April 28, 2007 at 12:57 am (Uncategorized)
1) eat delicious cookie
2) do something girly like paint my toenails or watch schmazzy romantic movie
3) burn business book and cackle as its ashes reach the dark gloomy night sky!!!
Ha-haaa!!! Haaaaah-haaaah-haaa-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Just kiddin’…maybe!
April 26, 2007 at 8:06 pm (New Orleans)
I don’t know but I’ll have some idea once I go back to visit on May 5th. It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve been back. On this next visit, I want to visit the 9th ward. One of my classmates told me that the 9th ward still looks the same. Can you believe that? He’s saying that there’s still flooded and rotted houses just sitting there—and it’s 2007! It will be good to go back since, alhamdulillah, the last class of my degree program will end on Monday! Allahu akbar, I don’t want to see another text book for at least 3 years!
Going back home for a litle bit to celebrate will be great. But I’m kinda nervous. My father says things are getting back to normal. The famous Jazz Fest, which brings in thousands of visitors, is going strong. New Orleans is still bringing party-going tourists to town. Many of the sports events have returned to the Superdome spite of the nightmare that took place in those days after the storm. But as my father stated, normal is not good. New Orleans should be better than usual, not normal. The problem with that the word normal, when used in reference to New Orleans, means sub-standard conditions. There’s a lot of change that needs to happen and when I come down next weekend, I’ll try to find out what’s going on to keep New Orleans going. And of course, I’ll take a whole bunch a pictures.
Another long forgotten victim of Katrina’s wrath was Mississippi. While New Orleanians suffered from the flood waters of breached levees, the southern portion of Mississippi received the brunt of it. Even some buildings here in Jackson were harmed. Many houses and businesses were destroyed by water and wind damage. Biloxi and Gulfport, two of Mississippi’s casino and pleasure towns, were turned upside down. You may have remembered pieces of Interstate 10 and 65 looking like some giant toddler kick it apart. Here’s an article from one of my favorite activists and political writers, Jordan Flaherty, on the abandonment of the Gulf South.
Mississippi Forgotten?
Jordan Flaherty
4/26/07
emphasis mine
Post-Katrina, New Orleans received the headlines. The government response was a glaring example of the heartlessness and incompetence of the Bush administration, and the neglect and devastation of the city remains a powerful symbol of US racism. In struggles around issues such as health care, education, policing, environmental devastation, voting rights and more, New Orleans is on the front lines.
However, although New Orleans has received some long-deserved attention for its crises, Mississippi - by many measures the most impoverished state in the US - received the brunt of the damage from the hurricane. In three hardest hit coastal counties, 64,000 homes were destroyed and more than 70,000 received damage. Many of the poorest residents still have received no federal assistance, and tens of thousands remain spread across the US.
For those who have not returned to their homes, reports Monique Harden of the Gulf Coast organization Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, “displaced residents are subjected to a complex and historic interplay of race, class, and the lack of access to housing, healthcare, education, and economic opportunities.” In Gulf Coast cities, immigrants and other people of color have been for the most part left out of reconstruction funding, and for communities most affected by the storm, rebuilding seems to not be on the government agenda. Schools, health care, and criminal justice systems are in crisis.
“We had our ninth ward in East Biloxi,” Jaribu Hill, executive director of the Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights explains, eferring to the poor, mostly African American and Vietnamese coastal
community that was leveled by Katrina. “The government has been slow to clean up, slow to provide resources, slow to respond. Even now, people have yet to receive aid. Not only is there widespread poverty, there is widespread displacement.”
“There’s no rebuilding being done except for casinos and condos,” Vicky Cintra of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) adds.
MIRA, which has been advocating for immigrant’s rights in Mississippi since 2000, quickly emerged post-Katrina as one of the only voices advocating for immigrants. Since Katrina, MIRA has helped workers recover over $1 million dollars in unpaid wages. “We’re fighting contractors who feel that, because they are dealing with immigrants, they don’t have to pay them, they don’t have to respect worker’s comp laws, or health and safety rules, or any guidelines of ethical behavior,”
Cintra asserts.
