Weam Namou's Blog, page 14

Awakening the Dreamer

One day, I was sitting at my desk, staring at my computer, and thinking of various ways that I could take what I’d learned in my four-year shamanic school out into the world. Typing a few words here and there, the Pachamama Alliance website appeared on the computer screen. It defined itself as a global community that offers people the chance to learn, connect, engage, travel, and cherish life for the purpose of creating a sustainable future that works for all.

I read their story. The Pachamama Alliance was born out of an invitation from the Achuar people to work in partnership with them to preserve their land and culture while bringing forth a new worldview that honors and sustains life. The Achuar people have lived and thrived for centuries deep in the Amazon rain forest, spanning borders of modern-day Ecuador and Peru. They kept their sophisticated culture and worldview remarkably intact as late as the mid-20th century. In Achuar culture, dreams are a guiding principle of life, shared each morning before sunrise. Shamans play an important role in the spiritual life of Achuar communities, including interpretation of dreams. But not all dreams are sweet. Dreams can often require facing and transforming that which you most fear.

Intrigued, I looked deeper into the Pachamama Alliance community and learned they offer different ways for people to learn, engage, and connect locally and globally so they can inspire, educate, and empower each other to build a movement working toward an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet. One of these ways is a free, donation based, online eight-week course called the Game Changer Intensive. In this course, people are able to delve into a wealth of carefully-curated resources, including videos, readings, and activities, at the comfort of their own homes and on their own schedule. There’s also an opportunity to interact with others online and on weekly small group calls.

Over the years, I’ve taken the Game Changer Intensive course three times, the last time having finally met someone local from Ann Arbor. Betsy McCabe, a volunteer moderator of the Game Changer Intensive group calls, is a musician, educator, mother and activist of social justice and environmental sustainability. Betsy grew up in Georgia and has lived in Tennessee and Washington. Michigan has been her home for almost 30 years, where she raised two children. Her educational background is in the liberal arts, and she says that in her “first career” she worked as an environmental policy analyst (including 10 years with the US Environmental Protection Agency), and that in her “second career” she was an independent piano teacher.

“Now in my third career, I am performing and teaching music,” she said, “and I’m engaging and acting for social change and transformation with volunteer work through the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ), Friends of Restorative Justice (FORJ), and the Pachamama Alliance.”

Like me, Betsy is a facilitator of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium, which explores the challenges facing humanity at this critical moment in time and the opportunities we as a human family have to create a new future. This is a half-day workshop developed by the Pachamama Alliance and has been delivered by skilled facilitators to hundreds of thousands of participants in over 380 countries since 2005. People gather at Symposiums around the world to discover the value of ancient wisdom in addressing our modern crises and their personal role in bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet.

I’ve learned so much from the courses offered by Pachamama Alliance and I’m so happy to have met wonderful people along the way, particularly someone local like Betsy. Now, I’m excited to share what I have learned and am grateful that Betsy will help present the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium at The Path of Consciousness spiritual and writing conference and retreat this October 5-7 at Colombiere Retreat Center. Click here for more info about The Path of Consciousnes and join us to help create a new future for our children, grandchildren, and the seven generations to come. 

For more information about the Pachamama Alliance, click here

The Magic of Yoga

 

Sandy Naimou has been teaching yoga since 2011, practicing yoga for over 20 years, and writing in personal journals since childhood.  Yoga and writing are central to her spiritual life and development.  She currently blogs on her website, CreativeEnergyYoga.com and teaches yoga full-time, primarily at General Motors Corporation.  

Sandy holds a B.A. in psychology and M.L.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies.  She spends her free time studying theosophy, anthroposophy, actively working as a board member for the Theosophical Society in Detroit, taking long walks at Cranbrook Botanical Gardens with people she loves, and watching sunsets on the beach, sometimes with a yoga mat.   

Her main focus is to help people maximize their potential at work, at school, at home, and in other areas of life’s challenges. That’s why we’re delighted to have her lead a yoga class at The Path of Consciousness spiritual and writing retreat on October 5-7th at the Colombiere retreat center in Clarkston, Michigan where, weather permitting, we will practice outside in the fresh open air on the beautiful grounds of the retreat enter. We will close our practice with sounds of a crystal bowl and Tibetan singing bowl. For more information, click here:

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“Yoga opens the channels of creative energy so that the streams and rivers of your own consciousness flow freely towards your beautiful creations,” she says.

