Second Star On The Right

Judgmental crusaders

2009-09-08T13:42:00.002+10:00

Making top story on news.com.au today was an opinion piece by an author who asks "WHY are we suddenly lavishing love on the larger ladies given that half of all Australians are overweight, and one-fifth of us are morbidly obese?"

She rails against a new trend to have bigger girls on catwalks and in magazines, saying that although having bigger, yet healthier models is ok, if they tip the scales too much, it only adds to an acceptance of obesity.

"So it just doesn't make any sense to also be sending the message that it's not only OK to be fat, it's a sign of self-empowerment.

Let's face it, Australians - like Americans - do not need any encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on weight.

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight."

I absolutely hate stories like this. It’s an argument that constantly criticizes obese people, that treats them as anyone but human just because we can’t

Sure, it is not healthy to be obese. But I would think the majority of bigger people do not want to be in the situation they are in.

They should not be judged on it. They should not be made to feel as if they are hurting society somehow by being what some think is a blight on our international image (Australia is becoming the most obese nation etc etc).

We don’t judge people for their other unhealthy habits – the people who binge drink every weekend or smoke a pack a day. Occasionally we will warn that this isn’t healthy, but because it often doesn’t lead to such extreme changes in their body image (depending on how bad the habit), we refrain from the hurtful comments we direct towards bigger people.

When it comes to bigger people, suddenly its ok to judge them, calling them fatties, making them feel as if they were the scum of the earth. I detest it.

One of my best friends in high school used to make hurtful remarks about other people’s mothers, saying that they had put on weight, that they still looked pregnant.

I would always feel really embarrassed and ashamed that I didn’t have the conviction to actually stand up to her and disagree.

I was even more ashamed because my mother is bigger. I always loved her for it because she gives the best cuddles in the world. When I was little I told her I never wanted her to loose weight because I liked lying on her stomach.

It’s sad that adults don’t see these little rays of light that children do.

Another thing I hate is the disproportionate focus on women if they are bigger.

I was previously a size 12-14 in 2007 and after adopting a few lifestyle changes (going to gym because my close friend was doing it) dropped down to a size 10.

Immediately I saw the difference in how people perceived me, especially boys. It was as if I had developed some form of extra character trait that suddenly made people like me more. I was suddenly getting so many compliments, from many who didn’t seem to believe the “transformation”.

I felt more confident in my own skin, but that was only because I was finally fulfilling the societal conventions that were expected of me.

As a girl, I had to look a certain way and be a certain weight to be accepted (although I should note this is on university res, where girls tend to sleep in five beds a week and boys happily oblige).

In comparison, in 2006 I moved into a house that had no full-length mirrors. It was pretty much one of the happiest times of my life.

I ate what I wanted and I wore what I wanted.

When I went home, everyone called me fat. I was a size 14.

I was so distressed by the reaction I immediately went on a diet. I felt like everyone was looking at me and laughing at me. This doesn’t even come close to feeling how bigger people feel when they go out on the street.

Making them feel worse by opining against certain things that finally place them in a popular light in pop culture is despicable to me.

People shouldn’t be made to lose weight because of society’s poking and pestering, they should do it because they want to, out of cosmetic, health or any other reason.

It’s all about choice. We can spare the judgement.

Troubles in writer's land

2009-05-05T10:09:00.002+10:00

I wrote this in a diary a few months ago and thought it adequately sums up what I'm feeling...

My favourite time at school was not recess, but when the teachers would utter those words "short story". Creative writing sparked a light in me and I could sit for the rest of the afternoon delving over a story. If one line particularly delighted me, I would read the whole story again just for the sheer pleasure of that sentence. I would try and place more in, some came naturally, some were more tortured. My second favourite activity was library time, when one afternoon a week we were allowed to change our books. Most of the time I had swapped them prior, indulged in them over night under the covers of my blanket. I took sanctuary in the feelings the books gave me. They were not literary masterpieces, but they washed me in their words, caressed me in their printed embrace. A blank paper was like my television, except instead of seeping creativity from my brain, it nurtured it.

When I started high school, my writing faltered, twittering out like a bird being silenced. I became obsessed with the petty politics of my circle, which went round and round and provided no ending. Occasionally we would be given creative writing tasks, but the feeling had changed. It was replaced with dread and laziness. No longer could I string beautiful sentences together so easily. Maybe children are the best writers, they care less about perfection and delight in the process. I abandoned writing for fun and saw it as a chore.

It is only now that I am picking it up again and my words have become burdens. They hinder me. They are the same over and over again; my sentences are so common and cliched. I'm trying to break out of it but it's taking longer than I thought. I want my fingers to fly over keyboards, think of metaphors that describe what I'm saying, that aren't just planted there like a red rose amongst yellow. The thing I am having trouble with is this: I can't distinguish good writing from bad. Ok, maybe I can. Maybe it is the fact I can't distinguish mediocre writing from the magnificent. How can you judge that? And how do you turn the tap on to make it flow? To foster the creativity I know could brim out of me?

Where's our compassion?

2009-04-17T15:24:00.000+10:00

I was impressed by Australia's collective display of compassion in February, after bushfires swept through Victoria, devastating families.

Somewhere along the line this compassion has been lost. Sure, we would still show compassion to our fellow Australians. But when it comes to refugees, those who risk their lives to escape their plight back home, we turn a blind eye.

It makes my blood boil. Not all Australians are like this of course, but there are still many who can't seem to feel compassion or empathy for the plight of refugees.

I noticed after reading a story on an explosion on an asylum-seekers’ boat, which killed three people and injured dozens more.

According to media reports, the 31 boat people were from Afghanistan, a situation where Australian troops are currently involved.

Now I know taking blog comments as an indication of wider society is fraught with possible mistakes, but I just can't help but rebuke many of those who are saying, "why should we be treating them?" or those saying “Australia’s full”.

Here are just a few samples:

“They blew up the ship because they knew they would be taken onto another vessel, which increased there chances of being taken to the Australia mainland...This is going to be an increasing problem now due to Rudd's change in policy on Not using the detention centre on Xmas island..He's allowed the previous boaties access to housing on the island And paid them about $250 a Week to cover expenses!!!!!! Geeez, for some of these people thats about 3 months salary and they dont have to work for it... I can guarantee you that some of that money was spent calling home and booking their families on the next boat out!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the new age of ocean cruising for the poor....
Posted by: ashley of Bunbury

"I agree with Scott from Perth fix them and send them back, when it comes to our naval personal being harmed through the act of sabotage I don't have sympathy – Joann Ahmat of darwin

"Meanwhile the good citizens of Australia have to wait in line for treatment while these queue jumping fakes get immediate and first class medical attention. Fix them up and send them back. - Dennis of Sydney

“Asylum seekers? Call it as it is, they are illegal immigrants! We do not know who they are, what crimes may have committed, what illness or dreaded disease they have. Two of our navel personnel have been injured in what looks to be a deliberate act, thus a deliberate attack on two Australians. - Greg of Sydney

“These illegals should be held responsible! If they want to burn their own boat down they should swim their way back to the war riddin country they came from! It is time to get serious about the illegal situation as all we seem to do is stand on our foreshore and welcome these people into our country with open arms. If only we treated our homeless people in the same manner we treated the illegals. Tell me.. Why do we have the Navy protecting our waters if we just let these people in? Time to get serious Mr Rudd and stop wasting the tax payer dollar. - Ex - Jack Tar of Darwin

“I think they blew up their own boat to get free access to Australia. Fix them up and send them home. How dare they come over here when our Defence Force men and women are over there fighting and dying trying to fix their country.
- Emma of Glenelg

Then Crikey.com.au has compiled some more disgusting comments from callers to talk-back radio…you can read that here.

I mean really? These people are escaping from Afghanistan – where there is a war coming from. Do you think they came over here to steal their way into Australia’s health system?

