Archive for May 2017

Are you a writer? What’s the source of your money? How you survive?

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 31, 2017

In: biographies/books | economy/finance | Essays | social articles
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Are you a writer? Where the money comes from?

Why it’s a problem that writers never talk about where their money comes from?

Here’s my life. My husband and I get up each morning at 7 o’clock and he showers while I make coffee.

By the time he’s dressed I’m already sitting at my desk writing. He kisses me goodbye then leaves for the job where he makes good money, draws excellent benefits and gets many perks, such as travel, catered lunches and full reimbursement for the gym where I attend yoga midday.

His career has allowed me to work only sporadically, as a consultant, in a field I enjoy.

Why it’s a problem that writers never talk about where their money comes from

The truth is, my husband’s hefty salary makes my life as a writer easy. Pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone

All that disclosure is crass because in this world where women will sit around discussing the various topiary shapes of their bikini waxes, the conversation about money (or privilege) is the one we never have. Why?

I think it’s the Marie Antoinette syndrome: Those with privilege and luck don’t want the riffraff knowing the details. After all, if “those people” understood the differences in our lives, they might revolt.

Or, God forbid, not see us as somehow more special, talented and/or deserving than them.

There’s a special version of this masquerade that we writers put on. Two examples:

I attended a packed reading (I’m talking 300+ people) about a year and a half ago. The author was very well-known, a magnificent nonfictionist who has, deservedly, won several big awards.

He also happens to be the heir to a mammoth fortune. Mega-millions. In other words he’s a man who has never had to work one job, much less two. He has several children; I know, because they were at the reading with him, all lined up. I heard someone say they were all traveling with him, plus two nannies, on his worldwide tour.

None of this takes away from his brilliance.

Yet, when an audience member — young, wide-eyed, clearly not clued in — rose to ask him how he’d managed to spend 10 years writing his current masterpiece — What had he done to sustain himself and his family during that time? — he told her in a serious tone that it had been tough but he’d written a number of magazine articles to get by.

I heard a titter pass through the half of the audience that knew the truth. But the author, impassive, moved on and left this woman thinking he’d supported his Manhattan life for a decade with a handful of pieces in the Nation and Salon.

Example two.

A reading in a different city, featuring a 30-ish woman whose debut novel had just appeared on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. I didn’t love the book (a coming-of-age story set among wealthy teenagers) but many people I respect thought it was great, so I defer.

The author had herself attended one of the big, East Coast prep schools, while her parents were busy growing their careers on the New York literary scene. These were people — her parents — who traded Christmas cards with William Maxwell and had the Styrons over for dinner. She, the author, was their only beloved child.

After prep school, she’d earned two creative writing degrees (Iowa plus an Ivy). Her first book was being heralded by editors and reviewers all over the country, many of whom had watched her grow up. It was a phenomenon even before it hit bookshelves. She was an immediate star.

When (again) an audience member, clearly an undergrad, rose to ask this glamorous writer to what she attributed her success, the woman paused, then said that she had worked very hard and she’d had some good training, but she thought in looking back it was her decision never to have children that had allowed her to become a true artist.

If you have kids, she explained to the group of desperate nubile writers, you have to choose between them and your writing. Keep it pure. Don’t let yourself be distracted by a baby’s cry.

I was dumbfounded.

I wanted to leap to my feet and shout. “Hello? Alice Munro! Doris Lessing! Joan Didion!” Of course, there are thousands of other extraordinary writers who managed to produce art despite motherhood. But the essential point was that, the quality of her book notwithstanding, this author’s chief advantage had nothing to do with her reproductive decisions. It was about connections. Straight up. She’d had them since birth.

In my opinion, we do an enormous “let them eat cake” disservice to our community when we obfuscate the circumstances that help us write, publish and in some way succeed.

I can’t claim the wealth of the first author (not even close); nor do I have the connections of the second. I don’t have their fame either. But I do have a huge advantage over the writer who is living paycheck to paycheck, or lonely and isolated, or dealing with a medical condition, or working a full-time job.

How can I be so sure? Because I used to be poor, overworked and overwhelmed.

And I produced zero books during that time.

Throughout my 20s, I was married to an addict who tried valiantly (but failed, over and over) to stay straight. We had three children, one with autism, and lived in poverty for a long, wretched time.

In my 30s I divorced the man because it was the only way out of constant crisis. For the next 10 years, I worked two jobs and raised my three kids alone, without child support or the involvement of their dad.

