tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64309627733049687132024-03-13T14:50:44.363-07:00Under Urooba's Umbrella!→ poetry, global social justice, eccentric sartorial endeavors. . .Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-26771751922180194742013-07-18T23:45:00.003-07:002013-07-18T23:45:50.073-07:00The End.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And another era comes to an end.<br />
<br />
I will no longer be blogging here. It's been a beautiful run since 2009.<br />
<br />
Fret little, though, sweet peas, I am simply moving to Tumblr (after much deliberation & for a variety of reasons).<br />
<br />
You can follow me at:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="http://underuroobasumbrella.tumblr.com/">http://underuroobasumbrella.tumblr.com/</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
Hope to see you there!<br />
<br />
xoxo<br />
Urooba</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-83294121961774321622013-07-07T23:24:00.000-07:002013-07-07T23:24:33.471-07:00"Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason." -Novalis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A couple of months ago, I had the best encounter on the bus. I met the most impeccably dressed man, with a full white beard & a large camera slung over his shoulders. Michael's birthplace is Lahore & his Urdu was infinitely better than mine - though he seemed to know every language under the sun. He shared his art with me - his photography & poetry. We bonded over ghazals & our shared experiences of animosity a</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">t the sight of of our physical experiences. "Peace bombs - that's what we artists make explode", he said. And the very next day he sent me a couple of poems (!!):<br /><br /><b> m a s s . t r a n s i t . m a d e . p e r s o n a l</b><br /><br />sometimes doves collide in mid-air<br />we found ourselves side by side<br />as the woods raced by in a multicultural blur<br />of Urdu, French and Spanish words alfresco<br /><br />We peered into some photographs<br />looped writing gave the text<br />international relations grew warmer<br />and I'm wondering what is next<br /><br /><b> g h a z a l s . a n d . g r i n s</b><br /><br />a most delightful first meeting.<br />What a pleasure to share origins<br />as well as so many interests.<br />The yellow of embroidered satin<br />and your laughter most memorable</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">And today I am happy to report that after eons & eons I have managed to write some poetry of my own.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">xoxo</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Urooba</span></span></div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-73875685812772592722013-06-10T16:53:00.002-07:002013-06-10T17:27:49.031-07:00African (A Freakin') Good Time - Ethiopia 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-6ace29df-3039-5d0b-0b8e-6bebb0c26ced" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></i></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">“And then the muezzins call: beckoning the city’s sleeping populace with the shower of praise for an almighty God. There are ninety-nine of them within the walls of this tiny city - ninety-nine muezzins for ninety-nine mosques. It takes the culmination of the staggered, near-simultaneous beginnings of a hundred less one to create the particular sound that is heard as Godliness in Harar.”</span></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333; white-space: pre-wrap;">―</span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pg. 2, </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Sweetness in the Belly”,</span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Camilla Gibb</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/945127_10152945606000727_1562377319_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/945127_10152945606000727_1562377319_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is how 6 AM looks in Addis.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That is how my day would begin in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The familiar Arabic verses would wake me from my slumber. A lazy smile would form on my lips, and I’d crawl out from under my covers after the last of the roosters too, finished cock-a-doodling. And a day of traversing through an African metropolis to meet with high political officials would begin. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just about a month ago, I found myself conducting fieldwork in the Horn of Africa - an experience that was equal parts sensorially and intellectually stimulating. I spent two weeks with 3 professors and 18 other undergraduates researching an African security issue of our choosing. Here is my reflection of this account. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list."</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"> ―</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Susan Sontag</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whilst flying over and near cities like Baghdad, Tel Aviv, Damascus...I had the sudden realization of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">realness </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of these places. Rather the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">realness </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of their politics, all simply because of associating myself with their geographies. Because their geographies and mine, in those moments, became one and the same. Essentially it was the thought, “Oh my god, there is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">civil strife </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">occurring 30,000 feet below me” which spurred Foucault’s ‘heterotopia’ to mind, wherein he discusses spaces that exist outside </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">everyday social and institutional ones. Foucault uses the concept of a mirror to explain heterotopia,</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the mirror, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I see myself there where I am not</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up behind the surface; I am over there, there where I am not, a sort of shadow that gives my own visibility to myself, that enables me to see myself there where I am absent: such is the utopia of the mirror [...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">] </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it makes this place that I occupy at the moment when I look at myself in the glass at once absolutely real, connected with all the space that surrounds it, and absolutely unreal, since in order to be perceived it has to pass through this virtual point which is over there.”</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ―</span><span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michael Foucault, Of Other Spaces (1967), Heterotopias</span><span style="text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I suppose that’s how I usually feel when I</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> read</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> about global issues (especially using virtual mediums. He predicted Twitter in 1967? Smart, Foucault ;)). But flying through the air, I felt that I had surpassed the ‘unreal’, that I no longer needed a mediator point to occupy the place where the realness of the politics of these cities was felt.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But my feigned experiences of the world can never supersede my longing to actually see all of of it, duh, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">considering I possess the rather generic desire of travelling the world. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this point was only reinforced during this trip to Ethiopia. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">---</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">On First Sentiments</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">“It was early, but the city was already in second gear. We passed toothless old women and shrunken old men and expressionless Sufis clinging to the edges of their wool blankets, and neatly groomed men with short beards and knit skullcaps, and clusters of veiled teenage girls with fits of the giggles, and snotty-nosed children who ran up and touched me, shouting “Farenji! Farenji!” and round, oily mothers standing in doorways with babies on their hips...” </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px; text-indent: 48px; white-space: pre-wrap;">―</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">pg. 51, “Sweetness in the Belly”, Camilla Gibb</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On one of our first days in Addis Ababa, our wonderful guide Abraham took us to the ‘mercato’, or market, the largest outdoor one in Africa. To say it was a sensory stimulation would be an understatement. The first of my flashbacks to the year I spent in Karachi, Pakistan when I was 8 happened here. The donkeys, the goats, the heat, the stalls, the vendors, the cars, the noises - both human and machine, the smells. I remember writing,</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I smelled Ethiopia as soon as I stepped out of the airport. Its scent has stuck with me since and now being attached to it are memories. Nostalgia forms like this. Mix in the hot but pleasant sun and you have a recipe for African good time. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C2bdXWNqZSM/UbZfQQQOb-I/AAAAAAAABHs/119Mx026uKM/s1600/166053_10152945608225727_208151289_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C2bdXWNqZSM/UbZfQQQOb-I/AAAAAAAABHs/119Mx026uKM/s640/166053_10152945608225727_208151289_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OmqSs0ZS5LE/UbZgBxhussI/AAAAAAAABH0/ZWygRl7qe78/s1600/DSC00065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OmqSs0ZS5LE/UbZgBxhussI/AAAAAAAABH0/ZWygRl7qe78/s640/DSC00065.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f-0r24ZqYHA/UbZgDtN7QrI/AAAAAAAABH8/pNbNaRgu4HY/s1600/DSC00072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f-0r24ZqYHA/UbZgDtN7QrI/AAAAAAAABH8/pNbNaRgu4HY/s640/DSC00072.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">---</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>“The stars had only one task: They taught me how to read. They taught me I had a language in heaven and another language on earth.” </i></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">—Mahmoud Darwish</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">On Interaction with Locals</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our main purpose in Addis was to have interviews with ambassadors and the like, so our interaction with locals was kept to a minimum. However, on the way to the Debre Libanos Monastery, we stopped at a marketplace in a town called Ch’ancho and that’s where I met 17-year-old Yordanness. She was the sweetest and our conversation was equally saccharine. It made me think about language - its capacities, its limitations. The reason we were able to converse was because we could both speak English. But as I’ve discovered growing up as a Muslim, the Qu’ran’s essence, for example, is lost in translation from its original Arabic. Poetry almost always loses something in translation. As Susan Sontag says in ‘The Aesthetics of Silence’“...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">language is the most impure, the most contaminated, the most exhausted of all the materials </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">out of which art is made.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Which is why it was also terribly difficult to gather “my trip to Ethiopia” into this blog post. Interpretations are folly but that is often all we have. There is beauty, however, in this chaos - the beauty of choice where we “have the chance to demonstrate either cowardice or integrity in every moment” (M.G.). And Yordanness ended our encounter with the most integrous of sentiments - regret at being unable to leave me with a parting gift, though we had known each other for all of twenty minutes.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8JGtlB7w228/UbZgp2akolI/AAAAAAAABIE/IjGrksq5xZI/s1600/DSC00256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8JGtlB7w228/UbZgp2akolI/AAAAAAAABIE/IjGrksq5xZI/s640/DSC00256.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Yordanness and I.</span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRfbOS6guCo/UbZhNLYIhAI/AAAAAAAABIM/HZuXTHAzPuE/s1600/DSC00285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRfbOS6guCo/UbZhNLYIhAI/AAAAAAAABIM/HZuXTHAzPuE/s640/DSC00285.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">The Debre Libanos Monastery.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">---</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Typical Narratives of Africa, Avoiding the Pitfalls of “Othering”, and </span><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Privilege </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prior to the trip (and heck, after it too, now) when I told people I was going to Africa I was quick to blurt out “But not for a humanitarian trip, etc. etc.!” Well actually later I started saying this with more sarcasm than Daria ever dared. Also prefaced it with quips of “Africa, the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>country</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I’m going to.” Ironically, we ended up on the same flights both ways with a group also travelling from Canada and who were with Habitat for Humanity. In two weeks, after we had conducted all of our field research, *they had solved all of Africa’s problems. (*Wry humour courtesy of my professor).