Monthly Archives: August 2004

it’s not just the brown they’re keeping down…UPDATED!

Posted on by

well if they’re going to deny a KENNEDY, no wonder i always get harassed; apparently, even being political royalty doesn’t spare you from the idiocy of the TSA’s futile attempts to protect us from…uh…senior Senators from the North-East.

Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, (D-MA) was stopped at right coast airports five times in march because his name appeared on a no-fly list. though his staff called to have the problem corrected, the Senator continued to be stopped until Homeland Security wreck-retary Tom Ridge intervened and apologized.

the washington post has more, and you should read it, please:

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed.
…Kennedy’s description yesterday of his air-travel troubles — mentioned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the 9/11 commission’s recommendations — renewed questions about the quality and effectiveness of the no-fly list. The list was established by security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Critics said the senator’s experience served as the latest example of how a system designed to improve security is instead targeting innocent travelers.
The government does not make public the names or the total number of people on the list, which officials say is constantly updated. According to FBI documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act request, more than 350 Americans have been delayed or denied boarding since the list’s inception. The list has not led to any arrests, officials said.

350 americans delayed, zero arrests. oh yeah, THAT’S telesis. Continue reading →

The town I live in

Posted on by

The town I currently live in is so white that …

… the local bakery makes only white bread (no wheat) and the last sandwich shop I went to only made sandwiches with mayo — not one option had mustard!

… there is a chinese restaurant that bills itself as a “chop suey palace” (I’d take a photo but I’d rather not get arrested)

… the only kosher restaurant in town was a kosher irish place (it closed before I moved here in January, unfortunately). I can just see the menu — corned beef and latkes!

… there actually is a 7/11 that employs only white people. It’s like one of those mythical places you can only find by getting lost, and you can never get back there (none of the employees could read a map either)

But even out here they showed Harold and Kumar at the local multiplexes (both of them!)

The Washington Post Finds Sikhism

Posted on by

Well, not really, but they did find the recently created Sikh contribution to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

Part art history, part anthropology, it provides an opportunity to view 19th-century miniatures alongside contemporary pictures. Much of the 20th-century work, particularly Arpana Caur’s self-taught oils, is heartfelt schlock overly indebted to Western kitsch. But the English tag team of Amrita and Rabindra Kaur Singh achieves a pungent synthesis of East and West, old and new. The twins’ gold-dusted 1998 gouache “Nineteen Eighty-Four (The Storming of the Golden Temple),” which commemorates the slaying of hundreds of Sikh nationalists by Indian troops that year, melds Punjabi traditions of detail and decoration with the significant gesture of Giotto and the satirical intent of British wartime realism.

“Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab” at the National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. daily through Sept. 6, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily thereafter

Jindal one step closer

Posted on by

Steve Scalise has dropped out of the race in Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District. That means that Republican Bobby Jindal’s chances of being elected to Congress are that much greater. From the Washinton Times:

Without Scalise in the race, analysts say, the chances Jindal will be elected outright in the Nov. 2 primary without the need for a runoff are much more likely.

Why did Scalise drop out? Here is a partial explainer.

I, like many in the left, can’t stomach much of Jindal’s politics, but the guy seems to be making all the right moves.

A dialog between generations

Posted on by

Two weeks ago a friend of mine in Houston forwarded me a link to an ongoing discussion on the website of Dr. Vijay Mehta. Dr. Vijay Mehta is best known for the many appearances he makes at various South Asian conferences and gatherings such as SASA, Bhangra Blowout, etc., in an attempt to create a database of potential South Asian bone marrow donors. I myself have registered for the database.

In addition to the bone marrow drive, Dr. Mehta’s website tackles several other issues that are usually swept under the rug of South Asian American society. I encourage you all to visit the site for yourself. It is the first instance I have seen of a healthy discussion between first gen’s like many of our parents, and second generation young adults. The post that I was forwarded in particular was written by a young woman named Reena who lives in Texas. Continue reading →

How do you research this stuff?

Posted on by

TCS: A Tech Central Station article which is generally quite optimistic on India’s future & econ development has an interesting stat –

For those concerned that the environment will suffer as a result of further development, consider that 70 percent of Indians today defecate in public, and many rural Indians rely on dung as a source of fuel.

There’s something rather apropos about reading this on a blog named Sepia Mutiny, eh?

The liqueur of the literary

Posted on by

Abhi, one of our bloggers, has a great post on the film Before Sunset and the absinthe of fiction. He just posted it, hasn’t told me about it or asked me to link it, but it’s deliciously, deliriously romantic:

Fiction is a heartless charlatan… You are incapable of a normal relationship because normal is a pale substitution for what already flows in your veins: possibility… Years later you don’t fit anymore. You stand out like a heroin addict on a Friday night, wearing long sleeves so no one will notice.

On losing a deep connection:

Is it possible that you can experience a period of time so perfect, so idealized, that it stains your soul with a color that nothing else can ever match? If so, aren’t you screwed for the rest of your days?… [A]ll the things that I spend the majority of my Time doing, are really motivated by one thing. Finding a color to match the stain.

Continue reading →

Philatelics get ready to grab up Dilip

Posted on by

First, they were going to hang a portrait of him in the U.S. Capitol Building. Next they were going to name a building somewhere in California after him. NOW they are thinking of commemorating him on a stamp! Dilip Singh Saund is the most popular brown man in America right now even though he’s dead.

There is only one problem as I see it. This idea is coming too late. Last week Stamps.com announced a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service which will allow anybody with spare change in their pockets to create a customized stamp. That’s right. Now you can put your own picture on an official U.S. stamp and mail it anywhere you want. That being the case, the once sacred honor of being displayed on a stamp, has been cheapened. How cheap you ask? Well to put it into perspective I took the liberty of creating a stamp of me, which I could now purchase from the USPS, and one of Saund. Honestly now, which one would you choose? Which one would you choose?

<

p>

stamps.jpg

Like brown kids aren’t ALREADY freakishly smart

Posted on by

Kahini.jpg

Great news for South Asian 6-10 year-olds whose Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George books, just weren’t providing enough depth for discussion over afternoon tea. They now have a new literary magazine named Kahani:

Our Story [from the Kahani website]

It began as a wish for more, a wish to enrich a little girl’s life with literature rich in characters and plots through which she saw her everyday reflected. From that special grandma far away to the neighborhood friends she plays with, the little girl could read about her life, her unique experiences of growing up in overlapping cultures.

Many years later, that wish has come true as Kahani, a South Asian literary magazine for children who call America home. It’s the perfect title to reflect the simple but empowering concept of the magazine: ‘kahani,’ the Hindi word for ‘story.’ Named by that ‘special grandma,’ Kahani would be just that, a place where the stories of South Asian children – just like that little girl – would be told.

What began as one mother’s vision now includes the drive and energy of three other committed women. As parents themselves, the Kahani idea resonated immediately. Even more amazing, each brought in specific professional skills crucial to Kahani’s success. (How their initial meeting happened is a separate story in itself. Let’s just say it was meant to be.) Cradling crying babies in one hand, while jostling spreadsheet numbers with the other, they got down to work. The magazine was no longer just a vision.

Continue reading →