January 2012
7 tags
3 tags
December 2011
9 tags
9 tags
“We’re not really equal when we’re STILL supposed to uncritically and obediently...”
– Jessica Yee - Feminism For Real.
3 tags
My desi father's encouragement after I broke up...
(it was the first, proper break-up to have occurred in my life, I was probably 18 or so, it was a cold, bitter winter and I was lying in bed, crying my eyes out and hugging my pillow for the past week and a half without eating a morsel of food)
Dad: May I enter your room, Holy Princess?
Dad: Ha ha, stop crying. Foolish girl.
Dad: Astaghfirullah. What is that smell? Did you burn something?
Dad: It is the smoke rising from your head to see me this positive, yes?
Dad: Okay. Okay. No more to joke.
Dad: I am a Muslim, Pakistani father. I never liked the idea of you being with him but I said, "Let it be, yaar. She is young. She is free. I still love her. She is my baby princess." Wipe your snot. So I was okay with him being with you. But it hurts me a lot more to see you like this.
Dad: You are not chubby anymore. What kind of diet is this, hmm? Ha ha, I made funny joke.
Dad: (pushes my hair behind my ear) Allah created hearts to break and heal every now and then. That is why we are humans. If we did not hurt, we wouldn't be who we are today. But having a broken heart means you have two options: To heal it and become invincible. Or to mope away and become a pathetic shadow of the person you once were. What would my little girl do?
Dad: She would eat lotta chips. Ha ha ha.
Dad: Okay, sorry. She would fight back and win her strength to become who she was and will be forever. You are going to meet someone amazing. Boys are idiots. I thank Allah for not giving me sons. They are foolish donkeys. Daughters are warriors. You are my warrior. When you were born, I had tears. I was so scared. I did not want anyone to hurt my baby. Today he hurt you. Allah will take revenge. But you take your time to heal and know that I am always here for you even if my English is not too good.
Dad: That boy was a bastard, foolish dog from hell. Bastard.
Dad: I love you.
7 tags
Like any woman of color, I can’t simply give in to feminism completely. It is a Western ideology that does not mesh well with mine. It has its roots embedded in a history that not only had White men oppressing their own women but their women were equally involved in oppressing my indigenous people - men and women together. I refuse to obediently follow every postulate stated by Western,...
“You killed my son and now you are giving me a tree?”
– An Iraqi farmer to Peter Van Buren of the US State Department after his team tried to give away fruit tree seedlings to replant ruined orchards. (via ambitioussurvival)
The death perpetuated by these fucking wars is going to haunt the U.S. for generations - as it should. Anyone who doesn’t feel...
4 tags
“No one can say what’s happening behind closed palace doors, but I doubt...”
– Andrew Tabler, scholar and journalist who lived in Syria between 2001 and 2008. He knew and worked with Asma al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s wife and first lady of Syria. Source: Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man?
There are two sides to Asma al-Assad,” says Tabler....
2 tags
My desi father's comments about country music:
Dad: It is very nice but there is inequality.
Dad: Inside, I am cowboy too, yes?
Me: No.
Dad: Yes. Josh Turner said very nicely in his song to his girlfriend, "Baby, why don't you turn that TV off?"
Dad: I say that to everyone in my house. No one turns it off. But when white man says it, everyone turns it off. Why? Racism, as you young people put it, yes?
Dad: Ha ha ha. I am very witty.
Dad: Astaghfirullah, some songs are so vulgar!
Dad: But some are nice.
Dad: One time an old man in South Carolina asked me, "Why do you like country music?" Well, why can't I?
Dad: Alhumdullilah, I can face my enemies. I am a Pakistani cowboy.
Dad: Global village. Ha ha ha ha.
1 tag
mohandasgandhi replied to your post: I’ve promised myself to stay away from all…
I am madly in love with you.
This made my year. Az shoma khosham miad, shirinum.
5 tags
I’ve promised myself to stay away from all political links and any other kind of reading to celebrate the end of this not-so-pleasant year but, as we all know, I couldn’t resist. I’m getting done with Anonymous Survival Guide For Citizens In a Revolution. Then I decided to read this hilarious but true (see?) Test For Husbands and Wives from the 1930s. You should really check it...
Re: Transitional Justice
Anonymous asked: “What is your opinion on the forgiveness part of transitional justice? Should a country, after being attacked and ripped of its resources, forgive the assaulter? Is that too pacific for you? I’m confused because I don’t support war but I don’t support complete forgiveness either. I ask you because you seem well versed on foreign policy in SA and MENA....
4 tags
2 tags
“I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against...”
– Og Mandino, in The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968)
11 tags
“Is that not exactly the mindset that more or less anyone in the world would...”
