Link to Archive of Weekly Issues Issue for Week of December 24, 2001

Dear Habermas Logo and Link to Site Index A Justice Site

Dear Habermas
A Journal of Postmodern and Critical Thought
Devoted to Academic Discourse on Peace and Justice
Volume 11, No. 1, Week of December 24, 2001

jeanne's classes - Susan's classes - Olivier's classes
Volume 10, No. 17, Week of December 17, 2001
Mirror Sites: CSUDH - Habermas - UWP
Site Map - Daily Site Additions - Site Stats - Site Index
Concept Index - Vocabulary Index - Essay Index
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Painting Shared by Chyra King

May peace and healing be with us all during this much-needed break from the cares of our lifeworlds. jeanne and Susan and all of us at Dear Habermas.

Announcing:

Reports of Learning:
What jeanne knows you've done.
There are bound to be some mistakes as I transferred this to coded numbers. Please let me know in that case so we can correct them. Sorry it took so long. And it's nowhere near finished yet, because I have about 80 files left to link to. You're still writing. But that's OK. It just means we need to adjust timelines. Please be sure to check the site next week to be sure your submissions are up correctly, and to respond when appropriate. jeanne. 1:30 a.m., December 19, 2001.

P.S. Don't forget I start jury duty on Christmas Eve, so be patient.

November Writing Project Award OSCARS for Academic Achievement Dear Habermas Award

Oscars for Achievement in the Academy

The OSCARS emerged as an integral part of our Reports of Learning. Sorry, there's no way I could have known. At any rate, now I'm off to make a final adjustment in grades. If I've made a mistake, just e-mail, and we'll right it. Thank you for your patience. Finally, this semester, doing non-structurally violent things seems to have worked out well right in the midst of a structurally violent corporate university environment. What a nice gift for us all. love and peace, jeanne. December 16, 2001.

Moot Court, Spring 2002:

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan, Transcend Art and Peace
Latest Update: December 22, 2001
E-Mail Icon Faculty:
jeannecurran@habermas.org
Olivier at tapcourse@yahoo.com
takata@uwp.edu

Table of Contents

Archives - How to Navigate the Site - Announcements
Teaching and Review Essay Index, by Topic - Lecture Notes - Oft-Used Weblinks
Left/Right Perspectives - PSN - Virtual Faculty - Transcend Art and Peace
The Justice Studies Association - TR Young's Site - ZNet
Who To Take - Syllabi - Art and Poem Gallery - Sociology Sites
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Search:
What's New?

For the Week of December 24, 2001

Weekly Readings and Suggested Measures of Learning: Weekly Readings Ended with Week 13 for Review and Discussion

Healing after September 11
Teaching Essays
In Other Languages
Art and the Imaginary
Collaborative Writing Journal
Conflicts Around the World
Scholastic Resources
Lagniappe! You Gotta Read This!
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Gallery
Resource Pages:
. . . Criminology and Aging and Peacemaking and Theory
. . . and Women and Social Justice and Social Justice Issues and Writings
. . . and The Writer's Bookshelf and Poverty and Sociology of Law
. . . and September 11, 2001 and Distance Learning
Syllabi Instructions on How to Access Syllabi
Calls for Proposals: Conference and Article Plans
Kids' Site
What people are saying about Dear Habermas
Who To Take

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Teaching EssaysTeaching Essays

Teaching and Review Essay Index

The Dear Habermas AwardOSCARS for Academic Achievement

Art


(Lynsey Addario/Saba, for The New York Times)
A Tale of the Mullah and Muhammad's Amazing Cloak

  • Art and the Imaginary:

  • Art and Healing:
    • A Tale of the Mullah and Muhammad's Amazing Cloak By Norimitsu Onishi. December 19, 2001. The New York Times. Special: A Nation Challenged. The origin of belief in the healing powers of the cloak:
      "According to legend, Ahmad Shah Durrani, who founded Afghanistan a quarter of a millennium ago, brought the cloak to Kandahar from a great conquest. As many Pashtun clans vied to become keeper of the cloak, the king asked representatives from each clan to stand before the box containing the cloak and cry, "Allah-u-akbar!" — "God is great!"

      "When my forefather cried, `Allah-u-akbar,' the lock opened by itself," Mr. Shawali said. "So the king chose our family to be the keepers of the Prophet's cloak."
      Accessed from the NYT site on December 19, 2001.

  • Artists You Should Know:

    • Lucian Freud: "Britain's greatest living figurative painter"

      • Lucian Freud's Portrait of the Queen For Some Britons, Portrait of the Queen Is Not a Pretty Picture By Marjorie Miller, L.A. Times Staff Writer. backup
        "The close-up of the queen is either a brave, frank and forceful portrait of her highness, or it is the picture of a glum, grumpy and dowdy old woman."

        "What an audacious portrait!" the art critic for the left-of-center Guardian newspaper, Adrian Searle, enthused in a front-page review, calling it "probably the best royal portrait of any royal anywhere for at least 150 years."

