In research for my final paper for my Islam and Politics course, I have been amazed at how much has been written about how the West views Islam, and how Muslims and Arabs view the West.
Been reading Said and others, and a lot about Orientalism, and the projection of "The Other," a topic that, as an ethnographer, I'm pretty interested in, anyhow. How are our perceptions of other groups of people formed, and how do these perceptions shape reality? Are these perceptions even accurate? If not, what can we do about it? And always...how does music fit in, what can it (especially lyrics) tell us about these perceptions?
I've been aware, to some extent, that in general, Arabs and Muslims (the two are not the same thing) are lambasted in American media, especially (but certainly not limited to) visual media like film or television. If it's a Muslim in a Hollywood flick, it's probably a turban wearing, machine gun-toting terrorist.
But I've never really thought very deeply about the implications of the overused stereotype. There are over a billion Muslims, and a miniscule fraction of these are terrorist- but we never see the Muslim doctor or the Muslim lawyer or Muslim teacher or construction worker in our films (or at least very rarely, and if we did, they would probably be terrorists, too).
As a result our nation suffers from Islamophobia- a big chunk of the country believes that everything associated with Islam is evil and wrong.
I came across some song lyrics from Disney's Aladdin, which I haven't seen in ages but remember enjoying it as a kid:
"Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your hand if they don't like your face, it's barbaric, but hey, it's home!"
Even in children's films, the stereotype that the Middle East is a desolate, barbaric wasteland is used to introduce the story. But it goes futher- the heroes, Aladdin and Jasmine, have light skin, anglicized features and American accents. The villains have dark skin, hooked noses, and speak in heavily accented voices.
I remember seeing such caricatures of Japanese (Nips) in cartoon strips from WWII that did sort of the same thing. Of the Irish in British newspapers. Of the Jews in German ones. These types of images dehumanize and villify entire groups of people, and this dehumanization leads to things like the Japanese internment camps in America, mistreatment of one nation by another, or the Holocaust.
Images like that say it's ok to enslave another Human, that genocide is justifies.
And so is War.
I'm not saying that Muslim terrorists don't exist, or that they should be banned from film.
What I am saying is that Plato was right- Storytellers rule society as surely as any ruler does- and our stories now tell us that all Muslims are evil terrorists who hate our country. Movies are like moving lesson plans, and they do shape to some extent our thoughts and attitudes about the world. And our thoughts shape our actions.
How do you start changing stories?
This week, J's on night float. He goes in at around 6PM, and this morning he got back home around 8:30 (the clock on my blog is a few hrs. off and I'm not concerned enough about it to fix it).
He delivered 7 babies. The 7th delivery was his 101st procedure (residents have a "procedure log," 25 per page. Some programs use an example "procedure log" to show to applicants, as an indication of the breadth that a program has to offer- but you can't get a longer one anywhere outside of JPS).
He came home wide awake- a symtom of diurnal variation no doubt. We try to black out the windows, I don't play the piano or the radio (I listen to pandora.com with headphones instead)- anything you can do to try and get sleep, because at 6PM it's time to go again- time to basically be a pretty big part in what, for many women, is up there as one of the most important days of their lives.
I suppose that for doctors, a delivery can become something mechanical, routine- but when you stop an think about what is actually happening- it's pretty miraculous, being mixed up with life and death like that.
There are some similarities between what mechanics do and what a physician does. Instead of working with inanimate steel, you're working with live tissue- but the principles are similar. Cars have a skeleton, the beating heart of the engine- it needs fuel like we need food, it needs care and attention to remain healthy. One important difference though- when a car dies you can sell the spare parts and start over.
I was listening to the program "Car Talk" on NPR the other day. I pride myself on being (or at least, making a conscious effort to be) a self-sufficient woman- I can drill stuff, cut stuff, build stuff- so yeah, I occassionally enjoy listening to car talk. In any case, the commentators were talking about a problem with a motor that powers the windshield wipers. They were saying that you could try just putting a new motor in, because hey, it's already broken, so it's not as if anything you do could actually worsen the situation.
Not so with medicine. If J screws up, there is definitely a lot of room for things to go badly.
It just so happens that this week, Thanksgiving week, J's on nights all week long. His family is coming in a couple days- and I'm hoping that J will be semi-lucid at 3PM Thursday for an early dinner before he goes into the hospital.
It just so happens that he's also on overnight call for Christmas (and for both of our birthdays this year- if he's not off for our (5th!) anniversary, I think I might have to hack into the scheduling mainframe and do some monkey-wrenching).
