Conference in Denver, Colorado

Lawyers and judges at the conference

With some of the 112 Fulbright scholars at the conference in Denver (from France, Poland, Brazil, Tunisia, Malaysia and yang satu lagi tu tak ingat from where.All from different fields and disciplines)

At our typical lunch time on the 38th floor (we can see the whole of Denver from here)

Me and Fran (I bought his book Getting to Know Denver, siap suruh dia sign)

At the Writers Square

Part of the Rocky Mountains (Iron Flat ke hapa namanya, this in Boulder, Co)

Gelap.With 2 of 5 Fulbrighters at my dinner theatre table

The famous Broadway show Ragtime was re-staged (by a diff. group) at Boulder.

Over 100 Fulbright scholars from 57 countries were chosen to participate in the 2007 Fulbright Visiting Scholar Conference on 'The Rule of Law:A View from the American West' in Denver, Colorado from April 11- 14,2007.I got lucky to be chosen.A fellow Msian based in Texas was there too and we shared the same room on the 22nd Floor, The Grand Hyatt Denver.Best sangat! But tiring cos' our days were packed with lectures, tours, homestay and finally dinner theatre at Boulder, some 45 mins away. CIES and the IIERMRC really took care of us and I think we'd learnt so much from the 3 days and also from one another.

Since the conference was specifically on law/s (from water law to land law to tribal law, corporate wrongdoing,etc) we were exposed to all sorts of court system and the speakers were judges and lawyers and Law Professors as well as a rep from an NGO. On first night lagi an American journalist raised the issue of American occupation in Iraq! Also someone from Ukraine asked what if no one cared about laws and constitution (cos people would still be struggling with basic needs of their day to day lives) Wough..it got really heated up.It was America alright.Back home, journalist mana nak tanya soalan2 celupar macam tu? You may want to check out this online radio http://www.airamerica.com/

Then I joined a well-known writer and photographer of the history of Denver, Francis Pierson on a city tour with many others of the group (there were two groups but I chose to join Fran cos' he had written a book on Denver and I was certain I'd get a lot more info from him as a guide).Yup, I was right.We learned much from the walking tour around the city (some chosen spots)

Homestay: Zu and Mohammed of Egypt and I got paired with a very nice couple, newly married.Christina reverted to Islam in 2002 and her husband is from India (a software engineer) They took us out to an Italian restaurant (makan lagi!) and we went to pray maghrib at a mosque off Welton St not far from our hotel.We met more muslims there.They have many mosques here.Denver is so huge despite being in the middle of nowhere (asal padang pasir, surrounded by Rocky Mountains). I love Denver and Zu and I went shopping at Cherry Creek masa semayang Jumaat (we all cabut lecture..penat dok dengar pasai law..but managed to catch the last part of corporate wrongdoing by this lawyer.Best jugak)

Then we went to the Federal Court and were addressed by a few judges who explained the legal system in the US esp Colorado.There was a mock court as well.Fun gila as 12 of the batch sat as jurors.There were a judge and a few lawyers amidst us (lawyer dari Germany kata German legal system lain sikit)

Lepas tu kita dibawa ke Boulder, some 45 mins away (so kita naik coaches) to watch a play ragtime (dinner theatre).I sat with Hannah from Manchester (UK), 2 Spaniards, one chap from Serbia and another from Kyrgyz) Setengah negara ni I pun tak pernah dengar.The actors yang jadi waiters kita sebelum depa acted.Syok oh.Dapat closeup.Great talents!

I booked my flight back to Ithaca awal cos' tersilap baca prog! (I took my shuttle to the airport at 3.30 am.The whole thing habis noon.Gasaklah.I was very tired anyway...penat lecture tour 2 weeks tu belum habis)

But I made many great friends (and minds).Some friends had gone through a lot -- losing their loved ones so early..ada yang anaknya meninggal umur 17, 28 and the guy who sat next to me during ragtime...berlinang air mata cakap anak dia umur 45 hari baru meninggal.He was here.By the time he flew home, they had buried him.Kesian)

I hope no more travels lah.P-E-N-A-T and I need to finish up my writing.I have an appointment to meet my fav. scholar on Thursday: Prof Jonathan Culler.He's based at Cornell.Yang sorang fav. lagi masih bercuti in Thailand (Ben Anderson) Maybe tak sempat jumpa. :(

Taking time off a busy lecture schedule

Francis' pic of my garden in Malaysia

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Reading my poetry to a group of students

Where we had lunch (Afghan cuisine at Nawab's)

Tengah feeling baca poems

Reverend John being interviewed (he's role playing, folks!)

Of early English settlers....

cantik juga bunga ni.... (trans: this flower is beautiful...)

I have so many pics at Williamsburg , Virginia partly becos' my brother Francis is a keen photographer.So I am putting some of the pics here.We didn't take any at the Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street but it is also in Colonial Williamsburg, a tourist spot where tourists come to experience the early English settlers' living (macam Melaka lah or Jorvik in York).People play role ni.The Reverend I was with in a pic enclosed here was an actor.If you talk to him, he'd say he signed the Declaration of Independence.Fahamkan dia cuma berlakon. :)

DOG Street in Colonial Williamsburg

We found a spot to eat our lunch

on DOG Street in Colonial Williamsburg

some people are ashamed to be associated with

anything colonial

but here, it is an attraction

a pride of a state

people come to experience what it was like

to be early English settlers

what it was like to be amidst the firsts to sign the Declaration of Independence

Independence of what?

for whom?

Is it still?

I have to re-learn my American history

to join in the celebration

this trip will be one of many

to educate me

but back to our DOG Street lunch

sitting with Anthony, Jason, Francis and a few others

we were of a rich mix

Anthony is 100% Filipino but looks very mixed

dressed in his military uniform, asking curious questions on religion, performance and skits

Jason was easy going, an eye witness to the start of a public quarrel of two visitors

an elderly man and a mother of an excited kiddy

who tripped and annoyed an elderly man, set to have his quiet munchie

barking began on dog street

we were witnesses to a theatrical performance

as we are all to any other fightings and killings

in different parts of the world stage

It's fun to watch

just as it was watching war reports on TV

But my brother Francis spoke to the mother

asking are you alright, m'am

cos' he knew what it was like to be attacked for protecting his kids

flying back to Asia on a long-haul journey

where he was denied meal for asserting his paternal instint

but the high drama would not be complete

without this African American guy cruising in between the shouting and screaming

of two angry adults, trying to pacify the woman, protecting his brother, the elderly man

the woman's husband started to pick on the African-American guy and I guess this is the scene

in which you'd bring in the race sin...

when it could have been just a kindly gesture

The drama got heated

We decided to move on, to find peace

for ourselves

and write reports for others to imagine the kind of

adventure we had been in.

