Happy Ramadan to all my Moroccan and Muslim friends. I am always particularly impressed by the expatriates, such as my friend J., who manage to fast virtually alone in a foreign country with a relatively small Muslim population such as the United States. After all, much of the experience of Ramadan is both the shared hardship and the shared celebration each night.
Travel Notes: Asilah
The New York Times has an upbeat travel article on Asilah.
Tree Climbing Goats
Trouble to the East
The New York Times reports:
ALGIERS, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A bomb attack east of Algiers on Tuesday killed 43 people and wounded 38, the Algerian interior ministry said, in one of the bloodiest incidents in years in the OPEC member state.
Map of Morocco: Outal El Haj
Outat El Haj
A nice photo montage of my Moroccan "home town" of Outat El Haj. While the high school, the river Moulouya, and some of the streets are familiar, it looks as though there has been some significant new construction, including apparently a new mosque.
Arab World in Shock, Mourning Over Poet's Death
The Washington Post reports the death of celebrated Palestinian poet and cultural icon Mahmoud Darwish, many of whose poems were also set to music, following heart surgery in Texas.
President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of national mourning to honor the 67-year-old writer who, a close friend said, never came round from a major operation two days earlier.
"The passing of our great poet, Mahmoud Darwish, the lover of Palestine, the pioneer of the modern Palestinian cultural project, and the brilliant national leader, will leave a great gap in our political, cultural and national lives," Abbas said.
"Words cannot describe the depth of sadness in our hearts," he added. "Mahmoud, may God help us for your loss."
New Moroccan Blog in English
I just discovered a very interesting new Moroccan blog in English: Words for Change. Written by a 23-year-old Moroccan journalist, the blog takes on every subject from AIDS to free speech to prostitution in Morocco.
Footnote to History
Ted Sorensen, whose recent autobiography I have just finished, was one of John F. Kennedy's closest confidants and a contributor to the formation of the Peace Corps. How appropriate then that his daughter Juliet, now also a successful lawyer like her father, was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco in the mid-90's.
My Marrakesh Makes the Mainstream Media
Marrakesh's "blogging girl" is excerpted in the Financial Times alongside Edith Wharton.
Thaw?
I hardly think warmer relations between Algeria and Morocco are imminent, particularly in light of the parlous state of the Algerian government, but I guess Sarkozy gets points for trying.
Health Food in a Can
For years my wife has reproached me for eating canned sardines, a favorite snack of mine that she cannot abide. Now, of course, the New York Times has come out with this:
Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
And the world's leading exporter of sardines? Morocco, of course!
Talkin' About Morocco
Two of the premier English language bloggers on Morocco converse in this charming dialog in Global Voices. Jillian C. York, a frequent contributor to Global Voices and author of a well-known pocket guidebook on Morocco, interviews Sandy McCutcheon, the blogging powerhouse behind the wildly popular View from Fez apart from being a prolific Australian author and commentator.
In this interview, McCutcheon briefly describes the painstaking process of restoring his home in Fez, a traditional "riad," to its original quiet elegance. "Riad Zany," named for his wife Suzanna, also an author and a photographer, serves not only as blogging headquarters for the View from Fez but also as locus for frequent concerts of traditional Moroccan music.
Asked for his views on the country's future, McCutcheon expresses optimism tempered by mild concern over the competition that Marrakesh and Casablanca pose to his beloved Fez. This short interview repays the reading, but for the real low down on McCutcheon's immersion in Morocco, one need only turn to his blog.
Al Qaeda Stirs the Pot In Algeria
Al Qaeda is reportedly injecting new life into the bloody Algerian insurgency with guns, men, money, and new tactics.
Muslims Shunned by Candidates
“The joke within the national Muslim organizations,” Ms. Ghori said, “is that we should endorse the person we don’t want to win.” New York Times
Smear
Isn't it rather disturbing that the right wing tries to smear Barack Obama by claiming that he is a Muslim . . . as though that were a bad thing?
Morocco and Polisario Trade Accusations of Human Rights Abuses
After thirty years, the propaganda war over the Western Sahara goes on, and on, and on.
Moroccan Stories
The Guardian favorably reviews Tahir Shah's In Arabian Nights: In Search of Morocco through Its Stories and Storytellers.
Millions for Defense
Morocco is buying 24 F-26 fighter jets from the United States as part of a projected $2.4 billion deal, and the Air Force has just awarded Lockheed Martin a $233.6 million contract to build them. There does not seem to be any immediate explanation as to why Morocco would need or want 24 F-16's, in light of relative quiet on the Algerian border and the Polisario's lack of an air force. See also Western Sahara Info.
Lessons
The highlight of my morning was talking to three fourth grade classes at a local elementary school about life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. The students were very eager to learn more about Morocco, listening avidly and asking scads of questions. Perhaps the topic of greatest interest was Moroccan food, and several students reproached me for making them hungry with descriptions of rich tagines, sweet and savory bastilla, melt in your mouth mechoui, and light, fluffy couscous as only the Moroccans can make it. We discussed the parade of cultures throughout Moroccan history — from Berber to Phoenician to Roman to Goth to Arab to French and Spanish — and the rich variety of language and culture that has resulted. By mid-lecture, I had the students greeting each other in Arabic, with half of the room calling Salaam Alaykum and the other half answering Aleykum Salaam. Among the new ideas for many of the students were mosques, Islam, minarets, and the call to prayer. In addition, they were quite impressed by the Moroccan tradition of lavish hospitality. The last lecture concluded with students playing dress up with my djellaba and silhelm, and it is my hope that I gave them something to think about in addition to the Army, the fire station, and space camp.