Reality sucks. We know that, and from time to time we feel the need to escape from it to be happy, but if we start living increasingly in a pseudo reality, our chances to overcome hardships of life would be difficult. The Internet has made it possible for us to escape reality, reality which is often painful; if not for us then for the people around us. This escape has been gradual, but at this juncture, where we can literally put on a VR (Virtual Reality) headset…
This pandemic has helped certain addictions to take root in us, especially in our young men and women. From Binge watching to overeating to phone usage, all are parts of the coping mechanism we have been using to survive. These addictions are the challenges we will have to address for quite a while in our homes and classrooms.
…The values of another culture, whether they seem to us medieval or primitive, cannot be changed by imparting our own values to it. We may sustain for a while but the essence of that culture would take over society sooner or later. Afghanistan and Iraq are the best examples in this regard….
When I hear all about the US army withdrawal after twenty years of conflict in Afghanistan, and the civil war that is about to erupt and leave Afghan society in disarray once again, I can’t stop thinking that perhaps the age-old “war between good and evil” is actually the war between old and new. A war in which one group insists on going back to some point in history and call it the origin of their enlightened reality, and the other comparatively more secular one which may not necessarily want to leave that origin behind but is ready to embrace secular values.
…The same scenario has come to surface in U.S. during the pandemic. The 20th century has passed by large pockets of the population. Refusing to get vaccinated is one such facet of this mindset…
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is an honest attempt to invite everybody who is ready to look beyond race to experience the pain, suffocation and dilemma of minorities. The story revolves around the African American twins that could pass as whites and the resulting duality and pain they go through with their black heritage and white appearance.
Stories have always been there to teach us, to entice us to pay attention to new ideas, but the way they have lured us into their environment since the inception of cinema is unique. In the past stories were on sidelines, whereas the religious text was at the center and therefore, at the core of moral values. Now, it seems that the order has reversed and stories through vivid cinema and well-made television series are at the center of life…
More than the struggles of online teaching, I am worried about the psychological impact on our students, particularly elementary and middle-school students. Schools are not only for learning, they also teach social norms…
American Spirit! We were so proud of it, and rightfully so. Traditionally, when we said “American Spirit,” we meant to say that our people, despite our chaotic history, survived, thrived and found new grounds for co-operation within the society. I have deliberately used the past tense because…
…second language learning is not just another part of the humanities which can be ignored in an academic world that is ruled by science and business. Learning a second language offers some crucial cognitive benefits to our students,…
I would like to see media shifting its focus from all-politics to all-society, because politics is just one step to shape society for the good of the people but is not the only game available in our lives. Instead of spurts of news about education and a few disparate discussions, why not ….
Many new voices that we hear more and more today in politics, business and art and culture were not heard as recently as fifty years back. Colonialism, slavery and economic repression never let these voices surface and come onto the world stage.
The trend of rural populations moving toward cities has created huge problems in the urban societies of developing countries. In the year 2005, half of the world’s population was living in urban areas. In 1994, there were fourteen mega-cities (the cities that had at least ten million inhabitants). This number increased to thirty-seven in 2017.
There is a lot of focus on what we have lost due to this pandemic, but let’s try to be our own teachers for a moment and look at what we have gained from this catastrophe.
I was the fourth child, a son, born to parents that fought every evening as if it were a ritual without which they couldn’t go to bed. My father left us when I was seven. My mother did her best to make ends meet, but it was obvious that three jobs, paying minimum wage, were killing her. When I was twelve, my two older brothers were killed—One by a rival gang and the other by police. The grief soon killed my mother. My elder sister, who had been paying the bills with some help from the state, disappeared a year later. Some says she was a victim of sex trafficking, but I never came to know what had happened to her. There was nobody to pay the bills so I came to live on the streets. Every night, I took the last green train and slept on it; then I went to my ‘hood in the morning.
I have always had mixed feelings about the art and trade fairs that pop up like mushrooms in Chicago and its suburbs, in fact all over the country, every summer. On one side, I am proud of the tradition and the cultural heritage they offer to their audience,but on the other hand I am frustrated by the overwhelming corporate presence in them.
What world we are leaving for the next generation? We have often heard this question in connection with the deteriorating environment. My question is: Are we leaving a planet where the next generation can thrive?
In Arundhati Roy’s novel, The God of Small Things, the happenings in the lives of the main characters make it possible for us to visualize a southern Indian small town, and the way life takes its course through all its attractions and disappointments.
Imran Omer 