Arab American Almanac, the most comprehensive reference on Arab Americans

Arab American Almanac, the most comprehensive reference on Arab Americans

By Ray Hanania

One of the pioneers of American Arab journalism is Joseph Haeik who is a member of the Arab Journalism Society in Los Angeles and also a founder of the Arab American Historical Foundation. He is publisher of the immensely popular “News Circle Magazine” one of the most professionally written publications in the community and founded in 1972. His most important work, however is the publication of the Arab American Almanac, a detailed compilation of American Arab achievements, leaders and achievers.

This month, Haiek released the 6^th Edition of the Arab American Almanac and it far exceeds the heights he has already reached from his previous five editions.

The Arab American Almanac, published by The News Circle Publishing House (www.Arab-American-Affairs.net), offers a detailed history of every aspect of Arabs in America compiled in 608 tightly packed and informative pages. The writing is compelling and accurate, built upon more than a half century of professional writing and journalism.

The book offers a list of the most important books written about Arab and Middle East topics. It offers endless lists including one detailing the achievements of American Arabs in Hollywood and film, in government and politics, and in business.

It provides a comprehensive listing of the most important American Arab organizations in the country with thumbnail histories that put the existence of Arabs in America in full perspective. It lists Arabs in the military and includes stories of Arabs in America that give a context to their existence in a way most other books about the community have failed to achieve.

You cannot understand the depth and substance of the Arabs in America without this Almanac and it is essential to any research or future documentation of American Arabs and their role in American society.

This is an important work of literature. It is mandatory for research on American Arabs. Every American organization and scholar should have a copy on their shelves in order to add depth to the shallow understanding that many Americans have of the rich culture of the Arab World and people and the contributions of Arabs to America’s greatness.

This is not a dissertation nor a political argument over issues of Middle East conflict, but rather a fair, complete and accurate account of who American Arabs were, are and will continue to be.

Arab American Almanac, 6^th Edition

Arab American Historical Foundation

PO Box 291159

Los Angeles, CA 90029

Email:  newscircle@yahoo.com

For more information

- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Arab American Music Awards announced

ARAB AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

TO HOLD ITS FIRST ANNUAL AWARD SHOW JANUARY 30TH 2010

Still accepting nominations for Musical Artists

August 20, 2009, Hollywood, CA - The first annual Arab-American Music Awards will be held Saturday January 30th 2010 at 7:30pm at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood, CA. This award ceremony is to celebrate years of musical talent by Arab-Americans and also to recognize the new up and coming stars of the Arab-American culture. There will be many performances by the nominees and the evening will be filmed live for worldwide distribution.

We are still accepting nominations for all categories, including: Favorite Artist, Favorite Band, Duo, Group, Favorite Composer, Favorite Lyricist, and Favorite Album, among many other categories. For a full list of categories, please visit our website www.arabamericanmusicawards.com <http://www.arabamericanmusicawards.com/> . Being the first of its kind in America, the AAMA Organization, partners and its sponsors are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a memorable and historic event, as we celebrate and recognize our achievers in the field of Arab American music. The awards are decided by independent panels consisting of some of the music industry's most distinguished practitioners. This is in 10 categories, with additional awards decided on as we narrow the nominations.

All nominations can be submitted through the website. The nominees must be Americans of Arab descent and must sing original material. Nominees should have a music video and/or professionally recorded music.

We have a host of high profile presenters and entertainers guiding you through the night. Music Moguls, Film Legends, Fashion gurus, and community leaders, will all participate in the event's presentations, making it truly the most glamorous Arab-American event in the USA for the year 2010.

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If you would like more information on this event, please contact the Producer, Tania Ayoub (949) 230-1886 or email at: taniajayoub@arabamericanmusicawards.com

New DVD Release: AmericanEast movie offers realistic portrayal of Arabs and Muslims

American East movie offers realistic portrayal of Arabs and Muslims
By Ray Hanania

Every child needs a role model. For the most part, role models come from all walks of life, but the most important are those role models we see in Hollywood movies. And not just any role models. We look for "our own."

By that, I mean, Irish kids looked for Irish role models. Jewish kids looked for Jewish role models. Blacks looked for Blacks, Italians for Italians. And just like everyone else, Arab kids look for role models that are Arab, too.

As a child growing up on Chicago's Southeast Side in the 1950s and 1960s, I had no role models in the mainstream media, and especially none in Hollywood.

The movies were filled with villans and almost every villain was an Arab. The terrorists, the killers, the murderers all looked like they were related to me.

