Strange but true….I know of a friend (classical opera singer) stuck in NYC without work since she is unable to get the required visa. (Source: The Economist)
Beauty and the Geek
Jun 19th 2008 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
A new bill proposes more visas be allocated to fashion models
IT’S not often that fashion models are paired with IT workers, except in the lurid fantasies of computer geeks. But because of a decision made back in 1990 they must compete for the same over-subscribed H-1B, a temporary work visa for specialised occupations. Until 2004, when the government lowered the cap on the number of H-1Bs it issued, it didn’t matter so much. But now demand has far outstripped the limited number of visas available, and many foreign models are being denied the chance to sashay down America’s catwalks.
Anthony Weiner, a New York congressman, wants to fix this tragic glitch. He has proposed a bill amending the rules so that the models will be reclassified into their own special immigration category. This would free up more visas for the nerds; and it would allow 1,000 models to strut their stuff in America each year, compared with just 349 in 2007, half the annual number admitted between 2000 and 2005.
This essay by Mary Schmich was published in the Chicago Tribune in 1997. It was rumored to be a commencement speech given by Kurt Vonnegut at MIT, but that was obviously not true, but it made several rounds on the internet. I remember reading it back then and was truly taken aback by the simplicity and the power of the message contained with in it. No idea what prompted me to think of it again today, but I did. And here it is to be shared with you. Watch the video that was also made on her essay.
Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young
Mary Schmich
June 1, 1997 Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out, some world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people who’d rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but there’s no reason we can’t entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for Graduates.I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for indulging my attempt.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.Do one thing every day that scares you.
A dear friend, who is herself pregnant with a baby girl, just sent this. How cute is this? … Watch and enjoy. It will make you smile, esp. if you have ever tried dancing dabke yourself. Click on image below (in center) to play the video.
It’s been a while since I wrote something on a lighter note on this blog…but believe me, I do have a lighter side as well.
Here is a favorite song from this lovely Lebanese/Colombian star. Yes, Shakira (this time she is a brunette!) - now I only wish Boston clubs played such music more often.
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia on 1977, for a Lebanese father and a Colombian mother, Shakira Isabel Mebarak is the youngest of her parents’ eight children. Shakira’s female rocker style garnered her the World Music Award for Latin Female Artist of the Year, while the phenomenal success of Laundry Service and ‘Whenever, Whenever’ has hurled her to fame.
My dear friend, and a mentor, Pervez Hoodbhoy just guided me to an article he has written that got published in Physics Today. Readers here won’t be surprised that I want to share it with them. We must all read this carefully and try to understand for ourselves what has gone wrong with the Islamic civilization of today that has so shunned academic, artistic, and creative knowledge. Why do we not seek truths about the nature of this world, just as our religion teaches us to seek truth in matters of God and religion? Everyone else has moved on. Why haven’t we?
Science and the Islamic world—The quest for rapprochement
Internal causes led to the decline of Islam’s scientific greatness long before the era of mercantile imperialism. To contribute once again, Muslims must be introspective and ask what went wrong.
This article grew out of the Max von Laue Lecture that I delivered earlier this year to celebrate that eminent physicist and man of strong social conscience. When Adolf Hitler was on the ascendancy, Laue was one of the very few German physicists of stature who dared to defend Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity. It therefore seems appropriate that a matter concerning science and civilization should be my concern here.
The question I want to pose—perhaps as much to myself as to anyone else—is this: With well over a billion Muslims and extensive material resources, why is the Islamic world disengaged from science and the process of creating new knowledge? To be definite, I am here using the 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) as a proxy for the Islamic world.
It was not always this way. Islam’s magnificent Golden Age in the 9th–13th centuries brought about major advances in mathematics, science, and medicine. The Arabic language held sway in an age that created algebra, elucidated principles of optics, established the body’s circulation of blood, named stars, and created universities. But with the end of that period, science in the Islamic world essentially collapsed. No major invention or discovery has emerged from the Muslim world for well over seven centuries now. That arrested scientific development is one important element—although by no means the only one—that contributes to the present marginalization of Muslims and a growing sense of injustice and victimhood.
