December 2007 | issue 41 CONTENTS NDU Spirit A periodical about campus life at Notre Dame University - Louaïze. | Editor-in-Chief Georges Mghames | English Editor Kenneth Mortimer | Reporting Ghada Mouawad | Arabic Typing Lydia Zgheïb | Photographer Abdo Bejjani | Layout & design Technopub | Print Meouchy & Zakaria “Somebody else” is to blame. We always blame “somebody else” for all our troubles, and, washing his hands, he in turn finds another “somebody else” to blame. That “somebody else” denies and denies yet again all responsibility, saying it is none of his fault. God help us with that “somebody else” who is the cause of all our troubles. Has not the time come for us to shoulder our responsibilities in word and in deed, in everything personal and public, in what we want and what we do not want, benefiting us or harming us, under the guidance of our minds and hearts? Editorial Staff THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 6 NDU President at Malaysia Forum 7 NDU at Rhodes Forum WEERC 8 Project Closure, Ministry of Energy and Water LERC 11 NSU and Poitiers University, France 11 Brain Drain Workshop 13 Lebanese-Nigerian Event and LENIFRA 15 LERC represented in Brazil 16 Talk on Citizenship at U.K. University 17 LERC Director in Tokyo 17 LERC at Conference in Egypt 18 The Myrtle Tree, Literary Evening 20 Lebanese in the Ivory Coast 20 Database Training and LERC Team Members FBAE 22 China Commerce Ministry and NDU, Dr. R.-A Mehanna 23 FBAE Graduate Students and MIB FE 24 Faculty of Engineering and Catholic Schools Secretariat 25 Faculty of Engineering and Ulm University, Germany 26 Biel Hariri Forum 2007 27 Advertising Marketing, IAA Student Chapters – K. Darouni 29 Dr. Alam at Mofid University, Iran 30 Dr. Christine Sabieh and AsiaCALL 31 Alumni Couple Reunion 33 NDU Alumni – Fadia el-Hage 36 Music Club Karaoke SOCIAL 36 Births, Obituary 37 20th Anniversary Remembrance Mass OPINION AND CULTURE Tel: (09) 218950 - Ext.: 2477 Fax: (09) 224803 Email: [email protected]www.ndu.edu.lb/newsandevents/nduspirit ACADEMIC AFFAIRS 5 Obituary – Dr. Jean Fares 5 Professors Emeritus ACADEMIC AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES 39 Nature Reserves in Lebanon – Dr. George Abu Jawdeh 40 Pan-Arab Advertising – Kamal G. Darouni 43 Semitic Religions and Music – Ahmed Karkanawi 46 Telecom. And Development in MENA – Dr. L. Hobeika 50 Art, Image, Sound and Soul – Rima Saab 52 Teenage Romance – Yara Y. Zgheib 54 Secular Government in Lebanon – Brenda Iara Younes 56 RSS: A Spam/Junk Mail Killer – Victor Sawma 58 Pollution, When is it going to stop? – Christina Keyrouz 59 International Students – Omar el-Khoury 61 Why have an International Experience – George Bader 62 Is Curiosity a Need? – Wassim Beaineh 64 Replaying car Accidents - Rabih Yaacoub 65 A GSM-based Location System – Hiba Abdel Samad 66 The Saga Continues – Dr. Amal Saleeby Malek 68 Keats – K.J. Mortimer 70 New Writing Center at NDU – Mary Khoury 73 Poems – Elie Nabhan, Carla Ghorra, Belinda Daou, Rola Ghorra 74 Crossword FOREWORD 3 English Editor (N.B. Opinions are those of the authors and do not engage the editors.)
Transcript
December 2007 | issue 41
CONTENTS
NDU Spirit A periodical about
campus life at Notre Dame
University - Louaïze.
|| EEddiittoorr--iinn--CChhiieeff
Georges Mghames
|| EEnngglliisshh EEddiittoorr
Kenneth Mortimer
|| RReeppoorrttiinngg
Ghada Mouawad
|| AArraabbiicc TTyyppiinngg
Lydia Zgheïb
|| PPhhoottooggrraapphheerr
Abdo Bejjani
|| LLaayyoouutt && ddeessiiggnn
Technopub
|| PPrriinntt
Meouchy & Zakaria
“Somebody else” is to blame.We always blame “somebody else” for allour troubles, and, washing his hands, he inturn finds another “somebody else” toblame.That “somebody else” denies and denies yetagain all responsibility, saying it is none ofhis fault.God help us with that “somebody else” whois the cause of all our troubles.Has not the time come for us to shoulderour responsibilities in word and in deed, ineverything personal and public, in what wewant and what we do not want, benefitingus or harming us, under the guidance of ourminds and hearts?
Editorial Staff
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
6 NDU President at Malaysia Forum7 NDU at Rhodes ForumWEERC
8 Project Closure, Ministry of Energy andWater
LERC
11 NSU and Poitiers University, France11 Brain Drain Workshop13 Lebanese-Nigerian Event and LENIFRA15 LERC represented in Brazil16 Talk on Citizenship at U.K. University17 LERC Director in Tokyo17 LERC at Conference in Egypt18 The Myrtle Tree, Literary Evening20 Lebanese in the Ivory Coast20 Database Training and LERC Team
MembersFBAE
22 China Commerce Ministry and NDU,Dr. R.-A Mehanna
23 FBAE Graduate Students and MIBFE
24 Faculty of Engineering and CatholicSchools Secretariat
25 Faculty of Engineering and UlmUniversity, Germany
26 Biel Hariri Forum 200727 Advertising Marketing, IAA Student
Chapters – K. Darouni29 Dr. Alam at Mofid University, Iran30 Dr. Christine Sabieh and AsiaCALL31 Alumni Couple Reunion33 NDU Alumni – Fadia el-Hage36 Music Club KaraokeSOCIAL
36 Births, Obituary37 20th Anniversary Remembrance Mass
39 Nature Reserves in Lebanon – Dr. George Abu Jawdeh40 Pan-Arab Advertising – Kamal G. Darouni43 Semitic Religions and Music – Ahmed Karkanawi46 Telecom. And Development in MENA – Dr. L. Hobeika50 Art, Image, Sound and Soul – Rima Saab52 Teenage Romance – Yara Y. Zgheib54 Secular Government in Lebanon – Brenda Iara Younes56 RSS: A Spam/Junk Mail Killer – Victor Sawma58 Pollution, When is it going to stop? – Christina Keyrouz59 International Students – Omar el-Khoury61 Why have an International Experience – George Bader62 Is Curiosity a Need? – Wassim Beaineh64 Replaying car Accidents - Rabih Yaacoub65 A GSM-based Location System – Hiba Abdel Samad66 The Saga Continues – Dr. Amal Saleeby Malek68 Keats – K.J. Mortimer70 New Writing Center at NDU – Mary Khoury73 Poems – Elie Nabhan, Carla Ghorra, Belinda Daou,
Rola Ghorra74 Crossword
FOREWORD3 English Editor
(N.B. Opinions are those of the authors and do not engage the editors.)
page 2 | issue 41
The President’s Message
Charlotte Bronte, as if answering Evans, said about the same concern: “Lifeis so constructed that an event does not, cannot, [and] will not, match theexpectation.” This means that expectations are always beyond reality, theytry to stretch reality to a better and higher level of performance. The humanbeing is by nature a creature who lives on a series of expectations in allthat he does and all that is taking place around him, at different levels.
The complexity of rational, emotional, and physical skills in a human beinglead him to carry all kinds of expectations that become a real driving forcein order to reach quality achievements and performances in his professionalrelations as well as in his spiritual, personal and social relations. The humanbeing cannot plan, cannot perform, and cannot have a vision for thefuture without being “bugged” continuously with expectations. This is themain dynamic power that could conduct and lead any endeavor to whichwe are directly or indirectly committed.
Perhaps this explains why the Maltese writer and philosopher Edward deBono defines unhappiness as “the difference between our talents and ourexpectations”. We do not realize that, in most cases, we spend a largeportion of our life trying to fill in the gap between our “talents” and our“expectations”. Filling this gap is a life plan of action to develop oneselfand to build up continuously as this on-going development takes place.
This is a major self-commitment no matter where we stand, and no matterwhat our role is to serve ourselves and our community. It is a majorcommitment especially when we deal with our students, our colleagues andour university community. This is more true when, and if, we carry aspiritual responsibility together with an intellectual one in serving ourcountry and our new generation.
If we want quality and excellence in our performances and achievements letus keep our expectations high. Expectations might be quite demanding andcostly but their absence might be in the long run easy going and muchmore expensive.
once said: “I can’t imaginegoing on when there are nomore expectations.” Thisquotation invites us tothink: what is thesignificance of anexpectation, as a humanattitude, in one’s life? Whydo we keep expecting thingsto happen? Why do weexpect the better, thesuperior, the healthier, thegreater, the finer, the betterquality, the more advanced,the improved results andoutcomes of ourcommitments and productsin life?
E
when we read for pleasure it is
because of powerful style,
fluent, lucid and melodious,
that brings the subject alive.
Two comparatively recent
novels that have this quality
are The Day of the Jackal by
Forsyth and Nicholas and
Alexandria by Massie.
Generally speaking, young
Lebanese are not in the habit
of reading good books for
pleasure, whether of literature
or general culture. Their
reading is largely limited to
their books of study, often
poor from the point of view of
language. Classroom libraries
in schools are often limited to
childish stories. Parents are
more apt to open their purses
to buy clothes that adorn their
children’s bodies for a passing
year than to buy books that
adorn their children’s minds
for a lifetime.
One result is that young people
have little general knowledge
of history, geography, the
animal kingdom, and such
things as ships. This struck me
when I came to Lebanon.
Once I was teaching university
students in an English
Language School. We were
I was supervising an English Lab.
Session when Dr. Assaad Eid knocked at
the door and asked me whether I would
take over as English Editor of the new
NDU magazine. I dropped everything
and moved into my spacious new office
premises, namely the top of a two-
drawer filing cabinet to write on and a
chair to sit on. If it had been the other
way round, it would have been hardly
less comfortable. Texts went backwards
and forwards between the Old Campus
and Daily Press until the capable Miss
Karine Chidiac (now Mrs. Saadeh) with
her computer took over the secretarial
work.
The first two or three issues were, I
admit, materially poor, but then Dr.
Ameen Rihani, Dr. Assaad Eid and Mr.
Georges Mghames, General and Arabic
Editor, helped organize relations with
the various faculties. Then there was
the move to New Campus and more
spacious quarters. I lost my secretary
but gained my own computer. When I
started school in 1931, they never
taught me about computers, but at least
since my military service I had always
owned a typewriter. I learnt by trial
and error and the charming young
ladies in the neighbouring offices
helped me when the mysteries of
technology drove me to desperation.
Thanks to the insistent urging of
Faculty members, at last we have
students presenting articles for
publication, but strangely enough these
contributors seem to be mostly in the
technical rather than the more purely
cultural departments. One might have
thought that students of language and
literature would have facile pens and be
bubbling over with ideas and eagerness
to see their names and work in print.
Something else puzzles me. Why do
people with a deficient mastery of
English write long, complicated,
confused sentences instead of short,
simple, clear ones? I rather suspect that
textbooks have a bad influence.
Nowadays, even in Britain and the
United States one finds specialists
learned in their particular domain
whose primary and secondary education
was deficient, largely because of the
elimination of grammar from the
programmes; as a consequence their
writing is deplorable. One of our NDU
professors with a doctorate in
Economics from the USA and excellent
linguist found an American book for
first-year Business students very
difficult even for him to understand,
simply because it was so badly written.
To write good English one has to read
good English, for hours every day, but
this usually means finding texts that are
at least fifty years old. Today we are so
often urged to read for information, this
being the Information Age, but in fact
page 3 | issue 41
English Editor 2006-2007
Forward to the Forties!
| English Editor
Issue 0, July 1996
Now that forty issues of NDU Spirit have appeared, I am tempted to cast an eye
over the past and consider how we started in the English section.
page 4 | issue 41
reading a simplified version of
Hemingway’s The Old Man and
the Sea. To my amazement
these university students did
not know what a shark was. I
drew one clearly on the
blackboard and gave the
French name and Arabic word,
writing this clearly on the
supposition that my
pronunciation was at fault.
But even the Arabic was
meaningless to these
supposedly educated young
men and women. Any large
marine creature, mammal or
fish, shark, seal, sea lion,
walrus or porpoise, was
vaguely kalb el-bahr. I once
found that senior seminarists
did not know the parts of a
ship, keel, bowsprit, bollards,
scuppers, gunwale, splice, port
and starboard in any language.
Incidentally, books meant to
improve students’ vocabulary
often serve little purpose here.
Originally intended for
American students, they tend
to concentrate on long Latin-
rooted words which are already
familiar to those with a French
education. It is often the
simple words that our people
lack, words such as rim, edge,
gut. Periphery and intestine,
although more intellectual, are
more easily understood.
Readers of NDU Spirit may be
puzzled by apparent
inconsistencies in spelling. We
feel that we can impose neither
British-European-
Commonwealth spelling nor
North American spelling for
articles. But with the exception
of an occasional proper name,
any one article should be
consistent, one or the other. I
was brought up on British
spelling, so it would be
inconsistent for me to try to
use American spelling and
then say He was taken to hospital (no
definite article) instead of He was
hospitalized (rather a mouthful for me!)
All the letters I receive from British and
American people of an older generation
regret the disappearance of clear,
enjoyable English. Twenty years ago no
less a person than Edward Prince of
Wales, heir to the throne, declared that
even he could not find secretaries on
whom he could rely to write a letter
correctly, so that he had to read in
person everything that left his office.
The famous American broadcaster
Alistair Cooke said that whenever he
received a letter that was in good
English, he knew that the writer,
whether educated or uneducated, was at
least fifty years old. I myself preserve
letters written to me by working-class
people who went to a village school for
three or four years at the end of the
nineteenth century that are a pleasure
to read.
Nowadays in Britain and America it is
the fashion to allow schoolchildren their
“creative expression” and not bother
them with grammar, spelling and
punctuation. But one may well wonder
what use there can be in their
expressing themselves if nobody can
understand them. Ever since the Roman
Empire, children have gone to school to
learn how to express themselves easily,
clearly and elegantly in a language that
is understood everywhere.
* * *NDU is a Catholic Christian university.
Catholic means universal. So it is that
from being a Jewish sect Christianity
became also the religion of the Gentiles,
adapting Greek philosophy to the
exposition of its doctrine. The process
of seizing all that is of value in other
systems of thought and belief had
already begun – in fact even in the
eighth century the East Syrian Church
was already using Chinese cultural
means of expression. Now when there
is so much evil, cruelty and callousness
in the world, the time has come for the
children of Abraham, who have received
God’s revelation, to work together.
Christians, Muslims and Jews (in the
proper meaning of the word) all believe
in one God and in His moral law, and
so must strive together for a better
world. We are therefore glad to publish
articles, not of sentimental, sugary piety
but of solid religious and philosophical
formation, so that the faith of each may
be strengthened in the framework of his
own belief. People who are true to their
respective religions love and esteem
each other, deepening their own
spiritual life by the contact. Religion
has never itself been the cause of
enmity and war. Hatred is the result of
human greed and ambition exploiting
differences of class, race and faith. If
all human beings had the same colour
of eyes, hair and skin and spoke the
same language and had one common
nationality and religion, there would
always be individuals looking for the
means to use strife for power and
money and prestige.
* * *In NDU Spirit we aim to give news of
activity on NDU Main Campus and on
the North and Shouf campuses. For
Opinion and Culture, we look for
articles that anybody with a secondary
education can enjoy. We leave more
purely academic studies to NDU’s
Palma. But with all this we in the
English section of Spirit have a concern
for encouraging good English and good
French, this language being also
accepted. Arabic we leave in the very
capable hands of General Editor Mr.
Georges Mghames!
| Forward
Obituary
It was with stupor and deep regret that the NDU communitylearned about the passing away of Dr. Jean Fares, Professor ofMathematics and former FNAS Dean. He succumbed to asudden heart attack in the night of Sunday, August 19th, 2007.His funeral took place at his birthplace Ain Harsheh in BeqaaWest.
Dr. Jean Fares was born on 19th November, 1954. He earned aPh.D. in Mathematics from Wisconsin-Madison University in1988 and joined NDU as Assistant Professor on 1st October,1992, becoming Chair of the Department of Mathematics andStatistics 1st Oct., 1994 to 30th Sept., 2001 and FNAS Dean8th Feb., 2001 to 30th Sept., 2006. He was promoted AssociateProfessor on 1st Oct. 1995 and Professor on 1st Oct., 2003, withtenure as from 1st Oct., 1997. His field of special interest wasFixed Point Theory. A more detailed account will be found inthe Arabic section of NDU Spirit.
Professors Emeritus
A memorandum from the President’s Office dated 24th
September, 2007 announced that in view of their long andsuccessful commitment to NDU, the following professors nowreaching retirement would enjoy the title of Professor Emeritus
as from October 1st, 2007:
| Prof. Walid Assaf (FE) | Prof. Shehwan Khoury (FE) | Prof. Michel Kreidy (FNAS) | Prof. Ajaj Tarabay (FNAS) | Prof. Akl Kairouz (FPSPAD)
page 5 | issue 41
Academic Affairs 2006-2007
NDU PRESIDENT Fr. MOUSSA
IN MALAYSIA FORUM
page 6 | issue 41
The highly successful
conference of the first Global
Higher Education Forum,
Malaysia 2007 (GHEF 2007)
brought together about 350
higher education leaders,
scholars, policy makers, and
administrators from over forty
countries. The theme of the
conference was knowledge
and relevant Human
Resource Development with
three sub-themes:
| Global Mobility, Access and Equityin Higher Education
| Governance, Leadership andQuality of Higher Education
Organized jointly by the Ministry ofHigher Education in Malaysia, theNational Higher Education ResearchInstitute (IPPTN) and the InternationalAssociation of Universities (IAU), theconference offered many opportunitiesto network and hear some excellentpresentations at the three plenarysessions and six parallel workshops.
The Plenary Sessions covered thefollowing:
1 – Access, Equity and the role of ICT,
2 – Governance, Leadership andQuality of Higher Education,
3 – Global Higher Education Market:Academic Mobility, Transnational andCross-Border Education.
NDU President Father Walid Moussa
together with Mr. Edgar Merheb-Harb,Assistant Director of Public Relationsand IAU Board member, attended theForum and participated in its workshopsessions for two consecutive days.
An opening declaration by the Ministerof Higher Education, His Excellency
Dato’ Mustapha bin Mohamad, that“individual potential must be realizedat all times”, set the stage and livelydiscussions ensued during the plenarysessions and the numerous workshops,but also over coffee and during thesocial activities.
The numerous workshops were wellpositioned, supplementing thepreceding plenary sessions and offeringan opportunity to debate the plenaryissue in greater depth. The plenary andworkshop sessions includedpresentations from UNESCO, a regionalintergovernmental organization, anduniversities from Asia, Africa, Europeand North America.
The conference was so successful thatthe Ministry of Education in Malaysiahopes to make the Global HigherEducation Forum into an annual event.
| Academic and Student Activities
KUALA LUMPUR, NOVEMBER 6-7, 2007
page 7 | issue 41
NDU @ Rhodes 2006-2007
The Fifth Annual Meeting ofthe World PublicForum/Dialogue ofCivilizations was held in theGreek island of Rhodesbetween the 10th and the 14th
of October, 2007. Theconference was attended bywell over seven hundredpersonalities from all over theworld, belonging to variousreligons and cultures. Invitedto the Conference from NDUwere Fr. Walid Moussa,President, Dr. Abdo Kahi,Director of the Center ofSocietal Research, and Fr.
Boulos Wehbe, SeniorLecturer in the Social andBehavioral SciencesDepartment of the Faculty ofHumanities. The Lebanesedelegation also included Rev.
Riyad Jarjour, Mr. Walid Sammak andJudge Abbas Halabi from the Lebaneseand Arab Groups for Muslim-ChristianDialogue, Dr. George Dorlian, Directorof the Public Relations Office atBalamand University, and Dr. Suheil
Farah, Professor at the LebaneseUniversity and also coordinator for thewhole trip.
There were several parallel lines ofwork during the Conference, whichbrought the participants together in
the opening and closing plenarysessions with notably effectivesynchronization and organization. Thestudy in which the LebaneseDelegation was involved centered onthe Middle East, and benefited frompresentations by Dr. Dorlian, Mr.Sammak and Fr. Wehbe. The Lebanesegroup was exemplary, exhibiting abeautiful spirit of togetherness andsolidarity, and prompting one of theparticipants to wonder why otherdelegations could not do likewise.
page 8 | issue 41
On Tuesday, November 6th,
2007, in the Conference Room
of the Ministry of Energy and
Water, the solemn closure took
place of the project for
Improved Cooperation in
Irrigation Water Management
through Awareness and
Capacity Building. This event
came within the context of the
Technical Cooperation
Programme for Lebanon (TCP-
Lebanon 3003) and was held
under the auspices of the
Minister of Energy and Water,
H.E. Mohammad Al Safadi, in
coordination with the FAO
(Food and Agriculture
Organisation) and WEERC (the
NDU Water, Energy and
Environment Research Center).
The object of the meeting was topresent the achievements of theproject and to discuss different ideasthat might lead to similar projects inthe future. Speakers at the openingsession were as follows: Ms Randa
Nemer, National Coordinator, TCPProject; Dr. Fadi Comair, GeneralDirector of Hydraulic and ElectricResources at the Ministry of Energyand Water and Director of WEERC; Dr.
Assaad Eid, Vice President forSponsored Research and Developmentat Notre Dame University; H.E. Dr. Ali
Moumen, FAO Representative inLebanon; and H.E. Mohammad Al
Safadi, Minister of Energy and Water.
At the first session, chaired by H.E. Dr.
