[Dialogue] Eagle in America

[Terry Bergdall]

Out of curiosity, I wrote to the University of Iowa asking for an 
explanation about the story which Harry posted a couple of days ago about 
an Egyptian woman who had a unfortunate experience in the US.  Those of you 
who read the original story might be interested in their response (see 
below).  Terry

>Subject: FW: Eagle in America
>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:08:42 -0600
>From: "Ferrer, Hugh G" <hugh-ferrer at uiowa.edu>
>To: <bergdall2 at usa.net>
>
>Dear Terry,
>
>Indeed it does not present our program in a very good light.  And I’m 
>sorry if this is the first you’ve heard of us.
>
>We do not agree with Mona’s characterization of her own attitude and 
>behavior, nor with her version of how the fundamental disagreement came 
>about or how it escalated.  However, the events she makes reference to 
>occurred steadily over a two-month period, were complex, involved dozens 
>of players, and belie easy summary­hers or ours.  That said, the root of 
>the problem might be put this way:
>
>Ms. Prince wanted to visit reservations.  In order to pursue that desire, 
>she felt she was entitled to use her per diem money and her “travel 
>period” money (both as provided by her grant) and use thoese monies to 
>travel to surrounding states when and as she saw fit.  On the other side 
>of the equation are our program’s policies, which are determined by 
>granting arrangements, auditability, and immigration law.  (The IWP is 
>supported by private and government institutions who grant us money to 
>administer an exchange program on behalf of creative writers from other 
>countries.)  The money granted to the IWP by the US Embassy in Cairo to 
>host Ms. Prince was never supposed to be available to her in as liberal a 
>way as she wished.  Her travel­as she was repeatedly told, starting in her 
>pre-trip debrief in Cairo­was supposed to be concentrated in the “travel 
>period” at the end of the 10-week residency in Iowa.  We do not want to 
>deny our participants any important professional opportunities, but for 
>any travel before the “travel period,” we required a rough sense of the 
>writer’s itinerary, a verbal or written description of the professional 
>nature of the trip, and the name and contact information of at least one 
>contact so that we, as her visa sponsor, could get in touch with her if we 
>needed to.  Ms. Prince refused to supply us with any sort of itinerary or 
>the names of any contacts (in the beginning, she did not have any).  When 
>we were firm on this requirement, she began an email campaign to put 
>pressure on us, which in fact she succeeded in doing . . .  Long story 
>short, the article you’ve forwarded is a continuation of that campaign.
>
>I hope that this brief summary supplies some of the balance you were seeking.
>
>Yours Sincerely,
>
>Hugh Ferrer
>
>
>PS: Further reading on the matter is available at the following 
>link­though again I would ask you to note that the way she characterizes 
>her requests to the press do not accord with how those requests were made 
>to us.
>
><http://www.dailyiowan.com/media/paper599/news/2005/09/30/Metro/Iwp-Writers.Term.Cut.Short-1004772.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailyiowan.com>http://www.dailyiowan.com/media/paper599/news/2005/09/30/Metro/Iwp-Writers.Term.Cut.Short-1004772.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailyiowan.com
>
>Hugh Ferrer
>Program Coordinator
>International Writing Program
>Shambaugh House
>430 N. Clinton St.
>Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2020
>
>ph: (319) 335-3856
>fax: (319) 335-3843
>
><http://www.uiowa.edu/~iwp>www.uiowa.edu/~iwp
>
>
>----------
>From: International Writing Program
>Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 2:54 PM
>To: Ferrer, Hugh G
>Subject: FW: Eagle in America
>
>
>----------
>From: Terry Bergdall [mailto:bergdall2 at usa.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 1:01 PM
>To: International Writing Program
>Subject: Eagle in America
>
>This was forwarded to me by a good friend.  When I read such things, I 
>like to know the other side of the story.  As is, it does not present a 
>very favorable impression of your program.  Thanks,  Terry
>
>Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: 
><http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/777/in2.htm>http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/777/in2.htm 
>
>
>----------
>Eagle in America
>Encountering homeland security in Iowa City, Mona Prince discovers the 
>dignity of speaking up against intimidation:
>In a climate where the United States is seen as an aggressor enforcing her 
>way and will on the rest of the world, I found myself excited last summer 
>to be heading to America after being chosen as part of the International 
>Writing Program (IWP) in Iowa City. My excitement stemmed from the fact 
>that I refused to believe that the US, with one of the best constitutions 
>in the world, where individual rights are cherished and defended, has lost 
>its soul. Rather I wanted to believe that its current policy is an 
>aberration that came to pass as a result of fears arisen after 9/11, and 
>not a true reflection of what America is all about. I could not think of a 
>better bridge to mend the widening gap between the image and true face of 
>the Arab "other". As an Egyptian woman writer and academic, I wanted so 
>much to show the true face of the other, transcending the stereotype that 
>has been propagating in the US lately, wanted in my own small way to 
>unveil that thick veil of misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
>I was officially invited by the US Embassy in Cairo and funded by the US 
>State Department to participate in the IWP, an invitation I wholeheartedly 
>accepted. I was delighted to be part of a programme that fosters mutual 
>understanding, cross-cultural communication, and tolerance; to share and 
>exchange ideas with, and learn from, the other international writers as 
>well as our American counterparts in an academic institution setting at 
>the University of Iowa where the programme resides.
>I arrived in Iowa City and my first two weeks in the program was all I 
>would have hoped for. I felt energised, thinking of many things I want to 
>do -- material for my writings that would benefit from my stay in the US 
>within the IWP. One of my major interests and ideas for a writing project 
>was to visit an Indian reservation, get in contact with Native American 
>traditional storytellers and learn about their spiritual practices. What 
>unravelled after those two weeks was so much telling of the extent of the 
>erosion of the American way as a result of the current administration's 
>policy and how deep it has affected even the best of sanctuaries and 
>defendants of individual rights, transforming academics and poets into big 
>brothers driven by homeland security to charter the handling of their 
>programmes.
>I informed the programme director of my interest in visiting an Indian 
>reservation and explained to him the reason behind my interest. His 
>initial response was positive. So I took it upon myself to search for 
>potential places I could visit and found one in a neighbouring state. I 
>informed the director where I would be heading -- a short visit to 
>Minneapolis to visit an Indian reserve. The e-mail response that I have 
>received from the director was a total shocker in both language and 
>content. I was threatened with homeland security law, informing me that I 
>could not leave Iowa City and if I did I would be expelled from the 
>programme and the United States. I was made to feel like a prisoner at 
>best, a criminal at worst. At no point before or during my visit was I 
>made aware of any rule in the IWP program restricting the movements of 
>international visitors. Additionally, an immigration officer confirmed 
>that there were no such rules. This incident and what followed thereafter 
>made me think whether this response from the director was an isolated and 
>petty exercise of power or was symptomatic of a bigger picture where 
>homeland security and what it entails is starting to seep into the 
>American system, reaching the gate of institutions that are traditionally 
>viewed as strong voices for the preservation of the individual rights, 
>voices against stereotyping and labelling of the "other". Are the fences 
>of Guantanamo Bay slowly closing on academia, indeed on all of us? I 
>abided by the director's decision and did not go to Minneapolis. Elation 
>and excitement were quickly replaced by feelings of failure and 
>depression. Guantanamo seemed just around the next corner.
