Hasta La Gadget!

Mashrou’ Leila. Photo by Leva Saudargaite

As we make our way through the United States on this tour for Ibn El Leil, which translates to “Son of the Night,” our fourth album, we wanted to share some of our more personal experiences. The North American tour began with a sold out concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg at the end of May, and we’ve played in major cities like Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. since.

Now we’re on the West Coast for a few concerts and then Mashrou’ Leila is headed back to New York City, to be followed by Canada. We try to take it all in — each city has its own vibe, flavor, and energy, and our experiences have been as varied.

Tour Notes — Ibrahim Badr, bass guitarist:

Going through customs at JFK airport is always a pain. The line is always too long, too crowded, and things are a little chaotic. This time was particularly bad.

I finally got to the custom officer’s desk and handed him my passport. He swiped it into his machine and started looking up my background information.

He spotted a man in the queue behind me talking on his cell phone, despite the very large sign that said that it was not allowed. The customs officer shouted at him, asking him to put down his phone. The man didn’t notice. The officer then shouted again — the man stared back with a puzzled look. He clearly did not speak English.

The officer looked at me and said, “When Donald Trump becomes president all these problems will go away,” and pointed to the huge line of people. Not sure how to reply, I assumed he was joking and replied with a short laugh.

The officer spoke again: “You’re laughing, but it’s the truth. What, you think I am going to vote for Hillary?” He handed me back my passport and finished, “Oh, and you’re good to go.” I politely said thank you and quickly walked away. I know from experience it is always better to keep conversations with U.S. customs as short as possible.

While waiting for my suitcase at the baggage carousel, I couldn’t help but think through what just happened. I naively imagined Trump supporters to be crazy racists. This man seemed normal, but then again, what was he hoping Trump would do? Come and manage the airport personally? Or stop all the tourists from coming to New York?

Photo courtesy of Mashrou’ Leila

Tour Notes — Firas Abou Fakher, guitarist and keyboardist:

It’s usually around 1 a.m. after a show that we hear the first silence of the day. Cases have been re-filled with instruments and harsh house lights hammer the hall with a bright white, sanitizing all the powerful energy of the roaring crowd a few hours ago.

But it’s mainly that our ears stop ringing around 1 a.m. And on this night, we’re in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, our first stop on a month-long tour. Interviews and soundcheck and jet lag mean that the day has been especially long. Our tour manager speaks from a corner, lobby call times, and planes, and trains, and from the red leather couch in the upstairs hall I see some posters hanging on the wall: LCD Soundsystem, James Blake, Metronomy, Arctic Monkeys, Chairlift, The National, Bon Iver, Sanitgold, and more, more, more.

On the left, on a small board, a piece of paper reads “Mashrou’ Leila — Live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg” and with diagonal red letters “Sold Out.” Not a bad place to start.

Photo courtesy of Mashrou’ Leila

Tour Notes — Carl Gerges, drummer:

When you approach the intersection of Lawrence and Broadway in Chicago, a large glittering neon sign with “Green Mill Cocktail Lounge” illuminates the street in a green glow. A quarter-century ago, the Mill was a notorious shooting gallery where drug addicts collapsed in the booths and various forms of vice unfolded in the dilapidated, shoe-box-shaped room.

We played our show in New York and just arrived to Chicago. It has only been one show out of fifteen, but I’m in a very strange state — a mixture of jetlag and fatigue. I cross the green, illuminated intersection and get in the Mill.

The front of the Mill features a bar lining the left side of the room, curving around the corner, and capped off by a retro jukebox. Near the curve of the bar is the booth once preferred by Al Capone. (With a view of the main and side exits, it allowed him to keep a watchful eye on both doors.) There are several green velvet-upholstered booths around the bar area and more seating near the stage, but the space is intimate and fills up quickly. When that happens, live jazz music floods the vintage smelling air, and the dance-floor gets filled with strangely dressed people. This place seems to be frozen in the 1940s. I try to dance, but I’m too tired, everything seems blurry and glittery, I hold on tight to my drink, scramble for a seat and fall asleep while Ibrahim passes out on the floor…

Photo courtesy of Mashrou’ Leila

Mashrou’ Leila will be touring in the Untied States with their album Ibn El Leil through June 25. San Diego/ June 20, New York City/ June 24 & 25. For more information visit their website.

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This Father’s Day weekend, President Obama and his family plan to visit Yosemite National Park to get an early start on celebrating the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, which officially happens in August. I don’t know exactly what the president will say, or which trail he and his family will hike when they visit the park, along with thousands of other Americans, but I hope they find some solace in the extraordinary beauty that is Yosemite. The past few years have been tough ones for victims of hatred and violence, and it’s been a heart-breaking week for our friends and loved ones in the LGBTQ community in Orlando and everywhere.

