Thinking Meat

Now here's a meeting that will surely present a dilemma to some Arab-terror sympathizers: should they protest a talk by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor David Barenboim because he is Israeli, or support it because he will be singing praises to Edward Said?

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim will discuss the life and work of the late Palestinian literary critic and intellectual Edward Said in a presentation at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at Northwestern University. Barenboim, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Said co-authored "Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society."

Titled "Remembering Edward Said," Barenboim’s presentation about the late Columbia University professor is free and open to the public. It will take place in Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. A brief performance by Barenboim in memory of Said will end the presentation.

Isn't that sweet? I wonder if anyone will inquire as to Barenboim's current citizenship. The late Professor Said seemed greatly concerned with such matters.

A chance meeting in London between Israeli Barenboim and the Palestinian Said resulted in an enduring friendship. Barenboim, son of a Russian Jew who moved to Buenos Aires and later to Israel, found he had much in common with Said, who grew up in Cairo as a young child, was educated in the U.S., and spent much of his adult life in various locations around the world.

...Also, Said didn't happen to have a rock handy, so he made the best of it.

Barenboim’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the department of English, and the Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities.

Money well spent, every penny.