Both Hill and Cintra complain that poor people have been left out of the planning process, pointing out that post-storm planning happened for the most part without the input of poor residents, and has focused on building luxury housing and helping to rebuild and expand casinos. “They had it decided and were just waiting for Katrina,” Cintra asserts. “It could have been anything. They were going to get rid of poor
people and people of color. They had plans ready.”
Cintra tells me that in areas like East Biloxi, former neighborhoods are overgrown and empty. “At first, you think its undeveloped land,” she tells me. “But when you walk through the new underbrush you see
the foundations of homes and realize this used to be a populated area. This is where peoples lives used to be.”
The struggle for justice for poor people in Mississippi didn’t begin with Katrina, and advocates and activists see no end in sight. “Before Katrina, people were victims of poverty. We still have the same
problems now, but with displacement added.” Hill says, adding, “This is our work in 2007. We are part of the resistance movement.”
=====================================
Jordan Flaherty is an editor of Left Turn Magazine and a community
organizer based in New Orleans.
email: neworleans@leftturn.org.
On myspace: http://www.myspace.com/secondlines
Podcasts: http://www.nolahumanrights.org (click on “podcasts”)
April 24, 2007 at 5:00 am (Islam and Visual Arts, The Starvin' Artist)
A future series of works based on the Qur’anic descriptions of Paradise
Insha’Allah, this will be completed by August so that I can submit them into a very special art show. The theme of this art show is the Qur’an. Artists must submit works based on Quran’ic verses.
That’s a tall order, ain’t it?
I did come up with something, though. I started reading Surah Rahman (55), one of my most-read chapters of the Qur’an. Of course, in this surah, there’s tons of imagery.
The sun and moon follow calculated courses, and the trees and grasses bow down(55:5-6)
And the Benevolent One has set the earth for creatures, with fruit there, and date palms with spathes, and grain stalks and fragant herbs (55:10-12)
from them come pearls and corals (55:22)
like rubies and pearls (55:58),
in them both are fruits, dates and pomegranates (55:6 
They recline on carpets lined with silk brocade (55:54)
Of course, the verse, “And which favors of your Lord shall you deny?” is repeated throughout the chapter.
I know that this will be somewhat challenging because we really can’t get a grasp on Jannah. The best that we can do as human beings to do use the imagery given to us in order to get an idea of Paradise . But we also have to remember that whatever our minds can come up with, Paradise is better than anything we could imagine. That’s why I’m calling this series Visual Metaphors.
In light of all of the chaos in the world, people need something positive to reflect on. It’s so easy to let this dunya drag you down to the point where you forget that it’s the afterlife that’s the ultimate goal. I hope that this series can offer the viewer some comfort and a yearning for the afterlife. We often talk about the fitna of the grave and the pains of hell but how about reflecting on Paradise? Shouldn’t our worship stem from our love of God, our fear of the fire and our hope for the eternal bliss? We, insha’Allah, will be in the company of loved ones, Habib Allah (sallalahu alayhi wa salaam) and the Most Loving of all.
The challenges of this project are many, as I will have to be careful and make sure that the paintings look like reflections on Jannah rather than really nice still lives and landscapes. Also, since I will being painting plush interiors, I hope they don’t look like painted photo shots from Elle Decor. And while Bosch was a master Dutch painter, I don’t want it to look like the Garden of Earthly Delights. Hopefully, it will all work out.
But someone will ask me, “Hey, what about the hoor al ayn?” “What about the virgins and the pearl-like youths?” ROFL. I talk about that later. Wouldn’t you know how I would address this issue as a Muslima artist? After all, according to some folks, we Muslimas need to get all bent out of shape over the hoor al ayn. LOL! Well, here’s one scholar’s take on that. But we’ll see what I can come up with while keeping it all halal and beautiful at the same time. What visual metaphors could be used for the mates of Paradise? Your suggestions are welcomed.