Violence and divisiveness have long marked our history like a recurring fever, yet as a nation we have survived. Ultimately, our republic has done more than survive: It has emerged wiser, stronger, and fairer. By hard-won degrees, we have edged nearer to fully realizing the idealistic principles on which our democracy was founded. For all our current problems, we live in a country that is indisputably more just and equitable today than it was 50, 100, or 150 years ago.

At the same time, though, no one could argue that America is as just and equitable as it should be. The question we face every day is how can we come closer to bridging that gap? But the president’s trip to Yosemite puts me in mind of a different question: Where can we come closer to bridging that gap? Part of the answer, I think, is where President Obama and his family will spend this weekend — in our national parks, the crown jewels of our public lands.

“Nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike,” wrote John Muir just over 100 years ago in The Yosemite. That was his gospel. Today, we put it more prosaically: Spending time outside lowers stress, strengthens health, improves academic performance, and builds community ties. But the basic message is the same. Our national parks and public lands are not a luxury — they are vital to our well-being. And the days they can help us most are our darkest ones. To experience their healing power is to rediscover our shared humanity.

From the day it was founded, the Sierra Club has worked to protect these precious resources from the inhuman forces that threaten them. Over time, though we’ve gained the wisdom to know that simply protecting them is not enough. Now, more than ever, we need to work just as hard at ensuring that the benefits of these public lands can be shared by all Americans.

President Obama and his family clearly love the outdoors. Even more important, though, is that no other president — not even Theodore Roosevelt — has shown a deeper understanding of the real value of our national parks and monuments to all Americans. Certainly, no other president has done so much to make them more inclusive. Simply by choosing to bring his beautiful family to places like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite for summer vacations, the president has made a difference. His national monument declarations also reflect this sensibility, but my favorite example is his administration’s “Every Kid in a Park” initiative. It set the goal of providing every single fourth grader across the country the chance to visit America’s great outdoors free of charge.

Every kid. All Americans. That’s who our public lands belong to, and that’s who we’re protecting them for.

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Education is a basic social right and arguably the foundation of modern society. It is, therefore, a domain where having outstanding results is incredibly important. While many still face the immediate challenge of having access to education–and this needs to be overcome–there is nevertheless a need to innovate in education and teaching in order to ensure the success of every student and adapt learning to the new technological and entrepreneurial era.

The Limits of a Classical Education System
France is an example of a country where classical pedagogical methods are no longer working. While the country has successfully provided universal education to all of its citizens through to the university level, it has not been successful in creating a system that ensures the intellectual success of every person. Between 2003 and 2012, the percentage of students suffering from difficulties increased from 16.6% to 22.4%.

While the system aims for equality and intellectual rigor, the country, according to many, has failed in its goal due to the rigid and strict pedagogical system that prevents individual students from learning the way that suits them best. The French education system is thus the subject of much criticism and debate due to its inability to integrate pedagogical methods that are more inclusive and encourage the social and academic development of every individual.

While the system aims for equality and intellectual rigor, the country, according to many, has failed in its goal due to the rigid and strict pedagogical system that prevents individual students from learning the way that suits them best. The French education system is thus the subject of much criticism and debate due to its inability to integrate pedagogical methods that are more inclusive and encourage the social and academic development of every individual.

While many critique the French system’s inability to provide the solidarity, support, and teacher access necessary for all students to prosper, the adoption of new and developing pedagogical methods could serve as a solution.

Solidarity and Personal Responsibility: Each to Their Own
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, in their critically acclaimed book Poor Economics explain how successful education programs are reliant on allowing each individual to showcase their talents and have the opportunity and encouragement to master the basics. While the authors are focused on improving education in the developing world, the education system in France, which punishes failure and creates distances between the best performing and the worst, is victim to many of the same problems that Banerjee and Duflo identify. Those who begin to fail rarely have the opportunity to recover.

There are, however, many countries, schools, and individuals that are taking steps to innovate in education by stripping away classical constraints and finding new ways to engage children and teenagers so that they can learn to the best of their ability. In the film Demain, the Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Finland is highlighted for its philosophy of teaching children “how to learn” and “prepare them for life.” “If one method doesn’t work for a student, that means that this method is not fit for him,” explain the makers of Demain.

There are also advocates for the inclusion of “Neuroeducation” in schools, a field of study that explores the interactions between biological processes in the brain and education with a goal to improve the learning process. Supporters of this type of pedagogy believe a better understanding of the cognitive functioning of the brain will allow teachers to improve how they teach and cater it to each student. Eric Gaspar a teacher of mathematics in France, runs the program Neuro-sup. The educational seminar informs teachers about the basics of neuroeducation in order to improve their understanding of how students learn. According to Gaspar, this helps put an end to the fatalism that many students experience when they find themselves unable to follow the curriculum.