I'd go to the movies with my friends, frightened by the horrific images on the big screen, only to come back to the house and look around the dinner table and see the same faces that Hollywood vilified, exploited and stereotyped.

Other ethnic groups insist what I went through is what every ethnic kid goes through. Really? Well, yes, Italians have terrible images in the Hollywood movies, too. But I noticed that for every mobster who is Italian, there are at least one or two more good characters who are Italian also in the same movie. In other words, it is not the presence of negative images that is the problem.

It is the absence of positive images that IS the problem in American Hollywood movies. Yes, there are lots of negative images of every ethnic group, but there are also lots of positive images of ethnic groups, too, Except for Arab Americans.

In more than 250 movies made by Hollywood that include Middle East related themes or characters who could be surmised or are "Arab" or "Muslim," only about a handful, maybe five, have positive Arab characters. For years, the only positive Arab character in a movie was Aladdin in the Disney cartoon film and he didn't even look Arab at all.

Last year, two great Hollywood actors, Hesham Issawi and Sayed Badreya decided to do something that hasn't been done yet. They wanted to make a Hollywood movie that told a part of the Arab American and Muslim Arab story in a real way. They wanted to portray the reality of the Arab experience in America just the way it really is. And they made the film "American East," which is featured on the front page of this newspaper.

The problem, of course, is that not one American movie theater would show the film. Not one. Out of tens of thousands of movie theaters, not one could find the courage to show the film to the public. Why?

Was it because the film was filled with foul-mouthed language like nearly every major movie and TV program? Was it because it was more violent than the films that are filled with violent?

No. It made Arabs look normal. It portrayed Arab characters in a normal environment as human beings, like everyone else, who have to deal with the traumas and tragedies of real life.

On Jan. 20th, the film that couldn't make it into American theaters because it portrays Arabs in a positive and negative light was released on DVD.

I hope you will take the time to buy it. I hope Arab Americans and Muslims will purchase the DVD, not just to enjoy a film that for the first time portrays the reality of Arab American life in the post-Sept. 11, 2001 world, but that does so in a fair and balanced and dramatic and compelling manner.

It's a GREAT movie.

But buy it also because if you are like me upset with the ugliness that is the stock and trade of the Hollywood movie industry, purchasing it is one way to protest. Make it a success. Share it with your friends and neighbors. Let them see what Hollywood and the mainstream media does not want the world to see, that Arab Americans are no worse, no better and no different than anyone else. We have our bad and our ugly. But we also have our good, our inspirational, our flowers and our beauty.

Is that too much to ask? I don't think so.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning Arab American columnist and Chicago radio talk show host. He is also the publisher of the National Arab American Times newspaper, www.AATimesNews.com. Reach him at rayhanania@comcast.net.)

New Award winning Middle East film premieres Feb 1

CARAMEL, a new award-winning Middle Eastern film (from Lebanon) that will open next month at a theatre near you. This film is special for many reasons.

First, it critically acclaimed. A hit at the Cannes Film Festival this past year, Caramel went on to win the Audience Award at The San Sebastian Film Festival. And it is Lebanon's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards next month.

Second, Caramel is an Arab film that is not only directed by a woman, it also features an all-women cast. This is, in and of itself, an exceptional achievement.

Third, it is utterly charming. Caramel centers around five women whose lives intersect in a beauty salon, a colorful and sensual microcosm of Beirut. The salon is a place where several generations come into contact, talk and confide in each other. Between haircuts and sugar waxing with caramel, they engage in intimate and liberated conversations that reveal their joys and fears surrounding men, sex and motherhood.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it marks one of the widest U.S. theatrical releases of a film from an Arab nation in recent years. Supporting this film sends a message to the film industry that there is a viable market for films from this part of the world. It also affords those outside the Arab-American community an opportunity to gain a wider perspective on a region of the world that most know far too little about. Films like Caramel remind us that our similarities oftentimes vastly outweigh our differences.

We urge you to help us spread the word by forwarding the following blurb (along with the website link below it) to the members of your organization, and your friends and neighbors.

“Caramel” is opening February 1. This award-winning and critically acclaimed film is directed by a woman and features and all-women cast. Caramel centers around five women whose lives intersect in a beauty salon, a colorful and sensual microcosm of Beirut. It’s important that we support this film to show the film industry there is a viable market for Arab films in the U.S. To find out more, please

visit:http://www.newamericanvision.com/Caramel.html

If you have any questions, please contact us at caramel@newamericanvision.com Thank you. http://www.newamericanvision.com/Caramel.html

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