So tune in to this TV.

****more on colonial williamsburg at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/06will.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

===> also check this
http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/visit/tourTheTown/flash.cfm

Talk at Ohio Uni at Athens

With Karla at Ohio Uni. (Athens) campus

Ellis Hall in the background where I gave a talk on Msian Muslim women writers

Nancy drove me to Ohio Uni in Athens (http://www.ohiou.edu/athens/). Only 45 mins from Parkersburg.

Cantik juga campus dia although like Cornell, it's a university town. Met a few Muslim students from Msia, Indonesia and Saudi at my talk on Msian Muslim women writers.

Finally met Karla who wants to celebrate Msia's 50th year in August. She loves Msia so much that she travels there twice a year. She took us to exotic Salaam where we heard Jewish music (performers were from New York City).Sometimes they have belly dancing show here. :)

I love the buildings here. Very da cantik.

check this link ===> http://www.ohiou.edu/seas/

West Virginia

Winter in spring at Parkersburg, West Virginia

Nancy and I at a lounge of a hotel at Parkersburg

Finally, met Nancy after all these years! I was doing an average of 2-3 talks a day (see their website at http://www.wvup.edu/). Nak pengsan rasanya. But I enjoyed meeting Americans of all walks of life and people of different age groups.The trip from Williamsburg was 12 hours on the Amtrak train from Virginia.Nak pengsan rasanya but my companion was a lady from Hyderabad (who's been living here for 30 years) so she shared her food (cappati) with me.Atas train, takda apa nak makan and it was too early to prepare anything from Francis' home w/pun Francis bekalkan I buah2an dan biskut (macam mak!).Nasi habis dikudap bebudak 13 orang tu (they were such a joy!)

What I loved about being at Parkersburg was the enthusiasm of Americans here to learn of the 'other' (ie Islam, Muslim women). I enjoyed their curious questions e.g does the infidel's blood value less than the muslim's. I think we parted as brothers and sisters (I hope) as we shared each other's stereotypings and perceptions of the 'other'. In Malaysia, we often think the Americans are ALL anti scarved women and how we too 'fear' them as some Americans fear seeing scarved/veiled Muslim women. It was a learning experience for me as I got to know Americans, close-up.

Greg's sociology class was great.There were about 50 over students in the class, asking curious and intelligent questions.

I spoke to 3 groups here.Loved them all although a bit tiring (remember my 12 hours train ride?)

Read my poems here.Ramai juga nak beli but stock belum sampai. :)

Williamsburg, Virginia with Francis

Spring at Williamsburg,Virginia

Dinner with Francis' Ramayana's cast

My brother, Francis in the Chapel at my talk

The talk

With Prof Sonn and Prof Ismail Abdalla

Muslim students at W&M

The College of William and Mary is a prestigious public school ("with a reputation of being a private school").It's second oldest in the USA after Harvard and had produced 4 US Presidents. I am grateful to Allah for the opportunity to speak to a group of intelligent students and distinguished staffs.Check their website http://www.wm.edu/

My brother Francis Tanglao-Aguas was my host.I gave a reading of my book to a group of Theatre students and later a talk on Islam and Literature/Arts/Culture including my work on Shakespeare at the chapel (in which many great speakers had spoken).I am humbled by the experience and the openness of W&M inviting diverse speakers to their campus.

We had Indian cuisine at Nawab's (the fish curry was so yummy) and the most memorable episode was lunch at the Cheese Board on DOG street (Duke of Gloucester).Good food and company (Francis' intelligent kids were there.Anthony I think will go far in his career later in his life.So bright and sensitive).How we laughed over the high drama at CB.We had the right composition for a street riot! (Anthony was in military uniform, Francis in songkok, me in tudung and the players were of diffferent age and ethnic group.I will write a poem on this)

We then cooked dinner at Francis's place for his Ramayana cast (13 students came).

Germantown with Suzanne and Asit

Bro Musa's zikir group, Philly



After lunch with Suzanne and Asit, Germantown

I stayed a nite with Suzanne (Dr Kalbach) and Dr Asit at Germantown, Philly.Suzanne took me to Philly Museum and showed me Philly's waterfront (Delaware River) and much of the city.

In the evening I cooked Chinese fried rice and Dr Lawrence (Dickie) came to dinner.He used to teach Spanish Lit and we had a poetry reading session (I read mine, he did one Spanish piece).They were all very humourous and George was right, very warm and hospitable couple.

My flight to Williamsburg was very early (and on a Sunday!) but both Suzanne and Asit woke up very early to drop me off at the airport.

I almost missed my flight though, cos' the queue was so long. Belit punya belit, I managed to jump the queue by checking in at the Corporate Section.One hamba Allah baik budi took pity on me.

I love Philly.I love everything about it: people, landscape, culture, art, mosques, historic architecture, nice homes, kedai2 halal. Syukur alhamdullilah for the opportunity.

The most unforgettable experience: moving with the sufi groups esp Bro Musa's zikir group.

If you see me wondering in the deserts of Africa in the next year or two, you'd know why. :)

Philadelphia

English Dept Building at UPENN

Cooking at the Fellowship Centre with Baji and Malika

Malika in Spring

Prof. Jim English and Abdal Hayy talking Literature at UPENN

Daniel Abdal Hayy Moore reading a maulud poem

The trip to Philadelphia was good despite me getting up so early to catch the limo to Syracuse from Ithaca.I met very kind people on the train to NYC and again NYC to Philadelphia.