</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, while in Ethiopia, I never took photos of any locals without their permission, because the last thing I wanted to do was frame my photos in such a way that I was documenting an "Other”. I know ‘Othering’ all too well, heh, and it ain’t a pretty thang, friends.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N332uD4uQvA/UbZjAP6QxcI/AAAAAAAABIc/vw1v77AjLLc/s1600/DSC00026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N332uD4uQvA/UbZjAP6QxcI/AAAAAAAABIc/vw1v77AjLLc/s640/DSC00026.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These cuties posed for the camera all on their own, aw!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I was prepared for the fact that I would feel extra-privileged during my time there. We stayed in a multi-starred hotel. We had three meals a day that cost next to nothing (for us). We traipsed in markets and bought trinkets and such for the sake of buying trinkets and such. We had ample access to clean, bottled water. We had a buffet dinner at the Sheraton in Addis, which was so extravagant, had such a colonial aesthetic, and was such a contrast to the rest of the city that it made me physically uncomfortable. (But I gobbled down my lavish dinner and dessert with great ease. Is this cognitive dissonance a microcosm of the problem of human society and/or nature? I wonder, I wonder...). Still, while this would probe *a lot of people to flesh out tired old narratives that are based on feeling sorry for the poor, and that would lead to well-intentioned but misguided efforts to find “solutions” and “help”...I left with a much different impression (also helps that I recognize this is a tired, old, haggard, dying, on-its-death-bed-and-so-damn-lethargic narrative). That people of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">varying </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">socioeconomic backgrounds, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all of which I saw in the parts of Ethiopia I visited, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all make it work. That even those so far below on the rungs of the ladder of the privileged, have a livelihood. And that when we went south of Addis, into rural communities, smiles were abundant. Especially those on the lips of children, who would race with pure, unadulterated joy to our mini-bus to wave at us as we passed by. (& so then I had cheesy reverberations of “Everyone smiles in the same language!” ring in my head...damn you, grade-school posters.)</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*sorry for being so frkn general </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YRtyZFyyZqQ/UbZkGP4NpqI/AAAAAAAABIo/A1WCmBomMi4/s1600/DSC00154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YRtyZFyyZqQ/UbZkGP4NpqI/AAAAAAAABIo/A1WCmBomMi4/s640/DSC00154.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Traipsing in markets.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<b style="font-weight: normal;">---</b><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our Research</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>“Ten years ago Ethiopians had no word for diaspora, nor emigration. There was only the word for pilgrimage, a journey with an implicit return - to Mecca or the shrines of beloved Ethiopian saints - but the idea of leaving your country, except for a very educated few who sought higher degrees abroad, was incomprehensible. A betrayal even.” </i></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 14px; text-indent: 48px; white-space: pre-wrap;">―</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">pg. 35, “Sweetness in the Belly”, Camilla Gibb</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">My group focused on intra-African migration and used </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zimbabwean migrants to South Africa as a case study</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My interest in the topic of migration prior to this research process was informed by following the news and events surrounding migrant justice from the local chapter of “No One is Illegal”, an organization rooted in realizing “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, ecological justice, Indigenous self-determination, anti-occupation & anti-oppressive communities.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It also </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stemmed from following the debate surrounding U.S. immigration policy and reform, where undocumented migrants are often associated with racist politics.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
</div>
<br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When we began writing the proposal, due to our group’s divergent interests, we agreed to approach the issue with balance - of a human and state security perspective. When we divvied up research tasks, I therefore chose to focus on the human security aspect. This led me to explore Zimbabwean migrants’ experiences with xenophobia and the role of civil society in mitigating their negative experiences in South Africa. In our proposal, we focused on our case study a lot, and since I was primarily exploring our issue through the lens of migrants’ lived experiences, and the inability of the state to manage or better these experiences, I perhaps held more antagonistic sentiments towards the government of South Africa and their approach. However, insights from our field research implored us to ponder questions such as: is the influx of migrants that South Africa has experienced solely their responsibility, considering it is largely by virtue of their geographical location that they have experienced it? Should the onus be solely on them to deal with this influx if they lack the political capacity or the financial resources to do so? These questions and the opportunity to speak to a diverse group of ambassadors - African, North American, European, etc. - led us to explore the extent of involvement of other actors in dealing with the issue of intra-African migration. A perception of migration from African diplomats was that it is a positive (and inevitable) occurrence in terms of economic development. This and the reluctance or lack of knowledge to speak to the negative aspects led us to discover that migration is often not a policy priority. This also led us to uncover some of our biases and perceive the issue in a broader way, diverging from viewing it simply as a security threat. We began to implore the implications of mixed migration flows, which we began to see is what generally occurs within the African context.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our first indication that this issue is far more complex than we had originally perceived was when we discovered the way intra-migration is generally thought of by African diplomats, as mentioned above. Many reiterated the concept of Pan-Africanism, and on the topic of African migration this included the movement of peoples between borders as being inevitable because boundaries in Africa have been artificially demarcated and certain ethnic groups, for example, can be found across said boundaries in Africa. At the same time, implementation of protocols and frameworks surrounding migration (both international and by the AU) have been left up to member states in order to respect state sovereignty. Thus the concept of sovereignty both produces a cognitive dissonance of sorts when it comes to the concept of Pan-Africanism, and poses as a major obstacle in implementing frameworks. Farther, speaking especially to non-African officials and gaining a deeper understanding of the complexities and dynamics of African politics, we began to uncover why implementation of these frameworks is a challenge. Sovereign states may not have the financial resources, political capacity or even political will to manage migration. The fact that migration is often not considered high politics (unless it involves a security threat surrounding transnational rebel groups, for example) also poses a challenge. Finally, most people are uninformed about migration because categorization is confusing and complicated. It’s difficult to understand these paradigms and how they are interrelated</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I learned that a lot of the time, what diplomats </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">don’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">say is useful. As mentioned previously, the hesitation on part of African diplomats to talk about the negative repercussions of mass migration led to a lot of insights. Our discovery, too, that migration is not a top policy priority and the fact that many therefore could not speak to it the specifics of it, helped us uncover some of the challenges with managing migration.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, however, talking to officials, we were constantly aware that their answers had an agenda. Even when we spoke to an international NGO we are aware they are funded by the EU, so we can never truly know the ramifications of such a situation. Finally, speaking only to experts means that we were bereft of public opinion of our issues.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, one of the biggest takeaways for me from this experience, from an academic perspective, has been learning about the research process - I can now finally understand why it’s not so necessarily finite! It will definitely affect how I’ll approach being a student of the social sciences from now on. I am leaving this course with far better research skills, the realization that migration studies is all-encompassing and that I would love to keep learning more, and finally the desire to continue staying on top of contemporary African politics. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9biOxr_-2v4/UbZkmLMPxQI/AAAAAAAABIw/REts4It43_g/s1600/DSC00093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9biOxr_-2v4/UbZkmLMPxQI/AAAAAAAABIw/REts4It43_g/s640/DSC00093.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">My research group and I.</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_Efs_YUMj8c/UbZk9b13kTI/AAAAAAAABI4/tMOeWTtgrxo/s1600/IMG_0421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_Efs_YUMj8c/UbZk9b13kTI/AAAAAAAABI4/tMOeWTtgrxo/s640/IMG_0421.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Our entire class and I (minus our "main" prof) in front of the African Union headquarters (!!).</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And as for the experience of travelling, I think Mark Gonzales puts it the best when he says:</span></span></div>
<h5 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 11pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>“I was raised with the belief that those who travel have an obligation to the regions they journey to, not vice versa. Often I reflect on what a different world this would be if more us shared in that perspective.</i></span></span></h5>
<h5 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 11pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>One day we will abandon this addiction to spectacle-based paradigms & tourism travel. On that day, new ways of conversing will begin. For the world is not only playground, it is also a cemetery, a cradle, & the place where homeless dreams lay their head.</i></span></span></h5>
<h5 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 2pt; margin-top: 11pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>May you travel often, & when you do so, let it be not for souvenirs, but to cultivate love & amplify dreams.” </i></span></span></h5>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>xoxo</b></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Urooba</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-57765514898736180912013-04-14T21:56:00.002-07:002013-04-15T00:23:12.026-07:00Poetics & Politics <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15;">Cravings for solitude are supplemented by my realization this year that there has been a lack of salience within my relations with others. This has </b><span style="line-height: 18px;">exacerbated feelings of existential nihilism within me. But there are ebbs & flows within this paradigm. It's certainly not conclusive, nor is it a replacement. It's like how when palm fronds</span><b style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15;"> become wet when beaten with pouring rain during a tropical storm, but that which the very next day are dried under a hot sun. </b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.27114856732077897" style="font-weight: normal;"></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Inconsolata, Monaco, monospace; font-style: italic;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">"Wrong solitude vinegars the soul, </span><span style="background-color: white;">right solitude oils it.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>How fragile we are, between the few good moments."</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">—</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jane Hirshfield, Vinegar and Oil</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
It's during these 'oily' moments where I discover, for example, that I want to sit under the sun for hours and watch Frida Kahlo paint while I swish around on her terrace in her one of her many maxi skirts. </div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
