How A Human Rights Activist Provides Compelling Ideas On Islam

The latest presentation of the New Jersey Speakers Series held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center was the international human rights activist and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ali, a courageous, strong-willed and often-controversial figure was raised as a proud Muslim, fled her homeland of Somalia and eventually denounced her Muslim faith. Escaping an arranged marriage and suffering genital mutilation as a young girl, Ali dedicates her life to spreading awareness about violence against women and advocates for an “enlightened Islam.”

Photo Credit: Michael Paras

Her work is an extension of her beliefs about fighting injustice, including her biographical books Infidel and Heretic, as well as her collaboration on Submission, a short film criticizing the treatment of women in Islam. The film, directed by Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, brought death threats against Ali and in 2004 Van Gogh was brutally assassinated by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim.

In 1977 Ms. Ali’s father, a leading figure in the Somalian Revolution, escaped prison and moved the family to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and then Kenya. In 1992, while visiting a relative in the Netherlands, she sought political asylum and quickly obtained a residents permit. She found solace and knowledge in books, studying social work and getting a Master of Science degree in political science.

After the events of September 11, 2001 Ali renounced Islam and declared herself an atheist. She began writing articles and speaking out against abuse toward Muslim women in the Netherlands, drawing attention and eventually winning a seat in the Dutch Parliament.

After the bloody murder of Van Gogh the Dutch government stepped up security for Ali after finding a death threat against her pinned to the victim.

She resigned from the Dutch Parliament in 2006 and became a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institution in Washington, DC. After moving to the United States Ali became an American citizen and, soon after, Brandies University announced she would be presented with an honorary degree. The gesture was soon withdrawn after lobbying from American-Islamic groups.

Ali became a Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at The Harvard Kennedy School. She is currently researching the relationship between the West and Islam. She must live with round-the-clock security. Her willingness to speak out and her abandonment of the Muslim faith have made her a target for violence by Islamic extremists.

In 2005 TIME Magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People.

Photo Credit: Michael Paras

She characterizes Islam as the “new fascism”:

"Just like Nazism started with Hitler's vision, the Islamic vision is a caliphate — a society ruled by Sharia law – in which women who have sex before marriage are stoned to death, homosexuals are beaten, and apostates like me are killed. Sharia law is as inimical to liberal democracy as Nazism." In this interview, she said, "Violence is inherent in Islam – it's a destructive, nihilistic cult of death. It legitimates murder." ~London Evening Standard, 2007

As a girl growing up in suburban America Ms. Ali’s bio reads like a work of fiction, something foreign and distant from what I’ve known. Yet the details of her life are real, and her experiences provide us with a glimpse of the Muslim world as she interprets them for us. She explains her hopes for a more modern doctrine for Islam and an end to the horrors of terrorism, sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities.

“In 2000 you would have looked at me through different eyes. After September 11, 2001 we are here and now you are listening. Now you can identify with some degree with what I am talking about.” ~Ayaan Hirsi Ali

“I’m so grateful I made it, and making it through puts an obligation on me to help others. As I grew up in Somalia, Kenya and the Netherlands I was exposed to much. What stays with me and what I want to pass on to the next generation is not suffering but ideas that make it possible for human beings to make it through. Having fled an arranged marriage, having stood up to my father, I choose to pass on to my son and to others a radical change of ideas.” ~Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ms. Ali’s life has been one of hardship, terror, violence, sacrifice and ultimately love. She carries a great burden on her shoulders when speaking out against Islam, its treatment of women and how she believes Muslims must view G-d as a loving one and not to embrace life after death. Her opinions are controversial and at times I disagreed with them. But in the end there’s no question she’s doing what she thinks she must in the name of saving young girls from suffering the horrors she did.

The world will be watching.

DISCLOSURE: I received three complimentary tickets to The New Jersey Speaker Series sponsored by Fairleigh Dickinson University All opinions are, as always, completely my own.

Two Time Pulitzer Prize Winner David McCullough Loves His Wife, Family, History And He's a Really Nice Guy

In the pantheon of our country’s greatest American historians David McCullough’s name will forever be thought of as one of the most brilliant caretakers of our nation’s history. He’s painted portraits with words and made history come alive. His exuberance about the human spirit is what sparks his interest to write book after book to teach all of us about the fabric that’s created our great nation.

He is an American treasure.

I was fortunate to hear Mr. McCullough speak at The New Jersey Speaker Series at NJPAC. It felt like I was sitting in a comfortable chair next to a dear friend. His warm and easy manner, and his voice (oh, that voice!) set the stage for what was a fascinating and brilliant presentation.

He endeared himself to the audience when he began by talking about his 60-year love affair with his beloved wife, Rosalee.

