Fragmented.

[Its already late and dark , He gets in the driver seat ,  turns the engine  on , he starts driving fast and unsteady , taking sudden turns and random roads , he pushes on the accelerator even more to feel the rush and get away ]

Diary

1st Entry

  I am a night creature  , that's my nature , at least that's how they like to call me .

There is a noose around my neck , it gets tight at times , but I learnt how to deal with it through time.

times are getting grim and my destiny is  written by the others , I m trying to stand still and i'm afraid that my feet will betray me very  soon , i am writing this on my  desk  near a windowpane and the dawn is around the corner , i like peering out of the window , i m not afraid of the shadows but  you know how i  feel about dawn and light  , i like watching the drunkards and the lost souls wandering in the streets at night. There is something about it , that ensnares me , but i deeply despise light and the mundane life of others , i like to be kept in the dark with my thoughts and demons , peering out the window is a hobby i leaned to with time too , interesting things happen during the night , things that don't come across your mind , wear your cloak  hide your head with the hood and you'll own the night and rule its demons , The purge happens every night , i witness it all and i enjoy it more than anything else , its just that you miss it  by sleeping the night off . reconsider your choices , reconsider your habits , question the rituals and routines of your life , those who rule don't close an eye .

2nd Entry :

 I had to go out today  and pretend to mingle with the others , pretend to understand them and comply, but how long can this last ? for how long shall we pull this act , i m obviously not the only one pretending to be someone else but why should we put on a mask during the day and play a lame role, when will this game come to an end?  Here i am again writing in my Diary , The only space where i can be honest . seriously , Can this get any worse ? but who am i really ? what am i here for ? A lot of other questions swarm around my head . here comes my night companions in their red and black cloaks , i better blow my candle ,

Oh no ... the noose its being tightened , do they know what i' m thinking of ? what ? am i ....[suffocating]  in too deep ? but , but ...

3rd Entery

How did i get here ? is the first question i should ask myself . The last thing i remember is last night , when i was writing down my last entry on my desk near my windowpane . Now  i m  laying in this foliage i reached for my pocket and i fortunately found my pen and diary , writing down these lines , i feel confused and lost  . I  unbuttoned my collar and  felt my neck , to my joy the noose disappeared .I  took off my tie and unbuttoned the rest of my vest  feeling the sweet breeze of the forest that i found myself in , Feeling lost  is after all  not that bad . Its the first time i feel fine in the presence of the light , the sunshine feels otherworldly , i never enjoyed it this much ,  I m  walking around delighted by  the new atmosphere , the day is winding down and coming to an end , i can see a car from where i am standing now ! who brought me here ? did i end up here alone ? I m trying to  remember what happened last night

4th Entry :

I m writing this from the car i found yesterday , everything doesn't make sense , it doesn't feel the same , i am not the same ! it doesn't feel right , the moment of  joyful awaking  in the foliage deserted me , since i remembered that dreadful night ,  I  remember vividly the sound of  their boots hitting the ground and their laughter piercing the walls , a big latch is being opened, but what happened ? where am i ? I have been driving for hours but everything looks the same. 

[To be Continued , or not.]

Brave New World ( Full Review)

Brave new world is A Novel written by Aldous L. Huxley that was described by The Observer as “Provoking, stimulating, shocking and dazzling” and that exactly what I think it is. What I like   about Huxley’s writings is that he is a critical observer of customs, social norms and ideals and he is highly concerned about the potentially harmful applications of scientific progress. He was interested in parapsychology, mysticism and Universal-ism.

The novel presents a far-fetched world were there is only one world state –a border-less world- from an omnipotent point of view,   where people can fly anywhere they want in a blink of an eye and where genetic engineering reached its peak, giving birth is something long forgotten; A single fertilized egg can bring to life a whole population of identical twins. It is a world where everyone helps everyone and everyone can have everyone, no restrains whatsoever. 

