Escape from Saddam

I really enjoyed, Escape from Saddam. I couldn't believe how graphic this novel was, just even in the very beginning when Lewis' Uncle Saad was telling him about having to join Saddam's army.
"You haven't got any choice. You've been called up, and if you don't go they will consider you to be a deserter. When they catch up with you--which they will if you are still in the country . . ." He made a deft flicking sign by his right ear to indicate its removal--the standard punishment for anyone who went awol. "I've seen people selling these ears on the black market so that deserters can have them sewn back on. Trust me, they are not a pretty sight" (6).
In the United States, with the exception of the draft, if someone does not want to be in the military, they don't have to. I thought the passage immediately after showed how the uncle was truly trying to talk his nephew out of his desire to escape the army.
"Saad looked around nervously, checking that no passersby--no matter how innocent they looked--could overhear our conversation. Idle talk had a tendency to find its way back to military intelligence, and the consequences could be severe. "I don't know, Sarmed. The stakes are higher now. Not attending university is one thing, but running away from the army is quite another. If any of my colleagues were caught deserting during the Iran-Iraq war, they were shot in front of their relatives and the families had to pay for the ammunition" (6).
I can't believe the last line, the family had to watch the execution. How terrifying and horrible would that be. It is such a different world, a different culture, one to me that's nearly unimaginable. His journey itself was incredibly heroic.

Waltz with Bashir

I thought this film was incredible. I was such a drastic change to what we had been watching all semester and even though it was animated, I think it was more powerful than had it not been. Most documentaries are somewhat flat, even Michael Moore the instigator, has his limits to his films. I think the fact this one was animated gave it such a different and more dynamic feel. The film definitely had some surrealism in it, but I think this was the best thing for the movie because it is difficult to portray dreams and emotions with tangible objects of typical film. By animating it, we could see how the characters' dreams were influencing how they responded to such a terrible tragedy. At the end, the director showed actual footage from the massacre and I found extremely difficult to watch emotionally. I think if the entire film had been done that way, I would not have lasted very long before getting too emotionally overwhelmed. Showing actual footage solidified the reality of this terrible event. I think it portrayed both sides very well. Of course we respond more toward the Lebanese because of what they suffered through, but the filmmaker (unlike most others) shows there are always two sides and there may not be a clear line defining them. There is so pity shown for the Israelis as well, not nearly as much, but they were still horribly effected by it also. I think this film shows another way of how to bring a non-traditional text or media into the classroom to help more people benefit by it. One knows when they are in the presence of a great, cerebral film because those few minutes of silence afterward are the class trying to process the amount and type of information that was presented and more importantly, they are giving it time to resonate within themselves.

Beheading the Cat, The Metallic Crocadile, Does This Make My Head Look Big and Guest

Part of this group's reading were two short stories, a novel and today we had a guest speaker. The first short story was called the Beheading of the Cat and I actually liked this story a lot. It was about a man who sees the ghost of his aunt Badriyya who is trying to match him up with a young girl of fourteen. The girl is portrayed by the aunt to be the ultimate wife, a slave in fact. He is already seeing a woman named Nadine, a free-spirited student. Nadine scares him, she is so wild and he is infatuated with her, but she makes him uncomfortable. I really liked Nadine's character, she knows what she wants and knows how to get it. If Abdul can't handle her, then it is his loss. She doesn't need a man to define who she is as a person. Abdul struggles with the traditional arranged marriage and values his aunt lays out for him, and wanting someone like Nadine to have a connection with, but at the same time also tame. I thought it was interesting that Nadine referred to him as her Lebanese Hamlet focusing on the key line "To Be or Not To Be" as a allusion to his wishy-washyness. Overall, I think this was a good story for their group because I think it showed the struggle between traditional Lebanese values (the aunt) and modern Lebanese values (Nadine). The second story was a little more difficult for me to understand. I was confused with the structure of the story, what the underlying meaning of the story was. We also read Does This Make My Head Look Big In This, which is a book about a 16 year old girl, Amal who decides after four days of serious consideration that she wants to wear the hijab to honor her faith. I found it interesting that she deliberated for only four days. To me it seemed like a short period of time. A girl's appearance is very important in high school and the fact that she is bullied for it at school, makes me wonder why she made the decision she did. But at the same time, despite the fact she is bullied she was courageous enough to stick to her beliefs. Finally, the guest speaker, Monica Eraqi I thought was fantastic. She was really so close in age, I could tell the class was very comfortable asking her questions about her life and really wanted to know more. It was great to hear what her experience with arranged marriages was like. The way she described it as being like eHarmony.com made it seem not so foreign. To me, it almost seemed more realistic. I'd rather have my family who knows me at my best and at my worst find me a husband than some computer program. I also thought it was so interesting to find out about her upbringing and how two very different cultures have influenced her life. Overall, I think the culmination of the film, readings and guest speaker gave us a good idea of what life is like for people of Middle Eastern decent living in Western culture.