Category: projects

Panelists Discuss Antiwar Movement Then and Now

October 20, 2010 Writers and Books held a panel discussion Antiwar Activism Then and Now. The event was in conjunction with author Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carry. The panelists were Jack Bradigan-Spula, a 1969 graduate of Eastman Music School who served in the US Marine Corps after losing his student deferment. Since then he has been an activist and journalist in the peace, human rights and environmental movements. Spula currently is a professor at RIT. Steve Huff, the second panelist is also a professor at RIT as well as a poet and educational director at Writers and Books. Mara Ahmed, the third panelist is a documentary film maker originally from Lahore, Pakistan. Her film The Muslims I Know aired on public TV last year. Ahmed is now a US citizen and lives in Pittsford. The fourth panelist, Brian Lenzo, is one of the founding members of Rochester Against War. Lenzo also accompanied the July, 2009 Viva Palestina tour as a journalist. His writing can be found at the blog The Sitch (www.thesitch.com) and also in the International Socialist Organization’s publication, Socialist Worker. More here.

Panelists Discuss Antiwar Movement Then and Now

Books: Nostalgia compensates for a lost world

Rita Kothari has done great service in translating stories of Partition from Sindhi language, of which there has been no serious acknowledgment so far. This indeed has been the fate of the Sindhis themselves, who, although deeply affected by Partition, neither got to be heard significantly nor did they get any place of their own for their language and culture to flourish. Sindhis on either side of the border suffered various kinds of losses — material, psychological, and spiritual. Some of them get articulated in in this collection. Full article.

“We must rethink Afghanistan” by Mara Ahmed

my letter on the war in afghanistan and pakistan published in its entirety in city newspaper!!!

On the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, when a strategy shift is on President Obama’s table, it is essential to increase the pressure for constructive non-military solutions to stabilize Afghanistan and strengthen Pakistan’s fragile democracy. Read complete letter.

Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar’s “The Long Partition”

a new book on the partition of india: A full “exchange” of minority populations was in fact negotiated only in the Punjab, but resettlement of evacuees, including pressure on “intending” migrants to give up property, became a mechanism, in both India and Pakistan, of state control over minorities. Full article.

film screening on september 11th at rochester museum and science center

As the annual observance of Ramadan comes to a close, the Rochester Museum & Science Center invites the community to explore Muslim traditions at a special presentation of the documentary film “The Muslims I Know” on Friday, September 11 at 5:30pm at the RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium. Director, producer, writer and editor Mara Ahmed will present her film and lead a follow-up discussion. Full press release.

rochester’s 175 most empowered women

The Rochester Genesee Valley Club of National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs Inc recognized women from all ethnic backgrounds to celebrate the city’s 175th anniversary. Women who helped improve living standards in the city in the areas of health, education, community service, business, religion, politics or government anytime from 1834 to 2009 were nominated. The club honored 175 nominees at an International White Glove Tea Party from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at Carey Lake Historical Party House and Rose Garden, 959 Penfield Road. I was one of the award recipients.

tea party and award ceremony