I just hate the way these refugees are immediately lumped into “they”, as if they are less than human. Where did the compassion go Australia? Compassion should be everlasting – we couldn’t possibly have used it all up on the Victorian bushfire victims. We just choose not to direct it to those who are different from us

Orwell was rejected as well!

2009-04-08T14:27:00.004+10:00

This will be of interest to all of you, my dear writer friends, especially you Miss Melissa, who I know loves Animal Farm and George Orwell.

Even he was rejected, and by famous poet T.S. Elliot because of the politics of his classic "Animal Farm".

When Orwell submitted his novel, an allegory on Stalin's dictatorship, Eliot praised its "good writing" and "fundamental integrity".

However, the book's politics, at a time when Britain was allied with the Soviet Union against Hitler, were another matter.

"We have no conviction that this is the right point of view from which to criticise the political situation at the current time," wrote Eliot, adding that he thought its "view, which I take to be generally Trotskyite, is not convincing".

Eliot wrote: "After all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm -- in fact, there couldn't have been an Animal Farm at all without them: so that what was needed (someone might argue) was not more communism but more public-spirited pigs."

It shows that if you are rejected, don't give up. If you really believe in what you are doing, and are completely happy with the end product, keep trying.

I'll keep going back to this example when I finally get around to penning my own novel.

Coming back

2009-03-24T12:35:00.002+11:00

Well I feel bad to have neglected my blog - but I am well surrounded by other blog neglecters (Hint hint: Melissa... Chris...) so I don't feel quite as bad. The only one to have kept up with her wonderful blog, despite her troubles, is Princess Jo. Nevertheless, I hope all my friends are going well... and forgive me for my belated entry.

So this is just going to be an update on what is happening in my life etc etc. Basically I have started university full time and am trying to juggle it with full time work. So far it seems to be going ok, as I have a routine with my dino. (I call you-know-who Dino Morea). Basically it goes like this:

7 am - drag myself out of bed, wash, brush etc etc.

8 am - stumble into work.

3:50 pm: leave work

4:10 pm - arrive ten minutes late for my Hindi class (thankfully my tutor is really relaxed)

5 pm - drive home and go to the uni library, do basic research or procrastinate on facebook

7 pm - go home, rest for a bit

8:30 pm - go to gym

9:30 - go home, eat

11 pm - go to labs - study

1 am - fall asleep on the chairs while Taimoor surfs the net

3:30 am - make it to my own bed

7 am - do it all again

So as you can imagine - it's become a busy life but I'm enjoying it immensely. It should be noted, however, that I have yet to finish my 3000 word international studies essay.

The sad thing is, I have basically no time for any interesting things. It is usually regulated to the weekends. But this Sunday I slept all day - waking up at 5 pm in the afternoon. It felt like such a waste of a day, and yet it completely revitalised me for the rest of the week.

I am currently writing for a student magazine on campus. It's about social justice and is coming out monthly.

God... I am such a boring person.

That is why I don't usually blog on my own life. I am too damn boring.

Please blogger friends - wake up! I need something to read at work :-P

Twitter

2009-02-20T13:46:00.003+11:00

I have joined the ever-growing legions of "Twitterers"... or more accurately, I think they call them "Tweets". Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm still new to it.

Anyway, you can find me by clicking here.

Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull are both following me! It's a great tool for letting out small frustrations in the middle of the work day :-)

It makes me wonder...

2009-02-04T15:38:00.003+11:00

I often wonder what compels people to conduct horrific acts, especially on children, and especially when they themselves are so young. Did they suffer similar abuse as children? Are the mentally sound? Are they driven by the mob? Whatever it is, I don't think I could ever understand.

Today I was watching on Sky News the sentencing of the five who abused the New Zealand toddler Nia Glassie. It's one of the most horrific stories you'll ever hear (that's not true, which makes the fact even more sad)

This is the abuse suffered by little Nia before she died, as catalogued by Stuff.co.nz

A SHORT BUT TORTURED LIFE
Abuse suffered by Rotorua three-year-old Nia Glassie during her short but tortured life included:

* Kicked in the face, causing her nose to bleed;
* Hit, slapped, punched and jumped on;
* Objects such as shoes thrown at her;
* Verbal insults, for example continually being told she was ugly;
* Forced into a television cabinet drawer;
* Dragged through the sandpit half-naked;
* Shoved into piles of rubbish;
* Made to bathe in cold water in mid-winter;
* Folded into a sofa and sat on;
* Flung against the wall;
* Held high in the air and dropped to the floor;
* Used for adult wrestling moves copied from a Playstation game;
* Whirled rapidly on a rotary clothesline until flung off;
* Put into a tumble dryer and spun on high temperature;
* Had her head and feet dangled into the fireplace when the fire was lit;
* Kicked repeatedly in the head because she was crying;
* Left lying in a coma for 36 hours without medical attention.

Here's the story:

The four-week trial over the violent death of Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie ended today with murder convictions for brothers Wiremu and Michael Curtis.

Wiremu Curtis, 19, and Michael Curtis, 22, were found guilty in Rotorua High Court this afternoon over what the Crown described as horrific ongoing abuse and beatings which equated to torture and eventually led to the three-year-old's death.

Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was found guilty on two manslaughter charges relating to a lack of protection and failure to seek medical help for her critically injured daughter.

Kuka was Wiremu Curtis's partner at the time of the abuse.

Nia died of brain injuries in Auckland's Starship Hospital on August 3 last year, two weeks after suffering what the Crown said were fatal kicks to the head by the brothers.

...Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20, and Michael Curtis' partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were found not guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death.

They were, however, found guilty along with the Curtis brothers on various other charges.

Here's the composite picture of the five that abused or neglected Nia from stuff.co.nz:

Looking at them, I just can't understand what was going through their brains while they watched Nia. It's hard for me to demonize them because you obviously have had to be seriously disturbed to have done this. And yet I am very angry, I just don't know who to direct it towards.

Random happenings in my life

2009-01-30T12:38:00.004+11:00

I'm feeling a bit jealous at the moment. All those grade 12 graduates who now have the world at their feet. And then there is me, who is utterly stuck it seems. Well, I'm not entirely jealous. I'm happy for them. My sister has just landed a brilliant job in an economic downturn where employers are slashing and employees are wallowing. She'll have a whole year to come to terms with what she wants to do. And I couldn't be more happier for her.

But now I feel like I am stilted. This year is going to bring a whole new lot of amazing opportunities for me journalism-wise - the opportunity to write more features, write for a television current affairs show and continue what I am doing. But I just keep backtracking and wondering. I guess you can't have your career all stitched up at 20. It doesn't work that way. I know one day I may change direction, and I have to prepare myself for that.

On a lighter note, my last blog post was my 69th :-P That one is for you Christopher!

So what has been happening with me? I have taken a significant break from the blogosphere of late. Some days I just couldn't be bothered and other days I want to keep writing and writing and writing :-) I'm in the waiting room right now - just biding my time, taking it slow, until university starts again. I can't wait to be busy, a bit worn out. Right now I feel abit lazy. All I do is go to work and come home and talk and laugh and eat.

Yesterday I started my gym for the year and I hope to keep going and getting in a routine. I'm going to Vanuatu in July and they have a bad habit of telling it like it is - if I put on weight they'll greet me and say "you've gotten fat!" So in order to salvage my self-esteem I am going to have to work a bit harder.

I have applied for cross-institutional studies to learn Hindi. Hopefully that works because this could be my second language. I love Hindi and Urdu and I hope I get to the point where I can speak it fluently. It'll be deadly awesome.

I plan to write more short stories this year and begin the draft for my debut novel. I have decided what it will be and it will give me the opportunity to stir up a bit of controversy, in a good way of course. I'm not out to win the Booker, but I want to produce something I am proud of.

I'm trying to figure out what makes a piece of writing great. I have been trying to read a host of award-winning literature, and to be honest, the award-winning stuff often makes me entirely bored. That's because I have been reading short story compilations. I don't know, I think short story writing is completely out of my arena of interest. It really bores me. But I've begun reading the pieces that make it into The New Yorker (my new favourite website) and trying to consider why they have been selected.

