Why should the female teacher hide herself? Just because she is a woman, she has no right to  appear in public? I don’t know the purpose of education these students are getting. They can’t respect a woman, and I don’t know what kind of stuff they are learning at this "Islamic University."

Another aspect of this burqa controversy is growing Islamic fundamentalism in sections of Indian society previously thought to be liberal. I came across a very interesting blog post, two years old but very relevant, on this issue.

Nita at A Wide Angle View of India says that:

"I found several bits of information on this subject on the net, and one was a few years old. It says that the study was conducted by the University of Calicut, and the survey “that the number of Muslim women who were purdah in the five districts of the Malabar region increased from 3.5 per cent in 1990 to 32.5 per cent in 2000.” Another article is about five months old and it confirmed this trend. It quotes a survey which says that the percentage of burqa-clad women has increased from 10 to 30 percent in the recent past in Kerala. This in spite of the fact that Muslim clerics themselves are not unanimous on the practice of Muslim women covering the whole body."

Kerala is India’s most literate state, and women form a large section of the student and working populations. 

So this trend is definetely worth noting. Even in educated, liberal societies, women are "choosing" the burqa. I am saying "choosing" because there is no way to say for sure that it is indeed their choice.

Why this shift toward traditionalism and religious fundamentalism?

India is a global economic and diplomatic powerhouse now. With a growing Western presence and influence in India, some parts of the society are feeling as if their values and traditions are under attack.

I think that is the reason why students there feel that only a burqa-wearing teacher can represent their values.

Sad to see that instead of embracing multicultural ideas and learning from different cultures, these students are choosing to retreat. This  also raises questions about the kind of education they are getting in this university. It is telling that other professors have not come forward to support this female teacher who refuses to wear a burqa.

Bhumika Ghimire

Ground Zero is where hundreds died-killed mercilessly by terrorists . They called themselves Islamic warriors-dragging Islam into their war with the United States. No matter how much we try to seperate Islam and all the other Muslims from these terrorists,the public psyche and the emotions of the victims’ families has an image of the day the carnage happened; I bet they will not be able to accept a mosque at Ground Zero. A Ground Zero mosque would be a symbol of hurt and pain, it would serve no purpose.

Also, what is with all the fuss about who is funding the mosque. Why the lack of transparency? If those behind the idea of mosque at Ground Zero don’t want the public to know who is funding the project, what are they going hide from us in the future?

Build a mosque, any number of mosques anywhere in America, but leave Ground Zero alone. Keep religion, war, politics off from that sacred ground.

Bhumika Ghimire

For the past two months, I have been completely engrossed in the writing of Galileo: A New Musical, which premiered for the first time as part of the West Village Musical Theatre Festival.  

The musical starts out in a congressional hearing of conservative Senators interrogating NASA scientist Dr. John Holden on climate change research as they mock the existence of global warming with an aggressively sharp and witty choral piece, Junk Bunk, music and lyrics written by my collaborator and music genius composer James Behr. In a moment of this overwhelming stir, Dr. Holden transforms into the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. The play then shifts and unravels into parallels of haunting similarities of social, political, and religious ideologies and attitudes toward science and progressiveness.

I was fortunate enough to have a cast of outstanding actors for last week’s festival. Paul Fraccalvieri, who played Picasso in a musical piece I had written this past November, played Dr. Holden and Galileo. Fraccalvieri eloquently filled the theatre with his deep, rich baritone voice while playing a believable, emotionally vulnerable Galileo. (Congratulations, Paul, for winning an honorable mention for best actor in Galileo for the festival!) Members of the Senate also doubled up their roles. The Sarah Palin-like senator, played by Jennifer Eden, hilariously began the chant of the ever-famous "drill, baby, drill," then transformed into Galileo’s lovely mistress, Marina, in a beautiful duet, Through These Eyes (music by Behr and lyrics by Behr, Cheryl Krebs, and myself) that would make any soprano green with envy. Eden’s voice mixed perfectly with Fraccalvieri’s, adding a dimension of birds flying through the heavens as her high pitches were perfectly layered with the spiritual emotion of the song.

Other ensemble senators also doubled as Renaissance clergymen. Gospel singer Justine Hall (Madame Chair/Clergy), Samantha Moorin (Court Reporter, Artist and Scribe), and Madeleine Thompson (Strong Clergy Soprano) added animated expressions and powerful voices to the ensemble. Paul Mischeshin hilariously played a Southern John Edwards-type of senator which paralleled nicely as Pope Urban’s "special" clergyman who had to kiss his feet upon demand. Pope Urban (Ben Prayz) and his clergyman (Mischeshin) have a comedic few scenes in between the music pieces of the play that lighten up the heavy message by poking fun at the corruptness of the church. Both proved themselves to be fine character actors as well as leads.

