My cousin in Gaza City snapped this photograph of a rainbow rising above the coast. In the foreground is a tree.
A tribute to Palestinian mothers
January 19, 2012 By 11 Comments
Yours is the face we wake up to,
through our eyes and in our minds,
and the face that wishes us to sleep
the night the missiles fall. [Read more...]
Palestine and all her bakings
December 21, 2011 By 3 Comments
When I first made the call-out for people to submit Palestine-themed cupcakes and cakes, I wasn’t expecting so many ingenious designs. As promised, here they are, in no particular order. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the winners, click here.
“This was supposed to be my ‘Pièce de résistance’ , my crowning glory. But I realized that I was no master baker and since I’ve never done sugar work before, well, it crumbled up a bit in the end. But it looked nice when the light caught it and tasted even better since it was ultimately a giant lollipop (made of colored and non-colored caramel).”
A Palestinian flag, by Amina Marwa
The Dome of the Rock, by Zainab K.
A keffiyeh, by Hazar Alkhawaja and Hadeel Alkhawaja [Read more...]
SMP Cupcake Contest Winners
December 16, 2011 By 9 Comments
The judges have submitted their rankings and the winners for this year’s contest have been determined. This was such a wonderful competition, and I thank each and every entrant for putting their baking skills to good use and inspiring both me and the panel of judges.
When the competition was first put together, I only had enough prizes for one winner. But four generous individuals — an anonymous donor, Danya Mustafa, one of the judges, and my sister — kindly supplied SMP with an entire collection of gifts: books, trinkets from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and a range of other symbols of Palestinian identity. The submissions were fantastic and it would be irresponsible not to recognize them or the individuals who designed them.
So, without further ado, here are the winners! Congratulations to these talented individuals and to everyone who took the time to put their politics into the oven. [Read more...]
Cupcake Contest: Put your politics into a preheated oven
December 13, 2011 By 1 Comment
Sixteen Minutes to Palestine is hosting a contest! If you’d like to win a Palestinian flag handcrafted in Palestine or if you’d just like to show off your superior baking skills, submit a photograph of your Palestine-themed baked goods by this Thursday, December 15.
The rules are simple: bake a cupcake, cake, or other fluffy item; celebrate Palestine’s culture or history by giving it a creative design; snap a photograph; and send it to smpalestine@gmail.com. The designs will be reviewed by the judging panel and the winner will be announced on Friday.
Joining SMP for this contest are three amazing judges: Nora Barrows-Friedman, a correspondent and editor for The Electronic Intifada, Nader K., a blogger based in Gaza City, and Anwar Kishawi, my co-founder (mama).
Excitement is high and the judges can’t wait to be impressed. They’ve already provided statements.
“The children of Gaza broke a Guinness record by flying their colorful kites in the blue skies of Gaza. I envision the same level of enthusiasm from the contest’s participants submitting their colorful Palestinian cupcakes. The difference is that they’re under siege and we’re not. Truly, our imagination should be just as boundless as theirs!”
— Anwar Kishawi
“As someone who has been involved in the global Palestine solidarity movement through public advocacy, education and journalism, and as someone who believes in the redemptive power of baked goods, I am thrilled to merge these two realms together. Freedom for Palestine, and frosting for Palestine cupcakes!”
— Nora Barrows-Friedman
“This cupcake contest is a new way to show love to Palestine through something we all enjoy, cupcakes! We have seen and shown a variety of ideas but not when it comes to food. I’m looking forward to seeing how delicious and Palestine-loving these cupcakes can be. Bring it on!”
— Nader K.
And if you haven’t yet read Gabriel Matthew Schivone’s piece on the significance of “baking political”, you should. The poem at the end will easily resonate with you.
So, remember, use your imagination and have fun. Celebrate Palestine and put your politics into an oven preheated to 355 °F. Enjoy your sweets and let the rest of the world enjoy your design.
Note: The contest is now closed. See the results here.
Palestine’s Speed Sisters racing cars, breaking barriers
December 8, 2011 By 2 Comments
I have a healthy obsession with cars and motor racing.
At age seven, like many children, I owned dozens of die cast cars that I’d line up on imaginary starting lines almost every evening before pushing them through championship races and subsequent demolition derbies.
At age ten, I began to arrange the cars into virtual parking lots so as to practice parallel parking for my future driving exam.
At age fourteen, I abandoned Hot Wheels and went for Jada Toys’ new Import Racer line-up which featured larger car bodies, rubber wheels, realistic headlights and taillights, custom body kits, and an overall greater level of sophistication.
At age fifteen, I made the foolish mistake of bringing a car to high school where, after meeting Michelle, it went flying into a wall. [Read more...]
Baking political
December 5, 2011 By 1 Comment
News of Sixteen Minutes to Palestine’s winter cupcake contest inspired in me fond thoughts of a passionate, savory poem I’d read once by the marvelous German anti-Nazi dramatist and poet, Bertolt Brecht. (His poem, “The Bread of the People”, is included at the bottom of this post.)