April 23, 2007 at 10:34 pm (Uncategorized)
Salaam alaikum,
This is one of just many, insha’Allah. I wanted to branch off into decorative glass art and this is my first wack at it. I think these are normally used for candy or things like that. New stuff will come soon once I get my hands on some frosted glass paint. Kewl
April 23, 2007 at 4:37 am (American Society, The Starvin' Artist)
shameless, shameless, shameless.
Okay, there’s this commercial for some men’s product. It’s Nivea for men. It’s some kind of cologne or shaving cream or whatever. Anyway, I’m watching this commercial. The average-normal-looking dude that they always get for these kind of commercials starts off his day at his painfully average office job. He and his normal, average buds go out to eat at this schnazzy restaurant where they, of course, meet some modelesque goddesses. Of course these girls dig them. After all, the head average guy was wearing Nivea.
From I can recall from this crazy ad, the guys and gals go out on a night on the town. They’re taking crazy pictures and then they go to a club where Average Joe rides a mechanical bull. Afterwards, all of them, after a night of drunken frolicing, go to an all night eatery. While talking to this girl who is obviously into him for reasons unknown to me or any random viewer, he looks down at his watch and leaves her while she’s talking. It’s morning and he must go to work. Yeah, man. A beautiful woman is talking to him but he’s so cool with all that Nivea cologne on him that he couldn’t say, “Excuse me, I must leave.”
Now here’s the gross part. This fool put his jacket on and goes to work! He spent all night drinking and clubing and who knows what else but because he slapped on some Nivea, he doesn’t have to take a bath or shower!?!!?!? THAT IS NASTY! He went to work with cigarette smoke, sweat and club funk on him. Naw, I don’t care how nice their product smells, you still need to take a shower or bath after a night like that. And no, wash-offs are not acceptable.
I’m really getting sick of these commercials that sell men this crazy idea that it only takes their product to get the girl, the job and the rep. Especially those dumb Axe commercials. Yeah, you there. You, with no job and halitosis can land that Amazonian queen if you only buy our scented water! Women will simulate stripper poses. That normally challenging, intellectual wife of yours will become the simpering idiot who will make all of your fantasies come true no matter how degrating, embassing or bizarre they may be–and she’ll like it, too! @@ Use our product and for a split second, enter that fantasy world where your pockets are fat and the women are pliant. And where you are so sexy, you don’t have to take a shower. Excuse me.
The raunch culture went too far today.
April 23, 2007 at 3:35 am (Memes)
I owe a bunch of people memes so here one that I promised Umm Farouq over at Southern Muslimah
Ten Weird Things, Habits and Little Facts You Don’t Know about Me.
1) I have freckles. There. I admit it. If you ever meet me, you won’t see them right away. They’re the very small kind of freckles, not the Howdy Doody kind.
2) I’m in the process of overcoming years of what I call numerical dyslexia. I know you guys know that I’m not all that fond of numbers. But sometimes I read numbers incorrectly. So 498 becomes 948 or 489 or 984 or 849…never 498! I’m getting better with numbers since I do run a little business and all. Aw well, I should be happy God gave some creative talent and I’ll just work harder on enhancing my math skills. :-)
3) I love the smell of fresh paint. It’s weird but when I smell fresh paint, I makes me feel like painting something. I’m dying to do murals again. I just to figure where would I put one.
4) Despite my numerical dyslexia, my nerdines made it possible for me to be accepted into the Math club. Ain’t that just geeky?
5) I :::sigh::: was a debutante queen. Yes, I, the serious, go against the grain of high school culture, artist-scholar wore a pretty white dress and danced with her cool escort to Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On. It was cool, though, especially wearing that crown. I sorta looked like Snow White but…it’s a Southern thang. You wouldn’t understand. LOL!
6) It is imperative that my future husband like martial arts films. I will not compromise on this issue. :-) He must like them, particulary martial arts films by Zhang Yimou. Some people think that’s weird but that’s their problem.
7) Back in 2005, I met Ludacris. It turns out some distant relatives sold him a house. It was kinda weird, ya know. He’s just chilling in his car and I’m chilling in the family car thinking Hmm, that’s Ludacris. I met Morgan Spurlock at the ISNA convention in 2006. I have a picture of it somewhere in my computer. He’s very, very tall.