>After a few e-mail exchanges with the programme director, and a fruitless 
>effort to get advice or help from the US embassy, I decided to break my 
>silence and to speak out against the intimidation and abuse. I wrote 
>several statements against the unprofessional and undiplomatic handling of 
>my situation, while demanding at the same time an official apology, as 
>well as to be provided with the governing laws by which writers should 
>abide while in the programme. I sent all the official correspondences 
>between the programme director and myself to all parties concerned, as 
>this matter impacted upon all the members of the IWP programme. Not only 
>was I severely criticised for speaking up against this injustice, I was 
>repeatedly intimidated, offended, and threatened by the grave consequences 
>that would be directed at me if I do not put an end to my vocalism, which 
>I took to mean, "Shut up and take the abuse." The programme director, 
>eventually, decided to terminate my participation in the programme because 
>of the public statements I made, as clearly stated in his official letter. 
>I was removed from all my scheduled public cultural activities and my 
>funding was cut, leaving me with two days to evacuate Iowa City. The 
>termination letter cited a US State Department decision that I have yet to 
>receive.
>After my deportation from Iowa City, I joined a group of African Americans 
>who were evacuated from New Orleans after the Katrina hurricane. I felt 
>for them and in some way felt part of them. What those evacuees told me in 
>interview is a counter- narrative that expressed their concerns about how 
>America was, to their minds, disintegrating from within, which has 
>resonated very well with my own experience in Iowa. A different form of 
>"homeland security" had been imposed on them, and their human and 
>constitutional rights had been violated. During the current administration 
>they had more than ever been marginalised, made to feel like they belong 
>to a second-class America. They looked at the breach of the levy that 
>flooded the city, their homes, as a symbol of the neglect of the current 
>administration that is preoccupied with the "unjust" war in Iraq. They 
>were forced at gunpoint -- fully loaded M16s -- to leave their houses 
>while affluent white Americans were extended all necessary assistance and 
>did not have to leave their homes. They told of being searched several 
>times for weapons, as if they were terrorists in their own country. They 
>were shipped in a plane, guarded by armed soldiers, without knowing their 
>destination, to finally land as refugees in Omaha, Nebraska.
>Before I flew back to Egypt, I was able to finally arrange a meeting with 
>Native Americans. I met one of the five elders of the Dakota nation who 
>still speaks the Dakota language and performs the spiritual ceremonies of 
>his tribe. Contrary to what I have heard from the IWP administration, I 
>was unreservedly welcomed by the spiritual elder and his family. I was 
>offered a sweat lodge ceremony that is meant to purify the soul, mind and 
>body, which was attended by other non-Native Americans. We were a mixed 
>group of all colours and ethnic backgrounds. The ceremony began with an 
>ancient Indian saying "we are all relatives." Following the instructions 
>of the spiritual elder, we all prayed in our different languages for the 
>good health and happiness of all people. The ceremony ended again with the 
>same wise man iterating that "we are all relatives." After the ceremony 
>was finished, all of us had a collective dinner at the house of the 
>spiritual interpreter. Before I left the reserve, I asked if I could have 
>an Indian name. They agreed, and a special ceremony was held for me the 
>following day. The name that was given to me from the spiritual world was 
>"Good Eagle Woman."
>I flew back home empowered by the immense knowledge and experience I 
>gained in the US. In spite of having the misfortune of leaving the 
>programme earlier than planned, and being subjected to such unjust and 
>unfortunate treatment from the IWP director, I remain enriched by the 
>whole journey, by finding it in myself to stand up for my rights, to 
>refuse to be intimidated into silence. When I was about to leave the US, I 
>witnessed the emergence of voices that started to speak out against the 
>war, against the erosion of what is great in the American system, against 
>homeland security as pretext for silencing "other" voices. I will always 
>remember the people that came to my defence; the refugees in Nebraska that 
>hosted me when I was deported from Iowa City, and my spiritual enriching 
>encounter with the Natives. As my journey came to a close, I came out of 
>it flying like an eagle having broken free, resisted being bullied into 
>submission, even under the pretext of "homeland security". I can't think 
>of my journey to the US without thinking about the "Good Eagle Woman" as a 
>symbol for resisting silence.
>© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
>Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: 
><http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/777/in2.htm>http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/777/in2.htm 
>

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