But seeing come to fruition what he's dreamt about and worked for all his life- Jared was one of those people who always knew exactly what he wanted to do- it's worth missing a little time on those days- because every day is a special one.
I've talked before about the L&N mart- the Vietnamese owned corner store a few blocks from our house. I often go there to buy little things, like a bottle of water or juice, gum or nuts. No matter how big or small the purchase, the owner always bowns slightly with his hands held together. I love that, and it's one (of the many)reasons I prefer to go to little corner stores like the L&N over a big box store.
I wonder what he thought when he was moving his family to this country- did he envision opening a store? How did he end up in Fort Worth, TX? How does he feel about our culture; what does he miss about his own?
In this neighborhood, the store is popular- people come here to buy beer and cigarettes, milk and bread, or other little odds and ends people use on a daily basis.
Overall, though, it seems like corner stores are a dying breed. Especially in this part of the world where the cities are designed to be driven in- these corner stores get driven by.
One more project to add to my life list: an ethnography on corner stores- who owns them, what is sold there (and what does that tell us about the neighborhood?), what's the back story of the owners, what role does the store play in communities, and why are they dying out?
Everyday I have more questions than I have answers.
Seriously??? I think there is something to these internet quizzes
You Are a Beagle |
 You are good natured. You enjoy spending time with people and animals. You have a wild, independent streak. If you're left to your own devices, you get in trouble. You love to eat and enjoy food of all kinds. If you don't get enough physical activity, you tend to have a weight problem. You are very stubborn. You don't like authority, and you tend to do your own thing no matter what. |
One of the really cool things about the JPS residency has been the spirituality in medicine seminars at Dr. McCray's house.
Each week he welcomes anyone who wants into his home to come and talk about the spiritual aspects of medicine, and how you can serve humanity through your work in medicine. It's also a time when people can talk about their own struggles in what is an extremely stressful period in their lives- things like how they cope with making a mistake, with being unsure, or how to deal with difficult patient scenarios. His wife makes dinner for all of the time crunched residents, and they get to come together and share a home-cooked meal and talk with each other outside of the hospital.
Incidentally Dr. McCray is the physician who goes to Palestinian refugee camps once a year- he has been such a great resource for me as I've been writing my paper for my Islam and politics course. Like me, he's concerned about human rights issues in Palestine.
One of the many books he's got me turned onto include Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David Shipler. Amazing writing, and a very informative book as well.
The other really good book is Saving the Promised Land by Dilip Hiro- which is a little harder to read, but very, very, unbiased and thorough.
In any case, the other night there was a meeting for the international medicine folks (JPS has a special p4 track for international medicine) and it was amazing to have a house full of like-minded people, from all different backgrounds, who all have the same goal of going out into the world and helping to heal where healing is needed.
I've talked before about how I feel that, along with medicine, education is the other big piece of the puzzle that needs to be integrated with a good health care system in order to really start to improve communities. That's more where I fit in, and there were a couple other educators in the room, and it was great to bounce back ideas about teaching with them.
There's a good group of people here. I'm glad we didn't go to Tyler.
I'm always amazed at the ebb and flow of the semester. I've been in school my whole life- so the way that native peoples uses to think about the world in terms of seasons- that's how I feel about semesters.
It used to be that at this time of the year I would be freaking out. I have, oh, about 60 pages that need to be either written, edited, or revised (or all three!) between now and December 9th.
This sort of thing is what, in undergrad, led me to nothin' butt smokes twice a year to supply my then bi-annual chain smoking habit that lasted until finals were over. Happily, I have progressed since then.
I think I just realize now, after enough semesters behind me, that everything will be ok And, I also realize that most of the work has been done by now. I've learned most of what there is to learn- so what one other person thinks about my work on one paper, or my performance on one test- that's not as important as my effort throughout the rest of the semester. I never have been really motivated by grades- I'm not looking for an "A," I'm looking for knowledge and understanding. I know that there has to be some evaluation- but not thinking in terms of what I have to do to get a certain grade is very liberating.
The other advantage is that, sometime in the past few years- writing is just not the monster it used to be. I think I've learned a lot about writing through running- if you put in a little time every day- you'll reach your goal. I don't think "Today I'm going to run 13 miles." I think, I'm going to run a mile...then, ok, I'm going to run another." and so on.
Apply this to writing, and big papers practically write themselves. I mean, 2pgs a day (hardly a massive workload) translates to 60 pgs. in a month. So I don't think of it as OMG I have to write 60 pages in an EXTREMELY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME! I just think, ok, from now until the end of the semester, I'm going to write a couple pages on Islam, and one a day on Adolf Hitler as a Leader (assigned topic).
