Letters to My Daughter

The following is another B quality paper I wrote for my philosophy class, that will undoubtedly be marked down to a B- for lateness and overall dysfunction. I do not properly present Aristotle's arguments or Plato's arguments because quite frankly, I didn't know what they were. It was me just writing what I knew in the last minutes before my submission was due. I am not sure if it was due noon time LONDON or noon time NEW YORK, cause I defininitely did not care to ask. Basically, a failed attempt to write yet another philosophy paper. I am definitely not doing honors in this department. Astagfirullah. Sadia Kalam Word Count: 1650 Plato and Aristotle on Forms and Phenomenology How do we know the real? Both Plato and Aristotle answer the questions of epistemology and metaphysics differently. Plato believes that the most knowable things are imperceptible. In the Republic, he proposes that the most knowable things are Forms, which are innate, unchanging, immaterial substances t

My friend Roman and I were spilling the contents of our brains last night instead of studying for exams. It was a more fulfilling experience anyway, to sit and discuss the philosophy of your own mind than to the read the philosophies of others, or in his case, a financial (statement?) analysis textbook. I do believe I am more interesting than his textbook. One of the many things discussed was the notion of fatality, specifically my irrational belief that things get better because God wills it to get better; or classes go as they do because I relinquish a nonexistent work ethic to chance (or God); or people walk away from me because that is how it was supposed to be; or I will marry X because he was prescribed to me. Today in Harper's I found an interesting word to describe this phenomenon PATHETIC FALLACY: the anthropomorphic projection of human feeling or volition onto nature Why does God have all these human attributes--anger, disapproval, e.g.--when He is Transcendent over all t

“The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself. The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.” According to Robert Pirsig, motorcycle maintenance allows one to use rationality. Although a motorcycle appears to be only a machine, one should be able to think and see beyond the aesthetics of the machine, to the underlying form within the machine. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a book that challenges you to reexamine the world, to revisit the ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle to gain a better grasp of your reality right now. In examining the past, we can live in the present and find the patterns that have existed perpetually in human history. “You work to live” (8): I’ve thought about this. My parents surely have reminded me

A Sequence of Unrelated Events: 1. I am posting past writings as a reminder to myself that I am not a failure, despite the course of events this year, with the repeated misplacement of assignments, the forgetting of deadlines; the overall failure to be productive this semester is a result of something I was supposed to learn, i.e. how to be a failure for a little while. I have seen from this experience that 1) I do not like to be a failure and 2) I am not even going to pretend to be a failure because it is just not THAT amusing to others anyway. I exaggerate my delinquency, but really, this needs to stop. Thus, posting my old assignments, written the morning they are due, is a testament to my belief that I am capable of doing the work, and inshallah, in a timely manner. 2. A friend who used to read my blog, but no longer does, said: "It's all connected!" This is not so amazing an insight, and in fact, with enough time, I could easily have derived such a claim myself. The

"One might like someone because he is good, or because he is useful, or because he is pleasant. And so there are three bases for friendships, depending on which of these qualities binds friends together. When two individuals recognize that the other person is someone of good character, and they spend time with each other, engaged in activities that exercise their virtues, then they form one kind of friendship. If they are equally virtuous, their friendship is perfect. If, however, there is a large gap in their moral development (as between a parent and a small child, or between a husband and a wife), then although their relationship may be based on the other person's good character, it will be imperfect precisely because of their inequality. The imperfect friendships that Aristotle focuses on, however, are not unequal relationships based on good character. Rather, they are relationships held together because each individual regards the other as the source of some advantage to

What do you do when a man asks you to dance? This is a metaphor for the larger societal control men exercise over women with their charm, wit, and greatness. We cannot refuse to dance. More specifically, I cannot refuse to eat. The following is a piece I wrote earlier this year for a class on Gender and Language 2.7.05 Response to “The Waltz” (The New Yorker) Dorothy Parker’s “The Waltz” is written in a stream of consciousness style that hints at the duplicitous role of women’s language. The narrator is a performer. Her oral speech contrasts with her inner thoughts. For example, when her unnamed dancing partner kicks her shin, she thinks, “For God’s sake, don’t kick, you idiot; this is only my second down”—a football reference, atypical of women’s speech. But out loud, she says, “Oh, no no, no. Goodness, no it didn’t hurt the least little bit. And it was my fault. Really it was. Truly. It really was all my fault.” Her verbal speech, however, is marked by Lakoffesque stereotypical mecha

