... this time with 100% more misappropriation! It was bad enough with the keffiyeh, but it looks like U.O. decided they needed another piece of the Middle East to capitalize upon. Enter the Allah bracelet!
Thanks to KabobFest for bringing it to attention. Now, if you've read my keffiyeh post, y'all know how I feel about the misappropriation of culture. I won't repeat everything I've said there. But I will say that I am again totally amazed. Yes, there is Christian imagery everywhere, and used in popular culture everywhere from "Jesus is My Homeboy" apparel to Madonna's "Like a Prayer," etc. It's actually gotten pretty old now. But the difference is that Christianity in America is the majority and is not equated with the same level of politics and discrimination as Islam. At a time like this, do we really need to further exoticize and disrespect a culture by putting it on sale at a store whose goal is simply to make money, without any care towards sociopolitical context?
One one hand there's the argument that it is bringing an "exotic" culture into the mainstream, de-mystifying it, making it accessible to the common person (because, you know, Muslims/Middle Easterners/"others" can't be seen as just regular people). But I don't think the majority of U.O.'s commercial audience are going to even think that far. So the essential effect is tokenization of a culture, perhaps to seem "edgy." Again, if you do not know or willingly represent the context of this item, wearing it is quite disrespectful. (As someone commented on KabobFest, you wouldn't be able to go into a bathroom with this bracelet on.) It's not because I think everyone else should avoid anything to do with Islam, but I do think there are way more respectful ways to explore it. And it doesn't involve helping Urban Outfitters make money.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Awakening the Sleeping Prince(ss)
We're BAAAACK!
A lot of stuff happened during the dearth of posts here. Wayward Middle Eastern Girls have been traveling to the homeland and back, moving around in homeland 2.0, starting new lives together, studying, not studying, thinking about studying, fighting injustice, protesting, getting laid, and eating voraciously.
To more efficiently stoke this revolution, we created a Facebook group (MySpace is so 2007). Try searching for us. It is a private group, so join us if you like. In the meantime, please feel free to peruse past entries for more brilliant insights, narratives, poetry, and political commentary.
Muah!
The Prince of Kabob
A lot of stuff happened during the dearth of posts here. Wayward Middle Eastern Girls have been traveling to the homeland and back, moving around in homeland 2.0, starting new lives together, studying, not studying, thinking about studying, fighting injustice, protesting, getting laid, and eating voraciously.
To more efficiently stoke this revolution, we created a Facebook group (MySpace is so 2007). Try searching for us. It is a private group, so join us if you like. In the meantime, please feel free to peruse past entries for more brilliant insights, narratives, poetry, and political commentary.
Muah!
The Prince of Kabob
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
"But the children live here!"
I'm shocked, but very pleased, that this was on network news... 60 Minutes, no less. This is a very important and honest coverage of the way Palestinians are imprisoned in their own homeland (and homes!-- and how Israel is preventing peace. Must see.
It's good to see that the world, especially in the West, is (finally) starting to notice the David-and-Goliath situation in place here, the way that Palestinians are being unjustly, criminally, and often fatally mistreated by the Israeli state and some of its citizens, and that-- oh yeah-- maybe there is a reason that Palestinians are so angry.
Here's another heartening video... an Israeli citizen speaks the truth and describes his (and many of his fellow Israelis') feelings of despair at the recent Gaza attacks. Thanks to The Glaring Truth (a blog you should read) and the BBC for posting this.
Salaams, people. Have faith, stay strong.
WMEG
It's good to see that the world, especially in the West, is (finally) starting to notice the David-and-Goliath situation in place here, the way that Palestinians are being unjustly, criminally, and often fatally mistreated by the Israeli state and some of its citizens, and that-- oh yeah-- maybe there is a reason that Palestinians are so angry.
Here's another heartening video... an Israeli citizen speaks the truth and describes his (and many of his fellow Israelis') feelings of despair at the recent Gaza attacks. Thanks to The Glaring Truth (a blog you should read) and the BBC for posting this.
Salaams, people. Have faith, stay strong.
WMEG
Sunday, October 19, 2008
same-sex marriage
Here is the LA Times article I found on crazy religious people who decide to fast and pray all day, every day, to end abominations like gay marriage and abortion. Even stranger, they set up shop in the Castro (?!!). Suspicious!
First, this is pointless. If the deity to whom they are praying exists, and is paying attention, that deity is likely irritated to be bothered so frequently by the same boring request all the time. If you were this God, and were omniscient and omnipresent, don't you think you would send some sort of sign to these misguided souls? "Hey, I heard you the last 931 times you asked me to squash your evil desires for the gay leather daddies and bears walking under your window. I know what's in your heart. You keep saying 'end the abomination of gay marriage,' but I'm omnipresent, and I see what you do in your free time when the other commune members aren't looking and know that you have a secret account downstairs at Castro Gulch to pick up your hot bareback porn. Could you lay off? Earth is falling apart, and there's a lot of other planets in the galaxy that probably need my assistance. Thanks, have a nice day, and shut up. Oh, and come out of the closet already. I actually don't care, by the way."
