Accurate translations of her authentic and intimate voice

At the very end of the twenty-second chapter of her Memoirs, Sayyida Salme tacks on a single, stand-alone sentence: We do not celebrate birthdays. (Memoirs, p. 150) It just pops in and hangs there. Such a curious non-sequitur after her detailed description of the “big festival,” it invites Westerners – who very much celebrate birthdays! – to wonder about this peculiarity. So, of course, I had to look it up. Turns out this is not just habit or preference, but harkens back to I

I always love a good word, especially when it comes with a good image. Some words capture whole worlds in their short alphabetic strokes, sometimes even holding a whole range of time, space, and sentiments. Sankofa is just such a word. The moment I heard it uttered in a recent radio interview I thought: What a word! We need that word! Sankofa is Ghanaian, coming from the Akan people, from centuries ago, and is both a word and one of their many Adinkra symbols.[1] In the Twi l

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

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

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...

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,...

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...

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...

Death comes to all of us until our own death arrives. Death is a fact of life, as we live a lifetime of family and friends that we lose....

A new year is upon us – at least the Western new year, as a matter of convention. Other new years start at different times of year. The...