So the next best thing is to don a swishing maxi skirt. Channel my inner Frida Kahlo.</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you."</span></i> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 17px;">Frida Kahlo</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d5oGcq97I3Q/UWthoENWFiI/AAAAAAAABG0/lqFMkFv9MHA/s1600/891949_10151315493936899_255348816_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d5oGcq97I3Q/UWthoENWFiI/AAAAAAAABG0/lqFMkFv9MHA/s640/891949_10151315493936899_255348816_o.jpg" width="420" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WHO WHAT WEAR?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">pleated skirt, U0, $10</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">ruffled coral button-upshirt, Mintage, $6</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">sequinned vest, Mother's from the 80's</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">gold & green earrings, gifted, from Abu Dhabi</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 1.15;">And in these moments you discover that poets are your long-lost friends. Each word is a reminder of this </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">camaraderie, of this understanding.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 1.15;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>loss.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>-</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">"your email says</span></i></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">i feel like a loser a lot,</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">like i’ve lost.</span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">i think about all the things i’ve lost</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">weight, lovers, memory, </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">dignity, time, self respect </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">and people </span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">most of all i lose people</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">to prison, to ghosts, to the ground</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">to a changed phone number</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">to a nothing that meant everything.</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">i start to count loss with my fingers</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">the summer we lost our home</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">and last year, </span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">my pride</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">my innocence and my milk teeth in the same winter</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">my father, my brother</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">my country, my accent.</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">the television tells us that we </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">have to ’let go’</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">and i do.</span></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">even my secrets</span><span style="line-height: 1.15;"> </span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i>i lose to poems."</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">—Warsan Shire</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is only natural to wear your feelings. Mine take the form of sequins, feathers, geometric prints, faux leather, gemstones, and colour. At once.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a6qI_puXTWI/UWt61ORm0kI/AAAAAAAABHI/Fmgh3lmpknM/s1600/53773_10151292941246899_1793742718_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a6qI_puXTWI/UWt61ORm0kI/AAAAAAAABHI/Fmgh3lmpknM/s640/53773_10151292941246899_1793742718_o.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>WHO WHAT WEAR?</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">blue sequinned chopped leotard, F As in Frank vintage sale, < $2</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">colourful geometric-print pleated skirt, thrifted, $6</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">feather earrings, Aldo, $7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">faux-leather tights, Silence + Noise, $10</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">blue pumps, thrifted, $3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">bag, UO, $10</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Finally, twenty years of existence, and the last few under the influence of a certain set of politics and poetics, can only make one yearn for a <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">"connection with someone that isn't predicated on aesthetic ideals."</span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://disquietblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/you-cant-hurry-love/" style="text-align: center;">https://disquietblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/you-cant-hurry-love/</a>)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
But then there is this wonderful reminder</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i>"We mustn't be in love with the ritual of love." </i></span></span><i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">—Vivian Gornick</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As someone whom I deeply admire has put it, we </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">instead "must</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> cultivate healthy solitude & healthy love of self."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">♥ ♥ ♥</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.27114856732077897" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drop me a line, so I can add things to The Summer Reading List, lovers.</span></span></b></div>
</div>
</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-75498190246720994792013-02-01T01:53:00.001-08:002013-02-01T01:53:28.436-08:00Formal Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I don't do well with formalities but I'd say I do adequately enough with formal wear.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDb0rx9Njlg/UQt5yh8jsKI/AAAAAAAABFM/dP6HAXW8rGg/s1600/704026_10151098405486899_1316404985_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDb0rx9Njlg/UQt5yh8jsKI/AAAAAAAABFM/dP6HAXW8rGg/s640/704026_10151098405486899_1316404985_o.jpg" width="360" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZU24GdeJWk/UQt52Eo5eSI/AAAAAAAABFU/HC08RnP3Xjc/s1600/704540_10151098405646899_722340644_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZU24GdeJWk/UQt52Eo5eSI/AAAAAAAABFU/HC08RnP3Xjc/s400/704540_10151098405646899_722340644_o.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eTNyZbT-Gv8/UQt_8cAEEYI/AAAAAAAABGU/ctHkrXI4rkY/s1600/lala+blog.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eTNyZbT-Gv8/UQt_8cAEEYI/AAAAAAAABGU/ctHkrXI4rkY/s1600/lala+blog.png" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RCEV6M4zRRM/UQt56xy8tOI/AAAAAAAABFc/n3jUOEPA-dk/s1600/394962_10151402621226628_607986855_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RCEV6M4zRRM/UQt56xy8tOI/AAAAAAAABFc/n3jUOEPA-dk/s400/394962_10151402621226628_607986855_n.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bHIGCm-fH58/UQt6EtJx7KI/AAAAAAAABFk/goRT2Jvs79E/s1600/2013_01_26_14_23_04_275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bHIGCm-fH58/UQt6EtJx7KI/AAAAAAAABFk/goRT2Jvs79E/s1600/2013_01_26_14_23_04_275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bHIGCm-fH58/UQt6EtJx7KI/AAAAAAAABFk/goRT2Jvs79E/s320/2013_01_26_14_23_04_275.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1skC4GnvfWM/UQuBpBY1v_I/AAAAAAAABGk/Qaevq9i0b40/s1600/1blog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1skC4GnvfWM/UQuBpBY1v_I/AAAAAAAABGk/Qaevq9i0b40/s1600/1blog.png" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ltorrba7ZP4/UQt6nuxhXCI/AAAAAAAABFs/SDWl3rjLCgg/s1600/565561_10152430262255054_1300870489_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ltorrba7ZP4/UQt6nuxhXCI/AAAAAAAABFs/SDWl3rjLCgg/s640/565561_10152430262255054_1300870489_n.jpg" width="428" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v8ruSUN3oGE/UQt7dH9cJDI/AAAAAAAABF4/zxwVamE-9f0/s1600/309665_10152430264870054_1226281481_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v8ruSUN3oGE/UQt7dH9cJDI/AAAAAAAABF4/zxwVamE-9f0/s400/309665_10152430264870054_1226281481_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OWVpXG7Q6xs/UQt7iFnYXAI/AAAAAAAABGA/nxP2-VYEoOA/s1600/566011_10152430264120054_1844494030_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OWVpXG7Q6xs/UQt7iFnYXAI/AAAAAAAABGA/nxP2-VYEoOA/s400/566011_10152430264120054_1844494030_n.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*These last two purple & yellow outfits were worn to my cousin's wedding shenanigans. The "who what wear" follows in a similar fashion to the hot pink & white outfit's one. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">{inspiration of the last little while}:</span><br />
<br />
1. One of my favourite stanzas from one of my favourite poems from one of my favourite poets:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“...this thought keeps consoling me:/though tyrants may command that lamps be smashed/<span style="font-size: large;">in rooms where lovers are destined to meet</span>/they cannot snuff out the moon/so today/nor tomorrow/no tyranny will succeed/no poison of torture make me bitter/<span style="font-size: large;">if just one evening in prison can be so strangely sweet/if just one moment anywhere on this earth.” </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">-<b><span style="font-size: large;"> فیض احمد فیض</span></b> (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">Faiz Ahmed Faiz, “A Prison Evening”)</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
2. This excerpt is always pertinent:<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.5px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">"There is no poetry in this / There are causes & effects / There are symbols & ideologies / Mad conspiracy here, & information we will never know / There is death here, & there are promises of more / There is life here / Anyone reading this is breathing, maybe hurting, but breathing for sure / If there is any light to come, it will shine from the eyes of those who look for peace & justice after the rubble and rhetoric are cleared & the phoenix has risen </span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">/ Affirm life</span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">/ Affirm life</span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">/ We got to carry each other now / You are either with life, or against it</span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">Affirm life.”</span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;">- Suheir Hammad, 'First Writing Since'</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
3. The current playlist:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oiGbFO-qZhg" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w9AqCMSetPI" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KxZHLY7KYyE" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uUWrcFpmI5U" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OI3shBXlqsw" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k8Mc8YRigmw" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZwbNesQeods" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O0_ardwzTrA" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dnxCxHLAqn8" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
All in all, just living the twentieth year of life, in this 13th year of the new century.<br />
xx</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-62849873038252682372012-11-11T13:23:00.000-08:002012-11-11T13:27:17.458-08:00Artivism.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">♥ </span>"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I started to write about how when I was in college, I had one group of friends who were ARTISTS and another group who were ACTIVISTS, and the two didn’t mix at all. If you loved art, then you were frivolous and wild and funny and irreverent and provocative but in a way that was solely about the making and creating and consuming of art; and if you were an activist, you were serious and angry and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">you liked reading boring, constipated, jargon-y academic books about ISSUES like RACISM and SEXISM and QUEERNESS and OPPRESSION, and there was no time for the frivolous, superficial world of art; even though in my heart, I knew that the two had to go together, that </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">it’s impossible to </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">make meaningful art without being </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">interested in the </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">world beyond the one you know, and </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">part of wanting </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">more humanity in the world is </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">deciding that art is </span></b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;">meaningful</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">and that all people should have the right to access and create it."</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">- <i>from {http://rookiemag.com/2012/10/literally-the-best-thing-ever-m-i-a/}</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I love this quotation. It's not too hard to see that that art and activism are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I was introduced to the latter through the former; specifically, anti-war/occupation activism through spoken word. As such, this resonates with me tremendously. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It makes my anti-oppression heart go vroom-vroom.</span></span></div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-87966319493371441432012-10-28T17:43:00.000-07:002012-10-28T17:43:25.612-07:0020 Acts of Groovy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mciib9R4XZ1qe8a20o1_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mciib9R4XZ1qe8a20o1_1280.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;">- </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">Guillaume Apollinaire, from “Zone”; trans. Samuel Beckett</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was after my parents threw me a relatively grandiose high school graduation party when I decided I would never like to receive gifts on my birthday again. Upon first glance of this sentiment you may presume that I hoard unchecked privilege and was thus supremely dissatisfied with the presents I had received. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not quite so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sure, I was now the primary care-taker of a few too many satchels that I would later pass on to my mother and grandmother; and sure, guests felt it an ethical decision to buy me jewelry sported by most of everyone else (heh); but for the most part I held little animosity towards what I had actually received. Rather, I felt like an instigator of gluttony. In short, the presents were superfluous. I think that at the age of seventeen I had my first genuine brush with altruism - I did not need all those material goods. They'd be cycled into the crevices of my daily life, and submerged in routine, their novelty would wear off very quickly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Marshall Sahlins says in his 1972 essay "The Original Affluent Society", there are two possible courses to affluence: a) producing much or b) desiring little.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He also said:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It is not that hunters and gatherers have curbed their materialistic 'impulses': they simply never made an institution of them....We are inclined to think of [them] as </i>poor<i> because they don't have anything: better to think of them for that reason as </i>free. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am radically far from desiring little; be it known I desire everything from meaty burritos at 4 am for no good reason, to q-tips when I feel ear wax tormenting my auditory cavities in the middle of something important. Still, this resistance of sorts carried through to this year and hovered in my mind as it came time to plan a celebration of sorts for my twentieth birthday. It wasn't till I watched this video, though, that "Urooba's 20 Acts of Groovy" became a conception.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wskG18saKk0" width="560"></iframe>
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I <i>definitely </i>don't cry easily but, man, my tear ducts were in overdrive when I first watched this about a month ago on a regular September evening. "20 Act's of Groovy", then, became a list of 20 things I vowed to do on my 20th birthday. With the vital input of friends, The List was: </span><br />
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">1. Write a thank-you note to my floor's janitor. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">2. Write a letter to someone I haven't talked to in over a year. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">3. Buy food for the person behind me in line. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">4. Go to the UBC Hospital & give someone flowers/chocolate. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">5. Bake cupcakes & give them to random workers, etc. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">6. Leave interesting facts/warm fuzzies around campus/transit/lecture halls/hoods of parked cars. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">7. Donate blood. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">8. Plant a tree.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">9. Buy a meal/clothing for a homeless person and sit with them and talk to them. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">10. Donate to Landesa </span><a href="http://www.landesa.org/" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.landesa.org/</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"> Or maybe Kiva.org? </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">11. Write a letter to my future self. Perhaps 40th self?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">12. Buy flowers/write a card for a parent waiting at the Children's Hospital.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">13. Write a thrifty-fashion-love-yo'-s</span><wbr style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"></wbr><span class="word_break" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline-block; line-height: 16px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">elf manifesto to share with peepz. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">14. Go to a restaurant, find a person who is eating alone, sit in front of them and go "Sorry I'm late, but you look amazing tonight." </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">15. {on the weekend} make a meal/bake treats for the famjam.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">16. Get flowers delivered for Mummy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">17. Go to the public library and slip notes in all my favourite books. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">18. Write a letter to my future significant other. (hahahaha) </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">19. Tell a professor I really enjoyed their lecture. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">20. Write poetry at Wreck Beach.</span></span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">As of today, I've been only able to do a fraction of these, however fear not, this means good cheer will spread over the course of more than one day! To keep the momentum going, I had also created "pledge" forms - slips of paper given to those I had done acts of kindness to, involving the promise of a good deed to be passed on to someone else. The sustainability of this initiative can also be exemplified by friends telling me they want to do this for their birthday, yeeeehaw!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">Many delightful things occurred on the anniversary of the day I came out of my mother's womb, including:</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px;">1) A midnight visit by approximately 1483498 people, who crammed into my teeny chambers:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A59MzVICcAAExk9.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A59MzVICcAAExk9.jpg:large" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) A friend who pulled me out of class to surprise me with cake and a rose, with as much vigour and pomp (re: swag) that my now-20-year-old body frame could take.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A5_RxrFCcAAlids.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A5_RxrFCcAAlids.jpg:large" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">3) The pleasantly-surprised reaction of this bus driver who I presented a tulip to & which was captured SO PERFECTLY & unbeknownst to me by a friend:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oo3Vgg-GMI4/UI2Z72wpbfI/AAAAAAAABE4/SF_I3lyQNgI/s1600/197435_10152206269445080_766443438_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oo3Vgg-GMI4/UI2Z72wpbfI/AAAAAAAABE4/SF_I3lyQNgI/s320/197435_10152206269445080_766443438_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">For all other happenings of the day, there is no photographic evidence; they shall be etched in my 20-year-old brain, howevs. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">The <span style="font-size: x-large;">most profound moment of the day</span> however, had to be when I attempted to complete #4 on The List: </span></span><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;">Go to the UBC Hospital & give someone flowers/chocolate. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">At promptly 4 pm, I staggered over to the florist on campus & bought about half a dozen tulips. I attached notes & quotes to them, like so:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A6Aiz-wCcAEhpP8.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A6Aiz-wCcAEhpP8.jpg:large" width="300" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">With a friend in tow, I ventured over to the campus hospital. Upon discovery that there aren't many patients there during the day, we decided to head to closest hospital in the city. Choosing a specific unit was a process, but we decided to hand out our flowers at the cancer agency. We learned, though, that that building had been closed off due to the spread of a contagious gastro-intestinal illness. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We then headed towards the main building, vouching for the input of the lady at Information. <i>[word-for-word accuracy is not guaranteed]</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Hi, we were wondering if we could deliver flowers to patients?" I inquired.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Sure. What patient are you looking for?" she asked.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Oh, no one in particular. We have several flowers and notes we'd like to hand out."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Oh wow, that is so nice! Um...hold on, um...let me check where you should go."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">After a phone call, she turned to us, "The sixteenth floor would be the best place!" She gave us directions of how to reach there. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Good luck and thank you!" she called after us.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We arrived on the sixteenth floor. We had forgotten to ask what kind of patients this floor held, but after having attempted to do this deed several times, we were eager to begin. We walked up to the receptionist, told her our purpose, and asked her what room we should begin with.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Uhhh, this floor? Um. Well, let me think. Uh. Well, you can give them to Eileen just over to your left there. But, uh, I think that would be it on this floor."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We were a little confused at this point; the act of handing out flowers to strangers is generally perceived as something positive. Why had the receptionist's tone been so...unenthusiastic?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We walked towards Eileen's room. Naturally, I was frightened by the tiny dog that lay at her feet, who we learned was named Cookie. After chatting with Eileen for a bit, we handed her a tulip. She told us she was able to go home next week; we shared in her elation. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">After having said goodbye, we proceeded to walk down the hallway again and stumbled upon a nurse. We wanted to continue delivering flowers on this floor after such a great first experience with Eileen, and thus prompted her to tell us where we could go next.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">She had the same cautious tone as the receptionist. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Uh, on this floor? Um. Let me see. Uh, perhaps this room to your right? You could see if she'd like that. But she may not be able to respond."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Oh, okay, we could certainly try", said my friend Aysha.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">As we were beginning to head into the direction of her room, the nurse asked us, "You ladies do know what floor this is?"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Yes, the palliative one; we saw the sign when we got here," I answered.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Okay. Do you know what that means?"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Me and Aysha shook our heads. A moment of silence passed.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"What does it mean?" Aysha inquired.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"Palliative...It essentially refers to those who are...waiting to die."</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">My and Aysha looked at one another, wells of tears forming in both our eyes. My thoughts immediately traced themselves back to Eileen. Eileen, who was excited to go home in a week. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We left the floor immediately thereafter and continued to hand out our tulips to hospital staff: volunteers, nurses, doctors. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">***</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">On the twentieth anniversary of the day of my birth, I had witnessed what lies diametrical to birth: death. Rather than ruminate over the implications of this, I was instilled with the cognizance of why 20 Acts of Groovy was so important to me. It couldn't have come at a more appropriate time in my life, where with the advent of so many perspectives, one entertains different philosophies each day and night.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I can already tell my twenties will be an epoch of epic [self-/]discovery.</span></span></div>