Adel Cortas, former Minister ofAgriculture, speakers and their subjectswere as follows:
| Ms. Randa Nemer on Accomplishment
of the TCP Project.
| Dr. Salim Sarraf, former Senior FAO
Officer, on Water Policy Reform in
Lebanon.
| Dr. Najat Yahia, Ph.D., King’s College,
London, on Irrigation Water Quality.
| Dr. Hyam Mallat on Cadre
Institutionnel et Juridique du Secteur de
l’Eau d’Irrigation.
| Ms. Katia Fakhry, Agricultural
Engineer, WEERC, on Etude de la Qualité
des Eaux des Fleuves de Nahr el Kalb,
Ibrahim and El Jawz.
At the second session, chaired byDr. Fadi Comair there was discussion offuture perspectives.
| Academic and Student Activities
WEERC Project Closure
page 9 | issue 41
WEERC 06/11/07
The Speech of welcome was delivered
by Dr. Assaad Eid, Vice President for
Sponsored Research and
Developpment at NDU. The following
is the text.
Your Excellency Mr. Mohammad Al-
Safadi, Minister of Energy and Water,Your Excellency Dr. Ali Moumen, FAORepresentative in Lebanon, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me pleasure to be here todayon behalf of Fr. Walid Moussa,
President of Notre Dame University,Louaize.
Ever since its inception, NDU has, inline with its mission, set down a long-term plan which would distinguish it asone of the leading research institutes inthe region. For some time now, wehave conducted some excellentscholarly research in several areas,through the three centers we havefounded and through our faculty’sresearch activities. Building on ourexisting strengths, we now have theopportunity to expand our researchmore significantly, and I look forwardto leading this development.
The Water Energy and EnvironmentResearch Center is one of NDU’s mostactive research units. In the past coupleof years, the Center has been activelyengaged in developing appropriatestrategies and in providing training forthe proper optimization and integratedmanagement of water and energy usein Lebanon.
The Center’s contribution, thoughconsiderable, remained short ofadequacy and self-fulfillment. Whatseemed to be a necessity was a closercooperative link with local andinternational entities. Along these lines,the Center has managed to developeffective liaisons with governmentaland non-governmental bodies througha number of initiatives, one of which isthe project whose closure we celebratetoday; this project is a unique model ofhow universities should pursue newand innovative ways to partner withothers in an attempt to fulfill theirmission. Today, NDU, more than ever, isquite determined to become moreintegrated with industrial, commercial,social, and environmental issues in thedevelopment of new knowledge. Wewant our output from academicresearch to serve management
practitioners in theirprofessions.
Our research strategies aremeant to provide suchvaluable information; andthrough building morepartnerships and raising theintensity levels of the existingones, we render our researchfar more rewarding to boththe University’s developmentand the nation’s welfare.
In closing, I wish to reiteratemy conviction, and that of ourPresident, that such projectsand endeavors should alwaysbe met with support andencouragement.
workshop entitled Brain DrainPhenomenon and its Effect onthe Economy and Developmentof Lebanon was held at the
UNESCO Palace in Beirut on
Thursday June 28, 2007. The
aim of the workshop was to
prepare for the Ministry’s
participation in the EuroMed
Senior Officials Meeting on
Migration scheduled to take
place in Brussels on September
10, 2007.
LERC-NDU and Migrinter-Poitiers
Cooperation between the twoinstitutions has already begun,Migrinter has now a PhDcandidate from LERC, Ms.Guita Hourani, who isconducting her doctoralresearch on citizenship andnaturalization law, and LERChas received a PhD candidatefrom Migrinter, Ms. SuzanneMenhem, who is conductingher doctoral research on ThirdWorld immigrants to Lebanon.Other plans for cooperationare underway.
| Elie Nabhan
12th July 2007: A Memorandum of
Understanding was signed between
Notre Dame University, Lebanon (NDU)
and University of Poitiers, France,
following the initiation visit made to
Poitiers by LERC Associate Director Ms.
Guita Hourani from 27th to 30th March
2007.1
The main purpose of this agreement isto promote scholarly exchange andcooperation between LERC andMigrinter. It will also provide for theexchange of professors and students aswell as further cooperation in research.
The combined efforts will also cover
scholarly publications, the exchange ofinformation, data and documents inthe field of migration in general, andthe gathering, dissemination andcommunication of informationLebanese and Middle Eastern migrationin particular. This will allow for anexchange of photos, documents, digitalmaterial and the like obtained by eitherCenter which are directly relevant tothe study of migration from, to andthrough Lebanon.
The MoU will allow NDU and LERC theimmense advantage of a partner withinthe European Union with access tohigher education.
page 11 | issue 41
LERC 12/07/07
LERC
1 Se
e Is
sue
40, J
une
2007
, p. 1
9 of
ND
U S
piri
t.
LERC at Brain Drain Workshop
Left to right: Dr. Maral Tutelian, Director Central Administration of Statistics,
Mr. Haitham Joumaa, Director of the Directorate of Migrants, Ms. Hourani, Mr. Wajdi
Bou Ghanem, Chief of the Department of Media and Culture, Directorate of Migrants.
page 12 | issue 41
In her presentation, Associate Director Hourani concentrated on migration ingeneral and the brain drain in particular as results of human insecurity inLebanon. She stressed that the Lebanese government can not curb migrationbecause Lebanese law allows the Lebanese freedom of mobility. However, thegovernment, she said, could manage the surplus of the Lebanese human capital asa resource, in order to capitalize on it both on the national and personal levels.She said that according to research conducted in the receiving countries in 2005,401,388 persons born in Lebanon worked in North American, Asia and Oceaniaand in Europe in the year 2000, an increase of more than 90,000 from the totalnumber of 310,880 for the year 1990.
Taking the year 1990, she explained that out of those born in Lebanon andworking abroad 113,493 were highly skilled and that by 2000 the number hadincreased by 34%, reaching 170,949. Ms. Hourani also suggested that since it wasagainst the law in Lebanon to restrict people’s movement, in order for thegovernment to reduce the brain drain in Lebanon, it should first guarantee humansecurity of the country in all categories, i.e. physical, political, societal, economicand environmental. The government, she believed, should also sign agreementsand contracts with public and private agencies which are interested in employinghighly skilled Lebanese in order to protect the internal market demand and toprotect the rights of the Lebanese working abroad.
Dr. Dunia Fayad stressed that emigration from Lebanon was due to the politicalinstability and to the bad economic and social situations. After first discussing thenegative aspect of emigration, she then highlighted the importance of thismigration especially in regard to the remittances transferred back to Lebanonannually. She also emphasized that the Lebanese abroad love Lebanon; manywould return as soon as the country enjoyed stability. She further noted that inLebanon today, mothers preferred knowing that their children were safe andsound living in a stable country abroad to constantly worrying about them here.
Joe Malkoun, Research Assistant from LERC, and media representatives attendedto report on the workshop.
| Academic and Student Activities
Dr. Jihad al Akel opened thesession by introducing thefirst speaker, the GeneralDirector of EmigrantsMr. Haitham Jumaa, whoexplained the purpose of theworkshop. Mr Jumaa stressedthe negative impact of thebrain drain on the localeconomies of the MiddleEastern and North Africancountries.
Experts taking part includedthe General Director of theCentral Administration forStatistics Maral Tutelian; AUBprofessor and formerAmbassador Latif Abou El
Hessen; LERC AssociateDirector Guita Hourani withAssociate ResearcherDr. Dunia Taan-Fayad; thePublic Relations Officer ofBalamand University Loulou
Saybaa; Dr. Issam Nour
Eddine, Dr. Michel Abs,Dr. Ali Faour, Dr. Abdallah
Mallah, Dr. Boutros Labaki,Mr. Wajdi Abou Ghanem ofthe Directorate of Emigrantsand Mr. Albert Samaha of theMinistry of Foreign Affairsamong others.
| Joe Malkoun
LERC Activities
Launching of LENIFRABeirut 20th-21st October 2007:The Lebanese-NigerianFriendship Association waslaunched at an impressivegala held at the UNESCOBuilding in Beirut. Initiatedby His Excellency theAmbassador of Nigeria Mr.Hameed A. Opeloyeru, theAssociation aims to promoteNigeria as a country at thegovernmental level and seekways to create a fullawareness about Nigeriaamong the Lebanese people,many of whom may only knowof the country through afamily member or a friendwho resides there.
The evening opened with a speechfrom the host, who welcomed theAmbassador as a man of insight andvision who would work tirelessly tounderstand, to act and to promote asense of goodwill between Nigeria andLebanon. Mr. Nabhan stressed theimportance of the role played by theLebanese in Nigeria especially inindustry, in business, in commerce andin society. He mentioned that that HisExcellency was planning to establish aLebanese-Nigerian FriendshipAssociation that would further thishistorical and cordial relationshipexisting between Nigeria and Lebanon.
In his reply, His Excellency theAmbassador said that the gatheringwas a truly important occasion and
pledged that he would continuebuilding up and strengthening thespecial relationship between bothcountries and peoples.
Amongst those present in honor of HisExcellency were the Chief Justice(retired) of the Lebanese RepublicMr. Nasri Lahoud; Mr. and Mrs.
Nicholas Karalambos of the Counsel ofthe Republic of Cyprus; Ms Guita
Hourani, Associate Director of LERC atNDU; Mr. William Zard, HonoraryConsul of the UK; Mr. Anthony Bosah,
Head of Chancery at the Embassy ofNigeria, other representatives of thediplomatic corps, Lebanese andNigerian businessmen, and Lebanesefriends of Nigeria.
page 13 | issue 41
LERC Nigeria
The Ambassador of
Nigeria, His Excellency
Hameed A. Opeloyeru,
addressing the dinner
guests.
LERC at important Nigerian-Lebanese events
Celebratory dinner for new Ambassador
LERC
At Baabdat on 10th, August 2007: Mr. George Nabhan and family hosted a
dinner for the new Ambassador of Nigeria, H. E. Hameed A. Opeloyeru, and his
wife at the Colibri Hotel in Baabdat.
page 14 | issue 41
“We wish to use LENIFRA topromote greater social andcultural awareness in bothLebanon and Nigeria,” said theAmbassador.
Over the weekend the eventtook the form of speeches,cultural dances and poeticrenditions. The LENIFRA logowas unveiled by theAmbassador, the Chairman ofthe Board Mr. William Zard
Abou Jaoude and othertrustees. Members of LENIFRAwere encouraged to displaycollections of paintings,artefacts and photos. Adelicious buffet with Nigerianand Lebanese cuisine wasserved. The second day offeredmovies, a fashion show and araffle draw.
It should be noted that theLebanese Emigration ResearchCenter itself has beenofficially asked to serve on theLENIFRA committee in theperson of its AssociateDirector, Ms. Guita Hourani.
LERC rapporteur, Elie Nabhan,
who recited a poem of hiscomposition, represented theCenter at the event.
| Elie Nabhan
| Academic and Student Activities
Back row: Associate Director of LERC Ms. Guita Hourani with Mr.
Elie Nabhan; front row, left to right: Nigerian Embassy Staff - Mr.
Adamu, Mr. Okere, Mr. Anthony Bosah, Head of Chancery at the
Embassy, and Mrs. Okere.
Listening to H.E. the Ambassador's address, from left to right:
Mr. George Nabhan, Ms. Karalambos, His Excellency Hameed
Opeloyeru the Ambassador of Nigeria, Mrs. Amal Bouery, Mr.
Nasri Lahoud and Ms. Guita Hourani, Associate Director of LERC.
LERC Activities
The Academic Exchange SeminarBrazil-Lebanon was opened on Monday27th and extended through Tuesday,28th August, 2007 at the Rectory ofthe University of Brasília (UnB) in theBrazilian federal capital, in order toconsolidate the flow of educationalexperience between Brazil andLebanon.
The initiative was the result of theExecutive Program of EducativeCooperation for the years 2006-2009,which was established on February27th, 2006 in Beirut, during the visit tothe Middle East of Brazil’s Minister ofEducation, H.E. Fernando Haddad, whohimself is of Lebanese origin.
The seminar was promoted by theBrazilian Ministry of Education (MEC),Coordination of Improvement ofPersonnel of Superior Level(Capes/MEC) and the Confederation ofLebanon-Brazilian Organizations(Confelibras).
The promoter was Prof. Paulo Jorge
Sarkis, ex-Rector of Santa MariaFederal University (UFSM), Rio Grandedo Sul, Brazil, also of Lebanese origin,who said at the opening that theseminar represented the first occasionwhen teachers of universities of thetwo countries had ever met to considerthe best ways to develop academicrelationships of the two countries’higher education institutions.
The Lebanese Emigration ResearchCenter of Notre Dame University wasrepresented by Brazilian-bornMr. Roberto Khatlab, writer andresearcher and LERC’s Brazil LiaisonOfficer. Mr. Khatlab was invited by theMinister of Education in Brazil inrecognition of his extensivecontributions to strengthening Brazil-Lebanon relations. Mr. Khatlab is theauthor of several important worksincluding Mahjar, Lebanese Saga in
Brazil (Portuguese/Arabic); Brazil-
Lebanon: Friendship that Challenges the
page 15 | issue 41
LERC Brazil
From left to right:
Mr. Roberto Khatlab –
LERC/NDU, H.E. Fernando
Haddad – Minister of
Education in Brazil, Dr. Emile
Maakaroun – UL, and
Reverend Dr. Karam Rizk –
USEK.
Khatlab represents LERC at Seminar in Brazil
LERC
Distance (Portuguese/Arabic);The Oriental Catholic and
Orthodox Churches, Their
Living Traditions (Portuguese);Lebanon: Tourist and Cultural
Guide (first complete guide onLebanon in the Portugueselanguage); Lula, The Worker
and Economy was part of theseminar session onInternational Relations anddiscussed the historic, cultural,and economic relationsbetween the two countries.
Other participants fromLebanon in this seminarincluded Reverend Professor
Karam Rizk, Université Saint-
Esprit–Kaslik (USEK);Professor Mounir Bashshur,American University of Beirut(AUB); Professor Melhem
Chaoul, Lebanese University(UL); Professor Boutros
Labaki, Université Saint-
Joseph (USJ) and Professor
Emile Maakaroun
representing the LebaneseUniversity.
page 16 | issue 41
The 4th Annual International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion(IMISCOE) Conference took place at the University of Sussex in cooperation withthe Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR) between 6th and 9th September2007.
Guita Hourani, Associate Director of LERC and PhD Candidate at Migrinter,Poitiers, France, delivered a paper at the B3 Cluster entitled: Citizenship and
Naturalization Laws: The Case of Lebanon, its Migrants and Stateless Immigrants.
IMISCOE, which is funded by the European Commission within the SixthFramework Programme, is a Network of Excellence. The Network has, since itslaunch in April 2004, according to Mr. Richard Black and Mr. Russell King, Co-Directors at Sussex, “grown considerably. From an original membership of around300 researchers and 19 partner institutes, IMISCOE now includes more than 450researchers and 23 research institutes.”
IMISCOE’s research programme is divided into nine research clusters, each focusedon specific aspects of migration. Each of these clusters focuses on, and deals with,one theme as follows:
(A1):International migration and its regulation; (A2): Migration and development:causes and consequences; (B3): Migration and citizenship: legal status,mobilization and political participation; (B4): The economic dimension: work,entrepreneurship, economic integration; (B5): Social integration and mobility,education, housing and health; (B6): Linguistic, cultural and religious diversity andrelated policies; (C7): Interethnic relations, identity, representation anddiscrimination; (C8): Gender, age and generations; (C9): the multi-levelgovernance of immigrant and immigration policies.
Ms. Hourani took part in the activities of Cluster B3 with a presentation in whichshe overviewed the major conjunctures of the citizenship and naturalization lawsin Lebanon, starting with the Ottoman Citizenship Law and ending with theNaturalization Law of 1994 in Lebanon. She also emphasized the impact of thelaws over time on Lebanese migrants and their descendants as well as on thestateless refugees in Lebanon, particularly the Palestinians.
Ms. Hourani’s presentation forms part of her extensive doctoral research on thesubject.
| Academic and Student Activities
From left to right: Prof. Paulo
Jorge Sarkis, coordinator of the
seminar, and Roberto Khatlab,
Researcher at LERC/NDU and
Brazil/LERC Liaison Officer.
At the closing session,Counselor Alessandro
Candeas, Director ofInternational Consultationat the Ministry ofEducation of Brazil, saidthat the seminar was notan isolated action, but thebeginning of a process ofacademic and intellectualapproach that had beganwith the visit of MinisterHaddad to Lebanon in2006. He closed by sayingthat those gathered in theseminar would have tocarry this initiativeforward.
LERC Activities
LERC and IMISCOE
Associate Director of LERC Talks about Citizenshipand Naturalization Laws in Lebanon at the 4th
IMISCOE Conference at the University of Sussex,England, 6th-9th September 2007.
page 17 | issue 41
LERC Tokyo
Ms. Guita Hourani flanked by the
Ambassador of Lebanon to Japan His
Excellency Mohamad El-Harake and other
attendees at the Tokyo University of Foreign
Studies.
Ms. Guita Hourani presenting her
lecture on "Insecurity and Migration: The
Case of Lebanon Following the Summer
2006" at workshop 2, Tokyo University of
Foreign Studies.
LERC Associate Director in Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Ms. Guita Hourani represented LERC at the Research Institute for Languages andCultures of Asia and Africa in Tokyo and the Japan Center for Middle EasternStudies in Beirut, both of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, delivering twopapers on Lebanese migrants, their history and their current situation. The aim ofthe lectures was to expand knowledge of Lebanon among Japanese and tostimulate studies of migration in general in Japan. The invitation was supportedby the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology.
Ms. Hourani’s first paper, Diaspora Remittances: the Case of Lebanon, waspresented on 4th October, 2007 and was attended by the Ambassador of Lebanon,H.E. Mohammed El-Harake, Mrs. Madeleine Abdel Jalil Umewaka of theLebanese Community in Japan, and professors of the Tokyo University of ForeignStudies. The paper was commented upon and discussed by Dr. Mio Yuko.
Ms. Hourani’s second paper, Insecurity and Migration: The Case of Lebanon
following the Summer 2006 War, was presented on 6th October, 2007 anddiscussed by Dr. Aida Kanafani-Zahar, visiting researcher from the Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. As in the first workshop, the lecturewas attended by professors and PhD students.
It is hoped that Ms. Hourani’s visit will contribute to the ongoing efforts forestablishing a firm foundation of academic exchange between Lebanon and Japan.
| Elie Nabhan
LERC
An international conferencetook place at the Universityof Cairo on Migration andRefugee Movements in theMiddle East and NorthEastern Africa between the23rd and 25th October 2007.
Dr. Philippe Fargues, Directorof The Forced Migration andRefugee Studies Program, theCenter that called for andorganized the event, gave abroad overview on Migrants
and Refugees in the Middle
East and North Africa. Overtwo days discussions focusedin particular on Palestine,Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt,the Gulf, Ethiopia and Eritrea,and Sudan and Somalia.
Although the LebaneseEmigration Research Centerwas slated for the afternoonsession on the opening daydealing with Lebanon,Associate Director of LERC,Ms. Guita Hourani, beingunable to attend personally,instead sent a paper entitledLebanese Diaspora and
Homeland Relations. In herpaper, Ms. Hourani explainedthat though Lebanon has notactually specified orimplemented a diaspora
LERC Paper atConference inEgypt
page 18 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
policy, Lebanese emigrantshave historically always beena vital part of Lebanon’s life.She focused on selectedaspects of the Lebanesediaspora and homelandrelations and emphasized theimportant networksconnecting the Lebanesediaspora with the homecountry. Her paper discussedtoday’s avenues ofcommunication and the roleof the extended family as themain means of networkingfor social, economic andpolitical survival of theindividual and clan, andconsequently of Lebanon.Considering the strong familyties and fervent patrioticfeeling towards Lebanon, thepaper stressed firstly the roleof networking throughremittances. “Remittances arethe most visible and tangibleform of financial capitaltransmitted by Lebaneseexpatriates, reaching anestimated US$ 4.9 billion in2005, and US$ 5.6 billion in2004. Lebanon itself is rankedseventh amongst the top tencountries recipient of workersremittances,” said Ms.Hourani.
The paper further discussedthe social and philanthropiccontributions by whichmigrants invest part of theirremittances in social andeconomic developmentprojects in their home villages,referred to today as“TransnationalPhilanthropy”.The paper alsodiscussed political networking
in the form of long-distancenationalism or Homeland Politics. Thisis seen in the new Lebanese diasporiccommunities lobbying governmentsthroughout the last thirty years ofturmoil in Lebanon. Examples havebeen the approval of bills in the USCongress and the Canadian Parliament,the adoption of a resolution by theUnited Nations Security Council, andthe declarations by AmnestyInternational in favor of the Lebanesepeople and the sovereignty of Lebanon.Networking also takes place throughtourism and annual visits and throughthe establishment of schools anduniversities, since the Lebanesediaspora as individuals or communitieshave always strongly believed ineducation.
Ms. Hourani said that successiveLebanese governments have tried tolink the diaspora and Lebanon., as seenin the “creation and expansion of
Lebanon’s diplomatic and consularmissions; the extension of the Turkish-Lebanese accord to allow emigrants tochoose Lebanese citizenship; thefounding of the World LebaneseCultural Union (WLCU) permittingorganizations and institutions relatedto migrant relations to be created onLebanese soil; the targeting of diasporainterests for homeland investment; andpresenting a bill for parliament tocreate a migrant identification card.”
