Accurate translations of her authentic and intimate voice

Most lives on earth have been changed by war. I have no statistics, but even your own life probably bears the marks of warfare. Looking back at your family history, you may well find a time when your ancestors had to absorb the impact of war – land left behind, assets disappeared, or family lost – with consequences that have a long tail. Even now, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, rising gas prices and other impacts are causing adjustments all over this interconne

In this time of widening war, it is humbling and horrifying to look back and recognize that the world is still so beset with folly and madness. For all the progress that we, as humanity, aspire to make, we still resort to ferocious aggression against each other. Is it necessary? We display levels of force and destruction as though we cannot help ourselves. I write from the United States where the most powerful nation in the world is also the most destructive, where power is p

“Translating the Dead” is the name of a panel I attended at the #AWP26 conference and book fair last week. [1] The very fact that this was on the agenda speaks to a greater intentionality and thoughtfulness going into translations today. Today’s sensitivity about translations is a far cry from the turn-of-the-century standards that turned Memoirs of an Arabian Princess  into a no-name, somewhat rushed 1888 English translation and a completely distorted 1907 English translati

Here’s a topic while it’s still wintry where I live. When the weather is sub-zero outside, I do my best to keep warm inside. I think most people are like that. For some, though, the house needs airing, no matter how low the mercury. Icy wind howling down the lane, frosty streaks on the pane, no worries – just let me open the window and let in some fresh air! This is a characteristically German practice with a German name: Lüften  ( Luft  is air). The Washington Post recently

Salma, Salama, Salamah, Salima, Salimah, plus other variations, [1]  and Salme . Lest there be any doubt: Only the last one is the correct name of the Omani princess that was born on the island of Zanzibar in 1844. No birth record would have told us the Latin spelling, but we do have countless other indications that this is how she spelled her own name for Western usage. That starts with her Memoirs , which Sayyida Salme wrote in German. [2]  How can there be so many misspell

December always feels like a surprise – bam, it’s already here! And so I lurch to the end of the year, maneuvering all the year-end deadlines, while also trying to make room for the holidays. Happy Holidays indeed! Whoever came up with fiscal calendar years must have been a Scrooge. It takes a whole lot of organizing to get gifts and cards in place, if you want to do it right. Those of you who do have my utmost respect and admiration. Much of my holiday shopping gets crammed

What happens when we make choices beyond what is allowed or accepted? Last month I wrote a blog post about endless choice, and how we tend to think that more choice means more freedom and more freedom, more choice. [1] Today I am writing about bounded choice, where freedom stops. At some level, we transgress frequently. With so many rules and norms, it does not take much. Every time I walk across an intersection at a red light (especially in Germany, heaven forbid!), I choos

Die Qual der Wahl [1] – it’s a catchy German phrase that captures so much of our Zeitgeist. Have you walked into a store, taken one look, and walked back out, overwhelmed by the number of shampoos on offer – and no earthly idea about what actually distinguishes one from the other, with no soul in sight to give you any insights? Or do you live on Amazon, so you can select from zillions of doormats and backpacks to find just the right size, style, and motif? Or maybe you subsc

The Island’s Heyday of Photos and Postcards   Many of you know that Zanzibar harbored a world-class port city in the 19 th century, with...

We, as custodians of the past, turn history into legacy. Sayyida Salme / Emily Ruete left us her writings, but what do we make of them?...

I share a birthday with Abraham Lincoln, so I always perk up when I see an article about him. I also perk up because he was a great man,...

What makes us so special?  What gave us modern humans the edge to beat out the Neanderthals, the Denisovans, and all the other strains of...

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC just closed its very popular exhibit on Impressionism, which compared two Parisian art...

A month ago, I was nearing publication of The Centennial Collection , the third in my series on Sayyida Salme’s life and writings. I had...

We are in the aftermath. It is probably too soon to say much of anything, as we take in the complexity, and before the consequences have...

Othering: The act of putting people down on the basis of defined or perceived characteristics. Human zoos: The act of putting people on...

All’s well that ends well – and so we might breathe a sigh of relief with Sheikha Mahra’s latest post:    Dear Father, [1] Thank you for...

Among the culture shocks experienced by Sayyida Salme when she left Zanzibar for Germany was the loss of financial agency. She may not...

“Freedom” is a watchword these days, as it was in Sayyida Salme’s time. The word gets bandied about so much – as a rallying cry,...