There is a whole new set of values, a totally shocking and thought provoking life style when we look at it from the outside .  For the Insiders, There seem to be no kind of discrimination. It is pictured like an Utopian world where peace and happiness is easily attained, through recreational sex and drugs – a gramme is better than a damn- that is exactly what the controllers want the citizens to think.

the citizens are conditioned since they are embryos to have a certain appearance to lead a very specified life and to have a limited amount of knowledge that will allow them to achieve their appointed tasks . so instead of dividing people into ethnic groups, nationalities and religious preferences in the new world they tend to divide people into Alphas , Betas , Gammas , Epsilons and so on … and the most interesting categories are the  “Alpha and Beta” ; they are the future  intellectuals and future rulers , the rest are the manufacture workers and menial laborers.. Alphas and Betas  are conditioned to think that they are superior and that they despise the Gammas and Epsilons  , the inferior categories are designed to wear certain colors and clothes and be thankful  to the other categories , each category is designed to love itself and feel content

“ I’m glad I ‘m not an Epsilon”  said Lenina  with conviction . “And if you were an Epsilon “said Henry “your conditioning would have made you no less thankful that you weren't an Alpha or a Beta “

Other than genetic conditioning, there is hypnopaedia, it is a term that you will come across in this dystopian novel, it’s a technique by which controllers and directors of genetic engineering centers condition their citizens when they are kids, it is illustrated as sleep learning, hypnopaedia is when a single sentence is repeated several times per day , several days per week... for several years until it is   stuck in the mind of the citizens and becomes an automatic response when they are in a certain situation , which in turn kills individuality . (Individuality appears to be the quest of the main character of the book)

“…because progress is lovely, isn't it ?” said Lenina . “ five hundred repetitions once a week from thirteen to seventeen “ said Bernard wearily as though to himself .  “what did you say ?” “I said progress was lovely…”  

Its a Novel where civilization becomes synonymous with sterilization and Genetic and psychological conditioning are the norm and anything outside of that is considered uncivilized, queer and savage.

Brave new world was banned in several countries for different obvious reasons , to name few : encouraging critical thinking , to have a Revolutionary outlook and the fact that it is a metaphor for our current Global situation and what powerful politicians aim for .

 Its a book that makes you think twice if not more ...

Native women: between seen as exotic and surviving a trauma

Here is the thing about us North Africans ,

We tend to glorify some parts of our History and deny others , Like referring to Kahna or Elissa and Hannibal is a must but discussing the issue of slavery is a big no no .

We as a Nation spread across the north of an Epic Continent we prefer to live in denial , we welcome the invader and embrace their cultures , when some people try to speak out we shun them and overlook the issue as if it doesn't matter and that we should look past it .

For a Nation to grow and thrive  it has to come to terms with its past in the first place whether that past is beautiful/positive or Ugly/negative

I am not saying don't honor Kahna or Hannibal , but what i am saying is don't overlook the negative bits of our common history whether under the Turkish rule or the french occupation or even later on in the timeline ...

The thing that steered and drove me to write this article is the Buzz that few pictures of native -nude- women had. Nowadays instead of dealing with the real issue and discussing slavery we are going to another extreme that of sexualizing the content of the pictures instead of looking deeper and wondering why were they naked in the first place .

I couldn't help but notice the amount of shares and comments that ranged from "this is pornographic content /this is pedophilia " to those treating it as "vintage art " and that such a thing is a common in our past . well its definitely not the norm back then .

Then there is me thinking about social stigma and social issues that those pictures represent and arise from those forcibly smiling faces .
here is a link to the orignal article/set of pictures that i am referring to " Article/pictures "


Here are some points I want to clarify :

 1- I don't find any of it sexual or pornographic
 2- nudity wasn't a common thing
 3 -those Native  women didn't choose to be naked , or pose naked for those western photographers
 4 - this is not the way to honor NATIVE -HONORABLE hard working women
 5 - nakedness was imposed on them to differentiated them from "Free women" (who are mainly of Turkish and Balkan decent) ,
 6 -  a striking dichotomy:   Natives bought and sold as merchandise  and for everyone to see , "free women" locked and kept behind closed doors as "pearls' and rare "gems"
 7 - Slavery was abolished in 1846 , whereas ,strikingly enough, these pictures where taking between 1902-1909, -wtf you might say ? well it obviously stayed in practice even though 60 years have passed from the time the law that abolished slavery was signed -

So when Free women are cherished and given servants and slaves to serve them , Native indigenous women were paying their youth for ephemeral sexual encounters with the master  'Sidi' and working their asses to please their Lalla (female Mistress , wife of the Master) regarding house chores  and other tiring activities .

