Archive for August, 2006

It’s the Bumpershoot arts festival this weekend in Seattle. Poetry-slammer Anis Mojgani is performing. According to his LiveJournal post, he is looking to be teaching at the high school level one day a week as an artist-in-residence in addition to continuing his performing. -gw

anis (mojgani) wrote,@ 2006-08-30 10:44:00

i decided to take the residency. it’s more in line with what i should be doing in conjunction with the Faith. the House of Justice wants Baha’is to be focusing on youth particularly ages 12-14, and though the kids i’ll be teaching will be high school, it’s still more in line with what i need to be doing as a Baha’i. i should still be able to do shows though, as it’s one day of teaching a week.
…
in other other news, i will be performing in seattle at bumbershoot on saturday (please visit bumbershoot.org and look under saturday the second under literary events to see my name in the lights)

anis mojgani, “for all you hatas out there: MICKEY DOLENZ is the man,” I’m Here

Carl Hancock Rux, Anis Mojgani
Saturday, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm @ Alki Room

Anis Mojgani is the 2005 National Poetry Slam Individual Champion. He heavily dislikes possums, has a degree in comic books, and is a member of the Baha’i Faith. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, Anis has written and performed spoken word for nearly 10 years. He has shared spots on the NYC Urbana Poetry Slam team as well as the New Orleans team. A member of the 2006 Seattle team, Anis is also the current Seattle Grand Slam Champion.Anis has self-published four books of poetry, a one man show, and produced the spoken word album aeroplane. He lives in Portland, Oregon, in an art gallery called couch (www.couchstuff.com) that he and his friends run together, where he is currently working on a book length poem combining both his poetry and his visual work, to be published by Mother Press Media (www.motherpressmedia.com).

Lineup and Complete Schedule, Bumpershoot 2006, Seattle Music and Arts Festival

Mona does a lot of catching up on her current post. One paragraph especially stands out, her characterization of what college life can be like, now that college students all over the country are returning to school for the fall. How can college life be spiritualized? -gw

Green Acre Baha’i School, BWNS
The sharp contrast I felt between the atmosphere of college and the atmosphere of Green Acre overwhelmed me at first. After adjusting, I realized the underlying cause of such a drastic “climate change.” College was just so utterly irreverent. Nothing is sacred - the hearts of your fellow human beings, the bounty of life, the contemplation of spirituality…nothing. You’re supposed to make fun of everything, have a constant attitude of egotistical nonchalance. Green Acre is exactly the opposite! The place itself is sacred, and the prevailing attitude is that of reverence and devotion, and above all, love.

mOna, “fetal embellishments yearn fervently for omniscience,” Inblot: Interpret as you will

From Wolfpack country, N.C. State University, comes this story. -gw

Being Baha’i: it’s more than a faith

Technition Online

Sites of on-going armed conflicts worldwide, Wikipedia

What have the people of the world learned from the recent war in Lebanon?

“If we had known that capturing the soldiers would have led to all of this, we wouldn’t have done it,” the leader of one side in the war said. The leader of the other side has expressed various regrets about the war, too.

It seems to me that each conflict or war has taught humanity something. Even negative experiences can have a positive result as humankind is nudged towards conclusions that no one had the courage to voice before a war. Little by little, humanity being nudged towards…what? Collective security, for one. During the time of the League of Nations, Shoghi Effendi wrote about the principle of collective security enunciated by Baha’u'llah. -gw

“This historic step, however, is but a faint glimmer in the darkness that envelops an agitated humanity. It may well prove to be no more than a mere flash, a fugitive gleam, in the midst of an ever-deepening confusion. The process of disintegration must inexorably continue, and its corrosive influence must penetrate deeper and deeper into the very core of a crumbling age. Much suffering will still be required ere the contending nations, creeds, classes and races of mankind are fused in the crucible of universal affliction, and are forged by the fires of a fierce ordeal into one organic commonwealth, one vast, unified, and harmoniously functioning system. Adversities unimaginably appalling, undreamed of crises and upheavals, war, famine, and pestilence, might well combine to engrave in the soul of an unheeding generation those truths and principles which it has disdained to recognize and follow. A paralysis more painful than any it has yet experienced must creep over and further afflict the fabric of a broken society ere it can be rebuilt and regenerated.”