However, although governments ingeneral have shown their concerntowards the diaspora, there has neverbeen a formal policy framework togovern relations between Lebanon andits expatriate communities, nor a clearsocio-economic plan to seriouslyinvolve the diaspora in thedevelopment of their homeland.
| Elie Nabhan
Among those attending the event were His Excellency, TheAmbassador of Mexico Jorge Alvares; H.E The Ambassador ofUruguay, Jorge Louis Jure; Mrs. Alessandra Testoni representingthe Italian Embassy; Mrs. Maggy Teen representing the AmericanEmbassy; General Salah Younes representing the Irish-LebaneseCultural Foundation; Dr. Nadeem Naimy, Dean of the Faculty of
LERC Renews its Diaspora Literary Evenings
A
To mark the 20th Anniversary of Notre Dame University, the
Friends of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at
NDU, in an evening dedicated to diaspora literature, held a
reading and book signing of The Myrtle Tree by Jad El Hage
on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at the Auditorium, Pierre
Abou Khater Hall, NDU, Zouk Mosbeh at 6:15 p.m.
LERC Activities
Health Sciences at BalamandUniversity; Dr. Nina Zeidan, Director ofthe Faculty of Public Health at theLebanese University; Dr. Nabil Haddad,CEO of Geita Grotto; Dr. Assaad Eid,Vice-President for Research andDevelopment at NDU; Mr. Souheil
Matar, Director of Public Relations atNDU; Ms. Guita Hourani, AssociateDirector of LERC and a gathering ofteachers, students and staff of LERC.
This reading recalled the literaryevening that LERC had the pleasure ofhosting for Jad’s previous novel, The
Last Migration and another enchantingevening was spent this time amidstwar and dreams, hopes anddestruction. The Last Migration was anarrative of one person’s dilemma ofwar, peace and migration. The Myrtle
Tree is about war and peace and theforced migration of a wholecommunity. Both novels, though by thesame author, are different intemperament, in language and instructure. El- Hage located his novelin a Lebanese mountain village neitherChristian nor Muslim.
Ms. Guita Hourani, Associate Directorof LERC, opened the lecture series forthe academic year 2007-2008 with aword of welcome. The event wasmoderated by Dr. Naji Oueijian,Professor of English Literature andformer Chairman of the Departmentsof English, Translation, and Education—Notre Dame University, who said thatafter reading the novel that he “felthow important man’s humanity is, andhow this shapes his/her unprejudicedperceptions of religions, sects andpolitical parties.”
Prof. Ahmad Shboul, of the Universityof Sydney, Australia said, in The
Aesthetics of Healing in Jad El Hage’s
The MyrtleTree, that the myrtle tree is“connected with the mysteriouscelebration of life, fertility, victory anddeath.”
El Hage’s said that his first novel The
Green and the Dry, penned in Arabic,about “a remote Lebanese village readyto start its olive harvest and hopingthat the Civil War would leave italone,” formed the background of and
page 19 | issue 41
LERC Myrtle Tree
was resurrected and rewrittenas The Myrtle Tree.
Ms. Suraya Rahme, an MAholder and English Instructorat NDU and LAU, gave aserene reading from the novel.
Other highlights of theevening included a hauntingshort film, Beirut from Stones
and Memories, by Mr. PhilippeAractanji, a Lebanese filmmaker who is a migrantreturnee. Premiering in 1993,the film lamented the war andBeirut’s destruction, withsome of the poetry of NadiaTueni and a haunting sound-track by Peter Gabriel.Renowned composer andmusician Mr. CharbelRouhana, inspired by themood of the evening, in atribute to the spirit ofLebanon, performed hismesmerizing compositions onthe mystical ‘oud (lute) stringinstrument.
Composer and musician Charbel Rouhana delights the
audience with his compositions, as H.E. the Ambassador of
Uruguay (far left) looks on.
Jad el Hage at the book signing of The
Myrtle Tree.
LERC
page 20 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
The Lebanese Emigration Research Center has undertaken the indexing of itsarchives and database to facilitate the retrieval of material for research purposes.To this end LERC hired the expert services of Roudy Kazan, Head of the ArchiveDepartment, at the Multidata Services Incorporation (MSI).
The course itself was held over three months in the recent summer of 2007, whenmembers of the LERC team including Elie El-Mir, Ghada Khoury, Liliane Haddad,
Elie Nabhan, Maya Sukar, Joe Malkoun and two members of the library staff,Antoinette Kattoura and Christine Noujeim, were instructed in how to indexdocuments, photos, articles, books, bibliographies and audio-visual material inorder to create a database with information stored in a manner easily retrievablefrom a computer.
It emphasizes the challenges faced bythe Lebanese in their new land andtheir ultimate success in the economic,social and political arenas. The bookalso addresses the impact of theLebanese Civil War on the Lebanesecommunity in the Ivory Coast.
Statistical tables provided in the bookconcern geographic and religious
attachment, the levels of education,the living conditions, and the Lebaneseparticipation in the prosperity anddevelopment of the country.
Recommendations to support thisemigrant community and to strengthenbilateral relations between Lebanonand the Ivory Coast are put forward atthe end of the book.
Lebanese in Ivory Coast
Dunia Taan is to release her new book on Lebanese in the Ivory
Coast (1900-1986) at Biel Arab Book Exhibition, 14th December2007. Expanding on a PhD dissertation by the author, this novelwill be an important historical source for studying Lebaneseemigration in general and Lebanese emigration to Africa and theIvory Coast in particular. It centers on this particular migrationfrom the perspective of geographic belonging, living conditions,and economic, social and religious adaptation.
LERC Activities
Dunia Taan is to sign her
new book Lebanese in the
Ivory Coast(1900-1996) at
BIEL Arab Book Exhibition,
14th of December 2007
Intensive database training for LERC team
Current Visiting Researchers at LERC
| Kristine Shamas, PhD Candidate, working on her doctoral dissertation entitled
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Identity Construction in Post-
Occupation South Lebanon at the Department of Communication at the University of
Oklahoma, USA.
| Suzanne Menhem, Ph.D. Candidate, working on her doctoral dissertation entitled
The New Immigrants in Lebanon: Toward an Ethnicization of the Labor Market at the
Department of Social Sciences at the Lebanese University and Migrinter, at the
Université de Poitiers, France.
| Akimitsu Ikeda, PhD Candidate, conducting research on agriculture and social
structure in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, for his PhD at the Department of Social
Anthropology at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan.
LERC’s Team for the Fall Semester 2007-2008
| Guita Hourani, Associate Director, working on citizenship law, migration from
South Lebanon, diaspora investment, and banking services for migrants.
| Dr. Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Adjunct Research Associate, working on absentee
voting, insecurity and migration, and on diaspora investments.
| Rudy Sassine, Research Assistant, working on diaspora investments, diaspora-
homeland politics, and migration from South Lebanon (Student Employment Grant).
| Elie Nabhan, Raporteur, Editor of LERC website. He also catalogs material for the
Lebanese Emigration Archive and Database (Volunteer).
| Liliane Haddad, Research Assistant, working on diaspora investments, migration
from South Lebanon. She also catalogs material for the Lebanese Emigration Archive
and Database (Volunteer).
| Sarah el-Hassrouny, Research Assistant, working on migration from South
Lebanon.
| Joe Malkoun, Research Assistant, working on banking services for migrants and on
migration from South Lebanon.
| Ghada Khoury, Administrative Assistant. She is also working on LERC’s textual
archives and library as well as transcribing interviews.
| Amine Nehme, LERC’s Program Developing Coordinator, working on diaspora
investments and migration from South Lebanon.
page 21 | issue 41
LERC Team
This is made possible throughthe indexing of all thematerial subdivided accordingto subject, type, date, source,author and key words. Asystem of Boolean Researchwill also be applied in LERCarchives.
Concerning the use of keywords, Kazan explained thatLERC would resort to theauthorized Thesaurus of theInternational LaborOrganization (ILO) and expandit to suit its needs.
“We have a Thesaurus whichis like a dictionary containinga set of key words and we aregoing to expand this toinclude some termsconcerning migration,diaspora and matters touchingLebanon,” he said. “Forexample, we can have a keyword for migration calledLebanese Migration 19th
Century or The Lebanese Civil
War 1975, key words that willnot exist in the ILO Thesaurusbut will in our own,” headded.
The overriding aim of thecourse is to create a data basefor LERC storing informationin a manner instantlyretrievable whereby the LERCteam itself will continue toindex, fill in data, scan andphotocopy to keep the systemrunning always up to date.
| Elie Nabhan
page 22 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
NDU Director of FBAE Graduate Programs Dr. Rock-Antoine Mehanna wasinvited by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese Embassy in Beirutto take part in a three-week seminar on Managing Economic Development in
Developing Countries. The seminar took place in Beijing, Shanghai and Hefei andlasted from July 29th to August 18th, 2007. There were present senior delegatesfrom sixty developing countries. The event was organized by the Ministry ofCommerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.Dr. Mehanna was selected to deliver the final speech during the closing ceremonyon behalf of all the delegates.
Our photo show’s Dr. Mehanna with Chinese officials and a South AfricanMinister during the seminar.
Together with Hannarong Shamsub, Dr. Rock-Antoine Mehanna has recentlypublished (2007) a book under the title Does Regionalism Work? A Random and
Fixed Effects Model. (Inderscience, Switzerland and USA)
China Commerce Ministry and NDU
29 July-18 August 2007
page 23 | issue 41
Graduate Students FBAE
Selected Master of Business Aministration Theses:
MBA Candidate: Mrs. Dvozig Kassardjian. Thesis Employing People
with Disabilities: Human Resource Management and Analysis.
(Supervisor: Dr. Joseph Haddad; Reader: Dr. Atef Harb).
MBA Candidate: Mr. Edgard Jean Bassil. Thesis: Mergers and
Acquisitions: Do they always Create Value? (Supervisor: Dr. HassanHamadi; Reader: Dr. Atef Harb).
MBA Candidate: Mrs. Marianne George Hage. Thesis: Crafting a
Comprehensive Growth Model in the Middle East Region: The Case of
Chabros s.a.r.l. Entry into the Dubai Wood Trade Industry (Supervisor:Dr. Tanios Touma; Reader: Dr. Atef Harb).
MBA Candidate: Mr. Nebras M. Wahid Khiata. Thesis: Going back
to Fundamentals, Will Financial Ratios Help to Predict Distressed
Stocks during Trauma? (Supervisor: Dr. Mohamed Hamadeh; Reader:Dr. Atef Harb).
MBA Candidate: Mr. Shady Ibrahim Matar. Thesis: Firms Failure
Predictions: Evidence from the Lebanese Market (Supervisor: Dr.Hassan Hamadi; Reader: Dr. Atef Harb).
FBAE Graduate Students
MBA Candidate: Ms. Eliane SamirBoustany. Thesis: Reorganization and
Change Integration through TQM: The case
of Crepeway (Supervisor: Dr. Atef Harb;Reader: Mrs. Viviane Nakhle).
MBA Candidate: Mr. Joseph Elias Moussa.Thesis: The Capital Asset Pricing Model, An
Empirical Study on the S&P 500 (Supervisor:Dr. Hassan Hamadi; Reader: Dr. Atef Harb).
The following photographs show the class
of Master of Science in International
Business.
The MIB class.
Launching the MIB class.
Memorandum of Understanding
page 24 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
Faculty of Engineering and GeneralSecretariat of Catholic Schools sign
On Wednesday November 28, 2007, NDU and the General Secretariat of CatholicSchools in Lebanon (SGEC-L), signed a Memorandum of Understanding that allowsfor technical assistance by the Faculty of Engineering to IT projects in theSecretariat. NDU was represented by Fr. Walid Moussa, President and Dr. Elias
Nassar, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, while the SGEC-L was represented byFr. Marwan Tabet, Secretary General and Engineer Paul-Marc Bougharios, ITManager. This assistance will be through part-time and full-time training periodsand projects undertaken by Electrical, Computer and Communication Engineeringstudents. Up to four students can enroll in the program per semester. The scope ofwork includes Network administration and management and computer hardwareimplementation and software management. Students submit a report at the endof the training period and receive a certificate. The signing of the MOU took placeat NDU in the presence of Dr. Ameen Rihani, VP, AA, Mr. Suheil Matar, Directorof Public Relations, Dr. Rabih Jabr, Chairperson, ECCE Department, and Sister
Angel Nader, Member of the Executive Council in SGEC-L. For more informationon this program and how to enroll, please contact the Electrical, Computer andCommunication Engineering Department.
page 25 | issue 41
Ulm Protocol FE
On August 16, 2007, Notre Dame University, represented by Dr. Elias Nassar, Dean,
FE, and Ulm University, Germany, represented by Dr. Helmut Partsch, Dean of the
Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, signed a Protocol of Cooperation
between the two faculties concerning graduate studies and research.
Under this protocol NDUstudents from the Electrical,Computer and CommunicationEngineering (ECCE)Department will be givenpriority for admission to theMasters program inCommunications Technologyat the University of Ulm,which is taught entirely in theEnglish language. TheUniversity of Ulm will alsohost one faculty member peryear from NDU’s ECCEDepartment for the purpose ofconducting a research projectwith access to research labs atUlm.
Currently three NDU graduatesfrom the ECCE Department arePhD candidates at theUniversity of Ulm and two arepursuing their MS degrees.
The University of Ulm is one ofthe top research universitiesin Germany with state-of-the-art research facilities andenrolls around 6000 studentsin faculties of Science,Medicine, Economics andEngineering.
The city of Ulm is the birthplace ofAlbert Einstein and is ranked as thehealthiest city in Germany. It is locatedin southern Germany on the banks ofthe Danube River, halfway between thecities of Munich and Stuttgart.
For more information on theCommunications Technology programgo to:
http://ctech.e-technik.uni-ulm.de/
Faculty of Engineering – UlmUniversity Protocol
From left to right,
Dr. Shumacher, Director
of the Communications
Technology Masters
Program, Dr. Reimer,
Program Coordinator,
Dr. Lucker, Director of
the International
Relations Office,
Dr. Nassar and
Dr. Partsch, Dean of the
Faculty of Engineering
and Computer Science
at Ulm.
In front of the Engineering
building at Ulm; NDU
graduates from left to right:
Gurpreet Singh (EE), Marwan
Bou Sanayeh (EE) and
Haysam Hajj (CCE), who are
currently PhD students at the
University of Ulm.
page 26 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
Biel Hariri Forum 2007
Mrs. Lea Eid and Miss Mirna Nehme. Faculty members Mr. Simon Abou Jaoude
and Dr. Bassem Sabra arrived on Friday afternoon and Dr. Roger Hajjar onSaturday morning.
The impressive new quick-screen was effectively used in front of the stand andfour rolling screens about the NDU campuses and faculties were also displayed.Brochures, admission guides and pencils were distributed to those with seriousinterest, as well as sweets. Soft classical music (Vivaldi, Boccherini, Mozart) wasplayed discreetly.
The Admissions team wore formal costumes with the NDU Logo. Success for NDUwas beyond expectations. Contacts were established for the first time with anumber of major schools of varied cultural and religious attachment andorientation appointments were fixed. There was considerable interest on the partof Muslim students from the Dahia suburb of Beirut. While secularist prejudicesprovoke argument about head gear in Europe, we of NDU hope to see moreMuslim students in headscarves on our Campuses.
| Information kindly supplied by
Dr. Viviane Naimy
Dr. Viviane Naimy,
Director of Admissions,
Mrs. Lea Eid, Registrar,
Admissions team and
helpers.
Mr. Suheil
Matar with
members of the
Admissions team.
The spacious and
attractive NDU
stand.
Sixteen universities andtwenty technical institutes,companies and embassies tookpart this year in the HaririForum at Biel, which lastedfrom November 7th throughthe 10th. NDU was of coursewell represented. Of the10,527 students visiting theForum, 6,900 visited the NDUstand. Well over 120 schoolscame with their students anda hundred school directorsand counselors dropped in tosee what NDU had to offer.Mr. Suheil Matar, NDUDirector of Public Relations,was present at the unofficialopening together with
7-10 November 2007
page 27 | issue 41
Advertising/Marketing Kamal Darouni
Dear Kamal,IAA will be partnering with IAAAccredited Institute Michigan StateUniversity (MSU) in an innovativeinternational student internshipprogram – InterSIP. Beyond serving toannounce the program, this e-mailserves to invite you to serve as yourinstitute’s InterSIP coordinator.
InterSIP is being administered by Prof.Gordon Miracle at MSU, and is initiallytargeted to those accredited instituteswho have expressed interest inproviding international internshipexperience for their most talentedstudents.
InterSIP benefitsAs such, InterSIP will directly benefit –
Participating students – providing themwith professional cross-cultural workexperience.
Employers – providing them with atalented resource, a competent internor potential employee.
InterSIP websiteMore complete information reInterSIP’s policies and procedures areavailable from www.oiss.msu.edu . As
the program progresses, these will bemore fully developed and refined.
Role of the InterSIP FacultyCoordinatorInterSIP’s success is predicated onidentifying faculty coordinators, anindividual who will champion theprogram on Notre Dame University’scampus.
The InterSIP coordinator will beresponsible for –
| Publicizing InterSIP to local students.
| Identifying one or more well-
qualified students.
| Participating in identifying and
contacting one or more local employers to
offer an internship to a student from
another country.
| Obtaining information re –
| requirements and procedures forforeign students to obtain visa,work permit or trainee statusnecessary for them to serve as anintern in your country.
| Restrictions that your schoolplaces on students who will takean internship in other countries.
| Participating in identifying and
contacting one or more local employers to
offer an internship to a student from
another country.
Advertising/Marketing
News from Kamal Darouni
The Advertising/Marketing
Major is on its way upward
and forward. Kamal Darouni,
IAA Coordinator at NDU,
received a letter from Dr. John
Holmes, IAA Director –
Education Program &
Alliances, which is self-
explanatory. Now eight years
after NDU was accredited, the
students have a great
opportunity before them – an
internship abroad, on
condition of a high GPA level
checked with their advisor.
Email fromDr. John Holmes
IAA – Director of Education
page 28 | issue 41
Re the latter, Gordon willprovide information,leadership and support serviceto recruit local employers.
Action RequestedPlease consider serving asyour school’s InterSIPcoordinator, or indicating acolleague who would bewilling to do so. At firstconvenience, kindly appriseGordon and me of yourschool’s intention toparticipate. Once affirmativeresponses have been receivedfrom Accredited Institutes,InterSIP will then solicitprospective employers.
Best regards,
John
Dear IAA Accredited Institute ProgramDirector,
As part of its overall EducationalPrograms, IAA’s World Service Center ispleased to announce the formation ofIAA Student Chapters. This will be atwo year ‘Pilot Program’ which ifsuccessful will be continuedindefinitely.
IAA perceives the IAA Student ChapterProgram as an opportunity foradvertising and marketingcommunications students enrolled inyour accredited institutes to more fullyidentify with the professionalcommunity while pursuing theirstudies, and upon graduation facilitatetheir transition into the profession.
Many IAA Accredited Institutescurrently have a student club, and haveasked about affiliation with IAA, whileothers have considered forming suchan organization on their campus.
At the outset, the success of IAAStudent Chapters will be dependentupon a dedicated faculty advisor,willing to champion the formation ofan IAA Student Chapter (Club), and/orassist student leaders in organizing and
administering its programs.
Many of you are already performingthis task, and doing it well. For others,this may be a challenge which shouldprovide dividends to your school – itsstudents and alumni, as well as itsteachers.
To assist in this regard, IAA hasprepared IAA Student Chapter
Guidelines, which have been attached.
Please review, and at your firstconvenience let me know of yourcommitment to participate in thisinitiative. If you personally can notserve as the school’s chapter advisor,please pass this material on to amember of your teaching staff whowould welcome such involvement.
Best wishes for a productive years; Iwill look forward to your response.
| John H. Holmes, Ph.D.
Director – Educational Programs
and Alliances
| Academic and Student Activities
Letter received from Dr. John Holmes, IAA Director of
Education, addressed to Mr. Kamal Darouni, Advisor of IAA
Club at NDU.
November 6th, 2007
page 29 | issue 41
Dr. Edward Alam May / 07
Dr. Edward Alam at Mofid University,Iran
The Center for Human Rights Studies at Mofid University, located in the holy cityof Qom, Iran, hosted Dr. Edward Alam in May, 2007, as he participated in the 4th
International Conference on Human Rights entitled “Human Rights and Religion”.The invitation came as a result of his previous participation in a similarInternational Conference on “Human Rights and the Dialogue of Civilizations”, inTeheran, in May of 2001. The paper he delivered at the 2001 conference wassubsequently published in a volume published jointly by Mofid University and theUnited Nations, and dealt with the influence of Catholic Social Theory on theformation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year he continued to explore this same subject, arguing that Pope Leo XIII’slandmark encyclical Rerum Novarum at the end of the 19th century initiated anew era in Catholic Social Theory, which inspired thinkers such as JacquesMaritain of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and Giorgio La Pira of Italy, to playkey roles in generating what finally came to be known as the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.
Following the conference in Qom, Dr. Alam was invited to Tehran to participate ina seminar on science and religion at the famed Iranian Institute of Philosophy,and to Azad University to give a lecture on the history of philosophy.
page 30 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
Dr. Christine Sabieh has been electedPresident of AsiaCALL, the Asia
Association of Computer Assisted Language
Learning. The focus of AsiaCALL is to be apremier body in the world in the fieldof Computer-Assisted LanguageLearning through integration andinteraction with technology. Dr. Sabiehbelieves this goal is best achievedthrough AsiaCALL’s four other goals:AsiaCALL is to be a platform forresearchers and academics in Asia andelsewhere to showcase their work; tobe synonymous with quality in all areasassociated with its objectives; to be atthe forefront of all technologicalinnovations; and to be the referencepoint for consulting amonggovernment and private sectorinstitutions.
