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Kaytee Manchester’s arms rose and fell in undulating waves, hips swaying in a classic “Ghawazee Shimmy,” feet gliding across the stage to the rhythms of a tribal Saptak song. It was an encouraging reminder that Middle Eastern culture — the one that brought us the burka and moral police — can also celebrate the grace and sensuality of the female body.... Read more

Last month, Arab-Israeli tensions spilled over from the Middle East to the West Bank of Lake Champlain. When a South End Art Hop exhibit depicting the plight of the Palestinians was accompanied by a controversial talk about Zionism and Israel’s future, it unleashed a torrent of accusations and countercharges of intolerance, historical revisionism and Nazi-like bullying tactics — in Vermont.... Read more

Since the late 1980s, Sergeant Joseph Phillips has been employing his primary “combat skill” at a host of strategic sites: Heidelberg, Germany; Moscow, Russia; Middlebury, Vermont.

Come again?... Read more

» Sidebar: VT couple fundraises to build a school in Afghanistan

When Juvenile Court Judge Marzia Basel came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2002, she and her fellow Afghan women judges were given some of the highest diplomatic honors afforded to visiting foreign dignitaries. They had dinner at the White House, met with Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice - then secretary of state and national security advisor, respectively. They also had a 45-minute impromptu chat with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.... Read more

BURLINGTON - At a time when U.S. military forces are struggling against growing insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, two researchers from the University of Vermont are making major strides against a different kind of threat in those war-torn countries: a destructive wheat blight found in many parts of the Middle East, Asia and central Europe. The research promises to dramatically improve food-crop harvests, and it could go a long way toward rebuilding trust among people otherwise wary of American intentions in the region.... Read more

BURLINGTON - Norman Finkelstein contends that the crucial dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are relatively simple, with few, if any, historical facts worthy of scholarly debate. In recent years, he claims, the charge of anti-Semitism is often used to deflect criticism of Israel's human rights abuses. And, he adds, the Holocaust, though a colossally horrific event of the 20th century, doesn't deserve the rarefied moral status Western historians have assigned it.... Read more

MIDDLEBURY -- The explosions erupting across the Middle East may seem far removed from the bucolic Middlebury College campus, but the chaos will come a little closer next Sunday, when the College Summer Language Schools host a "Symposium on Terror and the Mass Media."... Read more

The Middle East: It's hard to imagine a place more frequently in the news and less understood by most Americans. Yet the fate of that troubled region is inextricably linked with our own, and not only because of the war in Iraq. So if you find a couple of experts in your neighborhood, why not put them together, eavesdrop on their conversation, and learn something?... Read more

Remember "Piss Christ"? In case you've forgotten, that was Andres Serrano's 1987 photo of a crucifix submerged in a glass of his own urine. Two years after the photo was taken, it set off a firestorm of public controversy, particularly because Serrano was the recipient of a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Alfonse D'Amato (R-New York) called it "a deplorable, despicable display of vulgarity," and tore up a copy of "Piss Christ" on the Senate floor.... Read more

COLCHESTER -- The Saturday night potluck at Vermont's only mosque looked a lot like any other church supper. The plates were styrofoam. The forks were plastic. A line of kids waited to pour the orange soda.

But it was different, too. The aluminum trays held chickpea, rice and noodle dishes rather than meatloaf. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the room, divided by a gold curtain. And the congregation was multicultural -- 100 or so diners came from as far away as Singapore, Somalia, Yemen and Sri Lanka.... Read more