for all my fellow word-lovers out there:
– MoorishGirl
– Words Without Borders: The Online Magazine for International Literature
– Mizna: Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab America
and for those of you who prefer pictures instead:
– Bendib Cartoon: Independent, uncensored, free-speech political cartoons
All links via Dove’s Eye View, another weblog you should read. Because I said so. So get to it.
The latest tagline at the top of the page (traces of sun left in spines pour beautiful through eyes) is from this beautiful poem by Sriram Shamasunder, who even has a weblog that I most definitely recommend you read, including as many of the archived posts as you can cram into your day. Like, all of it. Check that, peoples.
And one more thing, from a post by Leila, whose entire archives deserve to be read:
I think I need to clarify what I meant when I said I hoped we wouldn’t be sore losers. I did not mean that we should give up activism, our beliefs, or our place in society. I did mean that conspiracy theories like “the machines were programmed in favor of Bush” were ways of missing the point. Here’s what a friend said recently that I agree with: “We have to face the hard fact that 51% of us have actually asked for whatever happens next; that this was a fair fight and we now have a legitimate president.”
This is what I’m talking about. That we, as democrats, have been unable to make connections with enough citizens of our country to have the vote go in our favor. That we haven’t, as another friend mentioned so eloquently, been able to provide alternatives to the various fears that drove this last election the way it went. That in spite of the fact that so many of the world’s educational institutions and think tanks tend toward the left, we haven’t harnessed that power and energy to solve this problem (or at the very least to market our values better). This is a wake up call.
Canada is not the solution. Whining about machines is not the solution. Being smarter and more strategic is the solution.
Keep that activist spirit alive, kids.
As always, Sofia said it very well:
Let me be like the Ahl Al Kahf and surrender to slumber for another century, or at least another four years, where God protects me for being a true believer, so that when I wake up the whole world will have finally come around to see what I already envision, and everyone converts to liberal moderation. Or libertarianism.
Following is the “brief and simple commentary of a philosopher friend” and colleague of my father’s (after my dad’s note checking in):
—–Original Message—–
From: NK
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 11:03 AM
To: JL
Subject: Are you in today?J,
Left you a voice message but heard nothing from you. Just wanted to know if you are okay. I know you took this election contest extremely seriously and, therefore, it must have a big impact on you. I can understand that, but we must look forward now. Life (as we know it) will go on, with George W. Bush for four more years — even if with fewer participants in it.Call me.
N—–Original Message—–
From: JL
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 12:02 PM
To: NK
Subject: RE: Are you in today?I’m here but arrived later than usual. Took me some time this morning to sew up my slashed wrists. Agree we must resign ourselves to what we can’t control. Clear to me now that things must get a lot worse for many more people before things can change for the better. Some consolation in thinking that Bush left to his own devices will create even more of a problem in second four years than he has in the first, thereby increasing the chances more people will wake up and do the math. But I have believed for a long time that sooner or later the other shoe will drop, and when it does the results will make 9/11 look like child’s play. If things get worse in a catastrophic way, a knee-jerk reaction is more likely than a sobering up.
Have to remember this has always been a very conservative society. Dumb religiosity plus affinity for simplistic answers is no less prevalent here than in Pakistan. Europeans must be appalled by the results, but those who are gloating today need to remember that majority rule is no guarantee the right course of action has been chosen: Hitler came to power in ’33 because a majority of Germans voted for him in what was regarded as a relatively fair election. Republican success in getting working poor to support privileges for the rich is remarkable; conservative social institutions married to big capital is nothing new, it’s the basis of fascism everywhere.
It’s a sad day.
I’m contemplating investing in a one-way ticket to Australia, where they have kangaroos and wombats and, hopefully, sunshine. A mass exodus sounds fun right about now. Who’s up for joining me?
EDIT- But, as always, Christine gives me hope:
It breaks my heart to think that those who voted for the first time this year, those who spent countless days and nights canvassing neighborhoods and raising money, those who kept their hopes up until the very last minute, might look at today and think it was all for nothing. It would be too easy to throw our hands up in the air and stop trying. But we can’t give up yet… I can do my part, as small as it may be, to help those around me. I can keep educating myself and others. I can continue to speak my mind and heart. But give up? I just can’t do that yet.
i swear like i’ve got hella extra time on my hands
This is the coolest link ever. Or maybe I’m just really, really easily amused – a condition that is already well-established, since it has been previously documented on this weblog a bajillion times.
