Hi Ghazal, I know this feeling very well, that one is afraid of not fullfilling its own expectations.
Some people say we should learn to prioritize, refuse commitments which we dont see as important. Do the things, which you believe in, with all your energy, and skip the tasks which other people put on you. Of the few ideas which to me (as a complete a-religious person) appear of eternal value from the old testament are the words of Ecclesiast (or King Solomon):

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Thomas Wolfe regarded the old-testamentarian book of Ecclesiast as “… the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man’s life upon this earth — and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound.”

The lyrics of Ecclesiastes or King Solomon inspired many musicians to write songs, the most famous perhaps being Pete Seeger, the legendary US protest singer who on the occasion of his 94th birthday was accompanied by a grateful audienence.

best regards Michael

The Berlin Academy of Fine Arts helds an exhibition of drawings on paper by Meir Hussein Mussavi. The exhibition opened with a vernisage on Friday, June 7th and welcomes visitors till Sunday, June 23rd 2013.  The Academy is located at Paris Square next to the Brandenburg gate. The exhibition flyer describes Mousavis abstract drawings as visual poetry.

Mir Hussein Mousavi: No Title

His oevre shows papers filled with grafic elements, resembling ancient writings, abstract coloured signs, and symbols inspired by geometric and organic forms. Abstract symbols, related to memories and philosophical metaphors merge to complex structures. Fractures, torns through the paper and burned marks reminds the observer of the frictions and conflicts of an individual person in a society full of political and social constrains.
Mousavi, who counts the Persian mythology as his main influence, was not able to come to Berlin to open his exhibition himself. The artist and former presidential candidate is banned from all political activities and kept under house arrest in Tehran.

Not surprisingly, no official delegate from the Iranian embassy in Berlin was seen at the exhibitions vernissage. Maybe IRI officials have to change their mind after Fridays presidential election and at least will join the finissage.

Further information only in German is here

Ghazal Dear, I still regret that you have been so much occupied with shopping here in Munich, but we never used any of the fine occasions to go out to one of the music clubs in town (except for the Bayerischer Hof Nightclub).  This year many of the Munich clubs announced their parties, and I think they might attract at least some of the tourists that come here every summer from Arab countries and – very much like you – usually associate Munich only with shopping.

Shopping and Raving in Munich – Burkas wellcome

Take Care, my Dear

Michael

Just cross the road from the Avicenna bookstore in Munich, with its huge assortment of Persian literature, is the old building of the Munich University. Seventy years ago it was in the main hall of this building that the antifascist resistance group “White Rose” spread around leaflets that should reveal and condemn the nazi-crimes against the Jewish population and against political opponents of the regime. The “brave” german custodian of the university trapped Hans and Sophie Scholl and reported them to the Gestapo. This lead to the discovery of the entire group, whom the Gestapo desperately wanted to get hold of after leaflets and wall paintings claiming “Freedom”, “Down with Hitler” and “immediate end of the war” arose the weeks before.
Most members of the “White Rose” were interrogated and beheaded, after they were sentenced at the notorious “Peoples Court” (Volksgerichtshof).

Sophie Scholl (+ 22.02.1943)
Hans Scholl (+ 22.02.1943)
Christoph Probst (+ 22.02.1943)
Alexander Schmorell (+ 13.07.1943)
Willi Graf (+12.10.1943)
Kurt Huber (+ 13.07.1943)
Gisela Schertling
Katharina Schueddekopf
Traute Lafrenz

Shortly after the capture of the members of the White Rose, Leaflet No. 6 was smuggled out of Germany and later copied by the Allies and dropped from aircraft as propaganda over Nazi Germany.

At several places in Munich memorials remind people of the brave activities of the White Rose students, like a black obelisk in the Court Garden and brass copies of their leaflets placed on the square in front of the University.

Coming back to the Avicenna bookstore nearby the University building, one might see the murdered German students as brothers-and sisters-in-mind with the student rebells that shook up the streets of Tehran in 2009. Sooner or later, there also will be memorial plates in Iran, comemorating their brave standing-up against an inhuman regime.

Hello, my name is Nofretete, and I was born in Luxor in Egypt.
1912 some archeologists recovered me from this dark grave in the earth and brought me back to light. I, who together with my beloved husband Echnaton were so much fascinated by the divine nature of the sun had to spend 3400 years in the dark. When I was recovered and brought to Berlin, this not only caused a real Egyptomania and Nofretete-cult amongst the ordinary people, but the sun itself started to shine brighter and stronger for happiness to have me back.