I published my first novel at 39, but only after a teaching stint where I met some influential writers and three months living with my parents while I completed the first draft.

After turning in that manuscript, I landed a pretty cushy magazine editor’s job. A year later, I met my second husband. For the first time I had a true partner, someone I could rely on who was there in every way for me and our kids.

Life got easier. I produced a nonfiction book, a second novel and about 30 essays within a relatively short time.

Today, I am essentially “sponsored” by this very loving man who shows up at the end of the day, asks me how the writing went, pours me a glass of wine, then takes me out to eat. He accompanies me when I travel 500 miles to do a 75-minute reading, manages my finances, and never complains that my dark, heady little books have resulted in low advances and rather modest sales.

I completed my third novel in eight months flat. I started the book while on a lovely vacation. Then I wrote happily and relatively quickly because I had the time and the funding, as well as help from my husband, my agent and a very talented editor friend.

Without all those advantages, I might be on page 52. OK, there’s mine. Now show me yours.

Ann Bauer is a frequent contributor to Salon and the author of a new novel, “Forgiveness 4 You.”

More Ann Bauer.

Tags: adonis49, Alice Munro, Ann Bauer, Doris Lessing, Forgiveness 4 You, Joan Didion, money, Salon, writer

Pre-Independence Lebanon: In Pictures

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 31, 2017

Pre-Independence Lebanon: In Pictures

Australian Army Archives Reveal Pre-Independence Lebanon

In Rare 1941 Footage

by Nadine Mazloum , LBC GROUP news

13-02-2015

13:00

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In what may be a super rare find, this gem of a video appeared before me on YouTube.

Not only does it depict Lebanon’s Cedar ski slopes in 1941 but the low number of views makes it all the more worthwhile.

The rare footage, as shot by the Australian Imperial Forces depicts the soldiers first ski unit, which was raised and trained in the Cedars.

The footage was shot by some of Australia’s pioneering war photographers, Frank Hurley –also recognized for accompanying Ernest Shackelton on his famous ill-fated Endurance expedition to Antarctica in 1914-1916 and Damien Parer, considered one of Australia’s best known combat cameramen.

“The Cedars of Lebanon are a clump of trees 6000 feet up in the Lebanon Range. This range extends along the coast and has 2 skiing centers, Les Cedres and Beskinta…The school classes were held on the slopes opposite the hotel…” -The description within the video reads.

While it isn’t the usual sensationalized videos that we see of Lebanon in the past, with models adorned in jewelry, glamorous cocktail parties as narrated by a Voice-Of-God stylized raconteur; it does depict the ski slopes of Lebanon following the defeat of Vichy France by the allied forces, which consequently led to Lebanon’s independence from the French in 1943.

So what were the Aussie forces doing here exactly? A little history.

The Battle of Beirut on the 12th of July 1941 marked the end of hostilities in the Syria-Lebanon campaign of WWII between Vichy-France and the Free French, British and Australian alliance.

As part of the coalition, Australian troops –specifically the Australian Imperial Forces advanced from northern Palestine towards Beirut after which an armistice was signed two days later bringing into effect a cessation of hostilities.

The Aussies part in the World War II alliance is often overshadowed, but back in the land down under, it is celebrated as an integral part of the Australian yearly calendar.

Veteran soldiers who fought during WWI, also known as diggers hold special reverence in both Australia and New Zealand.

Which brings me to my point.

As an Australian born repatriated Lebanese, I have to say that ties between Canberra and Beirut pale in comparison to the past.

Given that Australia is now home to over a million Lebanese expats, the bond should have become stronger seemingly since Australia played a major role in our independence at home and growth overseas.

But how can that come to be?

I’ll leave it up to the concerned parties to figure it out. And by concerned parties I’m looking at the:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants

Australian Embassy in Beirut

Lebanese expatriates in Australia

Tags: adonis49, Battle of Beirut, Damien Parer, Ernest Shackelton, Frank Hurley, Nadine Mazloum, Pre-Independence Lebanon

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 36

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 30, 2017

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 36

I feel despondent: Nothing but the good came from mother. And they made sure to punish her by Not paying her visits, or Not having any patience to listen to her. She overcome all her pains and suffering to visit everyone of her relatives, whenever she could get a ride. She used to return home upset at the cruelty of those she visited

The peasant wants to work his land, in a routine fashion: leave out politics and offer him a pair of boots.