</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-73909070479328271782012-09-12T21:55:00.000-07:002012-09-12T21:55:03.297-07:00Amidst It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Oh, where to begin?<br />
Such is the curse of maximalism - I am a purveyor of accumulating...experiences. Damn, that was rather pompous of me. Duh - most of us are.<br />
Anyways, a new academic year has begun.<br />
New friends, old friends - a beautiful kerfuffle of the two I have experienced so far. I'm nearing two decades of life & have never felt more confident. Let's hope this is an exponentially increasing phenomenon. Throughout this procession, here is what I have adorned myself with - my costume for the production titled 'life':<br />
<br />
<i>[*note: not specific outfit photos, as will become clear. But they do a pretty decent job of showcasing my outfit.]</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZoGpG4ubyY/UE74OR9aiqI/AAAAAAAABEI/a7rck3DOj0k/s1600/blog+outfit+ao.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZoGpG4ubyY/UE74OR9aiqI/AAAAAAAABEI/a7rck3DOj0k/s640/blog+outfit+ao.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m-BgBlgr1kE/UE74bcus1wI/AAAAAAAABEQ/iBJhSUtGrrg/s1600/376662_10150995851291899_1870958079_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m-BgBlgr1kE/UE74bcus1wI/AAAAAAAABEQ/iBJhSUtGrrg/s640/376662_10150995851291899_1870958079_n.jpg" width="434" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">*beauty-related tidbit: finally donned dark lipstick! Red lipstick is high maintenance but hella feelin'-sexy-inducing.</span>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kf9p8WCCkYE/UE74uudabmI/AAAAAAAABEY/ZTQPI6xEt_Q/s1600/421617_10150995865096899_402362752_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kf9p8WCCkYE/UE74uudabmI/AAAAAAAABEY/ZTQPI6xEt_Q/s640/421617_10150995865096899_402362752_n.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>who what wear?</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">gold, shimmery shirt: $6, thrifted</span></li>
<li>copper metallic pleated skirt: $10, Urban Outfitters</li>
<li>tan, tie-die print wedges: $10, Ross</li>
<li><3-worthy work-of-art vest: $10, Temple of the Modern Girl (vintage store)</li>
<li>colourful feather earrings: $3, Aldo</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qoMYoow0pjs/UE75wjXXvhI/AAAAAAAABEg/jUKUpNCCOHw/s1600/620929_10150995851171899_696036289_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qoMYoow0pjs/UE75wjXXvhI/AAAAAAAABEg/jUKUpNCCOHw/s640/620929_10150995851171899_696036289_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
Look at all these hipsters I have the privilege of working with.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
I'd like to share one of my favourite quotes now. Pertinent, I believe. And so damn beautiful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">♪♫ </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>"And those who were seen dancing </b></span></span></div>
<div>
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">were thought insane by those who could</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">not hear the music." ~ Nietzsche </span></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">♪♫</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*p.s. as for the whole existential crisis thing, things like this keep me sane: "Striving for Muslim Women’s Human Rights", by Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons.<br /> [<a href="http://thefeministwire.com/2012/08/striving-for-muslim-womens-human-rights/">http://thefeministwire.com/2012/08/striving-for-muslim-womens-human-rights/</a>]</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />"We feminist Muslims – as our Jewish and Christian sisters have done – are bringing this insight and information to the forefront. We are arguing that Islam is NOT a monolithic structure etched in stone for eternity. We are seeking to separate Islam the religion from culture, tradition, and the social mores of the societies in which Islam arose and took root. We are reinterpreting the sacred texts anew from a feminist perspective. We are reviewing the history of the religion and are finding and bringing to the foreground earlier interpretations of earlier sects or groups in Islam whose views were more egalitarian, but were labeled heterodox and dismissed. We Muslim feminists seek to reinterpret, reconceptualize, contextualize, and historicize Islam and our societies’ rituals and practices."</span></div>
</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-81015565537971984982012-07-18T22:34:00.001-07:002012-07-18T22:34:16.138-07:00Terse Personal Reflections Prior to Ramadan 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
(Can the title be more straight-to-the-point?)<br />
<br />
So Ramadan has descended upon us once again....<br />
<br />
...& this Ramadan I vow to finish reading the entire English translation of the Qu'ran, in hopes of easing the cognitive dissonance that befalls my brain most nights & some days (especially in these last few months).<br />
(I've got in my possession "Towards Understanding Qu'ran: an abridged version of Tafhim al-Qu'ran by Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi, in case you are wondering. A gift from the father, naturally).<br />
<br />
Though, one's faith & spirituality is a continuum, right?<br />
I suspect it's not as black & white as we make it out to be. The binaries of "religious" & "non-religious" are far too simplistic.<br />
<br />
Just like all social constructs.<br />
<br />
Wish me so much luck.</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-82240200525805288342012-07-10T20:44:00.000-07:002012-07-10T20:44:04.902-07:00One Vest, Two Sunshine Rays<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Snaked my way through town</span></i><div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The sun hissed its rays on my skin</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Clouded me with colour</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with nary a cloud in sight</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Eventually found the steps to the *Temple</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in light of</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">capitalistic hallelujah.</span></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
^An ode to my recent beloved splurge on the most exquisite vest that has ever graced my upper body region. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(*Bought at a vintage store fave, Temple of the Modern Girl).</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here I wear it two ways, on two different days, celebrating the anniversaries of the first cognizance of two dear comrades' existence (their birthdays). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">1.</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7att1HwcHw/T_zsV7YILBI/AAAAAAAABCw/X2i7wUDZMVw/s1600/SAM_1531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j7att1HwcHw/T_zsV7YILBI/AAAAAAAABCw/X2i7wUDZMVw/s640/SAM_1531.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xiup4TWgihQ/T_ztW9HHd9I/AAAAAAAABDE/peCjAuNYHQM/s1600/SAM_1538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xiup4TWgihQ/T_ztW9HHd9I/AAAAAAAABDE/peCjAuNYHQM/s320/SAM_1538.JPG" width="180" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MoIfAyfPS_E/T_zrzgnszMI/AAAAAAAABCo/b5mnFqqh554/s1600/SAM_1528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MoIfAyfPS_E/T_zrzgnszMI/AAAAAAAABCo/b5mnFqqh554/s320/SAM_1528.JPG" width="180" /></a><div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></div>
<div>
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">who what wear?</span></b></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<ul>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">blue print dress: $1, YWCA thrift store (I volunteer there every other Friday; drop by Vancouver peepz! Proceeds go to a great cause. 4399 Main st.)</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">3-toned heels: thrifted, ~$3</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">blue scarf: F as in Frank vintage sale, < $2</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">vest of the outfit (ha ha): Temple of the Modern Girl, $12</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xl49uqFHDI0/T_ztoR_N3oI/AAAAAAAABDU/4gGx9FEg3LM/s1600/SAM_1545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xl49uqFHDI0/T_ztoR_N3oI/AAAAAAAABDU/4gGx9FEg3LM/s640/SAM_1545.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yN66NcPGfaA/T_ztgZ5leGI/AAAAAAAABDM/cBWkXzpRMFk/s1600/SAM_1544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yN66NcPGfaA/T_ztgZ5leGI/AAAAAAAABDM/cBWkXzpRMFk/s640/SAM_1544.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. </span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lt4MUHD9ePU/T_zxUkmT5yI/AAAAAAAABDg/Jzwwi0m8jWI/s1600/SAM_1555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lt4MUHD9ePU/T_zxUkmT5yI/AAAAAAAABDg/Jzwwi0m8jWI/s640/SAM_1555.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ueLjYOktikw/T_zxm_sQYPI/AAAAAAAABD0/eMvwPyJNpjQ/s1600/SAM_1572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ueLjYOktikw/T_zxm_sQYPI/AAAAAAAABD0/eMvwPyJNpjQ/s640/SAM_1572.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">who what wear?</span></b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">shimmer-y gold shirt: $6, Salvation Army</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">tie-dye print wedges: $10, Ross</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">blue scarf: F as in Frank vintage sale, < $2</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">vest of the outfit: Temple of the Modern Girl, $12</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRiOk_1kXCo/T_zxwgR8f-I/AAAAAAAABD8/Y46quFMKW00/s1600/SAM_1575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRiOk_1kXCo/T_zxwgR8f-I/AAAAAAAABD8/Y46quFMKW00/s640/SAM_1575.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
^I love these comfortable darlings. I have vowed not to compromise my feet's comfort in exchange for aesthetic appeal. No.matter.how.difficult.that.will.be.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">& this is how I am adorning myself in these *YOLO-y days of summer...</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">*(an adjective!? Drake, you are an abomination!)</span></i></div>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-54037067366305159472012-07-05T01:32:00.001-07:002012-07-05T01:32:47.712-07:00Recipe for The Perfect Day, The Urooba Way:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">1. Start with a small amount of 'Vintage Clothing Sale.' Not too hard to find; check out your local hipster neighbourhood.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">2. Add a heaping amount of an awareness-raising rally in the flavour of ending victim blaming de facto rape culture. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">3. Sprinkle in per chance stumble-upons of Carnival de Sol & the Decentralized Dance Party that remind you why Vanc</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">ouver is flippin' awesome despite the rain.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />4. Mix in a BBQ - food & friends will add that zesty je ne sais quoi.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />5. Finish off with a warm drizzle of a magazine launch party that serves to showcase the creative juices & activism of those traditionally marginalized by various communities, the media & society at large. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />Chill & enjoy!</span>
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">& enjoy you will.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">My day reminded me so much of this Tanya Davis poetry video I watched a coupla years ago </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">(particularly when I skipped home under the moonlight)</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. I wasn't alone all day</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">; just when I went from place to place. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k7X7sZzSXYs" width="560"></iframe></div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-72950649269128638792012-06-07T17:17:00.002-07:002012-06-07T17:17:36.233-07:00Sole-Satisfying Capitalism.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am able to justify my incessant cash-doling practices for the acquisition of accessories for three precise reasons.<br />
<br />
One, because I don't dole out all that much cash.<br />
<br />
Exhibit A: 4 shoe purchases in the last month, for a total of $26 (okay, okay, not including HST...).<br />
<br />
The second reason being, most of these purchases (not in this particular post, heh) are from second-hand shops (obviously!!! You are only excused from not knowing this piece of knowledge if this is your first time on UUU, or you don't know me in real life. Or both.) Sustainable consumerism - a lesser evil.<br />
<br />
Third, just look at them:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_0Y7XqCYGe4/T9FDWF-X8aI/AAAAAAAABCU/x7dn7AEpxmo/s1600/252671_10151900954110727_2049245842_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_0Y7XqCYGe4/T9FDWF-X8aI/AAAAAAAABCU/x7dn7AEpxmo/s640/252671_10151900954110727_2049245842_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xJtEk1wKdxQ/T9FDZtmMY4I/AAAAAAAABCc/MB3nIFpvwWA/s1600/392485_10151900954385727_318223577_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xJtEk1wKdxQ/T9FDZtmMY4I/AAAAAAAABCc/MB3nIFpvwWA/s640/392485_10151900954385727_318223577_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">who what wear?</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>yellow sandals, $5, H&M</li>
<li>black & white polka-dotted oxford, $5, Claire's (seriously)</li>