Thanks for the link, Zainab. And for forgiving me for being so terrible at staying in touch. :)
[p.s. That first sentence initially stated, “This is, like, the coolest link ever.” That’s because I was typing it out exactly as I would have said it in real life. Actually, I would really have said it as, “That’s like the coolest link ever.” Please note the use of a conjunction as well as the lack of commas – and, therefore, the lack of an implied pause – in the latter sentence. See how it flows all nice and smooth? And, yes, that sentence is grammatically incorrect, but that’s okay, because I’m very grammatically incorrect in real life, and who wants to be grammatically correct on a weblog all the time anyway? I mean, really.]
hella trippy, hella fun, hella nor-cal, what?
Hours of amusement, entertainment, you name it. Okay, so maybe not hours. But still, the things I do to escape from writing research papers… Geez louise.
Yeah, yeah, so you think you’re so smart and cool and all that. You think people hang on to your every word and can’t stop laughing when they’re in your vicinity. But tell me, how good are you at telling the difference between fake and genuine smiles? You sure they love you as much as you think they do? For all you know, maybe they’re just pretending they’re happy to see you.
Check out the experiment and see how you do. I got 17/20. I’m a rockstar, obviously. Then again, it wasn’t that difficult at all. But I (mostly) know my smiles, simply because I’m the queen of cheesy grins. Funny thing is, I took the test twice and messed up on the same three people. Of the three I got wrong, two guys I labelled as fake smilers were actually being genuine. Oops.
[p.s. In related news, check out Zack‘s post on Facial Expression from a few weeks ago.]
– only because SecretAgentMAN was already taken…
Beautiful and evocative poetry, hilariously insane ramblings
– “a wonderful, truly inspiring story” [via Ublog]
A Road Paved With Pledges and Pain
– darn east coast keeps tripping me up
– safe area america
Graphic novelist Joe Sacco goes back to Sarajevo with his powerful new book “The Fixer” — and talks about why the entire U.S. population should be tried for war crimes. [Click through a couple of random ads in order to get full access to the article. It’s well worth it.]
Do you see any contradiction in the fact that you want to be a part of America, you sell your books here, and yet you’re very critical of the American people?
I have a deep affection for this country, and in many ways living here and deciding to seek citizenship is my little way of taking some personal responsibility for how it acts. So I don’t see a contradiction at all. I see a duty.
i should write one of these
Yes, I’ve been busy sleeping my life away lately, and yes, my comments link is on crack. But it’s okay. We can deal, right? Here, read this…something I found off a cool website. A beautiful piece of writing that I wanted to share, and I have been granted kind permission to do so.
“Letter to God,†by Javed Memon, from www.hijabman.com:
Assalamu alaikum God. Ha, not that you need the peace, you already have infinite amounts. And a sense of humor that I probably couldn’t even comprehend.
Its about 2 am, Thursday night… there should be a lunar eclipse tonight. Unfortunately I can’t see it from my balcony anymore. The room is warm, the fan made this clicking sound… I turned it off. The room is warm, like I said, enough to make me feel like I need a cold shower– you know, where I just feel sticky all over.
I’m hungry, but not enough to warrant eating anything but some chocolate. Perhaps I’ll make some iced Turkish-apple-tea. That would definitely hit the spot, more so than this orange powder drink crap.
I just wanted to say thank you. Most of all, I would like to thank you for my ability to feel your presence. The feeling that I describe as the wind chimes… the feeling I talk and write about so much that people make fun of me for it. I still don’t feel like I’ve done it justice. The cool wind chimes tingling all through out my body, reminding me of my soul’s urge to return back to you after this is all over. The feeling of cold ginger ale being poured inside my body, reminding me of what I need to do in this life. That one feeling is the culmination.. that one sixth sense.. is where all of my emotions find their base.. or at least until my environment, or my own intellect twists them around.. I do admit that it happens at times.
I also wanted to say thank you for the people you have allowed me to meet in the past, in the present, and in the future. They will have all touched me in ways I cannot even begin to describe. From the one or two instant messages that people label as insignificant, to the all-night conversations about life. The man who sells me fuul and ta’amiya, the woman at the kushari place on Muhammad mahmoud street, [oh, there is that feeling…. Mmmm], the people who smile at me, who share with me parts of their life.. they are all there.. reminding me of You.
And my brain. And my circumstances, and the resources available at my disposal, and the music that inspires, and my ability to dance [even though it may not be pretty] to release all of this energy I have sometimes. And for the message. The simple, easy to understand message that blows my mind because it’s so simple. How I wish more of my fellow people realized its wisdom.
