In the shadow of the King

Two weeks in Jordan with twenty-four teenagers hardly seems like the typical summer vacation for me. In ten years of teaching, I have purposely avoided taking students on international trips. All rules are meant to be broken.

Eleven months ago I got a phone call asking me if I wanted to co-teach a class on the Middle East in Jordan for Columbia University. After many meetings, emails, and a three day excursion to Jordan over MLK weekend, Culture and History: Understanding the Arab World is the result. The last two weeks have been spent in classrooms at the King's Academy, exploring the streets and hills of Amman, climbing to high places in Petra, watching re-enactments of Roman chariot racing and legions, and generally exploring Jordan.

This trip was my third trip to Jordan. I first visited in 2003 as part of a long overland journey from Istanbul to Cairo. Not surprisingly, Jordan didn't quite grab me as much as the architecture of Istanbul or Cairo or the old city of Damascus. In that trip, Jordan mostly stands out as the place where I passed up an opportunity to go on a two day rapid visit to Baghdad in order to visit Jerusalem. Given that I've been able to go back to Jerusalem since 2003, and I've yet to have the same opportunity to visit Baghdad, I guess I made the wrong decision. At the same time, I don't really have any regrets. When I was back in Jordan in January 2009, it was only for three days. Amman still seemed to be more concrete than culture. But I did get a chance to see Ramallah Underground live. Three days in Amman only left me wondering a little more if a class in Jordan was really worth it.

Well, after two weeks there, my doubts were misplaced. Amman isn't going to be winning any awards for the culture capital of the Middle East. And I definitely can't agree with the NY Times considering Amman "A Great Home and Destination." But I will admit that there is a lot of great things in Jordan once you get beyond Amman. King's Academy (a.k.a. Deefield in the Middle East) is a beautiful campus with state of the art facilities. Petra and Jerash definitely offer some of the better ancient sites to visit in the Middle East. And Wadi Rum is truly striking in its natural beauty. And just in case you thought you were somewhere else than the Middle East, rest assured that Jordan is just as authoritarian as all the other states in the Middle East: pictures of King Abdullah are everywhere. Just ask Moomtaza.

If you want to see a few other photos from my trip, check out my Petra photos, my Jerash photos, my contemporary Jordanian art photos, or my other Jordan photos.

A Manifesto

This blog is not my first. I have set up multiple blogs for my classes over the years. And for a while, I maintained a personal blog. I haven't posted anything there in well over a year, so I figured that it was better to let it collect more dust rather than try to resurrect it. That brings me to this blog. If you've seen my previous blog, you'll recognize part of the name of this blog. I still see my work in the classroom and my experiences in the world intersecting. At the same time, I wanted a little more direction and focus for this blog, so I added the "nonviolent lessons." I plan for the posts on this blog to reflect what's tattoed on the inside of my wrist.

A few other words. I'm experimenting with ways of maintaining my online identity. If you really want to know exactly what I find interesting online, check out my delicious links. Some of the things I'm reading, I want to share with the world, so you can find those on posterous or you can check out my shared items in Google Reader. If you really want to know a little more about me, check out my profile on Google. And then if you really are curious about what I'm up to, become my friend on Facebook.

In the next ten days or so, I hope to post something about my recent trip to Jordan. In the future, you can also expect some posts from my upcoming trip to Ladakh in northern India.

Peace.