HIST 18 - Middle East

Today begins my Fall 2006 history class at Foothill College. I'm taking HIST 18 - History of the Middle East, taught by Professor Dolores Davison. Our text is "The Middle East: a Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years" by Bernard Lewis. I'm really looking forward to it!

I've been fascinated by the Middle East for quite awhile. I was disturbed by the American invasion of Iraq in 1991 (1992?), and I've been reading all that I can ever since. In 1996 my partner and I had the opportunity to travel to Turkey with Cultural Folktours of Turkey (now International Cultural Folktours), and in 1998 we went to Morocco with TraveLearn (getting geography credit thru SF State!). Both trips were taken with my parents, and were excellent introductions to these countries. My partner is 3rd generation Lebanese-American, and I have enjoyed eating the food and hearing stories of Lebanese tradtion. Finally, I've grown to really LOVE Arabic music! I admit it was not always easy, but by exposure and repitition I've acquired quite a taste for it.

One of my goals in the webworld is to finish posting the photos taken in Morocco and Turkey, along with a log of our tours. My next travel goals would be to go to Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia - when the time is right!

For this course, I hope to learn more about this history of the Middle East. Already I've learned a lot by reading ahead in the text. Now, as the course begins, I need to go back and focus on the specifics in the text. We'll have two papers, and two tests. Sounds like a fun course all around! I'm also taking COIN 74 - Dreamweaver, so the quarter feels adequately balanced between intellectual and mechanical challenges - just how I like it! Now, if I could only fit in some physical exercise...

written and back-posted on 9/28/06 at 7:35am