{"id":75891,"date":"2019-07-10T11:21:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T17:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=75891"},"modified":"2019-07-10T11:21:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T17:21:30","slug":"yes-i-have-a-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/yes-i-have-a-weakness.html","title":{"rendered":"Yes, I have a weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
Our little Tabrizi rug, which has an interesting backstory that I won\u2019t share here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew Wheeler has kindly brought to my notice a new seven-minute video by\u00a0Dr. Juan Cole, who serves as the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMuhammad: A Prophet of War?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I commend the video to you, as well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew Wheeler has also alerted me to this interesting item:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Are The Muslim Scientists Who Are Breaking New Ground In STEM\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helen Condon alerted me to this personal essay:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secret Language of Istanbul\u2019s Dream Weavers:\u00a0Threads of beauty, history, and memory make a Turkish carpet much more than a souvenir.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It really hit home with me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m immune to most souvenir shopping. \u00a0Indeed, to most shopping overall. \u00a0I\u2019m not a collector. \u00a0It\u2019s rather like gambling and casinos: \u00a0You could give me $10,000 and leave me for twelve hours in a casino in Las Vegas and I wouldn\u2019t feel even the slightest tug of a temptation to play the slots or sit down at one of the tables. \u00a0I simply lack the gambling gene. \u00a0But put me in a bookstore? \u00a0Given at least five minutes, whether it\u2019s in the United States or Cairo or Jerusalem or Z\u00fcrich or London (London! \u00a0Blackwell\u2019s!), I\u2019ll find at least one book that I want. \u00a0And probably several.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then there are \u201coriental rugs.\u201d \u00a0Sigh.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve bought Turkish rugs. \u00a0I own a small Persian carpet \u2014 a Tabrizi, from Iran\u2019s northwest \u2014 that cheers me up and brings happy memories whenever I look at it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Egyptian carpets? \u00a0I can see two from where I\u2019m sitting. \u00a0(I would see three, except that, because we\u2019ve run out of space, the newest of our large rugs is on top of another large rug, covering it up.) \u00a0And I can also see a hand-woven Egyptian tapestry hanging on the wall, done for us to a design by an Egyptian artist, a close friend of ours, back when we lived just south of Cairo from 1978-1982.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, when we\u2019ve taken tour groups to Egypt, we\u2019ve visited a \u201ccarpet school\u201d in the Nile Valley not far from the plateau of Saqqara where the famous step pyramid of King Zoser stands. \u00a0These carpet schools are places where young children from fellahin<\/em> \u00a0or peasant families weave rugs as a way to allow them to continue their educations. \u00a0(Otherwise, their parents would likely be obliged to pull them from school and put them to work in the fields.) \u00a0The carpet schools bring money into very poor rural areas. \u00a0Are these children being exploited? \u00a0I hope not. \u00a0I think not. \u00a0When we first lived in Egypt, our artist friend introduced us to something of this world, and we\u2019re not entire strangers to it, or merely acquainted with it as transient tourists. \u00a0I know that at least some such efforts \u2014 that of the famous Ramses Wissa Wassef<\/a>, for example \u2014 are legitimate, and I believe that the school that we typically visit nowadays is legit, as well. \u00a0The childrens\u2019 smaller and more dextrous fingers allow them to do very fine work; when they are older, they sometimes remain in the carpet industry as sales personnel and managers, or they use the basic educations that they\u2019ve received for other things.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, my wife and I have been going to the Akhnaton Hand Made Carpet school for years now. \u00a0And, each time, we\u2019ve agreed beforehand that we already own enough such rugs and that we won\u2019t buy another. \u00a0And, each time until very recently, we\u2019ve spotted a carpet that we\u2019ve loved, and we\u2019ve bought. \u00a0Again. \u00a0Rather like a drunk passing by the swinging doors of a tavern and, after a brief hesitation, entering in with the vow that \u201cThis will be the last one!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m supremely proud to say, though, that we haven\u2019t bought a rug on the last two occasions that we\u2019ve been there, in December and in May. \u00a0Not even a small one. \u00a0This is a personal breakthrough. \u00a0It\u2019s like being able to stand in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and announce that one is a recovering alcoholic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I do enjoy watching others in our group make purchases, though, and I shamelessly urge them on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Would I myself love more rugs? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0We simply need a larger house.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew Wheeler has kindly brought to my notice a new seven-minute video by\u00a0Dr. Juan Cole, who serves as the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan: \u00a0 \u201cMuhammad: A Prophet of War?\u201d \u00a0 I commend the video to you, as well. \u00a0 Matthew Wheeler has also alerted me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nYes, I have a weakness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Matthew Wheeler has kindly brought to my notice a new seven-minute video by\u00a0Dr. Juan Cole, who serves as the Richard P. 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