you say you want a revolution

victorian poetry for you

2007-06-11T04:20:09Z

"But since the heart is yours that was mine own,
Your pleasure is my pleasure, right my right,
Your honourable freedom makes me free,
And you companioned I am not alone."
--Christina Georgina Rossetti

June 17 = Good-bye, my dear Los Angeles! Helloooo, NYC! =]

environment and health (in a few forms)

2007-04-03T20:37:37Z

The Climate Divide

Reports From Four Fronts in the War on Warming

Joao Silva for The New York Times
A communal well at a Malawi village was contaminated in January by floodwaters that swept away homes and crops.

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

Published: April 3, 2007

Over the last few decades, as scientists have intensified their study of the human effects on climate and of the effects of climate change on humans, a common theme has emerged: in both respects, the world is a very unequal place.....Complete article w/ multimedia and audio slideshow !

___________________

The article very loosely reminded me of my own experience with various environments both in travel and in academic reading/pedagogy.
Last fall, I took Public Health 150. I remember a guest lecturer who seemed to hate animals. He attributed a few infectious diseases to human's cohabitance with animals. Namely, he made the following connections:

Measles, smallpox, TB—cattle
Influenze—pigs and ducks
Falciparum malaria---birds
Leptospirosis---dogs
Toxoplasmosis, cat-scratch fever---cats

While in SouthEast Asia last week, I worked in a public health organization and a clinic. Malaria is the most prevalent infectious disease in the world; thus, it is most definitely found in Burma, which is second worst in the world in terms of health status according to the World Health Organization. I made a few personal notes on the Thai-Burma border environment, and I am still debating how I can most effectively make change in that area in the future. I have not had a chance to compose all of my thoughts on the trip, but once I do, find them on our delegation blog: www.seadelegation.blogspot.com. :)

Sunday Dinners

2007-03-20T17:58:39Z

Anuj and I (+ guests some weeks) recently began the tradition of "Sunday Dinners." We have met five times thus far.:

1- Sunnin Lebanese Cafe, Westwood Blvd.
2- Poquito Mas, Westwood Blvd.
3- India Sweets and Spices
4- Home-cooked Indian dinner at Anuj's
5- Mao's Chinese in Santa Monica

I want to write a food review of each, but impending paper due dates and finals will not allow this. Maybe later?
In lieu, I request recommendations of restaurants for next quarter. Also, I would love to see your lovely face, so please let me know (via this lj/in person/gchat/aim/phone) if you're interested in attending. We are flexible with time.

Here's to ten more weeks of Sunday dinners (and undergraduate education)!

Today is my half-birthday. Happy winter'07 finals!

multimedia

2007-03-18T21:16:37Z

The Women's War

article

2007-03-12T06:24:34Z

from "Years of Strife and Lost Hope Scar Young Palestinians":

“It was always our choice to be fuel for the struggle,” he said. “But our problem now is that the car burns the youth as fuel but doesn’t move. There’s a problem in the engine, in the head. These kids are willing to be fuel, but many have been burned as waste.”

View the pictures too.

=/

unicef report

2007-03-02T04:55:55Z

An overview of child well-being in rich countries (it's a pdf)

In the report, the US and the UK are among the bottom third of rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed. I.e. though both countries are among the most developed in the world, they are not providing for the overall well-being of their children.

It's a long read, but I enjoyed it!

Oh! And, a related article (+ more links at the bottom!): US on List of UNICEF's Worst Countries for Kids.

quote + brief life update

2007-02-19T08:08:42Z

"In a fundamental sense, an imaginative novel represents the merging of two extremes; it is an intensely intimate expression on the part of the consciousness couched in terms of the most objective and commonly known events. It is at once something private and public by its very nature and texture. Confounding the author who is trying to lay his cards on the table is the dogging knowledge that his imagination is a kind of community in medium of exchange: what he has read, felt, thought, seen, and remembered is translated into extensions of impersonal as a worn dollar bill."
-- "How 'Bigger' Was Born," Richard Wright

______________________

During spring break, I will be in Burma with the US Campaign for Burma. In addition to partaking in community work, I plan to serve as a photojournalist and write about my adventures when I return. A novel would be fun to write, yea?

Anywho. Thus far this quarter, I have read at least twelve novels, taken one midterm and three quizzes, and written about seven papers. I don't quite understand how I am doing this with all of my other commitments and weekends like this one. I hiked to the Hollywood sign (from the Griffith Observatory) today!

Hooray!

f_ma @ 2007-01-12T01:07:00

2007-01-12T09:07:11Z

and, i repeat...
time heals.
i hope.

rebuttal

2007-01-11T08:26:56Z

Opinion
Asian Americans for Affirmative Action

^Read the rebuttal to the article I posted last!

article

2007-01-08T17:20:46Z

Little Asia on the Hill

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

By TIMOTHY EGAN

Published: January 7, 2007

WHEN Jonathan Hu was going to high school in suburban Southern California, he rarely heard anyone speaking Chinese. But striding through campus on his way to class at the University of California, Berkeley, Mr. Hu hears Mandarin all the time, in plazas, cafeterias, classrooms, study halls, dorms and fast-food outlets. It is part of the soundtrack at this iconic university, along with Cantonese, English, Spanish and, of course, the perpetual jackhammers from the perpetual construction projects spurred by the perpetual fund drives.

