Egyptian Government halts aid shipment to civilians in Gaza, Halts Viva Palestina convoy

Egyptians halt Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza;
Former U.S. Congresswoman McKinney in Cairo

(PALOS HILLS, IL 07/13/2009) – Egyptian authorities have stopped a massive aid shipment from reaching the Gaza Strip, while United States officials further complicated matters by requiring 50 American volunteers to sign an affidavit waiving their right to be protected on foreign soil.

Egyptian authorities will allow the Viva Palestina convoy to take two ambulances and an unspecified amount of medical supplies into the Strip, organizer George Galloway told the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) Monday. Convoy organizers and the American volunteers currently are in Cairo waiting for the issue to be resolved. The convoy was to have reached Gaza on July 11.

Former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney arrived in Cairo Sunday. Galloway invited her to join the convoy after learning Israeli naval officials arrested McKinney and 20 others aboard a Free Gaza Movement boat two weeks ago.

McKinney told AMP Monday she was particularly frustrated at the seeming complicity of the U.S. government in Egyptians’ and Israeli actions.

“The American government has put in a requirement that we pay $30 and sign an affidavit that we understand the circumstances of the situation and we won’t have consular services,” McKinney said. “This was not required in the first Gaza convoy nor was such an item required in the Free Gaza Movement.”

McKinney was referring to Galloway’s first convoy, which took truckloads of aid into Gaza in February.

Out of a shipment of 43 vehicles, four ambulances, 25 refrigerators, 50 generators and medical supplies, authorities will only allow an unspecified amount of medical supplies and two ambulances to be taken into the Gaza Strip, which is suffering a humanitarian crisis as the result of Israel’s two-year blockade.

“This is a blatant attempt to stop future convoys of aid,” Viva Palestina director Kevin Ovenden told AMP. “We are resisting it all the way and we will set foot in Gaza. If we cannot bring everything we want this time, then we have unfinished business in Egypt. We will respond by doubling our efforts in the U.S. and around the world.”

This is McKinney’s third attempt to reach Gaza with a humanitarian organization. Her first two attempts with the Free Gaza Movement were thwarted when the Israeli navy prevented Free Gaza boats from reaching Gaza. Two weeks ago, Israeli police arrested McKinney and 20 other volunteers and held them in custody for about one week.

“I’m a firm believer in the idea that U.S. policy – both foreign and domestic – ought to be grounded in human rights,” McKinney told AMP Monday from Cairo. “When I see a deviation from that position, I get involved.”

McKinney represented Atlanta, Georgia in Congress for six terms before being defeated in 2006. She ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2008.

Viva Palestina organizer Galloway is frustrated with the recent turn of events but remains undaunted in his quest to break the siege on Gaza, he said.

“We are outraged at the difficulties being placed on the U.S. aid convoy to Gaza,” Galloway told AMP. “The president of the United States spoke eloquently here in Cairo about the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, throughout Palestine and beyond. It is now time to for him to match his eloquent words with action. The American citizens here are demanding their president intervenes to insure that the entire U.S. convoy enters Gaza without any further hindrances. The medical aid, the vehicles in which it is carried and the citizens themselves are all needed in Gaza now. Without further delay we hope to enter Gaza with all our aid tomorrow.”

Israel’s two-year blockade on Gaza has plunged the 1.5 million people into a humanitarian crisis, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations. Israel’s three-week assault on the Strip in January killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,300.


American Muslims for Palestine is a national grassroots organization whose mission is to educate the American public about issues pertaining to Palestine and its rich cultural heritage.

-- 30 --

Egyptian Government joins Israelis in starving Palestinians to death in gaza Strip

Press Release

EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES DETAIN 50 AMERICAN CITIZENS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(PALOS HILLS, IL 07/11/2009) — The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has just learned Egyptian authorities have stopped four busloads of American citizens and are preventing them from entering the Gaza Strip with the Viva Palestina convoy, headed by British MP George Galloway.

Kevin Ovenden, director of Viva Palestina – US, told AMP at about 6:15 p.m. EST the Egyptian authorities stopped the buses on the Mubarek Peace Bridge at the Suez Canal and have confiscated the keys from each bus driver.

