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Short-shorts and shorts: docs and features: 1m-15ms

After decades of war in the post-colonial Middle East, statesmen and women of the region—particularly the battle-fatigued Israelis-have finally understood something about war and peace that most of us have known all along: there is no military solution to our problems. Lines will be drawn and peace will be achieved through negotiated agreements—or there will be no lasting peace for anyone...

By Crystal Allene Cook

Read about the "Art Knows No Borders" event on November 18, 2008.

Arriving in Yerevan, Armenia on a Fulbright in 2004 to research a novel, I had some specific things in mind. Once on the ground, making friends, talking to people, traveling, many of my preconceived notions of those things, and of myself, soon began to change.

No Borders: by Anna-Marie Lopez de LeonThis eclectic event benefitting Doctors Without Borders includes a silent art auction with work by dozens of contributing artists including Anna-Marie Lopez de Leon, and performances by the Middle Eastern-jazz fusion group Saffron Parade Arabesque Band, Tehran’s heavy metal band TarantisT, belly dancers, deejays and much more. Pic Vicious and Killsonic will perform later in the soirée.

A new bimonthly series of mixers, "Bridges L.A.," seeks to weave together L.A.'s disparate cultural arts producers and nonprofit activists to create stronger bonds of community and solidarity across demographic boundaries.

Organized by Levantine Cultural Center, which bridges cultures of the Middle East/North Africa through the arts to foster peaceful coexistence and a more informed American public, "Bridges L.A." will take place at social watering holes around the Southland, with the first mixer slated for Tuesday, October 21, 6-8 p.m. at The Parlor in Santa Monica.

An exhibit by Ara Oshagan at the The Center for Experimental Art and Architecture through October 17, 2008

Born in Beirut of Armenian heritage, with his degrees in Physics and English Literature from UCLA and a degree in Geophysics from UC Berkley, by day Ara Oshagan is a geophysicist and at other times an accomplished documentary photographer. Scion of Armenian poets, writers and educators, Oshagan is also an avowed novelist manqué who uses photography to narrate his community’s stories—or in the case of “Identity and Community”—interwoven Armenian and Ethiopian narratives. With “three skeletons of novels in my head,” nearly a decade ago he began taking photography to a higher level and has held several solo and group exhibits.

“We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.” —Reda Zine, one of the founders of the Moroccan heavy-metal scene

“Music is the weapon of the future.” —Fela Kuti

Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam: your purchase benefits LCC programmingMark LeVine is the author of Why They Don't Hate Us, Unveiling the Axis of Evil. In his new book, Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, you'll find an eighteen-year-old Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” They are as representative of the world of Islam today as the conservatives and extremists we see every night on the news. Heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae are each the music of protest, and in many cases considered immoral in the Muslim world. This music may also turn out to be the soundtrack of a revolution unfolding across that world.

“I can tell you’re Egyptian when you turn to the side, because everyone knows that Egyptians only have profiles,” Danny—one of my best friends on the planet, who also happens to be Jewish—jests.

I get it. I get it. Ancient Egyptian ruins always depicted the human form as a profile. Fantastic. The Arab-Jew jokes are endless, and his multiple references to Anubis or the irony of our friendship are always appreciated. I sincerely don’t mind it, as he is one of the most decent and intelligent people I know; he shares my belief that the best way to deconstruct stereotypes is to critique their flawed logic via exaggeration, parody, and not-so-subtle humor. Yet it was not until college that I discovered how some people actually manage to possess such naiveté—the very ignorance that Danny I could mock and repudiate without end.

Conversational Arabic Classes, Winter 2009Register Today To Learn "Shami" Arabic Using Diverse Audiovisual Supplements Including Music and Film

Beginning Winter Session: Class meets Saturdays, 1:00-4:00 pm, Jan. 10-March 14, 2009. Instructor: Vivien Sansour.

Intermediate Winter Session: Class meets Mondays, 7:30-10:00 pm, Jan. 12-March 16, 2009. Instructor: Alfred Madain.

Learn Arabic Drumming at Levantine Cultural Center

When: Every Tuesday night (join anytime)
Beginner: 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Intermediate: 8:15 - 9:15 pm

Where: Levantine Cultural Center
1012 S. Robertson Blvd. @ Olympic
Los Angeles CA 90035

Come and join us as we learn the fundamentals of one the most dynamic and exciting drums on earth…the Middle Eastern doumbek!

A Map of Home, by Randa JarrarA Map of Home recently won the prestigious Hopwood Award. Here's what one of our favorite Arab American writers/poets, Naomi Shihab Nye, had to say about this debut novel:

"Jazzy, and vastly intelligent and fun. Jarrar is a wonderworker with delectable details and sweet swerves of surprise. I adore her multicultural mix and her wry, punchy attitude and think she embodies some crucial new-world Arab-American that I wish the whole world could see, the old worlds and the smug self-satisfied pundits who think they can know or guess what a creative spirit might really be. I turn to her for gusto." - Naomi Shihab Nye