And the other thing is- with both writing and running- thinking you can't do something does not help you achieve a goal. So don't focus on what you think you can't do- focus on what you know that you can.
I have two big compost bins in my backyard (thanks B!). I usually go into my house through the back door, and so when people come over, they see my garden- and my compost bins. Usually the first question is, "What are those?" Which I really like- because I get to explain it and talk about how cool composting is.
Elizabeth Anna from the Two Hands urban gardening program likes to say that Ft. Worth is her Africa- which is a sort of tongue in cheek way of saying there's a lot of opportunity here for education.
In any case, the few other people I know who do compost do a good job of putting grass clippings or fallen leaves into the mix, but kitchen waste somehow doesn't always make it to the compost pile. This used to be a problem for me too....but not anymore.
We got a big mixing bowl and we keep it right next to the sink and close to the cutting board. This way, scraps of veggies, egg shells, etc. go straight into the mixing bowl by the sink (as opposed to in the trash or down a garbage disposal). It stays there until the bowl is pretty full,and then taken out and put into the heap.
The idea is that, this way, you don't have to make a trip to the trash cart (or in West Texas, the alley dumpster) every time you chop a bell pepper. Doing this has really decreased our trash load while making some beautiful compost for the garden. And you can feel good ethically disposing of kitchen waste. Win-Win-Win.
Today I'm fully bi-ped and less resemble a one legged stork while walking :)
So, it's a great time to pump out a good chunk of my research paper on how Westerners view Muslims and vice versa, using music as a cultural text for evidence. I also use film, written word, and images, but my personal emphasis is on music, specifically musical lyrics.
I was listening to NPR on my drive back from San Antonio and on the show they had a journalist who covered the auto industry beat for USA Today. She was talking about how Ford, Toyota, and others pay big bucks for product placement in movies- especially things like sports cars in Action films, like in the latest Bond movie.
She went on to say that you can only buy so much though, and you really got a better sense of how cars become integrated in the national psyche when they pop up in vernacular songs. She gave the example of hip hop songs talking about "Caddis" (sp? Cadillacs), and how that image of the Cadillac was a better portrayal of how the cars were integrated into and thought of in society than did the company designed commercials, and that the hip hop songs actually probably did more for the company than any amount of advertising could have done.
I can think of a lot of other examples, like the old 97s song about being born in the back of a Mustang, or the Martin Sexton song about driving out into the west in a Volkswagen van.
In any case, I think it's true what this reporter said about authenticity of culture emerging through music, and I'm sort of using that as a premise or spring board for this paper. There is SO MUCH literature on this topic (How Americans view Muslims, how Muslims view Americans), it's amazing- After searching articles on Pilgrimage music during the Renaissance in Spain and articles on how music is related to the environment or about "sonic landscapes" I am just utterly amazed that a search query can return thousands of results. A nice change, to actually have too much information.
Maybe after I finish this paper I should start another one about what music can tell us about our attitudes towards cars in this country.
Yesterday I ran in the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.
I was really jazzed about running in a rock 'n roll race, since I've heard such great things about them. This was an inaugural even though, and I'm sad to say they have a few kinks to work out. Compared to Dallas's White Rock and Austin's AT&T Marathon, San Antonio just didn't measure up. Even so, it's always an amazing feeling crossing that finish line, and I'm glad I went.
This marathon uses a unique corral system to begin the race- unlike anything I have experienced at any other race. When you sign up for the marathon, you are asked to predict your finishing time. Based on that prediction, you are assigned a start corral. For all the penguins out there, like me, this means you end up in corral 20 or so, and I believe there were about 35 corrals total.
Theoretically, this is not an awful idea, as it eliminates the pushing and shoving that goes on in a lot of races at the start when you get 8 min. milers mixed up with 11 min milers and walkers.
However, the execution of their corral system was lacking, and a completely bizarre system. Instead of 1 start horn, there was a seperate start for each corral, and there was a one minute interval between each corral, so that the last runners in each corral had a minute head start on the corral behind them. This is completely unnecessary, since because each corral is slower than the one before it, the runners in earlier crowds wouldn't need a head start.
It took us an entire hour to even reach the start line, meaning that the elite athletes were finishing up the half marathon as we were barely crossing the start line. Ridiculous. There was much muttering on both ends, the director at the start line saying "Please stop!" or "Be patient" to runners just wanting to start their race, and runners in later corrals offering up "F you!" as a response to the director's request for patience. The general consensus was, just let us run already!