“The people on this convoy should be praised for their steadfastness, their patience and their dedication in the face of the obstacles posed by the Egyptian authorities,” Ovenden told AMP. “They are going to sleep on the buses overnight and proceed to Gaza tomorrow.”

The busloads are part of the Viva Palestina – US convoy, which departed on July 4, for Gaza with Galloway and Vietnam Vet Ron Kovic, whose story inspired the movie “Born on the Fourth of July.”

The buses were to meet up with truck loads of medical supplies to distribute to hospitals in Gaza, which are facing severe shortages because of Israel's two-year blockade against the Gaza Strip. Gaza's hospitals have been running mainly on generators since Israel has cut electricity to Gaza and medicines and other supplies are in high demand. Many of Gaza's hospitals sustained major damage during Israel's three-week assault in January.

American Muslims for Palestine is a national grassroots organization whose mission is to educate the American public about the issues pertaining to Palestine and its rich cultural heritage.

end

Horrors unearthed at historic African American grave site in southwest suburban Chicago

Macabre burial practices uncovered in heartland of America

By Ray Hanania

(Alsip, Illinois July 11, 2009) A cemetery that is the resting place for many famous African Americans was turned into a recycling center for bodies that operators allegedly used to generate profits and police have declared “a major crime scene.”

Four of the operators of Burr Oak Cemetery, located in Alsip, a suburb 12 miles southwest of Chicago, have been jailed and are awaiting charges involving the horrific crime of improperly disposing of dead bodies and theft of funds.

Thousands of families whose relatives are buried in the historic cemetery have been flocking there to determine if the remains of their loved ones were improperly disposed of in mass graves, garbage piles or stacked on top and under other bodies.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that most families may never know if their relatives are in fact buried under tombstones that bear their names, or if they were moved to make room for newly dead in a scheme the four suspects are charged with using for increased profits.

Witnesses report that bones are strewn throughout dirt piles, old buildings, and fields. A section set aside for the burial of babies who died either just after birth or in their infancy cannot be located, officials said.

“I found bones out there, I found individuals wandering aimlessly around” who

also found bones and other things, Dart told reporters. Dart declared the cemetery a crime scene and police and members of the local and state coroner’s offices have been sifting through remains at the site.

“I want to know where my mother, my father, my grandfather and my grandmother are buried,” one distraught woman screamed as relatives and friends tried to comfort her. “Where are they?”

The four suspects are being held without bond. It is believed they stacked bodies, burying newly dead atop others that had long been buried at the cemetery. Among the dead buried at the cemetery include blues singer Dinah Washington and Emmitt Till, the young boy whose lynching in the 1950s sparked the American civil rights movement.

Till, who was only 14, was murdered in 1955 after he reportedly “whistled” at a white woman while visiting a relative in Mississippi. He was originally from Chicago where his remains were returned and buried at Burr Oak Cemetery. More than 100,000 people visited Till’s open, glass-covered casket during a four-day public funeral. His death helped spark the civil rights movement to win freedoms for African Americans who were victimized by slavery, segregation and dual laws that denied them equal rights.

In 2005, Till’s body was exhumed as a part of an effort to finally bring his killers to justice more than a half century later. His casket was replaced with a new one. The old casket, which was to be put in a museum recognizing civil rights history, was found strewn in a pile of rubble in a broken-down shack filled with feces and a small family of possums.

Three former gravediggers and the cemetery’s manager made about $300,000 in the scheme that stretched back at least four years, officials said. The four sold existing deeds and burial plots and then allegedly dug up hundreds of corpses and either dumped them in a weeded, vacant area of the cemetery, which authorities labeled a crime scene, or double-stacked them in graves.

The four suspects are former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49; Keith Nicks, 45; Terrence Nicks, 39; and Maurice Dailey, 61. All are African American.

Dart was joined by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a civil rights leader who was at the side of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. Jackson called the horror scene and scene “a heartless act.”

“This is a scam of depth and breadth that must be dealt with,” said Jackson, who noted he is concerned that money raised for a memorial to Emmitt Till is unaccounted for and cannot be found.

“A man was here who had 75 family members buried here. Another has 65 family members here. The investigation cannot stop with the four or five people who are involved. … It is difficult to get one’s arms around the depth and breadth of the pain here. When someone dies it has its own trauma. Then buried and attempt to get closer. Double closure in this graveyard thievery in this magnitude is very difficult for us to grapple with.”

