Cocoa Butter and Strawberries: Florence Diary

firenze e sempre bellissima, brava for showing others the way...

I am sorry to barge in like this, but Musharraf is in New York staying at the Roosevelt hotel. While he is here it is time to send him a message.

I am prepared to organize a protest against the infamous, immoral, discriminatory, and unIslamic Blasphemy law of Pakistan. As it is Applied, it is nothing more than a political insturment used for the harrassment of minorities.

One Military dictator introduced it as law, another should get rid of it.

I urge all likeminded people who live in the N.Y area to join with me within the next 48 hours. I have already spoken up against the Blasphemy law in Dawn: Letters to the Editor in the past, now its time to take action.

Please e-mail me immediately to join a coordinated protest. The moment is ripe to send a msg, while the eyes of the press are focused on New York & the U.N Millenium summit. The more people that participate, the better. If necessary, i will do it alone. I will respond immediately to all e-mails received with details.

Feel free to copy this msg, & fwd to anyone else in the N.Y area who might be interested, or repost on the web immediately.

OMAR MIRZA

knotyourcupoftea@aol.com

hamza10 #49:


[..Not superior or inferior in any way..but just different..What exactly do you women on chowk want? To be able to talk about sex as freely as men do?]

Sir, do you see the dichotomy in what you verbalised?

and

[... well there are plenty of women that do that..they are called sluts, and they lack the respect that men give you right now..]


AND the `plenty` of men who do that are pimps or gigolos I suppose? And we can also label them as ....

(---shaking my head --- vertically and horizontally -- if you notice, hamidm!)

rgds (not so sure -- perhaps a force of habit or anal retentiveness?)

t

you ladies have got to turn the feminism button down a notch..you guys make Xena the Warrior Princess look like Betty Crocker..why does everything with you ladies turn into ``if men can do it why can`t we`` please...get a grip..ali5000 made comments that could have just as easily been made to a man...

women and men are different..PERIOD..they have always been different, and will always BE different..Not superior or inferior in any way..but just different..What exactly do you women on chowk want? To be able to talk about sex as freely as men do? well there are plenty of women that do that..they are called sluts, and they lack the respect that men give you right now..This Ali5000 character treats you with respect and you guys jump all over him with your ``I`m a Women hear me roar`` rhetoric..

way to go..

Zehra #37:

It`s okay... :)

``why has everyone assumed its a man when i havent really given my second person a gender``

hmmm... have you heard k.d. lang`s ``summerfling``?

For some reason I thought of this song when I read that. I wonder if she`d have anything to say on assumptions (at least mine) that it`s a woman she`s referring to in the song...

STORM’N A TEA CUP

Some are cursed more than others
creative people more than ...
is that good or bad?
depends on one’s perspective
the curse am referring to
turbo-charges the imagination
enabling some to view
a vision a trance
of dreams and fantasies
in fireworks that last
seconds or hours

mostly
it troubles the soul
does nothing to quench the fire
raging within
but the urge
to glean and share
that spark, gleam or vision
overwhelms that
which is better than valor...

and
footinmouthis helps not
zehra-o-zehra
rest of me friends
sheath the swords and daggers
storm it is
in a tea cup.

I think I ain`t gonna miss WWF Women Championship bout anyway. hmmm. Life is good.

i am truly sorry, because it was not my intention to trigger this line of discussion..i also have to reiterate that a ``veiled threat`` never even came close to entering my mind..i`m sorry if i offended you zehra, or anyone else who read my comments..although i don`t know you personally, i did enjoy your work and have a level of respect for you..my comment was made out of concern, and there was absolutely no malicious intent involved whatsoever..i guess the concern was misplaced or i may have been out of line, and i apologize for that..

toba, someone put a stop to this girl!

Intimacy between women? sick sick sickkkkkk!

YLH,

Now that`s a terrible thing to say. Zehra`s poetry was drenched in glucose but not bad.

Not a Man! what an excellent thought..

that makes this poem like 100 times hotter..

dear zehra,

thats the spirit! being shameless isn`t as bad as it`s made out to be (i should know :). and in an environement where people are in total and complete denial (``we`re special``..``women don`t think like that``)people like you help prove otherwise.

shandana

p.s: i also think (but only if you were..er..forced to..at gunpoint..or on the rack)you`d make a first rate fraud.

ylh: such kind words...thanks. am i such a bad fraud that i must be a third class one? why not first class?

bina: he isnt related to me...his brotherly concern is misplaced. but then again, if you notice, some men on chowk feel that they can make blanket statements to protect our (womens) integrity...we ofcourse, are incapable and helpless to run our own lives and make our own decisions and thus must be told what is right, wrong, appropriate for a woman or inappropriate.

slink...anything to get people to discuss issues they wont...(and call me names and throw words at me..)

rizvi.

A worthless, useless poem by a wannabe poet(ess) but in reality a third class fraud.

Yours truly

Yasser Latif Hamdani

Since I read Ali5000`s comments a few days ago, I wanted to respond, but as yet haven`t found the right words to do so. But, in short, I think Zehra is an adult and is perfectly capable of deciding which of her writings she wants up on Chowk and what is private. Ali5000, your response indeed seems like a threat of a sort, at least intimidation, veiled in ``concern``. Are you related to Zehra or do you just think you have a God-given right to tell her what she should and shouldn`t publish?

z,

`why did everyone assume it was a man` LOL.

issues to discuss:
why has everyone assumed its a man when i havent really given my second person a gender
and
why when a man talks about sex its ok but when i, a woman do its like, hai hai yeh bachee and interacts that sound like whines of ``do your parents know about this?``


lubna...ahh, i see..my mistake :)

rizvi.