La vie est jeune. Les illusions aussi. Toujours jeunes, car changeant.

Far more medias work on maintaining the Silence of the mafia activities in institutions: radio and TV channels that focus on songs, entertainment and booze adv. work for the Silence

Beaucoup de pays sont devenus riche (accumulant des capitaux) a cause des esclaves travaillant dans leur colonies: L’ Angleterre, the USA, la France, les Pays Bas, la Belgique, l’ Espagne, L’Allemagne et en important des esclave, le USA, le Brazil, Cuba

Pendant 5 siècles, le Portugal recevait de l’ argent, payer par les importateur de l’ Afrique du Sud et de la Rhodesie des travailleurs du Mozambique, qui étaient utiliser dans les mines

The decade of 1950’s inaugurated the carrier of thousands of revolutionaries who solidly believed that history belonged to those who fight a noble and just cause. They believed that the masses were ever ready for the signal to march.

Guatemala? find it on the map. In central America. Was created in 1838, after the cholera wiped out the population, by a bigot and analphabet Rafael Carrera. Since then, bloody and uneducated generals rules this state and decimated the Indians who were used as slaves (90% of the population) and imported German and USA colons to plant the land with coffee, banana and fruits. Over 90% of the land of the US United Fruit Company was not planted and the US refused the peasants to plant these lands.

Óu irions nous si cette bande d’ abrutis apprenait a penser?

L’ enseignement de l’ histoire de mon pays est une desolation. C’ est le cas des petits états et des pays qui furent occupiés et colonisés pendant des siècles

Beaucoup de Papes ont étes les princes des nouveaux pharisiens

Ce sont les chercheurs comme Pasteurs et ceux qui ont décovert les vaccins et les anti-biotiques qui doivent étre cannoniser. Pas ceux qui ont faits deux miracles après leur mort.

Les bons Chrétiens empoisonnent les personnes après les premiers accés de rage d’une morsure d’un chien enragé.

En 1298, Pape Boniface 8 a dit: les lois de toutes les religions ont éte inventées par les hommes. Le Christ été un homme comme nous. Ce Pape ne croyait pas a l’ au-dela

Sornette dit le medecin Abrenuncio. Ou bien on attrape la rage ou pas. Il est facile d’ attributé aux medicaments la guerison de ceux qui n’ ont pas attrapé la rage.

Le Marquis ne sortait que pour les grandes occasions, surtout les funerailles

Nos fautes ne sont pas si grande que Dieu doive s’ occupier de nous. Qu’il s’occupe de la CIA et Israel

L’ esclave Dominga pratiquait deus religions, le Catholicism et le Yoruba de son pays natal d’ Afrique. Son âme etait en paix: ce qui lui manquait dans l’ une d’ elles, elle le trouvait dans l’ autre.

J’ ai les mains d’ un artiste, l’ oreille d’ un artilleur et l’ entêtement de tailleur de pierre

Auncun fou n’ est fou tant que l’ on se plie â ses raisons. Tous les dictateurs et fou du pouvoir absolu font de leur mieux pour que leur folie n’ éclatte pas publiquement. Un silence de fou doit régner

Il n’est de medicine qui guérisse ce que ne guerit pas le bonheur

Most CIA important agents are assassinated by the CIA: They are Not to live long enough to divulge this institution dirty activities.

A crime Not investigated in Lebanon is the doing of the CIA and its allies of other State security agencies. Very many assassinations in Lebanon have Not been officially investigated.

Etre expert en monsonge n’ est pas une condition de poête. Plus le style est limpide plus on voit la poésie.

Camarrilla de colonels en Amerique Latine Central, appointed by CIA. Au Liban, on a une Camarilla de feuodaux et banks qui veulent une loi électorale sur mesure

Les cretins des cretins: John Foster Dulles and his brother Allen Dulles, and the US ambassador to Guatemala in 1958 Peurifoy

Tags: adonis49, Amerique Latine, Camarrilla de colonels, Guatemala, Notes and comments, silence

Favorite Fonts From Around Beirut

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 30, 2017

Favorite Fonts From Around Beirut

From old fashioned street signs to boldface type and trendsetting forms of modern Arabic calligraphy, a stroll through Beirut’s city streets offers a walking history of the beauty in our culture’s unique designs typography.

(Probably a tad of advertisement could be contemplated?)