Am also now addicted to The Economist. Great magazine.

I can't wait to start Broadcast Journalism this semester. It's gonna be so good learning a different medium.

Anyway, I better go, this entry is getting more boring as it progresses!

Luv
Amy

Why Bollywood is so successful

2009-01-14T14:40:00.002+11:00

As a die-hard devotee to Bollywood, I have carefully constructed my arguments as to why the movies are filmed the way they are. They are superficial, they are full of cheap humour, they have singing and dancing and impossibly beautiful people.

- From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

They aren't "real" is the criticism I receive. But what is forgotten is the whole point of cinema and entertainment is to forget. To enjoy life for at least three hours before stepping out into the real world. In a country like India, where the extreme rich and the extreme poor live side by side, i believe movies act as a form of letting go. They also have to appeal to a broad cross-section, and be family friendly at the same time, thus the g-rated themes (although if you see some of the newer movies, they are not always g-rated ;-) )

Anyway, nothing more summed up my theory than this article about the new Indian movie Slumdog Millionaire:

LIFE in the alleyways of Mumbai's sprawling Juhu slum is revealed in the Golden Globe-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. But when Juhu locals were asked if they would like to watch the film, they were not very interested.

"We don't want to watch the film, we live the life it shows," 19-year-old Surajit Pal told The Times of India. He would prefer to see the Bollywood action blockbuster Ghajini, based on the western thriller Memento and doing big business in India.

Another Juhu resident, 21-year-old Vikas Mishra, said he could not understand why people would find a film of their slum interesting. "I don't like it here. It's not a nice place to stay," he said.

The hit movie about an impoverished orphan who wins the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? has not even been released here yet.

I can't play this game anymore

2008-12-09T15:46:00.003+11:00

Reasons why I hate journalism:

It is too ideological.

It is too shallow.

It forgets things and moves on, regardless of the wider issue. It basically has the attention span of a gold fish.

Journalists are very rarely experts at anything. And yet they are called upon to be experts on everything.

Regardless of how you hard you try, your work will always be biased towards your view. It could be as simple as putting a quote above another quote, or who you choose to quote.

It is dictated by trends.

It is dictated by corporations who control everything.

It is a commodity.

Reasons I like journalism

It puts things on the public record.

It helps hold power to account.

It has the ability to get news out to a large and varied audience.

It analyses events in an easy way to understand.

I'm torn between loving and hating the media at the same time. The problem I am facing now is, do I still want to be a part of this industry? Am I meant for something else?

A late bloomer

2008-12-03T15:57:00.004+11:00

I'm one of those dreamers who believe they can write a masterpiece by 25. At 14, I thought I would write it by 17. At 20, I've given myself 5 years to get it done. I don't know what it is. It's this perception that youth produces newness, something that never has been done before.

That was until I read this article in The New Yorker. It's about the Late Bloomers of the literary and art worlds. If you are getting frustrated with your writing, I really encourage you to read it by clicking here. It does put everything in perspective about how the greats produced their work.

Read how Mark Twain used to work:

"Galenson quotes the literary critic Franklin Rogers on Twain’s trial-and-error method: “His routine procedure seems to have been to start a novel with some structural plan which ordinarily soon proved defective, whereupon he would cast about for a new plot which would overcome the difficulty, rewrite what he had already written, and then push on until some new defect forced him to repeat the process once again.”

Twain fiddled and despaired and revised and gave up on “Huckleberry Finn” so many times that the book took him nearly a decade to complete. The Cézannes of the world bloom late not as a result of some defect in character, or distraction, or lack of ambition, but because the kind of creativity that proceeds through trial and error necessarily takes a long time to come to fruition.

The author uses the example of celebrated author Ben Fountain throughout the piece, and looks at his experience of a "late bloomer".

A very interesting story that shows you shouldn't hurry things along. If it's meant to be it's meant to be. Be yourself and don't worry about others.

I just don't get it

2008-11-24T13:56:00.003+11:00

Today I was reading an editorial in the Age, applauding a local mufti on calling for desegregation in mosques.

IN MOSQUES across Australia Muslims are accustomed to men and women sitting separately. This physical division might change now that the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam, has taken the enlightened step of calling for desegregation in mosques. Although he does not have direct authority over other imams, his title allows him to wield considerable influence within the wider Muslim community.

But a more serious divide between the sexes that needs to be bridged has been recognised by a report that shows some imams simply do not consider women equal to men. The report, made public last week, shocked many with its findings that some imams in Victoria condoned rape within marriage, domestic violence, polygamy, welfare fraud and exploitation of women.

The editorial, which can be found here, says.

How can a ghost writer in a newspaper owned by a large media conglomerate actually claim they know what is "enlightened" and what is not?

I just find it amazing how there is often one rule for muslims when it comes to reportage, and another for christians.

The rest of the article goes onto discuss domestic violence and the report that was mentioned earlier.

But the whole thing reeks of cultural superiority and reminds me of the way Aboriginal men are treated.

In this piece, domestic violence is seen as entrenched within Muslim households and although it claims that "domestic violence may not be worse in Muslim communities" it further says "it is a problem that can sometimes exist because of entrenched cultural practice."

So why do Australians as a whole have high rates of domestic violence?

According to the Australian Parliament library website:

The best indicators available to date about the levels of violence against women in Australia are from the 1996 ABS publication Women's Safety Survey and the more recent ABS Personal Safety Survey 2005 that surveyed both men and women. The surveys asked women about their experiences of violence and found that:

5.8 per cent of women had experienced violence in the 12 month period preceding the survey in 2005 compared with 7.1 per cent in 1996

4.7 per cent of these women had experienced physical violence (this includes physical assault and threat of physical assault) in 2005 compared with 5.9 per cent in 1996, and 1.6 per cent had experienced sexual violence (this includes sexual assault and threat of sexual assault) compared to 1.5 per cent in 1996

Of the women who experienced sexual violence during the 12 months prior to the 2005 survey 21 per cent had experienced sexual assault by a previous partner in the most recent incident, and 39 per cent by a family member or friend

The 2005 survey also showed that of those women who were physically assaulted in the 12 months prior to the survey, 38 per cent were physically assaulted by their male current or previous partner. Of the women who had experienced violence by a current partner, 10 per cent had a violence order issued against their current partner and of those women who had violence orders issued, 20 per cent reported that violence still occurred.

So is it due to an entrenched cultural practice within Australia? Most media don't ever touch the subject of cultural practice and religion to explain rates of domestic violence within the general community.

The other thing that annoyed me about this piece was the fact that the Age was rather shallowly congratulating the desegregation of mosques, and therefore looking down their noses at those mosques that choose to separate men and women.

The way I interpreted the piece, this segregation seemed to be linked to inequality among muslim men and women.

This can be seen when they critize some Islamic leaders, or those arguing for cultural diversity, for rejecting the original report

"In response to the Islamic Women's Welfare Council report, there no doubt will be those who argue that cultural diversity is sacrosanct. Such views are a distortion of the value of diversity and are irrelevant in the face of core values that must be accepted by all who live in this society. These include the shared acceptance of the rule of law and the values on which Australian law is based, including equality of men and women.

As if Australian law preaches equality between men and women. We still have a long way to go - women are still paid lower rates and often do not get a voice in key decision making affecting them - an example highlighted in the abortion pill fiasco led by Tony Abbott.

I imagine there would be few muslims who would argue for rape and polygamy, those issues highlighted in the report.

So why are normal Muslim cultural or religious practices, maybe not in place within christian institutions, such as segregation, critized so heavily and linked to issues that they do not deserve to be linked to?

I just don't get it. I thought we were moving forward in the way we report Muslim Australia. It seems we aren't. It's the same with the way Indigenous affairs is reported. Occasionally you get the odd writer who gets it right, but most of the time it's just white journalists passing judgement.