My advice for anyone considering this race: Be generous in your finishing time prediction.
The Shuttle system to even get to the start line was pretty inefficient as well. They had us park at the AT&T center, which is actually pretty far away from the start. Long lines, and then traffic was horrible. We woke up at 4:30 AM and didn't get to the start area until almost 7. (Gun time 7:30). There was a slight delay as a result, so for the people who didn't get to the start area by gun time due to the shuttling woes, it was probably actually a good thing it took so long to get everyone across the start line.
Once we actually started running, (4 hrs. after we began our day!) The course itself was very nice-very flat and fast. There was almost no uphill whatsoever. San Antonio is a great, old city, and part of the course was along cobblestone streets and you got a feel for it's authentic, Hispanic roots. Course support wasn't as strong as White Rock or Austin, and they had Cytomax instead of your typical powerade or gatorade, and it was so sweet it was hard to drink. There was a free gel at mile 10, powerbar caramel, and that was really nice.
The bands were definitely the highlight. Tons of great music along the course- high energy and excited to be there. We ran past a high school marching band, as well.
Running by the Alamo, you had to run off course and wait in line for a photo, so that was a bit of a let down.
I ran with a friend, and there's always that unbeatable feeling crossing the finish line, and this was no exception. The medals were very nice- heavy and a good design including the Alamo. One of my favorite things about marathons are seeing all the different kinds of people. One of my favorites from this race was an older married couple who had matching outfits and held hands while they were running.
We also saw a guy running the whole thing barefoot, and lots of people dressed up in costumes. For some reason, a lot of the costumes involved poofy 50's poodle skirts. Who knows.
The finish area was pretty good, and HEB did a good job of offering up things like bananas and pretzels to finishers.
Overall though, I felt like things were too spread out (expo at the alamo dome, parking at the AT&T center, seperate finish and start areas- they had to truck gear back from the start line to the finish). At the end of the race, you had to wait about an hour to get on the shuttles again. And the line for the shuttles went up and down staircases- not something runners fresh off the marathon course can look forward to. Also, the goodies for a race as big as this (30,000 entries) were not too impressive. You got a shirt and a medal. That's about it.
I'm sticking to White Rock and Austin from now on.
I feel bad for people who had this as their first big race. I at least know that races can be so much better organized and fun.
Next race for me is the Cowtown in February. Can't wait :)
Today I'm headed off for the half marathon in San Antonio. I'm running with a friend back from Lubbock, and we're both so excited about meeting up to run together.
I love seeing cities on foot- there is so much more sensory detail that filters through your system when you're observing at ground level- so much of the world passes you by when you're in a 4 walled steel contraption buzzing by at 60 mph+
Even biking, things pass you by without your even noticing.
But running and walking definitely forces you to notice the world around you.
I checked out the course online- we're running past the Alamo, which will be fun. Of course, the real treat is for the full marathoners- they get to run past 3 missions.
Once you run a half or full marathon, I think pretty much everyone is hooked for awhile. There is so excitement, the air drips with adrenaline. And the cool thing about big marathons is that there is almost always a charity organization benifitting from the whole thing, and recently there has been a big movement to green up marathons (more recycling, solor powered mile markers, organic cotton race shirts, etc.) At least that was the big thing at the Austin Marathon earlier this year.
This race will be my first of the rock 'n roll variety, which means there will be a ton of musicians along the course, and also that the Cult will be playing in the post race concert. :) hahaha not typically my scene but I think it will be fun anyway. And, everyone gets a free beer if they finish the race, and if you can't run 13.1 for a free beer, well, I don't know what could possibly motivate you. And I don't even drink.
In any case, I'll be out this weekend, running my not so little tail off. I'm taking the 'puter with me in the hopes of creating a post race blog update, so we'll see how that goes.
In fieldwork I've found that writing is best almost immediately after an event-while you still have the details and feel clinging to you. Writing and putting those feelings down on paper (or peppered across an electronic screen) is then a cathartic experience, you're almost transferring experience from your body to a written medium.
Now, what comes out might not be particularly cohesive or even readable, but it will be authentic, and you can sort through the mess later. Sometimes it takes a few months of reflection- purposeful or subconcious- for the meaning of experiences to percolate to the forefront of your mind- you might not even know you should be writing about one aspect or another until months after the fact, but at that point, the immediate notes become that much more valuable, because some small detail that was jotted down (something seemingly significant, like the color of a t-shirt worn that day) will trigger a whole host of emotions and data that you can then relate to a new perspective.
