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Text of the page (random words):
from clay from clay we re made from clay but also from a spirit that is not of this world negotiations between the two are always in session meanwhile you may find here some reviews commentary translations links to various articles excerpted quotes exegesis and anything else that has a chance to edify inspire remind or kindle thanks for dropping by ibrahim n abusharif ph d twitter i_abusharif sunday april 26 2020 ramadan karim ramadan karim everyone there s a lot said and published about fasting ramadan during a pandemic it s possible that too much is being said about it though i understand the trial and the feelings it causes but there has always been a private if not an isolated aspect to ritual fasting this voluntary privation as a rite of worship a sacred epistemology that is a pathway to knowledge that can only be attained by way of religious rites you know to ascertain the extraordinary we have to do the extraordinary fasting is invisible it s unseen and perhaps connects more immediately with the larger unseen realm of existence not sure what others feel about this but either way may this be a blessed ramadan for us all ia posted by fromclay at 4 26 2020 08 14 00 am 0 comments sunday may 18 2014 a pdf of my study parsing arab spring is available online for free the study examines the origins spread framing and contestations surrounding the descriptor arab spring i hope you find it interesting thanks http www qatar northwestern edu news publications 2014 parsing arab spring html posted by fromclay at 5 18 2014 01 40 00 pm 0 comments thursday january 02 2014 alternative narratives i make it a point to teach in my journalism classes something about the alternative press its history incentives and the apparent need in the media ecology for alternative narratives it so happens that in the alties you ll find essayi sts whose messages hardly make mainstream among the finest of american essayists my view are marilynne robinson and rebecca solnit here s one by solnit excerpt henry david thoreau wrote books that not many people read when they were published he famously said of his unsold copies i have now a library of nearly 900 volumes over 700 of which i wrote myself but a south african lawyer of indian descent named mohandas gandhi read thoreau on civil disobedience and found ideas that helped him fight discrimination in africa and then liberate his own country from british rule martin luther king studied thoreau and gandhi and put their ideas to work in the united states while in 1952 the african national congress and the young nelson mandela were collaborating with the south african indian congress on civil disobedience campaigns you wish you could write thoreau a letter about all this he had no way of knowing that what he planted would still be bearing fruit 151 years after his death but the past doesn t need us the past guides us the future needs us posted by fromclay at 1 02 2014 12 20 00 pm 0 comments monday december 30 2013 completely agree with this nyt editorial about the death penalty more states are coming to recognize that the death penalty is arbitrary racially biased and prone to catastrophic error even those that have not abolished capital punishment are no longer carrying it out in practice posted by fromclay at 12 30 2013 02 28 00 am 0 comments saturday june 22 2013 taking a stand an anniversary nice piece in nyt about muhammad ali s refusal to be drafted in the military ali was one of the most identifiable human beings on the planet here was the greatest telling the world that he was not going to war for me words like conscience principle and integrity were merely terms in a civics class when ali de fended his controversial position how he had no appetite for war standing for one s principle became concrete my conscience won t let me shoot my brother or some darker people he told reporters and shoot them for what they never called me n word posted by fromclay at 6 22 2013 01 28 00 pm 0 comments sunday april 21 2013 about arab spring the phrase and its resilience here s a story of mine published in the chronicle of higher education it s about the arab spring phrase and the various objections to it i paste it in below seasons of a phrase in february an important two year mark of the arab spring was commemorated in cairo s tahrir square with demonstrations that were anything but springlike the frustration and violence reflected none of the hope that once riveted the eyes of a global audience on tunisia and egypt where masses gathered to topple two entrenched leaders each autocrat permitted to abdicate with a pulse since that original spark there have been constitutional crises sectarian strife economies on the precipice military intrigue and sporadic lethal confrontations all of which have dimmed the luster of the movement s early days yet despite the setbacks and the wariness they evoke the cheerful phrase arab spring has managed to stay in style and there are reasons for this read more posted by fromclay at 4 21 2013 09 25 00 am 0 comments wednesday march 07 2012 privacy ownership and the e book aesthetic here s a story of mine in the chronicle of higher education about the shift in ownership and privacy risks associated with the e book aesthetic i paste it in below privacy and the e book aesthetic when the pulitzer prize winning architecture critic paul goldberger spoke at northwestern university in qatar last november he made observations about doha s urban scene how for example it is unsympathetic to pedestrian traffic and a lively community vibe but then goldberger did something that all guest speakers should try to do namely offer a durable point that applies to just about anywhere architecture he said has both form and symbolism and it is the role of the critic to look at buildings small or massive as they unavoidably connect to culture politics social mores and of course money this symbolism approach works nicely with the skyline or housing projects of any city but it also applies to most if not all popular products of human inventiveness including devices that are becoming the standard hardware of our professional and intellectual lives e readers read more posted by fromclay at 3 07 2012 02 21 00 am 2 comments tuesday february 21 2012 sharia chat here are a few pieces about sharia in the american context robert k vischer writes in