Such negative feelings must be checked before the gulf widens further. A bloody clash of civilizations, should it actually transpire, will surely rank along with the two other most dangerous challenges to life on our planet—climate change and nuclear proliferation.
First encounters
Islam’s encounter with science has had happy and unhappy periods. There was no science in Arab culture in the initial period of Islam, around 610 AD. But as Islam established itself politically and militarily, its territory expanded. In the mid-eighth century, Muslim conquerors came upon the ancient treasures of Greek learning. Translations from Greek into Arabic were ordered by liberal and enlightened caliphs, who filled their courts in Baghdad with visiting scholars from near and far. Politics was dominated by the rationalist Mutazilites, who sought to combine faith and reason in opposition to their rivals, the dogmatic Asharites. A generally tolerant and pluralistic Islamic culture allowed Muslims, Christians, and Jews to create new works of art and science together. But over time, the theological tensions between liberal and fundamentalist interpretations of Islam—such as on the issue of free will versus predestination—became intense and turned bloody. A resurgent religious orthodoxy eventually inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mutazilites. Thereafter, the open-minded pursuits of philosophy, mathematics, and science were increasingly relegated to the margins of Islam.1
I tried to find Him on the Christian Cross, but He was not there; I went to the Temple of the Hindus and to the pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valley and across the deserts, but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and the philosophers but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He is no where else to be found, for words are useless (specially sentences) and life defies definition.
L started doing Dabke quite a few years ago in Boston. She and her friends in Boston formed a Dabke troupe called Zeitoun and they did several performances. Zeitoun has not performed together for a while, but one former Zeitoun member, Zaki, has done an awesome job teaching this traditional Palestinian (and Arab) dance to some new students at Harvard. Below is a video of his amateur troupe performing at Harvard last weekend. It is really nice to see Palestinian culture being celebrated and participated in by people in Boston.
Dabke is a beautiful dance! It is a folk line dance, performed by either just men, just women, both together. Its is als a communal dance, done at wedding, celebrations, and other occasions. It was the most popular dance at my wedding! It is a performance dance, as well as a participatory dance. While it is performed all over the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia), I have most experience watching the Palestinian version of this dance. Some of the most famous internationally famous dabke troupes today include Ibdaa, Sareyyet Ramallah, and El-Funoun (see a short video below - I have seen them perform and they rock), all based in Palestine.
Dabke music is so awesome, so rhythmic, so powerful - and then the stomping of the feet in rythm. I love it! It just so happens that Zaki also chose one of my favorite Dabke music to perform to…
The leader plays an important role in Dabke (which Zaki did for his troupe). According to a post in Wikipedia:
The Dabke leader is supposed to be like a tree, with arms in the air, a proud and upright trunk, and feet that stomp the ground in rhythm, emphasizing their connection to their land. The meaning of “dabke” in Arabic is “stomping of the feet,” and stomping, as well as jumping and kicking, are moves that characterize the dabke in a unique manner. The leader, called raas (meaning “head”) or “lawwih” (meaning “waver”), is allowed to improvise on the type of dabke being danced, and he or she would also be twirling a handkerchief or string of beads known as a masbha (similar to a rosary), while the rest of the dancers keep the rhythm. The dancers also use vocalizations to show energy and to punctuate the rhythm. Many learn dabke as children, while others perform it as part of professional dance troupes.
A young boy was born in 1954 in what is now Bangladesh. At the age of ~15, he moved to Karachi in search of a future in the music industry. He had brought nothing else with him but a guitar and a passion to sing. He settled in the PECHSarea of Karachi and started singing in the evenings at a small cafe called “Cafe D Khan” on Tariq Road. He would not get paid for his gig, but did get a free meal each day. For an aspiring musician, just a free meal and an attentive audience was worth the effort.
And that is how a legend emerged. Who among us has not heard of Alamgir? From that small dimly lit cafe he got introduced to Khushbakhat Shujaat from the Karachi TV station and then to Sohail Rana, the music maestro who made careers for so many people. His guitar skills and rendition of a famous spanish song “Guanatanamera“, altered to be “Albela Rahi“ in Urdu landed him a spot on TV, and from there on he never looked back. In his own words he kept singing because it was his passion, and mesmerisingly watched himself become a superstar right before his own eyes.
