25 Feb 2009

Oral Traditions and Learning





Koushna Navabai's "Gone Native"



There's too much out there now. Feeling the very ultra-modern symptoms of information-overload stress.

Symptoms of this ultra-modern stress are: attempting to make space in the chaos by creating twisted art forms to get a sense of ownership, even if it the feeling is transient. Also: eating ultra healthy food, or tilting the other way and over eating, or creating a meaningless blog to help digest some of the mammoth production of information and all its accompanying forms of media that goes on everyday, in every town, in every country. Now, we are all artists, performers, reporters and critics and the audience, the ones who stand to benefit only in spirit, are invaluable as numbers diminish.
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Last month a middle eastern magazine unearthed some revolting trends in western literature that precipitated bigoted thinking about middle easterners, the popular 'other'.

I still like being the 'other', because from here I can see the flaws in those who are "one of the gang".

With Persian new year coming up (Nowrooz, Persian new year is, sensibly, on the Spring Equinox) we are very busy.

I feel mostly everyone is sensing the coming of the new year though. In this we really are 'one'. Also that kind of bigoted feeling i getting less and less.

I must delve into Persian oral tradition in the next few weeks and see what else has been passed on about/from our country. It's going to result in over 200 kids and 65 adults learning this song, so I hope someone has left us a good one.

What a mixed legacy!