We could not have had such a tight ensemble without the brilliant direction of Stephen Wisker, who created an atmosphere of ease and humor and brought a passion for politics and the environment. Stephen and I spoke nearly everyday, analyzing the play and voicing ideas about how to better express current events such as the disastrous BP oil spill. Stephen had an image of black oil spilling all over a white stage. If only we could have pulled it off in the festival setting. With his background at the Living Theatre, this could have embossed an historic image. He is also a master of Shakespeare and handled the language of the play (particularly the prose of the Renaissance scenes) with utmost subtlety.

Thank you, everyone, again for a superb performance! We look forward to our upcoming process of revisiting the script and performing cast recordings and then hopefully getting the message out there in the world again. We must not stop until political action is taken, alternative fuel sources are underway, and humanity and wildlife can be protected.

Cast from left to right: Madeleine Thompson, Justine Hall, Jennifer Eden, Paul Fraccalvieri, Ben Prayz, Paul Mischeshin, and Samantha Moorin.

Marisol Tirelli Rivera

Unfortunately, these workers face very harsh working conditions in the Middle East. Some are victimized by the employers—denied pay and medical attention—and the women are often sexually and physically abused.

In 2008, in an article for Suite101.com, I had the opportunity to go deeper into why foreign laborers—especially women—are so horribly treated in the Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia):

"Dr. Ali Alyami, Executive Director of The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, a Washington D.C.-based organization, said during an interview that Saudi Arabia has no legal framework or social system to ensure that migrant laborers are treated equally and protected from various forms of abuse. A recently updated labor law does not provide enough rights and protection to the migrant laborers.

He also pointed out the horrible living and working conditions for migrant laborers. Saudi society, which itself is repressed and deprived of basic rights we enjoy in the Western world, is unable to treat the workers with respect.

Dr. Alyami added that women who come to the Kingdom to work as maids are especially vulnerable to abuse. They are doubly victimized—as a woman and as a foreign laborer."

But the workers continue to flock to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries. Nepali government, at this point, seems completely paralyzed to take strong steps to ensure safety of these workers.  Nepal depends heavily on the remittance sent home by these workers, so the government does not want to rock the boat and jeopardize an already fragile economy. But at what cost?

For more on the migrant workers in the Middle East, you can check out this excellent blog, Migrant Rights.

Bhumika Ghimire

When I was younger, I used to think that modern-day communication methods could turn every tragedy into a happy ending:

Romeo would have known about Juliet's fake death if they had mobile phones and just phoned each other. The lovers in The Notebook wouldn't have to endure all that heartbreak caused by "the hiding of the letters" if Noah had just emailed Allie and if Allie had a password that her mother would have never been able to work out.  Tristan could have explained everything to Isolde before she agreed to marry the king by a simple sms. Sweeney Todd's tragedy could have been solved by keeping up with his love's Facebook status updates. Atonement, Parineeta, Brokeback Mountain, Devdas…all of the lovers could have avoided the tragedies they faced with personalized modern technology.

I was wrong. With a million ways to communicate, the art of communicating has turned into a series of miscommunications. The use of words strung together in poetic depth has transformed into short spurts of syllables. That undying essence of love has eroded into 2 a.m. booty calls, divorces, and unfulfillment. Yeah, there were prostitutes, rapists, lustful encounters, and unhappy marriages in those days of poetic love, but nowadays, true love seems almost impossible. There are no more compromises in the name of love; people demand more; people are too busy to give but ever keen to take; people give up too easily.

Our lives have been engulfed by instant gratifications. No one wants to settle; they just want what they want.

This is not only in regard to relationships but also to health care, weight-loss programs, food, child care, and employment. Every day I see articles and advertisements on how to make yourself instantly happier!

Is your job making you unhappy? Ditch it today!

Are you constantly tired? Product X instantly revitalizes you!

Need to shed off those stubborn kilos? Lose 10 kg in 2 weeks!

It's everywhere. Easy fixes. And when it comes to love, people expect the same: an easy fix. Tolerance, patience, and unconditional love seems to have been lost within the category of "old fashioned." Today it feels as if all there is is fast love. Holding out for a hero seems like an eternal pursuit with a 0.5 success rate.

But hey, what is life without hope?

Tharuna Devchand

If writers are my rock stars, Christopher Moore is my Jagger. So when I heard that he would be at the Brookline Booksmith on April 2 to promote his new novel, Bite Me, I took the day off work, drove an hour, paid meter parking, and waited in two lines.

How was it? As his narrator, 16-year-old Goth Abby Normal, would say, he rocked my stripey socks.