Obama and Islam

2008-11-18T14:48:00.003+11:00

Religion and race were obviously going to be two sore points in Barack Obama's road to President. The fact he is black may have hindered his chances, and it was debated endlessly. His religion was also a cause for concern, maybe not for the media, but more for the ordinary US citizen, who took his name as evidence of him being a Muslim.

Newsweek says:

"For the past few months, not a day went by without the words "Muslim" and "Obama" being mentioned in the same sentence. From the divisive shouts and jeers at McCain rallies to the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times to an interview with Colin Powell on NBC's "Meet the Press," Muslims—or at least the mention of them—have been more prevalent this campaign year than "Joe the Plumber."

Of course, Obama has consistently said he is a Christian, and the media barrage over the comments of his pastor should have confirmed that.

Although Obama is not a muslim, I think what he has done is raise awareness about African-American muslims. In my view, African-Americans seem to be a very spiritual people. Their culture, or that which is transmitted through pop culture, is heavily revolved around church. But there have also been several pop culture references to black muslims. I can name several movies that present African-American muslims. In fact, some of the most famous African Americans were muslim. Think Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm X

But they are often forgotten in the grand scheme of things, even though they shouldn't be. If you can imagine the prejudice that has been wrought upon black Americans in the past and the prejudice that has been wrought upon Muslim Americans.... imagine what happens when you combine them.

Faheem Shuaibe from Altmuslim.com, a wonderful source for Muslim commentary, has done a piece highlighting the unique experience of African-American Muslims and the part they can play in defeating Islamophobia:

Ironically, the solution to Islamophobia in the United States could very well come from African American Muslims – those who converted to Islam beginning in the Civil Rights Era, rejected the character traits and cultural mores that American culture had imposed upon the "ex-slave", and are playing a significant role in American society.

What role can African American Muslims play?

First, in order to mine this group for the cure, there must be more interaction overall in order that we may get to know one another – as Americans and as Muslims.

Second, the key is to gain insight into the world-view that governs the African American Muslim disposition and actions. Namely, the fact that true African American Muslims hold sacred the absolute equality of all human beings and embrace the timeless, universal values of the Qur'an – values which disapprove of jealousy, vengeance and prejudice.

Highlighting the unique African American Muslim experience should lead the western world to ask, "If this is what Islam can produce, even from a people whose culture was so utterly decimated, then what in Islam do we really have to fear?"

The rights and entitlements afforded African American Muslims are unparalleled anywhere in the Muslim world today. African American Muslims, at one time arguably the most dehumanised population in history, are productive and patriotic American citizens who play a role, through their social and political participation, in shaping American society.

African American Muslims are therefore in a unique position to embrace such American symbols as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States while still striving to defeat Islamophobia.

African American Muslims are a sign of how Islam can take a vanquished people and turn them into productive and active participants who help to shape their political and social environment. They are a people that have faced discrimination and fear before and are equipped to play a significant role in pushing back against a new incarnation of cultural discrimination and misunderstanding – Islamophobia.

Can the election of a black president with a muslim name also have an effect?

Maybe many Muslims from all sects, countries and ethnicities think so. Read this Newsweek report about how Muslims overwhelmingly voted for Obama:

Many Muslim Americans also changed their party affiliations for this election. The country's Muslim population, estimated at between 7 to 8 million, has traditionally voted along conservative, Republican lines. Today, more than two thirds of American Muslims polled say they consider themselves to be Democrats, while only 4 percent see themselves as Republicans (29 percent identified themselves as Independents.)

The shift began in 2004—in part because of the GOP's mishandling of civil liberties, from wiretapping American citizens to detaining Muslims in the United States and Guantanamo without trial, and because of the war in Iraq.

This year, many more were drawn into the Democratic party by Obama himself. Muslims across the country were captivated by the senator's promise of unity and hope.

On the Muslim-Americans for Obama Web site (Mafo2008.com), their mission statement includes the following: "That we support Barack Obama because, among other reasons, he rejects the politics of fear, challenging our nation to embrace its collective identity, where each American has a stake in the success and well-being of every American."

The Beauty of Native America

2008-10-22T15:11:00.003+11:00

The song and all the pictures are absolutely beautiful. They give an insight into the beautiful culture of the American Indians, who suffered and continue to suffer for recognition in the "most powerful nation in the world".

It looks like the USA will finally have their first African-American president in less than two weeks, but will we ever see an Indigenous American president? It's unlikely. Why aren't American Indian issues talked about widely in the election? In his Senate campaign, John McCain has been heavily involved in Senate committees on Indian issues.

But American Indian issues do not win votes, just as championing Indigenous Australian issues don't win votes (actually, oppressing Indigenous Australians usually does the trick for politicians...eg. John Howard's election intervention into NT communities).

When I watch videos like the above it makes me so sad for all the lost cultures, languages and lives in the world.

A writer's tale

2008-10-21T12:44:00.004+11:00

Have you ever got the feeling that you have grown up too fast? I always knew I was aging in maturity and experience faster than my years, but I never actually thought of the downfalls of this fact.

Today I found one of my old blogs from when I was finishing grade 12 to just beginning university. Usually I would laugh at the immaturity of my old self, and I still display levels of immaturity in my old blog, but I never expected to feel a little cheated. I feel as if my writing has gone way down since I was in high school, and I think the reason is because of my new try-hard attempts to write more maturely.

My old blog attempts may have used too many adjectives and indulged in more than the fair share of hyperbole, but they were refreshing and funny and still managed to be well-written. Now my words feel old, dull and not unique. I think I've lost the touch. And at 20!

I just feel the need to show some of the old writings to my friends and ask them if they can see a difference. You don't have to read them all, i just feel the need to document them again for my own sake. I'm surprisingly proud of my 17-year-old self.

21 September
91 DAYS TO GO!

There are officially 91 days until I will be soaking my pale skin under the glorious golden rays of paradise! How beautiful will it be to experience the sheer pleasure of possessing no prior knowledge of the events of the next day, and instead only having an unclear vision of the events of the present hour! I think the latter is what really constitutes to living life to the fullest!

I tell you with no doubt in my mind that I am more excited about going to Vanuatu than actually graduating from school!! I think it's because when I think of graduation I unintentionally have to think of all the long yards I still have to put in to make this dream achievable. I also have to force myself to think of the FORMAL which is way to much work and puts a strain on my slightly reclusive brain. Seriously, I don't understand why anyone, who has labored for five years under a strict high school regime and actually come out alive, would want to submit themselves to the further torture of having to spray copious amounts of suffocating Elizabeth Arden onto a plucked and preened teenage body, squeeze into disgustingly high twelve inch heels and parade around in a ballooned and streamered setting while still managing to look graceful and excited. Wooo....after that long sentence I had to take ten breaths in order to allow more oxygen to circulate around what's left of my brain.

But anyway, I'm sure graduation will be nice for those who want to go and I'm sure I'll regret it if I keep putting it further down on my list of priorities. However, life is about adventure and adventure does not involve Sunnygirl dresses and 5 kg of mascara on one's eyelids.

Yesterday I took my brothers for a walk to the salad bowl to get ice cream and I went the All Blacks way. I also forgot to wear shoes and so I had a patch of prickles in my stinken foot!! It hurt so much and then these dogs attack us and my brother has the nerve to come up to me today and ask if I wanted to go again!! I admit, I was extremely stupid for not wearing shoes but I really love to feel the tarmac of a road well traveled under my bare feet.....I can also run from predators faster if I don't wear any shoes.

I have spent this morning lying in my room reading Charles Dickens, listening to Inner Circle's "sweat" and watching these dumb boys get chased by a magpie on their bikes. I swear boys are the dumbest creatures on the face of this planet cause as soon as they got attacked, they'd come back for another go!! Even monkeys learn from experience so maybe boys are lower down in the whole evolution chain than monkeys...or these particular boys might just be the missing link (not that I believe in evolution anyway, really I couldn't care less about how God made us, all I know is He did and I'm glad he did it)

Another one.