What do you do when a man asks you to dance with him? This is a metaphor for the unconscious control we give to the opposite sex for all his charm, greatness, and wit. We cannot refuse to dance. Gender and Language 2.7.05 Response to “The Waltz” (The New Yorker) Dorothy Parker’s “The Waltz” is written in a stream of consciousness style that hints at the duplicitous role of women’s language. The narrator is a performer. Her oral speech contrasts with her inner thoughts. For example, when her unnamed dancing partner kicks her shin, she thinks, “For God’s sake, don’t kick, you idiot; this is only my second down”—a football reference, atypical of women’s speech. But out loud, she says, “Oh, no no, no. Goodness, no it didn’t hurt the least little bit. And it was my fault. Really it was. Truly. It really was all my fault.” Her verbal speech, however, is marked by Lakoffesque stereotypical mechanisms like qualifiers, intensifiers, empty adjectives. She overuses words like “lovely” and “reall

The following is an essay I wrote last year, around roughly week 12 of the season. Thanksgiving weekend: the Giants played the Eagles at home and lost not because it was Manning's (second?) game, but the Eagles are a vicious, parasitic team. I no longer despise the Eagles, but I still love this essay. Thought it appropriate given Giants victory over the Cowboys (17-10) this weekend as well. Sadia Kalam 11.28.04 Eagles and Ebola Ten-year-old Peter Cardinal dies within 24 hours of arriving at Nairobi Hospital. He begins his fatal embrace with red eyes. Then his lungs fill with mucus, making his breaths slower and more difficult. He is misdiagnosed first with malaria, then acute respiratory distress syndrome. His colors change: there’s blue in his fingertips, little red spots over his skin, then finally spontaneous black and blue bruises over his body. His brain bleeds. His eyes dilate. He dies. The death of the young Peter Cardinal is much like the rest of Richard Preston’s novel T

If you really are that ambitious, here is a 2660 word essay submitted late for your enjoyment. Gendering the Qu’ran: Analysis of Amina Wadud’s Qur’an and Women (A Draft) “How can ideas that transcend gender be expressed in gendered language?” In her Qur’an and Woman, Amina Wadud asks a hard but uniquely modern question of the timeless text of the Qur’an (xii). She contextualizes the language and ideas of the Qur’an with a model of hermeneutics that is characterized by standard notions to context, grammar, and Weltanschauung, or world view. Rather than simply extend medieval exegesis, Wadud returns to the original text of the Qur’an in order to derive the fundamentals concerning Muslim women, their roles, and responsibilities. She does this through an analysis that is critical of both the cultural context of revelation, as well as the context of classical tafsir, or interpretations of the Qur’an, given that the androcentrism of seventh-century Arabia still pervades society today. She pr

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Y5Glf7Gy4-o

I suppose I reduce the world to black and white, good and bad, moral and immoral. I believe that my faith prescribes a certain system of conduct, and with that system, there are fundamentals. I think over time the fundamentals seem even more codified, even though I don't believe that God wants to make it hard for us to follow His laws. If He is infinitely merciful, then the decisions we make should be pleasing to first Him and then us. Our happiness, like Paradise now, should not be entirely sacrificed because what would God want from such a sacrifice? What would be the point of such sacrifice for God? What does it mean for me to say that these sacrifices are for something Higher, Greater, Unknown that I cannot explain in rational terms? Why do we continue to deny ourselves with the promise of Paradise? Why can't paradise be now? There is a balanced way to live our lives that keeps Islam in the center, but does not reduce the world to a Muslims-only bubble. I don't know if

