Ithaca City of Asylum
Providing refuge for persecuted writers and artists since 2001
Middle Eastern Music Benefit Concert for ICOA
As a benefit for Ithaca City of Asylum, Cornell’s Middle Eastern Music Ensemble will perform a concert of music from Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Iran at Cinemapolis on Thursday, February 9th at 7pm. Middle Eastern sweets will be served.
Tickets are $15.00. $7.50 for students. Tickets available at the door (price includes a pastry).
Your support of ICOA at this time is particularly valued as our prospective next writer is from one of the 7 countries that Trump has imposed a ban upon.
ICOA is not-for-profit project of the Center for Transformative Action. It provides refuge in Ithaca for dissident writers and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 2001, ICOA is a member—one of only two in North America —of the International Cities of Refuge Network, a worldwide consortium of cities of asylum.
Cornell University’s Middle Eastern Music Ensemble was established in 2002 and in its various iterations, the group has been delighting audiences on and off the campus ever since. Under its current director, Joseph Prusch, students, faculty, and community members interested in the rich variety of music from the region can come join to study and perform.
Find more information on CUMEME on their website or Facebook page
Join ICOA at Opera Ithaca’s production of Thumbprint
ICOA is pleased to invite you to attend Opera Ithaca’s production of Thumbprint, a contemporary opera inspired by the experiences of Mukhtar Mai, the first female victim of gang rape to bring her male attackers to justice in Pakistan. ICOA’s resident writer, Pakistani journalist Raza Rumi, will appear in a talkback panel after tonight’s 8 pm production at the Hangar Theatre. You can also see the opera on at 8pm on Saturday and 3 pm on Sunday. ICOA board members will be in the lobby at each show to share information about our work.
Raza Rumi on the Story Behind Thumbprint, the Opera
Rumi reads on November 1
Raza Rumi and Tyrone Shaw present
Creative Writing on Social Justice
Tues November 1, 5:30 pm,
Handwerker Gallery, Gannett Center, Ithaca College
ICOA hosts breakfast for Svetlana Alexievich
Nobel Prize-winning author and former ICORN resident Svetlana Alexievich visited Cornell University in September to present a moving lecture on her work. ICOA board members hosted a breakfast for Ms. Alexievich.
ICOA Board Member Barbara Adams and Svetlana Alexievich
Dusk, the Girl, the Antiquated Railway
This railroad has not been used for years. The solid rails rusted, just like your lifetime is eroded by wind and storms. The rails lie peacefully on the road bed, winding to a remote place.
There is an abandoned factory on the hill. The collapsed wall and shaft are immersed in the light of sunset. The wild weeds silence the noise of the past.
A girl is walking alone, far away along the rails. You can see her back, her short, dark brown skirt. Wind blows her long, black hair to her right shoulder. Her long, slim legs and neck remind you of your youth, the first sweetheart you had.
Twilight is so quiet flowing from the trees; the lake shines; the duck calls in a husky voice.
The girl keeps walking until she disappears from your sight.
This moment becomes forever, as if it contains all days and nights of your life.
* * *
“Dusk, the Girl, the Antiquated Railway” is the third of three new poems by Yi Ping written on the occasion of Ithaca City of Asylum’s fifteenth anniversary.
Red fox
The red fox’s body is lying in the road. Wind blows its red fur, its fluffy tail, as vivid as if it were still alive. The sky, the wood, and meandering road are quiet as usual. May light is splendid as gold. It only took a second. The fox was killed, bloodied, and the pavement around its body was printed in red.
Such a pretty fire fox, alert and smart, bright as a flame in green woods. It only took a second—she died. No vehicle stopped. She was a creature, alive. She had a family. Cubs are waiting for her return.
* * *
“Red fox” is the second of three new poems by Yi Ping written on the occasion of Ithaca City of Asylum’s fifteenth anniversary.
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