<li>suede tan lace-up heeled booties, $6, Value Village</li>
<li>tan wedges with a supremely radical tie-dye print on the heels, $10 (splurge!), Ross</li>
</ul>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-21127149759708072042012-06-05T20:35:00.000-07:002012-06-05T20:35:08.137-07:00I have noticed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
that when I began developing sound opinions of my own, I was met with a heightened sense of animosity from those who weren't used to that from me.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Reminded me of the following:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #e5e5dd; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'bookman old style', 'palatino linotype', 'book antiqua', palatino, 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, 'avante garde', 'century gothic', 'comic sans ms', times, 'times new roman', serif;">"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." ~ Oscar Wilde, </span><i style="background-color: #e5e5dd; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'bookman old style', 'palatino linotype', 'book antiqua', palatino, 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, 'avante garde', 'century gothic', 'comic sans ms', times, 'times new roman', serif;">De Profundis</i><span style="background-color: #e5e5dd; color: #330000; font-family: georgia, 'bookman old style', 'palatino linotype', 'book antiqua', palatino, 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, 'avante garde', 'century gothic', 'comic sans ms', times, 'times new roman', serif;">, 1905</span></span></b></div>
</div>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-66109586813984073312012-06-04T18:57:00.000-07:002012-06-04T18:57:22.724-07:00Pertinent.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Disorientation is the loss of the East. Ask any navigator: the east is what you sail by.<span style="font-size: large;"> <b>Lose the east & you lose your bearings, your certainties, your knowledge of what is & what may be, perhaps even your life...</b></span><br />
...But let's just suppose. What if the whole deal - orientation, knowing where you are, & so on - what if it's all a scam? What if all of it - home, kinship, the whole enchilada - is just the biggest, most truly global, & centuries -oldest piece of brainwashing? Suppose that it's only when you dare to let go that your real life begins? When you're whirling free of the mother ship, when you cut your ropes, slip your chain, step off the map, go absent without leave, scram, vamoose, whatever: suppose that it's then, & only then, that you're actually free to act! To lead the life nobody tells you how to live, or when or why. In which nobody orders you to go forth & die for them, or for god, or comes to get you because you broke one of the rules, <span style="font-size: large;"><b>or because you're one of those people who are, for reasons which unfortunately can't be given, simply not allowed.</b> <b>Suppose you've got to go through the feeling of being lost, into the chaos & beyond: you've got to accept the loneliness, the wild panic of losing your moorings, the vertiginous terror of the horizon spinning round & round like the edge of a coin tossed in the air."</b> </span><br />
<br />
- Salman Rushdie, "<i>The Ground Beneath Her Feet"</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
This book has been amazing thus far.</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-42185290768833885262012-05-30T23:55:00.002-07:002012-05-30T23:55:38.617-07:00Honest, banal update.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wow.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Broke the record for not blogging regularly. Um, apologies?<br />
I am back. No more false promises of this "regular" business any more, though. See, this way you <i>prevent </i>heartache, 'cause you don't expect much.<br />
<br />
& no longer solely (/will seldom be) blogging about fashion. Whatever that is.</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-65432333382982806912012-03-14T23:03:00.000-07:002012-03-14T23:59:23.896-07:00{Give-Away!} Modest Sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dearest readers, serendipitous blog-hoppers, friends, family, & creeps who receive gratification by searching for absurdity on Google...and find my blog,<br />
<br />
I have not been a very good blogger. I understand these once-a-month tirades have been especially problematic for those individuals who, for some reason, actually read & enjoy UUU. Fear not, I am making it up to you all, by hosting a give-away!<br />
<br />
As most of the northern hemisphere is warming up (although, if we're being technical, the entire earth is purportedly warming up), this give-away couldn't come at a better time!<br />
The prize is a <span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">modest swimsuit, of your choice</span> from <b><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8; color: white; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://modestsea.com/">Modest Sea</a>!</span></b><br />
The company, besides winning my approval for their great punniness, offer swimsuits for both moderate & full coverage. You can even mix and match pieces. They've also got a pretty great info-graphic explaining their non-wetting fabric: <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://modestsea.com/non-wetting-fabrics">http://modestsea.com/non-wetting-fabrics</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Contest Rules:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">1. </span>Leave a comment below stating which swimsuit is your favourite & <i>why</i>.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2. </span>Also tell me your favourite summer memory.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3. </span>Leave me your contact info. Re: email. Also, if you want, post a link to your own blog/site!<br />
I'd also encourage you guys to leave some comments about what you think of the company itself - they're always open to feedback! & if you'd like, link this post and their website into your own blog post about the contest.<br />
<br />
The contest will end 2 weeks from now, on <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mar. 28, 2012, 11:59 pm PST.</b></span><br />
<br />
The most <b>creative</b> response, as judged by yours truly, will win! Still, fear not -<b> there's still a treat for the rest of you who may not win</b>! Come visit my blog again in 2 weeks to find out what it is!<br />
<br />
My modest sea pick?<br />
The "Alex & Sabrina Set" (<a href="http://modestsea.com/alex-and-sabrina">http://modestsea.com/alex-and-sabrina</a>):<br />
<img alt="small main_image" src="http://modestsea.com/files/products/MixMatch/alexsabrinafront.jpg" /><br />
Of course, I enjoy the kaleidoscopic print. It's also a 1-piece, which suits my needs for convenience as even the headwear is attached.<br />
<br />
Well, good luck, friends!<br />
& here's to more days like the one below, in which aimlessly staring at bodies of water under the rays of sun in mild weather are the norm:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2gzv7-FP6fw/T2GD4kEK5mI/AAAAAAAABA4/ZVaDTy4lK7U/s1600/425457_10151233706560328_722075327_22684129_93435376_n+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2gzv7-FP6fw/T2GD4kEK5mI/AAAAAAAABA4/ZVaDTy4lK7U/s400/425457_10151233706560328_722075327_22684129_93435376_n+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a><b> </b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b>(mini) who what wear?</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">dress: thrifted, $3</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">floral jacket: thrifted, $6</span></div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gv3Gtf94o6w" width="420"></iframe>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-82169969207873251452012-02-24T19:42:00.000-08:002012-02-25T20:57:25.678-08:00{--dilettante poetry break--}<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"I'm going to put together a playlist of all the words you ever said to me/</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">& when I play them, it'll be like a semantic-phony." - some leakage from my brain</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n6hvUTinDXI/T0hYNOIYY9I/AAAAAAAABAw/V8TtTLIfcd8/s1600/Photshoot+&+Sprained+Ankle+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n6hvUTinDXI/T0hYNOIYY9I/AAAAAAAABAw/V8TtTLIfcd8/s400/Photshoot+&+Sprained+Ankle+004.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>I like [photographing] sunsets.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/894MYqeAzIo" width="420"></iframe></div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-37925096696863929332012-02-10T23:56:00.000-08:002012-02-25T21:34:16.063-08:00Déjà vu.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A near-two month hiatus from blogging has my cerebral cortex begging me to allow itself to purge the cognitive diarrhea that I have, for nearly two years now, enjoyed sharing with you all.<br />
<br />
It is with utmost pleasure that I announce that my room smells like chipotle mayonnaise. That my rectum is soon about to burst. That the end of my to-do-list is very assymptote-ic; I will never reach it. That in the last 4 months I have argued with precisely 4 males about the legitimacy of feminism as a social justice movement and its relevance in our society today. That I recently had the opportunity to perform spoken word poetry to a roomful of incredibly inspiring human beings about how Islam complements my post-colonialist, anti-imperialist, and feminist worldviews (!!!). That if I don't go to the washroom to relieve myself very soon, my chair will be very wet. That "CLIMATE CHANGE IS A REAL THING, GUYS!" and we should seriously be worried. Or reduce our carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. And fast, y'all.<br />
<br />
Bee-arr-bee. I'm going to go pee.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, here, a sartorial creation:<br />
<br /></div>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript">
</script><script src="http://lookbook.nu/look/widget/3048737.js?include=all&size=medium&style=button&align=center">
</script><br />
<div id="hype_container_3048737">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptxNxj2e124/TzYYhwNry_I/AAAAAAAABAg/I0MCSmIRHR8/s1600/DSC_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ptxNxj2e124/TzYYhwNry_I/AAAAAAAABAg/I0MCSmIRHR8/s640/DSC_0005.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photo credit: my lovely resident, Elysse. World-renowned photographer she will be, some day, I bet.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>who what wear?</b></span><br />
<br />
<ol class="items topspaced" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 375px;">
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_0" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
BROWN HEELED BOOTS WITH GOLD BUCKLE</h2>
, <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$5</span>, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">VALUE VILLAGE</span></span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_1" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
GOLD METALLIC TIGHTS</h2>
, <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$10</span>, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">H&M</span></span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
FLORAL DRESS</h2>
, <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$3</span>, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">VALUE VILLAGE</span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_3" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
VINTAGE YELLOW FUZZY SWEATER</h2>
, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">F AS IN FRANK</span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_4" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
FLORAL VEST</h2>
, <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$3</span>, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">THRIFTED; SALVATION ARMY</span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
PINK SCARF</h2>
, <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$5</span>, <span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">ARDENE'S</span></li>
<li class="linespaced" id="show_item_6" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h2 class="normal strong uppercase inline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="name">
ZEBRA-PRINT STACHEL</h2>
<span style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px;">
, </span><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="price">$7</span><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px;">, </span><span class="uppercase" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="from">H&m </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Alright, back from lavatory-related duties.</div>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Only appropriate to share my current playlist, I feel:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KbtUs4EIQIE" width="420"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B3ePlc3Gi_8" width="420"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="25" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fsoBTel5K60" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IW7xwSVj7gw" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
And this addictive number: I see the video as a satirical antithesis to the exotification of the Middle East. & taking a bad-arse stance against a certain country in the world that prohibits persons of a certain gender from partaking in a certain activity associated with automobiles. AND ALSO, I WANT, LIKE, ALL M.I.A.'s CLOTHES!!!!