In this gentle and heart-centered yoga practice, she will engage participants with breath-work, concentration, and physical movement to open and connect the body, heart, and mind.

“Expansion in the heart center particularly opens us to truth and awareness of possibilities,” she said. “Connection between heart, mind and body brings into physical manifestation the ideas that live in our minds and the feelings and desires that live in our hearts.”

She adds that in addition to focusing on the heart center, the physical postures in this practice works on other areas in the body that require attention based on the physical demands of sitting and writing for long periods.

I was introduced to yoga over 15 years ago when my Reiki and Sikkim teachers asked the students to do a standing forward fold. Although I was fit and exercised daily, sometimes twice a day, I discovered I couldn’t touch my toes. I had limited flexibility, which can and does impact our daily life in ways that become obvious especially when you get older. I started going to yoga classes and immediately noticed a difference.

Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. In my case, it helped distress me during my stressful motherhood routines and allowed me to focus on my writing. Then, when my mother moved in with me, with dementia and in a wheelchair, the balancing and strengthening poses, along with the breathing exercises I’d done in yoga helped me care for her.

Yoga can be healing, strengthening, and transformational. In 1970, Billy Hayes was caught at Turkey airport with two kilos of hashish taped to his torso, then convicted of smuggling drugs and sentenced to four years and two months. Only weeks from his scheduled release in 1975, a high court extended that sentence to 25 years. He escaped after 5 years and went on to write a book about his experience which Oliver Stone wrote the script for and later made into an Oscar winning film called Midnight Express.

In one interview, Billy said, “Before I got arrested, I discovered yoga. And I’ve literally done yoga every day for forty years. It’s the only thing that saved me in jail, physically and emotionally. And in Hollywood. Emotionally, you have to be really tough to be in this business, Yoga just helps keep me balanced every day. It helps.”

In another interview, he said it was like a “magic act” that distressed and relaxed you.

 

Mesopotamian Goddesses

In December of 2017, I gave a talk about Priestesses and Goddesses of Ancient Mesopotamia at the Theosophical Society, which was filled with an engaging audience who listened to me speak about an important aspect of my ancestry that is often omitted from history – the women who helped build the cradle of civilization, now called Iraq.

We’re all connected to our past. So it’s important to know what it was like in ancient Mesopotamia when females and males had a more equal status and cuneiform scripts were filled with poetry of love stories rather than wars. How did women go from being writers and poets, queens, physicians, and priestesses to, thousands of years later, being sex slaves?

I’ll recap a little history from passages from my memoir, Healing Wisdom for a Wounded World: My Life-Changing Journey Through a Shamanic School (pg 164-165):

What history books say regarding the role of women in ancient Mesopotamia is true. Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. But in early periods, women could own, purchase, and inherit property and engage in business for themselves. High status women, such as priestesses and members of royal families, were taught to read and write and were given significant administrative authority. A number of powerful goddesses were worshiped, and in some city states they were the primary deities.

Kubaba, a Sumerian Queen, is the world’s first recorded woman ruler in history. She was a former tavern-keeper, one of many occupations that were open to women in Mesopotamia. Kubaba was said to have reigned peacefully for one hundred years. Her symbols were the mirror and the pomegranate.

Enheduanna is the world’s first recorded writer. She wrote and taught about three centuries before the earliest Sanskrit texts, 2000 years before Aristotle and 1,700 before Confucius. She was the daughter of the great Mesopotamian king Sargon of Akkad and the high priestess of the temple of Innana, known as Ishtar, and Nanna, the Akkadian moon god, in the center of her father’s empire, the city-state of Ur.

Enheduanna had a considerable political and religious role in Ur. She wrote during the rise of the agricultural civilization, when gathering territory and wealth, warfare, and patriarchy were making their marks. She offers a first-person perspective on the last times women in Western society held religious and civil power. After her father’s death, the new ruler of Ur removed her from her position as high priestess. She turned to the goddess Inanna to regain her position through a poem that mentions her carrying the ritual basket:

It was in your service that I first entered the holy temple,

I, Enheduanna, the highest priestess. I carried the ritual basket,

I chanted your praise.

Now I have been cast out to the place of lepers.