Abdal Hayy picked me up from the train station and Malika was all nice and sweet.I felt immediately at home.Did the interview and caught up with more readings. Went to UPENN to collect my book from Prof English (very kind and cultured English Prof).

The last few days had been busy with listening to tazkirah given by Baji and cooking for the jumaah with Malika, Baji and her niece.I met more people at the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Centre.Some pics.

Wayang

You guys/gals must watch this movie Lives of Others (German movie which won so many awards termasuk best Foreign Movie at the Academy Awards recently). Wikipedia spoils it all by revealing what it is all about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others

Sebastian Koch is truly convincing (kalau dia jadi 007, mesti kita suka).And so is Ulrich Muhe.The movie has English subtitles.Lucu juga pi US baca subtitles in English.But what I think is missing is the brutality of the East/West Germany divide.You don't feel it so much in this movie.Film ni tak violent (which I like). I think that had the movie been made in Hollywood, one or both of the two guys would have died tragically along with the gal lover/actress who's loved by all (men).When she prostituted herself for art (her passion), she told her boiferen who was fighting for justice/freedom of speech, etc..apa beza her and him.He also prostituted himself for his 'passion' (his struggle to free the people/country).I love that speech.But they killed her in the movie.Jantan freedom fighter tu terus hidup and became successful as a writer.Sexist sikit lah.

Anyway,Adi left today.Yohko and I went to watch this movie and then went to have dinner at a Thai restaurant downtown.Ikan Tilapia is so popular here (nama kekal).It was a nice evening.Yohko and I spoke of books, books and more books. Semalam, jiran sebelah and I went to Moosewood.Best juga. Tapi they closed early.We took the bus to Collegetown then walked up to our apts.Nak pengsan naik bukit.I nak panggil taxi je but diaorang nak naik bus juga sebab free with our university card.Manu and I yang sesak nafas.Asians don't like to walk! Christina (Germany) and Ingrid (Holland) berbatu depan kita.

I miss my car.

Malaysian voice abroad (a poem)

It is so often people from the so-called "Third World" countries are defined by the so-called affluent "West". This is my turn, writing from the USA (in winter 2007):

Cold Reception

It was a day when I thought I was
smarter than God
February was my safe month
wintry wind would miss me
It should end with Christmas

Northwest was 30 mins behind time
Narita was polite about it all, we jumped queue
in a rush to Detroit

Luck was not me
Or luck was indeed me
Plane missed and would I please
Come back tomorrow morning

and hence,began a wintry trauma
Stuck in Detroit amidst the purity of snow
in a warm hotel with free WiFi
Thanks to wired technology, I was immediately home with online
family

I’d catch my flight tomorrow afternoon, I told them confidently
Tomorrow noon never came
Blizzards proved to be testing me
Dancing, flaunting, ravaging
Go look for other hotels, we don’t cover anything to do with fail of Nature
I stood in the icy air
Waiting
Hoping
The shuttle bus would come frequently
To find Hyatt at Dearborn you first had to misunderstand the Detroit accent
try looking for the courtesy form up and down the escalator
back and forth the McNamara tunnels

But after a while you’d find out what they meant
Courtesy PHONE
The white one at the corner
A-ha

Hyatt was nice but impersonal
WiFi no longer free
It didn’t work immediately because they never knew Malaysians
sometimes have long names
I was Nor first name and Faridah surname
But Steve on the other end in Texas was so sweet
Gave me a temporary access when all else failed at (a.m.) 3
Asking me if it’s true what they said about Malaysian gals
Men grow taller when they smile at them

Innocently I thought of the Petronas twin towers and said I guess so.

Detroit Detroit Detroit
You are not my New York
I waited 3 days on you
This is not a friendly city
You have a nice make-up
But inside, I see steel.

Detroit
Feb 16, 2007
(the day I got stuck in Detroit for 3 days due to bad weather.I was on my way to Ithaca, New York)

Winter is NOT over in Ithaca

I spoke too soon.And I have decided to be positive about this...if you can't beat it, embrace it!

Today Adi and I got crazy.We decided to be in the snow.Some pics.

Melting snow

I think I'm gonna miss this place once the snow has fully melted... :)

I walked to the university today.What a bliss!

Some pics for the record.

Sunday with me

I decided to invite some friends to lunch today (Sunday). These are the people who helped me 'adjust' when I first arrived in Ithaca. I cooked like 4 dishes (opor ayam, omelette, stir-fry veges and salmon bakar bersambal belacan...I can't find the pic which showed all these 'exotic' dishes...I had to create the salmon belacan thingy.Quite good. Nanti balik KL nak cuba buat. :))

Notice how fast I've put on weight (tambah yang sedia ada) Eugene bawak ice cream lagi....

Yang ambik gambar ni Lutfi (selalu tak menjadi but this one, OK) Khairul (from Spore) came early but had to leave early too cos' he's working today.Adi went out to see a movie. So she's not in this pic.

Ivy is sitting next to me with Ain and her husband Adnan.

Kalau kat rumah ni,Sunday means TESCO or Cold Storage beli groceries.Bibi will cook but we will not eat. :) Kita makan kat luar or Nik's mom's.

Lepas tu tidur.

I can do that now.

TIDUR.

Memasak ni penat, tau? Berdiri berjam2 tepi dapur.

I'll do my reading after my little nap.

Wal*Martritis

Adi my flatmate is from Tel Aviv (begitu kehendak Tuhan).We are both shopaholics and sebab kampongnya Ithaca ni(tak macam Hamilton atau Adelaide), bas pun dari pukul 5 pm dah tak pergi ke Walmart.Jadi kami buat keputusan ambik taxi pergi ke Walmart pukul 8 pm (Walmart tutup pukul 11 pm tiap2 hari).Harga taxi USD8 and we split cost.Adi and I macam zaman gemilang Andalusia..Yahudi dan Muslim boleh akrab.

Kat Walmart, kami bahagia.It was May who said I'd be infected by Walmartritis kalau kat US.Memang every time I am in the USA, kalau nak cari barang murah, pi ukur Walmart.Satu macam addiction.Satu macam penyakit.But Adi and I felt at home walaupun takda la high fashioned clothes to buy (kita pun tak beli kat Walmart benda2 gini.Kena jaga std la juga, kan?)