Today I was called a intellectual whore. I was told that all i want to do is intellectually screw people because what I like most about people are their ideas, experiences and thoughts. I have shown little regard for emotions, and sentimentality and for the UMPTH time this year, I find myself saddened by the loss of a friend. Here's his top 10 of most (im)memorable quotes: 1. "You're like Sex in the City, minus the sex." [Mindless stupidity is the implication] 2. "I am a warm person. You're not" 3. [paraphrase] I am a very sensitive person. I can't have you constantly hurting my feelings. 4. "I don't respect you" 5. "I am a generous person" 6. "We can't be friends, Sadia." 7. "You are emotionally crippled" 8. "What you need is a wall." 9. "I don't mean to hurt you." 10. "You're an intellectual whore." And the best question of today, and of the week perhaps, is when

Malcolm Gladwell. "Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy Leage Admissions" http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html Major themes: 1. Passion is a significant contributor to success. 2. High intelligence means little without discipline and passion. "Bowen and Shulman write about the characteristics that make athletes more coveted by Ivy League schools: One of these characteristics can be thought of as drive--a strong desire to succeed and unswerving determination to reach a goal, whether it be winning the next game or closing a sale. Similarly, athletes tend to be more energetic than the average person, which translates into an ability to work hard over long periods of time--to meet, for example, the workload demands placed on young people by an investment bank in the throes of analyzing a transaction. In addition, athletes are more likely than others to be highly competitive, gregarious and confident of their ability to work well in groups (on teams). I

Prudishness, or Victorianism specifically, I realized this morning, is a social construct. This is not much in terms of a revelation-quality, but at 9:30AM Saturday morning, this is what came to me. Women's sexuality always makes men in power anxious, so they legislate ways to control female bodies. At the Chocolate Show a few weeks ago, Shakera told me that people in history have always had sex. I responded with: No they probably did it within legal and social norms and customs. She said I was an idiot, and the discussion went back to issues of chocolate. So why are we so opposed to following the rules? What is the big deal with constructing rules, if you accept them as preconditions to the good life? So what if you deny yourself a good lay because you believe fornication is inherently wrong? So what if your Paradise is a construct? (Though I pray that belief supplanted with knowledge and reason leads to something real) If you believe constructs to be real, if you regard these con

The following is a (late) dialogue I wrote for class while in Indiana with Daisy Khan. These individuals are not real characters, and any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental. On the Exaltation of the Spirit: An Intrafaith Dialogue about Ibn Arabi The following is a dialogue between Zaid, a traditionalist Muslim and Ayesha, a Sufi Muslim. Seated at Cafe Reggio on MacDougal Avenue, the two friends are discussing the their reading of Ibn Arabi from their Islamic Studies class. ZAID: One of my favorite verses in the Qur'an, Ayesha, is when Allah says, "And if all the trees on earth were pens and the ocean (were ink), with seven oceans behind it to add to its (supply), yet would not the words of Alah be exhausted (in writing): for Allah is Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom." (31:27 ) I believe that in surah Al-Lugman, the inexhaustible supplies of pens and ink refer to the infinite evidence of God manifest in nature. Don't you agree? AYESHA: [Smiling] I do. But

I have to rename my computer. Dinu suggests one name "Samar," which means "evening conversations" which is what we do most nights instead of sleeping. I told my mother a new laptop is in order, but she says something about paying for two kids in college. I don't know anymore.

Passenger Seat Lyrics Death Cab for Cutie I roll the window down And then begin to breathe in The darkest country road And the strong scent of evergreen From the passenger seat as you are driving me home. Then looking upwards I strain my eyes and try To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites From the passenger seat as you are driving me home. "do they collide?" I ask and you smile.