In Photos: Our Favorite Fonts From Around Beirut

In this photo essay by Leah Souweid, Beirut.com visually explores the powerful role fonts play in shaping the aesthetic of the city.

Located all over the city, these large white signs are always pointing passersby in the right direction (Bliss Street).

One of the better-known supermarkets on Hamra Street.

Signature blue road signs found all over Beirut.

One of the many Lebanese shops for delicious ‘mana2eesh’ (Clemenceu).

This literally “homey” bistro is a great place to sit, talk, and eat (Clemenceu).

Half-lit French sign, translating to “square”, located on Hamra street, an identifier of the area.

One of the many chains of banks all over Lebanon (Ashrafieh).

Temporary homes for visitors or students (Hamra).

Exchange for change (Hamra).

“Maxime’s Spaces for Events and Occasions”, in beautiful Arabic typing. (Sadat Street).

Some signs are telling of this multilungual society (Sodeco).

“Housing Bank”, in bright Arabic letters (Hamra).

Hotel by the Mediterranean sea, perfect for summer visits (across from Corniche El Manara).

Aged words as old as a city (Gemmayzeh).

These brown signs make an appearance frequently in front of churches (Gemmayzeh).

“Leila’s coffee” restaurant–perfect for a quick bite (Verdun)

Go-to eatery, with locations all over Lebanon, an affordable favorite (Kaslik).

Busy street corners full of signs, mirroring the business of the people in Beirut (Mar Mikhael).

The constant creation of new concrete and steel (Hamra).

Tags: adonis49, beirut, Favorite Fonts, Leah Souweid, modern Arabic calligraphy

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 35

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 29, 2017

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 35

Who would answer to the terrible obstinate crimes against humanity? If Not the obstinate witness, and whistle-blowers?

Ce n’ était poutant pas ma faute si ma guerre n’ était pas brillante: Tous les jours, j’ étais au rendez-vous dans le ciel et mon avion revenait criblé d’ éclats et moi sain et sauf.

Je bombardais seulement, pas un metier spectaculaire, comme dans la chasse.

La solitude du soldat face a la mort: C’ était le lot de tous les armées du monde Arab en guerre contre Israel. La sociéte civile s’ en fouter pas mal de la condition du soldat. Syrian soldiers left by the side of their tanks for Israeli jets to bomb them

Dans le tier monde, la frontiére entre vie et mort se dilue dans la pauvreté, la famine, la négligence et l’ insouciance. La mort des jeunes est habituelle et generalisé

Le proper de la guerre est de prendre sous ses ailes noires tout le monde, sans exception

Deux langue differentes seulement? Celle de ceux qui ont participés directement á la guerre et celle des civiles? Même en temps de paix, le dialogue est obscure et hystérique

Before this cold winter, my health nurtured adolescent dreams. Hope was still high.

We take it for granted that the eyes are always kept moist. Our inclination to take delicate matter for granted is the source of our difficulties.

I discovered that “eye drops” are the main cure for many health difficulties at a certain age, particularly during the flu season and dry season.

Erdogan of Turkey is ever ready to please the superpowers in public speeches, and never was capable of delivering on promises. He desperately wants to remain a dictator for another decade

Erdogan has been smoking nasty weeds, far longer than Donald Trump. He has no idea where to go from here and how to alienate everyone, inside and outside Turkey

Very funny: explaining False facts as Alternative facts. Kind the difference between conjecture and pseudo-science?

Que le silence régne. Ce sont plutot les témoins des crimes qui sont jugés et maltraités: Il fallait pas voir, entendre, crier, appeler au secours, intervenir…

Le cours devastateur du temps: vider les crypts anciens d’ un covent, une cimetiére… pour ériger un hotel 5 etoiles.

Est-ce vrai? Les cheveux continuent a pousser 1 cm par mois, même après la mort? Les designers de perruques n’ ont qu’ a ouvrire les crypts anciens et tondre les cheveux

Ecoutez le silence qui accable les pays regorgeant de prisons. Les ennemis du silence sont forcés au “silence”

L’ enjeu de la lute contre le silence est la vie humaine des systémes accablés de crime contre l’humanité.

Le silence est un signe de malheur et de crime. Demandez a une mére que veut dire le silence de son bébé dans la chamber voisine

Victoriano Gomez, 24 ans, était le Robin des Bois de Salvador. 14 familles régnees sur tout le territiore, et chaque famille avait son Guardia Rural, recruité parmi les droit-commun. Victoriano encourageait les paysans a reprendre leur terre.