Second, what? If you're going to fast and pray all day every day to bring a righteous end to a horrible wrong, why not pick a more worthwhile wrong? I could think of a few things that would warrant a lifetime of prayer. World hunger, lack of access to clean water, war, AIDS, poverty, land mines, the depleted environment, endless greed propped up by capitalism...? Hello?
Third, I am unsurprised by this freaky cult/church being headquartered in East San Diego County. There are fewer scarier places I can think of.
Lastly, this is my personal invitation to you to vote no on Prop 8, which truthfully has more to do with our precious California Constitution than it does with marriage. I generally hold unfavorable views toward marriage, and I agree that it is probably outdated and almost certainly not all it's made out to be. But I really love our Constiution, and so should you.
Did you know that California once had "Alien Land Laws" which barred all "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (ie, all Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese immigrants who were laying down the railroad) from owning land? It lasted until 1946 when the California Supreme Court finally woke up and held that those laws violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Check out Sei Fujii v. California.
My point is this: it is the Supreme Court's job to interpret the constitution and sometimes overturn legislation when the legislation (Prop 22, or the Knight Initiative) sucks. The whole "will of the voters" argument is a bad one. Google Loving v. Virginia and Brown v. Board of Education, if you're not already familiar with those cases. If the California Constitution gets amended, it will open the floodgates for every other wacked-out group with enough money to be inspired to put their cracked-out initiative and further ruin our constitution.
By the way, the California Supreme Court is largely populated by Republican-appointed judges. Check out what our Chief Justice had to say about the court's decision here. Please note: he was appointed by Ronald Reagan back in 1972. He's not some radical Berkeley tree-sitter named Zorba. He's a well-educated, experienced judge. And he put it better than I could: "the ultimate will of the people is the Constitution."
So, I leave you with this: don't be an intellectual loser. No one is going to come into any church and force church officals to marry those pesky gays and lesbians. No church is going to lose its tax-free status. No school is going to start indoctrinating kids into the evil path of homosexuality (although I would like to point out that the vast majority of homosexuals have heterosexual parents...so if you're gonna push the "defect" argument, you may as well nudge it over to the defective breeders who popped us gaylords out). And if you really want to protect the sanctity of marriage, I fully expect that you also oppose divorce and seek to amend the constitution to that end as well. Doesn't sound so exciting now, does it? Vote no on prop 8.
First, this is pointless. If the deity to whom they are praying exists, and is paying attention, that deity is likely irritated to be bothered so frequently by the same boring request all the time. If you were this God, and were omniscient and omnipresent, don't you think you would send some sort of sign to these misguided souls? "Hey, I heard you the last 931 times you asked me to squash your evil desires for the gay leather daddies and bears walking under your window. I know what's in your heart. You keep saying 'end the abomination of gay marriage,' but I'm omnipresent, and I see what you do in your free time when the other commune members aren't looking and know that you have a secret account downstairs at Castro Gulch to pick up your hot bareback porn. Could you lay off? Earth is falling apart, and there's a lot of other planets in the galaxy that probably need my assistance. Thanks, have a nice day, and shut up. Oh, and come out of the closet already. I actually don't care, by the way."
Second, what? If you're going to fast and pray all day every day to bring a righteous end to a horrible wrong, why not pick a more worthwhile wrong? I could think of a few things that would warrant a lifetime of prayer. World hunger, lack of access to clean water, war, AIDS, poverty, land mines, the depleted environment, endless greed propped up by capitalism...? Hello?
Third, I am unsurprised by this freaky cult/church being headquartered in East San Diego County. There are fewer scarier places I can think of.
Lastly, this is my personal invitation to you to vote no on Prop 8, which truthfully has more to do with our precious California Constitution than it does with marriage. I generally hold unfavorable views toward marriage, and I agree that it is probably outdated and almost certainly not all it's made out to be. But I really love our Constiution, and so should you.
Did you know that California once had "Alien Land Laws" which barred all "aliens ineligible for citizenship" (ie, all Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese immigrants who were laying down the railroad) from owning land? It lasted until 1946 when the California Supreme Court finally woke up and held that those laws violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Check out Sei Fujii v. California.
My point is this: it is the Supreme Court's job to interpret the constitution and sometimes overturn legislation when the legislation (Prop 22, or the Knight Initiative) sucks. The whole "will of the voters" argument is a bad one. Google Loving v. Virginia and Brown v. Board of Education, if you're not already familiar with those cases. If the California Constitution gets amended, it will open the floodgates for every other wacked-out group with enough money to be inspired to put their cracked-out initiative and further ruin our constitution.
