.

After feeling completely lost every day I sit down with Katie Couric and her perfectly shiny coif, she gives me the spill about the fighting in the Middle East, that no miracles occurred and we are STILL over there, and this and that and blah blah and Muslims and blah and Islam and yadda yadda...I eventually just glaze over.



I hated feeling like a gutless pastry, so I e-mailed a professor in the History Department at Southeastern Louisiana University and asked for a recommendation on an easy-to-read book about the Middle East. They recommended From Beirut to Jersusalem, by Thomas L. Friedman. It chronicles his days as a reporter in the Middle East. From what I gathered, it's basically a diary.



A month later I visited the library and investigated this potential read. The librarian told me it was on the uppermost level of the library, serving as an anchor on their FEMA tarp. I decided I'd look for a less dense book. A few Dewey Decimals down from Friedman's book was Understanding The Contemporary Middle East, edited by Deborah J. Gerner. This book is a collaboration of many scholars from many fields of study and it touches on Religion, Geography, History, Culture, and many other topics. It's less than 400 pages (Font: Times Regular typeface, approx. 10 pt with 11 or 12 leading).



Of course, every time I hop on a treadmill at the gym with this book in tow, the NASCAR fans cut me the stink eye. I must look like a terrorist studying up on terrorism. Me and my blonde-haired, green-eyed, techno-loving self. Terrorist. Ha. People scoot over a few seats or move to the next treadmill if they see me carrying the book, but that's precisely what I am trying to keep myself form becoming: an uninformed yuppy gobbling up every dramatized thing Anderson Cooper says about the Middle East.



Really...what's the big stink over there (and I don't mean the camels)? Why does everyone hate one another? And what business is it of ours? First thing the book states is the lump term "Middle East," or referring to all the Arabs, people practicing Islam, and North African countries as a single unit, is a misnomer. The second thing it goes on to say is that it's not all sand storms and semi-automatics over there. They have beautiful cities and the "Fertile Crescent," a very green area of the region suitable for crops. Not all of the countries produce oil. Although about 80% of Arabs are Muslim, only about 20% of Muslims are Arabs.



So if you're interested in learning more outside of the contiguous 48, and your own preconceptions, I recommend this book. Within the first few chapters, it clarifies that this region has more history than any other region on Earth: meaning there has been a lot of fighting, rulers, power struggles, and resentment. Humans began here. As an outside observer, and a member of a relatively new civilization, I couldn't ever understand the complexity of the issues there...but I'd like a little perspective.

Labels: arab, book review, islam, louisiana, middle east, southeastern

Learning to develop my own film is awesome. It's so gratifying. I learned so much this week about photography, and that it's so much more than having the best camera: the right paper, film, developer, stop, fixer, and hypo-clear are certainly part of the art.

Now I see why "old fashioned" photographers don't think digital photography is quite as nifty. In addition to a good eye, developing your own pictures requires work and patience. It's like putting together a model car--you know how it's supposed to look, but you can only follow the instructions and hope it looks as good as the picture on the box. If you think you can take good pictures, and you're all digital, I challenge you to test out your talent with film and developing your own photos. It's humbling!

We created photograms, or "rayograms," where you place objects directly on Ilford RC photopaper, and then expose the paper under a condenser/enlarger. Here's what I got:



This is just a test strip to find out what your aperture and exposure time should be under the enlarger, but I just loved the way it came out. It's not perfect, as one side is exposed longer than the other, but it still has a striking quality about it.

I can't wait to be enlarging my own negatives! I feel like a kid waiting on Christmas!!

Labels: baton rouge, photography, southeastern, vacancy