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2uYs0gJD-LE" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
And how are <i>you</i> all doing, mes cheries? :)
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="stream-item-header" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="js-tweet-text" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<i>"I fancied you’d return the way you said, but I grow old and I forget your name. (I think I made you up inside my head)." ~ <a class="account-group js-account-group js-action-profile js-user-profile-link" data-user-id="237566213" href="https://twitter.com/#!/itssylviaplath" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #999999; font-size: 14px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong class="fullname js-action-profile-name" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sylvia Plath</strong> </a></i></div>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-6613883270524861642011-12-26T02:19:00.000-08:002011-12-26T02:19:49.368-08:00A Post to Distract You From My Lack of Outfit-Recording<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Would you like a beauty tip that will not denigrate your self-esteem and consequently your self-worth? Try flicking glitter upon your lashes; view the world through kaleidoscope eyes when basking in any form of light.<br />
<br />
I followed said beauty advice when I found myself spending a December evening with 13-year olds. Some gems from their conversations, of which I eavesdropped on whilst flipping between reading scholarly essays on how fundamentalism has betrayed the true spirit of Islam, and the epic unrequited love story, "Love in the time of Cholera":<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="js-stream-item stream-item" data-item-id="151224193814499328" data-item-type="tweet" media="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgba(26, 217, 201, 0.148438); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgba(26, 217, 201, 0.148438); border-right-color: rgba(26, 217, 201, 0.148438); border-top-color: rgba(26, 217, 201, 0.148438); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #444444; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -1px; min-height: 60px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="stream-item-content tweet js-actionable-tweet js-stream-tweet stream-tweet " data-is-reply-to="false" data-item-id="151224193814499328" data-screen-name="uroobajamal" data-tweet-id="151224193814499328" data-user-id="33326872" style="font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; zoom: 1;">
<div class="tweet-image" style="float: left; height: 48px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 48px;">
<img alt="Urooba Jamal" class="user-profile-link js-action-profile-avatar" data-user-id="33326872" height="48" src="https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/1661321922/305233_2477060212356_1428022422_2862770_174921610_n_normal.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: rgb(26, 217, 201) !important; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="48" /></div>
<div class="tweet-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 58px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<span class="tweet-user-name" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="tweet-screen-name user-profile-link js-action-profile-name" data-user-id="33326872" href="https://twitter.com/#!/uroobajamal" style="color: rgb(26, 217, 201) !important; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Urooba Jamal">uroobajamal</a> <span class="tweet-full-name" style="color: #999999; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Urooba Jamal</span> </span><div class="tweet-corner" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div class="tweet-meta" style="color: #999999; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="icons" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="extra-icons" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 0px;">
<span class="inlinemedia-icons js-icon-container" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="tweet-text js-tweet-text" style="font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
"My mom was a tomboy. The only girl things she did was, like, cook and clean." *cringes forever** <a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23hangingoutwithtweens" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="#hangingoutwithtweens"><s class="hash" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 0.7; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</s><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; white-space: normal;">hangingoutwithtweens</b></a></div>
</div>
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<a class="tweet-timestamp js-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/#!/uroobajamal/status/151224193814499328" style="color: rgb(26, 217, 201) !important; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_timestamp js-tweet-timestamp" data-long-form="true" data-time="1324889632000" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="12:53 AM, Dec 26th">1 hour ago</span> </a><span class="tweet-actions js-actions" data-tweet-id="151224193814499328" style="font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; visibility: visible;"><span class="tweet-action action-favorite" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="favorite-action js-toggle-fav" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Favorite"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: -32px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Favorite</b></span></a> </span><a class="reply-action js-action-reply" data-screen-name="uroobajamal" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Reply"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Reply</b></span></a> <a class="delete-action js-action-del" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Delete"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: -112px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Delete</b></span></a></span></div>
<div class="tweet-row tweet-activity tweet-activity-retweets" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
</div>
<div class="tweet-row tweet-activity tweet-activity-favorites" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="js-stream-item stream-item" data-item-id="151183319269257217" data-item-type="tweet" media="true" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(235, 235, 235); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: transparent; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -1px; min-height: 60px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="stream-item-content tweet js-actionable-tweet js-stream-tweet stream-tweet " data-is-reply-to="false" data-item-id="151183319269257217" data-screen-name="uroobajamal" data-tweet-id="151183319269257217" data-user-id="33326872" style="font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; zoom: 1;">
<div class="tweet-dogear" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 24px 25px; height: 25px; left: 0px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 24px;">
</div>
<div class="tweet-image" style="float: left; height: 48px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 48px;">
<img alt="Urooba Jamal" class="user-profile-link js-action-profile-avatar" data-user-id="33326872" height="48" src="https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/1661321922/305233_2477060212356_1428022422_2862770_174921610_n_normal.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="48" /></div>
<div class="tweet-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 58px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<span class="tweet-user-name" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="tweet-screen-name user-profile-link js-action-profile-name" data-user-id="33326872" href="https://twitter.com/#!/uroobajamal" style="color: #1ad9c9; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Urooba Jamal">uroobajamal</a> <span class="tweet-full-name" style="color: #999999; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Urooba Jamal</span> </span><div class="tweet-corner" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div class="tweet-meta" style="color: #999999; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="icons" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="extra-icons" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; right: 5px; top: 0px;">
<span class="inlinemedia-icons js-icon-container" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="tweet-text js-tweet-text" style="font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
"Mature is, like, when you don't laugh at sex jokes." <a class=" twitter-hashtag pretty-link" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23hangingoutwithtweens" rel="nofollow" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;" title="#hangingoutwithtweens"><s class="hash" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 0.7; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</s><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; white-space: normal;">hangingoutwithtweens</b></a></div>
</div>
<div class="tweet-row" style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;">
<a class="tweet-timestamp js-permalink" href="https://twitter.com/#!/uroobajamal/status/151183319269257217" style="color: #1ad9c9; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_timestamp js-tweet-timestamp" data-long-form="true" data-time="1324879886000" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="10:11 PM, Dec 25th">3 hours ago</span> </a><span class="tweet-actions js-actions" data-tweet-id="151183319269257217" style="font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><span class="tweet-action action-favorite" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="favorite-action js-toggle-fav" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Favorite"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: -32px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></b></span></a></span><a class="reply-action js-action-reply" data-screen-name="uroobajamal" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Reply"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></b></span></a><a class="delete-action js-action-del" href="https://twitter.com/#" style="color: #1ad9c9; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial !important; outline-style: none !important; outline-width: initial !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Delete"><span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/a/1324510588/phoenix/img/sprite-icons.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: -112px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: inline-block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: -99999px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 15px;"></i><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></b></span></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="tweet-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 58px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="tweet-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 58px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Oh hai therr, embedded-tweets feature.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-44174113344853671512011-11-29T00:19:00.001-08:002011-11-29T00:27:31.722-08:00éclatement de l'inspiration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<h3 style="background-color: black; color: #b3b1b1; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 28px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
"Women are not created weaker but more generous than men. They are created more beautiful and less fierce, as beauty hates to hurt and harm others. That is why they seem weak to people, but in reality they are not. Angels are the strongest of created beings, and women are closer to the angelic nature than men, as they are readier than men to carry angelic light. It is the good manners and ethics of spirituality which they carry which makes them less forceful than men. Even physically, however, they are extremely strong. They undergo great upheavals in their body without flinching for the sake of childbirth, and face the direst physical conditions more successfully than men because God has enabled them to insure the survival of generations."</h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #949191;">-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.)</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #949191; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Just a quickie post; burst of inspiration & what not. It's been way too long, mes amies. <3</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Life's been crazy-busy, obvs. Fear not, been doing errrr'thang in tacky, thrift-y, vintage-y clothes, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333;">bien sûr.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #edeff4; color: #333333; line-height: 14px;"> </span></span></div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-30784972536654521172011-11-06T01:26:00.000-07:002011-11-06T01:29:12.250-07:00Bell Bottoms and bedroom Eyes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The word 'undergraduate' seems rightfully accurate--these undergraduate years are so underrated!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The cognizance of this fact hath made me commit acts of the socially deviant kind:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I decided to ornament half my limbs with the most ridiculous/fan freakin' tastic/groovy/happiness-inducing floral bell bottoms.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPyK_AT3yFA/TrY3mALxDTI/AAAAAAAAA_4/XHXoAODUkME/s1600/SAM_1191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPyK_AT3yFA/TrY3mALxDTI/AAAAAAAAA_4/XHXoAODUkME/s640/SAM_1191.JPG" width="360" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The two best accompaniments? A velvet blazer and a pompous, hip-jutting demeanor, of course.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bD6RSMdBrw4/TrY7DirEkpI/AAAAAAAABAA/tsrFDbiRSQI/s1600/SAM_1137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bD6RSMdBrw4/TrY7DirEkpI/AAAAAAAABAA/tsrFDbiRSQI/s640/SAM_1137.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The pants also serve as a means of protection against dangerous suburban terrain.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NhWq7AlSgvM/TrY8AelwdzI/AAAAAAAABAI/Rdn0g-Rsh9Q/s1600/SAM_1125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NhWq7AlSgvM/TrY8AelwdzI/AAAAAAAABAI/Rdn0g-Rsh9Q/s640/SAM_1125.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The unveiling (pun <i>not </i>intended, for once) of lethargy or sexy bedroom eyes? You decide.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">who what wear?</span></span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">vel<span style="font-family: inherit;">vet blazer</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">: < $3, F as in Frank </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">vintage sale</span></li>
