Let it be know, this is HAITI

Feeling so very loved...

sA

And this is my lifeblood...

Deepak Chopra on "Science, Consciousness & God"

DEEP. 

"Consciousness explains physical laws but physical laws do not explain consciousness."

"Selective attention and intention is an attribute of consciousness."

"What is the most primal experience of life that we have? It is our subjective experience of reality. and this reality is within consciousness."

"Pure consciousness is infinite possibilities."

One thing---Nothing---Everything

A Sufi once said: "Every religion serves a Divine purpose. Hinduism
teaches us how to master the body. Buddhism teaches us how to master
the mind. Judaism teaches us how to master the intellect. Christianity
teaches us how to master the heart. Islam teaches us how to master the
soul."

word to 108. 

Mi filosofia de vida

Happening right now

Partaking in some homemade tajine in Rabat while speaking on world politics in Darija/French and watching M6 #BeautifulHosts

Once you have seen one Arab corniche

You have seen them all






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Location:Boulevard Franklin Roosevelt,,Maroc

My de facto office in Granada

"You know, you are the only one we allow here to use our Wifi (weefee) and not consume anything." And beyond that, they bring me mint limonadas as I comb through the massive back files of writings due months ago. This is one of the Spanish waiters I have come to know in this past week and a half at my de facto office, known to others as the Casa Pillar lobby/restaurant. Unlike many of the Spaniards I have come to know during my visits to Madrid and now Granada, he speaks English fluently and initially caught me off guard when I first met him. I walked in entering through the bar side of the restaurant/lobby focused on finding an open cushioned wicker chair to prop me and my mobile offices on for hours. He started reading the Arabic name plate necklace my father bought me years back from Abu Dhabi. Although I have come to find a sizable community of Moroccans and Syrians in Granada, I was thinking: what is this Spanish-looking man doing reading Arabic? So I asked in Spanish. And he responded in Arabic: "I lived in Tehran for 7 years." Even more confused, I later asked, "how and why did you learn Arabic in IRAN?" It turns out that his mother converted to Islam while he was young and moved the family to Iran after marrying an Iranian man, where he went to school and learned Arabic as part of his standard grammar school education. I come to learn more about him everyday that I am here, and close down the place with my attempts to coordinate my skype sessions with my PST family, friends and work colleagues.

And this is one of the beauties I have come to know of traveling as an independently 20-something woman, the almost instant connections that emerge out of everyday, sometimes even transactional, experiences. It's unfathomable to think that I only have two full days left here, especially as I am only starting to apprend a conversational level of Spanish, getting my navigational bearings down, and fostering friendships with affable locals.

This happens everyday...

and thank the Creator for mysteriously designing me with most miraculous metabolism to handle it!

Of course, as a testimony to the inferiority of the Spanish cuisine, the heledaria considered the best in Granada is an Italian ice creamery branch (and compared to its adjacent competitors, much more reasonably priced).

Beauty of Tunis

View from La Marsa

Sometimes your paradigms need a little shifting...

...especially when it comes to my impressions of Parisians (well maybe only need to do the shifting for the African Parisians).

It's 1:13pm/13:13 in Paris as I write this. I am sitting in Air France's Business Lounge I bogarted my way into. This has been but one part of a series of events that speak to the good fortunes I have experiencedsince boarding my flight in LAX. As soon as I landed I started time strategizing for what I thought would be an impossibly lengthy layover. Given that most airlines will not check your baggage more than 5-4 hours before a flight, I was thinking about a master plan for dividing the 9 hours before my next flight. Since I did made the bookings, LAX-CDG and CDG-TUN, separately, my luggage did not continue on to my final destination of Tunis. I approached the ticket counter with my apprehension given that I was an American who was going to "ask for something altered." Afterlaughing at my Arabic pronounciation of "Tunis" (as it sounding like me saying "To Nice" in English), the Air France ticket counter clerk told me it was my "lucky day" and checked my luggage in 9 hours before my flight. I then re-entered terminal 2 with my carry-ons. As I was unloading my electronics on the scan trays I realized my phone was missing. I was sure that I left it out at the chairs by the ticket counter as I was re-arranged my the content in my carry-ons to consolidate three bags into two. As I walked back, my mind was racing, preoccupied with "next steps": find wifi connection, go onto my mobile me account, locate and wipe the phone, etc. I thought it was long gone within seconds of leaving my sight. When I returned, I saw a young woman on a phone that appeared to be an iPhone. She looked at me and realized it was my phone. She was calling mycontacts to find out the owner's name! I thanked her profusely and returned to the security line. And now here I am at the Business Lounge I probably was not suppose to be in feeding on chevre, perrier, and free internet with French news playing in the background.