I bought a new printer sebab byk benda nak print at home.Kat office takda printer and nak minta guna Prof Stan's, malu. Dia dah baik kasi kongsi bilik.

Semalam ada brown bag by a Historian from Ball State Uni.Dia pakar sejarah maritime SEAsia.Kat sini depa tak percaya dokumen penjelajah2 Arab dan lebih menggunakan accounts by the Chinese jadi byk perkara2 yang kita anggap the truth ditolak mentah2 oleh mereka ini e.g Cheng Ho (yang sekarang dieja Zheng He) bukan Islam.Kata Prof Ball ni, ini semua digunakan utk tujuan tertentu. Beliau sedang mengkaji kepentingan Brunei sebagai bandar pelabuhan sewaktu dgn zaman gemilang Melaka.

Jika para sejarahwan kita pun buat kajian kita sendiri tanpa bergantung akan findings dari Barat (mereka ni go back to findings from shipwrecks, fakta2 dari batu nesan, hasil2 archaelogy, etc utk mengiyakan sebarang claims tentang sejarah.Kita tidak harus biarkan sejarah kita dibentuk/diubah dari jauh)

Francis in songkok

Francis' latest production Ramayana La'ar looks a bit like Puteri Gunung Ledang. They have gamelan too.It was staged in Virginia (William and Mary).

For those who remember Francis of our Asia-Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival, here is his latest.Siap bersongkok.Dia teringin sangat nak ke Mekah. I kata visa haji hanya untuk orang Islam. Umrah tak tau la pulak.Anyone knows if this is possible?

Arkansas

Di Arkansas, saya tinggal dengan seorang Syrian-American Professor.Byk ilmu dia perturunkan kpd saya tentang penulis2 Muslim di Amerika.

Di Universiti Arkansas di Fayettevillle, saya bergambar dgn Senator Fulbright yang mempelopori Fulbright Grant ini.Beliau President pertama Universiti Arkansas (di sini juga Bill dan Hilary Clinton mengajar Law sebelum masuk politik)

Arkansas wilayah Selatan (ingat civil war Utara-Selatan mereka?) lebih mesra jika dibandingkan dgn daerah2 di Utara.Di sini agama Kristian masih kuat.Another universiti town.I did much work in the lib selama 3 hari di sini.

Spring dah mula di sini.

Bila balik ke Syracuse dan Ithaca, salji masih lebat.Bag saya tertinggal pulak dalam limo dari airport Syracuse balik ke Ithaca.Semua org kena gerodam dan 'dikerah' tolong saya kesan bag saya! (saya panik sebab dalam bag tu ada Visa saya, kerja kajian 3 hari di Arkansas, buku puisi Rumi yang baru dan sedang seronok saya baca, etc)

Akhirnya jumpa.Pihak Limo hantar ke rumah bag saya.Syukur!

Kahin Centre

Pejabat saya di sini, sharing dengan seorang Prof baik budi (sebab bilik tingkat 3 takda signal utk Wi-Fi saya)

Dari tingkap, kadang2 nampak tupai dah keluar cari makan (bila cuaca dah mula panas)

Selepas Subuh

From my apartment's window...after Subuh prayer.

Settling in at Ithaca

I'm slowly settling in at this beautiful university town, Ithaca.There are so many nice and warm people here.It helps me cope with the cold (look at the snow!)

Last night Andrew organised a dinner and he had some close friends from New York City, Wisconsin and Cornell itself. We had very nice foods prepared by his lovely wife. And what a pleasant company too.

I bought a nice pair of red boots to walk in the snow.And a rice cooker which made me very much at home after cooking a Chinese-style lunch at my apt.

The first day I arrived (Feb 16) I had to shovel snow from the pavement.What an exercise.I think I will lose weight easily here. Ithaca is hilly and steep and the uni is some distance away.Everyone says it's walking distance not knowing the Msian attitude towards walking...but I'll do it to save money. :))

http://nsidc.org/snow/shovel.html

One night in Detroit

I'm stuck in Detroit.

I missed my connecting flight to Ithaca cos' Northwest was 30 mins behind time from Narita.Customs clearance took a while at Detroit and wham bam, I missed my flight! No flights going to Ithaca today.Either they are full or they are cancelled cos' Detroit (and Chicago) are expecting snow blizzard and a lot of airports are close.Maaakkk...nak balik!!!

I'm grateful I got my wireless pc with me so I could write this, talk with my friends on Skype, reply my emails, etc.Nina rang to tell me it's OK..this happens all the time and it shld clear up in a day or two.NW put me in a hotel tapi makanan dia tak sedap but free.At least I have a warm bed/room tonight.And I'm safe.So syukur alhamdulillah.

Two good news: Rachel of Missouri wrote to ask if she could stage my short story for her theatre class assignment (I don't know her..she sent an email asking to interview me, etc).She said she fell in love with my "Woman from hell" short story (SNW2).Of cos' I said go ahead! This is the only thing that makes me warm today.Penat tau naik k/terbang dari pukul 10.45 pm Feb 12, tak tidur2 kat Spore all night to catch a 6 am flight to Narita, berkejar2 mcm org kena cirit birit to catch flight to Detroit...then got stuck up, tak leh pi Ithaca straightaway.Maybe I shld be positive about it? Boleh rehat kejap? Hilangkan jet lag?

News kedua: Australian e-journal sought permission from Seal Press to reprint my poem 'My Veil, My Body'.Bestnya...I quote the impt bit they wrote to the publisher: "We seek to complement these essays with poetry, to add poetic insight to the current social, cultural and / or legal arguments and debates about racism and racial violence, and about social and cultural separation, exile and discrimination. We are hoping to use, with Seal Press' permission, Abdul Manaf's poem, "The Veil, My Body," to accompany the edition's focus. Abdul Manaf's poems will be situated on the page preceding the articles that deal with the subject of cultural discrimination in Australia and elsewhere."

Of cos' I said go ahead.Let VOICE travel wherever it wants.I wish I could enclose a pic of Detroit in snow today.But I tak kuasa.I penat.