Shoghi Effendi, “Baha’u'llah’s Principle of Collective Security,” The World Order of Baha’u'llah

So, what are the many lessons the world has learned from the recent war in Lebanon? And what are the lessons to be learned from all of the other unresolved conflicts in the world?

Sites of armed conflicts worldwide
1964–present Colombian Armed Conflict (aka Colombian Civil War, Colombian Conflict)
Late 1960s–present New People’s Army insurgency and Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines
1983–present Sri Lankan civil war
1984–present Kurdish Separatist Insurgency, Turkey and Kurdistan
1984–present Free Papua Movement, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
1988–present Casamance Conflict in Senegal
1988–present Somali Civil War
1989-present Kashmir conflict
1993–present Ethnic conflict in Nagaland, India
1996–present Nepal Civil War
1999–present Ituri Conflict (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
1999–present Second Chechen War (Russia)
2000–present al-Aqsa Intifada, in Israel and the Palestinian territories
2000–present Conflict in Laos involving the Hmong
2001–present United States war in Afghanistan
2001–present Civil War in Côte d’Ivoire
2001–present South Thailand insurgency
2003–present Iraq War
2003–present Balochistan conflict, Pakistan
2004–present Waziristan War, Pakistan
2003–present Darfur conflict (Sudan)
Chadian-Sudanese conflict and the Second Chadian Civil War, extensions of the Darfur conflict
2005–present Western Sahara Independence Intifada
2006–present 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis

“On-going wars,” Wikipedia

Colors and textures

Joey in Bolivia
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…this week was the anniversary week of the school where I am, jam packed with parent workshops and special presentations by students and organized by the teachers. It is interesting the way that the school attempts to engage the parents of the students both to share with them what they feel to be important pieces of advice to promote higher levels of learning among the children, and in order to learn what the parents have as suggestions too. I suppose it would work more or less like any PTA in the US, but because of the circumstances that people are living in here and because of the special interest the culture takes into the discussions, it seems a bit more interesting than a regular PTA meeting. To me at least.

… By the end of that day, when the performances in the courtyard turned into class soccer matches, I headed off to the nearby town that is about a 20 min car ride away (1 hour or so walk but the road is not so good). The Bahá’í in the community that I am living asked me to visit that town to assist them with the election of the Local Spiritual Assembly.

Joey, “Fun with Illnesses,” Puka Llaqta

{Re-posted with permission}

Looking like a still-life painting, the pomegranates pictured on Natascha and John ’s blog The Pilgrim Notes provide an image of instant comfort. -gw

A few days ago at our local superette at the World Centre, we were able to get some pomegranates from the Baha’i Gardens. Holy Pomegranate! No…not really, just simple, nice fruits that grow on the trees in the Gardens! I like this idea of being able to get these fruits in the superette. They look nice on the trees but we might as well eat them! Why waste them?

There were also some avocados some time ago but I don’t have any photos of them. They were as tasty as the pomegranates!

John and Natascha, “Holy Pomegranates!” The Pilgrim Notes

{Re-posted with permission}

Here is an article read by many that calls attention to the treatment of Baha’is in Iran. Here is a wonderful response to the article. Farshid’s conclusion is below. -gw

What I find amusing though is, for the lack of a better word, the childish nature of these institutions and clergy to prove that their Prophet was the best one or the most powerful one and that he was the very last one. Reminds me of arguments I would have in kindergarden about how my dad is stronger than others. Does any parent set a date on which they tell their child, this is the last advice I am giving you and this is the very last day I will care for you? No! So why would God do that to mankind by sending a last Prophet and then leave us forever.

Farshid Sedghi, “Brutilization of the Baha’is in Iran and the Failure of Past Religions,” .farshid sedghi.