So not only did the invader , took over the region  and its natural resources and mingled and settled down "forever after"  but it  invaded the life of the natives for centuries and also installed an everlasting social stigma that still lingers on  (specially in the south)

Now , imagine you  can easily trace your lineage to one of those women like it is the case in the south when in the birth certificate the issue lingers on till this present day with such a statement like Foulen ben Flen 3tig falten ; meaning X son/daughter of Y who was freed by Z (Z ofc being the master from long ago) what would be your stand  and how would you feel when you see random people dehumanizing once more your ancestors and lineage ? by putting a comment such as "beauté exquise" or marketing the trauma of a group of people as exotic ,once more for westerners, is simply thoughtless and degrading

Add to that what Strikes me the most in the whole issue is that Those people who claim Turkish roots and were  the masters of "their ERA"  and claim being decent from the Great Ottoman emperors are actually themselves Slaves who hold the title of  -Janissaries- mostly enslaved as young boys and girls from the Balkans and Eastern Europe to serve in the Ottoman Military (for boys) and ottoman castles and household (for girls), they themselves rebelled against slavery only to enslave the natives of other lands .

This leaves me  to conclude that history never cease to repeat itself if we don't face our past and where we come from .

This is my call for you 

PLEASE, Embrace your Uniqueness 

Try to positively change the paradigms and the existing narratives 

DON'T comply with the lingering  spirit of the invader 

look back to the Kahina and see her as a force that drives you to defend and step up for your fellow citizens  . 

An overwhelming experience #ISFiT2015

I am Finally back home , 

Shattered and extremely exhausted I slept for a long time and today when I woke up with tense muscles and a sour throat , but who cares ? right ? when you are feeling quite  satisfied , pumped and driven . I for sure miss the hassle and the rush and the sleepless nights and catching the "right" bus to be get to NTNU/Samfundet on time ... or not ! xD

let's revisit some memories first ; 

I might not have been able to visit Rockheim , Pirbadet or Tyholttårnet but Samfundet and HiST were the place to be ; to either share our different stories and work on finding solutions to corrupt practices or even hang out and party .

I might not have been able to see any of the Fjords or shop properly but I got the chance to See the Dalai lama gives a speech and answer our questions  , I got the chance to listen to Peter Eigen and enjoy a silent night at Nidaros Cathedral .

I didn't make a snowman but I have been one myself , when we had a snow fight in the midst of Hurricane Ola .

I might not have enjoyed the meals in Sit NTNU but I surely appreciated the good company and passionate and heated conversations and panel discussions .

^

I might not like House and trance music (I am not a club person anyway.) but of course I Enjoyed our nights at Bodegaen and klubben and most of  all i enjoyed the Silent disco night .

I haven't been able to see the northern lights but I was able to watch Moddi , Palmface and Västerbron perform live at Knaus , Samfundet.

I might not have been to a Metal music concert but I witnessed one of the best Folk choruses play during the entertainment pause of the Parliament day . (videos will follow)

I might not have been able to get along with everyone , but I surely respect each and everyone I met during my stay in Trondhjem ,and I am here by your side to fight any kind of corruption and support any petition or movement that arise in the name of creating a world free of corruption . 

-THE SIMPLE THINGS DO MATTER-

To my multinational  workshop family  , you've been an amazing supportive team I learned from you as much as you learned from me , and this exchange was the best part of  workshop#8 .