Oh security check at Changi was very thorough.They checked my J-I Visa there and then lagi.Loghat.The officer kena tegur dgn I sebab pegang my letter from the State Dept lama sangat.I tak suka.Takut hilang or I terlupa nak ambik balik.He said I was very, very, very,very organised (lain macam usage je of the word 'very'.I thought the word he wanted to use was 'fussy') I told him the letter was impt.If he held it (he didn't want to give it back to me immediately after seeing it) and forgot to give it back to me, I'd be in trouble. He said if I were worried, he'd be even more worried.Duh!

Japan was OK.Very polite about it all. I think in any one's country's concern with security and safety, every visitor must not be treated suspiciously or handled like suspects.I got that in Spore but not Japan.Not even in the USA! USA's slogan at the airport is cool: keeping USA open to the world and ensuring safety of our nation. And I don't think it's because I have the J-1 visa.At customs' clearance bukan dia tau pun.Dia tengok declaration form tu je.

nota tambahan: one night in detroit became 3 nights cos' Ithaca airport was close due to bad weather till Feb 16.

Voices of Resistance: Muslim women on war, faith and sexuality

Sarah just wrote to say the book we are all in got reviewed in JordanTimes.Here it is:

BOOK REVIEW
‘Authoring change’



Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality
Edited by Sarah Husain
US: Seal Press, 2006
Pp. 284
$16.95

What brings together the 39 women — and one man — who contributed to this volume is not only their Muslim background, but a shared conviction that something is seriously wrong across the globe.
In essays, poems and artworks, all 40 are crying out for a better world.
This is a cross disciplinary group: writers, visual and performance artists, professors, graduate students, lawyers and community activists. A number of them hold multiple degrees. One, Maryum Saifee, was formerly a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, teaching English in a rural school.
They are also transnational. While most live in North America, their roots curl back to Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Many of them include autobiographical elements in their essays, and the sheer cultural diversity which finds expression in their writing is fascinating.
Besides being of mixed origins, most of them refuse to be pinned down in a single static identity, as expressed by the title of Mansha Parven Mirza’s piece: “My Kaleidoscopic Identity.” (p. 206)
While the essays are intensely personal, they cover issues of great political and social import. These women are on a mission, engaged in a multi-pronged struggle to resist war and other forms of violence — from the Israeli soldier threatening to rape a Palestinian teenager, to the Koran teacher taking advantage of his position to sexually abuse a female student.
Editor Sarah Husain calls it “authoring change”. (p. 273)
“Connecting the wars ‘back’ home — the ones stored in our memory and in/on our bodies — to the wars being carried out today under the dictates of democracy and security, our work seeks to create the disturbances necessary to build peaceful futures.” (p. 7)
An important component of this is struggling to reclaim the essence of their Muslim faith, casting off customs which subordinate women in the name of Islam.
September 11 complicated their mission greatly. As Muslims and women of colour, they faced misunderstanding and harassment, and were deeply affected by the ensuing “war on terrorism”.
As Jawahara K. Saidullah writes, “This current American war machine, chewing up resources, truth, money and people, terrifies me. I am angry there is a war that my tax dollars are paying for. A war that is killing Muslims…. I am enraged at the complacency of the people of the United States who are so naïve as to allow themselves to be willfully mislead.” (p. 194)
Pondering the situation in Palestine, Iraq and other sites of wars and atrocities, as well as the state of the poor and homeless in America, Nuzhat Abbas notes: “There are many ways to kill a people.” (p. 60)
On the other hand, the post-September 11 atmosphere made it more difficult to raise problems within the Muslim community.
Azza Basarudin queries: “Dare I bring gender into the frontier when my community is being harassed, humiliated, denied its freedom of worship, and detained without proper trials, in the name of national security? … People who advocate for gender reform in Muslim societies are, more often than not, accused of being ‘agents’ of the corrupt ‘Western’ world.”
Yet, while “mosques across American scrambled to open their doors to non-Muslims” in the wake of September 11, “in the hope of salvaging the image of Islam,” Muslim women were still hindered from praying alongside men. (pp. 144-5)
In one of the most lively pieces, Aisha Sattar recounts her experience of going on the Hajj to Mecca. Shocked to find that women had less access to the holy places than men, she also resented being constantly reminded not to have a hair showing by the “purity police”, but all the while “they were silent on the obscene presence of malls and McDonald’s lingering outside the gates of the Ka’aba”.
To her, the “focus on technical improvements, rather than on the spiritual dimension of Hajj, undermines the beauty and power of the pilgrimage”. (pp. 164-5)
Most of the authors have kept their transnational links to their country of origin and their essays express a strong sense of family. Despite having broken out of the mould family and society set for them, they value the lessons learned from their parents.
One example is what Bushra Rehman learned by watching her parents telephone networking in New Jersey, to organise relief for her grandmother’s remote mountain village in Pakistan, when it was hit by an earthquake.
“It is from my parents that I learned my first lesson of community organising: You must first have a community, one that you share joy with as well as suffering.” (p. 81)
“Voices of Resistance” is an effort to generate the discussion and commitment needed to form such a community, or series of communities, of people brave enough to resist violence and take control of their own bodily and spiritual lives.
This book may be found at ARAMEX media stores.

Sally Bland
Monday, January 22, 2007

Sharon's Creative Writing Workshop

Those who missed, here's sharing one of those nice little tricks Sharon did with us on Saturday.If you dream of being a writer but do not know where to begin try this exercise:

1.Think of something and write it down for each of the following items:

a colour
an animal
a food
a texture
someone's name
something someone said to you today
a feeling

Mine:
a colour: light green
an animal: a goat
a food: rebung
a texture: soft
someone's name: Ali
stg someone said to you today: you're early!
a feeling: calm

2.Write the first sentence of your story, using any three of the above.

Mine:

"You're early, Ali, " said the goat, calmly.

Ali looked up to the light green sky.

"It looks like it's going to rain, " he said.

"You say that every day but it is not the monsoon season yet," answered the goat as it tried to eat some of the young rebung Ali brought with him for lunch.

"It's my mom, again. She wants me to go to Kampong Ulu Banggol to sell these young bamboo shoots, "said Ali unhappily.