25 January

The Fiji Files - A trip journal
Bula, Namaste and Hello!!

Last night I made it home with an earache and a sore tummy. But these things are utterly and completely forgotten when I remember the wonderful five days I just spent in Fiji!! Fiji turned my world upside down. It counteracted my expectations, opened my eyes and awoke a sense of adventure inside me! But I want to put behind me all the words and just say what I thought of the country!!

My first glimpse of this country was of course, from the airplane. The Air Pacific flight over was excellent and I tasted Fijian humour and hospitality for the first time in the form of an air host who kept calling me Hindu after learning of my fondness for Indians. The island of Viti Levu, the main one in the nation, is extremely mountainous and this sets the backdrop for the rest of the country. You tend to feel that Fijian has a rugged natural beauty, hidden previously, but now being discovered in your view. When my feet hit the tarmac I couldn't help comparing it to Vanuatu and Samoa, but that is inevitable isn't it??

The first thing I was amazed at was just the amount of Indians there were in Fiji. I knew that Fiji was multicultural, but I never expected to see so many Indians alongside the indigenous Fijians. Of course, this shock soon amounted into happiness as everyone knows I love Indian culture! We met Abdul, a young Indian who operates the shuttle bus to Horizons Backpacker hotel and proceeded to make our way to the hotel.

But I do not want to chronicle the exact events of the trip. So I'll try and stick to my feelings. To me, Fiji was like a little taste of India in the Pacific. 90 % of the businesses are owned and run by Fijian-Indians. Fijian-Indians have their own Fijian-Hindi language, they have their own temples, they have their own food industry set up. Buses blast exciting bollywood songs and colourful saris are seen amoung the whir of western clothing. In the city of Nadi, Suva and Saratoga, they seem to outnumber the Indigenous Fijians. Much to my dismay, because of my excitement over a little slice of India at my fingertips, I did not learn much about traditional Fijian culture. This makes me want to go back because 5 days is definitely not long enough to spend in this exceedingly intriguing society.

Fiji and Vanuatu, despite their geographical closeness, are as different as apples from oranges. The City of Suva completely blasted my expectations to smitherines. I was expecting a laid back town similar to my beloved Port Vila!! Was I wrong!! Suva is a bustling city, characterized by its blaring local buses, complicated traffic rules and dirty streets. Still, it is such an enigma, you yearn to get beyond its skin, to dig deep and extract a feeling for the place that kills the shallowness of the package tourism culture. It's interesting.

The people amazed me a lot. Generally, as a whole, I did not find them as friendly as Ni Vans or Samoans. I placed this down to the fact that they get a lot of tourists and that they just want to get on with their life. Still, when you go out of the way to talk to them, you discover the pure gorgeousness of the south pacific...it's a trait that no westernized force can quench!!

Anyway, this blog entry is getting too long and I've barely even touched the surface!! But defiantly go to Fiji one day, it's gorgeous but be aware that you have to go with a true backpacker/adventurous spirit otherwise you will only be seeking refuge in the resorts!!

About my love for Vanuatu:

02 January
Tanned but not so Terrific
Anyone who has set foot off Australian soil would be able to identify with the unquenchable joy that being in a foreign country creates. The excitement of the unknown coupled with the nomadic adventurer inside us takes over resulting in a degree of happiness that could never be measured by scales and numbers. Then when you get back, you feel as if your heart has plummeted, as if your life has become that boring mass of nothingness you have always wanted to avoid.

For me, the pure unwavering love I hold for Vanuatu and the prospect that one day I may return is the only thing holding my heart together!! Life is never as rich, as beautiful, as colourful as the days spent in this generous hospitable country. It is the latter fact that I love most about it!! It's colour. Stepping off the plane, even at 2 am, you feel embraced by the very essence of colour, and the light only improves it. Walking along the street you are overwhelmed by greenness, the shade of a colour so prominent in the landscape and so vacant from our own. The green touches the edges of the dusty pale yellow ground, it reaches and gently meets the crystal blue of summer. The rainbow changes against the backdrop with a delightful catastrophic whir of reds, yellows and whites as the gorgeous ni vans compliment their land. Even the people are not restricted by colour as we Australians. They do not fall victim to the uniformity of fashion, the arrogance of the fashion conscious. Colour, colour, colour. No dullness and even the brown is a rich smooth flavour of God's wonderful creation!

Stepping into that custom area, after leaving a tearful family behind is one of the most depressing moments. I have found a place which accepts me as I am a place which loves me and cares for me to the point of inclusion and giving it away confuses and strains my most hidden emotions. At the airport I found myself sacrificing my inhibitions and letting the tears stroll down as I hugged all of my newly found loved ones. You know you have found something special when two weeks of being with a person is not enough. You know you have been included when every eye is wet and every spoken word gives a hint to the heartbreak of a situation.

I want Vanuatu to be in my future, not a mere holiday destination.

This writing to me seems passionate and fresh. Now my writing seems the exact opposite. Have I fallen in a rut? How do I claim back what I have lost?

Can you ever go back to the writer you once where? I want to be a maverick when it comes to words - throwing them in out of natural instinct. Now my writing seems laboured and without feeling, a consequence of my training as a journo.

How about you? Do you feel as if your writing has suffered because you are growing up?

What religion are you?

2008-10-07T14:00:00.002+11:00

On visiting Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, I was given advice that if asked what religion I followed, it would be better to say Christianity than to say I didn’t believe in anything.

I made the mistake of not heeding this advice in Australia the other day, and made an unfavourable impression on a Muslim lady of importance to me.

“I respect religion for cultural heritage, but I don’t believe in it,” I said without even thinking.

“So you don’t believe in anything?” she asked bewildered.

“Not really…”

And thus came the awkward silence.

In a secular world, are we actually turning towards religion again? Or did we ever really turn our backs on it in the first place?

Two years ago, it would have been unthinkable for me to imagine a life without God, or without some sort of spiritual guidance. But on my search to find just what form this spiritual guidance should take, I have been continually doubting everything.

Religion to me is intrinsically tied to the cultural identity of a person. It is not so easy for someone who grows up in a Christian society to embrace Christianity and it is not so easy for a person who has not grown up in a Buddhist society to embrace Buddhism. You can do it of course, but you always sacrifice a little bit of the identity you have grown with in favour of a new one.

That’s not a bad thing. I could think of worse. But to me, in order to embrace a religion, you must fully immerse yourself in the thinking of the culture of the religion.

For example, it is hard for me to understand Islam’s reverence of the Koran. Christians also revere the Bible, but not to the same extent. Muslims will not drop the Koran, they will not place it in the way of physical harm. If I was a Christian converting to Islam, this reverence would not be inbuilt in me and I would find it hard to manufacture it within myself even if I love and respect how Muslims treat their holy book.

It is becoming more apparent to me that I should respect all religions and cultural heritage whether I believe in it or not.

I was gradually being swayed by the thinking of evangelical atheist Richard Dawkins, who is on a crusade to convert people away from religion.

In his book, The God Delusion, he paints religion as being a childish exercise.

There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else ... has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point. The truly adult view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it (p.360).

But I think this sort of thinking is wrong.

I don’t believe that religion is child like. In fact, I think it is beautiful and provides a mechanism for us to embrace and preserve dying cultural traditions.

I note that some cultural traditions should not be preserved, such as honour killings, but these are not necessarily endorsed by religions such as Islam.

If man didn’t have religion, there would be even more wrong. Religion can act as a catalyst for horrific acts, such as terrorism, but I find it is usually a cover for political agendas.

If people who use religion for the wrong purposes didn’t have religion, they would find some other excuse to commit their crimes.

Thus, although I don’t practice Christianity, and I don’t really believe in it, I can’t deny it has shaped and moulded me into who I am today. Therefore, next time I am asked I will say I am a Christian and I will continue to respect it and all other religions.