Day comes and the brightness is hidden around me.

Shadows cover the light, drape it in sandstorms.

My beautiful mouth knows only confusion.

Even my sex is dust.

Enheduanna lived at a time of rising patriarchy. It has been written that, as secular males acquired more power, religious beliefs had evolved from what was probably a central female deity in Neolithic times to a central male deity by the Bronze Age. Female power and freedom sharply diminished during the Assyrian era, the period in which the first evidence of laws requiring the public veiling of elite women was made.

I also shared my ancestor’s history of rich powerful females. This includes Inanna, the goddess of Sumerians who is known as Ishtar for Babylonians and Assyrians. She honored her femininity and used her power to do good for her people. She chose to leave all her possessions behind to go to the underworld which her sister was goddess of. To do so, she had to pass the seven gates (kundalini chakras) to meet her death and return to life.

There’s Ninkasi, the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer. She symbolizes the role of women in brewing and preparation of beverages in ancient Mesopotamia. But this was not a light matter. Beer consumption was an important marker for societal and civilized virtues. Did you know that the oldest recipe for brewing beer comes from the land of Mesopotamia and that the straw was first developed by the Babylonians?

Back to Kubaba – the only queen on the Sumerian King list and one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Iraqi history. She is believed to have fortified the city against invaders and made it strong. After her death she was worshiped as a goddess. Yet in later generations, Mesopotamians decided it was unnatural for a woman to uphold traditional men’s roles and provided this omen to make sure no other woman dares to so improperly cross that line again: “If an androgyny is born, with both rod and vagina – omen of Kubaba, who ruled the country. The country of the king shall be ruined.”

Ironically, the country of “the king” was ruined because of her absence. The thirst to wipe away the feminine energy, “her story”, in the Middle East has succeeded, causing that region to become so imbalanced that, no matter how much U.S. and international intervention, it seems unable to heal.

Yet I believe what the Dalai Lama once said, that “the Western women will save the world.” Yes, she will bring her story back to life.

After that talk at the Theosophical Society, I dug deeper into my history, retrieved more stories about queens, priestesses and goddesses from that region, and decided to incorporate them into a book. Mesopotamian Goddesses: Unveiling Your Feminine Power not only shares the stories of these women, but it’s a transformed understanding of feminine consciousness, helping you, through powerful yet practical exercises, to manifest your dreams and create a healthy marriage within yourself, your home, and society.

You can preorder your book, or learn how you can be part of this history by visiting this link:  https://www.publishizer.com/mesopotamian-goddesses

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The Beauty of Farming

 

My grandparents, from both my parents’ side, were farmers in Telkaif, a town in northern Iraq where, not long ago, Chaldeans [Christian Iraqis] lived a fairly peaceful life. My maternal-grandfather woke up every morning before the break of dawn, attended church, came home to eat a fresh breakfast he’d grown on his land, and worked in his farm until evening. Then he was off to church once again before having supper and calling it a day. They enjoyed good clean air, exercise, and a quiet time with nature. 

In 2012, I went to the home of a 111-year-old Chaldean woman, Warina Zaya Bashou, who lived in my neighborhood, to interview her for an article. She had just become the second oldest person to be granted citizenship to the United States. I asked her what was the secret to her longevity and she said:

work
don’t go to the doctors
drink lots of tea

She too was from the village of Telkaif and, like my grandparents, had worked a great deal on the farm. Over the years, we’ve lost that relationship with the land and with eating foods grown on local farms rather than delivered in trucks from far away. But we’re trying to bring this relationship back. 

One person who’s helping do that is Diane Dovico, who I interviewed on my show. Diane spent 21 years as the Executive Director of the Royal Oak Community Coalition, a 501(c)3 non-profit and currently, she serves Oakland County working as a Wellness Program Administer at the Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities by designing and facilitating original programs, initiatives, and campaigns. She started So You Want to be a Farmer?  which is a free event she had for kids at the Royal Oak Farmers Market. 

My niece and I took our children to the event yesterday where kids had the chance to play games and do activities such as animal yoga poses, planting vegetable seeds to take home, designing your own farm, story book time, making a healthy snack, and pretending to grocery shop and to learn how to make health food choices. 