Alamgir was the King of Pakistani Pop Music until mid 90’s, and then, he disappeared. Yes, nobody has known for the past decade or so where Alamgir went. The guy who was ubiquitous on TV, who sang popular songs on TV and film, and who had one super hit after another, from “Dekha Na Thaa“ to “Yeh Shaam Aur Tera Naam“, “Neeley Neeley Amber per”, “Mainey Tumharee Gagar Sey“ and “Maaon Kee Dua“ just left his fans hanging and disappeared from the scene. Read the rest of this entry »
I had heard of Doctors without Borders and Reporters without Borders, but when I saw a headline in a Pakistani newspaper about Mystics without Borders, it was a first for me and certainly caught my attention.
It turns out a fascinating festival by the name of the “International Mystic Music Sufi Festival” is currently being celebrated in Karachi at the Bara Dari. The festival is being organised by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, which is also the group that has been responsible for the popular World Performing Arts Festival held annually in Lahore.
This Sufi festival is the first of its kind in Karachi and certainly an encouraging sign that people are able to express and share their sentiments, devotion, spirituality and passion in diverse ways. This festival is expected to last until May 7, and with an entrance fee of just Rs 300, it promises a lot of entertainment and education to Karachiites. According to the organizers, performers from over 70 countries have been invited to present their specialties in muslim sufi rituals, including music, songs and dances. There are performers from as far away as Syria which can be a delight to watch.
ATP has written before (here, here, here, here, here and here) on some of the great mystic poets and we wish to join the participants in this festival in spirit.
IT’S not often that fashion models are paired with IT workers, except in the lurid fantasies of computer geeks. But because of a decision made back in 1990 they must compete for the same over-subscribed H-1B, a temporary work visa for specialised occupations. Until 2004, when the government lowered the cap on the number of H-1Bs it issued, it didn’t matter so much. But now demand has far outstripped the limited number of visas available, and many foreign models are being denied the chance to sashay down America’s catwalks.
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Art, literature and theatre, Economy, General, Music & film, USA | Tagged: beauty, geeks, H1B, models, visa | 
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Posted by Bilal Zuberi
Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out, some world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people who’d rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but there’s no reason we can’t entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for Graduates.I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for indulging my attempt.
It’s been a while since I wrote something on a lighter note on this blog…but believe me, I do have a lighter side as well.
I tried to find Him on the Christian Cross, but He was not there; I went to the Temple of the Hindus and to the pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valley and across the deserts, but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and the philosophers but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He is no where else to be found, for words are useless (specially sentences) and life defies definition. 
L started doing Dabke quite a few years ago in Boston. She and her friends in Boston formed a Dabke troupe called Zeitoun and they did several performances. Zeitoun has not performed together for a while, but one former Zeitoun member, Zaki, has done an awesome job teaching this traditional Palestinian (and Arab) dance to some new students at Harvard. Below is a video of his amateur troupe performing at Harvard last weekend. It is really nice to see Palestinian culture being celebrated and participated in by people in Boston.
The Dabke leader is supposed to be like a tree, with arms in the air, a proud and upright trunk, and feet that stomp the ground in rhythm, emphasizing their connection to their land. The meaning of “dabke” in Arabic is “stomping of the feet,” and stomping, as well as jumping and kicking, are moves that characterize the dabke in a unique manner. The leader, called raas (meaning “head”) or “lawwih” (meaning “waver”), is allowed to improvise on the type of dabke being danced, and he or she would also be twirling a handkerchief or string of beads known as a masbha (similar to a rosary), while the rest of the dancers keep the rhythm. The dancers also use vocalizations to show energy and to punctuate the rhythm. Many learn dabke as children, while others perform it as part of professional dance troupes.
A young boy was born in 1954 in what is now Bangladesh. At the age of ~15, he moved to Karachi in search of a future in the music industry. He had brought nothing else with him but a guitar and a passion to sing. He settled in the 
