Bab al-Markaz

Newsletter of the Arab American Action Network


Issue 23      
May/ June 2011  
Arab American Action Network
3148 W. 63rd St. Chicago, IL 60629
773-436-6060
773-436-6460
[email protected]
In This Issue
AAAN Updates
Feature: Activist Profiles
Quick Links
 
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Staff

Hatem Abudayyeh
Executive Director

Rasmea Yusef
Associate Director

Samira Ahmad
Lead Case Manager 

Gihad Ali
 
 Youth Organizing Program Coordinator

Halima Bahri
Youth Services
 Program Coordinator

 

  Muna Hammad
New Americans Initiative/ Citizenship Project
 
Nadia Musa
Childcare  

AmeriCorps Members

Medinah Abdelmuti
Hanan Ghanayem
Rowaida Nofal
 Muhammad Sankari
Fatmah Tabally
Shira Tevah
Laila Younes

ASM Instructors
Tammy Abughnaim
Inas Affaneh
Yasmeen Affaneh

Amany Hussein
Widad Hussein
Heba Matari
Asma Razik
Donia Razik
Arasele Robles 
 

Board

Lamees Talhami
President 
 
Ali Hussain
Vice President 
 
Louise Cainkar-Mashrah
Treasurer
 
Members
Widad AlBassam
Laila Farah
Ahlam Jbara
Mona Khalidi
Souzan Naser
Ora Schub

Turner Classic Movies Begins to Explore Depictions of Arabs in Cinema in July

From Arab Detroit:

Tuesdays and Thursdays in July on Turner Classic Movies will be devoted to Race & Hollywood: Arab Images on Film, a month-long movie event with Dr. Jack G. Shaheen focusing on the diverse portrayals of Arabs in cinema.

Each Tuesday and Thursday evening in July will focus on a different topic, including early images, Arabs as villains, Epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Arabs as a subject of ridicule, Arab maidens, Arabs as Sheiks, and even-handed portrayals. The series will close on Thursday, July 28, with a night of films made outside Hollywood such as Battle of Algiers and Rana's Wedding.

"TCM's Arab Images Race and Hollywood series will make the stereotype visible, offering diverse portrayals of Arabs in cinema. The series will also help humanize the Arab, as it provides viewers with much needed balance and clarity about the history of Arab screen images -- past present and future," says Dr. Shaheen of the series.

Shaheen adds, hopefully, "In time, the TCM series will make a difference in how Arabs are projected in the media, which in turn will have an impact on how Americans view Arabs, and how Arab-Americans within their own communities view themselves."

In preparation for the month-long event, Turner Classic Movies released two promotional videos featuring Dr. Shaheen and actress, Shohreh Aghdashloo, discussing stereotyping of Arabs in film, and the future of the portrayal of Arabs.

Arab Detroit

The following is a complete schedule of TCM's Race & Hollywood: Arab Images on Film. All times shown are Eastern.

Tuesday, July 5 - Early Images
8 p.m. The Sea Hawk (1924)
10:30 p.m. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
1 a.m. The Sheik (1921)
2:30 a.m. Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
3:45 a.m. The Lost Patrol (1934)

Thursday, July 7 - Arabs as Villains
8 p.m. Adventure in Iraq (1943)
9:30 p.m. Action in Arabia (1944)
11 p.m. Sirocco (1951)
1 a.m. Trunk to Cairo (1966)
3:30 a.m. Sinbad the Sailor (1947)

Tuesday, July 12 - Epics
8 p.m. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
12 a.m. Lion of the Desert (1981)
3 a.m. The Four Feathers (1939)
5 a.m. Young Winston (1972)

Thursday, July 14 - Arabs as a Subject of Ridicule
8 p.m. Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1937)
10 p.m. Road to Morocco (1942) and Sahara Hare (1955)
11:45 p.m. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) and Mummy's Dummies (1948)
1:45 a.m. Arabian Tights (1933)and Little Beau Porky (1964)
2:30 a.m. The Sad Sack (1957)and Hare-Abian Nights (1966)
4:30 a.m. Bowery to Baghdad (1955)

Tuesday, July 19 - Arab Maidens
8 p.m. Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
10:15 p.m. Dream Wife (1953)
12:15 a.m. Kismet (1944)
2:30 a.m. Chandu the Magician (1932)
3:45 a.m. The Desert Song (1955)

Thursday, July 21 - Arabs as Sheiks
8 p.m. Drums of Africa (1963)
10 p.m. Harum Scarum (1965)
12 a.m. Jewel of the Nile (1985)
2 a.m. Son of the Sheik (1926)
3:30 a.m. The Wind and the Lion (1975)

Tuesday, July 26 - Even-Handed Portrayals
8 p.m. Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
10 p.m. The Black Tent (1956)
12 a.m. Three Kings (1999)
1:30 a.m. King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
3:30 a.m. Sahara (1943)
5:15 a.m. Bataan (1943)

Thursday, July 28 - Images from Outside Hollywood
8 p.m. Princess Tam Tam (1935)
9:30 p.m. The Band's Visit (2007)
11:15 p.m. Rana's Wedding (2003)
1 a.m. Battle of Algiers (1966)
3:15 a.m. Taste of Cherry (1997)

Schedule subject to change.
Existence is Resistance hosts a FREE screening of "Hip Hop is Bigger Than the Occupation" and Q&A with M1 of Dead Prez

Saturday 7/9
Existence is Resistance

 

 
AAAN Updates
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AAAN Youth Organizing Team gave a presentation April 26Morton East at Morton East High School (home to AAAN youth leader Heba Hassan) in Cicero to a group of a dozen Arab students, letting them know about AAAN youth programming and inviting them to participate. 
 