"They are called 'rebung' in your language, " chipped in the goat.

"Oh shut up!" Ali was mad. He had no time for language politics that light green morning.

His mother refused to understand or accept the fact that the people of Kampong Ulu Banggol were no longer 'ulu'. They no longer ate rebung. They were into fastfoods and frizzy drinks because of the Free Trade Agreement.

(at this point Sharon said time's up)

Ha ha..we had fun writing crazy things..structureless, plotless stories.We were 'merdeka!'Free!
And this is why writers are so dangerous to the nation. Ha ha.

Birthday Treat 2007

It was 2 days late (cos' I had been busy with the Folk Theatre and this morning's Creative Writing Workshop with Sharon Bakar so Jan 11 went by quietly.Nik and Z gave me a very sweet bday card.They didn't forget but I was too busy to go out)

Before I give you an account of my bday celebration at the Chalet, Equatorial Hotel, KL, I must record my appreciation of the wonderful creative writing w/shop Sharon did with my students today.It was truly fun...and I think the students learnt much. I'd share with you some of the stuffs which I wrote in class in a while (great job, Sharon! Thanks for inspiring us all)

But for now, I must tell you what a great place the Chalet is for bday and anniversary celebrations.

It's Swiss cuisine for a change. And they have nice Filipino trio playing on strings, serenading you for whatever occasion you want.Since it's my bday, they played me not only a bday song but a Beatles fav. Oh wow! Then came in the bday cake and a staff took a pic of me cutting the cake. Enclosed is the pic they gave me (and some roses as we were leaving!) You guys must mark this place (it's ranked 3rd best restaurant in Msia by the Tatlers..I don't know what the two others are) for your bday/anniversary..it's worth the money!

I have never felt like a Princess before...but this place made me one (thanks to my wonderful husband, Nik)

Folk Theatre: Behind the scene

I am very certain that the students who were involved in the folk theatre had learnt much.I certainly did. In looking out for diff people/groups of different cultures, I had bumped into so many selfless, non money-oriented people.The Lion Dance Group of the Persatuan Memanching Sungai Buloh is one good example. Some of my kids and I went to rehearse the lion dance scene at Sg Buloh. The kids (age ranging from 9 to 16) were trained to do acrobatic stuffs, played the Chinese drums etc (very2 young boys). I think this early exposure of culture (skills!) is very important and I am so impressed by the organisation of the Persatuan Memanching Sg. Buloh.They really take care of their young lot! (cute little boys who have a sense of direction so early in life)

I must not forget to thank my neighbour, Tim, who introduced me to these wonderful people.They are my brothers too! :)

Then there's this group of Iranians who are professional musicians (they have a rock band, actually).But I told them my concept of folk theatre and they were willing to come in, play for my kids FOC. One chap travelled all the way from Serdang to rehearse with the group. Apparently for the Iranians (Iranians in general), music is part of their daily lives. They play it at home, at weddings, at any gatherings. Music is not for the rich (like it is in Msia where music lessons can be really expensive). Hosein and his friends had to play classic/traditional Persian pieces at the folk theatre to blend in with Shahrul's folk tale of the 40 thieves. The crowd loved the melancholy tunes played by H and his group. H has cut an album actually, so, we were very lucky to have him as a performer last night. According to Anahita (who had introduced H to me via Amir, another Iranian musician), most Persian songs are love songs: love for God, love for the nation, love for the land, culture and peace. She translated one of the songs sang by H and friends: it's about the flame burning only to burn wings of the butterflies circling it.The singer asks why does the flame keep burning if there is no butterfly (wings of the butterflies) to burn. A colleague said how sufi!
I think it's so poetic.I wish I know what the rest of the songs say.I took Persian for one semester some years back but I could never go beyond salam! (now)

The Turks: the Turkish boys were also very giving. At one point they got me worried because there's a nice protest over Nasruddin Hoja's role.The Director ( a Malaysian young woman) could not find any male actor to play Hoja.So she got a female to play him.The Turkish students (dancer and musician) advised that they could not let this be...I think it's culturally offensive.But we have no male, said the Director.They offered their friend (from another discipline) to play Hoja. And language/acting training took place for the new guy who initially spoke very little English and had never acted before. :)

I think he did well (given the fact that he only had a couple of days to train).

The Africans and the Arabs: wonderful2 kids. I love them all.They had exams, assignments but they told me, worry not.We will help you. I think it's because in Islam, we are taught we should be brothers and sisters to one another (regardless of race and religion actually).You see one in need, you drop all your things and assist.It's so touching.

The Malaysians: excellent2 kids! They made the backbone of this whole thing. At a short notice (with budget constraints) they managed to put everything together and in order. They put in 200% of their time and effort.They will do well in their lives after uni cos' they are committed, creative, responsible, hard working, determined and selfless.

Thank you all! Semoga dirahmati Allah!

Jan 6 seminar

Phew, it's done!!

I think it went well.We had a good range of speakers.Everyone loved Dato Prof Khoo Kay Kim. He highlighted how important it was to study History and Geography in order to understand the world we live in. We gotta be careful with legal terms and terminologies.Terms like 'nation' 'states', 'negeri', 'kerajaan' are often confused for other things. :)

It was fun listening to him. He is one consistent scholar (my father in law was with him in the 60s and he said this was the Khoo that he knew way back then)

Kee Thuan Chye was also consistent. :)) Rohani had a 'nice' exchange with him over 'privileged citizens'. If we believed in dialogues, it would be like this.We just need to learn how to cope with lots of shouting, interrupting one another, etc.

Chong didn't turn up (messaged me from Hong Kong to say he could not get on an earlier flight!) Krishanan or Sababathy were out of touch. :(

Oh well...

Will need to worry about the plays now.We'll rehearse again tmrw and Monday evening.

Conference on gender,ethnicity and nationalism in Malaysian postcolonial literature

It's going to be on January 6, 2007 (conference fee for students RM25, public RM50). It's going to be exciting cos' we have all the choice scholars in town to update us on changes in their respective areas (Malaysian Lit in English/Malay/Chinese and we hope Dr Krishanan will respond to our invitation to speak on Tamil Lit in Malaysia)

Prof Khoo Kay Kim will also be there to speak on the changing notion of the meaning of 'nationalism' (Malaysian context)

Writers include: Wong Phui Nam, Kee Thuan Chye.