Jackson added, “How did the people who did this sleep at night. They scoped the territory. When the families left they would at night go to work. These people actually planned and plotted the scene. The investigation must leave no stone unturned.”

Dart said that record keeping on where bodies were originally buried was either incomplete or non-existent, adding he believes records were destroyed. He said more than 2,000 families have come to the cemetery reporting head stones have been replaced or moved, the ground at their relative’s grave sites moved or changed. Headstones from past burials were found strewn in nearby fields on the cemetery grounds.

“This is a long process and we are telling people do not despair,” Dart said. “This is an ongoing criminal investigation. I don’t know what to say about the families. They are going through horrific grief. I can’t tell you how difficult this has been for everyone.”

Dart said two burials were planned even as police were at the scene investigating. They discovered that those burials were being planned in the wrong locations.

Dart and Jackson said they are unsure how many bodies may or may not be missing, but they said that they believe that money was taken for services not rendered. Burials were not delivered as promised.

“We cannot rule out any area of the cemetery as being definitely clear and outside of criminal activity. But, we are coming across areas of the cemetery where we did not think there were issues and we find there are issues,” Dart said. He said the suspects are either being dishonest or can’t remember details that might help police define the scope of the crimes,” Dart said.

Jackson said he is touched personally by this as he was the same age as Emmitt Till and that the Till murder moved African Americans and others around the country to stand-up to the racist policies of the 1940s and 1950s.

Jackson said everyone was moved by the Till murder to stand up and refuse to obey segregation laws. Among those, he said, was Rosa Parks, whose refusal to sit on the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama several months after the Till killing, sparked the protests that spread throughout the south and the nation.

“This is very painful for everyone,” Jackson said. “We have to find the truth.”

(Ray Hanania is the 2009 recipient of the M.T. Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award and a morning Chicago radio talk show host. he can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)

Hidden Beauty short film by Olga Sapozhnikova

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hello from Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications!

Dubai filmmaker Olga Sapozhnikova's short film "Hidden Beauty" is the story of four of her "heroes." Her first heroine is Jamilya, who is the only woman in United Arab Emirates who works with four hundred men in an ambulance service, and who has saved many people from fires, accidents and collapsed buildings.

Her story was so inspiring, that the ruler of Dubai: His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, came to her home to personally express his gratitude for her service to their country. (An event depicted in the film.) As the single mother of five children, in "Hidden Beauty" Jamilya shares her opinions on the beauty of women, especially Arabian women.

You can see Olga explain in her own words why she made this film at:
www.olgasapozhnikova.com/video%20interview.html

You can download a copy of our current press release at:
www.cinemanewswire.com/Hidden_Beauty.html

Olga Sapozhnikova is currently available for interview by telephone from Dubai, and will be in the Los Angeles area next week and is available for telephone interview by request.

(As always, thanks for receiving these notices. To be removed from my list for this film just return this e-mail with "Remove" in the subject line.)

Best Regards,
Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications
580 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108

609-386-0019

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Press Contact:
Stephen C. Thompson
Thompson Communications
609-386-0019
steve@thomcomm.net

"Hidden Beauty" Profiles Four Fascinating, Determined Women:
Their Beauty, Their Accomplishments, and Their Aspirations
Within the Constraints of Contemporary Arab Society

June, 2009 -- Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- For anyone seeking genuine, first-hand insight into the role of women in today's Arab society, and what Arabic women can truly accomplish within Arabic society, "Hidden Beauty"is a powerful, must-see film.

The film begins by portraying the outward beauty of Arab women, but then transcends their physical beauty and enters the very soul of today's Arabic women.

In only twenty-six minutes, filmmaker Olga Sapozhnikova profiles the lives of four beautiful, strong, resilient women who have proven themselves on their own terms within the traditionally male dominated Arab society. Shot in Dubai, the film reveals the lives of Sapozhnikova's "heroes." The first three women profiled are Arab women who have created impressive lives for themselves. The story of the fourth woman begins with her reasons for her decision to leave her native Finland, and move to the Gulf to find an Arabic man to marry, adopting and embracing Arabic culture in the process.

