Today is National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which also com­mem­o­rates the anniver­sary of the Montréal Massacre in 1989. I am hon­oured to have been asked to read one of my poems at the Toronto Candlelight Vigil to mark the anniver­sary of this tragic event.

The fact is that vio­lence against women is an everyday reality for mil­lions of girls and women around the world. There are many kinds of vio­lence. The word “vio­lence” is related to the word “vio­la­tion” – and each time a woman’s right to be a full, self-determining human being is vio­lated because she is a woman, vio­lence against women is com­mitted. From media and adver­tising depic­tions of women as vapid damsels in dis­tress worthy of little more than objec­ti­fi­ca­tion for men’s plea­sure, to domestic abuse, work­place sexual harass­ment, date rape, mar­ital rape, the misogyny of reli­gious fun­da­men­talisms, and sexual assault and gender-based vio­lence, women, girls and trans people are still much more likely to be at the receiving end of vio­lence and vio­la­tion. These prob­lems are usu­ally worse for women who are not white, not from the upper-middle classes, and those of us who straddle mul­tiple social-cultural iden­ti­ties as immi­grants and chil­dren of immi­grants. Continue reading ‘National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women’»

This spoken word video has been going around the social net­works. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, here it is:

It is the most amazing thing to come out of Pakistan in recent years, IMO. Here are my favourite songs from this show, pro­duced by Rohail Hyatt:

To see more videos, check out Coke Studio’s YouTube channel, and offi­cial web­site.

Came across this sweet little video recently. Check it out for your­self

…appar­ently, Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante. [with Wikipedia Links & Mouse-over Tags]

It’s got 103 of the most inter­esting fig­ures of his­tory jux­ta­posed together, and in some cases, inter­acting with each other, in a time­less image. From Bill Gates to Plato, Bruce Lee to the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, Margaret Thatcher to Audrey Hepburn, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein, Sigmund Freud to Jack Kevorkian, Albert Einstein to Che Guevara, Charles Darwin dressed as Noah, to Osama Bin Laden and the 72 Houris. Check it out!

Originally painted by three Chinese artists: Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An, in 2006; oil on canvas.

Came across this beau­tiful, artic­u­late and tal­ented Iranian-Canadian singer and activist, Nazanin Afshin-Jan:

and a *MUST WATCH* inter­view with her from AlJazeera English:

In the interest of embracing opti­mism, I decided to look up some quotes by famous and not-so-famous people that inspire me to approach life in a pos­i­tive, light-hearted manner. Yes, I know, quotes are some­times looked down upon, and quotes are not the only way to learn any­thing, the con­text mat­ters more in most cases. But a good quote is like a good song, a small morsel of wisdom or wit that can inspire great things in the observer’s mind. Here are some juicy ones from my ever-growing collection:

“Snatching the eternal out of the des­per­ately fleeting is the great mag­ical trick of human exis­tence.” ~Tennessee Williams

“When you per­ceive that an act done to another is done to your­self, you have under­stood the great truth.” ~Taoist saying

“Thousands of can­dles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be short­ened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” ~Buddha

“The most beau­tiful thing we can expe­ri­ence is the mys­te­rious. It is the source of all true art and sci­ence.” ~Albert Einstein

“To the out­side world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sis­ters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share pri­vate family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live out­side the touch of time.” ~Clara Ortega

“Nothing is so strong as gen­tle­ness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.” ~Ralph Stockman

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~T. Roosevelt

“Great spirits have always encoun­tered vio­lent oppo­si­tion from mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

“He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.” ~Voltaire

“True love sto­ries never have end­ings.” ~Richard Bach

“Anyone can be pas­sionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.” ~Rose Franken

“What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.” ~Pearl Bailey

“To all of us the thought of heaven is dear–
Why not be sure of it and make it here?
No doubt there is a heaven yonder too,
But ’tis so far away–and you are near.”
~Omar Khayyam

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” ~Lily Tomlin

I’ve decided I’m going to par­tic­i­pate in the National Blog Posting Month exer­cise. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on my blog, and I have missed it. I’ve been dealing with a very hectic schedule in my real life, between taking a full load of courses at the uni­ver­sity, and working, and home life, social life etc., I’ve ignored my blog for too long. I get these email alerts for NaBloPoMo, an off­shot of NaNoWriMo, and I always look at the monthly theme and think to myself, “oh that sounds inter­esting, I should write some­thing about that.” Then I forget all about it till the next email alert. But this time, I’ll make it a point to stick to it.

“Look up” invokes three basic con­cepts in my mind:

1: Optimism.

As in, looking up at the bright side of life… trying to find ways to look at things from a pos­i­tive per­spec­tive as much as pos­sible. This is hard for those of us who pay atten­tion to the news, to pol­i­tics, and the state of affairs in many, I’d say most, parts of the world. But as a won­derful vis­iting Professor told our Equity Studies class recently, “the greatest chal­lenge for those of us aware of the prob­lems of the world, is to learn how to love the world.” This really is the greatest chal­lenge and one I’m learning slowly how to handle. I will blog about some of the people and orga­ni­za­tions that have inspired me and are moti­vating me in the world today. I’m not sure if opti­mism is some­thing I really under­stand, on a bigger scale, but I will make a honest effort at it. More on this as the month pro­gresses, I’m sure.

2: Searching.

As in, searching for/looking up infor­ma­tion, or a person, or a resource, group, or any­thing else that isn’t readily or easily avail­able. It could also mean searching for answers, or at least, better ways of artic­u­lating the ques­tions. This month, I’ll blog about some uncanny, off-the-wall, and inter­esting bits of infor­ma­tion that I find, and also about how to search for things on the internet.

3: The Sky.

Halley’s Comet 1986

One of my ear­liest mem­o­ries is of my dad taking us out near the air­port to watch for Halley’s Comet as it came within viewing range from Earth in early 1986. He explained to me what a comet was, and that the next time this ancient one came around I’d be in my 80′s. It was a mind-blowing thing for a 7 year old to dis­cover. It made me appre­ciate from a very early age, the expanse of space and time, and how insignif­i­cant we really are in this grand, beau­tiful uni­verse. Since then, my love for astronomy and cos­mology has only increased. Some of my blog posts this month will revolve around this enduring pas­sion of mine.

So, if you’re reading this and you’d like to com­ment, please do so, and let me know what “Look up” means to you.

I’ve loved this song for a long time, just saw the video for the first time today. Amazing…

From Funny Or Die!

Gus Porter gets mauled by a bear, but he won’t let the socialist Canadian health care fix him up, so he’ll hike back to America.