Thursday, November 29, 2007

What's your Muslim religion IQ?


I found out this morning that mine is really, really low. Like embarrassing low.

This is what I found out when I went to a 2 hour training this morning on the Muslim religion put on by two speakers from here in Portland. One is the president of a mosque in Beaverton. He was super intelligent and quite charismatic. And from Bangladesh. The other speaker was a woman who is an advocate working neighborhood association here in Portland. She is from India. I believe both also work for Intel.

As part of their talk they had us do a quick quiz. This is when I started worrying about my Muslim religion IQ. At first, I thought, I might really do better than others here in the room. After all, I hear about 50 songs a week with Allah in them. I'm a belly dancer, after all. I've certainly been around a lot of Arabs (musicians). I had a Moroccan boyfriend when I was 21 and living in Munich, Germany who cooked me cous cous and taught me my first ever belly dance moves. I even followed his Ramadan schedule for at least two weeks. Just, because he told me he thought I never would. I wanted to prove him wrong. Oh, and I went to the Gambia and Senegal for 2 weeks when I was 20. And they follow Islam there, too. I knew that, because they didn't sell alcohol anywhere in the country. Part of how the Islamic "law" is implemented culturally in that region. This seemed quite important to notice at the time, because I was 20 and turning 21 in the Gambia. And what else was I supposed to do on my 21st birthday, but drink alcohol now that I was, uh, legal????

Anyways..that's really a digression. The point is, I started thinking that I really probably know more than the average American about the Muslim religion. But I made the mistake of looking around the room before taking the test, and I noticed that there were actual Muslims in the room with me. I knew this, because they had this air about them that said, "we know what these presenters are talking about. We know it so well, that really, we could be up there presenting." When I noticed those folks, I faltered and then second-guessed myself.

But...I didn't do as badly on the test as I thought I might. I got about a 50%. Which, in some worlds is an F. But, in this case, meant that I actually knew at least a few things. Such as: Islam is the second biggest religion in the world. And that in 2010, it's predicted that it will be the second biggest religion in the US.

That's about where it stopped, however. My knowledge, that is.

What I found most interesting of all the from the questions I missed, was that in the Muslim religion (from the sacred text at least) women and men are equal. And they say Allah, because there is no gender associated with this word. No need to say God, or Goddess, or Gods. Allah is just everything... something that IS.

That was interesting to think about. All the different levels of implications of this. I learned many other things that I want to share right now.

But I won't, because what I really want to encourage you to do, is to find something out on your own about Muslims (especially the huge range) and how culture and the Muslim religion - text and ubiquitous rituals - interact (and especially the huge range).

I'm embarrassed to realize that - even though I've had experiences dating a Muslim man, traveling to Muslim countries, and dancing to so, so, so much Arabic music that references Allah - the first thing that comes to my mind before I even have time to interject when I hear "Muslim" or "Islam" is: fear, terror, oppression, jihad, terrorist attacks, and this mental picture of silent women with veils. In my every day life, when I see someone who looks like they might come from Egypt or Afghanistan or Algeria I think to myself, "quick! How do I let them know that I don't think they're a terrorist? That I don't think they're might be scary or terrible?? " And then I feel a awkward and weird, because of course, they're just person like everyone else I encounter. Which is...embarrassing to me.

But, not exactly my fault. I guess I had a real *moment* this morning when I realized how much space these one-sided stories and flat stereotypes from the media take in my brain right now. And this comes from someone who doesn't watch TV and doesn't listen to much on the radio outside of NPR. No matter what I do to try to keep myself from the US media, it penetrates my life and being and thought process.

So, I've decided to go check out the Mosque in Beaverton. The president of the mosque in Beaverton gives talks all year long to anyone who will come to hear. Especially Christians and folks who aren't Muslim. He's one of the more funny, compassionate, entertaining, intelligent, conscious human beings I've met in a while. And did his job well. He encouraged me to seek out my own information about the Muslim religion and to experience what it is like in my immediate community, the world that I interface with every day, and therefore, the world that matters most to me.
Photo (above): Studentenstadt (student city) in Munich, Germany where I lived as a 20 year-old.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Making my own medicine










This weekend I attended a workshop from a local herbalist on making cold syrups. Appropriate for the season...I'm just recovering from a small cold and still am sniffling a bit.

This is what I have to say about making your own medicine. It's cool!!! Do it!! There are so many reasons to make your own medicine.

First of all, it's just plain fun. We had all these beautiful roots and herbs to choose from that were out on the table. We got to taste and smell and learn about all sorts of different plants. We threw everything that tasted and sounded good into a brew on the stove. Like a good winter soup. The boiling water extracts the medicinal properties of the herbs.

Once we had this liquid extraction, we then added a ton of honey (sweetener and it's an antibacterial) and a bit of grain alcohol (so that the syrup lasts for awhile). It can keep for up to 2 years if its kept in the fridge. Mix all of this together, and voila! I had made a very tasty cold medicine with things like Elderberry, Marshmallow root, Ginger, Red Cedar, Oregon Grape, Horehound, and Elecampagne.

It's antimicrobial (Oregon Grape), antiviral (Horehound), heating (Ginger), and yummy (Elderberry).

In just 2 1/2 hours I learned all sorts of useful things. Like: take Oregon Grape with you when traveling in parts of the world where food and water is a bit iffy. If you chew on a bit of Oregon Grape before eating or drinking, it will help kill bacteria and will keep you healthy and happy. This is *good* information to know. So simple. And apparently quite effective.

There are other good reasons to make your own medicine. Like - you know EVERYTHING that is in there and where it came from. How many things do you eat or ingest in a day that you can say this about? No hidden ingredients. Nothing that might be toxic (or even mildly irritating) to my system. And, if my body doesn't react well for some reason to the medicine, I can mess around with the ingredients and amounts until I have something that does just what I want it to do.

Really, it's empowering. To understand what herbs do (and don't do). And to be able to create something in my kitchen that will help heal me. With things that I can find in my kitchen, back yard, and the local herb shops.

Plus, isn't it always easier to take our own medicine?? Well, I guess that's debatable.

Recipe for making your own cold syrup:

2 parts herbs extracted in hot water (so, so many herbs to choose from, put in as many or as few as you like.

2 parts honey

1 part tincture (herbal infusion in grain alcohol)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

My favorite website



If you haven't already seen this website, it's worth checking out, in case you love it as much as I do. Fair warning, though: be prepared for about anything. It's a website about people's secrets, and there's no censoring (which is why it's stellar). We all have secrets, eh?


The picture above was taken inside the Jewish memorial at Dachau concentration camp, which is just outside of Munich. You can *feel* all the secrets that are buried there.

Book recommendation about Germany and the Holocaust: The Book Thief. One of the more powerful books I've read about that theme, and about the full range of what us humans are capable of (beauty and evil alike).

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Three of my favorite pictures from my recent trip


























1. Whirling Dervishes (sp?) in Mostar, Bosnia Herzogovina
2. The Adriatic Sea from a window in Dubrovnik, Croatia
3. A window in Zagreb, Croatia

What advertising do you have on your email account?




Brian was looking over my shoulder yesterday when I was checking my email. "What do you think of the advertising on Yahoo?" he asked. He has this 'round about way of saying things which I've learned to translate over time. His question really was a statement. Which was: it sucks that Yahoo has adverstising. I found out that what he really wanted to tell me was that Gmail *doesn't* have advertising, and hence, he thinks Gmail is way better. There are many reasons that Gmail seems better.

This morning, on the way to the office, I was listening to an NPR report on how savvy advertisers are on the internet. They track what you look at, what you buy, and where you live and can tailor advertisements to suit just what you'll be interested in. Or things that you likely are interested in. Kinda scary.

So I started thinking about what I remembered seeing on my email account to see how one of the 2 major companies who manage this sort of thing (apparently there are 2) views me. Their user on this particular computer, which does happen to be, well, just me.

It didn't take me long to realize that I have seen about a million ads for dating sites. Everything, everything, from professional ones to kinda sleezy looking ones.

And I find this embarrasing. Becuase these advertisers had figured out that I HAD been in the market to date someone. Mostly just ads on Craiglist primarily for entertainment and, because of boredom. But I'd also looked at a couple sites out of pure curiousity. My question was this: could the internet help me find love? For real? And a person like me???

The answer was no. It didn't. Instead, I've found love with Brian. Who is someone I've known for 5 year. We met through the traditional dating network of 1) friends and 2) the university.

So, I drove to work wondering how I could let the people who manage those ad agencies that I'm not now single, and really, I prefer advertisements about books, art, herbs, and anything related to social revolution.

Of course, the first thing I checked out when I opened my email account was what advertisement had been chosen for me. I felt really sure it was going to show some picture of some really happy interracial couple. But, it didn't.

Instead, it was an ad for weight loss. Weight loss! Before getting worried about being personally targeted (I am a woman, after all, and I'm sure they assume most women in the US would be interested in weight loss miracles), I check the next 1, 2, 3 advertisements that flash onto my screen.

Weight loss. All of them. Holy shit. This is scary.

Because you know? I've been super stressed lately, and therefore eating things I really should not eat. The last two weeks I've been so busy at work I've had to miss my regular yoga and dance classes. And I generally just feel a bit sloth like right now.

Do they know that???? Could they???

Well...I guess they've figured out I'm not single any more.