Many Arab women are hesitant to discuss personal issues with anyone, much less a documentary filmmaker, but Sapozhnikova earned each woman’s trust, and helped them to open up and share their true, inner feelings. In the West, women have re-examined and questioned the role that marriage plays in their lives. But in traditional Arab culture, it is still most important for a woman to be married and have children. One of Sapozhnikova’s “heroes” has five children, yet she is recognized as one of the most respected people in the country in her field. Sapozhnikova notes “Being a mother does not stop her from being successful. On the contrary, she receives extraordinary career and personal support from her children.”

Hailing from Russia, Olga Sapozhnikova served as a Russian diplomat in Japan. After a six year stint with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, she developed an interest in filmmaking.

Her first film "Harem"was about famous UAE women and has been telecast on Russian television.

Sapozhnikova is intrigued by the roles of both men and women in contemporary Arab culture. "It is a privilege to be a woman in a society where the man assumes the responsibility of protecting the woman. So no matter how successful she becomes, she still knows she can fall back on someone."

"Hidden Beauty" is a story she was compelled to tell. "My movie is an inspiration to those who feel they lack opportunities. My film will show them that anything is possible."

"Hidden Beauty" is an engaging film on many levels, one which will enlighten both men and women, providing viewers with a truly extraordinary experience.

# # # #

www.olgasapozhnikova.com

Olga Sapozhnikova is available for interview by telephone

and will be in the Los Angeles area next week

from Suncay June 28th through Friday July 3.


Contact:
Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications
580 Haddon Avenue; Collingswood, NJ 08108
609-386-0019
steve@thomcomm.net

Ski Dubai among Steppenwolf Theater productions

Steppenwolf Presents

5^th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work:

Honest, Sex with Strangers & Ski Dubai

July 22 – August 9, 2009

CHICAGO (July 1, 2009) – Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents the 5^th annual First Look Repertory of New Work, featuring three developmental productions of new plays presented in rotation and accompanied by a series of events around the development of new work. First Look Repertory of New Work runs July 22 – August 9, 2009 in The Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St. All tickets are $20.

The First Look Repertory of New Work 2009 productions are:

Honest

Written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson

Wednesday, July 22 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring Martin McClendon, Katherine Cunningham, Erik Hellman, Lucas Neff and Kelly O’Sullivan.

Guy, author of a best-selling memoir about his downward spiral into drug addiction and homelessness, comes face-to-face with a prying reporter, snooping for a scandal. Their tense showdown over truth versus creative license leads to shocking revelations that could jeopardize both their livelihoods.

Sex with Strangers

By Laura Eason

Directed by associate artist Jessica Thebus

Thursday, July 23 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring Amy J. Carle and Stephen Louis Grush.

Ethan Strange is a hot young scenester whose online journal of sexscapades have turned him into the “it” boy of the blogosphere. Olivia is an attractive 30-something whose own writing career has crapped out. After they hook up, sex turns into dating and dating into something more—but their online exploits threaten to destroy their real-life connection.

Ski Dubai

By Laura Jacqmin

Directed by Lisa Portes

Friday, July 24 – Sunday, August 9, 2009

Featuring ensemble member James Vincent Meredith with Cliff Chamberlain, Hillary Clemens, Jennifer Coombs, Sadieh Rifai and Rani Waterman.

Rachel, a young Environmental Friendliness Consultant, moves from New York to steamy Dubai to work on a man-made island teeming with skyscrapers and luxury hotels. Trying to uphold her “green” principles in a hotbed of capitalism, she navigates a stream of quirky displaced internationals battling loneliness and isolation in a flashy, modern pseudo-city.

The First Look 2009 Playwrights

Laura Eason is the author of more than 15 plays, both original works and adaptations. Previous productions at Steppenwolf include When the Messenger is Hot (also at 59E59, NYC), A Tale of Two Cities and Huck Finn. Her plays have been produced and developed in New York at New York Theatre Workshop, WET, New Georges, MCC, Andhow and Vital Theatre and produced regionally at Lookingglass, Walkabout, Two River Theater and Theatre Schmeater. Laura is an Affiliated Artist of New Georges and a playwright member of the Women’s Project Lab in New York and an Ensemble Member and the former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago.

Laura Jacqmin is the winner of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize, a $25,000 award for emerging female playwrights. Her plays have been produced and developed with Ars Nova, 2econd Stage Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater and The 24 Hour Plays Off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater. Jacqmin will be the artist-in-residence at the Center on Age and Community in Milwaukee this fall and is an adjunct faculty member at Carthage College.

