Coney Al Jazeera

Amir Ansari,

No offense taken; you are much too kind and intelligent for that to happen! Maybe in the coming weeks if you are so inclined, some of us could interrogate the ideas of propriety. I write this not necessarily in response to your comments, but as part of a larger dialogue on gendered behavior. Good luck at work!

Scout

Lurruki, how about Aug? Currently, my familial duties demand my immediate attention. Will keep you posted. Also, would love to meet with you, aicha, ana and whomever else is brave enough...:) New digs: new living place/house/apt/palace :) Is your left arm darker because you`ve been driving alot?

Ana,

Ahh, yes, the movements of the male species called ``Takes Women Studies Classes. Can`t Accept Opinions``. Well known and irritating. Nip it in the Bud; these drama queens will take the class down if you let them. Give him 5 minutes a class and then move on. Your female and prog. male students will greatly appreciate it...I don`t know if my opine actually helps, but it sure comes from a few years of boy hijackers. If the prof. wasn`t able to indirectly or subtlely refocus the class, there were women in the class who confronted the offender. (I had one class last semester where this guy grad student would blahblahblah about how his wife would become resentful if he tried to do the ironing-like that ever happened!- and so on, long speeches, etc., every flippin class! Finally, a classmate looked him in the eye and said things like ``You know, that isn`t even a word.``

Sorry if this is too much of a response, apparently I`m letting off some post semester steam...

Be ruthless and pull rank. Let him sob over his beer after class, it aint your problema! :)

Umer M,

Do your parents know any Azras?

re: samina

what was that book by that french lady it was long on it was on women and she was a french journalist i vaguely remember reading it in freshman expos yasser might have read it too i dont know .......but it was a revolutionary work and she says basically women are either idolized or degraded and not regarded as fellow humans but in it she says islam views women as a field and baby making machine do you agree?

Stuka #177, ``A few episodes of South Park would clear you of that misconception.``

man i luv that show. Cartman rules.

saminashah #141, ``How are the new digs? Hows the summmer treating you?``

digs? summer`s good, my left arm is getting darker. howz ur summer going? and when am i going to see your chand sa mukhra?

re: umer murtaza

...apologies for that sis crack...wasn`t good...

Umer Murtaza:

``US humour is too soft though I do enjoy Seinfield / Fraser.``

A few episodes of South Park would clear you of that misconception.

RE Umer Murtaza # 166

``Well, I better make like a tree and leave...sigh.

``

You could have waited till fall....

Let me lower the bar (ek bar phir).

Three people were sitting on a bench feeling Happy. Ultimately Happy got bored and walked away.

And a sanitized limerick from my unpublished collection:

A little boy name Niranjan

Was eating a tube of manjan

The tube was thin

It slipped in

Now you get manjan out of Niranjan

ah the joys of being purile....

Samina!

You wrote: ``And Ana is very much a pride to me and other Pakistani Chowkies, as are Scout, anNy, Semiprecious, aicha...

(sorry to embarrass, Ana!)``

Hai, mera chehra to sharam se rang baranga ho raha hai!!!! I am not worthy, truly I am not!

Ah, the challenges of being a college teacher. While discussing `Three Guineas` in class the other day, I had to deal with somewhat obnoxious male who was either playing devil`s advocate, or was purposely being belligerent. He also made a statement about how WWII, ironically was the best thing for women, in terms of their getting jobs! Nobody really seemed to care much for the book which was disappointing, but much more positive response for `Cracking India.` There are those within Women`s Studies who wonder whether they should let men in their classes. I`m not one of them, but geez louise, I`ve never been in a WS class where there hasn`t been at least one male who reached his potential at being a jerk! *sigh *

Will attempt to respond to your post re: sexuality post-haste

Hey budd, that`s funny you should say that `cos my sister`s a doc` and she mentioned going to some dimly lit, curry infested house that stank of turmeric. She was greeted by a certain lady who was 4 foot 3 inches tall, with a belly like the Michelin man`s. Anyway she complained that her son, Rohit Saxena, had got stuck in a vacuum cleaner whilst chanting WWF slogans.

`Dumb woman,` said my sis as she walked out. `She should have called the ambulance.`

You wouldn`t be...could you...naah. Surely not.

Umer M

Samina Shah,

Please excuse me. I`m having a fairly unpleasant week, with a series of nasty arguments scattering thorns in my dumb way.

I see now where the roots of this present conflict, band-aided though it is with the spirits of inquiry, friendship and poetic solidarity, lie. I never meant to intrude upon your personal freedom to say what you wanted. Certainly I didn`t mean to tell you what to say or what not to. My initial comment was simply an effort to draw attention to something I thought inappropriate for a public board. Should you want to continue it, here or elsewhere, or not at all, that`s your prerogative entirely.

I`m sorry this misunderstanding took place. Hope this makes up for it; http://www.cs.rice.edu/

roohi #162 you write ``... people in these slices of (desi)society could be from different planets almost``

Agreed. This is the point I sometimes try to make when someone generalizes about ``pakis are like this`` or ``Indians are like that`` - such generalizations have nothing to do with reality.

Subroto #160 The one about how the chap takes off his shirt and pants was funny, as were the others. Here is one from school days: It rained cats and dogs, and soon there were puddles (``u`` pronounced ``oo``) everywhere.

re: umer murtaza

{Hey budd, take it easy. I just did it `cos I knew it`d pi$$ you off.}

..piss me off?...hahaha....you think little homo posts from junior high ``pi$$ me off``?...get real...this ain`t your london paki ghetto fundo hangout...

...as for the rest of that babble, was that supposed to be ``lethal`` too?...

{Listen, why don’t you tell me where you live. Maybe we can chit chat a little sometime.}

..your sis has my address...

RE:SHANKAR

WELL im not gonna get into a US to be honest i f--ed up in PharmD .........the admissions coucilor u have no chance flat out..................im pretty much headed to the carribean ...saba.st george`s.............i dont know its either that be a clinical Pharmacist , which is a 2 yr residency afterwards or go to podiatry sch i dont know my options dont seem appealing

Hobbyty, Ana, Dost Mittar, anyone who is interested:

Heres`s a beggining idea on your question, Hobbyty.

``Sex has no history. It is a natural fact, grounded in the functioning of the body, and, as such, it lies outside of history and culture. Sexuality, by contrast, does not properly refer to some aspect or attribute of bodies. Unlike sex, sexuality is a cultural production: it represents the appropriation of the human body and of its physiological capacities by an ideological discourse. Sexuality is not a somatic fact; it is a cultural effect.``

--David M. Halperin, ``Is There a History of Sexuality?``

I am going to post my abstract on the essay ``Dirt and Desire: The Phemonenology of Female Pollution in Antiquity`` shortly.

Jeez Subroto,

Where`d you get those jokes from? The lolly stick.

Well, I better make like a tree and leave...sigh.

Umer M