– The Real Definition of Terrorism by Glenn Greenwald for The Salon.
Something you should read.
6 tags
Oh-Whiskers brought this to my attention regarding “transabled” and “transethnic” people. What even. Just - just look at this.
[warnings: invalidation and erasure of transabled and transethnic identities]
anonymous asked:
do you think it is possible to be transethnic or transabled? i’ve considered myself to be blind since about age 9 but i only recently rediscovered...
2 tags
TRANSETHNIC.
6 tags
The Obama administration is poised to announce the... →
9 tags
Anonymous asked: I just have a small request? When you get married and have kids, PLEASE don't stop blogging. Be a mommy blogger! I'd love to see how funny and inspiring your conversations with your kids will be. If this is creepy, I'm sorry! :(
2 tags
I just wanted to thank you all for enjoying dad’s spontaneous thoughts about the world around him. If he knew he was this well-liked on Tumblr, he’d probably steal my password and post his pictures with quotes by random singers he listened to when he was young. Including Don Henley.
1 tag
Dad says he’ll create a blog on Tumblr when he gets the chance. When asked for a suitable title, he said: “A Concerned Citizen and Father.” He was serious. I’m not following him. Ever.
1 tag
My desi father's comments about Justin Bieber:
(at the dinner table)
Dad: As you can see. Yes. As I was in the America, all the time a little boy's voice on the radio was played, yes? All the time.
Dad: He said, "Baby baby baby ooooh!" Yes?
Dad: Everybody loves him.
Dad: And as young people with interest in ridiculous pop culture, you seem to know him, yes?
Dad: Who is he?
Me: Justin Bieber.
Dad: I would like that song on my phone. Make sure to download it.
Dad: And do not be like those who bully him. I do not like bullies. I raised you better. Shukar alhumdulillah.
Anonymous asked: But what about the people who have accent problems and can't fix it? :(
4 tags
I’m not ashamed of making a huge deal out of the scenario when people mispronounce several words despite knowing that it’s wrong and that they can correct themselves. For instance, at the American Consulate once, there was an officer who kept saying “Packisstan” with this patronizing smile. Then “Eye-ran” and “Ayf-ghay-niss-tan” and he knew it was...
6 tags
5 tags
4 tags
lemonloveletters:
Alrighty then. First handwritten love letter’s in. Where is yours?
Theme: Hand Written Letters and Drawings
lemonloveletters:
Hello, everybody.
Starting today, we’re doing Hand-written Love Letters on LLL for a week. Take some time out and write a letter to your sweetheart (or ex-sweetheart, for that matter) on paper, take a photo of it and submit it to LLL’s Postman anonymously or not. If you want, you can even draw the person you like (or hate) and scribble your reasons why. Make sure to start the...
3 tags
5 tags
proverbial-everything asked: Kind of interested in South Asian politics, do you have any suggestions for objective, even-handed books on the issue of Kashmir and how/why East Pakistan became Bangladesh and the issue of genocide carried out by the West Pakistan Army?
8 tags
Anonymous asked: How do you reconcile the progressiveness of Benazir on women's rights to her never even attempting to repeal Hudood ordinance and other Islamization laws?
Anonymous asked: Could the Mughal Empire and the Ummayyad Caliphate be considered colonial empires?
Anonymous asked: How did your blood tests and ultrasound go? Hope you're well. :-(
7 tags
3 tags
2 tags
10 tags
Recommended Read: The Gender Gap between Policy... →
To understand the condition of women in a society, it is important to examine their status both within the domain of the family as well as within the larger cultural and sociopolitical context, which structures their opportunities and defines their capacity for action. This chapter examines ways in which the rights of women are articulated in law and the manner in which customary practices...
On the desire for one's child to strictly adhere...
In South Asia, this mentality continues to limit and constrict the creative ability of millions of children. While medicine and engineering are powerful careers in bringing prosperity and change to life, they should not be labelled as the only livelihoods to opt for. In a letter to his father, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, Indian nuclear physicist and the chief architect of the Indian atomic energy...
9 tags
“Women cannot be expected to struggle alone against the forces of discrimination...”
– Benazir Bhutto in a 1995 speech in Beijing at the World Conference of Women. This is a beautiful speech, go read all of it. (via thepoliticalnotebook)
She was one unapologetic, proud, progressive Pakistani and I respect her for it immensely.
1 tag
“The ethnocentric idea that the white woman (or man) is the norm- measure of all...”
– Oyeronke Oyewumi (x) (via thehallsofknowledge)
This is precisely why I cannot simply cater to the narrative set by white ‘progressive’ feminists all the time. Of course their efforts in recognizing patriarchy around the globe is commendable but enforcing their ideology of emancipation...
9 tags