8) I LUV sleep.
9) I’m a sweet freak, if you haven’t guessed it already. But I only need a little bit to get me through the day. I only need one candy bar, not 9.
10) Egypt has been a long desired destination of mine. I’m fascinated by it’s history and insha’Allah, I’ll go there one day.
April 22, 2007 at 4:31 pm (Oppress This!, Waging Peace)
An Islamic Threat to Europe: By the Numbers
by Kristoffer Larsson
Turns out there is no Islamic threat. Can’t tell that to the European leaders, though.
Emphasis mine.
“There were 498 incidents in eleven EU countries last year labelled as “terrorist attacks.” The Basque separatist group ETA did best (136 terrorist attacks) and was responsible for the only deadly attack, killing two in Madrid. The remaining 497 fortunately cost no human lives.
How about the Islamic terrorists then? Considering the perpetual warnings in our daily papers, the findings in the Europol report is, to say the least, surprising. The truth is that Islamists only carried out one out of the 498 terrorist attacks in the European Union in 2006. Don’t believe me? The entire report is available on Europol’s website. Had Islamic fundamentalists been behind a higher number of attacks-say 136-it would have been front page news at every big daily. One attack is simply too few–it won’t do if the image of an “Islamic threat” is to live on.”
April 22, 2007 at 4:25 pm (Bloggin', Da Haters)
Pray tell what that link leads to?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Black Orientalism
I guess I need to go back in there and clean the article up. LOL!
April 18, 2007 at 6:12 am (Rant Box)
…when people are filled with so much despair, so much offense at their own suffering that they take the lives of innocent people. It wasn’t enough that he took his own life. He had to take the lives of others as if he is the only person in the world who knows about real suffering.
…when journalists use that stupid “oh, I care so much” voice when reporting on tragedies. It’s so scripted and stony. I can barely watch them interview the survivors without wanting to throw something at the tv. It’s so fake and affected. I almost want to gag.
…when people hate Muslims so much that they will try to pin anything, and I mean anything on us. I swear, you would think they would kill themselves if we didn’t exist. They only live and breathe to hate us. Wake up! Non-Muslims, no matter what creed they profess to follow, can be just as insane and psychotic as any so-called Muslim doing stupid things in the name of his/her nafs.
…when people politicize tragedies. Can we just mourn? Can we have a moment to weep before we start talking about how this effects the next presidential election? Can we not talk about gun control or gun laws, please?!
…when people blame God. Sweet Lord Aabove, you weren’t gripin’ to the Almighty when He gave you life or when He gave you talents. What about when He blessed you with beautiful children and a loving spouse? What about that nice house or clean clothes or food for days? Of course, I understand that things like this can bring doubt into people’s hearts. But to hear such ingratitude from people who haven’t even experienced loss, depression, trauma or ill health just makes me ill. There’s a Sudanese gang rape victim in Darfur who still says La ilaha ill Allah so may God strengthen those who seek refuge in Him.
…when people blame the devil. Yeah, I said it. On Judgement Day, all those folks who blamed him will have that blame thrown back in their faces. The Despaired One will disown all of them for his plan is only to suggest. If you are such a fool to follow him, to let him whisper murder and you act on it, only God can save you. Audhu billah!
…when people try their best to look for the answer but the one that’s staring them in the face, they refuse to see. This person was obviously deeply disturbed. Sometimes, it is as simple as being crazy. Period. This answer will not bring comfort or help us sleep at night but it is probably closer to the truth than blaming this heinous act on movies or video games.
…when hearing about all this death makes my heart go numb. I will cry about this later, insha’Allah. But like with 9/11, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Katrina, Lebanon, and now Blacksburg, Virginia, I’m just too disgusted to respond.
April 16, 2007 at 7:58 pm (Arts, Bloggin')
Salaam alaikum,
How can I move www.islamicartists.wordpress.com to www.islamicartists.org through wordpress?
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