I try, whenever possible – meaning when there’s the least resistance from my children – to get them involved in the meal’s preparation or to take them grocer shopping with me. Sometimes the easiest way to get them to eat healthier is by being an example, biting your tongue (kids love to rebel) and limit the types of snacks that enter your home. 

It’s also important to support local farmers. Small farms renew a connection between the food people eat and the land they live on. They help create jobs, improve the health of the land and the people, and they provide a foundation for a more resilient local food system. As people become more conscientious, they understand the beauty and necessity of farming. They want to know where their food comes from, how it is produced, and that it is produced in a way that isn’t damaging the environment. It is this consciousness that will shift the economic attitude to “what’s good for the world is what’s right for the company” for the rewards of brand loyalty and profits.

What’s your relationship to food and the land? 

The Women of WISDOM

In response to the divisions that emerged during the recent elections, many women have come together to form unity and a more peaceful world. They began taking on leadership roles, with over 25,000 women contacting Emily’s List about running for office. This is one small example.

But the pattern of women stepping up to create harmony during difficult times is not a new phenomenon. Many women around the world have worked hard to help provide equal opportunities and healthier environments so that individuals, families, communities, and nations can strive. Over a decade ago, Gail Katz, a Jew, Shahina Begg, a Muslim, and Trish Harris, a Catholic, reached out and brought other women together to form WISDOM (Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metro Detroit) which officially became a 501 (c) 3 in May 2007.

The 9/11 attacks and the Iraq War had caused a polarization as turmoil escalated in the world between and among the various faith traditions. In the belief that women could come together and form an interfaith movement where we could listen to each other, respect each other’s differences, and then take action towards change, these inspiring women started a beautiful circle of sisterhood that has gone on to present many empowering programs.

I met one of WISDOM’s co-founders, Trish Harris, through Padma Kuppa, who’s running for a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives. Trish is a Catholic like myself, and she definitely has a lot of wisdom to contribute to the world. In the book Friendship & Wisdom, she writes, “There is something distinctive about how women work together. We tend to take the time to build the relationships first, and then work on solving the problem.”

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Friendship & Wisdom features true stories from over 50 remarkable women. One of the woman who shares her story in the book is Padma. Padma is a Hindu American and community activist working for social justice and understanding. Born in India, she arrived to the U.S. to start kindergarten in 1970 on Long Island. Returning to India with her family in 1981, she finished high school and college while living in a mainstream Hindu culture. Returning to New York in 1988 as a foreign student, she, her husband, and their two children have made Troy, Michigan their home since 1998. Padma is a founding member of the Troy-area Interfaith Group, as well as the Bharatiya Temple’s Outreach Committee.

Padma starts her story with profound words (page 89):

One of my favorite Bible verses from 1 Corinthians: “Faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” This is a lot like passages in Hindu scriptures, including these words from the Maha Upanishad: “The whole world is a family.” There also is a prayer of peace in the Rig Veda that reads, in English: “May all be happy. May all be healthy. May all be prosperous. Let no one suffer.”

The Foreword by Barbara Mahany was also touching:

Day after day I wake up with my chest feeling hollowed. The space in my heart hurts so much, so immeasurable, I can’t fathom how to contain it. I shuffle down the stairs of my old shingled house, look out the windows into the quiet dawn, into the leafy arbors, and wonder how in the world can I stitch a single thread into the tatters of this world, this oozing brokenness all around?

And then the stories of this book landed on my desk. This, I knew right away, is where the answer lies: In ordinary-extraordinary stories of women who reach across doorways, and hallways, and kitchen counters – who see beyond burkas and veils and prayer beads and venerations.

Being in the presence of these women, you know there’s something special at work that you want to be a part of. Wisdom received from anyone is very important. With women, their wisdom allows them to see in another woman what she herself might not be able to see or articulate so clearly. When I opened the book that Trish had gifted me, I saw these words: “Weam, thanks for helping to change the world – one relationship at a time.”

I’m grateful for women like Trish and Padma and others who help make communities a better place. May their sisterhood circle continue to grow, prosper, and embrace the whole world.

To learn more about WISDOM, visit To learn more about WISDOM

To learn more To learn more about Padma Kuppa, visit

One of the Best-Kept Secrets

One beautiful sunny morning in March 2014, I drove to Colombiere Conference and Retreat Center to cover a story for The Chaldean News about a women’s Lenten retreat. It was a Friday and my son, a preschooler, didn’t have school that day. One of the directors of the retreat encouraged me to bring him along so I did.