First, he was late. But, in all fairness, he had to get there from Boston in Good Friday traffic. Among his easy-going, devoted fans, only one beefy gent complained about a minor inconvenience that no one could control. The rest of us did Madlibs with the staff. We used plenty of word substitutes from Moore's work: sequined love nun, Minty Fresh, shaved vampire cat. The usual.

Moore called from the road and greeted us via the store manager's cell phone:

Moore: "Hello everyone."
Us: "Hello Chris/Christopher/Mr. Moore/Man!"
Moore: "So… what are you wearing?"

Once he arrived, he explained to us newbies that he does not do readings at his readings. He would entertain us for a while, answer questions, then sign books and take pictures. He said it would be like sex, with him smelling like magic marker at the end. I guess that made us his groupies.

In the used-book basement of an indie bookstore, while drinking coffee and taking pictures (with flash!), Moore opened up to his fans. We heard the stuff of legend. Did you know you could have fake testicles — nu-ticals — implanted, like they do for neutered dogs? Moore's got seven of them! (Sadly, we could not take pictures, even without flash.) The man who rewrote King Lear from the point of view of the Fool sold insurance before writing black-comedy novels. The lack of controversy over Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend disappoints him to this day. (Ironically, on that Good Friday, Lamb sold out. Also, at the end of this hysterically funny book, religious or not, you will cry.) To create the voice of Abby Normal for his second vampire book, You Suck (the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends), he risked an FBI raid to find inspiration on Goth teen message boards. For Bite Me, the last of the trilogy of non-sparkly vamps, he discovered that those same message boards were gone, the underworld moderators presumably having grown up and moved on. The lack of intelligent, literate creativity (however mopey) saddens him. How else could a middle-aged man have brought this to life: "I started to feel like a malodorous soupcon of mashed assholes, as Lautreamont so aptly put it."  (See his recent HuffPo piece about the Web-based, linguistic can of woop-ass the digital natives are pioneering).

Moore turned out to be quite the sweet talker, too. He probably tells all the regions this, but he said he loves the Northeast the most for the book-smart types (or, as the Midwest calls us, commie liberals) and asked if it bothered us Bostonians that the Tea Partiers have so dubbed themselves.

Us: "Nah."
Moore: "Good, cuz they're stupid."

After about an hour he promised that his future work will contain more heinous fuckery most foul (i.e., messed-up situations), and the line reformed throughout the store for the signing. Those who could not fit into the basement to hear him speak were first in line, fairly. We waited about two hours, browsing through fiction, bargain, and biography. Suddenly, it was my turn. The Man was right in front of me. I had my brand new copy of Bite Me open and my boyfriend readying the camera. I managed to not fall to my knees and chant "I'm not worthy" or "Ohmygod I've read, like, all your books." I may be one of his biggest fans, but I didn't want to show it.

Moore made it easy. He thanked us for coming, signed the book, and joked with us. He's approachable, friendly, and talkative. And, unlike useless famous actors and singers that people usually worship, he didn't have a handler nearby with a headset saying, "Please do not touch Mr. Moore." That helped, too. But I still asked if it would, um, be ok if I could have my picture taken with him. He not only said of course, he offered to make a funny face. Just as I had made it through acting cool, my boyfriend ratted me out. Told him I'd read all the books, that I've waited months to see him, and skipped work. Moore thought I deserved free stuff for that and gave me a little black promotional t-shirt with the book's title written across the front.  That's probably when I let loose the "ohmygodthankyouthankyou," and proceeded to literally skip out the front door.

Now my book reads "OMFG, Christopher Moore," my chest reads "Bite Me," and the next time he's around to promote his next book, I'll be there.

Jennifer Leblanc

You think I am just an angry, unemployed liberal venting out? Trust me, millions think like me. More will join after the scale of Wall Street excess and arrogance becomes public knowledge.

The Wall Street Journal says "Finance-Bill Proposal Worries Banks":

"A proposal gaining ground on Capitol Hill to force banks to spin off their derivatives-trading operations would represent a severe blow to one of Wall Street's most profitable businesses.

Banks took in about $20 billion in revenues in 2009 on trading of derivatives, according to industry estimates of the size of the market for financial contracts tied to other assets, such as oil or mortgages."

Oh gee…how can the government force the banks to let go of billions in profit in the name of regulation and financial safety? After all, Wall Street is above the law (it has always been that way).

Now if this does not get your attention, you would be happy to know that Wall Street has its blood brothers working in Washington to kill any financial regulation bill…some of those brothers are Republican senators and Congress people.

And thus the saga of Wall Street supremacy over Main Street continues.

Bhumika Ghimire