Dr. Christine Sabieh has just returnedfrom Indore, India, where she waskeynote speaker at the 6th AsiaCALL2007 International Conference. Theconference, timely themed asComputers and Language Learning
Technologies in and for the Developing
Economies, took place from November17 to 19, 2007 at the Indian Institute
of Management (known as the Harvardof India) in Indore, India. The title ofher speech was Making a Change:
Taking Tech Supported Classroom
Learning to E-learning. She argued that,globally, many education set-ups havejoined the band wagon and provided e-learning opportunities for theirstudents. It sounds simple; it looksuncomplicated; it is thought to bestraightforward; but the fact of thematter is that it is not so. This, Dr.Sabieh noted, may be a fact in boththe developed and underdevelopedworlds. Unless done properly, shestressed, e-learning takes educationmethodology back to the days ofindividualized, behaviorist-orientedlearning. This can not become the case– even if the need is to educate massesof students; education today mustpromote constructivism and theimportance of critical thinking.
Dr. Sabieh also conducted a workshopto address ways to enhance theeducation environment where thefocus was on promoting creativity,learning technologies and theintelligences.
Dr. Christine Sabieh: President of AsiaCALL
page 31 | issue 41
Alumni NDU
In the framework of celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Notre Dame University,the Alumni Affairs Office organized the NDU Alumni Couple Reunion 2007 -Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You, on Monday, October 15th, 2007 in IssamFares Conference Hall - Main Campus.
The President of NDU, along with Members of the Board of Trustees, VicePresidents, Deans of Faculties, Directors, Administrators and Faculty Membersjoined the large audience of NDU graduates who attended this romantic and love-filled gathering, exceeding all expectations.
The reunion, which was presented by Ms. Rania El Sabeh, NDU Alumna ’03,opened with a welcoming address by the Director of the Alumni Affairs OfficeMr. Simon Abou Jawdeh, who said, “I always look forward to organizing suchevents. I am equally proud of NDU Alumni – who are really the focus of theOffice. I can only feel a sense of pride in having a role to play in helping todevelop the next generation of outstanding leaders of Lebanon.” He alsoannounced that similar reunions were to be held in NDU Off-campuses. He finallythanked Father President Walid Moussa for his trust and direct support for anyactivity or program initiated by the Office.
The program of the event included “a wedding scene” presented by NDU Alumnicouple Georges and Nicole Milan, National Champions in Latino Dance. Agracious moment of the scene was when Georges surprised Nicole with hisheartfelt sentiments; he addressed her saying, “I want everyone to know howlucky I feel to be your husband. You are beautiful, intelligent, caring – Nicole, you
NDU ALUMNI COUPLE REUNION
look absolutely stunningtonight.” Nicole answeredback with words that capturedthe audience in precisely theright words which leftGeorges tongue-tied. Shesaid, “I am proud to be here,proud of having married youand proud to be your wife.Can I ask all of you to give abig round of applause to myhusband, Georges?” Often ittakes a lot of creativity totranslate a feeling.
Two documentaries wereprojected on a large screen;the first one included weddingpictures of NDU Alumnicouples as well as marriedNDU Faculty/Staff members.The second documentary wasunder the title of Hold on my
Heart. In this, three NDUalumni couples, Victor Kahi
2007
“You will find as you look back upon your life that themoments when you have really lived, are the moments
when you have done things in a spirit of love.” ~ Henry Drummond
Mr. Simon Abou Jawdeh opensthe reunion.
All together at the reunion.
page 32 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
prosperity and be forever bathed inGod’s love and grace.” All in the Hallwere uplifted by their reading therenewal of marriage vows distributedearlier at the entry to the event.
Two notable features of the reunionwere, first, the presence of the oldestNDU Alumni Couple, the renowneddirector Myrna Khayat and Tony Abou
Elias from the first graduating class.Second, the presence of Maya Halim
Massrouha celebrating her birthday atthe reunion, and raising a glass in atoast to wish all NDU coupleshappiness and success.
President Walid Moussa epitomizedthe mood of the Alumni CoupleReunion. He captured the essence ofthe event by saying: “Good evening, anevening filled with happiness andbeauty that are so needed in our days.”He addressed each couple: “Your
wedding is neither an end nor a prison;it’s a start and beginning of life withall its beauty. Your reunion at NDU wasa sparkle that glowed with the light oflove and ended up by a marriage.” Healso asked the NDU Alumni Couples tobe “up to their responsibilities and thespiritual values which are fixed in theirhearts.”
Rafka Phares, NDU Alumna ‘07, who isgifted with a voice of such beauty thatcompetent judges recommend hersinging as a career, sang a few lovesongs that added a smile, a memoryand a picture that everyone presentcarried with them long after theevening was over.
Victor Hugo once said,“I met in the street a very poor
young man who was in love. Hishat was old, his coat worn; his
cloak was out at the elbows, thewater passed through his shoes —
and the stars through his soul.”
and Saria Rahme, Wissam
Melhem and Rania Abboud,and Rabih Moubarak andSabine Ghanem, gave apersonal testimony about theirlove stories that started atNDU.
In addition, the eventcontinued with “words oflove” narrated by the Poet andGeneral Director of PublicRelations, Mr. Suheil Matar,followed by an exquisiteLatino dance presented byGeorges and Nicole Milan.
A memorable moment of theevent was when Fr. Fadi Bou
Chebl was invited to thestage, where he expressedhope that, “God’s light willalways be shining upon themand be their beacon in theyears to come. May theyalways know happiness and
The Wedding Scene.
Fr. Walid Moussa,Myrna Khayat, ToniAbou Elias (oldestNDU couple) andRania Sabeh.
Father Fadi BouChebl speaks.
Halim and MayaMassrouha.
Nicole and Georges Milan, Fr. WalidMoussa, Myrna Khayat and Toni AbouElias.
Rania Sabeh
page 33 | issue 41
Alumni NDU
This is the text of a talk given by a veteran ofNDU, Miss Fadia el-Hage, on May 2nd, 2007, at agathering to honor the University’s Alumni.
Reverend Fr. Moussa,Reverend Fathers, Vice Presidents,Administrators, Faculty and Staff Members, and dear Alumni.
I was approached by Mr. Simon Abou-Jawdeh to deliver a speech at thisgathering, so I took the opportunity to talk about building ties with our AlmaMater.
Two days after graduating from NDU in Business Management, I joined the familyof NDU on October 1st, 1990. On that day, it was a baby university just threeyears old. Imagine what a nice feeling one would have holding a baby’s hand andtrying to bring it up gradually. I always had this great feeling about our Universityand am still praying to improve our work.
When the Alumni Association started on 1992, I subscribed to become a member.Why should one become a member? Because Alumni gives the feeling ofbelonging to a certain institution; if one doesn’t have this feeling then one won’tbe able to be a member in the Alumni. Never ask what you are going to gainfrom a community or an association, always think what you can give and sharewith others.
Then I became a member of the Executive Committee in 1998, remaining in thisposition for six years. During 2003-2004, we were obliged to suspend ouractivities and were prevented from continuing our mission due to difficultcircumstances at that time. Now the Executive Committee is not functioning afterhaving been hindered from playing its normal role.
We always wanted the Alumni to be a social association under the Ministry ofInterior, never coming under any political control.
We now look forward to a new Executive Committee being elected to continuethe mission and gather in the graduates of NDU.
We are gathered here in a reunion organized by the NDU Alumni Affairs Office. Iam confident that our collaboration with this Office will yield high dividends,because there is much work to be done to reach our goals.
Alumni Speech
I always keep in mind thefollowing Psalm, No. 23: The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures: he
leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul,
etc.
And Psalm No. 27: The Lord is
my light and my salvation:
whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life; of
whom shall I be afraid: when
the wicked, even mine enemies
and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled
and fell, etc.
May God bless our Universityand give us the power, hopeand patience to fulfill ourmissions.
| Fadia El-HageMay 2, 2007
page 34 | issue 41
Notre Dame University honored the pioneer Lebanese film director George Nasr
during the opening ceremony of the First Annual Student Film Festival, which washeld at NDU from October 28, 2007 till November 4, 2007. NDU PresidentFr. Walid Moussa attended the ceremony along with cultural and artisticpersonalities, professors, students and representatives of universities. During theopening ceremony there was a documentary about the life of Mr. Nasr.
Students from Lebanese universities ALBA, USJ, LU, LAU, USEK and NDUparticipated in the festival, bringing short movies that were projected before acommittee comprising cinema critics and university professors, who selected thethree best. Many famous Lebanese feature movies were also screened during thefestival, such as Bosta by Philippe Aractinji, Zennar El Nar by Bahj Hojeij, Al3sar
by Samir Habshi, Tayf al Madina by Jean Chamoun, Ilayka Aynama Takoun byBorhane Alouié and Falafel by Michael Kammoun. Every showing was followed bya discussion directed by Mr. Emile Chahine.
At the end of the opening ceremony, Fr. Moussa gave the University shield to Mr.George Nasr and Mr. Sam Lahoud (NDU Engineering Lab) gave him the festivalmedallion, after which a film by George Nasr entitled Ila Ayn was screened.
| Academic and Student Activities
First Student Film Festival
The Festival
opened by NDU
President
Fr. Walid
Moussa.
Cineaste Emile Chahine and
Director Jean Chamoun.
page 35 | issue 41
Film Festival NDU
The Jury. Elie El-
Semaan,
MEB award
winner.
The three prize
winners; left to right,
Rami Kodeih (1st),
Sarah Haidar (2nd)
and Elsa el-Amm
(3rd).
During the closing ceremony, awardswere distributed to Rami Kodeih fromALBA, who won first prize for his film
Shehrazade Tale;Sara Haidar fromUSJ (IESAV), whowon second prize forher Ni kaki ni tomate;and Elsa el Amm
from LU, who wonthird prize for herTahta ta’ilat al
mas’ouliya. NDUstudents’ movieswere shown out of
competition at the demand of theUniversity since it was hosting thefestival.
Mr. Saad El Naser, the Middle EastBrodacasters’ General Manager, offered
NDU student Nader Tabri an award forhis film Parallel, Point, Circle, Square
and he also gave Elie Semaan anotheraward for his film Ghanile ta’Ehlam.
The judging committee was headed bythe cinema critic Emile Chahine, alongwith actress and writer Claudia
Marchelian, movie critic Issam
Kalaoun, Judge Hani Barsha, actorGeorge Khabbaz and Attorney Nasri
Brax.
University professors were alsorepresented on the committee, namelyGeorge Kehdi from ALBA, Lynn Kodeih
from USJ, Toni Farjallah from LAU,Abdo Nawar from LU, Josef Chemaly
from USEK, and Sam Lahoud from NDU.
NDU Director of PublicRelations Suheil Matar,representing Fr. Walid Moussa,delivered a speech, as did theDean of the Faculty ofHumanities Dr. Carol Kfoury
and Dr. Joseph Ajami,Chairperson Department ofMass Communication. All thespeeches focused on thankingthe participating universitiesand congratulating thewinning students.
At the end of the closingceremony, prizes and awardswere distributed and acocktail was held to celebratethe occasion.
page 36 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
Starting with a new image, theMusic Club opened the year 2007-2008 with a successful karaokeevent on Wednesday, November 7,2007.
The event was held at the uppercafeteria during the lunch break.Attendance was high and the crowdwas very responsive.
The time allocated was not enoughfor everyone to take part but
nonetheless the participants andaudience were very pleased.
A strong musical diversity was seenin the event with music choicescovering all styles, most notablyArabic, classical, pop, rock, andmetal as well.
Several highly talented vocalistsparticipated and gave amazingperformances...while a few otherless talented people provided some
humor with their efforts.
Sami Gabriel, winner of Lebanon’skaraoke competition, and 3rd in theworld, was brought as guest andopened up with an outstandingperformance. He also closed theevent.
This event was sponsored byCluckster’s.
Music Club Karaoke
Birth
NDU Shouf Campus is happy to announce the birth of Baby
Meya Bou Karroum, daughter of Marina Bou Karroum El
We wish to express oursympathy to ColetteErro of the NDUAdministration staff,who lost her fatherGhanem Wheibe. Hewent to his eternalreward on Monday 5thNovember, 2007.
Pierre and Caline Abi Saab have pleasure inannouncing the birth of their daughter Mendy atN.D. des Secours Hospital, Jbeil, on July 17th,2007. Caline is Warden of the NDU Museum.
page 37 | issue 41
Remembrances 2006-2007
“Remembrances
– Gone but Not Forgotten”
During the past twenty years,NDU has said goodbye toseveral distinguishedcolleagues and students. Thewhole intent of the activitywas to keep them a part ofthe University memory - thenames of those who werethere once, laughed, lived andworked well and leftsomething for us toremember.
The idea of this activity cameone day as “I stood before abroken headstone, thrownaside at the edge of thecemetery, the evident sign ofthe weathered, smashed stonegave a hurtful awakeningwhen ‘Not Forgotten’ was all Icould read clearly. To me itobviously looked ‘Forgotten’.Who did this belong to andwhat was their life about?This headstone was for Miss
Wadad Abi Nader, a sociologyinstructor at NDU who passedaway in 1997.”
To pay tribute to all thosepeople we wanted toremember, a Mass was
Nadine slowly walked into the quiet hospital chapel. Thankful that no one wasthere, she knelt down before the altar with tear-filled eyes. She was no longerasking for a miracle, but for strength to get her through the most dreadfulmoments of her life. “Please, Jesus, give me strength,” she cried. She did not askfor anything else as she knelt there weeping.
Life is full of things that are here today, some are gone tomorrow; but as timepasses hopefully we can learn to move on. However, sometimes we just have tosit back, think about them, pray for them and miss them.
Some say that people will know that they are about to leave. I always thoughtthis was true. However, upon thinking over, crying until my eyes were puffed asever as can be, there was one thing that was in my mind.
Only a few of our NDU students knew their time. Most of the 37 of them passedaway in a car accident, the majority of whom were pronounced dead at the scene.
In the framework of celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Notre Dame University(NDU), a joint activity between the NDU Pastoral Work, Student Affairs Office andAlumni Affairs Office was prepared for All Souls’ Day under the theme:“Remembrances – Gone but Not Forgotten”
And she said, “When someone would say that my hands are thick, he would be the
first to disagree. He always made me know how these hands were used for over 20
years – his age. He would say, ‘Mom has the world’s most beautiful hands.’”
page 38 | issue 41
| Academic and Student Activities
last three students, Marwan Mouawya,Jad Korkomaz, and Roland Ammoury,who departed during the months ofSeptember/October 2007, Fr. BecharaKhoury said, “If tears could build astairway, we would walk right up toheaven and bring you back with us!”Today, we remember all the faithfuldeparted - that is, those who havedied, and are being prepared for theirentrance into eternal glory. The biggestchallenge people who have experiencedloss will deal with is getting theirminds around what they are facing.”He spoke of the different stages ofgrief until we reach acceptance ofwhat has happened. Fr. Becharaillustrated his homily with a scenefrom the Bible. In the face of herbrother’s death Martha looks to Jesusfor true hope. He tells her quite clearly:“Your brother will rise again” Why? “Iam the resurrection and the life; hewho believes in me, even if he dies, willlive, and everyone who lives andbelieves in me will never die.” Martha
then voices her faith, which we echo:“Yes, Lord, I have come to believe thatyou are the Christ, the Son of God, theone coming into the world.”
The peak moments of remembranceswere when a candle was lit for everyindividual one of the forty-three in theform of a heart. The Sports’ Officepresented to the family of Roland
Ammoury Maalouf, who was also anational basketball player, somememorable pictures of Roland.
I found this quote the other day, whichsounds adequate in the light of thenature of the remembrance ceremonythat took place: “I think maybe you
never get over anything; you just find
a way of carrying it as gently as
possible.”
| Prepared:
Simon Abou Jaoude,Director, Alumni Affairs Office
celebrated on Monday,November 5, 2007 at 12:00noon in Issam FaresConference Hall. Fr. Fadi Bou
Chebl, University Chaplain,sent out a request to all NDUconstituents to help inbuilding up the memorial
database of “Faculty, Staff,Alumni and Students”. Theresult was a documentaryprepared by the Alumni AffairsOffice that included photos ofthe forty-three persons whohave left us so early but willalways live in our hearts.
The Memorial Mass wascelebrated by Fr. Bechara
Khoury, Director of StudentAffairs Office andconcelebrated by the NDUfathers.
In his address given in thepresence of the families of the
page 39 | issue 41
On 10 March of this year, the LebaneseGovernment, environmental NGO’s andthe media celebrated the National Dayfor Nature Reserves for the fifthconsecutive year. It was in 2002 thatthe Government officially adopted theinitiative of the Lebanese EnvironmentForum (LEF), of which George Abu-Jawdeh was Vice President, forproclaiming this national day forremembering nature reserves and high-lighting their unique role in theprotection of the forests and thebiodiversity of Lebanon.
It was really a courageous, civilizedand forward-looking action taken bythe Lebanese Government to launchthe official campaign for theestablishment of nature reserves on 9March 1992 with the promulgation ofthe Law creating the first two reservesof Horsh Ehden1 and Palms Island(North Lebanon) at a time when thecivil war had barely ended. This wasfollowed in 1996 by a law creating theShouf Cedars reserve,2 and then in1998 four new reserves, Tannourine,Bentael, Tyre and Yammouneh wereofficially set up.
Since then, there has not been any newofficially declared reserve in spite ofthe fact that experience with theexisting ones has proved them to be
successful especially that civil society,principally through the EnvironmentalNGOs, has contributed positively to thissuccess, the NGOs having played anactive role in the steering committeesof these reserves. Moreover, the LEF,its member NGOs and otherEnvironmental NGOs have as theirpriority the prevention of any furtherdeterioration of the remaining greenspace in this country. Consequently,one of the most important initiatives ofLEF has been to press for the officialdeclaration by the Government of thefirst decade of the 21st century as thedecade for the protection of theremaining forests in public propertiesand their declaration as naturereserves. In this regard, Lebanonratified the international treaty forbiodiversity in 1994, which was one ofthe most important ones contained inAgenda 21, which was adopted at theRio World Summit in 1992 for thecooperation of all countries inachieving Sustainable Development(SD) leading to a better world of peace,justice and prosperity.
Lebanon, which is committed toapplying the basic principles of SD, willintensify its efforts to improve themanagement of the seven existingreserves, will continue its efforts forthe establishment of new ones and will
ensure the necessary materialsupport and qualified humanresources for theirmanagement anddevelopment. In thisendeavour, the participationof civil society and especiallyof the Environmental NGOs aswell as of the private sectorwill be crucial in promotingeco-tourism, which hasbecome fundamental for SD inour present day world andparticularly in a country likeLebanon.
Finally, we hope that theoverall situation will permitthe promulgation of the long-awaited (over ten years) lawon nature reserves and theestablishment of a specialnational fund for support ofthese reserves.
By Dr. George Abu-Jawdeh
Former UN Ambassador in Lebanon
1 The author participated personally in thepreparations for the creation of this reserve in hiscapacity then as UN Resident Coordinator.
2 This reserve has become one of the most importantreserves in the ME region by promoting eco-tourismand its biodiversity.
The Story of Nature Reservesin Lebanon
| Opinion and Culture
1- IntroductionIn the 1960s, most of the Americanglobal advertising agencies made jointventures with many Europeancompanies, which were mostly based inEngland, in order to cover, amongothers, many countries in the MiddleEast and North Africa.
Today, due to the increase inspecialized media in all their forms, theworld is witnessing the rise of afragmented population. The massmarket is no more considered. Thealternative is an emerging segmentedsocial group with a specific life-style.We shall call the individual in thisgroup the “Postmodern Man”, whotraces and follows new world semioticsand symbolism based on ideologies.
Due to this new age of the individual,the Internet is growing in popularity.This interactive system of onlinebusiness encourages customers topurchase products advertised online.The main advantage is that it ismeasurable and has no geographiclimitations. It provides the consumerwith a larger diversity of choices andflexibility, with lower-priced goods. Forthis reason advertisers insist on havingtheir ads interact with the audience,using the ROI “Return On Investment”approaches to ensure good results. It
is recommended that the followingcriteria should be followed. (Jewler &Drewniany, p. 77)
a) Product:
In standardization, the product shouldbe in the same phase of the productlife cycle in all the countries involved;otherwise, strategies in communicationwill be different and will no more becost efficient or sequential. Flexibilityrequires working hand-in-hand withclarity because a “truly global brand” isable to work across anycommunication medium in order toachieve an emotional response basedon product or service differentiation.Branding builds businesses andtransforms the anonymous into therecognizable.
b) Creative strategy:
The process of communication ininternational markets involves anumber of steps at each stage in theprocess. Cultural barriers may hampereffective transmission of the messageand result in miscommunication, whileglobal advertising achieves economiesof scale by minimizing the cost ofproduction in applying one single-minded idea, with some adaptations ifnecessary.
This is quite possible in the MiddleEast. Thus, when producing a
Abstract
Since the discovery of oil, the
Middle East has been the
economic support of the United
States of America. However in
the area of communication, the
Middle East has a different
understanding and application
of communication, due to its
cultural, economic and political
particularities.
In terms of economies of scale,
the Middle East has many
advantages to offer to global
advertisers because the Middle
East and North Africa consist of
twenty-two Arab countries that
enjoy one language of
communication, Arabic, and a
more or less common culture.
These countries are open to new
opportunities as compared to
the West. The average
advertising expenditure per
capita in the region is estimated
at $50 as compared with $500
in the West. The following
pages give a hint of the new
trends in international
advertising and of how foreign
advertisers may best use
efficient and effective
communication practices.
page 40 | issue 41
| Opinion and Culture
PAN-ARAB ADVERTISING?PRACTICES FOR BETTER COMMUNICATIONS
IN THE MENA REGION
For an IMDA Symposium held inMaastricht, 4-8 July, 2007 By Kamal G. DAROUNI1
commercial, the creative directorshould use local figures, scenery,rituals, language, obscure symbols andcolors with local music. The populationin the MINA region accounts for over250,000,000 persons who speak thesame language and have similarities inculture with a Low Context Culture ascompared to the Far East. “The LCCplace a high value on words andcommunicators are encouraged to bedirect, exact and unambiguous”(Mueller,B.p.114).
