat. The little lady has one of those camel whips, and she is whipping the hell out of the goat, the son is pulling on the muzzle, the goat has his feet dug in and is rearing back and howling for dear life.
Goats really are not my favorite creatures. I find them very . . . hmmmm.. . . . goaty. They have these filthy beards that always have stuff caught in them, they have these weird cold eyes that sort of pop out of their heads, and there is nothing cute about them, but this goat’s screaming really got me. At the same time, watching these two grown-ups with this very very stubborn goat made me laugh. To get the goat across the road, the son had to pull with all his strength, and the little old woman had to get behind and push. I wish I could have taken that photo, but I was busy turning my car around to go back and get any shot I could get.
And THAT is why I tell you to always carry your cameras in your car!
Al Ahmadi Minaret
I see a lot of new mosques going up in Kuwait, and I see a lot of renovations. I just wish someone would spruce up this beautiful old minaret in Al Ahmadi. Looks to me like it is well-built, just needs a new coat of paint. And then I start to wonder, do mosques have committees, like churches do? We have the committee for the church grounds, the committee to take care of the altar, the committee to welcome new members, the committee to work with church school programs for the children . . . it goes on and on!
Do mosques have citizens committees?
And Everything Went Wrong
Five minutes ago there was another accident outside my house. I was on the phone before I even spotted it, calling 777.
The guy who hit the other guy is backing up and . . .DRIVING AWAY! There must be 20 witnesses with cell phones looking dumbfounded as he is driving away, but not so dumbfounded they are not taking photos of the car with their cell phones and writing down the license number. I am sorry, whoever was the hitter was dumber than dumb.
777 rings and rings. Some man finally answers, sounding annoyed, and when I ask for the traffic police, he says something – it didn’t sound very nice – and hung up on me. (The women must have gone home. They are always polite, efficient, and competant.) When I dialed the local police directly (yep, we’ve talked before so I DO have their number) NO ONE answers.
It is time for prayer, but . . . 20 minutes later, the hit car is still causing all kinds of traffic problems and no one can do anything because no police are coming.
Update – two minutes later, there are cops, there is an ambulance, and there are 20 people showing photos to the police of the numbskull who hit and run. Don’t you just love technology?
Sabille Shop
I love sabilles. Sabilles are localized charity, “in a dry and thirsty land” they are provided by generous souls that the thirsty might have cool, fresh water to refresh thenselves in the heat of the day. You will see them at mosques, along city streets, in every neighboorhood. They come in fanciful shapes; if you type “sabille” into the HT&E search window, you will see more. I love the Kuwait Liberation Tower ones, and also the water-tower wannabes, but I also like the ones that look like old castles or old doors or jugs. I love it that people go to the trouble to make something utilitarian interesting, even artistic.
Recently, I found a shop in the Wafa Mall that sells sabilles:
The shop is called Fine Things, and also has some fancy presentation boxes and this, which looks like a mail box to me, but might be for collecting charitable donations, or . . . ? I might be totally wrong. Your guess is as good as mine:
I like this tiny little mall because it has commercial kitchen supply shops with all kinds of display cases and things you don’t find very often. There is also a mattress shop; I always laugh when there is a family shopping there for mattresses because the parents don’t say “NO!” to their kids, so the kids are JUMPING ON THE MATTRESSES! The salesmen seem unable to ask the parents to make them stop.
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