Colombiere is nestled on acres of towering pines and oaks in Clarkston, Michigan. I remember upon entering the long road that leads to the building, I felt a sudden disconnect from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  Inside, my son stopped to view some of the statues and look out the window at the walking trails and gardens. We took the elevators to an upper floor and went into a most lovely chapel with bluish décor. Father Sameem Balius was performing mass. He talked about the importance of retreats, how they renew peoples’ faith and help them experience the loving presence of God and to seek the wisdom necessary for good daily living.

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Later we moved the cafeteria, which was surrounded by large windows. My son and I observed the green acres of land. A few nuns were doing their morning walks. I interviewed the priests and organizers of the retreat, who initially started it years prior “to combine prayer, meditation and spiritual education”, and went home feeling blessed to have had the opportunity to visit this place, especially with my young son. (I included below a link of the article I wrote in 2014).  

Two years later, my family and I went to Cancun, Mexico and I ended up participating in a spiritual ceremony that had me thinking to bring home the experience I enjoyed in the Riviera Maya. As an author of 12 books, I wanted to also combine writing workshops with it. I’ve worked with many writers and have found that oftentimes, there are spiritual blocks preventing them from moving forward in their career. I’ve also worked with many people who have healed several issues in their lives through the process of writing. I decided to start a writing and spiritual retreat and named it The Path of Consciousness, based on the sign welcoming patrons to the spiritual ceremony in Mexico. Last year, Reverend Barbara Yarnell of the Center of Enlightenment and another dear friend Lisa Argo offered to help me find the right venue and prepare other necessary work.

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Someone suggested we visit Colombiere. The name didn’t ring a bell but when we arrived to the building, upon driving into the long road, I immediately remembered the day my son and I went there, the peace that enveloped me and I’m sure him as well since he was so good throughout the day, allowing me to enjoy mass and interview people.  From that one visit, we agreed this is the perfect place for the writing and spiritual retreat and didn’t end up touring other retreats. Later, I discovered that Colombiere is said to be “one of the best-kept secrets.”

As someone who loves history, when I learned of the story behind Colombiere, I invited Janice Seeley, director of conferences and retreats, to come on my show and share it. Colombiere opened as a Jesuit training facility in 1959. It is named after Claude de la Colombiere, a Jesuit teacher, orator and spiritual director, who lived in France from 1641 to 1682 and was canonized May 31, 1992. In the course of preparation for the priesthood, the young Jesuit undergoes fifteen years of training, years of formation. Some examples of the classes offered in liberal arts were English, Latin, Greek, French, Literature, History, Education, and Speech. This rich background prepares the young Jesuit for further studies in philosophy and theology.

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From the beginning, the Jesuit Healthcare Center for retired priests and brothers has been located there, as well as a large community of Jesuits involved in the operation of Colombiere. After the number of seminarians declined by the late 70s and 80s, they decided to open up an infirmary/retirement center for the Jesuit priests. In addition, the remainder of the building opened up as a retreat center. Although the facilities reflect the Jesuit influence, they are not limited to those of the Catholic faith. Colombiere hosts a wide spectrum of non-profit and for profit groups and is available for educational, religious, and governmental day and overnight programs, as well as both corporate and religious retreats.

Aside from having the writing and spiritual retreat there, I’m also considering having the Girl Scout troop which I lead to spend a night or two there, where mothers and daughters can enjoy quiet time without the interruption of electronics or television. If you want to check out the spiritual and writing conference and retreat which will be from October 5 to 7, visit this link The Path of Consciousness

Read the Article about the Chaldean Women’s Retreat

 

First Woman Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Women are 50% of the population, but they only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history, a pattern that began over 3000 years ago. That’s slowly changing thanks to those who are putting women’s influential stories back into the historical narrative. 

One woman who has made an impact in this world and whose story needs to be told is that of Bertha von Suttner. Born Countess Kinsky in Prague, she was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and she’s also widely credited for influencing Alfred Nobel to include a peace prize among those prizes provided in his will. I learned about Suttner from Randall Olson, a board member at the Theosophical Society and currently in graduate school at Central Michigan University. Seeing my fascination with Suttner’s story, Randall introduced me to Professor Hope Elizabeth May of Central Michigan University. She is the director and founder of the Bertha von Suttner Project. 