Who knew that at 81 years young this two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, and the recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom, was such a romantic? He continued to pay tribute to Rosalee by sweetly singing an old Bing Crosby tune:

My Girl's an Irish girl, with the blarney in her smile. She's the fairest in the Isle. Sure she sets people talking, when she goes out walking. My Girl's an Irish girl, from her head down to her toes. And no care in the world will harry me, when she promises to marry me. My sweet little Irish Rose.

His self-deprecating humor perfectly illustrates his down-to-earth manner. One of his many stories was about a young student who attended one of his lectures. After the question and answer period was over, the person in charge of handing the handwritten questions to Mr. McCullough quietly gave him one more as he whispered, “You might want to save this one.”

"Aside from John Adams and Harry Truman, how many presidents have you interviewed?"

Speaking for over 90 minutes without notes or slideshows, Mr. McCullough relied on his extraordinary intelligence and ability to tell a good story the way Will Rogers could spin a good yarn.

He demonstrates his love of history and history education by teaching and lecturing at over 100 universities across the country. He holds teachers in high regard because, as he says, today more than ever our culture is fast becoming illiterate, and history is essential to having quality leadership in our country.

“Teachers are the most important people in our society. They are doing the work that counts and their capacity for inspiring and motivating young people will affect us far into the future.” ~David McCullough

When I attended public school in the 1960’s our history books were old and lacking. Teachers did little to inspire us to learn more about figures such as Paul Revere or Abigail Adams. They remained merely footnotes on a page.

But I was blessed with parents who instilled a love of history at home, and together we visited many historical sites such as Williamsburg, Gettysburg, and Fort Ticonderoga while discussing their importance. (Editor's Note: I believe it is the responsibility of every parent to teach their child about our nation's history. Our children hold the country's future in their hands. You have to know where you've been before you can know where you're going.)

David McCullough is America's teacher because he knows the footnotes that have been neglected in schools across the nation, and spends years researching and writing about them to tell their story.

John Adams. Harry Truman. Theodore Roosevelt. The Greater Journey (Americans in Paris). The Johnstown Flood. The Path Between the Seas (Panama Canal). The Brooklyn Bridge. Mornings on Horseback (Theodore Roosevelt). Brave Companions: Portraits in History. 1776. In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Story.

He's been “happily working for more than three years" on a book about The Wright Brothers. Coming out this May, this is the story of two self-taught brothers who grew up poor. Their father believed in the value of education, and knew that even a child's toy could be an instrument for learning. So their town library became their school, and it was there that they discovered art, history, and music and realized their aptitude for math and physics.

Theirs is a story not only about the bravery it takes to accomplish something that has never been done before, but also about the importance of learning from your failures and never giving up on yourself or your dreams.

The Wright Brothers, as in every David McCullough book, will leap off the pages as we spend time with them, and finally take their rightful place among timeless American figures .

END NOTE: My husband, mother and I attended an after party held to meet and take photographs with Mr. McCullough. Unlike other speakers, Mr. McCullough mingled with the guests and my mother (a lover of history who has read every David McCullough book and has a deep respect for him) made her way over to him to hold their own private conversation. I had no idea what they were talking about.

It looked liked they'd been friends for years.

When it was our turn with the photographer, I began to say the elevator speech I'd been nervously practicing all day, but I was interrupted by Mr. McCullough who, after seeing my mother again, exclaimed, “Here’s my belle.” Grabbing my mother’s hand, he directed how we'd stand for our “photo shoot.”

But before we left, we had two questions we hoped he'd answer.

My husband wanted to know if Mr. McCullough ever started to write about a subject that he changed his mind about. The answer was yes, Pablo Picasso, because he didn’t like him very much.

I asked if he’d ever consider writing a book about a woman, such as Betsy Ross or Dolly Madison. I should have been smart enough to know what his answer would be.

Yes. A book about Rosalee.

The Zen of Alan Alda

It would be easy to write about Alan Alda by only recounting stories that everyone already knows, such as his tremendous successes in television, movies and theatre. I could also discuss his well-known talents as a gifted writer of books and screenplays, or his lifelong passion of science that led him to not only host PBS’s “Scientific American Frontiers” for 14 years but to challenge young minds and inspire the creation of The Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.

But Alan Alda is much more than that, and writing about only those achievements, as incredible as they are, would be a disservice to him. He has always been like a cauldron packed tight with ingredients of passion, ideas and deep thought that would burst wide open if he couldn’t keep moving forward.

As I listened to him speaking recently at The New Jersey Speaker Series it occurred to me how Zen-like Mr. Alda is. He sees his life experiences with great clarity and, after examining them like a true scientist, he challenges and questions himself, then draws his own conclusions.

I can best illustrate the Zen of Alan Alda by using three stories from his words and life experiences.

Near-death experience changed his life: Story One

There was one night that forever changed his life, and he uses that near tragedy to contemplate how he became the man he is today.