By the way, the California Supreme Court is largely populated by Republican-appointed judges. Check out what our Chief Justice had to say about the court's decision here. Please note: he was appointed by Ronald Reagan back in 1972. He's not some radical Berkeley tree-sitter named Zorba. He's a well-educated, experienced judge. And he put it better than I could: "the ultimate will of the people is the Constitution."
So, I leave you with this: don't be an intellectual loser. No one is going to come into any church and force church officals to marry those pesky gays and lesbians. No church is going to lose its tax-free status. No school is going to start indoctrinating kids into the evil path of homosexuality (although I would like to point out that the vast majority of homosexuals have heterosexual parents...so if you're gonna push the "defect" argument, you may as well nudge it over to the defective breeders who popped us gaylords out). And if you really want to protect the sanctity of marriage, I fully expect that you also oppose divorce and seek to amend the constitution to that end as well. Doesn't sound so exciting now, does it? Vote no on prop 8.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The Upcoming Election
It's hard not to get excited about the potential for our upcoming federal and state elections.
It's hard not to daydream about the possibility of a world where the middle name of the president of the United States is Hussein, where the Republican party may face a severe majority in the Senate to match its deficiency in the House of Representatives, where same-sex marriage will be protected in California.
It's also hard not to get frustrated when the Republican presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate keep throwing around the term "Second Holocaust," as if there has been only one Holocaust, as if Jews are the only people who can suffer a Holocaust. As if there haven't already been myriad Holocausts all over the globe. As if indigenous people haven't experienced genocide on every continent on the planet.
Real Clear Politics has the current Electoral College at 353 Obama, 185 McCain. I can't wait. I'd take a simple majority, but I'm salivating over a Republican slaughter, like the way Larry Craig gets all hot and bothered over illicit homo airport bathroom sex.
It's hard not to daydream about the possibility of a world where the middle name of the president of the United States is Hussein, where the Republican party may face a severe majority in the Senate to match its deficiency in the House of Representatives, where same-sex marriage will be protected in California.
It's also hard not to get frustrated when the Republican presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate keep throwing around the term "Second Holocaust," as if there has been only one Holocaust, as if Jews are the only people who can suffer a Holocaust. As if there haven't already been myriad Holocausts all over the globe. As if indigenous people haven't experienced genocide on every continent on the planet.
Real Clear Politics has the current Electoral College at 353 Obama, 185 McCain. I can't wait. I'd take a simple majority, but I'm salivating over a Republican slaughter, like the way Larry Craig gets all hot and bothered over illicit homo airport bathroom sex.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
RIP Mahmoud Darwish
One of our great heroes has passed. And so the world has lost one of its most amazing poets. Rest in peace, Amo. Thank you for the armor, the sword, the pen, the hope.
"As if I returned
to what has been
As if I walked
in front of myself
I restore my harmony
between the trial and the verdict
I am the son
of simple words
I am the martyr of the map
the family apricot blossom
O you who grip the edge
of the impossible
From the beginning until Galilee
Return to me my hands
Return to me
My identity"
From Poem of the Land
"As if I returned
to what has been
As if I walked
in front of myself
I restore my harmony
between the trial and the verdict
I am the son
of simple words
I am the martyr of the map
the family apricot blossom
O you who grip the edge
of the impossible
From the beginning until Galilee
Return to me my hands
Return to me
My identity"
From Poem of the Land
Friday, July 18, 2008
It's back...
Project Runway, that is! I was happy to find out that the show has not moved to Lifetime yet (because, as much as I love the Golden Girls, I don't really want to see clothes designed for them... or do I??). There is no Arab Adonis this season to keep us occupied (bye, Rami), but there IS a woman (Terri) who suspiciously resembles Donna Summer, and therefore I already love her. There's also a woman (Stella) who looks like Cher on a bad day after a makeover from Tommy Lee if she hadn't had all that work done on her face (oops), and though she appears to be a one-trick pony when it comes to her designs (and her first one was totally lame and hideous), she is from Queens so therefore I already like her too. There's also a girl named Korto who I like because she seems like someone I'd totally want to hang out with on a daily basis (and have her design outfits for me!). Otherwise, most of the others are boring hipsters who are strangely indeterminate from one another. Except that weird guy called Suede (?!) who is apparently really desperate to have everyone call him Suede (and not Albert or whatever his real name probably is) judging by the fact that he constantly refers to himself in the third person. And Jerell who is actually really cute but kind of looks like a hobo. And Blayne, who is probably insane (hence the rhyme) and used "girlicious" even more often than Christian Siriano used "fierce" (even more bizarrely, he used it in description of this outfit he created, which is probably the last thing I'd describe with that term, except maybe the thing that Jerry guy who got auf'd created). Maybe there ARE interesting people on this season... it's really all too much... you'll have to see for yourself (bravotv.com/projectrunway). And thanks to the teasers, I am SO looking forward to hearing Tim Gunn tell the designers, "Holla at ya boy." Oh Tim Gunn!
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