Keeping Us Down

2008-10-01T10:52:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I had a long chat with one of my closest male friends, one who I haven't talked to in a while. Naturally, the subject turned to girls and his insistence that "he just wants to find a sweet, cute, girl". He began talking about how he didn't really want a "hot" girl, because they often do not have the little weaknesses and eccentricities that other girls do. I don't know how you really define what is "hot", but I think it is not so much in the eye of the beholder, as in the eye of what's fashionable at the time.

Anyway, as the conversation shifted he started talking about how as summer comes in, girls start to dress more skimpily, wearing short pants and low cut shirts. He started going on about hot girls etc etc.... considering the fact that boys are very one-dimensional on this topic, it's easy to imagine what it sounded like.

Usually I don't mind talking about this stuff with him. I actually find it quite an insight into the thinking of the opposite sex. But this time, it struck a sour note with me. Suddenly I began judging myself up against other girls who I find to be beautiful and these stupid thoughts kept running in my head - you should lose weight, you should wear tighter clothes, you should act like all those other girls.

It kept running through my mind and I actually dreamt about it. I have no idea why this particular conversation reduced my self-esteem to record lows, but I can't deny that it did. Even the protestations of Dino, who kept saying he liked me just the way I am, couldn't ease my troubled mind.

Then while I was eating lunch and feeling as if I better go and spew it all up again in an hour, I realized how stupid I have been. Why must we girls constantly let boys get us down? Why do we increasingly let them judge us by such superficial standards?

Do I go around to other guys and wolf whistle if they have muscles? It happened to me on Saturday afternoon from this sleazy random guy who also commented on my chest. It's not a compliment, it's a symbol of ongoing oppression. Imagine if girls started doing it! I know there are people out there who very likely do, but somehow it doesn't seem to be as widespread as when boys do it.

I guess men are always going to be that way, they're always going to judge a girl's worth by what she presents on the outside.

From a Wikipedia entry on Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch:

"Greer argued that women do not realize how much men hate them, and how much they are taught to hate themselves."

I think this is very true, even if I think it may be a bit extreme to say men hate us. I don't think we realize how much we are coerced into hating our true selves which in turn forces us to change our true selves. When we so often see beauty equated with success, such as our idol worship of movie stars and models, we immediately believe we are failures. When a female politician advances in the ranks, she is condemned for her new hair style or her dress.

Take the case of Rudd's wife Therese Rein, who was plastered by fashion critics while accompanying Rudd on his world tour.

IT'S time for Therese Rein to put style ahead of substance, according to some of Australia's leading fashion designers.

After a week on the world stage, accompanying her Prime Minister husband Kevin Rudd on his 17-day tour, Ms Rein has been in the media spotlight more than at any time since last year's federal election victory.

And her fashion statements during stops in Washington, New York, Brussels and London have left some of the country's top style experts asking questions about her choices, given the public focus now placed on leaders' wives.

No one seemed to care that Therese Rein is a millionaire businesswoman who is probably one of the smartest of Australia's first ladies in a long time.

Compare that to the adoration directed to the French President's wife Carla Bruni, a model and singer, on her trip to the UK.

For Carla Bruni, the new wife of France's president Nicolas Sarkozy, the state visit to London has been a metamorphosis of leaving her past behind and emerging as the first lady of fashion.

So in order to finish this entry, because I have no more to say, I will simply leave you with a quote from a very astute anonymous commentator:

Life, Dino and Writing

2008-09-19T21:18:00.002+10:00

I've just been reading a couple of my friend's blogs.... and I've come to the conclusion that I am a horribly boring person. I think I've grown up too fast, or at least forgotten how to be spontaneous. It is clear that I need a holiday, or at least a week spent sleeping.

I meant to work on my uni assignments all today but so far I have procrastinated on YouTube and Facebook and other peoples' blogs. Mainly I've been reading back entries of The Bamboozle Planetarium and laughing my head off. Love the entry where you write random sayings and put them all around the house Melissa!

So this is basically going to be my "ME" entry. An update of my life, what's happening blah blah blah.

Recently, the green eyed monster has been coming out in me, thanks in part to a certain Pakistani, I'm going to call him Dino Morea for the sake of anonymity ;-)

It's not as if I am an intricately jealous person to begin with, but now the feeling creeps up on me all the time. It's stupid and silly and ridiculous but I think it must be justified. Surely other people must go through it as well?

Dino comes back in about half and hour from his aunty's place and then he'll leave again to go to his job as a security officer. It's a pretty easy job - he just stands there and watches people for eight hours (pretty tiring!), altogether an easy way to earn money.

I'm trying to learn Chinese but I keep questioning myself as to whether it's the right road I should take. To be honest, I've never really held an interest in China, and only picked the language because of it's importance in the world. But will it be important for me? Will I need Chinese in my day to day life? I wish I had picked Hindi - but I was too lazy to work it out because my uni doesn't offer it. Hindi is still a hard language, and I probably wouldn't concentrate so much on the script, but at least there's a high chance I would speak it and listen to it, if only when I watch Bollywood movies.

Would it be a waste switching now? Will I actually stick to Chinese? And will I remember it after my four years studying it are up? I just find it hard to believe that i'll be able to speak it fluently. With Hindi I am often surrounded by it, and I've long harboured a love for the language and the people who speak it. The only thing that is really holding me back is the time, money and energy i have put into Chinese. My HECs debt is going to be huge :-( And I'm confused by HECs... can you use up all your allowance by picking subjects you don't need?

Uni is confusing. I'm never doing a Masters. It is going to kill me just getting a Bachelor's Degree.

I've also been thinking about saving up for a house. It will take me ages but if I start now I'll be able to obtain an asset and then I can have an income wherever I am in the world. I am thinking I would like to buy real estate in Rocky, because at least then I'll have someone to check up on it for me. It's just the security thing of having an asset that is always going to increase.

I currently have a five year plan to tie up all my loose ends and move on with my life. I'm not sure where I will be in five years, but I want to be in the position to choose where I want to go, and I don't want anythiing to stop me. So basically, the plan is to finish my uni degree, keep increasing my work experience and contacts, save around $20,000 and consider all options. I'd like to just write for a year. I want to publish a book. Not sure how that will go and I know I'm going to be torn between commercial success and my own wants but it is something I have to consider.

I must admit, I was abit scared by something I read in a blog for The Australian newspaper:

A mate of mine, who had his first novel published two years ago, experienced at first hand the horror and crushing indignity of discovering that the fruit of his literary loins had been consigned to retail oblivion.

Walking past a bookstore one day, he noticed copies of his book sitting outside in the bargain bins. He picked up a copy and his heart sank as he glanced at the price, slashed to below half its retail value. More ominously, he noticed the anti-theft device had been removed.

It was if the bookshop was saying, “We don’t care if you pay four bucks for this or not. Just take one. In fact, take more than one – they’re just taking up valuable space here. Use both hands. Why not grab a wheelbarrow? We promise to turn a blind eye. Help yourself.”

My writer friend described it as the most depressing and humiliating moment of his life.

It's something every writer must face. You put all your energy and love into a work and it isn't even read. That would be horrible. I couldn't even imagine it. As a writer, you have to be ready to accept rejection and move on from it. My idea is to first write a non-fiction novel and then move onto fiction (possibly). Anyway, they are just dreams and probably won't eventuate.

That's enough of my ramble. I'm going to wait for Dino!

YouTube Brilliance

2008-09-19T21:18:00.001+10:00

This is better than the original Barack Roll!!

I want to vote in the American Presidential elections

2008-09-14T12:35:00.002+10:00

I've heard it said several times that the whole world should be allowed to vote in the American presidential elections, such is the impact a new President will have on the globe. The 2008 elections must be considered historic in several senses. There is a high possibility that America may have a black President... and there is also a chance that before the next Presidential term is over, America could also have a woman in the highest office in the country. Thus a female could end up being the most powerful person in the world. This would be awesome (although I would prefer a black President), but of course, gender shouldn't even be taken into consideration if that person is not right for the job.