The ads that are culturally bound arethe ones that contain imported humor;sex appeal and the textual back-translation of the original copy are notrecommended. Preferably, copy shouldreflect local flavor and use suitablelinguistic frames.
c) Media planning:
It is becoming obvious that todayfewer people living in the Middle Eastwatch their local TV channels, thethree reasons for this change being asfollows:
11.. Arab viewers do like to receiveunbiased news.
22. The functions of mass media are toentertain, inform and educate thepublic as well as to stimulate theeconomic system. The local TV stations
still fail to offer such services with thedesired standard of quality but aremostly used by advertisers to competeagainst local rivals.
33.. The rise of regional information hasreinvigorated a sense of commondestiny among many in the ArabWorld. To a great extent, regionalprint media as well as televisionbroadcasts have combined to create aregional media market known tomarketers as the Pan-Arab market,which is becoming increasinglyinfluential.
Thus the multinational companieshave realized that using Pan-Arabmedia (horizontal planning) with anadvertising presence in the localmedia (vertical planning) would helpthem to achieve a high Gross RatingPoint (GRP) that could lead to anincrease in the Share Of Voice (SOV)which reflects positively on productperformance in the key markets.(Darouni, K., p. 248)
2- Practices for bettercommunications:From the marketing communicationspoint of view, the new trend (by myunderstanding) of the classical “4 P’s”has been changed and has integrateda core value that is the people “ 5th
P” , since consumers comefirst in the modern IMCmodels .
This is observed in the successof infomercials and interactiveTV ads, and is specific withthe online advertising since itno longer rests on onemarketing method, BannerAdvertising. It comes down toa mix of marketing, hard work,and much testing to gaugethe effectiveness of onlineadvertising, because todayadvertisers need accuracy andaccountability in theirmessage delivery.
On the whole, world brandswill be more standardized andsimilarly marketed in everycountry. Words will be usedless in commercials, for “lessis more” in advertising, butthe visual aspect will bedeveloped with the use ofmore symbolism, as may beseen in the NIKE andMARLBORO global campaignstrategies.
While the use of ingeniouscross-cultural wordsgenerated from researchingpeople’s perceptions (VALS)
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Pan Arab Advertising Kamal Darouni
1 Ass. Professor, Notre Dame University, Lebanon; ChiefExecutive Officer, Infomarkets Int’l – Advertising Agency; Gen.Sec. of Advertising Agencies Association; Member of IAA WorldChapter; Author Advertising and Marketing Communications in
this new trend of communication inorder to promote global products using“best practices” for the success of theirclients’ campaigns. They should answerfirst the following questions:
| What are the most efficient andeffective media I should use?
| Should I go local, regional orglobal?
| Should I standardize, localize orglocalize my company’s products andcampaigns?
| What suitable creative approachshould I use as a cross-border?
| What creative execution should Iuse to best appeal to my target group?
Creativity is not enough, in view of thecomplex and highly competitive marketenvironments. It does not alone fulfillthe needs of both local andmultinational companies. All elementsof the marketing mix must becalibrated precisely, regardless ofwhether the structure is centralized ordecentralized or both.
Adaptation should be taken intoconsideration when entering newmarkets, so multinational companiesmust decide to what extent they willadapt their products, their marketingmix and their advertising campaigns.
Staying on top of the markets is noeasy task. New segments emerge,existing influences shift and newconsumer profiles surface within amarket. For an advertising person thetask is one of determining the beliefs,attitudes and behaviors of clientpatterns and customers. Keeping on
top of the cultural mix is the key tosuccessfully reaching this goal.
Finally,
To enable marketers and advertisingprofessionals to communicate to theArab population, an understanding ofthe behavior, tradition, ritual, symbols,heroes, religion and practices of thearea will lead to a betterunderstanding in communicating withthe consumers. Since differentcultures have different values, one hasto remember that in cross-culturalstudies each country’s culture adaptsdifferent values to meet theindividual’s needs and wants.
Having said all this, I finally believethat more effort should be derivedfrom global institutions to protect thisindividual “postmodern man’ fromstereotyping, violence, unethical ads,and most importantly the subliminalways of communication.
References: Barban, Arnold N ., Essential of Media
planning, NTC Business Books,USA, 1993 Darouni, K., Advertising and Marketing
Communications in the Middle East,
publisher: NDU, Meouchi Printing Press, Beirut,2006 De Mooij, M ., Advertising Worldwide,
Second edition, Prentice Hall, 1991- Jewler and Drewniany. Creative Strategy in
Advertising, wardsworth.com2001 Muller, B ., International Advertising
Wadworth Publishing Co. New York, 1996 www.iaaglobal.org
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| Opinion and Culture
might be a good approach,imagery and relevance areoften the elements that mostaffect any Arab consumer .Exploit the story, actors andthe mood as much as possible.A simple striking device(simplicity) that occurs duringyour ad should reinforce yourproduct and boost yourmessage integrity. (Barban,A.p. 38)
Fragmenting the audience ismore than slicing a marketinto age-defined consumergroups. Two decades ago, thiswould have worked; familyunits were stable, geographicdata held more importanceand lifestyle did not take intoaccount gender preference orcountry of origin. Today’sgame is very different.
Globalization goes hand-in-hand with technology,especially from multimediaperspectives. Ignoring localculture, however, mayjeopardize a company’sbusiness. Globalizationgenerally offsets amultinational company whichis positioned on a continuumfrom centralized todecentralized. Few can befound positioned at theextremes on either side. Mostof them are clustered aroundthe center and mixing bothstrategies, in other words“Glocalization”.(Darouni, K. p. 257)
The smart advertising personand/or advertiser should face
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Music Karkanawi
of the organ is also permitted.In some special cases, withindue limits and within theproper regards, otherinstruments may be allowed,but never without the speciallicence of the Ordinary,according to the Cæremoniale
episcoporum. As the chant
should always have theprincipal place, the organ orinstruments should merelysustain and never suppress it.It is not permitted to have thechant preceded by 1ongpreludes or to interrupt it withintermezzo pieces. Thepianoforte and noisy andfrivolous instruments (e.g.drums, cymbals, and bells) areabsolutely excluded. Windinstruments by their nature
more turbulent and obtrusiveare admissible only as anaccompaniment to the singingin processions outside of thechurch. Within the edifice ‘itwill be permissible only inspecial cases and with theconsent of the Ordinary toadmit a number of windinstruments, limited, judicious,and proportioned to the sizeof the place, provided thecomposition andaccompaniment to beexecuted be written in a graveand suitable style and similarin all respects to that proper
The world’s history ofmusic can never beseparated from the historyof religions; since
religious beliefs and regulationsconcerning music have determined thenature of the process of musiccreation, and consequently the socialpractice of music worldwide, from thedays when shamans and magicianswere the musicians until modern times.Nevertheless, in the Semitic religionswe trace a tendency of rejection andunwillingness to accept music exceptwith conditions and restrictions ofvarying strictness.
In Christianity, we find that early onthese restrictions varied from totalrejection of music, linking it tosensuality that is not “proper” forChristians, to simple restrictions on theuse of instruments in worship.
Clement of Alexandria (150-215) severelycondemned the use of instrumentseven at Christian banquets (Catholic
Encyclopedia, 2007). Saint Augustine(354-371) opposed the use ofinstruments in worship sinceinstruments at that time evoked pagantraditions. He gave reasons whyinstruments should be excluded fromChristian liturgical celebrations andCauley (2004) explains: “Musicalinstruments were not used. The pipe,tambourine and harp here areassociated so intimately with thesensual heathen cults, as well as with
the wild revelries and shamelessperformances of the degeneratetheater and circus, that it is easy tounderstand the prejudices against theiruse in worship.”
Chrysostom (347-407) in anotherjustification of the exclusion ofinstruments says, “David formerly sangsongs, also today we sing hymns. Hehad a lyre with lifeless strings, theChurch has a lyre with living strings.Our tongues are the strings of the lyrewith a different tone indeed but muchmore in accordance with piety. Herethere is no need for the cithara, or forstretched strings, or for the plectrum,or for art, or for any instrument; but, ifyou like, you may yourself become acithara, mortifying the members of theflesh and making a full harmony ofmind and body.
“For when the flesh no longer lustsagainst the Spirit, but has submitted toits orders and has been led at lengthinto the best and most admirable path,then will you create a spiritualmelody.” (Chrysostom, 347-407,Exposition of Psalm 41, (381-398 A.D.)Source Readings in Music History, ed.O.Strunk, W. W. Norton and Co.: NewYork, 1950, pg. 70.) (Cauley, 2004).
The Motu proprio of Pius X (22 Nov.1903) sets a list of restrictions andregulations: “Although the musicproper to the Church is purely vocalmusic, music with the accompaniment
Semitic Religions and Music
A Relation of Conflict Ahmed Karkanawi,
T
N.D.U. Department of Musicology
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| Opinion and Culture
to the organ.’ The restrictionsimposed by the Church in thisregard were formerly stillgreater.” (Catholic
Encyclopedia, 2007).
It appears that Semiticreligions, even allowing forthe diversity within each one,are hypersensitive about theterm music, rather than aboutmusical practice itself.Various terms came into use,replacing that specific word,such as chant, cantillation,recitation, Tajweed and manyother expressions withreligious implications.However, the musical essencehas remained, dominating theliturgical rituals in the threereligions.
Rabbinical and Muslimreligious legal authorities fromthe start developed a reserved,and sometimes hostile,attitude regarding music per
se, an attitude which hasvaried from complete rejectionof the use of any musicalcomponent or instruments inritual to various compromisesor a tacit tolerance, whichwilly-nilly accept the role ofmusic in worship. (Shiloah,2001).
We can find this Judaic trendto exclude music when we goback to the great Jewishphilosopher Maimonides, whoformulated an extremelyaggressive attitude towardmusic: “Israel is required to be
a sacred nation, and music provokesexcitement and sensuality.”Maimonides’ stand about music isquite like the orthodox Islamic view.
Orthodox Judaism does not permit
instrumental music during communal
services. Consequently, the introduction of
the pipe organ in some more liberal
synagogues by the pioneer German Jewish
reformer Israel Jacobson (1768–1828)
provoked a fierce controversy because of
the existing prohibition against
instrumental music in services
(Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007).
But this opposition to music is notcompatible with the crystal-clearbiblical stand. The Bible records thatspontaneous music-making wascustomary among the ancient Jews onall important occasions, religious andsecular, sad and joyful. A cursoryreading of the Psalms alone shows anextraordinary position for music in thelife of Israeli communities. Music isused to praise God with a variety ofinstruments all the time. Somemusicologists have even suggested thatin some cases specific instruments hadprecise functional roles in liturgicaland social activities.
In Islam, the regulations concerningmusic were left entirely to the religiousauthorities. Islamic traditions havealmost never mentioned music, so itwould seem that the hostile attitudewas simply inherited from the twoprevious Semitic religions.
The great cultural evolution of theChristian World helped in formulatinga general attitude toward music thatwas more and more benign and
consequently music is no more such acontroversial issue in Christianity. Onthe other hand, Islam and Judaismhave had to look for some adaptivestrategies for music in worship to beallowed. The first strategy is theavoidance of the term music
altogether. Even when music laterembodied ornate and melismatic forms,one rather finds terms like ‘to read’ orto ‘recite’ (Shiloah, 2001).
The æsthetical values articulated bythe voice of the chanter or readerprovide another subject for argument.When Rabbi Shlomo ben Adrat (1235-1310) was consulted, he answered: “Ifthe fervor of his [the Cantor’s] creativemusical imagination rests on the desireto praise and give thanks to the Lord,and he stands before the Divinity infear and awe, May he be blessed. Butif his intention is to demonstrate hisartistry in order to reap the praise ofthe congregation, his behavior isreprehensible” (Shiloah, 2001). Similarviews are expressed by Islamic religiousauthorities. In Ramadan 2007, certainQuran readers in Saudi Arabia wereindicted for their “over-singing” to theQuran! All such strategies aim atemphasizing the pre-eminence of thetext over any other possible beauty.Finally, some religious chanting cansomehow be considered acceptable ifthe melodies are based on tunes offolkloric nature.
On the other hand, music was acceptedunconditionally by the Jewish andIslamic mystical sects, and was utilizedas a fundamental religious practice intheir worship.
A Jewish mystical movement founded
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Music Karkanawi
in Eastern Europe in the 18th centuryby Baal-Shem-Tov (Israel ben Eliazar),which spread rapidly to become amajor Jewish sect, had a totallyopposite approach to music. Hasidismnot only adopted music, but actuallyencouraged joyous religious expressionthrough music and dance (The
Columbia Encyclopedia, 2005).Dancing and singing are considered inHasidism as a “Holy Medium andparticular expression of devotion”(Avenary, 1964).
In Islamic Sufism, singing is perceivedas elevating the soul to celestialrealms. Theories dealing with thepower and function of song weredeveloped extensively and givenimportant practical and spiritualapplication by Sufi leaders such asJalal al-Deen al-Ormawy.
Conclusion
The religious criteria in Judaism, Islam,and Christianity have alwaysdetermined the evolution of music, andalmost all aspects of life. So I havelong wondered what would havehappened if the use of instruments inthe traditional church had notremained such a subject of controversyfor so long. Might some Beethovenhave arisen by the 11th or 12th
century?
In this connection we must rememberthat the great masterpieces we comeacross in the history of music wouldhave never existed without religiousinspiration, works such as Bach’s St.
Matthew Passion, and Mozart’s andFaure’s monumental requiems. Even inthe 20th century, when the modern
world would appear agreed on totalsecularism, the great French organistand composer Olivier Messiaen hasshown us that religion will always bethe fountainhead of inspiration withhis End of Times Quartet, one of themost significant pieces in the 20th
century, deeply based on Christianeschatology.
In brief, religious standards and normsare still to be taken into considerationand are sources that provideinspiration for any artist, scholar,scientist or philosopher, in the East andin the West, but on different levels ofsensitivity. Therefore, religion willalways be the virtual tyrant authorizedby societies themselves to direct theevolution of the quality of each aspectof their life, either positively ornegatively.
ReferencesAvenary, Hanoch. (1964). The HasidicNigun. Ethos and Melos of a Folk Liturgy:in Liturgies of Orient and Occident. Journal of
the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 16.
pp. 60-63. JSTOR archive center. Retrieved July13, 2007. From source<http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0950-7922%281964%2916%3C60%3ATHNEAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1>.Beller-McKenna, Daniel. (2004).Brahms and
the German Spirit. London: Harvard UniversityPress. Fletcher, Peter. (2001). World Musics in
Context. New York: Oxford University Press. Hasidism. (2007). In The Columbia
Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved 15 July2007 from The Columbia Encyclopedia Online.
<http://www.bartleby.com/65/ha/Hasidism.html>. Idelsohn, Abraham. (1948). Jewish Music in its
Historical Development. New York:Tudor Publishing Company.Jewish Music. (2007). In Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14 July 2007. Fromhttp://uk.encarta.msn.com. 1997-2007Microsoft Corporation. Judaism. (2007). In Student’s Encyclopædia.
Retrieved July 21, 2007, fromBritannica Student Encyclopædia:http://student.britannica.com/comptons/article-35218King, Chris. (1996). Klezmer
Conservatory Band to appear in St.
Louis. retrieved 12 July 2007<http://www.klezmershack.com/articles/king.kcb.9609.html>.Levitin, Michael. (2004). BerlinBind: Between Neo-Nazis andMendelssohn. The Jewish DailyForward . Retrieved July 14, 2007.From source<http://www.forward.com/articles/berlin-bind-between-neo-nazis-and-mendelssohn/>Meyer, Michael A. (1990).Response to Modernity: A Historyof the Reform Movement inJudaism. The Journal of Religion.Vol. 70, No. 1. pp. 128-129. JSTOR
archive center. Retrieved July, 132007. From source<http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28199001%2970%3A1%3C128%3ARTMAHO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D>.Rabbi Stahl, Samuel M. (1998).Felix Mendelssohn: Musical Geniusand Jewish Casualty. Jewish VirtualLibrary. From Temple Beth-El.Texas: San Antonio. Retrieved 14July 2007. From source<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Mendelssohn2.html>.Reform Judaism. (2007). InEncyclopædia Britannica. RetrievedOctober 24, 2007, from EncyclopædiaBritannica Online:http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9063020Rogovoy, Seth. (2001). TheEssential Klezmer. Klezmer . NewYork: Algonquin Books. 12 July 2007.Fromhttp://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo14/klezmer.htm>.Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical
Instruments. New York: Norton &Company, 1940.Shiloah, Amnon. (2001). Patternsof Change and Continuity inLiturgical and Ritual Music. Sufism
Music and Society in Turkey and the
Middle East. Ed. Elizabeth Özdalga.Istanbul: Swedish Research Institutein Istanbul.
Investment in Telecommunicationsand Economic Development in theMENA Region1
Dr. Louis G. Hobeika2
availability and its costs, the mobileinternet should not be considered as asubstitute for the fixed line internet.
The objective of the paper is to presentthe main telecommunicationsindicators for the MENA region andlink them to economic development.Section One overviews thedevelopment in the internationaltelecommunications sector. SectionTwo presents the current situation inthe MENA3 region, with particularemphasis on the Arab states. SectionThree analyzes the nature and scope ofthe relationship betweentelecommunications and economicdevelopment in the region. SectionFour presents the recommendations ofthe paper.
I The Telecommunications
Industry
The telecommunications industry hasmade its mark in history. It hasexperienced a series of dramaticchanges since its inception in the1880s. From an industry heavily
regulated and owned by the publicsector without competition, it becameprivatized, very competitive andderegulated due to technologicalinnovations and legal and institutionaldevelopment.4 Roughly 2% oftelecommunications firms in 167countries were privatized in 1980. In1998, the number had increased to42%. National carriers were privatized,new competitors licensed and newservices allowed. For thetelecommunications companies, thesedevelopments created newopportunities. They stimulated theconvergence of previously distinctindustries such as telecommunications,information technology, entertainment,media, and consumer electronics into anew industry called “multimediainformation”. Internet telephony(VOIP) emerges as a major newtelecommunications technology.5 As itimproves, the artificially high prices ofvoice calls will not be sustainable.Since VOIP will cause revenue fromvoice calls to wither away, the mostvulnerable operators are those that aremost dependent on such revenue.6
Telecommunications is one ofthe world’s most dynamiceconomic sectors. Hardly aweek goes by without telecomevents making news in thenational, regional andinternational press. Researchshows the importance oftelecommunications asinfrastructure for efficienteconomic and socialdevelopment. The increasinginformation intensity ofeconomic activity coupledwith the globalization ofcapital flows, trade,manufacturing and otheractivities has resulted instrong demand for telecomservices. Advances in telecomtechnology have helpedreduce the costs of productionin all sectors. Four words sumup today’s telecom markets:private, competitive, VOIP andglobal. The convergence ofmobile communications andthe internet produces greatresults. Because of its
| Opinion and Culture
1- Professor of Economics andFinance at NDU - Louaize
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connectivity projects andstimulate new partnerships toachieve the goal ofconnecting all communities by2015.
In the Arab states where thesector is dominated by stateowned monopolies, there areno fixed link operators whichare 100% privately owned.Foreign participation in theincumbent remains minimal.Many Arab states are involvedin privatization efforts not byconviction but because of theneed for private capital forinfrastructure development.
II. Telecommunications
Indicators for the
MENA RegionThe MENA region remainsrelatively underdeveloped intechnology andtelecommunications. In 2001for the “Regional ComputerPenetration Rates” and the“Regional Internet PenetrationRates”, MENA was ahead only
This will cause a regulatory shake-upto the benefit of consumers andbusiness.7 Perhaps in five years,telephony will be a free service offeredas part of a bundle of services to buyother things such as broadband accessor pay-TV services.
Revenues of the international telecommarket reached $1,370b in 2003($1,070b for services and $300b forequipments). World Computer andInternet Penetration Rates areimproving, an important sign of socialdevelopment and a direct consequenceof the new economy. To achieve theseresults, an extensive use was made ofalliances, mergers and acquisitions.The growth of data and mobile serviceshas outpaced that of basic fixed voiceservices. In 2002, mobile subscribersovertook fixed line subscribersworldwide. These events continue tohave serious implications for the designof relevant policies and regulation.They raise serious life and healthconcerns related to driving while usingthe mobile, and related also to theaddiction of children (1 in 5adolescents are awakened regularly bytext messages late at night).
Technological change in key inputs oftelecommunications and computer-based services and in complementarygoods have contributed to loweringcosts and made new services availableat reasonable prices. The digitizationand integration of telecom serviceswith computers create significantbusiness opportunities and threatenthe fundamental features of thetraditional regulatory regime. Aroundthe world at the start of 2003, therewere about 63 million broadbandsubscribers, a number rapidlyincreasing, and 1.13b fixed line and1.16b mobile phone users. However,worldwide over 1 billion people remainwithout access to basic telecomservices and 800,000 villages are stillunconnected. Recently, theInternational TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU), within the context of theWorld Summit on the InformationSociety (WSIS),8 launched “Connect theWorld” initiative to reduce the “digitaldivide”. The divide remains in “FixedPhone Line Access”, in “MobileSubscribers” and in “Internet Access”.Although progress is evident, theinitiative aims to consolidate and scaleup existing development-oriented
Investment in Telecom... Dr. Louis Hobeika
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of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Theunsatisfactory result is due tomany factors, including theoverall level of economic andhuman development as well asto high costs and tariffs.