Beep Sheena at mpclseminar2007@gmail.com if you are keen on attending. Venue is at the Experimental Hall, IIUM Gombak (Jan 6 from 8.30 am to 5 pm)

We will have exhibitions, performances all week (in conjuction with our English Literary Week). The folklores of 5 countries will be staged Jan 10 and 11. Don't miss them!

Another fun evening at Indie Scene Cafe

Sharanya Manivannan is a new poet friend I met at the British Council workshops I attended. She's born in India but grew up in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.Very2 talented and artistic.She handcrafted her own book of poetry called Iyari.She reads (or performs) well too.
Find out more about this inspiring young lady at http://sharanyamanivannan.blogspot.com/

Sharanya has kindly invited me to read at her book launch on Friday (Dec 22).It will be at the Indie Scene Cafe in the Piccolo Galleria (between Lot 10 and the KL Plaza, she says). It will begin at 7 pm.I guess I will do my Maghrib therelah before the 'readings' (by right we should be 'performing poetry')

For those who have read my Art of Naming: A Muslim Woman's Journey (2006), can you suggest which poems you'd like me to read/perform? I had done 'Balancing Acts in Hanoi' and 'The Death of a Great Man' (cos' they were favourites with a few people). I know Sharan likes 'My Veil,My Body' piece which got anthologised in Sarah Hussain's edited book Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality (2006, published by Seal Press, USA). Sharan said she saw the book at Kino at RM60.The copies Sarah mailed out never reached me (she said when we meet in NYC, she'd pass them to me). Kotlah kena rampas by the kastam cos' some of the writers tulis dgn bold-nya pasal their sexual experiences as Muslims living in their various locations.I pun terkejut juga bila baca reviewnya dalam amazon.com.Kat US, Muslim writers ni berbagai.I will write about my findings from there later, InsyaAllah.

Iqra' website is up!

Finally, the Iqra' project is done (it is almost 6 years old!). I had encountered so many setbacks and difficulties and finally it is up! All praise to Allah.I am also grateful that my relationship with the web designer ended well. We had one difficult year in which there was no communication between us that would lead us to somewhere, just anywhere.

One day, pressured by a letter sent by the Research Centre, I text messaged him, just trying my luck, not expecting anything. Lo and behold!He responded promptly, saying everything was done, when could we meet. By that he meant a new design was ready and could I please submit the leftover materials (writers from some 9 countries, I think) to him to download.

And the result is this http://www.iiu.edu.my/irkhs/iqra/index.html

I dedicate this project to my web designer who kept true to his word, former ENGL 4820 students and a few postgraduates who had been with me through highs and lows, trying to complete this project.I am grateful to Allah for the completion of this work (I had many projects done over the 6 years but none as exciting and trying as this)

This is a reason to celebrate big time. Anyone who wishes to launch/sponsor this website, please email me: Faridah[dot]Manaf[at]gmail[dot]com
Anyone who wishes to send more articles, please email me too.

My soul is now at peace.

Half-day seminar on Indian and Malay diasporas to South Africa

Sometimes things just happen.We never plan but things just happen.

On Saturday, it was like that.The small round table discussion to be attended by a handful of people became a half-day seminar and a very,very good session at that too.

Karthi was away the week when things got real busy. To make it worse, she got stranded in Langkawi the day she was supposed to meet me and finalise things. I jumped from one meeting, missing another on Friday and rushed to have dinner with the guest speaker and GOPIO members (our seminar co-organiser) . If I were 10 years younger, the anxiety would not have been as bad as now! Told Ridhwan (the guest speaker, just out of South Africa and finishing his term at Jawharlal Nehru Uni. in Delhi) to be ready at 7.45 am on Sat cos' I'd be picking him up (to ensure he'd arrive early at the seminar).Then at 6 am Sat, I rang him up asking if he could be ready by 7 am (so that we could arrive by 8.30 am).Poor chap! But he was good.By 7 am we were already on our way to Gombak.

Alhamdullilah, I think the event went well.RC was so good with EVERYTHING.The foods...the registration, the sound and visual system.Oh wow..I loved working with the RC staff. And Q and the two moderators were fantastic too. I should have videoed everything but I was too busy with the little2 things behind the scene.

So what of the diasporas? Ridhwan highlighted how things are now, Rahim thought there's not much improvement where the Cape Muslims are concerned.Racism of a different kind rears its ugly head NOW then ever.

I'd say give them time to heal and sort out things. What's there for centuries cannot be undone overnight.But it's nice to see more and more South Africans travelling this way.

Reunion of old friends

The year is coming to an end. What a year it has been (to date).

Today's good news is that Evan got back in touch with me after almost 6 years! And he wrote of another great news: he just got married in Sept and will be having a reception in June next year.Will we come, he asked.

The invitation could not have been more timely! Nik and I plan to celebrate our 20th anniversary in the US in June.Let's hope Evan's reception (in Columbus?) coincides with ours on June 14.It would be so cool!!! Otherwise, we will just need to see Enid and him before we fly back to KL.I will need to start shopping now.What would be a wonderful wedding gift? (one which is light to carry?)

Also growing is my Mahmud High School list.We have close to 45 names now.And one friend after another sent their latest pic (after 26 years!). It's amazing how we can still hold on to this f/ship despite us being of different race and religion. There's so much love in us to flaunt to the ailing world and I hope our Reunion party in 2008 will be (in the words of Andrew Leong aka Peng Onn) the mother of all reunions. :)))

An Evening at Boulevard

I went to listen to Imam Tariq Ansaar Aquil ( a black American Muslim, an Imam of a mosque in the US) speak again.When I first heard him at Rumah Universiti lunch reception, a day after his arrival in KL, I was like oh mannn...can this man speak.

So when I got invited to the evening at Boulevard, I jumped at the idea and took Kak Pah along with me (Nik had another dinner the same evening).The Imam was sponsored by a local NGO working on world peace (backed by government agencies and other private organisations)and he travels with other religious leaders around the world with peace mission.

