March 2011
72 posts
5 tags
Art in the World of a Newly Independent Nation
by associate producer, Shubha Bala
Artist Sayed Haider Raza at Mission Delhi. (photo: Mayank Austen Soofi/Flickr)
“What was so revolutionary was that they insisted on being ‘Indian’ and ‘modern.’” —Maithili Parekh
The Progressive Artists Group was founded in India in 1947, the year the country gained its independence from Britain, to “look at the world from an Indian way, not a...
4 tags
Landing in Israel with Thunderous Applause
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Fellow passenger deboarding the plane in Tel Aviv. (photo: Trent Gilliss)
What you can’t see in the photo above is the incredible sound of raucous applause and joyful laughter that preceded this shot about a minute earlier. Touching the ground in Tel Aviv was met with glee that rang out across the rows of the 747.
I sense it’s more than the ...
3 tags
Maps of Inequity Among the World's Seven Billion...
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
My household just received the latest issue of National Geographic, which contains a massive pull-out poster showing “a composite face of the world’s most typical person” as the total world population nears seven billion people.
The portrait is fascinating to ponder, but it’s the poster’s back side featuring a comparative chart of...
5 tags
WatchThe Practical Mystery of Yoga
by Krista Tippett, host
After my interview with Matthew Sanford a few years ago, I started thinking about yoga. I had dabbled in it intermittently across the years, but until very recently the structure of my life did not yield happily to new “non-essential” commitments. I would sign up for a weekly class and then only attend once or twice.
Then I...
6 tags
Tattoos and Torah: One Woman's Journey to the...
by Robyn Carolyn Price, USC “Reporting on Israel” Journalism Student
Rabbi Rochelle Kamins
Rabbi Rochelle Kamins has not always felt Jewish enough. No youth group or summer camp. She never did all of the things that young Jewish people were “supposed” to do. But she always wanted to feel like she fit, and that she could belong — tattoos, motorcycles, and all. Relaxed in her office...
6 tags
“…15 years ago when I went out into communities, these people would ask me,...”
– —Will Allen, founder of Growing Power in Milwaukee
In his recent interview with Tavis Smiley, Allen credited Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and and the White House Kitchen Garden with getting people of color “back into the game” of what he calls the “good food...
5 tags
5 tags
The Islamification of Weed
by Sharis Delgadillo, USC “Reporting on Israel” Journalism Student
Nejma Shea is a 29-year-old hip-hop artist who categorizes herself as an underground MC. Her socially conscious lyrics are militant, high-pitched, and punchy. Walkin Lyke WAR, her latest CD, describes the hardships of her life’s journey, including a five-year incarceration she served in New Jersey. On stage, she adds to her...
4 tags
5 tags
8 tags
Former African-American IDF Soldier Wrestles with...
by Rosalina Nieves, USC “Reporting on Israel” Journalism Student
Praying with an IDF soldier from Givati Brigades at the Wailing Wall in 1995.
Moshe Hillel Eytan, born Marcus Hardie, is a Long Beach, California native who converted to Judaism at the age of 22. Marcus, who was raised Baptist and belonged to one of Southern California’s most notorious gangs, the Eight Ball Crips, says he found...
10 tags
Fasting on Facebook with My Beloved Baha'i...
by Candace Hill, guest contributor
Screen capture of the Baha’i Faith Facebook page.
Day two of fasting this year, and the egg salad on the sesame bagel was especially delicious this morning. This is the dichotomy of the Nineteen Day Fast — that while we don’t eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, the early morning meals feel more special and dinners more festive.
The Baha’i...
3 tags
Shared Cultural Spaces: Islam and the West in Arts...
by Shubha Bala, associate producer
When we think of historic Islamic scholars, it’s easy to think of philosophy and literature and forget the science. From February 24-26, the University of Minnesota’s program in Religious Studies held the Shared Cultural Spaces conference, which aimed to “explore the ways in which Muslim contributions to literature, arts, science, and...
5 tags
Viral Antisemitism? The Enduring Challenge of "The...
by Krista Tippett, host
The Rykestrasse synagogue in East Berlin survived “Kristallnacht” of 1938 and was the only functioning synagogue in former East Germany. (photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
As we prepare to leave for Israel, I’m noting the strange and disturbing global outbreak of celebrity antisemitism: Charlie Sheen’s rant at his former producer; John...
6 tags
Are You Familiar with Israeli Literature?
by Christin Davis, USC “Reporting on Israel” Journalism Student
Once a month, in and around Beverly Hills, a word-of-mouth club, comprised of all Israelis, meets at alternating members’ homes to discuss Hebrew literature by Israeli authors.
“It’s interesting because we all know each other so well,” says Orna Yaron, who along with her husband Meir, helped start the club and are the only...
4 tags
“I would rather live the revolution now than write it — it’s still fresh,...”
– Mohammad al-Asfar, from the novelist’s powerful op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times.
3 tags
4 tags
The Passing of Thomas Merton's Mentor at...
by Krista Tippett, host
Beautiful, beautiful article by Louis Ruprecht at Religion Dispatches on the death of Fr. Matthew Kelty, long-time fellow monk and mentor of Thomas Merton at Gethsemani Abbey.
Lou retells some of Merton’s story here, in a fresh and human way, but also some of the story of this lesser-known light of Gethsemani. I’ve heard from monastics across the years how...
8 tags
7 tags
Lessons from Hindu Sufi Guru Irina Tweedie
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
“I hoped to get instruction in Yoga, expected wonderful teachings, but what the teacher did was mainly to force me to face the darkness within myself and it almost killed me…. I was beaten down in every sense until I had to come to terms with that in me which I kept rejecting all my life.” —Irina Tweedie, from Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual...