That was mildly off topic.
In any case, wish me luck!
So hopefully
Getting back into the swing of things, can't muster much more than a bullet list right now...approaching end of the semester crunch time and all.
*This weekend I'm running the San Antonio Rock and Roll half marathon
*I've added math tutoring to my bag of tricks. I never in a million years imagined people would e-mail me asking for 1-1 tutoring in math. I feel like I have a dozen very part time jobs. Gigs.
*I might join a hip hop band, depending on whether or not a rehearsal session with the musician I met goes well or not...
*One of my classes requires a 10pg. paper every other week. I crank out 10 pagers like a pro now.
*I was thinking, it would be cool to approach management of countries the way doctors approach preventative medicine, a sort of social engineering. The idea being, you can manage disease pretty well with exercise and a good diet, and avoid a huge disease presentation of diabetes- maybe you could do the same sorts of things with countries and avoid diseases of poverty, etc. So what would this sort of preventative medicine entail? Good education and health care, for starters. I'm going to have to think about the rest, but I think the premise is a good one.
*Writing a paper using music as evidence on how the West Views the Middle east and also how the Middle East views the West. Pretty interesting stuff.
from NPR
Completely awesome. Great piano, and her voice has that gravelly, gritty and not to pretty quality that makes flamenco so great.
I love her album, nina de fuego- and I find it interesting how well it fits her background. Her father lived in political exile (how much more flamenco can you get?) from Equitorial Guinea (former and brutally oppressive colony of Spain) and she grew up with gypsies in Mallorca- a beautiful island where millionaire expats come in droves but who also has a poor gypsy barroi. So she grew up an outcast in every way- and flamenco is to a lot of people the song of outcasts; it's in the history.
Because of her heritage, she grew up signing songs from the African tradition, and her mom was a jazz lover (and jazz in a lot of ways is a natural sort of partner for flamenco) so her album is this really interesting mix of flamenco, jazz, with some African influences mixed in.
Things have been quiet for the past week for me in the blogosphere. Definitely fell off of the 1-post-per-day goal. No apologies- doesn't help to be sorry- being sorry won't write a blog for you- just have to jump right back in.
On the docket today is finishing up preperation for a lecture presentation on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. We were randomly assigned topics and unfortunately the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict is something I've researched previously. Generally I like to take on areas of study I know nothing about. So much more exciting, that way.
Then again, it's so nice to revisit topics you care about, and delve even further into a subject, with new perspectives and approaches. And with something as complex and dynamic as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, there's definitely a lot of territory to cover.
Last night was my first official night working a concert for the Arts center down the street for me. It was a jazz collective concert, and I got to set up, prepare plates of food and work the door. Not to mention listening to Amazing music for free. It's nice to be paid in music. I should add 'director of a community arts center' to my list of jobs that I would love to have at some point in my lifetime' list.
J's moved onto the OB rotation. His first night on the job he was on night cover (6PM-8AMish) and he delivered 3 babies. Keeping with the general trend of JPS, he says he learned more in that one night than he did in 4 years of medical school.
One of the grandmothers came in and J took their family history.
"Does anyone have diabetes?"
"Yup"
"High Cholesterol?"
"Yeah, that too."
"High Blood Pressure?"
"Yeah I got all those."
Just to be thourough, she gave J a run down of how she delivered all 9 of her babies, starting with the first one who was born in the back of a cab. She never actually made it to a hospital room to deliver a baby- one was born in the elevator, and on popped out in the waiting area before she could make it to her room.
I can't imagine reading about delivery in books, performing maybe 1 or 2 in med school, then on my first real night on the job, delivering three new lives. Pretty amazing.
J slept most of the day, and was back at the hospital pre-dawn.
I must admit I had little faith in the Obama Pumpkin- But I think it turned out to be a pumpkin you can believe in :) (The Obama Pumpkin has Dr. D to thank for his made knifery skillz)
I like Halloween. I like all holidays that emphasis human liminality- and what better way to do that than suspend belief and dress up in costumes for 24 hrs? I'm also a big fan of pumpkins- entirely underused in the culinary arts, the tradition of pumpkin carving gives people an excuse to make that pumpkin soup or roast up some pepitas- and then the shell gets used as a canvas :)
I'm no expert in the carving arts, but I think some of our crew made a pretty good show of things:
That's Super Mario, a rabid cat, a cool pumpkin face, Obama, and a wolfhound of some sort.