Eric Simonson, a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1993, recently completed a documentary on the late Studs Terkel for HBO. He received a Tony^® nomination for his direction of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and directed an Oscar^®-nominated documentary about the acclaimed South African singing group. Simonson received an Oscar^® for Best Documentary Short for his film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin in 2006. Other directing credits at Steppenwolf include Carter’s Way (also playwright), Slaughterhouse-Five (also adaptor) and Nomathemba (Hope). His new play Fake will be presented during Steppenwolf’s 2009-2010 Season.

The designers for First Look 2009 are: Kevin Depinet (sets), Myron Elliott (costumes), J.R. Lederle (lights) and Joseph Fosco (sound). Jonathan Templeton is the Lead Stage Manager, Jonathan Nook and Lauren Hickman are the Stage Managers, Kimberly Senior and Ed Sobel are the Program Directors and Whitney Dibo is the Program Assistant.

The First Look Repertory of New Work also includes First Look 101, a unique three-month experience that takes enrolled participants on a backstage journey through all aspects of the new play development process – from the first rehearsal to the final performance. The program is limited to 101 members and is open to anyone interested in, and wanting to know more about, creating new plays. First Look 101 runs June 1, 2009 – August 9, 2009. This year’s First Look 101 is SOLD OUT.

First Look Repertory of New Work is a developmental process that culminates in performance before an audience, rather than in a staged reading or workshop presentation. Scripts undergo significant revision during the workshop/rehearsal process and may be revised even after being publicly presented during First Look. They are presented with full, if minimal, design support because in Steppenwolf’s view, the design process is an integral aspect of play development. The intent is to prime the plays for future production at other theaters across the country.

First Look has gained both local and national recognition since its inception in 2005. Seven of the twelve plays presented during First Look’s first four seasons have enjoyed subsequent world premieres at other theaters, including: Jason Wells’ Perfect Mendacity produced at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida; Wells’ Men of Tortuga also at Asolo (followed by a second production at Profiles Theater in Chicago); Butcher of Baraboo by Marisa Wegrzyn produced by 2econd Stage Theatre in New York; 100 Saints You Should Know by Kate Fodor produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York; Spare Change by Mia McCullough produced by Stage Left Theatre in Chicago; Gary by Melinda Lopez produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in Massachusetts; and When The Messenger is Hot by Laura Eason produced by 59E59 Theaters in New York.

Individual tickets to First Look Repertory of New Work cost $20. A First Look Pass to all three plays is available for $45. Tickets are available at www.steppenwolf.org or by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650. First Look 101 costs $75 ($45 for students with valid ID) and includes access to all First Look 101 events, plus tickets to all three First Look Repertory productions. This year’s First Look 101 is SOLD OUT.

Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive listening devices are available for every performance.

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting new American plays at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and for their sponsorship of the First Look Repertory of New Work.

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.

# # #

National Geographic Entertainment to release "Amreeka" beginning Sept. 4

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE 'AMREEKA' IN US:
OPENS SEPT. 4 IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES

Other Cities Around the U.S. Will Follow

LOS ANGELES (June 24, 2009)—National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) will release Cherien Dabis’ comedy “Amreeka” in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, with a national rollout to follow. “Amreeka” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, at New Directors/New Films (a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center) and in Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI prize.

“Amreeka” tells the adventures of Muna, an indomitable woman from the West Bank who moves to the promised land of small town Illinois with her teenage son, Fadi. In America, as her son navigates high school, Muna works hard and dreams of a new life. Nisreen Faour stars as Muna; Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler.

Written and directed by Dabis, “Amreeka” was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Cherien Dabis and Greg Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers. This National Geographic Entertainment Presentation is a National Geographic/Imagenation Abu Dhabi Release in association with Levantine Entertainment, A First Generation Films Production, an Alcina Pictures/Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production produced in association with Manitoba Film & Music, Rotana Studios and Showtime

Arabia.

Earlier in her career Dabis was a recipient of a 2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Project seed grant for her short film “Make a Wish.”