        "The queen is keeping her opinion of the artwork to herself, but if it was flattery she was after, she would not have sat for the 79-year-old grandson of Sigmund Freud. The artist is known for his fleshy nudes and brutally honest portraits in bold brush strokes."

        "Gayford concluded that the picture is, "at first glance . . . stark, even raw-looking. At second and subsequent glances, however, it becomes more and more humane and full of individuality. It is an image of a certain, absolutely believable personality, and it radiates power."

      So is a portrait supposed to be "flattering," and, if so, at what level? Lucian Freud's rival, Francis Bacon, also the descendant of a famous namesake, shared Freud's desire to capture what was not seen on the surface. I agree with Gayford's assessment. I, too, think it radiates power, and in many ways reflects the Queen I have known throughout my lifetime. jeanne. Link added December 22, 2001.

  • Art You Should Know

    • Site A Tale of the Mullah and Muhammad's Amazing Cloak By Norimitsu Onishi. Illustration above. December 19, 2001. The New York Times. Special: A Nation Challenged.

      Religious art provides us with tremendous historical insight into our faith in an ultimate truth, an ultimate forgiveness, an ultimate healing. To that end it behooves us to know of the many sites such as this that hold such religious significance for a people.

      La Virgen de Guadalupe
      La Virgen de Guadalupe

    • Interlupe The Virgin of Guadalupe. Image can be found on the Interlupe site.


      Mosque of Gowhar Shad in Herat, Afghanistan One of most beautiful examples of Islamic Architecture in the World

    • PATIO DEL MAUSOLEO DEL IMAM JOMEINI, MEZQUITA DE GOWHAR SHAD ( s. XV )
      "Gowhar Shad fue la esposa del gobernador mongol Shah Rukh quien ordenó se construyera inmediatamente esta mezquita al sur del mausoleo del Imam Reza entre los años 1405-1418 d. C. Aunque dentro de los recintos del mausoleo , está técnicamente separado. Este patio de cuatro ivanes ( 317 x 277 pies ) está rodeado por dos arcadas con pisos, usadas para la enseñanza y el recogimiento religiosos."

      As near as I can make out, this is the tomb of Gowhar Shad in Herat in Afghanistan. Quoting from Ahmed Rashid's Taliban (Yale Nota Bene Book, 2001): "The tomb, with its panelled walls of Persian blue tiles bejewelled with floral decorations and topped by a ribbed blue dome with dazzling white Koranic inscriptions, is still considered one of the finestexamples of Islamic architecture anywhere in the world." (at p. 38.)

      Mosque of Gowhar Shad Scroll down to about an inch from the bottom of the file to see the Mosque of Gowhar Shad.

      Music of Aghanistan Couldn't get site to work on December 22, 2001.

    • Beautiful set of pictures, which I think are from Mashhad, not far from Herat. jeanne. December 22, 2001.
    • Irandoostan.com
    • Irandoostant.com
    • Irandoostan.com

    Conflicts Around the World:

  • Present Danger

  • Long-Term Effects

  • History

    • The Siege of Herat: 1837 - 1838 M.A. Thesis by John Carl Nelson. Shows the struggle between Britain and Russia for control, and the role played by Herat in that struggle. Link added December 23, 2001.
      "Each of the parties involved failed in their immediate objectives but as a result the relations in this area were defined until 1906. Persia and Afghanistan lost the freedom to act independently. Russia's dominant position in Persia was maintained but the British could not be excluded. Afghanistan was firmly made part of the Indian imperial system and the city of Herat became its outermost limit." from Proposal.

    Scholastic Resources:

  • Theses and Thesis Projects

    • The Siege of Herat: 1837 - 1838 M.A. Thesis by John Carl Nelson. Shows the struggle between Britain and Russia for control, and the role played by Herat in that struggle. Link added December 23, 2001.

      Beautifully set up thesis, complete with proposal, approval sheet, and the whole thesis in html. Those of you planning to do a thesis should skim this example as a structural guide.

    Lagniappe!

    You Gotta Read This

    What people are saying about Dear Habermas

    • On Saturday, December 22, Kerry Partika wrote:

      Hi Jeanne,
      Hope that your break is going well. thanks so much for the oscar that you awarded me. it really made my day. anyway, you won't believe this one... my mom was reading her fiance's christmas cards today, and she read one from one of his old college friends. she started to think how familiar everything in the newsletter inside the card was sounding when she realized that she was reading stuff about dear habermas and things that she had heard me talking about. turns out, the card was from susan takata!! isn't that so funny! what a small world it is! i thought that you would get a kick out of that. i think that i will email her that story and introduce myself. well, have a nice weekend. talk to you soon. Kerry

      On Sunday, December 23, 2001, jeanne responded:

      Yes, Kerry. A small world, a neat virtual community, and a great Christmas story!
      love and peace, jeanne

    Who To Take