Today, the police officer at 34th Street asked, "Do you have a hard time admitting that you're wrong?" I said, "No officer, I am usually very quick to admit guilt. But it takes me a long time to change my thinking or behavior." And then I proceeded to ask him for the statistical details on how many people are ticketed or arrested at the subway station. He was rude, and refused to answer. So today I recieved my first ticket. This Monday was my first domestic flight (to South Bend, Indiana), and today was my first SUMMONS. Gee whiz, I am growing up fast. The bad day really started yesterday, when I unexpectedly decided to pop by my friend's place with another friend, thinking well, spontaneity cannot be read as interest/weirdness. However, I had a conversation that put me back in my little hole, and that has left me in pieces. Shattered, is how Mick Jagger would describe it. "My brain's been splattered / all over / Manhattan" That's what he w

Yesterday, I was at the all-you-can-eat dinner for the Caribbean Student Association (CSA), where I remembered to pay a boy $20 for a book I had borrowed from him last year but then forgot to read, or return. This inspired me to fulfill the other random promises that I have made over time. Last year, I saw a Tisch play with a friend with whom who I promised to share my thoughts. I found the assignment in my old files. He doesn't read the blog, but I posted it up anyway. 11.22.04 The Princess is Waiting Written by Salal Abdel-Sabur The eye is centered in an arched window. Wrapped in hieroglyphics, the words engraved around the window pane read: Theater, Truths, Sight, History, Illusion, Reality, Justice, Repetition, Death. The pamphlet for student production “The Princess is Waiting” included a drawing of an one-dimensional eye around an elaborate panel of symbols and letters. The nine words that surround the eye are significant to the play, which grapples with issues of feminism

As a child, my mother told me a very strange story about how men find women to marry. This story I've repeated maybe dozens of times, because its influence is rather pervasive in my thinking. My mother told me once, women are like mangoes. Mangoes come in all kinds of conditions. Some are really ripe, some are hard, some are very sweet, some are not so sweet. From a crate of mangoes, people will pick up mangoes according to their preference. However, it is always the case that there will be mangoes that are left over, that do not sell as quickly. People miss them because they are at the bottom of the crate. But they are just as good as any other mango in the crate. But eventually, there will come an individual who just hungry enough to buy that last remaining mango. This story, though sexist and problematic on so many levels, still subscribes hope for the last mango, which is waiting patiently to be purchased and eaten. Over the years, I've gotten over the absurdity of the stor

On Friday November 4th, my computer was christened "attraction." This is funny because I am afraid of both attraction and computers.

"Since the human being is the supreme value in creation, it is our interactions with other humans that have the greatest degree of moral implication. So much is this so, that we can say that the most specific goal of morality is to establish authentic relationships with other human beings. "The mark of authenticity in interhuman relationships is the presence of self-sacrificing love or altruism. Non-authentic relationships are based on various forms of egotism and self-interest and are characterized by conflict, disharmony, manipulation, cruelty, jealousy and the like." From Love, Power and Justice: the Dynamics of Authentic Morality William S. Hatcher

I resort to writing it seems in times of extreme stress or blissful nonactivity. Today, I (probably) failed my logic midterm, realized I have three papers due next week, realized that the dysfunctional computer brings me more pain than anything else has in the past month, and that a empty stomach and going to sleep hungry is tolerable. Despite all this, I feel inspired by individuals I hardly know, by their conversations, and their presences I enjoy so immensely that all else is bearable. Although I have no problem using those names name on my blog, I think it best to exclude names because 1) they do not necessarily read my blog 2) they would find me extremely weird 3) previous bad experiences with the use of names and 4) to have others wondering who are the mysterious new characters that I have chosen to write about. First let me preface the follow exaltation of people with the dysfunctioning of machines in my life. There is deathly blue screen that has taken more than my productivity

You know the Quality of what you write is diminished if you are reclying your posts. But if your readership is just you, then does it really matter? I've even included a picture of a monkey. "I felt that my 19 years had prepared me for this moment, this particular time in which I would choose between risk and safety. If I am to believe anything I write on this blog, I must do what is difficult because it is the only thing worthwhile. If I believe that the meaning (of love and companionship) is truly superior to form, and the external prettiness of French pedicured toes and new clothes, then I need a change. I write about rationality like it is the bulk of my soul, but the fear of commitment is 98% irrational. If I believe that the beauty of knowing somebody else is significant, then I can make the time. I must make the effort to try before I begin to run."