The MENA Arab region can bedivided into two parts: theGulf and the rest of theregion. The indicators for theGulf States are higher andcould be easily compared tothose of some advancedemerging markets. The maintelephone lines per 100inhabitants in 2003 were26.76 in Bahrain, 19.6 inKuwait, 26.12 in Qatar, and28.11 in the UAE compared to18.6 for Malaysia, 22.29 forBrazil and 21.88 for Argentina.Some Arab states need toinvest heavily and urgently inthe sector to reach adequatelevels of technologicaldevelopment, ones such asAlgeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Yemenand Morocco. The telephoneindicator for Lebanon (20) isnear those of the advancedGulf states and is higher thanthose of Saudi Arabia andOman. It is well known thatLebanon has invested heavilyand successfully in itstelecommunications sector,which needs to be maintainedand modernized.
The indicator for mobilesubscribers per 100
inhabitants for 2003 reached 63.84 inBahrain, 57.16 in Kuwait, 53.31 inQatar and 73.57 in the UAE comparedto 91.17 in the UK, 70.09 in Korea,67.9 in Japan and 54.58 in the USA.The same Gulf States show highindicators regarding the number ofinternet users and PC owners.Needless to say, Israel holds a veryhigh level of telecommunicationindicators, which are reflected in theefficient performance of its economicsectors. The ratio of the number offixed telephone lines to mobile showsthat the region, generally, followsinternational trends. The ratio is about0.41 in Bahrain, 0.46 in Jordan, 0.34 inKuwait, 0.85 in Lebanon, 0.38 in theUAE and 0.48 in Qatar and SaudiArabia.
III. Telecommunications and
Economic Development in
MENAInvesting in telecommunications shouldimprove the productivity of all factorsof production. Telecommunications areconsidered a strategic investment tomaintain and develop competitiveadvantage at all levels.Telecommunications constitute thecore of, and provide the infrastructurefor, the information economy.Telecommunications facilitate marketentry, improve customer service, reducecosts and increase productivity.Telecommunications are today anintegral part of financial services,commodities markets, media,transportation, and the travel industry.They provide vital links amongmanufacturers, wholesalers and
retailers. Moreover, industrial andcommercial competitive advantage isinfluenced not only by the availabilityof telecom facilities, but also by thechoice of network alternatives in linewith changes in corporate objectives.
Countries that lack access to moderntelecom systems cannot effectivelyparticipate in the global economy.Improving the standards oftelecommunications would thereforehelp the development of the businesssector, including e-commerce.Telecommunications help educationand openness and bring the worldcloser together. As cross-sectionregression equations show, the level ofGDP is strongly positively related to themain telecom indicators (number ofPCs, number of internet users, totaltelephone lines and mobile telephonelines). Increasing these indicatorsshould reflect positively on economicgrowth and expectedly on generaleconomic development.
IV. Conclusion and
Recommendations
MENA countries need to implementreforms in all sectors, includingtelecommunications. Gulf countriesshould benefit from additional oilrevenues to invest further ininfrastructure and human development.Despite efforts to reduce their size, theshare of MENA’s public sectors inoutput and employment still exceedsthe average for developing andindustrialized countries. Moreover, thelow productivity of public investment(plus high costs, bad quality,
| Opinion and Culture
2. Broner. F.A. and R. Rigobon. “Whyare capital flows so much morevolatile in emerging than indeveloped countries?”. Prepared forthe 8th Annual Conference of theCentral Bank of Chile. 2004.3. Economides. N.“Telecommunications Regulation: AnIntroduction”. NYU. 2004.4. Economist Magazine. “Telecomsand the Internet”. September 17th
2005.5. Estache. A. “EmergingInfrastructure Policy Issues inDeveloping Countries: A Survey ofthe Recent Economic Literature”.Prepared for the Berlin meeting ofthe POVNET Infrastructure WorkingGroup. World Bank Research Paper3442. 2004.6. ITU. World Telecommunication
Development Report. Yearlypublication.7. Li. W, C. Zhen-Wei Qiang and L.C.Xu. “The Political Economy ofTelecommunications Reforms”. TheWorld Bank. 2000.8. Pennings. J, H van Kranenburgand J. Hagedoorn. “Past, Present andFuture of the TelecommunicationsIndustry”. Chapter in the book: The
Aging New Economy: The Growth
and Dynamics of New Media Firms.
2005.9. Utsumi. Y. “Connect the World”.ITU. June 2005.10. Wellenius. B and P. Stern eds.Implementing Reforms in the
Telecommunications Sector. WorldBank. 1994.
insufficient revenue and shortfalls inmaintenance spending) is apparent inmany sectors, such as electricitytelecoms and water. Private sectorintervention continues to be stifled bylimited progress in building market-oriented institutions and in integratinginto the world economy. The privatesector needs financing on adequateterms and an efficient and securejudicial system. That is why laborproductivity remains low andunemployment rates continue to rise.The absence of dynamic private sectorshas been specially felt in the area ofinvestment. With the exception ofAfrica, MENA has the lowest privateinvestment ratios among developingregions.
Telecommunication is part of the GATSsince 1985. The MENA region,especially its poor countries, wouldbenefit from improving the quality ofexisting projects and from furtherinvestments and reforms in thetelecommunications sector. During theperiod 1990 – 2001, for developingcountries private participationaccounted for 25% of total investmentin infrastructure. MENA investment in
infrastructure projects with privateparticipation fell (in 2001 US$) from$3.6b in 1993 to $2.8b in 2001.Cumulative investment in the regionfor 1990-2001 amounted to $22.8b,which was less than in Sub-SaharanAfrica (23.4) and South Asia (39.6) andeven more so as compared to East Asiaand the Pacific (210.6), Europe andCentral Asia (97.1) and Latin Americaand the Caribbean (360.6). Theregional sector should move further inthe four directions:
a. Commercializing and separatingoperations from government.b. Increasing the participation ofprivate enterprise and capital.
Containing monopolies, diversifyingsupply of services and developingcompetition.
Shifting government responsibility fromownership and management to policyand regulation.
Selected Bibliography1. Agenor. P-R, M. Nabli and T. Youssef. “PublicInfrastructure and Private Investment in theMENA”. World Bank Research Paper 3661.2005.
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Investment in Telecom... Dr. Louis Hobeika
1 Paper presented at the 2006 Allied Social Science Associations meetings in Boston Ma, USA.2 Professor of Economics and Finance at Notre Dame University – Louaize, Lebanon.3 The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region includes Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.4 The USA was the first country to deregulate the telecommunications markets. The 1996 US Telecommunications Act attempted to adapt the regulatory structure to technological
reality. Results have been so far mixed.5 VOIP’s leading proponent is Skype, a small firm whose software allows people to make free calls to other Skype users over the internet, and very cheap calls to traditional
telephones. On September 12th eBay, the leading online auction-house, announced that it was buying Skype for $2.6b.6 % of revenues derived from voice is about 85% for Vodafone, 75% for Telecom Italia, 65% for France Telecom, 62% for Deutsche Telecom and 35% for British Telecom.7 Regulation should only be used when it is clear that deregulated markets are likely to fail.8 The WSIS plan of action was agreed by world leaders at the Geneva Summit in 2003. It laid out a series of targets aimed at connecting communities by 2015. The Tunisia Summit
held in November 2005 reaffirmed the pledges made in Geneva and expressed concern over the lack of adequate funding offered by western governments.
ART : Resonance of Image,Sound and Soul
Can we rise through the beauty ofimage and sound to the ultimatebeauty of soul? Can Art be theresonating frequency of image, soundand soul?
Resonance is the prolonging, vibratingor re-echoing of sound. In physics,resonance is defined as the increasingamplification of a vibration of a givenfrequency in a mechanical or electricalsystem, as an external vibratorystimulus approaches the samefrequency. Poetically speaking,resonance can be defined as the inneramplified vibration of the soul with thestimulus of refined quality of imageand sound!
Inside a violin, resonance of soundoccurs when the violin, the violinplayer, and the medium are in perfectbalance and harmony. Moreover, inorder to produce a resonating soundwithin the instrument, the violin mustbe perfectly tuned. The violin playershould also master his instrument: his
technique, his hands and his mentalstate must also be in absolutereadiness and vigilance. In addition toall these, the medium – the soundacoustics – must be in perfectcondition to allow the pure flow ofsound waves without noise ordistortion. It is only in the presence ofthese necessary conditions of violin,violin player, and medium that aresonating sound occurs.
This resonance of sound is the idealstate that a musician tries all his life toattain. It is a complete fusion betweensoul, body, instrument andenvironment. In this state, the artist-musician has no boundaries: hisultimate soul and heart are in perfectharmony and balance. His innerspiritual state is in complete fusionwith the outer material world! On theother hand, the external material worldhas also acquired subtle spiritualattributes by exhorting the artist’sinner soul, in resonance with exhortingthe vibrating inner core of the violin.
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| Opinion and Culture
| Rima SaabM.A. Visual Arts, B.E. in CCE, FAAD
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Art Rima Saab
The rigidity of the material world becomes more fluid!The heavy becomes lighter, and the dull becomes awakeand vigilant. It is the state of an artist performing infront of his audience, where complete fusion occursbetween the artist and the listener.
This is also similar to the state of a painter absorbedwithin his work. Complete absorption is the result ofdeep reflection and concentration! It is what I havealready defined as ‘resonance of soul’. It is a state inwhich the artist attains a sort of dissolution in a sublimeworld of images and sentiments! In this state, the artistmelts into a platonic world of Absolute Beauty, whichbeautifies and illuminates the material world with amystic fragrance.
In a concert, it is this resonance of image, sound andsoul that we can call ‘music’. Upon such a quality ofmusic being heard, it pierces the listener’s heart andsoul in a similar way. It may draw tears from his eyes, asan expression of inner resonance, as an expression offusion and unity with the world of beauty. The concertbecomes a communion, through which every rigidboundary is eliminated and everything becomes one aspure sound, pure heart, and therefore a state of ‘PureArt’ is attained.
Playing music as painted images, and painting canvas asmusical rhythms! I have always been intermixedbetween the two! Being a painter and violin playermyself (or being someone who is trying to be), I havealways tried to seek this resonance of sound and soulthrough both music and painting. In music, the musicianbecomes a painter. In painting, the brushes and canvasbecome the instrument, and the music of the soul playsthrough the act of painting. I often thought of paintingwhat I play as visual musical images, and on the otherhand thought of playing the music of the inner soulonto the canvas. The more sincerity of expression there
is, the more resonance of image, sound and soul isattained.
Could we rise above the psychological and socialexpressionism to a more essential state of soul throughart? Could art be an invitation to sublimation more thananything else? Could art be a means for reflection andintrospection? Can we rise through the beauty of imageand sound to the ultimate beauty of soul?
If art remains external and superficial, it is not art! Noteven if one masters all the techniques of art! Which ismore valuable: the artwork or the state of art? Theobject or the process? Art is not just a means forrecreation, nor is it an anti-stress prescription, or adisorderly psychological expressionism. Its mission isneither to deliver a social refusal or a message, nor to beabused as a kind of social event. It is neither a show-off,nor a delusion of creating a visually nice artwork. Artshould be a life-time quest. It is a state of liberation, aquest of undefined resonance!
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Love, like, dig, crush…Whatever you want to call it,romance is the main thing on a teenager’s mind, next tofashion, basketball, and the latest MTV music hits.Teenage romance is currently a widespread phenomenonin almost all societies and cultures; it is not uncommonto see two fifteen-year-olds walking around the mallholding hands, sharing an ice cream, or buying Valentinecards. According to a research conducted by Clyde O.McDaniel, Jr., by the time teenagers reach university, awhopping 47% will already have been in a seriousrelationship (Online Source.). But while the quota is veryhigh, most of the teenagers asked about thisphenomenon do not define it as “romance”, a“relationship”, or any other term that might beconsidered binding in any way. They prefer the term“friends with benefits”, or the expression “we wentout”… With such a general cringing from notions likecommitment and restriction, the entire concept ofteenage romance is undergoing a general mise en
cause…
It is interesting to know that what was once the mostimportant social activity is now considered “on the roadto extinction” by some. The general feminist notion setforth by Sharon Thompson (1984) argues that whileteenage romance was in fact a crucial socialphenomenon back in the 20s through the 70s, it is nolonger important in today’s society (Online source). Thispoint of view is mainly enforced by the fact that, withfeminism introducing women into the professionalworld, and the increasing educational requirements forsuccess, marriage is no longer a top priority for anyone.While, twenty years ago, most women were married by
the age of twenty, the quota for “settling down” is nowat the age of twenty-eight minimum. If no one isplanning on getting married for another ten years or so,then why bother with dating now? The trend today is toenjoy the “freedom of choice”, “keep one’s optionsopen”, and leave issues like romance, dating, andmarriage till after the PhD dissertation is written.
The internet is another reason why teenage romance isin decline these days. With so many chat-rooms,websites, and blogs, teenagers have entered the virtualworld of cyber-relationships; relationships with manypeople, in many places, at the same time, and withabsolutely no commitment or restrictions whatsoever.The anonymity and immaterial nature of the internetmakes the relationship itself immaterial, and thereforeless complicated and without consequences. As thearticle “Online Dating” interestingly put it: “With such a
care-free solution offered, why date the traditional,
cumbersome way?” (Online source).
Others argue that despite the tremendous technologicaladvancements and the very nature of modern society,teenage romance is just as important and present todayas it was fifty years ago. No matter how advancedpeople get, they still and will always feel the need tointeract with others. No matter how modern ateenager’s lifestyle, it cannot control or suppress his/hernatural emotions and feelings of convergence towards acertain person. Attraction is a natural, biologicalphenomenon that should be expressed and acted upon.This makes romance, teenage or not, a natural processof life.
| Opinion and Culture
Teenage Romance:
Obsolete or
Not Yet?
| Yara Y. Zgheib
ENL 213
And while many argue that teenage relationships are apointless waste of time, and that they neither leadanywhere nor last long, it is interesting to note that,according to Jamie Jones (2004), about 30% of youngAmerican girls marry their “high school sweethearts”(Online source). And to really put a fur ball into “puppy”love, many psychologists claim that teenage romancesare actually crucial to preparing a person for future,adult relationships. Without them, some claim, a personwould reach adulthood with no idea how to interactwith and relate to the opposite sex, which would createa serious handicap to future marital plans.
Being a teenager myself, the issue of teenage romanceis particularly interesting to me. It deals with a dilemmaI, and most of the teenagers I know, are trying to solve.With so many technological, social, and academicbarriers getting in the way of romance, and with thegeneral teenage taboo attitude to words like“relationship” and “love,” it may seem that teenage loveis on the way out. I, however, am a hopeless romantic,and refuse to accept the idea that teenagers shouldn’tfall in love because it is too early, or too complicated.Romances are what make the whole teenage adventureworthwhile and are clearly still a very prominent activityin our society. No matter how fascinating it may soundto simultaneously compliment six boys from six differentcountries, all from the same P.C., it cannot replace thethrill and excitement of a first date, or the feelings ofcompassion, tenderness, and attraction that stem from afaithful relationship. Teenage romance is not obsoleteyet, and I’m sure I do not want to be around when, andif, it becomes so.
References: Jones, J. (2004). Beyond Books: What Can We Do to
Help Troubled Teens Cope? Retrieved November 13,2007, from http://www.eric.ed.gov
McDaniel, C.O. Dating Roles and Reasons for Dating.
Journal of Marriage and the Family (1969). 97-107
Online Dating. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2007,from http://www.femininezone.com/onlinedating.
Thompson, S. (1984). Feminism and Teen Romance:
1966-1983. Social Text (1984). 296-299
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Teenage Romance.. Yara Zgheib
SECULAR GOVERNMENT INLEBANON
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By Brenda Iara Younes
In an article entitled,Secularism (2007) the authordefines a secular state as “…astate that is officially neutralin matters of religion, neithersupporting nor opposing anyparticular religious beliefs orpractices” (Online). Thisdefinition relates to Lebanonin many ways. As we all know,Lebanon is torn on thepolitical front due, mainly, tounderlying religious issues. Itis not the same scenario theLebanese witnessed during thecivil war, since inter-religiousalliances between parties arequite evident today. Yet, eachpolitical party has a particularreligious agenda, which it isnot willing to compromise.Thus, the inter-politicalclashes pertain to therepresentation of the religiousbeliefs in the government.Consequently, we must askourselves, would a seculargovernment be the solution toLebanon’s tribulations? Ibelieve it would be a possiblesolution.
| Opinion and Culture
Lebanon is a country composed ofmany complex political networks withexternal interference; therefore, it isdifficult to attempt to foresee theeffects of a secular government. Manyclaim that secularism would go againstLebanese political tradition and that itmay require a drastic change in theTaef Accord. However, the TaefAgreement, as Bejjani, E. (1999) says, isaimed to “install a Lebanese puppetmercenary regime willing to helpregional neighboring countries find asolution for the Middle East crisis atthe expense of Lebanon and its people”(Online). Through the CommonAgreement Policy, Lebanon was forcedinto a whirlpool of different andcontradictory opinions and objectivesthat do not have common ground. Thisin turn has been inciting deeperreligious and political clashes than everbefore. If changes are required, then itis about time to make them! Moreover,as to going against Lebanese politicaltradition, permit me to remind thereader of the status of Lebanon beforethe civil war: we had several partiesthat united people from all religions ina non-religious vision. For example,there were the Communist Party andthe Syrian Nationalist Party and the
Socialist Party. The true tradition ofLebanon is to act as a melting pot forvarious religions and nationalities andto create a system of cohabitation thatadheres to the concepts of secularism.Some others claim, if all else fails, thepopulation is not socially and culturallyready for such a dramatic change intheir society. However, secularism doesnot necessarily require changes insociety, but in the government as aninstitution. In a secular state, nodecisions or questions of public interestshould be based on religious ideologies;nevertheless, religion as personal routeof faith is respected.
To explore the ways in which a seculargovernment would benefit theLebanese political scene and resolvemany of its issues, the history ofLebanon must be studied carefully.Lebanon has a history of violentclashes between parties representingdifferent religions. These cannot beappeased unless the government takeson an authoritative power beyond anyreligious concepts. While thegovernment represents a certain schoolof thought and adheres to it, otherschools of thought would be inresistance and that will diminish the
government’s sphere of power. Therefore, secularism maximizes the adherence ofall religious/political parties to one government. India is a good example of onecentral, secular power appeasing religious disputes. Jayaraman, T. (1997), describesthe religious practices India has rejected in its secular government, such asuntouchability and Sati and Caste. India is now introducing “affirmative action asa means of redressing socio-economic inequalities” (Online). Even though theLebanese might find this hard to adapt to, they are at a point in history wherethey should be willing to compromise some of their hold on religious issues, forthe general interest and advancement of the state and the economy. Judging bythe partitions of the current political alliances, we are no longer unable to relateto other religions. We can find ways to relate to them in the visions we have forour country. The article Bashir Gemayel: The Dream (2007) states, “Total Syrian,Iranian and Palestinian armed forces withdrawal from Lebanon is prerequisite tothe strengthening of a central Lebanese government” (Online). However, I believethat it is the government’s hold on the country’s various parties that would earnus a new status in the international viewpoint: The internal stability will in itselfshut out political interferences from countries that see themselves represented inlocal minorities. As long as there is no one strong central government, we willalways depend on external assistance. Without interferences, the only interest wehave in mind is our own. We can then begin to prosper as a political entity withits own agenda.
In the continuous quest to find a solution to the “Lebanese question,” not oneroute has led to religion and not one path requires religious dogma to belegislated in order to unite the people under one elected government. Not onepath leads to the use of religious concepts in the governmental decision-makingto grow and prosper in the modern world. Above all, not one route leads to thedivision of the population into smaller and smaller minorities to witness the endof civil dispute. After all, as the article entitled Secularism (2007) states, “the idea[of secularism even] has support in biblical teachings, particularly Jesus’statement, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s’”(Online). However, the ideas I represent may seem utopian due to the hostileenvironment that surrounds Lebanon. On one hand, there are the Arab Muslimcountries that have internal and external political tensions and on the other handthere is the Jewish state that is in conflict with the Arab and Iranian states.Besides, there are the long-term political, cultural and economic conflicts
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Secular Government in Lebanon Brenda Younes
between the East and theWest. Therefore, secularism inLebanon, nowadays, remains adream, far-fetched andunrealistic. Nevertheless, if theLebanese come to anunderstanding of the necessityof separating religion from thestate and unite in their callfor one strong seculargovernment, this dream mayjust come true…
REFERENCES: Bashir Gemayel: The Dream.(2007). Lebanese Forces Official
Website. Retrieved October 30, 2007from http://www.lebanese-forces.org/bach/dream.htm Bejjani, E. (n.d.). Taef Accord, theCrime. Free Lebanon the Unofficial
General Aoun Site. RetrievedOctober 30, 2007, fromhttp://www.generalaoun.org/eliasbejjani64.html Jayaraman, T. (1997). SecularismDefined. The Institute of
How Did Spam Start in the First Place?Spam has its roots in the technical ignorance of Internet users and in theirinability to foresee privacy mines on the Internet.
When a user visits a website and fills a contact form, he/she must provide anemail address to be contacted back. In this scenario, the email address is arequirement. Other forms, such as registration to download software, require anemail address although it will not be used at any point during the downloadprocess. Some websites use the email address provided to verify the identity ofthe users but many websites simply do not.
Another scenario occurs when a user subscribes to a newsletter. In this scenario,the user must fill a form and must provide an email address to receive the
newsletter. Check boxes are common in these pages and usuallyask the user to specify whether he/she would like to receivemessages from affiliate partners. When filling the form, the user isusually in need of the product and the normal reaction towardsthis type of checkboxes is “Why not?”; so the box is checked (if not
checked by default) and the user submits his email address, which ends up inmany cases delivered to third party affiliate programs who pay to get thesedatabases of email addresses.
Another source for spammers is public directories such as Microsoft’s HotmailDirectory, which provides the email addresses for the public. This type of directorycan be scanned using robots or spiders and email addresses are collected inminutes. Such a directory can be protected from spammers by removing theemail address from the public page and replacing it with a contact form.