National Geographic Films President Adam Leipzig said, “‘Amreeka’ is a great culture clash comedy, and with it Cherien Dabis has announced herself as one of the great new talents in film. It is both funny and moving in its depiction of the hectic work it takes to attain the American dream. This international story is a perfect fit for National Geographic as we aspire to inspire people to care about our world. Since Cherien received one of the first National Geographic All Roads grants, working with her on ‘Amreeka’ is especially exciting.”

Dabis added, “While ‘Amreeka’ is a very personal film, it’s a universal story about family, the sacrifices we make for those we love and the often elusive search for belonging. I have no doubt that we’ve found the right home for it.”

(OVER)

AMREEKA (PAGE 2)

The release schedule for “Amreeka”:

Sept. 4 New York

Los Angeles

Sept. 18 Chicago

San Francisco

Detroit

Washington, D.C.

Boston

New York and Los Angeles: Check local listings for additional theaters Orange County, Calif.

Sept. 25 Philadelphia

Dallas

Houston

Austin

Seattle

Oct. 2 Miami

Orlando, Fla.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Portland, Ore.

Atlanta

San Diego

Albuquerque

Minneapolis

Please note, as with all films, dates are subject to change. Check local listings for theaters screening the film in each city.

For group sales info, go to amreekagroupsales@gmail.com. For more information about the film, visit www.amreeka.com.

About National Geographic Entertainment

National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) includes National Geographic Films (NGF) , which co-presented the 2005 Academy Award-winning “March of the Penguins” and 2004 Oscar-nominated film “The Story of the Weeping Camel,” and National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV), which released both domestically and internationally the 3-D concert film “U2 3D” in 2008 to critical acclaim. NGCV set giant-screen box office records with “Mysteries of Egypt,” and recently with “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.” Adam Leipzig is president of NGF, Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV and Mark Katz is president of distribution of NGCV.

NGE combines into a single operating group National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures, Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio. NGE is part of National Geographic Global Media, bringing together all of National Geographic’s editorial platforms in order to streamline collaboration and further support the Society's mission. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 360 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, television, radio, music and film. It funds more than 250 scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program promoting geography literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

###

Wild Garden Hummus Dip launches new vending machine package

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...................................................................................................Mark Smith
June 26, 2009..............................................................................................................708-222-8330 ext 319

Wild Garden unveils new Hummus product for vending machines, schools

Chicago – Wild Garden of Chicago unveils a new vending machine-sized Hummus snack-pack this week at the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) Fancy Food Show in New York.

Wild Garden Hummus Dip is one of the nation’s most popular choices for shelf-stable, healthy and great tasting hummus, a Mediterranean dip that is growing in popularity across America.

Wild Garden Hummus Dip is distributed through thousands of mainstream retailers and also ethnic specialty stores across America and in Canada, driven by consumer demand for great tasting vegan vegetarian and healthy based food products.

“Hummus is extremely healthy. It is glutton-free, high in soluble fiber which is very difficult to get in many foods. It is made from the Legume or garbanzo beans [chick peas] which are very high in fibers -- and a source of protein. Wild Garden Hummus Dip is low fat, cholesterol-free and truly Vegan vegetarian,” explained Wild Garden Vice President Mark Smith.

“We have sold Wild Garden Hummus Dip in eight varieties of flavors in a 13.4 ounce jar through retailers across North America and we have also placed a smaller-portion product in Airlines such as United, Alaska and Delta for passengers who are demanding healthy food choices.”

Smith said making Hummus “shelf-stable” through pasteurization has allowed the popular food item to leave the deli and frozen food section in stores and to go right on the store shelves competing with other popular dips.

“Shelf-stable means we have made hummus portable without the fear of spoilage. It is portable, more affordable because it does not require refrigeration until it is opened. We have made it convenient and affordable and it fits the needs of consumers in a way that grocers and food marketers are seeking,” Smith explained.

“It is the perfect size for vending machines, school lunchrooms, deli counters, fast food, restaurants, businesses of all kinds and even fits in mom’s purse when she wants to snack or give her children a healthy snack choice that they will enjoy.”

The new Wild Garden Hummus Dip vending machine package includes: 2 crackers with sesame seeds (13 grams, 35 calories) and Hummus Dip in a 1.76 ounce tetra–pack (56 grams, 63 calories).

“It is basically a meal substitute-snack on the run that is 98 calories. It is very healthy. Vegan vegetarian, very filling and it has a great taste that comes from its authentic Mediterranean recipe,” Smith said.