Team leaders , you truly are THE leaders that everyone wish for , you have been the warmest people people I've ever met , your work and dedication and precision is unbelievable . you opened your souls to us not just your houses,
To my Norwegian family , you have been amazing hosts you opened up your home and arms to me and I would love to visit you again  when I have enough money. I wish you all the best  and I send my kisses to all of you . but more specifically to the little munchkin Elias .

To my co-ISFiT'ers , the end of the festival and going back to our home countries is just the beginning of a new chapter , and I hope that this experience marked you as much as it marked me .
NOW the real FIGHT against corruption begin

( the whole workshop jammed at Frøydis' tiny living room is one of the best memories to recall , the best moments were when Agnes made a presentation )

last meal together  (even though people started disappearing from the full table we once had ... ) 

Stay strong ,
Hold your heads up high
and wage transparency and peace.

Checkmate

A stormy weather and a long winter ahead,

A complete whitewash of the red thread,

And the uncountable rumors that spread,

From these awful “Zombies” they fled.

Into the darkness of their room,

Into the flames of their doom,

And in the next morning they bloom,

Out of their ashes they boom.

Washing away their blemishes

With a single sip of O negative

While talking of their times of yore ,

Reminiscence of their friendships and lore .

Fragile and ruthless  at once ,

Their skin is pale and numb ,

Unaware of their last dance

As they move along and hum  .

Now they have to face their nemesis .

The existence of their hero ceased ,

The scarcity of odds  left them bereaved ,

Walking the streets of  Tangier  deceived .

Death is nothing but a  phase ,

Entwined and entangled is their fate .

Contemplating the option of turning two

The Ugly truth and the brutal one too.

Oh ! How romantic of you .

Book marathon

I've seen a lot of people on YouTube planning such book readings by putting up challenges to accomplish and to encourage  others to read ,

Each book-tube-athon or a book marathon would have some rules so I came up with the following :

As a start this book marathon would last for 3 Weeks (starting from tonight : 28-7)

in which the participants have to 

- at least read 50 pages per day 

- at least read one Poem collection

- a classic (it can be a play or a novel or even poetry) 

- an illustrated book/novel of at least 300 pages  (it can be several comic books to round up  the 300 pages) 

- read a novel that has Blue in its cover 

-  read a modernist or a post-modernist novel 

- a contemporary novel 

by the end of those 3 week you would read at least 1500 pages good luck .

to help in the process of reading you can mix 2 rules together ; for example A modernist or a  post modernist novel  + Blue in its cover  or a classical+poem collection , illustrated + contemporary novel

another point choose all the books and put them at your disposal so that you won't get confused .

You can always figure out a way to make it easier .

time to share with you my list 

contemporary + illustrated : Cruddy by Lynda Barry 

Modernist : The Trial by Franz kafka 

Poetry + Classic : Poems of Catullus 

Poetry collection : The Essential Rumi 

another contemporary +  blue cover:  Obedience by Will Lavender 

All of the rules are covered and the book I mentioned are the amount of exactly   1530 pages  now its time for you to choose yours *wink wink*

for those who are interested you can send me an email on : muna.abid.aiesec@gmail.com to tell me about your progress or send me your own blog posts where you mentioned your reading progress 

i'll be sharing with you my reading progress over here on my blog so stay tuned 

wish you a good read 

True Blood Recap

The New and  Final season of True Blood started airing on the 22nd of June

Quick recap for the previous season : SEASON 6

Sookie and Eric escaped from the authority , Bill turned into the reincarnation of Lilith -mother vampire- after drinking Lilith's blood. Tara is turned into a vampire by Pam  . Jason meets an old man , and he thinks that its Warlow but it turns out to be a long lost relative (their faerie grand father ) who came to Warn and help sookie from Warlow .





 Eric thwart Gov. Burrell's plans . Bill enlists a True Blood innovator to synthesize a new type of blood , Lafayette summons Sookie's dead parents and , sookie discovers the truth about her parents' death and knows more about why Warlow is after her . Sookie meets a new guy called Ben and invites him over for dinner . Bill seek Lilith's advice on the crisis between humans and  vampires . Eric, Pam, Nora, Jason  Jessica and Tara get an inside look at Vamp Camp ,  Eric discovers the truth about True Blood's resumed production -Hep v- 

Bill attacks the Governor's residence, kills  him and uses his powers to force the guards to kill each other.
Eric makes a last-ditch attempt to save Nora by pledging allegiance to Bill. Jason "breaks-in"again to the vamp-camp to save Jessica.