Another interesting source for spammers is Domain Name Registries such asGoDaddy and Verisign. These directories can also be scanned for email addressesof domain-name owners and these email addresses end up collected and used byspammers. This has already been protected from email spiders by some domain-name registries using other technologies such as image authentication (where auser must type the text he sees in the image) prior to gaining access to the pagedisplaying the contact information. Other registries allow domain name owners tohide their contact information.
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| Opinion and Culture
RSS: A SPAM / JUNK MAIL Killer!
| By Victor Sawma
RSS (Real Simple Syndicate) isbecoming, day after day, a hotInternet topic for end-userswebsites. Despite the hardluck that RSS faced during itsearly “childhood”, whendifferent formats fromdifferent providers messed upthe daily web developer’s life,RSS 2.0 promises to be astandard cornerstone forfuture RSS improvements.
SPAM, on the other hand, amajor topic of controversyamong commercial companies,is something that the majoritydislike while the minority stilluse and pay for it. SPAM (alsoknown as JUNK mail) is theunwanted email you receivefrom someone whom youdon’t know and that youdidn’t even ask to receiveemail messages from.
In this article, we describehow RSS can be used to fightSPAM by providing examplesfor the major sources of SPAMand how these sources can befought by adopting RSStechnology.
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RSS Victor Sauma
Although the majority of websites use collected emailaddresses in an ethical manner, these emails end upbeing used by a minority of the Internet community forspam purposes regardless of the method used to collectthese emails.
How Does RSS Help FightSpam?
RSS attacks SPAM at its core by allowingusers to subscribe to feeds without
providing an email address. All a user is requested to dois to subscribe to the RSS Feed using his/her own reader(such as FeedReader) or browser (such as Mozilla Firefoxor Microsoft Internet Explorer) or even his email client(such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird).Once subscribed, the reader will retrieve news feedsanonymously and deliver them to the user in a timelymanner. No email is required to subscribe. The process isvery simple. You grab the URL (e.g.www.ndu.edu.lb/news.xml) and you paste this URL intoyour RSS reader. The reader will then start fetching thenews, announcements, etc. automatically andanonymously.
RSS provides many other advantages listed belowthat are not related to SPAM directly:
RSS Normalizes Network Bandwidth Usage.Spammers send out newsletters to thousands ofsubscribes at once. Thus, a mass mailing system usuallyclogs the network for hours while the spam mail isbeing sent. RSS, on the other hand, retrieves the newsfeed when the RSS Reader starts up. Thus, the networkusage is distributed over the day instead of beingclogged in one to two hours.
RSS increases the View/User Ratio. RSS users mustexplicitly (and manually) subscribe to the news feed.
Normally, a user will subscribe to feeds that he/she isreally interested in reading and, thus, there is a highprobability that this user will read the news items thatare retrieved by the reader. SPAM, on the other hand, issent to all users regardless of its content. Thousands ofSPAM messages are sent while only a minority ofreceivers actually read the message.
RSS Eliminates Quota / Limit Problems for Users. RSSis retrieved when needed and is stored on the user’s PCdirectly if required. SPAM on the other hand is sent toemail accounts that are usually associated with acertain disk quota limit. This causes many users to goover their quota due to the huge number of spam emailsthat they receive daily.
Is This All?
Encouraging the usage of RSS is not by itself sufficientto prevent spam since an already spammed emailaddress will continue to be so used. Once RSS isextensively used and all newsletter services are providedin RSS format, email users can simply change their emailaddress, once and for all, without subscribing to anyemail newsletters or public email news provider. Theresult will be a new email address with a highprobability of its remaining spam-free.
Conclusion
Although RSS’s main intent is to distribute data in astandard format, its benefits for fighting spam areobvious and numerous. Thus, RSS must be encouragedby the Internet community to fight SPAM. Once this isachieved, users can simply change their email addressonce and can then rest assured that SPAM will not betheir daily talk during coffee breaks!
About the AuthorVictor Sawma is an instructor at theComputer Science Department,Faculty of Natural and AppliedSciences, NDU. Victor is interested inweb research and technologies; e-commerce; e-commerce security;PHP; Linux and open-source projects.If interested in these topics you cancontact Victor via email [email protected].
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| Opinion and Culture
spread, especially lung cancer.Consequently, more innocent lives arebeing stolen by air pollution. Anotherconsequence humans and other livingthings are suffering from is globalwarming. As more and more toxicgases are escaping in the atmosphere,the ozone layer is becoming more andmore perforated, allowing dangerouslight waves from the sun to hit theearth. This is causing skin cancer inmany humans, in addition to theextinction of many species due toglobal warming.
Another kind of pollution affecting ourlives negatively is land pollution.Farmers nowadays use advancedtechniques such as fertilizers incultivated fields and get rid of insectswith pesticides. The repeated use ofsuch chemicals harms the plants,vegetables, and fruit, which in turnharm the health of individualsconsuming them. Therefore, morediseases are spreading and more peopleare dying. The problem doesn’t stophere. Many factories use toxicmaterials in the process ofmanufacturing certain products. Theythen need to get rid of all the residueand waste, so they dump it in the soil,harming all plants, trees, and flowers.
Severe water pollution has spreadthroughout various parts of the world,in just a blink of an eye, as it were. Aswe all know, the earth’s surface ismostly covered by water in the form ofrivers, seas, and ponds. More than halfof the oceans have become polluted
due to accidental oil spills from hugeships. This is a serious problem sincethis oil can’t be easily removed, so itslarge quantities cause the death ofmany fish. The poor fish and otherunderwater organisms do not sufferonly from those oil spills. The countlessdischarges of chemical products andsewage pumped by factories intonearby rivers cause the formation oflayers of algae on the surface of thiswater. As a result, the algae take in allthe oxygen, leaving nothing for the fishand aquatic organisms. No oxygenmeans death. And death once again iscaused by pollution.
Pollution has spread everywhere in ourlives. However, it does not exist in theenvironment only. The major source ofpollution is the human mind goingalong the wrong path. It is us humanswho have created all this irresponsibletechnology that has caused pollution.The wars with their threat of nuclearweapons, and all the toxic substancesand chemicals, have been caused byour polluted souls, which have allowedhatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness andgreed to control our every single move.Unless we clean our souls, pollution isgoing to become our permanentshadow, following us everywhere. Thequestion is this:When are wegoing to freeourselves fromthis slavery toignorance andindifference?
Pollution!
When is it going to Stop?
Christina Keyrouz
Have you ever wondered whyGod created all these trees,flowers, rivers, and oceans?Has it ever occurred to youhow lucky you are to be livingon Earth? If there were notrees, no sun, no water, all lifewould be simply a dream. Allorganisms would vanish. Yet,although some people mightbe aware of this fact, theycan’t stop themselvespolluting. How many times aday do we throw wasteoutside our car windows, ordump garbage in the ocean, oruse chemicals that cause theozone layer to deteriorate? Infact, all those actions arethrowing back their negativeconsequences on us humans.Ever since humans werecreated on Earth, pollution hashaunted them, leaving themhelpless victims to itsmerciless plague.
Everyday in the morning,when I’m in the car coming tomy university, I look at the skyexpecting to see a clear blueback-drop with cotton cloudsdecorating the space; howeverI spot a black horizon of dustand fume particles floating inthe atmosphere. If you cometo think of it, this situation isvery scary. Recent studieshave shown that the increasein air pollution has causedrespiratory problems to
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Opportunity for Intl’ Students Omar el-Khoury
chosen to be trained on twosite projects, Zahraa Tunnel, astadium building in theFaculty of Business of AssiutUniversity, and some othersites which were visited suchas the water treatment ofAssiut. In that perspective, asafety engineer, a hydraulicengineer, a structural engineerand any others could worktogether with a keen teamspirit. Punctuality andplanning are some traits ofthe firm above-mentioned. Soour training involved puttingus on the right track ofengineering ethics and morals,in addition to that of soundengineering judgment. TheEgyptian code is clear thatEgyptians should work hard tocompete in the international
After three consecutive years of coursestudies and a flowering of theories, atime arrives when an engineer shouldexperience the application of hislearning and nurture the spark of hisfuture profession. As for myself, I wasgiven the opportunity to be involved intraining outside Lebanon. The countrywas Egypt, the country of thePyramids, the first Wonder of theWorld and the only Wonder survivingto this day. My first priority was to beindulged, for I was to be involved incivil engineering activities that wouldbe for me the best means for exploringin the field what I had studiedthroughout the scholastic curriculum.
Our University, NDU, gave somedistinguished students the opportunityto have training abroad, wherestudents could get to know newpeople, culture, background, education,and ideologies. My decision was to goto the land of Egypt, specifically toAssiut. The training was with anengineering firm, Arab ContractorsCompany, working with the assistanceof Assiut University.
I should explain that Assiut is a ruralarea in the south of Egypt. As is wellknown, Assiut University is a well-
established and highly reputableuniversity that enables internationalstudents from all over the world toexchange experience, education, andcultures. The journey started when thestudents were introduced to thisgigantic university. The training gave adeep insight guaranteed to extend theengineering skills of an engineeringstudent in any field of study.
The training started on the 30th ofJune, when engineering students andother non-engineering students weresent to their respective branches ofinternship. As civil engineeringstudents, we were given a series ofseminars for us to have an overview ofthe engineering work of the firm. Inthe main, the seminars dealt withsafety, efficiency, economicsustainability, environmental concerns,telecommunication issues,management affairs, and the Egyptiancode. The major objective was to focuson the features and the unique traitsthat make a successful engineeringfirm, where environmental, safety, andefficiency concerns dominate equally inorder to result in a successful project.
After the engineering seminars,students started their training. I was
A Great Opportunity forInternational Students!
By
Omar el-Khoury
Aton Museum
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| Opinion and Culture
engineering market. ACC is areally huge company that hastaken on projects in SouthAfrica, the Middle East andsome European countries.
As stated previously, mystarting stage was at ZahraaTunnel. The main objective ofthis transportation project wasto relieve the congestion ofthe heavy traffic existing atthis point. The implementationof the project started in 2004and it will, it is to be hoped,be terminated in 2008. Theproject is an exciting one thathas required a team ofengineers, technicians andarchitects who work smoothlyin unison to meet thedeadline. It should be notedthat the firm in charge hasshown great ingenuity inplanning the road. Egyptian
engineers are seen to be people keen to faces challenges and to work out wisesolutions. The stadium was another crucial project that focused on the structuralfield of civil engineering. In short, I was really lucky as a trainee since I havegained experience in the transportation, structural and even hydraulic engineeringfields (tunnel, stadium, and water treatment respectively).
One of the huge projects which are being completed by the company is the AtonMuseum. It is a pyramidal structure (recalling the Egyptian pyramids), whichrequires high structural skills and highly resistant soil. The company’s motto is tocompete in the international market and to establish a better scheme by a betterand environmentally safe design.
Far from being a mere educational experience, this trip was a real journey onwhich the student would really get to know more about other cultures. Thebuilding of new friendships with people of other backgrounds is one of the mostimportant issues in this training. On the first day, it was difficult to adapt butonce we started knowing new people, we got really enthusiastic about knowingmore about others. That was the really challenging task in my training, apart fromthat of being seen as a serious student in my evaluation letter later on.
My final remark is that I retain much that is useful from my training and thateven more importantly I have been enriched with memories of human contact!This was a really exciting experience which I strongly recommend to any studentfrom any field and faculty.
Omar with fellow studentsfrom Arab countries.
Scaffoldingfor the AtonMuseum.
Omar onthe greatriver Nile.
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Center for Teaching Dr. Hratch Hadjetian
as you may not encounter in Lebanon, such as building a dam using the RCC(Roller Compacted Concrete) technology.
Of course, the fact that you will be in a foreign country allows you to be incontact with different nationalities and thus discovering new cultures. Forexample, in the project where I was assigned, you could find twelve differentnationalities, from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Arab region. So you will be in acommunity where you will learn how to accept others of different religion, race orlanguage. Furthermore, living in areas with a harsh climate, where the averagetemperature is 43º C, imposes special behavior and special techniques such asdressing always with white or light clothes to reflect the heat of the day anddrinking huge amounts of water. So, you will adapt yourself to new environmentalconditions and a new style of living. Believe me, although such conditions mayseem difficult and hard to bear, you will find yourself adapting and later on youwon’t even notice them.
If you have the opportunity to gain this experience yourself, as I hope you will,don’t hesitate to take it. At least you will have happy memories and newadventures to talk about.
Why have an international
experience?George Bader
Last summer I applied to domy summer training in aforeign country, and I wasaccepted to work with CCC inOman. Summer training is aperiod when you are requiredto learn the essential toolsthat will help you start yourprofessional career in civilengineering. It is well worthspending a whole summeroutside Lebanon and profitingfrom the experience to learnhow different people fromvaried backgrounds deal withproblems. In addition, thisexperience will probably giveyou the opportunity to beinvolved in huge projects such
Pouring concrete at night to
avoid the high temperature
during the day.
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| Opinion and Culture
Curiosity is one of the most important aspects of life. Itis defined as a thirst or a desire for knowledge. It is askill or a tool for motivation and exploration (Edelman,1997, p.1). “What would make me more successful?”said Dr. Rowland, PhD, University of Maryland, when hewas doing his research on similarities between curiosityand exploration. His answer was definitely, “To besuccessful, it is important to develop a paradigm ofcuriosity” (Henry, 1996, p. 72). We can say that curiosityis a powerful and basic effort toward a goal. It causesand guides our movement. But an important questioncould be asked: Is curiosity a need? I believe thatcuriosity is a need because it has many advantages insociety and science.
The involvement of curiosity between humans and theirrelations is very important. Also, it has influence onpeople, especially on their personalities, backgroundsand choices. It can be used positively to change people’sthinking and understandings. It is the direction and thepersistence of behavior (Edelman, 1997, p. 3).
For example, Tayeb Salih explains in his novel Season of
Migration to the North how curiosity made Mustafa Saïdhate and blame women; Saïd used his curiosity to talkabout philosophies in order to attract women sexually(Salih, 1991, p. 40). It made him sadistic and attractive.He became cold and sick. He equated making love withwomen to killing, so he wanted revenge. This revenge onwomen came from his background because he wasneglected by his mother when he was a child (p. 61). Animportant idea to mention is that Mustafa Saïd’s case isan exception and does not reflect the positive influenceof curiosity on people’s behavior. A new study showshow curiosity aids in reproduction and sex.
Investigations and learning are aimed at finding asuitable member of the opposite sex and mating. Forinstance, a man sees a woman across the room. Herappearance arouses his curiosity and he decides to makecontact with her to satisfy that curiosity. The woman, onthe other hand, depending on how he approaches her,may become curious about him (Henry, 1996, p. 102).
Another reason why I consider curiosity a need isbecause it is involved in learning and the evolutionaryprocess. Curiosity is essential for critical thinking andeffective decision-making, so it helps us not only forbeing able to see and understand different points ofview but also for increasing the ability to respond ratherthan react. Moreover, curiosity is a process in askingbetter questions to gain better information, so that anylearning will be more effective if it is preceded by aquestion. Remember, the better the questions, the betterthe answers. This process leads to gaining moreinformation, more choices, better decisions, betteroverview, and a better perspective. Also, it is obviousthat curiosity is a vital element for being able to planeffectively. It drives us to see the relationship betweenthe elements and the principles. It prevents us fromacting upon incomplete information (De Haas, 2004, p.47). History has proved that curiosity aided humans inevery scientific revolution. About ten thousand yearsago, some curious people noticed that if seeds drop onthe ground, a few weeks later plants containing thesame kind of seeds grow on the same spot. They werecurious about how this happened and tried sowing theseeds. This was the beginning of the agriculturalrevolution that led to an incredible increase in the foodsupply. Not only can we see advances in agriculture butalso the amazing things that curiosity led to in practical
Is Curiosity a Need? | Wassim Beaineh
Major: CCE - Senior
June 2, 2007
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Wassim Beaineh 02/06/2007
applications such as in electronics, medicine,manufacturing, ecological understanding, etc… Curiosityhas made humans the most successful species currentlyon the earth (Henry, 1996, p. 32).
While curiosity has many advantages, it must beconceded that from a psychological point of view,curiosity makes people more judgmental. Thus, peoplewill take things too personally and will be tooachievement- rather than learning-orientated.
Also, curiosity causes negative stress which takespeople’s energy away from logic.
“Conforming to consensus reality, lack of humility andcomplacency are the curiosity killers,” says Dr. Howard,PhD, Cleveland State University (Evans, 2002, p. 22).From a pragmatic point of view, curiosity may not helpsociety in some domains. During my interview with Dr.Hammoud, Professor of Mass Communication, NotreDame University, I found that he believes that curiosityis a difficult appeal to use in advertising. Two basicproblems are involved in arousing curiosity. The firstproblem concerns how a consumer relates to aparticular product. The consumer may have a highinterest in the product rather than one induced by thead. The second is that once an ad has aroused aconsumer’s curiosity, the consumer has an irritatinghabit of searching for his own answer. “Ads use curiosityless to sell the product because of the appeal ofcuriosity than to help deliver and make memorable therest of the sales message,” says Hammoud (Beaineh,2006).
Among the most important reasons why I find myself asupporter of the need of curiosity are creativity andindividuality. According to the Boyer Commission report,sixty-six percent of students at the University ofChicago are creative due to their curiosity. This reportshowed that these curious people have five attributes:nudging conversation with new ideas, taking pleasure in
learning about other people and showing it, focusing onthe person they are with, using jokes and humor to liventhings up, and accentuating the positive in what theylike about their conversational partner or theconversation itself (Evans, 2002, p. 38). From thesefactors, we can develop a curiosity scale that suggeststhat the criteria of fluency, flexibility, creativity andoriginality are the major indicators of the level ofcuriosity present in individuals. I can say that creativityand curiosity are clearly components of the inquiringintellect of individual.
Finally, if anyone were to ask me what my greateststrength was, I would say curiosity. The reason I wouldsay this is that curious people learn a lot. Curiosity willhelp you learn what you need to know. It is throughcuriosity, a desire to find out something, that lifepromotes itself, keeps itself alive, reproduces itself, andgathers resources more effectively. A lack of curiositycan lead to a lack of life, rather than the opposite. Areyou curious? Do you ask questions that bring you theresults you want? It may sound simplistic, butdeveloping your curiosity can be a powerful ingredientin the recipe for success. That’s why I believe thatcuriosity is a need.
ReferencesDe Haas, N. (2004). What makes people curious? Retrieved
May 12, 2005 from http: // www.ingenta.comEdelman, S. (1997). Curiosity and Exploration. Retrieved
May 11, 2005 from http: // www.jstor.comEvans, P. (2002). Curiosity and Creativity. Retrieved
May 12, 2005 from http: // www.proquest.umi.comHenry, J. (1996). The Trial of Curiosity. Wyman publishers (USA)
Beaineh, Wassim. Interview with Dr. Mahmoud Hammoud. PhD, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication Dept, NDUZouk Campus, May 13, 2006.
Salih, T. (1991). Season of Migration to the North. Halley Court,Jordan Hill, Oxford (USA). Heinemann Educational Publishers
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| Opinion and Culture
In order to have safer roadsand to avoid the thousands ofdeaths and injuries resultingfrom car accidents, thereshould be someone monitoringall the cars running on theroads. This, of course, wouldnot be possible without theSpeed Master Project.
Are you wondering fromwhich galaxy this project haslanded on earth? Well,incubated at Notre DameUniversity (NDU), supported byits excellent teachers, wethree graduating engineersMilad Khairallah, Jack ElKhoury and I, Rabih Yaacoub,have worked on the SpeedMaster as our senior project.
In brief, this project consistsof a black box for carsidentical to that of airplanesbut sampling specificparameters.
The project is based on theMMA7260Q technology,which is an accelerometerchip that detects accelerationin three dimensions and sendsthe data as an analog signalto the microcontroller (PIC16F877A used in this project).The sensor used is so sensitive
that it even detects the acceleration ofthe earth.
A microcontroller is a device that cantransmit, receive, store and manipulatedigital and analog data. In its turn, themicrocontroller sends the manipulateddata to the computer through theserial port (RS232).
The data transmitted to the computerreach the Microsoft Excel program,where a simple macro code has beenwritten to generate tables and graphsfor the three dimensional valuescorresponding to the last 30 seconds.
This device samples twice per secondone’s movements and also has an LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) Screen todisplay instantaneous acceleration inthree dimensions.
It is very easy to upgrade this projectfor it to become a professional device,tapping values for days. All we have todo is to use memory chips (PIC I2C’s) toget a device that could fine one if onehas passed a certain speed limit overhighways.
While we were showing this device toa friend, he commented: “You haveworked so hard to fine us. All you careabout is money…”
It was very easy to persuade him to put
this black box in his car, because afteran accident, everyone starts wonderingat what angle and speed the accidentoccurred.
This is the only device that can samplevalues to reconstruct a real-timeanimation that allows what happenedto be seen in slow motion. The GlobalPositioning System, known as GPS, canonly locate a person.
Another application for this device isfor underground exploration, where nowireless transmission can take place.For example, if a team is diggingunderground tunnels, each member ofthe team can carry such a device andany underground accident taking placewill be registered.
While one hopes that, in the nearfuture, no more car accidents kill orinjure people, this might be atemporary solution to specify reasonsbehind accidents, thus reducing theirnumber.
Replaying car accidents withSpeed Master
| Rabih Yaacoub
Computer and Communication
Engineering Student, NDU
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GSM 2006-2007
Nowadays localization of mobiles inGSM networks is getting more andmore important. Algorithms, which canbe integrated without the need of anyadditional hardware, are required. Sothe GSM companies are looking forinexpensive and efficient technologies.This type of technology does not needchanges in the network infrastructure.One of these techniques depends onlyon the data available in the networkitself, i.e. Existing Signal Strength Data.A GSM-based Location System (BLS) isused to locate the position of GSMmobiles.
