Some time back in a workshop the instructor asked me how did I know so much in depth about a topic. I replied with the truth-“I read”. Of course everyone had a laugh and I also smiled but I was stating the truth. I am not super bright or super intelligent. I just read a bit more than the average Joe.
Anyways sometimes I share the best of what I read, through status’s on facebook but I don’t want to cloud my updates with a stream of articles each and everyday.
So I am going to chronicle my best daily reads in a post everyday. Anyone who is interested can look it up but more importantly I can reference it at my ease too. Bookmarking is just not efficient enough I browse hundreds of pages everyday. I will only list what is worth sharing. I hope you enjoy it too.
(a) Anyways the must read article of the day is this eulogy of Steve Jobs delivered by his sister. It’s a wonderfully wriiten artcile and I just find this line so tragically true. “
"We all — in the end — die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories."
” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/mona-simpsons-eulogy-for-steve-jobs.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB.
(b) As the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq nears , I have to think a lot. Afterall 10 years ago I was a teenager and in a way I have been a child of the great war years. I felt the pain of 9-11. I cheered the Afghanistan invasion, pretty happy to see the Taliban whom I anyway hated go and in a way thought there was need for dismantling the terrorist infrastructure. And one and a half years later I opposed the Iraq war tooth and nail being convinced there was no cause for war. Wrote essays And when no WMDs came and people expressed surprise , I could not help but say told you say. Infact I still remember watching Rumsfields testimony in the UN live on BBC as he scared everyone with a vial in his hand.’This amount he stated is enough to kill anyone’. I had to judge if the evidence was convincing and I thought it was all one side of the story.
However my biggest concern today is the women in Afghanistan. One of the reasons I supported the US war in Afghanistan because the Taliban with their repression of women simply angered me no end. That is not Islam or even basic human decency. What will happen to those gains as the US leaves? Will Afghanistan face another decade of degradation. And the guilty party is the cold war.
Have over the years followed RWA(Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan) organization whose volunteers have risked everything to educate girls.
(Must read about how cynically the women of Afghanistan have been exploited) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/06/pawns-of-war-and-peace-what-does-the-future-hold-for-afghan-women/
(Good read- USAID and women in Afghanistan) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/22/dear-usaid-afghan-women-arent-pet-rocks/
(Good read- interview with an Afghani woman heading NGO) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/25/peace-unveiled-an-interview-with-afghan-womens-rights-activist-hasina-safi/
(c) Poetry and politics a nice perspective http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/2011fall_browning.php
(d) Quotes of Arundhati Roy ( admire her courage, not necessarily share her viewpoints)
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6134.Arundhati_Roy
A good one of the bunch“D’you know what happens when you hurt people?’ Ammu said. ‘When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
(e) Another urdu poetry site. Very regularly updated. http://faysalspoetry.blogspot.com/
(f) The story of a reformed neo-nazi or a skinhead. Its very intense and personal. Recommended read. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/reformed-skinhead-removes_n_1067431.html?ref=impact&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Anyways sometimes I share the best of what I read, through status’s on facebook but I don’t want to cloud my updates with a stream of articles each and everyday.
So I am going to chronicle my best daily reads in a post everyday. Anyone who is interested can look it up but more importantly I can reference it at my ease too. Bookmarking is just not efficient enough I browse hundreds of pages everyday. I will only list what is worth sharing. I hope you enjoy it too.
(a) Anyways the must read article of the day is this eulogy of Steve Jobs delivered by his sister. It’s a wonderfully wriiten artcile and I just find this line so tragically true. “
"We all — in the end — die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories."
” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/mona-simpsons-eulogy-for-steve-jobs.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB.
(b) As the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq nears , I have to think a lot. Afterall 10 years ago I was a teenager and in a way I have been a child of the great war years. I felt the pain of 9-11. I cheered the Afghanistan invasion, pretty happy to see the Taliban whom I anyway hated go and in a way thought there was need for dismantling the terrorist infrastructure. And one and a half years later I opposed the Iraq war tooth and nail being convinced there was no cause for war. Wrote essays And when no WMDs came and people expressed surprise , I could not help but say told you say. Infact I still remember watching Rumsfields testimony in the UN live on BBC as he scared everyone with a vial in his hand.’This amount he stated is enough to kill anyone’. I had to judge if the evidence was convincing and I thought it was all one side of the story.
However my biggest concern today is the women in Afghanistan. One of the reasons I supported the US war in Afghanistan because the Taliban with their repression of women simply angered me no end. That is not Islam or even basic human decency. What will happen to those gains as the US leaves? Will Afghanistan face another decade of degradation. And the guilty party is the cold war.
Have over the years followed RWA(Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan) organization whose volunteers have risked everything to educate girls.
(Must read about how cynically the women of Afghanistan have been exploited) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/06/pawns-of-war-and-peace-what-does-the-future-hold-for-afghan-women/
(Good read- USAID and women in Afghanistan) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/22/dear-usaid-afghan-women-arent-pet-rocks/
(Good read- interview with an Afghani woman heading NGO) http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/25/peace-unveiled-an-interview-with-afghan-womens-rights-activist-hasina-safi/
(c) Poetry and politics a nice perspective http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/2011fall_browning.php
(d) Quotes of Arundhati Roy ( admire her courage, not necessarily share her viewpoints)
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6134.Arundhati_Roy
A good one of the bunch“D’you know what happens when you hurt people?’ Ammu said. ‘When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
(e) Another urdu poetry site. Very regularly updated. http://faysalspoetry.blogspot.com/
(f) The story of a reformed neo-nazi or a skinhead. Its very intense and personal. Recommended read. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/reformed-skinhead-removes_n_1067431.html?ref=impact&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
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