“Stories about the contribution of women, especially in international law have been shrouded in darkness and we have begun the process of bringing that to our consciousness,” said Professor May in an interview published by JusticeHub.org.

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Suttner’s contributions to society began a decade before the first Hague Peace Conference in 1899. In 1889, she published her second book called Lay Down Your Arms, an anti-war novel. She said she was not an activist when she wrote the book but rather wrote it and then became an activist. The book put a human face on war. Leo Tolstoy called it the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the peace movement. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a similar book, humanized the evils of slavery. I recently started reading Lay Down Your Arms and was captivated by Suttner’s literary voice. Chapter 1 begins:

At seventeen I was a thoroughly overwrought creature. This perhaps I should no longer be aware of today, if it were not that my diaries have been preserved. But in them the enthusiasms long since fled, the thoughts which have never been thought again, the feelings never again felt have immortalized themselves, and thus I can judge at this present time what exalted notions had stuck in my silly, pretty head. Even this prettiness, of which my glass has now little left to say, is revealed to me by the portraits of long ago. 

Like Suttner, the noble protagonist of this novel, Martha, came from a family with a military background. Martha’s life is shaped by war. Her first husband dies on the battlefields of Solferino in 1859 (Henri Dunant started the Red Cross after he witnessed the horrors of Solferino).  Her second husband survives the wars of 1864 and 1866 but then is mistakenly killed in Paris years later. The book criticizes the hypocrisy of society regarding the glorifying and heroism of war. Lay Down Your Arms was so successful that by 1917 it had been reprinted 40 times in German and translated into 16 languages.

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Suttner first came into contact with militarism, war and peace with her husband Arthur van Suttner in Paris in the winter of 1886/87, when she met Alfred Nobel. Alfred Nobel, known as the inventor of dynamite and other powerful explosives, was looking at the question of war and of ways of preventing it. He was confident that lasting peace could be achieved only through the development of a weapon of mass destruction that would be so shattering that humanity would be detered forever from waging war.

When Suttner learned that there was going to be a Peace Conference in 1899 in the Hague, she made sure to be there. She and her husband worked hard to gain support for the Czar’s Manifesto and the Hague Peace Conference by arranging public meetings, forming committees, and lecturing.  She was the only woman allowed in the opening ceremony and then she also opened up her hotel room as a salon for diplomats and journalists. She returned in 1907 when they had another peace conference and in 1913 when the Peace Palace opened (founded by Andrew Carnegie). 

Suttner was a respected journalist, with one historian describing her as “a most perceptive and adept political commentator.” She is often considered a leader in the women’s liberation movement. Although grief-stricken after her husband’s death in 1902, she was determined to carry on the work which they had often done together and which he had asked her to continue. She left her quiet retirement in Vienna only on peace missions, which often included exhausting speaking tours. She continued to write, but only for the cause of peace. She received the Nobel Prize in 1905. Her last major effort, made in 1912 when she was almost 70, was a second lecture tour in the United States. Suttner died at the age of 71. 

In 2013 when the Peace Palace turned 100, the Carnegie Foundation commissioned two busts of Bertha von Suttner.  But Prof. Hope says that’s not enough. Many of Bertha’s works are still in the German language, and so in the “vein of bringing the unconscious to consciousness,” she is translating those works and publishing them in English.

To learn more about the Bertha von Suttner project, click here:

The People Around You

Before the publication of my first book in 2004, I was eager to launch my writing career. I imagined the wonderful life of an author that awaited me and expressed this to my Native American teacher as he sat crisscross in his La-Z-Boy, smoking his pipe, staring at me with his inquisitive eyes. After some silence, he said, “The only people that matter are those around you.”

His words remain in my heart today, revealing their wisdom whenever I get too caught up in my work. Although I always strive to improve my craft, to expand my career, and to create beautiful things in the world, what my teacher had said becomes clearer and more meaningful with time. I see a lot of people get mystified and obsessed over famous names or becoming famous themselves – neglecting to discover the treasures within their own circle.

