Blind in Granada
Apr. 16th, 2010 08:48 amThe lovely and talented ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
homais has (in protected entries) got his dis topic and a grant to go hang in paradise for a year or two doing the research. This is wonderful news as Homey, though he posts about once every two years, is so thoughtful and newsworthy it's worth the wait.
I'm so psyched about his dis.
Here is a link to a somewhat related website. My Arabic studies have picked up in the last week, thanks topanjianlien's recs on why Western feminists shouldn't be assholes about what Eastern ones wear on their heads, which is why we all need to read Fatima Mernissi as recommended by Little Peej. And now Homey recommends al-Farabi, as the progenitor of the notion that of all cities, the democratic one is the most beautiful.
Mmmmmm.
I have the makings of a gorgeous...Moroccan, is it? -- soupie, harira, with fava beans I scored at Ta Lin, the local gourmet market run by enterprising Viets. I have to soak and skin the favies, simmer with lamb and toasted spice. I've been taking pix of the blossoms of the special columnar crab apple trees in the Spanish Moorish garden at the botanic gardens (-- I am now the official photog of the garden, which is almost as hilarious as my now being the accountant at KWRK. I have no math skills, they have no money, so it works out perfectly --) and thinking about stuff, including how much I can't stand Eddie Said's Late Style (whining with puns, excruciating), and Other Aspects of Eastern culture -- so it's been quite the 13th century caliphate week for me.
I have never forgotten walking through the gardens of the Alhambra. It explained everything to me, why everything from the Mission District to Tierra del Fuego looks the way it does. Why the conquistadors, who walked 15,000 miles in pointy metal shoes, were so tough. Why they picked Santa Fe. Blinding sun. Pitch black shade. Invisible jasmine. The sound of fountains. Nonfigurative art. The plaque, en Espanol, quietly posted in an inconspicuous space overlooking the Sierra Nevada mountains:
Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada.
Isabella la Catolica, you are the very avatar of ciega en Granada, and you got some 'splainin' to do.
This is not the plaque I saw. But I like it very well.
homais has (in protected entries) got his dis topic and a grant to go hang in paradise for a year or two doing the research. This is wonderful news as Homey, though he posts about once every two years, is so thoughtful and newsworthy it's worth the wait.I'm so psyched about his dis.
Here is a link to a somewhat related website. My Arabic studies have picked up in the last week, thanks to
panjianlien's recs on why Western feminists shouldn't be assholes about what Eastern ones wear on their heads, which is why we all need to read Fatima Mernissi as recommended by Little Peej. And now Homey recommends al-Farabi, as the progenitor of the notion that of all cities, the democratic one is the most beautiful.Mmmmmm.
I have the makings of a gorgeous...Moroccan, is it? -- soupie, harira, with fava beans I scored at Ta Lin, the local gourmet market run by enterprising Viets. I have to soak and skin the favies, simmer with lamb and toasted spice. I've been taking pix of the blossoms of the special columnar crab apple trees in the Spanish Moorish garden at the botanic gardens (-- I am now the official photog of the garden, which is almost as hilarious as my now being the accountant at KWRK. I have no math skills, they have no money, so it works out perfectly --) and thinking about stuff, including how much I can't stand Eddie Said's Late Style (whining with puns, excruciating), and Other Aspects of Eastern culture -- so it's been quite the 13th century caliphate week for me.
I have never forgotten walking through the gardens of the Alhambra. It explained everything to me, why everything from the Mission District to Tierra del Fuego looks the way it does. Why the conquistadors, who walked 15,000 miles in pointy metal shoes, were so tough. Why they picked Santa Fe. Blinding sun. Pitch black shade. Invisible jasmine. The sound of fountains. Nonfigurative art. The plaque, en Espanol, quietly posted in an inconspicuous space overlooking the Sierra Nevada mountains:
Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada.
Isabella la Catolica, you are the very avatar of ciega en Granada, and you got some 'splainin' to do.
This is not the plaque I saw. But I like it very well.