“I’d like to tell you about a night that changed my life. I was up on top of a mountain in Chile, in an observatory because I was with astronomers doing a science show, and I got this tickle in my gut, and within a few minutes it was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. They had a medic up there. I don’t think he’d done anything medical before. I’m all doubled up and he comes over and says, 'How are you?'

"They had an ambulance, a big old boxy thing. It looked like the ambulances we had on M*A*S*H. They slide me into the ambulance and I’m groaning and screaming and they take me for an hour and a half down this rocky mountain down to this little town to a hospital with a dimly lit ER.

"But there was this brilliant doctor there that night who was an expert in what was wrong with me. It turned out I had a bit of my intestine that lost its blood supply and if it burst a couple hours later I’d be dead. But he knew exactly what the problem was and he figured it out in a few minutes. He leaned into me to tell me they have to cut out part of the bad intestine and sew two good ends together.

"And I said, 'Oh, you’re going to do an end-to-end anastomosis?' He said, 'How do you know that?” and I said, 'Oh I did many of those on M*A*S*H.'

"And I lived.

"And when it was over I felt I’d been given a whole new life. The world was so fresh, the colors were so free, just the feeling of being alive. I wasn’t supposed to eat anything solid, and the first piece of cheese I had was the most delicious meal I’d had in my life. I was like a newborn baby tasting everything fresh.

"So I thought I don’t want this to end. I’ve met people who had near death experiences and they kept that feeling for a while but then it went away. I didn’t want it to go away. How can I make this last?

"Maybe if I think about how I got to be how I am, and who I am, and the lessons I’ve learned, maybe there’s something in that. So I started making notes about my earliest childhood memories.”

Alan Alda speaking on the life-changing power of tragedy

Life moves on after tragedy: Story Two

When Mr. Alda was seven years old he contracted polio, a horrible deadly disease and an epidemic among children at that time. He remembers his father administering painful treatments that included placing hot woolen blankets on his limbs and painful massages on his muscles.

While recovering, Robert Alda brought home a beautiful black cocker spaniel to cheer up his son. The dog was so sweet and loving that they immediately fell in love with each other. When the puppy tragically died his father, in a loving but perhaps misguided effort, had the dog stuffed for posterity so he’d “always have him.” But the dog had a “hideous expression with glass eyes that followed you wherever you walked” and after placing it next to the fireplace, “when guests entered the room they’d stop dead.”

I realized years later that this was a tremendous lesson for me. You can’t have your dog stuffed. I know that sounds trivial but it’s true. You love the dog, he goes away, and you move on. The stuffed dog is a counterfeit; a hollow imitation.”

Moving On: Story Three

Someone from the audience asked what he thought Hawkeye Pierce would be doing today. Alda answered that he never thought about it. As much as he loved the character and was proud of the part he played in creating eleven seasons of M*A*S*H, when it was over, it was over. And he moved on.

Beyond the Zen of Alan Alda is the love everyone feels for him. I have never met anyone with an unkind word about him.

Meeting a personal hero

As a devoted fan I’ve written about him before. About my schoolgirl crush that turned into deep respect for a man completely devoted to his family and friends, one who always seemed genuine and self-effacing whenever I'd hear him speak.

I was more than thrilled when my husband and I were invited to attend a post-event cocktail party to meet Alan Alda in person. I was admittedly ~~a bit~~ nervous. I’ve met celebrities before, but for me this was different.

I didn’t want to sound like a gushing teenager or a typical fan. I wanted him to know how important the work he is doing at Stony Book University is to the disability community and me. So I practiced my elevator speech. Several times. Okay, more than several.

When it came time for us to meet him one-on-one, my instincts were right. It was as if my husband and I were alone in the room with a dear friend. He listened intently as I thanked him not only for his funny and fascinating talk, but also for the contributions he’s making by teaching future scientists how to communicate more effectively with the public, and what that will mean to the future of medicine.

Although our conversation lasted only a few minutes it will leave an indelible impression on my heart.

Alan Alda speaking at Fairleigh Dickinson University

END NOTE: I also introduced myself to Arlene Alda, who is an accomplished musician, photographer and writer. Her latest book "Just Kids from the Bronx" is an oral history about what it was like growing up in the Bronx, a place that "bred the influencers in just about every field of endeavor today." It will be coming out March 2015. I wanted to tell Mrs. Alda how excited my Bronx born mother is about reading her upcoming book. Mrs. Alda was lovely, and it was a pleasure to briefly speak with her.

The New Jersey Speaker Series is an inaugural series of talks produced by Fairleigh Dickinson University. The impressive list of speakers are Madeleine Albright, Alan Alda, Steve Wozniak, Olympia Snowe, David Gergen, David McCullough and Dan Rather, each influential voices in our world today.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of Fairleigh Dickinson University/New Jersey Speaker Series

Near-death experience changed his life: Story One

Life moves on after tragedy: Story Two

Moving On: Story Three

Meeting a personal hero

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