Myself, I try to see the wonderful attributes of those who cross my path, like Siete16 Guevara. He’s an author who cares to make an impact on the lives of those around him. That’s the first thing I recognized when we met over a year ago at a book signing. He didn’t talk about his books as much he did about creating unities between literary communities. He has regular poetry readings, free for the public. In honor of National Poetry month, he will host two Open Mics at the Dovetail in Warren, Michigan (April 13th and 20th) where performers, poets, storytellers, musicians and singers are welcome to join.

Siete 16 was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and after high school moved to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas where he lived for about eleven years. When he returned to Michigan, he sought out the artistic scene of poets and writers, like the community he encountered and became a part of in Texas. It was happening in Saginaw for about three to four years, but it had dissolved so Siete16 moved out to the Metro Detroit area and found several groups and communities where he made friends and connections with.

His work was accepted by college magazine – The Gallery at the University of Texas and in ARTIFEX at Macomb Community College. He has published three books of his own poetry, and currently works on his fourth book. He’s also publishing a second book of poetry written by students in Sterling Heights. The first book of student poetry was from Saginaw.

“My greatest accomplishments are two things, my daughter, and my nonprofit organization that I started with my dad,” he said.

The nonprofit is called Artistas Latinx en Accíon Siempre (A.L.A.S.) In Spanish it means, Latinx Artists in Action Always.  A.L.A.S. means wings in Spanish, which ties into their motto: Perform with Us, Soar with Us!

Sieta 16 reminds me of Will, an artist I met in Suttons Bay a few years ago. He owned a store called Casey-Daniels where he made jewelry and sold handmade handbags. He’s also the publisher of Exposures, a Leelanau County Student Journal that has been around for nearly 30 years. He’d said to me about his artwork, “I make weird things. I’m not going to stick myself in art shows. You know why? Because I’m not looking for the approval of others. I’m going to authenticate me. You’re going to authenticate yourself.”

With that, I returned home with a whole new perspective.  

To order his book, visit

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Order here:

 

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Order here

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A Legacy Through Art

On April 28, Matthew Marroki took his last breath. He was only seventeen years old and died in a home fire during his sleep.  He was the son of a wonderful family whom I’ve known for over twenty years. Back then, his father’s business was in the same shopping center as our family business. His mother would occasionally bring their three children to visit so I mostly remember Matthew as a young boy with big bright eyes.  

The tragedy of that April night shocked and saddened our close-knit community. While no one deserves for this to happen to them, it’s especially difficult when you know the type of family the Marrokis are: loving, hard-working, and charitable. Always optimistic, Laith, Matthew’s father, would turn any negative situation into a positive experience. He didn’t dwell on the past and embraced life’s ups and downs as lessons to learn from. It doesn’t surprise me that a year after the loss of his son, their family has found a beautiful way to honor Matthew and keep his legacy alive through his incredible artwork which mainly focuses on women, diversity, strength, and individuality. 

[image error]One of Matthew’s artworks

“The things that give us the most strength are the things he left behind for us to remember him by,” said Laith.

Matthew would’ve been a senior right now, getting ready to graduate with his peers and to study architectural engineering in college while continuing a career as a professional artist. He would’ve been advocating for refugees, a lifelong pursuit of his. He was heavily involved in the Amnesty Club, a chapter of Amnesty International. One of the last projects he helped organize was a large scale donation of necessities to help refugees make a new start at Freedom House Detroit, a 501 (c) 3 temporary home for indigent survivors of persecution from around the world who are seeking asylum in the United States and Canada. Matthew would’ve been scheduling a trip to Ecuador. He’d already traveled to Spain and wanted to experience other cultures. At night, he would’ve been creating loads of artwork.

The genius of this young man was interrupted at a young age, but he left his family and friends with loving and heartwarming memories; he left humanitarian organizations with his serviceable spirit; and he left the world his masterpieces which his father says “helps bring some peace to our broken hearts.”

[image error]Matthew’s Self-Portrait

“Matthew was sent here to touch those he met and even the ones he never did,” said Laith. “We truly believe that he fulfilled his mission here on earth.”  

Matthew has handed the baton to his family, who has wasted no time continuing his work.  They had a company restore the paintings affected by the fire and have organized an exhibition intended to honor Matthew’s legacy and raise funds for a cause he truly believed in – the refugees. All donated money at Matthew’s Masterpieces will benefit Freedom House Detroit which offers relief for victims of war, dictatorship and famine.