The Egyptians were always afraid of my beauty. 3400 years ago they hated my preference of the sun against all the single, little minor gods they were worshipping. Thats why they banned my statue and burried me deep under ground. After the German archeologists under Ludwig Borchardt excavated me 100 years ago in the meter deep dust in Amarna, and brought me back to sunshine, the Egyption authorities several times attempted to get hold of me. They ordered reviews from French lawyers that should proof how the Germans had violated a contract with Egypt and insidiously betrayed them by highjacking me to Berlin. I have to admit, that my escape from Egypt to Berlin did not happened against my own will: Without exchanging words, both Borchardt and myself understood that the Berlin New Museum would provide a more adequate place for me than an Egyptian dust bin. We were afraid that in Egypt, they again would try to hide my beauty from the peoples eyes.
Now, 2012, 100 years after my rebirth, they introduce in Egypt the Sharia, ordering every woman to hide her face and her beauty. Returning to Egypt, wouldn’t they put me under a hijab or a burka, before showing me in the public ? Or will the Salafists who just occupied a couple of parlament seats and  governmental posts attack me altogether, destroy me as they did with other statues in Afghanistan and in Mali, because they fear that people will worship my beauty ?
In Berlin in the New Museum, people from all over the world come only to see me, and yes, they worship my beauty. They like me, and I like them, and therefore I will stay in Berlin forever. I am nobodies property, I belong to the entire mankind. But in Berlin they always took care of me, and I know they will do so forever. During the bombings of the 2. world war, when the entire city turned into a pile of debris, they found a safe shelter for me somewhere far away in a mountain village. They were so intrigued by Nofretete, that first  emperor Wilhelm II and later the East-German government (who lost me to West-Berlin) both ordered identical copies of my statue.
I am nobodies property, not the Germans and not the Egyptians. But I am and will stay a Berliner. The local people call me a “Berliner Göre”, and although this sounds turkish, it is their slang for “naughty little girl”. Although this of course is a (typical Berlin) understatement of my beauty, I can life with it.

Dear Michael, you wrote some articles here at your blog and at Iranian.com about the modern Iranian cinematography. I’d like to add a movie by the young Iranian filmmaker Maryam Kesharvarz onto your list , called “Circumstances” (“Sharayet” in its persian original).

I saw it recently with friends who got it on DVD, since it is not yet shown in the movie-theaters in Sweden. The movie is about two girls who go to University and are like sisters in mind. The parents of Shirin, the more quiet of the two, were obviously killed by the regime for participating in political opposition. The family of Atafeh, however, is very well situated and rich, although not conformist. A brother of Atafeh, in the past supposed to start a career as musician, returns from a long absence and makes a completely brain-washed impression. Still loved by his mother and dad, he is depressed and drug addicted and finally only sees a way out his mental problems by devoting his life to Allah and becoming a servant of the regime.
The main person of the movie, however, are the two girls Shirin and Atafeh, who are both full of dreams of a career as singers, in a liberal and free society. This clashes with both the opressive political regime in Iran, with the dogmatic situation at the college, but brings them also in conflict with Atafehs well positioned family. In one scene of the movie, during a family celebration where usually everybody contributes a song on the piano, Atafehs brother insist that the girls should not perform any more, since he considers this as anti-islamic. Trying to avoid any conflict, her family declines to the brothers hypocrism and recommends their daughter to stay silent.
Atafeh and Shirin look for freedom of thoughts and more wild experiences by joining the Tehran party scene. When one of these illegal parties is raided by the regimes Basidj thugs, they both get arrested. Whereas Atafehs parents manage to bribe some of the police officers to get their daughter out, Shirin is kept for longer in custody and she is mentally tortured there. Atafehs depressive brother suddenly appears to work for the police. When he finds Shirin he offers her to work for her release, but only if she agrees to marry her.
Throughout the entire film, however, it is obvious that Shirin and Atafeh are more than just friends, they are connected by a deep, mutual love. This love between the two girls is the source of all their strength, of their endless confidence that a better and free life will come and they will start a great music career together somewhere abroad.
The film finishes undecided, without happy end. At one moment, Shirin declines to the possessory claims by her husband, Shirins brother. But it is clear that she is only suffering here.
The unconditional love between the two girls serves as the big contrast to a society which is driven by anxiety, lies and hate. When Shirin and Atafeh are together, their honesty and love is like a glance into a better future of the country.

And this is what I red in the UK newspaper Guardian about this marvellous movie:

“Circumstance’s strength is in the exuberance of Atafeh and Shireen, filled with adolescent fantasies of escape (and cringeworthy lad’s mag-style fantasies of each other: all matching underwear and high heels) and their rebellious rush to dance, drink and break rules. At times the sensuous hair-flicking and the way the camera lingers on their beauty feels overdone and their interest in liberalism seems to extend only to their right to party.
But the film frames their insistence on following their desires, whatever the consequences, as a powerful form of dissent; Atafeh tells a friend: “Here anything illegal becomes politically subversive.”
Set immediately before the protests of the Green movement swept through Iran, the film aims to show where the anger behind the demonstrations came from. “In Iran where the state controls your behaviour … they want you to dress a certain way, and not speak to people of the opposite sex in the street – of course the personal is political,” explains Keshavarz, “in a more explicit way than anywhere else.”“

Marina Keegan, still a Yale student in her last term, 22 years old, on track to become a writer for “The New Yorker”, wrote this essay “The Opposite of Loneliness“, that became her emotional legacy. Shortly after publishing her text in Yale Universities “Cross Campus”, Marina Keegan died in a car accident.

Throughout her essay she expresses a very clear, rational view on the conflict between our destiny as members of a complex, more and more annonymous society and our archaic desire to find a safe place in a community. She knows about the impossibility to harmonize these two forces, but she does not end in despair.