Thursday, August 31, 2006
hahahahaha i love it :D
Mina at 11:36 AM
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Wandering Word of the Week: Inspirebabies remind me that there is still purity, and there is still innocence, and there are still miracles; i remember how to believe.
this one's for you, ali g :)
Mina at 1:09 PM
Saturday, August 26, 2006
i'm miss mina now, it comes inadvertently out of their mouths. classrooms are always the same; every time i walk into one now i can't help the urge to giggle at myself, standing at the front of the classroom like some important font of knowledge and wisdom when inside i feel like any of the uniformed young 'uns sitting and eyeing me expectantly. my fingers are covered in chalk dust, i write furiously, underlining and drawing boxes around important words as my girls widen their eyes over neruda- "leaning into the afternoon i cast my sad nets/towards your oceanic eyes"- and cast the hooks of their ideas at me. about fifty girls who had never heard of neruda, or plath or atwood- never heard of anyone for that matter; i get to ferry them into pentameter. it's a beautiful feeling to see them leaping alive like bright fish, hands shooting up into the air with the quivering insistence of revelation, drawing sketches of what they hear and finally being able to joke, offering outlandish suggestions like "maybe the lighthouse is where the guy got married and the girl drowned in the ocean he's standing in" and then laughing their heads off when i tell them they sound like a soap opera. they are curious all the time, little birds who can't decide whether to act like the hatchlings they are or fluff up their feathers to fool me.Mina at 11:00 AM
Monday, August 21, 2006
damn you rondoo angraiz!! how dare you blame us for cheating!! khasman nu kha! *flicks her fingers outward in disgust* poor ole inzi, the boys did play well.oh, and i have a big slippery desk at work now. wanted to tell someone.
Mina at 9:13 PM
Thursday, August 17, 2006
all my sad mensound the same to my heart. they all
walk their twilit gullies, trailing
their fingertips over bumpy, mossy walls-
across silent curtains-
up and down the grain of a
distant skin-
all my sad men
weigh their syllables unconsciously,
musing their secret griefs like
pebbles on a scale, pondered
paint-strokes of weary beauty. all
my sad men
are the colour
of nostalgia
[for b]
Mina at 8:03 PM
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Wandering Word of the Week: Spacesee, it's not that i don't love you
(although i admit it's something i doubt sometimes)
or that i can forgive you
(heaven knows i wanted to)
but i could live with that. it's when you
swagger into my space that we have a problem. i don't
want your bluster and joviality, i don't want any of your
pretenses in my sanctuaries
i can live without the myth of you now
and i think you know it.
Mina at 1:56 PM
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
IT IS NOT YOUR BIRTHRIGHT TO HAVE TO CHECK THE SCORE WHILST I'M WATCHING SOMETHING ELSE ON T.V! AND DON'T ASK ME 'ARE YOU WATCHING SOMETHING?' WHEN I REFUSE TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL! OBVIOUSLY! WHY ELSE WOULD I HAVE THE TELLY ON INSTEAD OF A BOOK?Mina at 8:38 PM
Monday, August 07, 2006
Wandering Word of the Week: Rain'upend the rain stick'
...and see what may happen
i won't wear shoes
i won't come in
take your words, hypocrite,
and fly away-
i will wear white in the rain
upend the rain stick; you will
sizzle with my lightning
and learn to be afraid
of hurting me again
Mina at 10:30 AM
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
A friend of mine is working with the Blank Noise Project, an organization or movement, if you will, to stop eve teasing. The point isn't just that men harass women (and other men) in public spaces, it's that nobody should be allowed to violate you in any way. They're running a wonderful campaign to collect clothes women were wearing when they were sexually harassed, and they're planning to use them in a public installation in reponse to the common theory of "she asked for it" that applies to women who are harassed and/or raped- that she must have done something to deserve it. They've got a little series of eve teaser pictures, and lots of people comment on them saying things like 'he's so nice he posed for you' and 'take it as a compliment'...what amazes me, though, is the cheek of these men. They can say whatever they want to any woman just because she is one, and then pose for a photograph as if it's their birthright to harass anyone they like.And it's become so common to be harassed that one begins to tune it out now...looking at BNP's site I remembered something half-buried in my consciousnes. I was in Main Market just the other day and popped down two yards from the car to Shezan on the corner. I was wearing a shalwar kameez and was completely, properly covered, and in those few yards my hand was deliberately hit by a fat pube, twenty pairs of eyes followed me and a voice quite audibly commented on my nasheeli jawani. Scary thing? I had to dig for this insta-blocked recollection: we are so constantly bombarded with these intrusion that we've learned to just shut them out of our consciousness. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away, and only leaves us feeling victimized and angry.
Mina at 10:34 AM
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Erica's 20 Rules for Writers1. Have faith--not cynicism
2. Dare to dream
3. Take your mind off publication
4. Write for joy
5. Get the reader to turn the page
6. Forget politics (let your real politics shine through)
7. Forget intellect
8. Forget ego
9. Be a beginner
10. Accept change
11. Don't think your mind needs altering
12. Don't expect approval for telling the truth -(Parents, politicians, colleagues, friends, etc.)
13. Use everything
14. Remember that writing is Heroism
15. Let Sex (The Body, the physical world) in!
16. Forget critics
17. Tell your truth not the world's
18. Remember to be earth-bound
19. Remember to be wild!
20. Write for the child (in yourself and others)
There are no rules
Erica Jong
Mina at 12:05 AM