L’ homme craint l’ homme qui a le potential de se faire prendre sa place: l’ emploi publique, á l’ ecole pour son enfant, le lit á l’ hospital…

Le guerillero du Salvador, Victoriano Gomez, a été fusiller par un peloton militaire au stade de foot, avec les équipes de televisions et reporters filmant directe l’ évenement, et le stade était bondé de spectateur. Middle-Age beheading ceremonies

From the port of Bagamoyo in Tanzania in East Africa, one million slaves were exported to the USA

Nos partisans vont á la lute, un fusil á la main et une ardoise d’ écolier sur le dos. On doit rattraper 5 siècles de retard.

Che Guevara and Allende have started the first chapter of the history of Latin America’s popular revolutions. It is looking good, so far.

Tags: adonis49, Allende, Che Guevara, crimes against humanity, Erdogan of Turkey, False facts, Notes and comments, port of Bagamoyo, Salvador, Victoriano Gomez, whistle-blowers

Netflix Ramadan campaign: About female empowerment?

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 29, 2017

In: Essays | Events/Cultural/Educational/Arts | social articles | women
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Netflix have launched a Ramadan campaign

and it’s all about female empowerment!

1 day ago by Bronwen Mehta

We are all fans of Netflix because they have provided us with hours of amazing entertainment which in turn had created hours of conversation and debate with our friends and family over plot lines and characters.

now we have a reason to love them even more: They are launching their first ever Ramadan campaign and it is about women!

After the success of the show ‘Girl Boss’ telling the story of Sophia Amorusa’s journey creating the multi-million dollar fashion empire, Nasty Gal, the Netflix team were inspired to find Girl Bosses all across the Middle East in order to show how badass Arab power women can be! So every day this Ramadan, Netflix will tell the story of one of these Girl Bosses through short videos, so stay tuned for a month of female empowerment.

From chefs to youtubers to artists to business owners, these women represent the best and the most exciting of entrepreneurial spirit!

Of the 30 women that are involved, here are some of our favourite to look out for:

1) Nourane Owais – Illustrator and Photographer

Nourane tells us, “I’m a self-taught illustrator and photographer who also teaches watercolor in Arabic on YouTube, it’s a space that has so little content in Arabic and I wanted to take the challenge of making a contribution to filling it and help introduce more people in MENA to the beautiful art of watercolor.”

She adds, “I hope this Netflix campaign encourages more talented girls to pursue their full potential, I hope more players in the media world realize that women can be exceptional leads, but most of all I hope people see this and really enjoy it and have fun with it!”

Find her on Instagram @nouraneowais

2) Sarrah Abdelrahman- Actress and internet video-maker

According to Sarrah, “It is so important for big companies like Netflix to recognise the skills and talents of women in the Arab world because they have to make double and sometimes triple the effort to make it, so any recognition to these women can only encourage more women and girls out there to step up their game and get motivated to work.”

On what other women involved in the campaign she would recommend, Sarrah tells us, “I was lucky to meet 29 amazing women from all over the Arab world so it’s hard to recommend just one. But if I had to I’d pick Injy Abo el Soud because she is awesome, and Asrar from Saudi Arabia because she is hilarious!”

Find her on Instagram @sarrahsworld

3) Amina Amoniak- Photographer and art director

“I’m not a pro of the superwomen myth, Netflix team respected my own character and nature, they have gathered authentic women that I follow and admire. I trust the event! It will be grandiose!” says Amina.

Find her on Instagram: @amoniak

So stay tuned this month to see all of these fabulous 30 women in action!

Alongside these activations they have released this awesome video ad as part of the campaign showing that through all the stresses that busy women go through, with cooking for lots of people, cars breaking down, needing a power nap at work, we should always take a bit of time everyday to put up our feet and enjoy our favorite shows!

And if you watch closely, you might be able to find 7 hidden references to our favorite Netflix programs.

Check out the video here:

Tags: adonis49, Amina Amoniak, Bronwen Mehta, female empowerment, Girl Boss, Netflix Ramadan campaign, Nourane Owais, Sarrah Abdelrahman, Sophia Amorusa

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 34

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 28, 2017

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 34

Les lois sur la “pureté” des femmes sont apocryphes: ceux qui sont ecrites sont des interpretations mesquines et politiques

J’ attendais que le genie figure de chef providential s’incarnat pour sauver la patrie.