My non-hydrogenated baby

At double the price, the glass jar, Italian-imported version of the creamy hazelnut/chocolate spread is well worth the out of town trek and the elevated price-tag.

Interview with "There is No Spoon" blog on Malcolm X with Dumi Lewis, Zaheer Ali, Fouad Perez, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, and Fatima Ashraf

I was invited by the good people at "There Is No Spoon: Cliff Notes for the World Now" blog to join in on this historic conversation about something that has turned out to be my quarter life's work (podcast is located at the end of this post, or click on the podcast hyperlink to be re-directed to the post on TINS blog):

Podcast Episode 5: Malcolm X and Hero Worship

On this episode of There is No Spoon we discuss the legacy of Malcolm X. X has become an icon of human rights activism, Pan-Africanism and Islam. Panelists Dumi L'Heureux Lewis (City College of New York), Fatima Ashraf (Community Activist), Fouad Pervez (Georgetown University), Ibrahim Abdul-Matin (Author of Green Deen),Mayatha Alhassen (University of Southern California) and Zaheer Ali(Columbia University) discuss the recent publication of Manning Marable's "Malcolm X: A Life of Re-Invention" and its influence on X's legacy.

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Gastroporn by way of Trader Joe's: Black bean & veggie tacos

I "kinda sorta" (look at me employing my academic words in non-academic writing) cheated here, but not without good reason. TJ's introduced a cut veggie cooking pack---which I think they actually introduce and re-introduce frequently. This one bursts with a colorful mix of baby carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, red onions and acorn squash. As for the black bean interior, I cooked an organic can of black beans with pico de gallo salsa from my farmer's market, cilantro and tomatoes, and spread it on a blue corn tortilla. And the best part is the topping---a couple of dollops of Greek yogurt---this multipurpose magic murders sour cream any day. Try it and be pleasantly surprised and use the remaining amount to blend a date shake and call it a tex-mex-a-rab fusion night.

Gastroporn by way of Trader Joe's: Ahi Tuna steak salad with veggies and quinoa

In the past year I have been gradually limiting my consumption of all food products that I don't know the ingredients and origins of. Being several steps away from growing my own crops and tending to livestock, I have decided upon exclusively buying food from Trader Joe's (with the exception of produce which I pick up at the farmer's market, local specialty ethnic markets, and random runs to Whole Paycheck for certain unavailable products at TJs). Considering that TJ's plays musical chairs with its inventory and compared to most grocery stores has a modicum amount of products, I thought I would share my attempts at making this formula work for me, by making Trader Joe's Gour-met (said gor-met). Here is what I cooked tonight for dinner:

The ahi tuna steak (pan seared in EVOO and lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon) salad rests on a bed of herb salad sprinkled with Italiana-mama dressing, quinoa sweetened with floral water/olive oil sauteed cranberries and almonds (my chef friend suggests that I try saffron butter next time---so looking forward to it) and rounded out with oregano and basil seasoned farmer's market veggies that were also sauteed in EVOO.

Now, being the overly-elitist quality snob, there are two food items I am having a hard time settling for at TJ's, its EVOO and balsamic vinegar (not to mention the atrocious roasted seeds they call coffee). Any suggestions for the best of EVOO and balsamic vinegar in LA?

Few people know that I am part Mexican

And here is the proof:

Ahmed Abdul-Malik - La Ibkey

a find for all you enthusiasts of 78rpm recordings of world music

and my man at Excavated Shellac makes them available for free download!:

It’s been my philosophy that good music is best when it is shared. Of course, nothing beats that feeling, say, when you alone break open that box from Turkey or Indonesia, place the fragile platter on the turntable, only to feel your hair stand on end when the music begins. The feeling that you’ve never heard anything like this before in your life; it transports you to a place where words are irrelevant. But part of that feeling is thinking how you’d want to share that with others, to have them feel exactly the same way. This music – old music – never sounds “old” to me, personally. In fact, I believe that it is music of THE FUTURE. Our future.

Record collectors are eccentric people. I don’t even like the term “record collector.” They’ve been parodied far too many times. Accurately, I might add. But I could not live with myself as a “collector” without at least one person I could share sounds with. So this blog is for my friends, and for you, stranger.

If you like what you’re hearing, drop me a line. Yes, yes, it’s okay to download everything and then leave, but seriously – if you feel so moved, give me a shout out!