About the Blog
“A…B…C…Development” was first constructed for new entrants in the world of development as an introduction to the developmental issues in an attractive way. Surprisingly, I found out that persons with great involvement and long experience in development also liked the content. These people need a break and an attractive means to deal with developmental causes and concepts. Art can undoubtedly do this for them.
In my opinion, development is a huge mansion made of numerous building blocks. These blocks are CONCEPTS. If these concepts are highlighted, promoted, and eventually manifested in actions, development will surely happen. Moreover, these concepts need to be built in a concrete way to be able to hold the “mansion” and protect it from all earthquakes. I believe that art can do this as well. One painting, movie, or a few-minutes-long dance or song can last in one’s memory for decades visualizing a concept or a cause. It can flash in the mind much more often and more vividly than lines read in a huge book with long explanations. This is the reason of the blog’s name: “A…B…C…Development” showing that Art Best Conceptualizes Development.
The blog selects some of the important concepts needed as the stepping stones of development. Concepts and issues discussed here are concerned with the development of both humans and communities. In human development, the focus is basically on showing the importance of human development, offering role models as motivating examples, suggesting means of expressing oneself, leadership, shedding light on different tracks in life for people to pursue, and highlighting various personal skills. In community development, issues tackled include coexistence, nationalism, conserving resources, social entrepreneurship, social inclusion, and many others.
Various artistic pieces will be shown/screened (or at least discussed) here: e.g. cartoons, stories/novels, movies, music, songs, operette, dances, paintings, photographs, and poems. Notably, the main focus will be on songs.
It is a bilingual blog in Arabic and English. Selected posts will be available in English, Arabic, or both (if one of the Arabic posts/movies is found interesting to a non-Arabic reader, please add this as a comment to see what can be done about it (like including a summary or translating it). Artistic parts are basically selected from (but not restricted to) these two languages. Translation of the different contents (mainly lyrics) will be done interchangeably, whenever possible, from English to Arabic or vice versa to allow readers of both languages benefit from contents of the other language.
I hope you enjoy the art and thoughts in this blog and think of the concepts included. I also wish to make you taste art in a new way…a way that lasts forever…………………
God bless you all.
Samaa Hazem Hosny