first things a rather conservative magazine about the dangers of anti sharia laws in the us in the new york times legal scholar samuel j rascoff reminds us that uncle sam is no imam based on a more extensive argument he writes in the standford law review establishing official islam posted by fromclay at 2 21 2012 07 20 00 am 0 comments friday july 30 2010 what did orwell really do here it goes i ask what did george orwell s prognostications ultimately do like many people i like to cite him and even leave orwellian quotes at the end of an email and stuff but what did his big brother warnings and tales of the seductive relationship between power and corruption among talking animals really achieve it seems that orwell s warnings of big brother while interesting were ultimately pretty much ignored somehow society and culture decided that technology was too useful to complain about or even notice its encroachment on privacy and other rights brother s cameras listening devices search engines tweets legal cover smart phones traceable apps and public complacency are all over the place the penetration is more than what we think in a given work day for example the image of a law abiding person is recorded dozens of times and possibly kept in some digital archive in perpetuity carry a cell phone then our whereabouts can be traced rather easily does privacy have much meaning we are familiar with animal farm and 1984 insightful stories of human vulnerabilities and manias the question though comes down to this ok too dramatic do good ideas really matter as active forces that direct and reset courses of life and that expose unexamined presumptions what recent narrative can we recall that really changed things beyond integument civil rights perhaps not sure really orwell did not waste his time i m not saying that his non fiction work his essays and personal experience narratives remain quite moving but only for a few people elitist as this may sound beck and limbaugh have broadcast pulses because they are supported by millions of viewers and listeners if orwell had a radio show today he would be unplugged in a week he couldn t compete with these guys in the same vein i don t really think the tea party movement will really last long if it does well the mayans maybe on to something after all but look at how the movement is changing the political game listen to their ideas and notice their racist bearing civil rights really change the essence of things the dribble of their inspiration sources sarah palin for example their unfocused and highly generalized aims details disable things in a heartbeat and the political fear they provoke what good idea out there today really matters as a challenge to our disabling paradigms posted by fromclay at 7 30 2010 07 30 00 am 3 comments wednesday july 21 2010 more amish apparently the population of amish communities and in fact the number of amish settlements have increased in recent years i read this in a year old national geographic magazine as i was waiting at a doctor s office with ailments that are probably stress induced and supported by the modern requirements of living and earning later that week i visited a friend in far western wisconsin where amish folks have been thriving for generations to be honest when i see the amish i almost envy their way of life i know that they toil hard working the land and taking care of routine amenities of life with an investment of time and energy that most of us could not bear but that kind of work it seems does not grate the soul or offend it nor does it stress the mind and heart that s what i think at a comfortable distance of course and from what i hear from my friend it sounds true though i m still speculating if not hoping at first glance it seems counter intuitive to see the number of amish settlements increase and all that this may mean but when you think about it it s really something to expect something has to give our over mechanical and pixel world would naturally drive people to seek out simplicity not the casual kind of simplicity but simplicity as a way of life no one lives without complexity or trial but you have to suspect that some of the nonsense and subjugation we have to deal with is derived from an outlook that s alien to our adamic natures i see good folks on their horse drawn carriages and as i zoom by in my motor car i try to imagine that kind of life that s my imagination speaking not sure how i would really react if i were suddenly in suspenders holding on to reins something to think about posted by fromclay at 7 21 2010 07 19 00 am 6 comments about me name fromclay location doha chicago born and raised in chicago and its environs ibrahim abusharif phd is a professor in the journalism and strategic communication program at northwestern university in qatar his research interests include the intersection of media and culture digital media and religious authority literary journalism media in the arab world and religion and media he is also a journalist and a writer of non fiction and fiction his articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines both print and online he has also worked closely on translation projects of the quran he has a masters in journalism and doctorate in religious and islamic studies and he finds it very interesting to write about himself in the third person like this it s possible he ll revise this introduction and be more personable but not now he says email i abusharif gmail com view my complete profile to subscribe to from clay enter your email address and you ll receive notification of any new post thanks delivered by feedburner various disorganized 350 org arts letters daily altmuslim bbc religion ethics grist nature conservancy ny review of books onearth o r i o n nature mag scientific american the millions the second pass seasons journal thought for the day bbc wildlife photos amazing words without borders zaytuna journalism american journalism review cjr daily columbia journalism review global voices gutenberg project media storm newseum org oped news poynter journalism site religion dispatches the revealer tom dispatch previous posts ramadan karim a pdf of my study parsing arab spring is avai alternative narratives completely agree with this taking a stand an anniversary about arab spring the phrase and its resilience privacy ownership and the e book aesthetic sharia chat what did orwell really do more amish archives