September 26, 2006
I havent posted in a little while, been busy and sick. School has been getting difficult with test, and essays. I was sick two days and did not go to school, I had gotten really dehydrated. But, besides that everthing has been going fine including my first Ramadan. 
I also wanted to share this article I found, I dont think this is a question of free speech:
BERLIN — A leading opera house canceled a 3-year-old production of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” that included a scene showing the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, unleashing a furious debate over free speech.
In a statement late Monday, the Deutsche Oper said it decided “with great regret” to cancel the production after Berlin security officials warned of an “incalculable risk” because of the scene.
After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads not only of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, but also of Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha. The disputed scene is not part of Mozart’s original staging of the 225-year-old opera, but was an addition of Neuenfels’ production, which was last performed by the company in March 2004.
“We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures,” Deutsche Oper said its statement announcing the decision. “We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support.”
On Tuesday, Deutsche Oper director Kirsten Harms said security officials had recommended, but not ordered, that she either cut the scene or pull the entire production from the 2006-2007 lineup.
“The State Criminal Office assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that if the Deutsche Oper stages this version of Idomeneo in its originally produced form, it will pose an incalculable security risk to the public and employees,” Harms told reporters.
“If I were to ignore this and say, ‘We are going to stage this nevertheless, or because of this,’ and something were to happen, then everyone would say, and would be right to say: ‘She ignored the warning of security officials,’” Harms said.
She said she spoke at length with Neuenfels _ who insisted his staging not be altered _ as well as the orchestra director and others involved in the production before making her decision.
While some expressed understanding for the decision, many were outraged.
“That is crazy,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters in Washington, where he was holding meetings with U.S. officials. “This is unacceptable.”
The leader of Germany’s Islamic Council welcomed the decision, saying a depiction of Muhammad with a severed head “could certainly offend Muslims.”
“Nevertheless, of course I think it is horrible that one has to be afraid,” Ali Kizilkaya told Berlin’s Radio Multikulti. “That is not the right way to open dialogue.”
Berlin Police Chief Dieter Glietsch said on rbb radio that “one can find nothing wrong if, in a climate that’s already tense between Islam and the Western world, people avoid heating up the situation further through a scene that can _ and perhaps even must _ be taken as provocative by pious Muslims.”
Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit, however, said that “with all understanding for the concern about the security of spectators and performers, I consider the decision of the director to be wrong.
“Our ideas about openness, tolerance and freedom must be lived on the offensive. Voluntary self-limitation gives those who fight against our values a confirmation in advance that we will not stand behind them.”
Bernd Neumann, the federal government’s top cultural official, said that “problems cannot be solved by keeping silent.”
“When the concern over possible protests leads to self-censorship, then the democratic culture of free speech becomes endangered.”
The decision comes after the German-born Pope Benedict XVI infuriated Muslims by quoting the words of a 14th century Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”
Earlier this year, furious protests erupted after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Those caricatures were then reprinted by dozens of newspapers and Web sites in Europe and elsewhere, often in the name of freedom of expression.
Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depiction of Muhammad for fear it could lead to idolatry.
The leader of Germany’s Turkish Community said that while he could understand how the production could be seen as offensive, he also encouraged Muslims living in the West to accept certain elements of the traditions here, noting an opera production is not equivalent to a political point of view.
“I would recommend Muslims learn to accept certain things,” Kenan Kolat told the online Netzeitung newspaper. “Art must remain free.”
___
Thanks for reading, and salaams.
September 18, 2006
While The country of Darfur tries to rebuild, many of its people are still feeling the pain and loss of their life through the process. Cultural clashes, wars, and a once failing goverment have lead the people of Darfur to suffer.
Article:
This fighter is part of the SLA that signed up to the deal
No-one was expecting Darfur’s peace agreement to bring about an immediate transformation on the ground.
But the short time since the deal in Abuja have shown the size of the challenge ahead.
The Sudan Liberation Army, the region’s biggest rebel movement is split in two.
One faction lead by the wiry Minni Minnawi has signed the deal while the other faction under Abdul Wahid Mohammed al-Nur demands further concessions from the Sudanese government.