Haahahaha, and that feeling I get when I have my legs up like this while I’m typing up a letter…. The pins and needles.. letting me know that I need to unclamp my blood vessels and feed the cells down at the tips of my toes.
Oh God, help me and strengthen me—to be one of your beloved servants. I will begin to strive. I want to strive. I have been striving, but not nearly as hard as I should be. Please, continue to give me reminders. I know sometimes I can be a fool, and love what is not the best for me. But I know I am changing, and I know I can change more. And if You will, I will change the world.
So much more than Love [this aching in my chest can’t just be love],
Javed
So it’s midnight, and i’m sitting here wading through the 43971361735 emails I’ve received in the address i use for my halaqa/BAMY (Bay Area Muslim Youth) emails. So much stuff i’m behind on, man. One week of studying for finals, plus another week of almost killing myself through MORE studying and actually taking the final exams has got me all behind on important things like food and sleep and…emails. :) So i shall spend the coming week of spring break catching up on all those, insha’Allah.
I’m also listening to a recitation of Surah Al-Dhukhan (the 44th surah) on CD. I started out a couple hours ago with Surah Ya’Sin (the 36th surah), so we’re making progress here. It’s nice, masha’Allah…good background recitation as i skim my emails and peruse online newspaper articles and hit “refresh” on my blog every 10 minutes (at least i admit i’m addicted!!).
I managed to catch about 2 minutes of “news” on t.v. sometime this evening. Don’t remember what station it was though. But the cameraman kept repeatedly panning back to a group of 3-4 young boys standing at the edge of an Iraqi field bordering a main road…little boys who were grinning widely, waving madly, and forming the peace sign with their hands as they triumphantly held up the bright yellow emergency food ration packages they had just received from U.S. troops. According to the U.S. t.v. channels, the Iraqi people love us. Nice, right? Riiiiight. So how come I just followed a link off someone’s blog and read an article on The Independent’s site about another group of Iraqi children who aren’t grinning happily. Why don’t our U.S. news channels talk about these children, dammit?? I see, so THIS is what we call “liberating the Iraqi people.” Suuuuure. It’s so damn frustrating.
I’ve also been sitting here reading The Guardian for the past hour or so. More specifically, i’m reading about Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist who was “crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army from destroying homes in the Gaza Strip.” Last week, as I kept running across her story, I would see references to the emails she wrote her family during her time in Palestine. Tonight, I’m actually reading some of her emails as posted by The Guardian, and they’re so heartbreaking. May Allah swt have mercy on her soul, and may He grant her entrance into Jannat-al-Firdaus for her courageous efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. As Bill Speirs (General Secretary, Scottish TUC) said, “George Bush has been silent about her death, but she should be remembered as representing the best of America. He will be remembered as representing the rest.” Hell yeah. In case any of you have been missing out just as i have been, here’s some of the emails (if you haven’t read them already, please take some time to do so right now; if you have already, reread them anyway. I think it’s worth the time):
Rachel’s emails I
Rachel’s emails II
Rachel’s last email
Various reflections on Rachel’s death
We were up in Sacramento, visiting the psycho soap opera drama family (my relatives) for most of the day today. Something to cheer everyone up: I’m an aunt again! :) My bhabhi gave birth to a byooooootiful little baby girl last night, masha’Allah. My bhabhi is actually the wife of my second cousin, but our family is so close that we don’t really make distinctions like that. For example, Somayya is also my second cousin…and it’s HER first cousin who’s married to the bhabhi. But “first-cousin” and “second-cousin” and all that sound sooo cold and formal. Forget that, man. So anyway, i now have another adorable little niece. She was born 3 weeks early, but she weighed 7 pounds at birth…healthy baby, masha’Allah. We went to visit her and the mama in the hospital, and the baby is sooooooo cuuuuuuute and fragile. She’s all red. And she’s got a headful of black hair already. lol. Oh, and it was funny cuz we were walking down the hospital corridor and passed by this closed door marked, “Pediatric Audiology,” and i was like, ooooooh. I wanted to open the door and bust in and be like, Whassuuuuuup?? But then i decided to restrain myself. ;)
Anyway, it’s getting way late now, and my Daddy-o is probably gonna come along any second and scold me for being up so late now that finals are over and i don’t have any excuses to be pulling all-nighters anymore. Soooo…fi aman’Allah, everyone. Have a beautiful, SUNNY day tomorrow! :)