“There is a real demand for healthier snacks. It is real. It is not a fad any more. People are trying to find ways to cut calories and fat grams from their diets and they know the easiest way to do that is to snack more healthy. This satisfies that need consumers have. All of the retailers at the fancy Food Show are looking for this exact product. This is a lifestyle now, not a fading trend. We’re proud to showcase it.”

Wild Garden, a subsidiary of Ziyad Brothers Importing of Cicero, Illinois, will showcase the new product among many of their popular products and brands at the NASFT Fancy Food Show in New York at Booth 4810.

For more information, visit the Wild Garden Hummus Dip web site at www.WildGarden.biz.

Note to editors: A high resolution photograph is available of the new vending machine snack pack sized Wild Garden Hummus Dip with crackers off the web site or by calling 708-222-8330.

END

Arab American National Museum issues book awards

NEWS

Contact: Kim Silarski

313.624.0206

ksilarski@accesscommunity.org

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009 ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD WINNERS SPOTLIGHT THE ARAB AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Dearborn, MI (June 24, 2009) – Established American literary luminaries and compelling new voices inspired by global events are represented among the winners of the 2009 Arab American Book Award presented by the Arab American National Museum.

This national literary competition, the only one of its kind in the U.S., is designed to draw attention to books and authors dealing with the Arab American experience. The program has attracted increasing numbers of submissions in its three-year history and this year, a new award category was added for poetry.

Four winners emerged from the 35 books published during 2008 that were submitted for consideration; two honorable mentions were also selected, all by genre-specific review committees:

Winner - Fiction

A Map of Home: A Novel by Randa Jarrar

Winner - Non-Fiction

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi

Winner - Poetry (new category this year)

breaking poems by Suheir Hammad

Winner - Children/Young Adult

Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose by Naomi Shihab Nye

Honorable Mentions (both Non-Fiction)

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic by Fayeq Oweis and

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation by Saree Makdisi

Descriptions of this year’s winning books and short biographies of their authors appear below. All of these titles are available for purchase in the Museum Store, while Museum Members may check out these titles free from the AANM Library & Resource Center.

An invitation-only gala award ceremony for the winning authors, publishers and their guests will be held at the Arab American National Museum on November 7, 2009.

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 2010 Arab American Book Award. Authors and publishers may call 313.624.0223 or email klalonde@accesscommunity.org for nomination forms and criteria.

The Arab American Book Award program encourages the publication and excellence of books that preserve and advance the understanding, knowledge, and resources of the Arab American community by celebrating the thoughts and lives of Arab Americans. The purpose of the Award is to inspire authors, educate readers and foster a respect and understanding of the Arab American culture.

The winning titles are chosen by groups of selected readers including respected authors, university professors, artists and AANM staff. The AANM first gave these awards in 2007 for books published in 2006.

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2009 Arab American Book Award Winners

(presented to books published in 2008)

Winner: Adult Fiction

A Map of Home: A Novel
By Randa Jarrar
Other Press

Funny, charming and heartbreaking, A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar is the kind of book Tristram Shandy or Huck Finn would have narrated had they been born Egyptian-Palestinian in the 1970s. The novel features Nidali, the rebellious daughter of an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, who narrates the story of her childhood in Kuwait, her teenage years in Egypt (to where she and her family fled the 1990 Iraq invasion), and her family’s last flight to Texas. Jarrar mixes humor with a sharp, loving portrait of an eccentric middle-class family with a daughter who endures several hardships throughout her life’s story, including the humiliation of going through a check point on a visit to her father’s home in the West Bank; the fights with her father, who wants her to become a famous professor and stay away from boys; the end of her childhood as Iraq invades Kuwait on her 13th birthday; and the scare she gives her family when she runs away from home.

Randa Jarrar grew up in Kuwait and moved to the U.S. after the first Gulf War. Her award-winning fiction has appeared in the Oxford American, Ploughshares, and numerous journals and anthologies. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, where this book won a Hopwood Award. She currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A Map of Home is her first novel.