J’ étais bête et le suis demeuré- bête á tuer, á vivre, á espérer, et á triompher ou a être vaincu

On avance dans la vie selon les charactéres dominantes de la mére et du pére. On change bien: on interchange un character plus frequemment qu’ avec un autre. On interpréte le passé selon le charactére de l’instant, qui nous attrape á la gorge.

Si je rêve de transformer le monde en un jardin heureux, ce n’est plus par amour pour les gens que par celui des jardins

Ce phénoméne emergent qui accepte la défaite: comme si on peut etre vaincu, pas broyé

Rendre justice provient d’un esprit esthétique. Si on en manque, justice n’est plus équitable

Pour faire face a la vie, les hommes chanceux s’accrochent á l’opportunité d’une bouée feminine: Qui leur donne le sentiment d’offrir alors qu’ils prennent, de soutenir alors qu’ils s’appuient

The US can provide all the tanks it wants to the Syrian Kurds. Keep in mind, the US will Not retain any military bases in Syria. And the Kurds will prove to be stauncher Syrian nationalists

Le Conseil des Cents a Florence de l’an 1293 avait la responsabilité des finances. Il excluait les plus riches et les plus pauvres.

L’Enfant vit dans les adultes. Le plus difficile pour l’adulte est de consciemment permettre a L’enfant de survivre pour un temps

Ou bien il y a un destin qui joue son jeu, ou il n’y a pas: Autant rester couché et révassé d’un monde heureux

Ceux qui m’avaient promis victoires et laurriers…c’est á eux de se débrouiller

De memoire, aucun ne m’a promis quoique se soit. Ou bien ma memoire défaille, ou bien j’ai refusé de prendre les promesses au sérieux. J’aurai du.

Moi j’ ai pris mes promesses trop au sérieux: je manquais de sagesse

Brexit is a desperate decision to forget the huge gap to catch up with Germany giant economic growth. In the last century, Germany was the economic nemesis for England in world market trade.

Aicha led the first Islam civil war in the battle of the Camel. The sunnis sided with Caliph Ali and the Shias sided with Aicha. Aicha was upset with Caliph Ali dragging his feet in Not apprehending and prosecuting those who assassinated Caliph Othman in Medina.

Pas besoin de rejeter tout ce qu’on nous offre, mais même ce petit offre ne sera pas laché sans une bagarre armée convaincante

L’ennemi c’est l’appareil d’Etat sioniste, maintenu en vie par l’imperialism.

L’ennemi existential c’est le Zionist colonisateur, en Palestine et ailleurs.

Israel aurait la vie bien plus facile si son adversaire direct n’était pas le people Palestinien. Vivre dans une part de l’Ouganda aurait été le paradis de paix.

Les Palestiniens sont plus éduqués, cultivés et plus capable que les Israeliens, même si la moitie est enfermee dans des camps sinistres.

Les Palestiniens, eparpillés dans le monde entire, se connaissent tous et communiquent leurs addresses. Ils n’ ont pas besoin de registre central.

Avoir un ami Palestinien c’ est faire le tour du monde et être invité partout ou on va. C’ est le cas de la diaspora Libanaise, mais moins hospitalliére et communicante.

Les Israeliens ont truffés l’ eau du Jourdain de mines, seule une fine aiguille emerge de l’ eau. Beaucoup de najeurs Jourdanien et Palestiniens ont peris par ces mines flottantes.

Je suis un mauvais homme: J’ ai raté tous mes cibles pendant la guerre. Et mes cauchemars tiennent du remords de n’ avoir pas pu tué

Tags: adonis49, Aicha, Brexit, Conseil des Cents, first Islam civil war, Notes and comments, Syrian Kurds, Zionist colonisateur

40 days later: Israel agreed on 3 demands of Palestinian prisoner hunger strikers

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 28, 2017

Palestinian Prisoners End Hunger Strike in Israel After 40 Days

By IAN FISHER MAY 27, 2017

Palestinians celebrating in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday after prisoners ended a hunger strike over their conditions in Israeli jails. Credit **Mohamad Torokman**/Reuters..

JERUSALEM — Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended a hunger strike late on Friday after 40 days, as their health was deteriorating and after, media reports said, the authorities agreed to 11 of the prisoners’ demands. (Israel had denied them salt for many days)

About 1,700 Palestinian prisoners had taken part in the strike, and Israeli officials said this past week that nearly every prisoner had needed hospital care, including the leader of the strike, Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian politician convicted of five murders in the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.