Education for a Modern World
Furthermore, while improving learning, pedagogical methods, and innovating in educational models can improve general learning, it can also serve to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. Monika Diehl, in her article From Entrepreneurship to Entrepreneurial Education in Lower Secondary School, explains that entrepreneurial education has become a priority for states that have “put forward a need for the future labor force to have skills and abilities to create work.” She explains that “Entrepreneurial education is about “not serving” pupils with fixed solutions and lectures but to provide the prerequisites for them to take initiatives of their own.” “This means an initiative shift from teachers to pupils, which also means a need for teachers to let go of control.”

If countries are hoping to have a future where young people are innovating for social good, and making leaps in sustainability, it means positively encouraging each student to learn their way while accompanying individual growth.

Louis Slade-Caffarel
Writer @Sparknews

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You know what makes people happy? Animals. You know what makes people REALLY happy? Tiny animals. Luckily, there are sites that exist solely to spread the happy. YouGoatMail.com is one of them.

YouGoatMail.com — as per Twitter — appears to have launched in May 2016. It allows you to send a teensy, plush goat to anyone you choose. SERIOUSLY. That’s what they do.

The goats look like this: 

In case you’re out of your mind and don’t understand why this is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, the site explains its reason for existing.  

“Everyone knows the greatest Gift Of All Time would be a goat. But caring for a live goat can be challenging, difficult, and time consuming. We found the solution.” 

This makes perfect sense. A goat IS the best gift one could possible receive, but a faux, fuzzy one is much more practical. 

The goats are only $24.99 (+$4.99 for shipping) and each comes with a hand-written note. Oh, and “ENDLESS MEMORIES.” Can’t forget the memories.

Some goat recipients have already expressed love for their new friends on Twitter.

 Now, what are you waiting for? GOAT TO IT.

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I pulled open the desk drawers in my office one by one. “Where are they?” I asked.

My wife, hearing my distressed cries from the hallway, entered. “Where are what?”

I ignored her. “They were right here next to my phone. What did I do with them?”

“Do with what?” she asked, growing impatient. “And who are ‘them?'”

“Did the kids take them? How many times have I told them to put things back? Particularly these.”

“Stop it!” my wife said. “What are you looking for? And why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m searching for my car keys,” I said. “And I’m ignoring you based on advice I received from the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.”

“I can help you search,” she said. “But I don’t think I can help you with your psychological issues, whatever they are.”

Handing her my phone, I asked that she read the article I had stumbled across through my Twitter feed. Citing a 2011 study from the quarterly journal, the updated article concluded that “self-directed speech,” aka “talking to oneself,” aka “kids, stay away from that creepy guy ranting to nobody,” actually allows a human to locate objects and solve problems faster.

If this theory is correct, I should be the world’s foremost problem solver and lost item finder, for I have been a self-talker long past the years when I arranged competing armies of toy soldiers in my bedroom and loudly implored them to “fight for your honor.” Of course, today’s self-talking, toy soldier playing children probably say, “If you’re wounded in battle, good luck dealing with the VA,” but that’s another story.

Before hands-free cellphone technology appeared in cars, one could glance over and see me at stoplights, vocally working on jokes for an upcoming stand-up comedy performance. On the golf course I carry on a loud, never ending inner conversation, mostly querying myself as to why I chose the 6-iron, why I didn’t realize the putt broke left instead of right, and why hadn’t I acted on last week’s declaration to give up this ridiculous game, a vow most of the other course patrons heard after I carded a sextuple bogey.

I come from a long line of self-talkers. My mother admits to the habit and my grandmother, after losing her husband, used to say she talked to herself because, “otherwise I don’t know what I sound like.”

My wife often catches me deep in self-talk mode. She demands to know who I’m speaking with, and the general topic.

How nice that I now can deflect her inquiries by simply telling her that I’m improving my brain’s functions, and to please not interrupt me the next time.

“Try it honey,” I implored her. “Maybe it will make you feel smarter.”

“So you’re saying I’m stupid?”

“Not at all,” I replied, quickly realizing that, at this particular moment, I wished I was the only person in the room.

“Please stop,” she said. “Every time I hear you, I always think you’re talking about me. And not in a good way.”

To appease her, I Googled “How to stop talking to yourself.” Solutions ranged from keeping Post-It notes with me so I could write down my thoughts as opposed to saying them out loud or, better yet, sending those same thoughts to myself via emails. I immediately scrapped the email idea; my already cluttered inbox does not need messages containing the subject line “Where are my #$%!@ keys?!!!”

But, in an effort to keep peace with everybody in my family, my inner self included, I’m trying the Post-It note idea. But already I’m having misgivings for I fear I will eventually be barred from my local golf course.

Management doesn’t take kindly to a golfer who angrily throws Post-It notes into the lake that just claimed his golf ball.

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