Category: misc/personal

thxgiving 2015

sumptuous thxgiving with my in-laws in NC. for lunch we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, cornbread souffle, sweet potato casserole with toasted marshmallows, green beans and rolls. dessert included pecan, pumpkin and apple pies. dinner was played in a slightly different key and consisted of koftas, chicken tikka, jalapenos stuffed with a sweet and sour tamarind mixture, and spicy shrimp pulao. for dessert: warm gajer ka halwa, a la mode, of course. the joys of belonging to a diverse family and combining cuisines freely 🙂

Life is not to be regarded as an uninterrupted flow of words

Thomas Merton: Life is not to be regarded as an uninterrupted flow of words which is finally silenced by death. Its rhythm develops in silence, comes to the surface in moments of necessary expression, returns to deeper silence, culminates in a final declaration, then ascends quietly into the silence of Heaven which resounds with unending praise.

Festival Finale: Celebrate Palestine

Celebrate Palestine
On Friday October 9, at 5:30 pm
At Asbury First UMC [1050 East Ave, Rochester]

Have you tasted homemade dolmas, lebneh or baklava recently? Are you familiar with Middle Eastern music? Would you like to learn the dabke? Celebrate Palestine is an evening of Palestinian food, music and culture, right here in Rochester. It’s a great opportunity to meet diverse people, connect with local Palestinians and engage in interesting discussions.

Please learn more and RSVP at www.WitnessPalestineRochester.org. We hope that you can join us!

cornell vs army

cornell vs army on oct 3, 2015: we didn’t win but it was a good game. it was cold and rainy so hot soup with bread was most welcome during halftime – thx to the football parents’ tailgate party. first loss for cornell this season but we’re expecting great things for their upcoming games.

cornell vs army
cornell vs army

across the universe

April 1, 2010

Ryan
This was my favorite, favorite song when I was 10-12 years old or so… Played it 100’s of times… It may sound strange, but it helped me a lot as a child. I learned from it!

Mara
what did u learn from it? it’s a beautifully written song. to me it’s about the vastness, the thrill, the possibility of the unknown – the limitlessness of time and space captured in a paper cup, a letterbox. the divine and mundane are one and the same…

Ryan
I think, basically, just a deep sense that the universe might not simply be an endlessly vast, empty, uncaring, unfeeling, expanse of Cartesian space, but could instead be seen as something that’s alive, something that we are connected to, involved in, and participate in. Ultimately, personally, this sort of perspective eventually led me to Zen Buddhism; but back then, it was enough of a start for me simply to feel that I wasn’t utterly alone, as I often felt in school back then…

Mara
yes, that’s what i meant by the divine and mundane being the same. it makes the universe, the future, less intimidating. we can make it our own, capture it, connect to it, thrill to it. it’s amazing that u could understand that, even abstractly, at such a young age smile emoticon

Ryan
Well, I probably couldn’t have put it into words very well back then–it was more of a feeling, and it was something I was looking for (needing), and not finding anywhere else around me… Good old mainstream U.S. Midwest culture… smile emoticon

…

miss u ryan. good luck on meeting the vastness of the universe. u were too fine for this world. may u find peace in the comforting arms of galaxies, in the generosity of infinite time and space.

return to the root of the root of your own soul

heartbroken this morning. the world has lost a beautiful human being, an incredible mind and an even more incredible heart and soul. blessed to have known u dear ryan. may u rest in peace my dear friend. ur kindness and generosity, ur calm intelligence, ur love of justice and beauty, ur ability to connect with warmth and honesty, ur stunning humility, ur fine presence in the world will continue to shine. may ur family find strength and solace in that harmonious light. it has been an extraordinary honor.

Although you appear in earthly form

Your essence is pure Consciousness.

You are the fearless guardian

of Divine Light.

So come, return to the root of the root
of your own soul.

When you lose all sense of self

the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish.

Lose yourself completely,

Return to the root of the root
of your own soul.

(Maulana Rumi)

ryan hunt
ryan hunt

Inside Oliver Sacks’s Brain

the brain knows what it likes. so cool.
…

Can the power of music make the brain come alive? Throughout his career Dr. Oliver Sacks, neurologist and acclaimed author, has encountered myriad patients who are struggling to cope with debilitating medical conditions, including autism and Tourette’s syndrome. While their ailments vary, many have one thing in common: an appreciation for the therapeutic effects of music. NOVA follows four individuals—two of whom are Sacks’s case studies—and even peers into Sacks’s own brain to investigate music’s strange and surprising power over the human mind.

A Thin Wall will be part of the 3rd i Film Festival in California

A THIN WALL has been selected to be screened at the 13th annual 3rd i Film Festival which runs Oct 22-25 in San Francisco, and Nov 1 in Palo Alto. The film will be part of the Palo Alto lineup on Nov 1st, and included in a program called ‘Voices of Partition’ – it will be followed by a panel discussion organized by the 1947 Partition Archive.