<li>floral fab-freakin'-tastic pants: Urban Outfitters, $10</li>
<li>gold metallic, zebra-print scarf: H&M, $5</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-24HibTEzREU/TrY9Xdfg8zI/AAAAAAAABAQ/Utf3zvtSaJQ/s1600/SAM_1158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-24HibTEzREU/TrY9Xdfg8zI/AAAAAAAABAQ/Utf3zvtSaJQ/s640/SAM_1158.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBWdSRSivE4/TrY974Nk89I/AAAAAAAABAY/ugsl6reWb3c/s1600/SAM_1192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBWdSRSivE4/TrY974Nk89I/AAAAAAAABAY/ugsl6reWb3c/s640/SAM_1192.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: x-large;"><b>{word of the moment} </b></span> </div>
<div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>cog·ni·zance</b></span></div>
<span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"></span> <span class="hwc"></span><span class="pronset"><noscript>&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/C06/C0624500" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/g/d/speaker.gif" border="0" alt="cognizance pronunciation" /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</noscript></span><br />
<div class="header">
<span class="hwc"></span><span class="hwc"> </span> <span class="hwc"></span><span class="pronset"><noscript>&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/C06/C0624500" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/g/d/speaker.gif" border="0" alt="cognizance pronunciation" /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</noscript> <span class="show_ipapr" style="display: none;"><span class="prondelim">/</span><span class="pron">ˈkɒg<img alt="" border="0" class="luna-Img" src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" />nə<img alt="" border="0" class="luna-Img" src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" />zəns</span><span class="pron">,</span> <span class="pron">ˈkɒn<img alt="" border="0" class="luna-Img" src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" />ə-</span><span class="prondelim">/</span> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" class="luna-Img" src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif" /></a> <span class="pron_toggle" style="display: inline;"><a alt="Toggle for Spelled" class="pronlink" href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6430962773304968713" title="Click to show spelled">Show Spelled</a></span></span><span class="show_spellpr" style="display: inline;"><span class="prondelim">[</span><span class="pron"><span class="boldface">kog</span>-n<span class="ital-inline">uh</span>-z<span class="ital-inline">uh</span><img alt="" border="0" class="luna-Img" src="http://sp.dictionary.com/dictstatic/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" />ns</span><span class="pron">,</span> <span class="pron"><span class="boldface">kon</span>-<span class="ital-inline">uh</span>-</span><span class="prondelim">]</span> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/Spell_pron_key.html" target="_blank"></a><span class="pron_toggle" style="display: inline;"></span></span></span> </div>
<span class="pg"><b><span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">noun</span></b> <span class="hwc"></span></span><span class="dnindex"><span class="hwc">1.</span></span><span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"> awareness,</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">realization,</span> <span class="hwc">or</span> <span class="hwc">knowledge;</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">notice;</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">perception:</span> <span class="hwc"></span><span class="ital-inline"><span class="hwc"> </span></span><br />
<span class="ital-inline"><span class="hwc">"The</span> <span class="hwc">guests</span> <span class="hwc">took</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">cognizance</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">of</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">the</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">snide</span> <span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;">remark."</span></span><br />
<div style="color: lime; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="ital-inline"><span class="hwc" style="cursor: default;"><br /></span></span></span></b></div>
<span class="ital-inline" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="hwc" style="color: #333333; cursor: default;"><b style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">{phonetic gem of the moment}</b></span></span><br />
<span id="goog_1751391552"></span><span id="goog_1751391553"></span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DjEaFiBDrRg" width="560"></iframe>
This man. His voice. That is all. (When is he coming to Vancouver!?!?!?!?!?)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">{book of the moment} </b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51WUS8ekVVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51WUS8ekVVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #e06666; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>{quote of the moment}</b></span><br />
<h1 style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Why do you stay in prison, when the door is so wide open?" ~ Jalal ad-Din Rumi</span></h1>
<h1 style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></b></h1>
<h1 style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Till next time, <i style="font-weight: normal;">lieflinges</i>*!</span></b></h1>
<h1 style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(*darlings, in Afrikaans)</span> </span></b></h1>
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="af"><span class=""><br /></span><span class=""></span></span></div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-8762831839439880352011-10-26T00:55:00.000-07:002011-10-26T01:00:02.666-07:00[video!] What's Happening Write Now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In between constructing coffins for the most enjoyable (pretend) funeral/murder mystery I have had the pleasure of organizing and attending; and receiving mail in an actual mailbox that is <i>not</i> an email inbox; and having my lips formulate the shape of a bowl every time I hear Joshua Radin's "I Missed you" <br />
[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIuUDR-5H-8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIuUDR-5H-8</a>]; and getting abnormally excited at the fact that as of late there have been many parallels between my Urban Studies, Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Inequality and World Literature classes; and having my breath taken away as I behold the sight of fall on campus; and drawing out dramatic, induced-by-pseudo-annoyance sighs every time someone wrote a generic "happy bday :D" greeting upon my Facebook wall; and smiling copiously every time someone did <i>not </i>do that; and connecting with the Pakistani diaspora on campus by being an executive of a Pakistan Students' Association, and having conversations with my residents a.k.a. children in the washroom with toothpaste-foam-stuffed mouths, and by thrifting a string of lights for $1 that I have put up in my room and that are much too romantic and reaffirm my desire for a significant other but not really just joking; and being somewhat relieved my french class is much like highschool french parce-que c'est tres facile; and actually resorting to penciling in time in our schedules to have casual hang-out sessions with my BFF because our lives are just that divergent and busy now; and discovering that if I were to be an academic discipline I would most likely be sociology, seeing as I think like a sociologist a lot of the time now; and wearing glittery black slacks to an interview because metallic gold tights and tie-dyed denim will just not do; and repeating jokes far too often in the day that even I tire of my redundancy; and having conversations about political efficacy and racial segregation with 75-year-old men in groovy cafes that have gender-neutral washrooms; and being of an interest to 26-give-or-take-year-old fobby sales clerks at convenience stores who offer me free samosas whilst slippng me their number....<br />
<br />
...a friend and I made a video! It's a tribute to Vancouver and some of the reasons why we love this place. Originally for the creative part of an application and now for your viewing pleasure, too!<br />
Enjoy.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bOFu7qg7LSs" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
p.s. outfit post soon!<br />
p.p.s. hello new followers!<br />
p.p.p.s. 2 milestones: am now 19. This l'il 'ol blog, UUU, is about to turn TWO YEARS OLD. Aw, my baby! <3</div>Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-71052773104973700272011-10-04T22:49:00.000-07:002011-10-04T22:49:19.560-07:00[Confessions of an Academic-Hedonist]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Because I constantly receive large 'mounts of gratification from being verbose, and because I enjoy steadily increasing my superfluously-hyphenated-self-identity I have added something else to the way I will now classify myself:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I am an academic-hedonist</b>.</span><br />
<br />
Damn straight.</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-6205826397510459732011-09-26T23:22:00.000-07:002011-09-26T23:22:37.001-07:00It Never Gets Ti(g)ering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />This post will not ooze collegiate-chic as it so rightfully should. Won't ooze sophomore collegiate-chic to be exact. No, won't ooze second-year collegiate-chic to be exact exact, seeing as I am no American (& do not particularly aspire to be. Re: Troy Davis sad-edy. [tragedy + sad]).<br />
<br />
Instead, it will attempt to reinforce the norm of longing for summer. Please sit back & enjoy me having ascendancy over you for the next few moments in time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xqiTaKM4cso/ToFhE8egqhI/AAAAAAAAA_U/OAiJrKn9m2g/s1600/SAM_1049%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xqiTaKM4cso/ToFhE8egqhI/AAAAAAAAA_U/OAiJrKn9m2g/s640/SAM_1049%255B1%255D.JPG" width="360" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Longing for summer reaffirmed yet? Oh, no? Fear not, there's more captured moments of time where this came from.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VUFinFtFcc/ToFj02_BopI/AAAAAAAAA_c/O_D2_zLlors/s1600/SAM_1051%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VUFinFtFcc/ToFj02_BopI/AAAAAAAAA_c/O_D2_zLlors/s640/SAM_1051%255B1%255D.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> who what wear?</b></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li> shiny blue scarf, $2, F as in Frank </li>
<li> vintage floral dress, $3, Value Village </li>
<li> gold metallic tights, $10, h&m </li>
<li> bright blue pumps, $3, thrifted </li>
<li> bedazzled vintage vest, momma's from the 80's</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j-V9Totlokg/ToFkaWTUSII/AAAAAAAAA_s/E-s8d_pb_QQ/s1600/SAM_1072%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j-V9Totlokg/ToFkaWTUSII/AAAAAAAAA_s/E-s8d_pb_QQ/s640/SAM_1072%255B1%255D.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
The beautiful thing about being a maximalist is that you can repeat
outfits (gasp!shock!horror!) with a simple switch of accessories. Case
in point: I've worn this ensemble to convocation ceremonies, birthday
dinners, & summer Microeconomics classes.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>[jewellery] who what wear? </b></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li> blue ring, Old Navy, $3</li>
<li>gold cuff, Forever 21</li>
<li>white & gold necklace, Aldo, $10</li>
<li>blue & gold necklace, Value Village, < $2</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PLICitO_NQg/ToFkKsKFIFI/AAAAAAAAA_k/7AFC_NYtcxw/s1600/SAM_1071_Edited%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PLICitO_NQg/ToFkKsKFIFI/AAAAAAAAA_k/7AFC_NYtcxw/s640/SAM_1071_Edited%255B1%255D.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fcXpvVApbRE/ToFkRVCoAPI/AAAAAAAAA_o/19vM2div8Gk/s1600/SAM_1066%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fcXpvVApbRE/ToFkRVCoAPI/AAAAAAAAA_o/19vM2div8Gk/s640/SAM_1066%255B1%255D.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tFHqujfE9K8/ToFkh96JbDI/AAAAAAAAA_w/yZld_Lj8jpA/s1600/SAM_1088%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Now, here: gallivanting graciously amidst suburban terrain...or picking a frustratingly deep-seated (literally) wedgie? You decide.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pMF_Gfy-xi0/ToFj8g81-JI/AAAAAAAAA_g/TdI0SazNUpg/s1600/SAM_1058%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pMF_Gfy-xi0/ToFj8g81-JI/AAAAAAAAA_g/TdI0SazNUpg/s640/SAM_1058%255B1%255D.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>p.s. Exciting Life Updates in This L'il Life O' Mine<em><em> vis-à-vis </em></em>Photographs </b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tFHqujfE9K8/ToFkh96JbDI/AAAAAAAAA_w/yZld_Lj8jpA/s1600/SAM_1088%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tFHqujfE9K8/ToFkh96JbDI/AAAAAAAAA_w/yZld_Lj8jpA/s640/SAM_1088%255B1%255D.JPG" width="360" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In this photo I am in the possession of the Delicious Boy, who is my 7-month old baby brother who has not made an appearance on UUU yet (!!!!!!!!!!!).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ySUfEZwj5-Y/ToFprHNsVlI/AAAAAAAAA_0/bWPrsyYJj_Y/s1600/293320_10150866239240727_561980726_21251648_762752038_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ySUfEZwj5-Y/ToFprHNsVlI/AAAAAAAAA_0/bWPrsyYJj_Y/s640/293320_10150866239240727_561980726_21251648_762752038_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I am currently a Residence Advisor at school. In short, I get paid to have TONS OF LEGAL FUN.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Above is my Small Team. & a cheer we never get tigerd (heh) of re-enacting: "1-2 KU, 3-4 Hear us roar! *roar*)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>bisou, bisou, mes darlings.</i> Till next time (which will <i>not </i>be a month later. *winces*)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript">
</script><script src="http://lookbook.nu/look/widget/2322859.js?include=all&size=medium&style=button&align=center">
</script><br />
<div id="hype_container_2322859">
</div>
</div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430962773304968713.post-24369476222870373562011-09-20T01:05:00.001-07:002011-09-20T01:05:41.506-07:00p.s. I AM ALIVE (!!!!!!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /></div>
Under Urooba's Umbrella!http://www.blogger.com/profile/11905237228320579309noreply@blogger.com3