I am just amazed by the speed this NGO organises things.They were in 120 places nationwide..as though mobilising the nation on a single pursuit: rebuilding family, renewing society.

I only have a small question on this whole thing. If as according to so many foreign guests at the dinner at Boulevard, Malaysia is a wonderful country which allows diversities and religious tolerance, why the theme rebuild family and renew society? In fact the good Imam said we need to export our secret recipe on our success managing such a diverse nation.I think the theme should have been 'fine tuning existing success' or something along that line.But it was good seeing so many people of different race and religion coming together with an awareness that it is important to ensure the well being of the family institution.It's only when one of the American pastors started to evangelise that I got truly uncomfortable.I think he spoilt the Malaysian spirit of "bagi mu agama mu, bagi ku agama ku" (the religious tolerance).But it's OK.He's the new kid on the block.He doesn't understand (yet) the Malaysian way.

No Black Tie Performance with Malika Booker

Malika Booker with her students - after a successful show at the Food Foundry

It was Jasmine who invited me to perform at the No Black Tie (a jazz bistro on Jalan Mesui near Istana Hotel where great talents from all over the world get invited to perform.I didn't know this till the evening itself.Oh wow, so honoured.Thanks Jasmine! She was with me in Francesca Beard's workshop and she had liked my work)

I was the one to 'perform' first.Given the hectic life I led, there was only a few hours' practice for the event.I wanted to memorise my lines the way Francesca did and speak from the heart.The first one went Ok..the second I started to have mental block..the third memang I nak baca from my book but tersilap pilih tajuk (on death) Had I known I was the mood setter (the first to go)I would have chosen something cheerful.Haiya..what to do...But Malika said she felt immediately at home listening to all of us (she went last)She mentioned my poetry on my father's death.I guess for a first timer, it wasn't so badlah, kan? I have a few people coming to me and said nice things.Nik and Z were there supporting me, giving me kind words of encouragement after the show.Z said she liked the piece on her grandpa (the death poem)Three of my students also came to give their support (thank you guys!)But it was a friendly environment and I made friends with Spore Founder of Slam Poetry and he did well mixing music and theatre and poetry like that.We had promised to network (his wife kept saying, "Call us when you are in Spore".Baiklah!).

Malika herself was fantastic.She was good in the last piece...mixing the Caribbean oral tradition element in her work like that.Best sangattt!! We laughed macam nak rak!

I'm having a workshop with her tomorrow.I will share here, InsyaAllah.

http://www.renaissanceone.com/artists.php?id=14
http://www.britishcouncil.org/malaysia-events-arts-malika-booker-bios.htm?mtklink=malaysia-events-arts-malika-booker-bios

Shocking sad!!!

I can't believe what I discovered while doing some research on gender equality and equity in Malaysia.Apparently I am the only one who seem to be ignorant of this fact.It's stated clearly in the 9th Malaysian Plan book and other researchers have been flaunting the statistics here and there.

Apa ceritanya,Cik?

The story is this: Malaysian women don't even make half of the working population

Kadar penyertaan tenaga buruh
mengikut jantina ialah:

Jantina / Tahun 2003 2004 2005
Jumlah 65.2 64.4 63.3
Lelaki 82.1 80.9 80.0
Perempuan 47.7 47.3 45.9


Manakala bilangan guna tenaga (employment) mengikut jantina bagi tahun 2005
ialah:

Jantina / Tahun 2005 %
Jumlah 10,045.4 100.0
Lelaki 6,470.5 64.4
Perempuan 3,574.8 35.6

What does this mean?

1.It means women are at the mercy of their male guardians and very often become subjects of abuse cos' they are NOT financially independent.

2.It means all these talks of too many female students at the unis (more than 70%) mean nothing cos' employers still prefer male employees no matter how dumb they are (and I'm not being emotional when I say this)

3. It means what is Kementerian Wanita doing about this stats? Reasons given for women NOT working include : prioritising family and kids; no childcare facilities at work/residential areas. We don't see any improvement in helping women ease up their burdens or encouraging them to participate in nation building without them jeopardising their motherhood or wifehood.In a uni nearby, it is the Staff Assoc which has to finance the running of the Daycare Centre.We have been fortunate at IIUM that this bit is taken care of by the employer (thanks IIUM!)but I wonder how many organisations are as sensitive as this?

But then again, can we look at women NOT working as something positive? That they are not turned into industrial slaves? Only if they are not turned into cheap labour or domestic servants by their husbands.If they are given enough space and time to nurture the children with shared responsibilities between husbands and wives, help out with charity organisations, then maybe this is something to celebrate.But I rasa byk yg hidup atas ihsan suami.Suami kontrol pergerakan dan perbelanjaan.Which is so so sad.We are in 2006.The figure was almost the same in 1990.

What do we do, women?

Back at work

I'm still on leave but for the past 2 days I came to work.Why?

1.Imagined work and the fear of not being able to cope when I return.
2.Real work that needs to be done in the office cos' my printer at home rosak.
3.Free electricity at work.Ha ha.Just kidding.

So many things going on my mind at the moment.Will the real Faridah stand up, please? There are moments when it is hard to decide but I remember what Dato Shan said: if you have so many choices in life, do what you have to do NOT what you want to do.

Then will we be happy? Doing what we have to do but not what we WANT to do? Desire is often bad, isn't it? And wanting is desiring? The other is a responsibility which means pahala all the time.If done dgn hati ikhlas that is.

I wrote two short stories.One I already sent out to a major writing competition but I think it will not win. The second one is half cooked.I find it hard to end it.I also find it hard to expose it.It's too real.Where is the fiction bit? :)

DELL has many activities planned this month and months that follow.I should finish work end of January and start working on my research on Moore and Phui Nam and those beautiful people waiting to be discovered in the USA. Francis sent the invitation letter to his uni. (which I have no time to act on yet).Mohja is still away but she said she would fax me an invitation soon too.Andrew says I must find time to speak at Cornell.3 months is a short time.I should have asked for a sabbatical leave but Z is having her PMR this coming year.I miscalculated!

Oh stressful betul.I wanna sit at home, do my nails.