My senior project was a BLS usingsignal strength technique. It wasimplemented through Matlab.MTCtouch GSM Company grantedaccess to signal strength informationthat was transmitted from network cellsites, and then stored in a database.Through the Mobile location servicecentre (BLS), the whole positioningcycle was performed. So at first thesubscriber sends an SMS to know hisposition or any other position-related
information. The service centre getssignal strength information concerningthe mobile that should be locatedinstantaneously, so when it receivesthe SMS it compares this data to thestored ones and, according to theproposed algorithm, the data will beprocessed and some calculations willbe made. Then the subscriber’s positionand related information are defined. Atthe end an SMS containing theposition and requested information willbe sent to the user’s mobile viaNowSMS web tool.
This system demonstrated locationaccuracy of within 11m in ametropolitan area 81% of the timewith an average error in X of ±2 m and±3 m in Y coordinates.
The development of wirelesscommunication systems available todayfor the mobile environment and therealization of smaller and morepowerful mobile computing devicesprovide the prerequisites to accessinformation anywhere at any time.
A GSM-based Location System
Hiba Abdel Samad
CCE Graduated Fall 06
The Saga Continues
the Summer of 2006 on Migration inLebanon…” I immediately decided toshare my own experience. My book,Returning Home: A Post-War Lebanese
Phenomenon, published in 2001, is atestimony of the 1975-1990 war thatdevastated Lebanon. Today, the déjà-
vu is uncanny. Will history keeprepeating itself?
July 12, 2006. Only four weeks awayfrom summer vacation. “The bestsummer” ever was around the corner.Lebanon was ready to welcome wellover a million visitors, Lebanese andothers. The country was fully booked,from cultural events to hotels, to carrentals. The spirit of the country wassoaring; we were promised that theLebanese economy would boom, andthat we would start repaying thecountry’s debt. It was good news allaround.
But all this changed.
Once again I felt exasperated andangry, my country a battleground for awar I had no say in. Democratization,reform, reconstruction, culturalawakening, all off the table. Are theLebanese all over the world stillplanning to invest in Lebanon? Arethey still considering returning homeafter years of disappointment anddisillusion? Will schools anduniversities still attract foreignstudents?
On the morning of July 12, aWednesday, I was in class, giving alecture in English Sophomore Rhetoricwhen I noticed more agitation amongthe students than usual. “Guys, youknow that cell phones are not allowedin class,” I mildly chided. “But Miss,”as I am often called, “Hezbollah hascaptured two Israeli soldiers.” The SMSmessages on their mobile phonesspelled disaster. I felt as if a bomb hadexploded right there in class. Not onlywas I surprised, but images of the civilwar started dancing in my head and Ihad a feeling of impending doom.
On July 13, in the morning, the airportwas hit and shut down. Suddenly, werealized that we were thrown in themiddle of a war I neither expected norwanted. The hostilities betweenHezbollah and Israel escalateddramatically. Classes were suspended,the Graduation Ceremony wascancelled. As the war unfolded I wasgripped by fears of another full-fledgedand long crisis.
In July 1976, my father prompted mybrothers and myself to pack a suitcase,and leave the country “for a while untilthe war is over,” he said. In July 2006,my husband, worried and alarmed by anew round of violence, recurringhostilities and lingering crises,suggested my daughter and I leave thecountry for a while until the situationsettled.
The following is the text of a speech
delivered by Doctor Amal Saleeby
Malek on Friday, November 9th,
2006 at the panel discussion for the
launching of Ms.G. Hourani’s book:
The Impact of the Summer 2006 War
on Migration in Lebanon:
Emigration, Re-Migration,
Evacuation, and Returning.
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| Opinion and Culture
Images of my family driving tonearby Syria will not be easilyforgotten. My father said:“Pack one suitcase, leave thecat behind, we’re going to theStates until the war isover…may be six months or so.”My father, my brothers and mycousin, not forgetting thedriver, were huddled in a taxione hot August morning. It wasa long and tedious drive, and,although it was somewhatdangerous, we were lookingforward to some peace awayfrom our war-torn country. Wespent the night in Damascus,and took the first plane to Paristhe next morning. Six monthsbecame years and we ended upmaking a long stay in theUnited States. In the meantime,I graduated from University, gotmarried and had a daughter.
No, I am not referring to mytrip to the United States inJuly 2006. This was July1976, the year of theinfamous Lebanese War whenfriends, relatives and scores ofLebanese fled the country insearch of a safe heaven, a tripthat lasted till July 1996.(What is it with Julyanyway??)
When I was asked to speaktonight about “The Impact of
I am back now, and it is as ifthings were back to normal,but the summer of 2006 willalways be etched in my mindas a reminder of the state ofaffairs which we Lebanese livein, and that the war couldactually erupt at any time.But are things truly back tonormal? I know for us theyare not. Our 22-year-olddaughter who left with me didnot come back. She decided(in fact we all decided for her)to stay in the USA. Thoughwe had on and off thoughtthat this would happen atsome point, this latest Julywar suddenly precipitated andconcretized what wasotherwise a possibility.
With this reality in mind (thatanother war could erupt atany time), I will not willinglyleave Lebanon permanently,nor do I wish to start a newlife abroad. This is my homeno matter what happens to it.At the risk of sounding acliché, the question remains:How many times will theLebanese have to go throughthis? How many times, beforewe finally settle and feel safeat home?
Being of dual citizenship, we had twooptions: Do we evacuate with theAmericans by sea, or depart by land?After much deliberation, my daughterand I decided to take a risk and go byland, which we thought would be lessdramatic. Taking “a blanket andenough food for three days”, as the USembassy instructed, made the seaevacuation unpalatable.
Thus on July 26, four of us, mydaughter, my step-niece—who by theway was in Lebanon to study Arabic—,a friend and I would go via Damascus,to Amman, Jordan for a couple ofnights and then fly to New York.
The trip from Beirut to Damascus wasuneventful. We had decided to go byPullman, thinking there was safety innumbers (We learned subsequentlythat the road was hit about a half-hour after our passage). At thethrobbing Syrian-Lebanese border, wewere surprisingly welcomed by bottlesof water, juice and biscuits. What, wasSyria the good guy now?! After
getting visas at the Syrian border, weleft the bus and took a private cab thatwe had previously hired to drive us toAmman. The whole trip from Beirut toAmman had taken about eight hourswith the necessary stops.
The minute we landed in New York, wewere picked up by our Lebanesefriends. But all we did was spend mostof our time watching the news. CNNand local TV stations, LBC, Al Jazira,and other channels brought the tensionand desperation into our living rooms.We were in a clear state of war.Insecurity and anxiety had succeededin leading us to flee the country onceagain after having come back in 1996,supposedly for good this time.Separated from my husband, and fromfamily left behind, my worst nightmarewas that of being unable to return.
You see, in 1976, being a youngstudent, life abroad was an experienceand an adventure. In the summer of2006, however, I was determined toreturn, and soon.
page 67 | issue 41
Amal Malek 2006-2007
Dr. Sensenig-Dabbous (left)
introducing the panel, including
Dr. A. Malek (center), before her
talk on her war time
experiences at the inauguration
of Guita Horuani's book The
Impact of the Summer 2006
War on Migration. Thursday,
9th November, 2006.
page 68 | issue 41
| Opinion and Culture
In the few unhappy years ofhis brief consumptiveexistence between 1795 and1821, John Keats used theEnglish language to create aworld of pure beauty andmagic. Left an orphan atfifteen, he turned forconsolation to Homer, Virgil,Spenser and Shakespeare. Atthe age of eighteen andnineteen he wrote suchmature monuments ofliterature as the poemsEndymion, The Eve of St.
Agnes, Ode to a Nightingale
and Ode to a Grecian Urn.
It may well have been he whowith his love of beauty set inmotion the great æstheticmovement that dominatedBritish culture during thenineteenth century:
…”Beauty is truth, truthbeauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all yeneed to know.1
The movement was apreoccupation with the formalelements of art for themselves
Keats
K.J. Mortimer
More than any other poet of his time, Keats restored that faith in the pureenchantment of poetry that had all but disappeared from the English world withthe passing of Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe andWilliam Shakespeare. What Keats wrote remains unsurpassed for sheer felicityand natural magic.
Joseph Auslander
rather than serving to enhance thecontent, “art for art’s sake”. Whistler’sfamous Mother did not express filialdevotion; for Whistler (1834-1903) itwas Arrangement in Grey and Black.This led finally to abstract art, pleasingoften to the eye, admired by theexpert, but superficial when comparedto a Rubilev icon, the statues ofChartres, or The Philosophers ofRaphael. For Walter Pater (1839-1894), art aspired to the condition ofmusic. To write a few sentences hewould spend the whole morningcarefully choosing some words writtenon pieces of coloured paper and spreadover his table. Throughout the
nineteenth century a conflict ragedbetween those who, usually after along stay in Paris, had adopted therevolutionary views current there andthose bourgeois “Philistines” whothought a picture should tell a story;between those who thought thatbeauty of form justified any novel orpoem whatever its content and thosewho thought that literature should bemoral.
Keats himself retained objectivity. Hewas looking for beauty and found it innature,2 using his skill to express it toperfection, notably in Ode to a
Nightingale:
…[T]ender is the night,And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Clustered around by all her starry Fays;But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blownThrough verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,Nor what soft incense hangs along the boughs,
But in embalmed darkness guess each sweetWherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket and the fruit-tree wild.
Goëthe had already taken a romantic view of the most unromantic classical Greekworld and like him Keats sought escape into this ancient fantasy.
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Keats K.J. Mortimer
…[A]nd for many a time,I have been half in love with easeful death,
Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme,To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroadIn such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain –To thy high requiem become a sod.4
With this Keats had a deep awareness of the passing of time and of the tragediesof the ages. To the Grecian urn, already survivor of millennia, he said –
…What leaf-fringed legend hauntsabout thy shape
Of deities or mortals or of both,In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?3
But he did not seek in Ancient Greecea justification for sexual freedom andeven vice, as others were to do lateron. Perhaps he realized that it was nota world of fine character and joyousliberty. Family relations as revealed inclassical literature and history werepsychotic, providing a vocabulary forpsycho-analysts. The Greeks were notthe “beautiful, wise, happy creatures,with free and natural customs”imagined by Lessing and quoted by
Trevelyan. Orestes deliberately killedhis mother. Alexander hardly enjoyed ahappy home in his youth. Oedipusunwittingly killed his father andmarried his mother.
Keats, who may be considered ashaving set all the æsthetic evolutioninto motion, died shortly beforerecognition burst upon him. He hadsaid, “I am not afraid of failure; for Iwould sooner fail than not be amongthe greatest.” But he was among thegreatest. And like Gray he had a calmview of approaching death. He said tothe nightingale –
When old age shall thisgeneration waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst ofother woe
Than ours, a friend to man, towhom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truthbeauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all yeneed to know.
When oppressed by ugliness inthis world and fears for thefuture, we can turn to Keatsfor beauty and peace of mind.
1 Ode to a Grecian Urn.2 Degas and “æsthetes” such asWhistler and Wilde consideredart as superior to nature, and thiswas the tendency of their wholemovement.3 Ode to a Grecian Urn.4 Ode to a Nightingale.
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This year, I was asked tobecome a member of theFaculty of Humanities ActionCommittee for the newWriting Center. This broughtback all my memories of the(ELRC) English LanguageResource Center where Iserved for many years. Iimmediately accepted becausethe new Writing Center is amodern trend in a traditionalmeans for helping studentshelp themselves.
By having a brief look atNDU’s history, it can be seenthat NDU adopted thelanguage laboratory in theEnglish Language ResourceCenter and is now moving andintegrating in its curriculumthe Writing Center; this policyhas led to an importantresource area in manyuniversities worldwide.
The Language Laboratory hasbeen significant in thepractice of various languageskills at both the pre-collegeand college level. There arecertain objectives for each lab
session. The universities devise lab.syllabi that integrate with the coursesyllabi for all the English course levelsthat are designed by the department.However, the Writing Center’s servicesare for any student, regardless of his orher level of writing. The Writing Centeris not meant only for remedialstudents, or for students who haveproblems in writing their essays orterm papers, but it contributes toacademic excellence among thestudents.
NDU was founded in Fall 1978 at NotreDame Louaize School. At that time itwas known as LCHE. Beirut UniversityCollege and the Maronite Order of theBlessed Virgin Mary started the missionwith only seventy-eight students whomostly came from French schools. Thelanguage laboratory started with onesimple classroom which had grammarbooks and an SRA Reading Kitaccompanied by answer keys designedmainly for the Intensive level. Theinstructor’s job was to supervise thestudents’ work and grade it, while theseventy-eight students used to attendfive one-hour sessions per week.
In 1980, LCHE had a new location anda new campus which functioned till
1998. It is the one known now as theDivision for Continuing Education(DCE). As a result, with the increase inthe number of students the labflourished. A new lab. in the early 80’swas designed and furnished. The lab.was large enough to accommodatethirty booths, where students used tosit and do individual work. It wasequipped with headphones withlistening comprehension exercisesdesigned for intensive students toprepare them for college level. The lab.was also supplied with exercise booksfor Intensive, Freshman and Sophomorelevels. The lab. instructor wouldsupervise and correct all the exercises.This was done with the help of studentassistants. The main teaching was doneby the instructor in the classroom andlab. sessions were application andpractice of what had already beentaught in a previous class session.There were also sign-up sheets.Students selected their own time forlab. sessions. This procedure gave thestudents freedom.
The syllabi of the courses at differentlevels were designed in a way tointegrate and synchronize them withthe different levels of the ELRC syllabi.The lab. grade was 10% of the overall
| Opinion and Culture
The Former Language Laboratory
and the New Writing Center at NDUMary Khoury,
lecturer in the DETE, FH
omitted according to theneeds of the students. Forexample, In Freshman English101 and 102 video sessionswere introduced in Spring1994. There was an instructorwho videotaped BBC programsand feature films throughcable television. He watchedthese films carefully andprepared the sessions fordiscussion. He also preparedcomprehension questions withwhich the students werequizzed at the end of eachlab. session.
In Fall 1998, all facultiesmoved to the new campus.This was the greatestachievement for the wholeNDU family. The family grew,and the buildings made adream come true. However, inspite of the huge space, therewas no specific location forthe language laboratory. InFall 2006 a Mini-HandoutCenter in the Library wasestablished. The mini-handouts present differentaspects and samples ofacademic writing on grammar,
Final grade. A midterm and a finalwere the means of evaluation for alllevels.
In addition, there was a lab. syllabusfor each course level. For instance,beginning with the Intensive Englishlab. syllabus, the ELRC students wererequired to attend five lab sessions perweek at which they received work onwritten exercises in vocabulary, readingand grammar. In listening-comprehension the students workedindividually in one whole group whereanswers to all of these skills weregiven verbally at the end of eachsession as a means of directreinforcement.
In Freshman 101 and 102, ELRCstudents were required to attend threelab. sessions per week. Exercises invocabulary, reading and listening-comprehension as well as videosessions were assigned. Correctionswere given verbally at the end of thesessions where the language skills werebeing reinforced.
In Freshman 103 and 104, ELRCstudents were required to attend twolab. sessions per week. Exercises invocabulary, reading and listening-
comprehension as well as videosessions were assigned. In addition, avideo film was shown of the novel onwhich the research or critical paper ofthe regular course was based. Therewere also feature films shown to thestudents.
In Sophomore English 211, ELRCstudents were required to attend twosessions per week. These supplemented,reinforced and expanded upon classwork in critical reading and listening-comprehension. There were sessions forwriting skills at which students wereexpected to learn and acquire theability to write texts correctly,emphasizing structure, punctuation,vocabulary and logical order.Furthermore, there were key sessionsfor reading skills at which studentswere required to read in the lab.argumentative texts to supplement andreinforce their class work in criticalreading and writing. Finally, there weresessions for audio-visual skills at whichstudents were required to analyze filmsof argumentative and persuasivenature.
Every semester, the lab. syllabi for alllevels were revised and added to.Exercises and activities were added or
page 71 | issue 41
Mary Khoury Writing Center
page 72 | issue 41
general writing,documentation, CVs and coverletters which are contributionsof the instructors of theEnglish Department.
It is now Fall 2007. A WritingCenter finally exists. It islocated in the Faculty ofHumanities in Room HA 114.There are red and black boothsthat will be equipped with 8-10 computer stations withwriting software. The mini-handouts are also shelved inthis center so students canpick up what they need.Dictionaries and referencebooks are also available.
In addition to the instructorsin the English Department, themembers of the WritingCenter Action Committee are
tutoring the students by volunteeringone to two hours per week in thiscenter.
The procedure is that the studentssign up and arrange for anappointment for one 20-minute sessionper week. They will receive privatetutoring in paragraph-essay writing,research paper writing, linguistic issuesor any language problem that they arefacing. The tutors will also look at thethesis statement and how the studentset it up, word choice, sentenceconstruction and punctuation andgrammar; however, the paper will notbe edited. The aim is to teach studentsto become better at revising their ownwriting.
The Writing Center is not meant onlyfor remedial students, or for studentswhose writing is not acceptable at acollege level. It is meant to contribute
to academic excellence among thestudents and give them access towriting experts when they need them.As a matter of fact, it is a resourcecenter for both graduates andundergraduates.
There will also be workshops onsubjects such as APA documentationand avoiding plagiarism. The first tenstudents will be welcomed.
Now the Center is open three days aweek from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. Assoon as we have the necessarypersonnel the Center will be open fivedays a week. Although we are presentlyin phase one of the development of theWriting Center, all visitors arewelcome. The Writing Center ActionCommittee advises all NDU students,faculty, staff and administrators to paya visit to this new professional center.
| Opinion and Culture
Our Story
Note by author Elie Nabhan of LERC, whoread out this poem at the inauguration ofLENIFRA, the Lebanese-Nigerian
Friendship Association, on 20th October,2007: It was a hot afternoon in Ibadan, I thinksometime in early May, and I was standing inthe shade of a mango tree when I heard a story-teller say –
“Take an empty ash bowl
To fill with souls of men,
Spread those seeds on fertile ground
And watch intent what springs up then.”
He vanished in the sweltering crowd,
The babble then broke out aloud;
The answer shone in the Afric’ face,
And arms outspread to the Arab race.
Gen’rous warmth the Nigerian way,
The Lebanese too had much to say;
An upsurge of hopes gave start to an age,
The way they grew soon filled the page.
Brothers may travel and usually fly,
With fervour blessed by the Powers on high;
Our spirits shall speak with shaking of
hands,
So see me midst people of distant lands.
Climb up a mountain and I’ll be there,
Sail on our rivers without any care;
Crossing new borders, find me when you can
In the eyes of a child or a grown-up man.
Withstanding the test and the march of time,
Much we created is noble and fine.
Remember our customs and language too,
The threads of our history, shining and true.
The bridge we have built will be ever the same,
Standing together we gain a great name
In commerce and science and in culture and
art.
With LENIFRA here we’ll remain one at heart.
page 73 | issue 41
Poems 2006-2007 Poems
Living onMemoriesThe days that passed,
The years that flew,
The moments we spent
together;
The tears we shed,
The laughs we shared,
Engraved in memory
Like wounds in the heart.
We knew since the
beginning
That day was coming,
But lived in denial.
The visceral pains,
The aches in the head,
The love stories,
The horror movies,
I still do believe
One day all will happen
again,
And thanks to you my
friends,
I have known some
wonderful people.
Rola Ghorra.Freshman
More than MereBlack-and-White
Red is a color,Pink is a name,
With strengths of a poem and words ofthe wind.
I love you! Ill let it begin!It’s never too early and never too late.
A touch of your lips,A kiss on your hand,
Every girl’s one demand.Roses cry with the rain
While bears hide in caves,And I’ll draw a shower from outside my
window.But would I cry,Would I smile?
As I think of all things that must die!!All I know is I’ll live,
I’ll smileAnd I’ll cry.
I’ll watch my fine rainbows with fulldesire.
Pink is a color,Yellow is a name;
Call the starsAnd tell them they’re beautiful
Because they deserve it!!Shining out there in the darkest time,
Being out there at every time.Friends of the moon!
You’re friends,You’re stars,
Dear best friends, you’re my stars!!!
Carla Ghorra, Freshman FAAD
Tricked by Your
Reflection?
You think you can, but you don’t;
You think you might, but you won’t.
Imagine your life, but still it’s unclear;
Persuade yourself it is not, but still it is
there.
You think people can’t see, but they all do
stare.
You think it gets better, but know it’s not
sure.
You think soon you will see, but all’s still a
blur.
You imagine a clear reflection, but it’s
really confusing,
You think life is good, but it’s you that are
losing.
You think you’re the same, but you’ve
changed to another.
Think you that you know yourself? – but
you’re not even started
Do you know who you are? – Just a
million pieces parted!Belinda
Daou, Freshman FAAD
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| Opinion and Culture
Across:1. recent 4. replacement ruler 8. numbers up to ten10. vase 11. repulsive rodent 12. Sicilian volcano 14.plan 17. therefore 18. circular relation 19. pronoun20. absent-minded 22. medical title 23. educationaland scientific body 25. large, important 27. fragrantplant used for drink 29. heavenly body 32. furs, skins33 Ireland 34. make unhappy 35 solar body 38.wriggly fish 39. enormous
Down:
1. hospital profession 2. make or pass a law 3.preposition 5. random answers 6. sister 7. snare 9.identical 13. throw in the air 15. wandering (…knight) 16. large flightless bird 21. fashionable 22.distribute cards 24. … Sharif 26. material, cloth 28.terminated 29. bishop’s diocese 30. prongs of a fork31. Scottish dance 32. mail 36. ancient city 37. north-east