In Gereida and Kalma - two of Darfur’s biggest camps - the impact of the deal on the rebels and their supporters could be immediately seen.
Misery
The town of Gereida is Minnawi territory.
About 100,000 people are squatting there, surrounded on all sides by government and Arab militia.
Some 1.8m people are displaced within Darfur
It is a flash-back to what Darfur’s camps used to look like three years ago.
Dusty and disorganised, it is inaccessible to aid convoys and everyday freshly displaced people arrive from the surrounding area.
Sitting under trees with the few possessions they could carry, they tell of government planes attacking them in their villages.
“Twelve days ago I left Joghana because we were attacked by the government and Janjaweed,” says Nasser Mohammed Yusuf Ahmed, 23.
“All my relatives I’ve lost. I’ve lost all my luggage and all the aid agencies give us here is water.”
Rebel headquarters in Gereida is a grey square building that used to belong to Sudatel, Sudan’s state run telecommunications company.
Inside the now dark building SLA commander Hamed Ismail Tijani says his faction will implement the peace agreement.
“The peace agreement signed is not according to our will but it will reduce the humanitarian crisis and that is why we agreed to it,” he said.
“If the government doesn’t attack us and disarm the Janjaweed then we will respect the agreement.”
Protest
Kalma is 90km north.
Whereas Gereida has little food, Kalma has until recently had the opposite problem.
Egeland was whisked off when the protests turned violent
Community leaders manipulated ration cards so that aid agencies were distributing grain for tens of thousands more than the 90,000 people who actually reside there.
As one of Darfur’s oldest camps, Kalma has an increasingly permanent feel.
Small brick factories are converting the camp’s mud into square blocks, as increasing numbers of people trade in their makeshift shelters for a simple square hut.
Just 10 kilometres from South Darfur’s airport, Kalma is the camp of choice for the concerned international visitor.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, America’s Robert Zoellick even actress Mia Farrow have all been here.
This week a large demonstration greeted Jan Egeland, the United Nation’s top humanitarian envoy.
“We need US redcoats to protect us. Up, Up USA,” one banner said while the crowd chanted for the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping mission.
That message Mr Egeland agreed with - but few of the demonstrators supported the recently signed peace agreement.
“Our leader of Darfur didn’t sign the agreement - that Minni Minnawi is not welcome here he is not our leader,” Ahmed a smartly dressed young man told me.
“There is nothing to make us return to us our village as there is no protection.”
Survival
The demonstrators in Kalma were from the Fur community. It’s the biggest group in Darfur and the same group as Mr al-Nur.
The AU troops could be replaced by UN peacekeepers
As Mr Egeland’s visit to Kalma ended, the demonstration spun out of control.
A rampaging mob attacked the African Union compound in Kalma.
The eight unarmed policemen were over-run and in the violence their Sudanese translator was axed to death.
In the camps of Zalingei, Kass, Tawila and Abou Shouk there have been similar incidents as Mr al-Nur’s supporters objected violently to the peace agreement.
The African Union has found itself targeted as the organisation that mediated the controversial peace agreement.
“We need to survive the next few weeks and that is through the African Union and humanitarian activities,” Mr Egeland said.
“It’s not over. We all need to seize the opportunity now to enforce peace.”
The next steps are far from clear.
Sudan has yet to approve the sending of United Nations peacekeepers while funding shortages mean that Darfur’s food rations for May have been cut in half.
~By Jonah Fisher
BBC News, Darfur~
September 14, 2006
What is love, is it more powerful than money?
More beautiful than anything one person can experience? Or, just simply beauty?
When you have it how do you know its true?
Can love be measured, even in its simplest forms?
Maybe it is like a drug, that one can not let go of.
Finding love, living, breathing, and thinking about every waking moment with the one you love is, can be a difficult, and beautiful thing.
Life with out love, is like going through winter without a fire.
In this world there is a person for everyone, how do you know how good a heart is if you never try to understand? How do you start to love someone else, when you do not love your self?
What love is, can not be described, its a ineffable feeling that surpases all reason.
No matter the answer, it is a great thing to be in love.
~Almira~
September 11, 2006
In my previous post, when I had said I went to the Grand Canyon for a week I had failed to mention there was a bad forest fire. When I had checked in at the Jacob’s Lake Lodge the woman at the front counter told me there was a fire started by some people in charge of the Grand Canyon National Forrest. Anywayz, there was a business man who was in charge of some free range cattle. Every year the people who are in charge of the park services do what they call “Controlled Fires”. In controlled fires they burn down sections of the forest, that way the new soil can come, and also it stops the over population of trees. The business man who was in charge of the cattle wanted to burn down a section of the forest so his cattle could graze upon the new grass coming from the soil once it was burned. In exchange for letting his cattle roam free, he would give those in charge of the park services a “Nice Sum” of money. So the the park services people, and the business man continued with their plans and set a section of the forest on fire just al little bit past Jacob’s Lodge. Well instead of the fire burning out itself like they had a orginally planned, it travelled 7miles in less than a couple hours. At this time they should have put out the fire, but no they just went home. When they woke up they discovered the fire had travelled more than 14miles. By now the fire was out of controll, in the end it had burned down more than 30 acres of forest. When my mom was driving past the burnde woods it looked like a bad dream. Also when we had stopped at Walhalla Glades, my mom fed a dear who’s fur looked like it had gotten singed off. It was so sad 
. Do you know how long it takes for a forest like that to replenish itself again? At least up to 100 years. Trees provide us with oxygen, places like the Grand Canyon, Red Wood Forrest, and the Amazon help our atmosphere. It took years for the Amazon rain forest to look as beautiful as it does now, but even that forest is dying. With global warming, greedy cattle owning business men, and a dying generation who care nothing about the Earth in itself; what will be left for future generations of children?
Many people around the world believe that in the “Allah” will destroy the Earth, but truly I think it will be people who will destroy the Earth. I have to wonder what will this world look like 150 years from now, or even 20 years from now. No matter what the outcome of the world will be when I die, and future generations are here to take care of it. People will only in the end have themselves to blame.
September 8, 2006
Mystic blue is the color of the night sky
And the smell of rain.
It is the color deep within
Behind the eyes and flowing winds.
It is the color of unwhispered words
Of the way I feel about all things.
It is the color of the blue in a fires flame.
The sound that the wolves make
when the pack has united.
It is the way the cool wind comes from
The forest where the trees stand in welcome.
It is the way a heart is felt
When a hug has met its warm embrace.
It is the color of a tear drop
And the depths that draw beyond a laughter.
It is the way I feel, mystic blue,
When freedom has taken wing
And allowed me those graces
I am home again.
Hey everyone I had a great vacation, although some of my family still can’t understand why I became muslim. My Aunt is still hoping “I will come back to Jesus.” Well, today I wanted to remember a music legend. Tupac Shakur, it is the 10th anniversary since his death in 1996. Although Tupac did not always lead such a great lifestyle, he will always be greatly remembered in my heart. He saw beauty, pain, and introduced the world to a whole side of life that most people never knew existed. Towards the end of his life I truly hope, and believe he found “Allah” in his own right. Through his death, Tupac exposed the hatred that the black community has put upon itself. In Tupac’s song “Changes”, he wrote” We need to look at our selves as brothers, instead of two distant strangers.” ” The only time we heal is when we kill each other.” His words always brought wisdom to me. Let us not judge him, but learn from his life. From his songs, poetry,and legacy Tupac will always be remembered as a true “Hip Hop Legend.” There will never be any rapper before, or after like him. Tupac has touched people, in a way he could have never imagined.
September 1, 2006
Its a three day weekend! I started school again, my teachers are great. I really have to put in the “extra effort’”, as my mom says. I did not do so well, “grade wise” last school year. No major homework yet, well actually I have to do a research paper . Its not due untill the end of next month. Anywayz since it is going to be a three day weekend Im going to California to visit some of my family. I hope it will be a peaceful time, and I get to go to the beach! I still need to pack the rest of my things, I will be back on Monday night.