I am continually humbled by the role that food and culture—really everything in everyday life—plays in political thought and action. I lament that this role is not overtly appreciated or highlighted enough.
SMP’s bake-off has the potential to remind us that baking can be a political act.
It is miraculous that the abundant fruits of the earth can be kneaded, caressed, shaped and formed into fiery servings of sustenance that arms the body and feeds the soul with whatever content is baked within: existence, growth, desire, struggle, resistance, self-determination, justice, freedom. In “Bread of the People”, Brecht so seamlessly interweaves into the senses of the reader several crisp, ordinary feelings of bread and politics that, immediately, within a few lines, these ideas of bread and justice become indistinguishable. After all, there is a deep-seated cultural knowledge of bread and baking that is immemorial to people, because it is often perennial in our upbringing. The effect of the metaphor itself is strongest as a representation of solidarity between these two seemingly unlike things, that their merging is that much more special and meaningful.
The collective strength of family and community rises from the ingredients of sympathy and solidarity, and sharing this act together animates these feelings within everyone. To such an extent that to bake and dine together is a way of maintaining strength especially through times of social struggle.
So, I hope that when those of you who are planning and executing your delectable political activities, with the oven as your weapon, this poem may bring you a warm and sweet delight that you can feel in the soft pit of your gut.
Gabriel Matthew Schivone
Gabriel Matthew Schivone is a Chicano-Jewish American from Tucson, AZ, and an organizer on the ad hoc steering committee of Students for Justice in Palestine National Conference 2011. He was a passenger aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2. E-mail: gschivon@asu.edu. Twitter: @GSchivone.
Lupe Fiasco pays respect to Rachel Corrie, Palestinians in latest track
November 27, 2011 By 4 Comments
Lupe Fiasco dropped a new mixtape on November 24 called Friend of the People: I Fight Evil. In the closing track, appropriately titled “The End of the World”, Fiasco once again gives Palestine a giant shoutout.
After the initial hook, the track references Fiasco’s performance at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards with the following lyrics:
She loves her people so much
Came to my show just to throw her flag up, and
Pray to God that I saw her
Wonder if she saw my scarf, Palestine all on it [Read more...]
Contest: Submit your cupcakes to SMP
November 21, 2011 By 6 Comments
Earlier this year, I featured a photo of a batch of cupcakes draped in Palestinian flags. It’s time we celebrate Palestine even more! I’ve decided to put together a small contest in which participants must bake, make, or create Palestine-themed sweets. The winner will receive a handcrafted Palestinian flag from the Gaza Strip. It’s a simple prize but because it was put together by the hands of people we admire for their fortitude and strength, the flag carries a great deal of significance.
The video below explains a bit further, but the rules are simple. Design a cupcake or cake, snap a photograph, and send it to smpalestine@gmail.com. The deadline is December 15, 2011, and the winner will be announced the following day. Have fun and I can’t wait to see the final products!
A brief suggestion: I urge participants to send the actual cupcakes too, just in case.
Note: The contest is now closed. See the results here.
In defense of FouseyTube
FouseyTube is all the rage these days. But lately, this 22-year-old college student from California seems to be attracting as much negative attention as Newt Gingrich. The only difference is, I don’t think it’s fair or even justified. You don’t have to be a fan, but stooping so low is going to break your back before it breaks his.
Yousef Erakat, operating under the stage name FouseyTube, is a Palestinian-American entertainer who devotes much of his downtime to producing parodies, “vlogs”, and comedy sketches to upload to YouTube. After joining YouTube just ten months ago, Erakat’s video’s have gone viral and collectively boast over 15 million views. He has since become a YouTube partner and is now on tour performing sets at community centers and schools throughout the United States. But his quick rise to fame has been met with a great deal of heat and the ad hominem attacks on his character are getting far too out of hand to let slide any longer.
Every entertainer realizes at one point or another that the content of his or her work is entirely subjective. Some will laugh, others won’t. Some will find pleasure in a comedy routine and others will want to put their foreheads on the table. Erakat, a comedian himself, knows this all to well. I am sure he doesn’t set his sights on the impossible feat of evoking laughter from every single person in the world at any given time.
Still, much of the criticism leveled against Erakat is that he simply isn’t as funny as people make him out to be. I’ve come across comments ranging from “he’s bland now” to “even his loved ones never thought he was funny” to “no self-respecting person would dare watch his videos”. Therein lies the problem. The first comment is perfectly acceptable. It’s an opinion. Not everyone is obliged to think he’s funny. The second comment is a rude judgment. Since when did the Erakat family befriend internet trolls and share with them family secrets (assuming this particular one to be true)? And the third comment reeks of arrogance. Is society expected to conform to one individual’s perception of something as subjective as a one-man comedy skit? I’ve watched a few of Erakat’s videos. Does this mean I disrespect myself? If I spinelessly conform to that particular audacious comment, would I be respecting myself again? [Read more...]