(Many hunger strikes ended up with the same agreement on demands. In general, Israel renege on its agreements after a few months, depending on the internal political exigencies)

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Barghouti confirmed the end of the hunger strike, timed to the beginning of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting. But he did not specify any agreements with the Israeli authorities. The statement called the strike an “important step towards full respect of the rights of Palestinian prisoners.”

Fadwa Barghouti in front of a picture of her husband, Marwan Barghouti, at a news conference in Ramallah, West Bank, earlier this month. Credit Nasser Nasser/Associated Press

Israeli prison officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday.

The strikers, among 6,500 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, had demanded more family visits, an end to solitary confinement, better health care and greater access to education. Media reports said the Israeli authorities had agreed to a prisoner’s demand for a second monthly family visit.

Israeli officials accused Mr. Barghouti of staging the strike to raise his position in the volatile struggle over leadership among Palestinians.

Polls show that Mr. Barghouti, 57, who has been in prison since 2002, is the most popular leader to replace Mahmoud Abbas, 82, president of the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Abbas met in the past week in Bethlehem with President Trump, and the two reportedly discussed the strike, which has ignited protests in the occupied West Bank over the past month.

Tags: adonis49, hunger strike, IAN FISHER, israel, Marwan Barghouti, Mohamad Torokman, Palestinian prisoners

Key to success? Grit

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 27, 2017

Key to success? Grit

Transcript of “The key to success? Grit”

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.

Mar 9, 2014

When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.

I went to teach 7th graders math in the New York City public schools. And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests. I gave out homework assignments. When the work came back, I calculated grades.

0:35 What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores. Some of my smartest kids weren’t doing so well.

that got me thinking. The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they’re hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram. But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.

After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective.

In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ. But what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?

I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.

I started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study my question was, who is successful here and why? My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy.

We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out. We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition. We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at improving learning outcomes for their students?

We partnered with private companies, asking, which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs? And who’s going to earn the most money?

In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit.

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.

Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.

Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools. I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate.

Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school.

it’s not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee that grit matters. It’s also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out.

To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it.

Every day, parents and teachers ask me, “How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?”

The honest answer is, I don’t know. (Laughter) What I do know is that talent doesn’t make you gritty.

Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent. (Yet, we don’t acquire talent without perseverance)

So far, the best idea I’ve heard about building grit in kids is something called “growth mindset.”

This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck, and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with your effort. Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they’re much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don’t believe that failure is a permanent condition.

So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit. But we need more. And that’s where I’m going to end my remarks, because that’s where we are. That’s the work that stands before us.

We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them.

We need to measure whether we’ve been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.

5:55 In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.

Tags: adonis49, Angela Lee Duckworth, Carol Dweck, Grit, growth mindset, Key to Success, predictor of success

Is Dove France back? The positive attitude gimmick

Posted by: adonis49 on: May 27, 2017

Is Dove France back? The positive attitude gimmick

How great your body looks like

How swell is your talk

Dove is back with yet another ad campaign that has us reaching for our tissues and re-evaluating how we talk about body image.

This time around, Dove is asking that we share #OneBeautifulThought.

Joanna Choukeir Hojeily via Zeina Dakhil. March 27 at 10:15am ·

What It Looks Like To Speak To Others The Way We Do To Ourselves

HUFFINGTONPOST.CA

As in, one positive feeling about our bodies, instead of the negativity we usually direct toward ourselves.

Created by Dove France, the script for this ad was made by asking women on the street to record their most personal thoughts about their bodies, according to FastCoCreate.

In the video, albeit staged, we see how these women reacted when they heard their thoughts read out loud. Or rather, the actresses put into these women’s shoes.

The result? A stunningly impactful video that everyone who has ever had a negative thought about themselves will relate to.

As Nia Shanks wrote on Greatist.com, talking to yourself positively can greatly affect how you feel about your body.

“In the beginning, you may have to fake it a bit and pay yourself the best compliments you can, even if you’re not actually feeling that good about yourself,” she wrote. “Stick with it, and be consistent. After a while, you’ll no longer have to fake it.”

The #OneBeautifulThought campaign has arrived on the tails of the #SpeakBeautiful campaign that, according to TIME, encouraged more positive tweets about body image.

Tags: #OneBeautifulThought, adonis49, Dove France, Nia Shanks, positive attitude

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