That woman is of course Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, who before that was the mayor of a small town. With Senator John McCain being so old and with known health problems, there is a possibility that his running mate could take over before his first term is even up. So you would think you need a Vice-President who is experienced and knowledgable on all subjects, especially in the area of foreign policy. Sure, Barack Obama has been heavily criticised for his lack of experience... but at least he knows what the Bush Doctrine is. I read somewhere that the Bush Doctrine has been considered one of the central elements in foreign policy for the past five or six years (don't have a link, just read it, so not sure how accurate it is).

Thus it scares me that this woman couldn't give a proper answer on a subject that is currently a hot button issue in Pakistan, a country America desperately needs good relations with due to it's proximity to Afghanistan.

In early September, there was outrage after US forces attacked Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. The New York Times reports:

Until now, allied forces in Afghanistan have occasionally carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks in the border region of Pakistan against militants hiding there, and American forces in “hot pursuit” of militants have had some latitude to chase them across the border.

But the commando raid by the American forces signaled what top American officials said could be the opening salvo in a much broader campaign by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistan, a secret plan that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has been advocating for months within President Bush’s war council.

It also seemed likely to complicate relations with Pakistan, where the already unstable political situation worsened after the resignation last month of President Pervez Musharraf, a longtime American ally.

Pakistani officials were as expected, not happy. In my opinion, America seems to have no respect for the sovereignty of nations. Opposition MPs actually projected that Pakistan may pull out of the war on terror because of the American attacks.

From the Dawn newspaper,

Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the US has to be careful not to dismiss the help it is getting from Pakistan.

He called the raid by ground forces a ‘risky maneuver’ and said that ‘too many of these operations will make the Pakistani army less willing to work with us,’ which could negatively affect future US leadership.

Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has vowed to protect the country's sovereignty 'at all cost.'

But Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, talking with reporters late Friday, said Pakistan would prefer to resolve any issue with Washington through diplomatic channels, adding that the issue will be discussed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later this month.

'Due to this American policy, the tribal people will join militants and our work will be damaged,’ he said hours after the latest missile strike killed at least 12 people. ‘We will not allow anyone to interfere inside our country.

‘It is not that we will launch any attack. We will try to convince America, we will try to convince Britain that they should respect the sovereignty of Pakistan, and God willing, we will be able to convince them.’

So to have a woman, who could be the next President of America, giving such an ambiguous answer on such a vital question, should raise alarm bells amongst the American populace.

But sadly, I don't believe elections are ever won on foreign policy. They're won on domestic issues, on what the candidate can offer the average person. On tax cuts, welfare and social issues. Americans will be much more likely to critique Sarah Palin on the illegitimacy of her soon-to-be-born grandchild than her ability to execute proper foreign policy decisions.

That is where democracy stuffs up. But we would be in a worse place without it.

P.S. For those who haven't realized because of the indulgance of media coverage into the US elections, there is actually a federal election brewing in Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and called an early election. He is trying to get more support for the conservatives in the minority government. I read that it is not projected that his Conservative party will win enough seats to get the majority.

UPDATE: Even Presidential candidates are prone to gaffs. Here's Senator John McCain talking about an "Iraq-Pakistan" border. Simple mistake I guess. Senator Barack Obama apparently signalled that he would consider intervening in Pakistan if the government could not properly handle Al Qaeda militants in the hills between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Would you ever live in another country?

2008-09-11T16:35:00.001+10:00

One of my best friend’s, Melissa, just went back to her home country after living in Australia for two years. Canada and Australia aren’t that different, but they are still different enough to wake you up to culture shock and require you to set a side more than a while to adjust, judging from Melissa’s experience.

So what does it feel like to live in another country that is not particularly western? How does it feel to take up halfway across the world, immerse yourself in a vastly different culture which may be dependent on a religion you know little about, and even learn a language? I have always wanted to do it, but my choice of destination has left some questioning my authenticity.

I know I’m being really ambiguous, so I might as well say it. I would love to live in Pakistan for a year. I’ve been told time and time again that I will hate it, that I’ll be excited now but when I’m faced with all the daily problems such as unreliable electricity and water I will be running first thing back to my homeland. According to some, Australia is a paradise, a “civilized” country (what makes one civilized I have no idea) and one that people die on boats struggling to get to.

But when I’m on my deathbed I’m not going to say that I’m glad I stayed in Australia, living the same monotonous culture, all my life. I would regret the fact I never experienced being a foreigner and will hate myself if I die not knowing the reality of hardship. That sounds really stupid but it’s true. I know I will regret so many things in my life. I may regret losing a year to a country that is not my own. But I know I’ll regret not taste testing it more so.

So this was a very random entry, but really I just wanted to know where you would consider living? Would you ever just pick up and live overseas for a year?

The greatest way to learn about a religion

2008-09-06T17:28:00.002+10:00

Sorry I haven't been updating for so long. I've been busy trying to juggling a life with university and work. It's not fun. It's just not. But one of the great things that has developed since I've begun university again is that I have meant someone that has been teaching me an awful lot about Islam, particularly Shia Islam.

It has really reiterated in my mind that the best way to learn about a religion is to hang around people who actually practice, or have been bought up in it.

So needless to say my interest in Islam has been increasing with the introduction of this person in my life. This and the fact I visited the largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, in July.

The one thing I have noticed about hanging around with this person though, is how prejudiced Australia still is towards Muslims. It really is ridiculous, and it comes from people who you would never expect it. On telling my family for instance, the first words out of their mouths was "terrorist". I was so surprised because I literally thought targeting all muslims as terrorists was a thing of the past, or only the thinking of white rednecks. Not so. It can come from every corner of society in Australia - black and white. This is surprising because I would have thought oppressed peoples would understand how the media can totally misrepresent everything a certain societal group does.

And the other thing I have noticed his how prejudiced muslims can be towards each other, and the different sects. It's kind of like the Protestant-Catholic thing, well very much like that in fact. Sunnis don't like shias and shias don't like wahabis. But most of the time I understand that underlying the conflict is political or cultural, rather than religious factors. That's how I see it. Religion is so often used as a cover for political agendas or as justification for other acts.

This just reinforces the fact that Islam is not one homogenous religion. There is debate, their is conflict, there is similarity. This is like every other religion in the world, like every other belief system in the world. There is always going to be disagreement. So why is it that when a Muslim leader comes out and makes a comment, such as the infamous comparison of girls to uncovered meat, we take our outrage on the entire community? We use our outrage at the comments of one Muslim leader to lump in together Indonesians, Pakistanis, Lebanese, Afghans etc etc... people who come from completely different countries and who may have completely different interpretations of the holy texts.

But anyway, I will try and update more regularly now...

For now... a beautiful song from the movie Umrao Jaan. There is no reason, I just was watching it today and think the dancing is absolutely gorgeous.

The universal draw of Bollywood

2008-09-05T14:07:00.004+10:00

Earlier this year I was in Kupung, in West Timor. It’s a barren place, beautiful but sparse. A land of contradictions - Timorese but Indonesian. We were riding in a mini van, on the way to the East Timor border when out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar poster. Immediately the beat started to replay in my head, the vision of Aamir Khan and Kajol canoodling in the middle of beautiful Kashmir. It was a poster for Faana.

Excitedly I asked my guide – is Bollywood big over here? I just saw a Fanaa poster! He replied that he had never seen the movie, but that a lot of people watched Bollywood and his favourite was Dil Chahta Hai. I hadn’t seen one Indian since being in Indonesia and here I was confronted with the greatness of Bollywood?

I was surprised, but not at the same time. The universal draw of Bollywood has become apparent with western audiences quickly picking up the genre after the success of semi-Bolly films like Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham.

So it was with interest that I also read of a report from ABC’s Australia channel, talking about the rise of Bollywood in the South Pacific country of Samoa.

I still remember the day a few years ago when my journalist friend Tamani Nair returned to Fiji from Samoa and told me about their famous chilli sauce and something else just as hot - Bollywood cinema.