“With all the sorrows we’ve been going through, we feel that Matthew is still here, taking care of us like he always did when he was walking this earth,” said Laith. “We would like to share his beautiful journey with our friends, family, and the world.”

Stephen Levine, in his book Who Dies? writes, “It is because you believe you are born that you fear death. Who is it that was born? Who is it that dies? Look within…If our only spiritual practice were to live as though we were already dead, relating to all we meet, to all we do, as though it were our final moments in the world, what time would there be for old games or falsehoods or posturing? If we lived our life as though we were already dead, as though our children were already dead, how much time would there be for self-protection and the re-creation of ancient mirages? Only love would be appropriate, only the truth.” 

Matthew’s Masterpieces is scheduled for 4 to 7p.m. April 28-29 at the Troy Community Center at 3179 Livernois Road in Troy. Tickets are only $50 and at the event will be finger food, a silent auction, and artwork prints available for sale.  

To learn more, visit https://www.facebook.com/Matthews-Masterpieces-1755710791402257/

[image error]One of Matthew’s artwork

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The Beekeeper, a Tale of a Hero

Renowned poet Dunya Mikhail has published her fourth book,  The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq. The story is about a Yazidi beekeeper, Abd-Allah, who helped rescue women captured by the Islamic State. This is Mikhail’s first nonfiction book, the idea for the story having come to her while she was teaching an Arabic class at Oakland University where she is a lecturer.

“The day the Arabic letter ‘noon’ came up, I remembered seeing it written on peoples’ doors where they had lived over 1400 years ago and where they had to leave their houses within twenty-four hours,” she said. “I wondered whether I should tell the students about this letter or not.”

For Mikhail, this letter brought forth images of the Islamic State destroying the land of her Chaldean ancestors, important historical monuments, even the graves.

“I felt I wanted to do more about this subject,” she said.

She considered doing a long poem but when she saw the Yazidi women and their families flee from the Islamic State as if it was “The day of resurrection,” she suddenly wanted to speak to someone Yazidi. She contacted a friend and eventually attained a list of phone numbers. The first number she called, she received no answer. The second number she called, someone answered in Kurdish and then the line got disconnected. The third number she called, a man answered in Arabic. Mikhail asked to talk to Nadia. He said, “She’s not here, but you can call her later.”

When Mikhail got a hold of her, the man, Abd-Allah, translated Nadia’s story. Through the conversation, Nadia told Mikhail, “Abd-Allah rescued me.”

“Who’s Abd-Allah?” Mikhail asked.

“The man you’re speaking to,” she said, triggering Mikhail’s journalism background. She became curious to learn more about this man and discovered that Abd-Allah had lost 56 people to the Islamic State and that, in an attempt to rescue his niece, he ended up rescuing a number of women who were Yazidi, Christian, and even Muslim. When she first spoke to him two years ago, he had saved 70 women. Now the number is in the hundreds. 

“Every time I save a woman, I save a sister,” he told Mikhail.

For a year, they talked on the phone, and with each call, the line would cut off ten to twenty times.

“With every phone ring coming through, I knew it was a woman seeking help,” said Mikhail.

His phone rings nonstop, even during sleeping hours. Someone once asked him, “Why don’t you turn off your phone so you can sleep?”

“How can I sleep if I turn off my phone?” he responded.

Mikhail ended up going to Iraq in the summer and met Abd-Allah in person. She learned that not only did he save women, but he also adopted a number of children whose parents were killed by the Islamic State. 

“I wondered, how did this man go from looking after beehives to rescuing women?”

He told her that, looking back, the foundational skills as a beekeeper helped him with his new work which he’d never imagined he’d be doing. 

Mikhail also met with some of the women who Abd-Allah saved, like Tarween, sold at a low price because she was mute and, therefore, considered handicap. Tarween described the awful conditions she lived under, where everyone including the kidnappers’ wives wore black, and how she was raped, beaten and sold ten times. In her book, Mikhail also includes accounts of how the men – fathers, brothers, husbands – of these women were victimized as a result of the Islamic State’s cruelty.  

Watch the half-hour interview to learn more about Dunya’s journey in writing this book. I can’t wait to read my copy of The Beekeeper. If you want to purchase your copy, click on this Amazon link: