so my story about moving from rochester to long island during the pandemic was published in a book! u can read it if u scroll down – link in comments. it’s called: musings on moving (in corona times)
book #navigatingthepandemic #collectionofstories #movingduringthepandemic #rochester #longisland #coronatimes #covid19 #pandemic #mystory #published #maraahmed
west meadow beach, famous for its sunsets. walkable from our house (just a mile away). our first potluck in setauket w many of our neighbors. we won a bridal wreath in the raffle. and then there was the beach.
westmeadowbeach #setauket #neighborhoodpotluck #goodbyesummer #sunsetsarethebest
Steven Donziger, an American environmental attorney, went after Chevron. His focus was the Lago Agrio oil field case or the “Amazon Chernobyl.”
‘He represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous Ecuadorians in a case against Chevron related to environmental damage and health effects caused by oil drilling. The Ecuadorian courts awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 billion in damages, which led Chevron to withdraw its assets from Ecuador and launch legal action against Donziger in the US.
In 2011, Chevron filed a RICO suit against Donziger in New York City. The case was heard by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who determined that the ruling of the Ecuadorian courts could not be enforced in the US because it was procured by fraud, bribery, and racketeering activities. As a result of this case, Donziger was disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2018.
After having been under house arrest since August 2019 awaiting trial on charges of criminal contempt of court, which arose during his appeal against Kaplan’s RICO decision, in July 2021 US district judge Loretta Preska found him guilty; he is now facing the possibility of a 6-month jail sentence. While under house arrest, in 2020 twenty-nine Nobel laureates described the actions taken by Chevron against Donziger as “judicial harassment” and human rights campaigners have described Chevron’s actions as an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation. In April 2021, six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice review Donziger’s case. In September 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ruled that the pre-trial detention imposed on Donziger was illegal and called for his release.’
Steven was sentenced to prison today on contempt charges. It is unprecedented.
Oil companies own us. The level of corruption in our judicial and political systems is deeply depressing. We will drive our gas guzzling American trucks and Humvees into extinction, and take the rest of the world with us.
In the wake of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, U.S. politicians and media pundits alike have argued that Afghan women’s rights are now in peril as they weather life under the repressive and cruel Taliban. Many have gone on to make the case that the United States’ presence as a force for securing women’s rights was in fact a necessary one, further reinforcing the idea that in the end, the United States was a benevolent force in the country.
While Afghan women activists and leaders have fervently resisted the Taliban’s resuscitation — as demonstrated by the many protests that have taken place in cities like Herat, Kabul, and Ghazni over the past few weeks — this hardly signals the view that the 20-year U.S. occupation was liberatory. In fact, as many activists have been clamoring for years, the United States played a significant role in exacerbating existing structures of corruption, warlordism, and bribery that allowed the Taliban to return as a major political player, two decades after they were ostensibly ousted from power.
Despite the wanton violence the United States and its allies wreaked on Afghanistan through their military intervention, bookended by one of the most chaotic military withdrawals in contemporary history that has left hundreds of thousands of people stranded under a regime they had no part in bringing to power, it remains difficult for the American public to frame the U.S. mission in Afghanistan as anything but a gift to the Afghan people. Though the invasion and occupation were done without the meaningful consent of Afghan civilians, self-determination and sovereignty are now being depicted as opportunities that the United States has afforded Afghanistan in the wake of its irresponsible exit.
The notion of “benevolent governance” as a system of power relations refers to the idea that certain forms of authoritative rule are an expression of generosity on the part of those who rule, usually under the pretext that a given population lacks the infrastructure, reasoning, and public will to rule themselves. It is a discourse through which imperial projects justify themselves as anchored in an ethics of care as opposed to what they really are: a politics of exploitation, extraction, and geopolitical grandstanding. As Women’s Studies scholar Carole Stabile and Media Studies scholar Deepa Kumar have noted, “suffering women are subjects for political and public concern only insofar as their suffering can be used to advance the interests of US elites.” In 972 Mag.
i know it’s blasphemous to say so, but home baked pies by pantaleon’s farm are better than monica’s pies in naples, ny. there i said it. the crust is buttery and crumbly and tastes almost as good as the filling. my favorite is ‘fruits of the forest’ because it has a sharp, sweet taste (apples, berries and rhubarb). juan pantaleon and his family took over the farm in 2011 and made it shine. they have flowers, a nursery, jams and baked goods, and of course, the famous fruit stand with fresh produce from the farm. at an intersection in east setauket. 5 min drive from our house.
pantaleonsfarm #fruitsoftheforest #piesarethebest #setauket #newyork #farmsnearby
While Modi is gallivanting in the US, with Kamala Harris talking about the ‘Indian people’s commitment to democracy and freedom’ (such empty words), this is what is happening in Modi’s India:
“Hindu Mobs, anti-Muslim Boycotts: In Modi’s India, the Echoes of 1930s Germany Are Growing Louder
Modi is talking to world leaders about the threat of Islamist radicalization. But the real threat to India comes from a radicalizing Hindu majority fueled by the increasingly brazen, violent anti-Muslim bigotry of Modi’s own party.”
for a poor country that can’t afford universal healthcare for its people, the US found 1 billion dollars for israel’s effing iron dome (meant to protect an illegal genocidal occupation). this is on top of the 500 million dollars we give them annually already. if this doesn’t get ur goat, nothing will. 420 members of congress voted yes, only 9 voted no. remember their names: cori bush, andré carson, chuy garcía, raúl grijalva, marie newman, ilhan omar, ayanna pressley, and rashida tlaib. just goes to show how this system is beyond repair, beyond electoral politics, beyond common sense. its corruption is absolute, its racism and colonial aggression foundational. it needs to go.
this is beautiful. pls don’t miss the poem at 5:14.
“Welcome to Afghan Voices, an audio tapestry of the voices of the Afghan community in Delhi during the summer of 2021. Join us on a journey through their stories and music, memories and everyday routines. A city symphony, composed by its residents.”
first week of workouts in the new house. can’t believe all this space!!! used to work out between a dresser and bed in our alston apt:) a shoutout to my friend and trainer julie zobel, who’s been keeping me on my toes for a few years now.
the pandemic is still a thing. work out at home. message julie.
An excellent (and unsettling) piece about the abortion law in Texas by the great Belen Fernandez, in which she quoted one of my Facebook posts. Pls read.
‘In addition to being criminally invasive, the Texas law is totally unhinged. For starters, its enforcement is delegated not to agents of the state but rather to individual citizens who stand to win $10,000 or more by bringing lawsuits against doctors, abortion clinic staff, Uber drivers, and any other witting or unwitting accomplices to abortions performed after the six-week cutoff.
Plaintiffs need not be from Texas nor have any relation to the defendants. Presumably, SB8 will not only encourage run-of-the-mill American religious zealots to further unleash their inner policemen but also incentivise assorted other demographics to capitalise on efforts to dismantle the semblance of women’s rights that has been attained under patriarchal capitalism.
As NPR notes, the Texas Right to Life organisation has already “set up what it calls a ‘whistleblower’ website where people can submit anonymous tips about anyone they believe to be violating the law”.’ In Al Jazeera.
there’s an expression in urdu: shakkar khoray ko shakkar, meaning those who have a sweet tooth, are always blessed w sugar (notice how urdu can say so much, in such few words). so today we found this lovely little park just a 5 min drive from our house: the frank melville memorial park, in setauket. the weather was perfect and after days of non-stop, grueling work, this was just what we needed ?
iloveparks #frankmelvillepark #frankmelvillememorialpark #setauket #longisland #newyork #perfectweather #walkinthepark #lifeisgood
every home (house or apartment) we’ve ever had, for however long we’ve had, i’ve tried to fill with art, color and beautiful memories. it’s always sad to dismantle and leave, to take apart bit by bit what we put together not too long ago. this is the last picture i took in our apartment on mill road. the paintings have been taken down and most of the small stuff moved to our new house. tomorrow the furniture will be packed and taken away. i will miss the quick 10 min walk to the ronkonkoma train station with a direct ride to nyc and our almost daily walks by lake ronkonkoma. this apartment is where we sheltered during most of the pandemic and where i was able to be super productive. it’s the end of a phase, of a feeling, of a place. so much nostalgia.
movingishard #movingislife #timeandplace #home #ronkonkoma #lakeronkonkoma #sadmusic #nostalgia
i don’t have an opinion on AOC’s appearance at the met gala, but hey, do i have an opinion on the met gala itself. it is obscene. i just met a brilliant young woman the other day. she has three jobs (three!). one of them is teaching as an adjunct at columbia university. she’s in her early forties. she makes enough to just barely live in brooklyn and she’s constantly under stress because she has no health insurance. it’s criminal. and this isn’t even the worst of what this country offers. the rich are not rich because they work harder or are smarter, they’re rich because they know how to use/scam/milk a system that’s inherently unjust and meant to perpetually exacerbate inequities. i couldn’t care less for their antics or charity. they shouldn’t have that kind of money in the first place. eat the rich.
“Sometimes you don’t survive whole, you just survive in part. But the grandeur of life is that attempt. It’s not about that solution. It is about being as fearless as one can, and behaving as beautifully as one can.” — Toni Morrison
dinner with these brilliant friends at @mercato_trattoria_bar in nyc last night (the ratatouille and ravioli were to die for). we’ve worked together long distance through the pandemic. sooo good to finally meet in real life. next get together on long island inshallah <3
reallifeisbetter #dinnerinnyc #mercatotrattoriabar #activismisawayoflife #womenfriends #freepalestine