My first reaction was disbelief. After all, even in Fiji it took a long time for non-Fijians to even consider spending three hours watching romantic drama and scantily clad Indian heroines running around trees with besotted lads in tow. But after a few decades it caught on, especially in rural Fiji where Fijian farmers worked alongside Indo-Fijians in the fields. It kinda made sense.  But in Samoa ?

Well Bollywood certainly fired things up a few years ago. In fact television stations had no choice but to schedule back to back Hindi film and drama so they could meet the demand. And the fans were not Indians, but full-on Samoans.
Sure, Bollywood has been flavour of the moment across Europe, the US and Australia for a few years. But that’s been largely due to the success of art house films including Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham. Oh, and a few achievements and scandals involving Indian stars.

Now I’d missed out on investigating this the last time I was in Samoa. So naturally, this time, it had to be explored. What else is an Indian supposed to do when he has a cab driver in Apia telling you he “only watches Bollywood for the song and dance”.

Well, it all seems to have started with my lot. Yep, Indo Fijians and their predilection for Bollywood resulted in Samoan university students returning from Fiji with DVDs in their bags.

In no time the phenomenon caught on, TV stations started running shows and video store owners like Oscar started stocking Bollywood DVDs. Oscar reckons the dramas are popular because Samoans feel comfortable with clean family drama, comedy and music. “

To read more click here.

Ode to a Friend

2008-07-10T16:00:00.004+10:00

Yes I have been slack at my blog lately.

To tell you just how much, here is a quote directly from my dear friend Melissa's blog:

Long time no write. Chris made that point to me extra clear when he said to Amy and I on Monday morning in Shopping Fair that her and I are becoming a bit slack with blog entries.

“I keep checking your blogs and I keep seeing ‘Creature of Habit’ and ‘Goodbye Democrats’.

Joan remarked how she is updating more regularly.

Then Chris demanded once more.

“DATE UP! DATE UP! DATE UP! NOW! NOW! NOW!”

So here is your update dear Chris. Please note I just read your Yoko Ono piece and found it really interesting, but I can't really comment because I know absolutely nothing about music :-( I must say your writing style is getting better everytime I read it!

Anyway...onto the subject of this post, and one I admit I did steal from Princess Jo.

MELISSA

I had the misfortune of having to say good bye to this wonderful and beautiful girl last week. She is going back home to the land of maple syrup, ice hockey fans and Celine Dion.

It still hasn't sunk in frankly. Melissa has been one of my best friends since I first met her. I always remember the first day I really met her, she came up to me as we were waiting for a university orientation class and started talking about Bollywood. I am OBSESSED with Bollywood. Things led to another and we ended up having an excellent conversation!

That first term of university was one of the best times of my life. We soon made friends with Chris and Antonia and our little group was cemented. We would then go on to expand our friendship group to include people such as Kinwai, Raj and Yogi, Jo, Ana and Kat. Sadly, alot of these people I do not live anywhere near.

Most of the best memories from this time involve Melissa.

She recounts one in her blog that I couldn't have described better:

Like on of my favourite memories of when I went to Great Keppel Island with Amy. She and I were swimming in the ocean and then all of a sudden we saw our Indian friend Raj out on the beach. He looked as if he were naked. Amy and I began to freak out and plan our escape which appeared to be futile anyways because he was getting closer and closer. Luckily moments later it was discovered he was wearing flesh toned underwear. I still remember Amy’s exact words on Raj’s apparent nakedness. “The only man I want to see naked is my future husband!” I think I had the exact same sentiments. The rest of the day turned out to be awesome fun. In which I went camera happy, got sunburnt badly, (Amy apparently still feels bad about that one) and developed lasting memories and friendship.

Another great memory was when I came back from Canberra for the first time and spent basically every day at Melissa's house talking and having fun. During this time I always remember a very hilarious conversation my sister witnessed and never stopped laughing about.

MELISSA: I don't like Kirstie Alley. She has a fat vagina!

Then there were times like when we sat down in the middle of the shopping fair. For no reason at all.

We stayed out until 2 am with Ram on New Years and I remember thinking how grown up we were - staying out so late! Then the next year Melissa and I danced til 5 am and walked out to daylight! I don't think i'll be doing that anytime soon, but it was awesome fun at the time!

I remember my dreadful crush on a certain Gujarati, and Melissa's crush on Multimedia Guy.

I remember reading Melissa's stories to ease my own homesickness, because reading her stories (particularly Superheros), was like a direct link to home.

I remember travelling to Sydney and seeing her and Chris from the bus. I remember waving frantically at them and marveling at how great they looked before the Indian girl beside me told me they couldn't actually see me because the windows were tinted.

I remember our Sydney adventure, and my first ever club - Stonewall on Oxford St!

I remember random text messages and phone calls and excited hugs when I hadn't seen her for a while.

It is going to be sad that I can't see Melissa at least twice a year, but I know she is going to have an amazing future! I would never try to hold her back!

Melissa I wish you all the best in the future! We all love you to death and you are going to be badly missed!

I'll see you in Canada!

Goodbye Democrats

2008-06-21T23:01:00.004+10:00

- Queensland Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett leaves the Senate this week.

This week in Parliament marks the end of a political party that many thought would be Australia's third major party - the Democrats.

All four of the remaining Democrats Senators - Lyn Allison, Andrew Bartlett, Natasha Despoja-Scott and Andrew Murray, are conducting their last speeches in the upper house this week, with my favourite of the four, Andrew Bartlett, due to do his on Wednesday.

Here is what he writes in his blog:

I’m giving my final Valedictory speech in the Senate this coming Wednesday evening, around 6pm. News Radio should be broadcasting the Senate at that time, or you can listen in online through www.aph.gov.au. There’s another story in today’s SMH exploring where the Democrats went wrong. I might write some stuff here on that topic later, but I’d rather the final week of the Democrats’ 30+ years in the Senate focused on the many achievements rather than why it has ended.

The Sydney Morning Herald article he links to is extremely interesting, giving an insight into the sad demise of my favourite political party.

Who killed Don's party? Was it a crime of passion committed by the blonde in the enemy camp with the coffee plunger? Or perhaps the deal-maker from Adelaide armed with a frozen chicken in the cabinet room. Some hold responsible the young star in Doc Martens, while others see more suspects than would Miss Marple going on a quiet holiday.

The Democrats once owned a significant chunk of the Senate. At their peak, barely a decade ago, there were nine in the national Parliament. They had influence and power. But in little more than a week, the party will be over.

Started by Don Chipp and fashioned as a check on the government of the day, the Democrats leave a substantial footprint on the nation. They secured World Heritage listings, negotiated native title legislation, boosted environmental protection, championed human rights and almost always improved bills to save governments from themselves.

They were such a part of the political landscape that one courtyard of the inner sanctum of the Parliament was known to everybody as the Democrats Courtyard.

Not any more.

When the new Senate, elected last November, takes shape on July 1 there will be no Democrat senator for the first time in 31 years.

The last four federal Democrats - Natasha Stott Despoja, Lyn Allison, Andrew Murray and Andrew Bartlett - will sit on the red leather seats for one more emotional week.

But they are not going quietly. The quartet is rushing to have its say at committee hearings and trying to shape parliamentary reports in the dying days of a Coalition-controlled Senate. They like to think of themselves as legislators and are savouring their last gasp of Parliament.

One of these last says has been the Stolen Generations Compensation bill, which although extremely flawed, is at least reminiscent of the fact that the Democrats have been one of the only political parties to have consistantly championed the cause of the rights of Aboriginal people.

Although it is unlikely to ever be passed, at least it is a start. I don't agree with the arbitary payments part, but at least it shows that we could be a few steps closer to giving Aboriginal people compensation for instances that only disadvantaged them, and added to their already existing disadvantage.

Good luck to Senator Bartlett in all he does, and I hope he still exercises influence over public debate and opinion in the coming years.