Rabadi

Summer Rabadi, who has worked
in the Chicago Public Schools' Office of Language and Cultural Education as a Compliance Facilitator, gave a presentation April 27 on Bilingual Education to supplement AAAN ESL classes. Rabadi spoke on the importance of education for parents--especially mothers--to be able to communicate with their children and advocate for their behalf within the school system.
 
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                   CJNY                    
The Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) stopped by AAAN April 29 as part of a national tour of network members. They met with AAAN youth organizing staff, along with Associate Director Rasmea Yousef, and provided some curriculum and recommendations on teaching youth about the schools-to-prisons pipeline and other youth justice issues.

 

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NSC Spring 2011
A successful Never Silent Cafe was held on April 30, with over 100 audience members, a number of excellent guest performers--including Morocco's only female MC, Soultana--courageous readings by AAAN's Silent Echoes, and more.

 Visit our website for videos and photos.

 

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LaserQuest

 

Spring semester youth organizing participants celebrated a successful program with a laser tag outing May 7.

 

 

 

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Ever been so mad you just wanted to punch something? So have we. That's why we invited Dr. Jim Bedell, c
linical Anger Managementpsychologist, to give a workshop on anger management at our all-staff meeting May 13. The best way to manage relationships in the long run, he says, is to develop empathy and emotional intelligence; meanwhile, he recommends using "I" language instead of "you" language and using feedback instead of criticism in the workplace. 

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AAAN's AmeriCorps members got to try our their planning and organizational skills with National Arab American Day of Service May 14. The team, with the help of the rest of the Health Fairstaff, hosted a BBQ, blood drive, and health fair at the markaz for dozens of community members. Attendees received nutrition and migraine advice and had their glucose and blood pressure levels tested. The AAAN worked with LifeSource, which brought a mobile blood drive coach bus and collected 8 units of blood from staff, volunteers, and health fair attendees--enough to potentially save 24 lives*!

*According to LifeSource, Chicagoland's Blood Center.

See more photos here.


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AAAN Award

AAAN was honored at the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European & Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII) Annual Benefit Dinner and Award Ceremony May 21 for our commitment to economic and social justice. 

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AAAN BBQ
Thanks to generous donations from local businesses, the AAAN had lots of burgers and hot dogs left over from Service Day! Grilling has become a regular activity of the youth program, with a bbq and sports night on May 27th and bbq and birthday celebration June 10. Having fun events at the markaz between spring and summer program semesters helps keep youth engaged and brings new faces. 

 
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AAAN gave a workshop on Henna, focusing on its history in Henna Workshopthe Arab world, at Oak Lawn Library June 14. Inas Affaneh and Laila Younes gave free designs to the several dozen attendees, many of whom were children from the neighborhood.

 

 

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Summer CampSummer is here! Youth services summer camp began on June 20 with about 40 participants, and they have already been on two field trips.  Our summer program for older youth began July 5th and has an awesome lineup of creative writing, political education workshops, cultural events, and more! Stay tuned for information about our August Iftar celebration event. 

 

Activist Profiles: Hanan Ghanayem, Rowaida Nofal 

Immigrant women assist newer arrivals 


Hanan Ghanayem"I fill out applications for medical cards and food stamps and cash," says Hanan Ghanayem, who has been working as a Case Manager in the Social Services Program at the AAAN since joining Put Illinois to Work last May. She started AmeriCorps in January. "I do database entry and outreach, and follow up with clients. At first I thought it was going to be hard, but I was wrong. You have to learn fast, but it's fun and important work."


Ghanayem has lived in Chicago for 15 years, since moving to the U.S. from Jordan with her husband. She goes to Jordan every 2-3 years to visit her family, who are refugees from the 1948 Palestinian territories. She has 2 two boys, one girl, and a stepdaughter, ranging in age from one and a half years to 22. She has also worked as a substitute teacher at Universal School and a medical interpreter.

 

"I like all the people I meet here," she says. "I like all the events we do. You develop relationships with all the people you see; you're trying to help them as much as you can." The hardest thing, she says, is when clients' applications are delayed or denied. "Sometimes they think we're the ones that approve them," she says. But the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) office is responsible for those decisions, and sometimes there is nothing AAAN staff can do about a rejected application.

 

The main problems faced by the Arab community, according to Ghanayem, are "low-incomes, no jobs, no papers," the latter making it difficult, in some cases, for people to find employment or access government services and benefits. "If I could change one thing about the system," she says, "I would give medical cards to everybody and find them jobs."       

 

Rowaida Nofal 

 

"I work as a social services provider, helping low income families get public benefits such as food stamps, medical cards, and childcare," says Rowaida Nofal. "I also help a little bit with outreach to new immigrants." Nofal also joined the AAAN as a Case Manager through Put Illinois to Work. Her first impression of the AAAN was that it was an "awesome place." "I love it," she says. "It's like working with a family."

 

Nofal moved to Chicago almost ten years ago from Ramallah, Palestine, after getting married. She now has three children, aged six to eleven. She also worked for five years in a daycare center.

 

"I hope to get families whatever they need," she says, "So I do my best and work hard to do that." Nofal believes the AAAN does an excellent job, and she's "so proud to work with the organization." But if she were in charge of public aid, she would "give everybody what they need easily and quickly. With this economy everybody needs the help, but sometimes people are given a hard time getting it."

 

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AAAN LogoThe Arab American Action Network (AAAN) strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area by building its capacity to be an active agent for positive social change. As a grassroots nonprofit, our strategies include community organizing, advocacy, education, providing social services, leadership development, cultural outreach and forging productive relationships with other communities.