Winner: Adult Non-Fiction

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America By Moustafa Bayoumi Penguin Press

How does it feel, to be a problem? W.E.B. Du Bois first posed this question in his seminal treatise The Souls of Black Folk, and now, over a century later, Moustafa Bayoumi explores the same question through the first-hand accounts of seven young Arab Americans living in Brooklyn. Their answers reveal the passions, frustrations, struggles, aspirations, and ultimately, the undeterred hope harbored by the inspiring young people featured in Bayoumi’s portraits. How Does It Feel to be a Problem? is an important and necessary book, in which Bayoumi’s subjects answer Du Bois’century-old question, just as they start to grasp how it feels to be a part of the solution.

Moustafa Bayoumi is coeditor of The Edward Said Reader and an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, where he lives. His writing has appeared in The Best Music Writing 2006, The Nation, The London Review of Books, and The Village Voice, among several other publications.

Winner: Children or Young Adult

Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Greenwillow Books

Honey. Beeswax. Pollinate. Hive. Colony. Work. Dance. Communicate. Industrious. Buzz. Sting. Cooperate. Where would we be without them? Where would we be without one another? In 82 poems and paragraphs, Naomi Shihab Nye alights on the essentials of our time - our loved ones, our dense air, our wars, our memories, our planet - and leaves us feeling curiously sweeter and profoundly soothed.

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She has received a Lannan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is the author of two acclaimed novels for teens, Habibi and Going Going, and her essay "Maintenance" appeared in The Best American Essays, 1991, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. School Library Journal said of her collection of essays, Never in a Hurry, "The author has the ability to perceive and describe her surroundings so skillfully that readers are drawn into these experiences and are enriched in the process." Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as "a wandering poet." She calls San Antonio, Texas, home.

Winner: Poetry

breaking poems
By Suheir Hammad
Cypher Books

In breaking poems Suheir Hammad departs from her previous books with a bold and explosive style to do what the best poets have always done: create a new language. Using "break" as a trigger for every poem, Hammad destructs, constructs, and reconstructs the English language for us to hear the sound of a breath, a woman's body, a land, a culture, falling apart, broken, and put back together again.

Suheir Hammad’s work has appeared in dozens of anthologies and numerous publications. She was a co-writer and original cast member in the Tony-award winning Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. An Amherst College Aaron Copeland Fellow, she stars in the movie Salt of this Sea. The author of Born Palestinian, Born Black; Drops of This Story and Zataar Diva, Suheir has won several awards for her writing, including The Audre Lorde Poetry Award, a Van Lier Fellowship and a Sister of Fire Award.

2008 Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mention: Non-Fiction

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic By Fayeq Oweis Greenwood Press

The Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists is an exceptional volume of reference that focuses on the contribution of Arab American artists across the mediums. The book includes profiles and interviews of well known Arab American artists that have been featured in museums and galleries throughout the world, but have never before been featured in a reference book. Whether they be in traditional media such as painting and calligraphy, or more sophisticated media such as digital work and installation, the pieces highlighted in the Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists represent the rich culture of Arab Americans which attempt to capture the beauty of heritage, the struggles of growing up in war-torn countries, the identity conflicts of female artists in male-dominated societies, and the issues surrounding migration to a Western culture very different from one's own.

Fayeq Oweis is an Arab American artist and a professor of Arabic language and culture at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California. He has a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on Arabic and Islamic arts. As an artist, he designed the exterior entranceway murals and the calligraphy of the dome interior of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. He has also exhibited his Arabic calligraphic compositions throughout the United States and was an artist-in-residence at the Art Institute of Chicago in February 2007.

Honorable Mention: Non-Fiction

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation By Saree Makdisi W.W. Norton

Palestine Inside Out by Saree Makidisi depicts the day to day life of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, and their often shocking existence under Israeli control. Through eye-opening statistics and day-by-day reports, Makdisi shows how Palestinians have seen their hopes for freedom and statehood culminate in the creation of abject “territories” comparable to open-air prisons. In devastating detail, Palestine Inside Out reveals how the “peace process” institutionalized Palestinians’ loss of control over their inner and outer lives.

Saree Makdisi is a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves, celebrates, and educates the public on the history, life, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans. It serves as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in this country. The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org <http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/> and www.accesscommunity.org <http://www.accesscommunity.org/> .

The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affiliations program at http://affiliations.si.edu <http://affiliations.si.edu/> .

The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI, 48126. Museum hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12; ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further information.

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