Sookie and Warlow move to their special hiding place -a parallel faerie world- She gives Warlow her blood, she takes his blood and asks her to marry him , but she doesn't know what to say . Nora dies, Eric decides to take the vampire fate into his own hands. Sookie struggles between staying human/fae or letting Warlow turn her -vamp/fae-  to save Vampire kind . Sookie and Bill clash over Bill's desire to use Warlow's blood ,  Sarah Newlin escapes but before that she opens the roof of the White Room in order to burn the trapped vamps , Bill -with lilith and warlow's blood- arrives in time to save the trapped vamps and offered them his blood to become immune from sunlight . All the  vamps are free again .  In Bon Temps, a funeral takes place for Terry Bellefleur .

 In the season finale , Bill losses his power due to the excessive feeding from his blood . Sookie tries to convince Ben/Warlow to date her rather than marry her , Warlow becomes violent and hold her captive . Jessica encourages Bill to save Sookie, and they take the help of Jason, Violet, Andy and Adylin.  Bill saves Sookie, But Warlow soon overtakes everyone and just as he is ready to take Sookie with him, her Grandfather appears and holds him while Jason puts a stake through Warlow's heart.  As soon as Warlow dies, the power of walking in daylight is also taken away from all other vampires who inherited the trait , Eric far away in Sweden loses the power which causes him to burn. after few months Bill has become a writer, Sam Merlotte is the new Mayor, Arlene has taken over Sam's bar and renamed it "Bellefleur's", and the Hep V infection is running amok among the vamps .

THE FINAL SEASON (7)


The new and final season  started with the Hep V vamps -infected vamps- attacking Mayor Sam Merlot's reconciliation BBQ (reconciliation between humans and vamps) where Sam was assigning a healthy vampire for each human Family in the sake of safety and protection , but the Hep V vamps ruined everything ; Tara dies in the attack , the Hep V vamps abduct  Sam's pregnant  girlfriend Nicole  as well as Arlene and Holly .

Meanwhile Pam is looking for Eric and ended up in Marrakesh where she felt that Tara (her progeny) died , she was able to get hold of some hints to where she can find Eric

Sam's opponent -Gibson-  found out the truth about  him and told the rest of Bon Temps' Civilians that their Mayor  is not really a human but a shape-shifter , the civilians turns against their Mayor and his crew

Arlene and Holly came up with a plan to escape , but everything falls apart when the infected vamps discover their Wiccan circle , and took Holly to help them get more humans to feed on , Sookie left Alcide -her werewolf boyfriend-  without notice to join Bill in his plan  , Since Sookie is a human/fae she can easily attract the Hep V vamps , Holly finds Sookie in the woods and as soon as the Hep V vamps attacked Sookie and Bill ,  Sam and Alcide   joined in the fight and killed off the present  infected vamps ,  Everyone was after everyone and the Civilians of Bon temps ran into the fight and shot Alcide , Jessica offers to Turn Alcide into a wereworlf/vamp and Sookie refuses . on the other side of the world Pam finds Eric and discoveres that he is infected , Eric and Pam revisits old memories -Godric , Nora , Sylvie ...-

It seems like the story line is going down hill , the screenwriters decided to kill off two main characters -Tara and Alcide- and  infected The most loved character of the show " Eric Northman " 

The Story and the show are nice , and I have no doubt about the talent of the Actors and that's why I keep watching it  , but this  last two seasons in my opinion were  written and filmed in a haste , probably the bad thing is that each episode is written and directed by a different person . or maybe its due to the change of producers from Alan Ball to Mark Hudis to Brian Buckner .... 

But this won't stop me from being a real Trubie . 

Enjoy the New/Last season Truebies