Culture Junkie's Group Meeting

Wonderful hummus and pita bread and above, little chicken curry mini-wraps

Couscous, served cold

Great display of fruit and in the background, eggplant ratatoule

The group, beginning to arrive.

Today’s discussion about "A Street in Marrakech" was good. (Yes, of course I turned my mobile off!) This literary colloquy is made up of 10 students, 10 staff members (that would be my group) and 10 faculty members. Many had traveled to Morocco and we benefitted from their experiences. One post-doctoral student from Pakistan and gave us wonderful insight into Muslim culture. I chose not to share my dream about baraka but I did share my thoughts and opinions about this book and also a little research I did on the author, which was warmly received. The great thing about this group is that it brings together, through world literature, students, faculty and staff here at UT. There are not many activities here that can successfully achieve such cohesion. In the last couple of years this colloquy has become very popular and now there are more than one group. Maybe it’s the delicious food that is prepared for our discussions. It was better today than it’s ever been. The hummus, delicious; the meat, tender. I think I’m an addict; a culture addict. I have absolutely no discriminations when it comes to culture. Any country, any ethnicity, any place, any time. The other night I went to the apartment of an Indian couple to advise some Chinese friends on whether they should purchase some baby equipment or not. The apartment was filled with the delicious aroma of curry from recent food preparation. I complimented the wife on the wonderful smell and she seemed very pleased. Walking back to the car, I said to my friend, "I need to get a friend from India!"