Yes, you want to read more!

article from june but still interesting!

2007-01-07T21:25:25Z

Big-city schools struggle with graduation rates

Updated 6/20/2006 11:26 PM ET

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Students in a handful of big-city school districts have a less than 50-50 chance of graduating from high school with their peers, and a few cities graduate far fewer than half each spring, according to research released on Tuesday.

Lowest to highest graduation rates in the nation's 50 largest school districts

Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank

21.7	Detroit	11	53.7	New Orleans	48	68.4	Gwinnett County, Ga.	20

38.5	Baltimore City, Md.	30	53.8	Duval County, Fla.	19	68.6	Brevard County, Fla.	42

38.9	New York City	1	54.6	Clark County, Nev.	6	69.3	Fulton County, Ga.	45

43.1	Milwaukee	28	54.8	DeKalb County, Ga.	27	70.0	Hillsborough County, Fla.	10

43.8	Cleveland	44	55.1	Austin	37	70.2	Anne Arundel County, Md.	40

44.2	Los Angeles	2	55.2	Palm Beach County, Fla.	12	70.4	Cobb County, Ga.	26

45.3	Miami-Dade County, Fla.	4	55.5	Philadelphia	8	72.2	Granite, Utah	46

46.3	Dallas	13	56.0	Charlotte	23	75.3	Mesa, Ariz.	39

46.5	Pinellas County, Fla.	22	56.2	Orange County, Fla.	15	75.8	Northside, Tex.	49

46.8	Denver	43	60.1	Polk County, Fla.	34	77.0	Jefferson County, Colo.	33

48.5	Memphis	21	62.2	Jefferson County, Ky.	31	80.2	Jordan, Utah	41

48.7	Broward County, Fla.	5	63.0	San Diego	16	81.3	Cypress-Fairbanks, Tex.	47

48.9	Fort Worth	36	63.1	Fresno	35	81.5	Montgomery County, Md.	17

48.9	Houston	7	63.7	Hawaii (statewide)	9	81.9	Baltimore County, Md.	24

50.4	Nashville	50	66.5	Virginia Beach	38	82.2	Wake County, N.C.	25

52.0	Albuquerque	32	67.3	Prince George's County, Md.	18	82.5	Fairfax County, Va.	14

52.2	Chicago	3	68.1	Long Beach	29

Complete Article HERE!

Please tell me if those stats don't bother you. don't worry; i'll judge you for sure.

photography

2007-01-05T01:55:35Z

lately, i've been reading books and articles on photojournalism. a friend of my sister works for cbs in nyc; i asked her if they'd hire me as a photojournalist, and i was excited that she said 'yes!' granted, it was new year's eve, and we were at a party--neither of those truths seem to discourage my research into the field. luckily, i talked to jason today about this new interest. he graduated last spring and has moved on to stanford, so i don't see him very often. he still understands me fairly well, so i suppose his random appearance in the csc office today had more purpose than sheer fun. easily, he made it clear that if i were to be a photojournalist, i wouldn't be able to help people. before he visited, i was looking at a la times photo article reviewing 2006, and i am convinced photojournalists can still do good!

view "the year in photos: 2006;" clearly, photography can educate! how else would we even begin to internalize the numerous atrocities in the african continent?

...

okay. maybe i already have too many commitments. maybe i will not be a photojournalist. i'll continue to read about the field AND take pictures of my loves. speaking of which, i want to be a child again. i need to be fearless once more to do this:

if i can't do it in the next few months, i will have to settle with a picture of johnny/david's feats.

oh, darkside of the world!

2007-01-03T23:34:53Z

From Diedrich to Diminish in OC, September 15, 2006:

Timeline

1916 - Charlotte Diedrich inherits a coffee plantation in Costa Rica and begins selling coffee beans around the world.

1966 - Carl (Charlotte's son) and Inga Diedrich, his wife, buy a 45-acre coffee plantation in Antigua Guatemala, harvesting 400 sacks of Arabica beans annually.

1972 - Filling up their VW microbus with beans from their plantation, Carl and Inga head north from Guatemala, migrating to Orange County.

1973 - Carl Diedrich opens his first coffee store, in Costa Mesa.

1984 - DiedrichCoffee, a neighborhood coffeehouse, is founded by Martin Diedrich, Carl's son. He takes over the retail, roasting and importing facets of the family business from retiring Carl.

1996 - Management takes the company public on the Nasdaq stock exchange, but raises about $2.2 million less than expected in its initial public offering.

1999 - Despite operating losses, Diedrich Coffee begins extensive purchasing and franchising, increasing the number of locations from fewer than 40 to about 360. This includes the purchase of Coffee People Inc. and their brands Coffee Plantation, Coffee People and the mall-based Gloria Jeans chain.

2001 -Carl Diedrich dies of complications from Parkinson's disease at his Costa Mesa home.

2004 -Martin Diedrich, the last family member still working in the company, leaves. The last title he held was chief coffee officer.

2005 -The company sells its international franchised units of Gloria Jean's coffee brand to fund its expansion. The company opens a new Diedrich shop in Brea – the first in five years.

Sept. 14, 2006 – Diedrich says it plans to sell 25 Diedrich and 15 Coffee People cafés to Starbucks in a $13.5 million deal. Twenty-one of 23 Diedrich stores in Orange County are part of the deal.

Jan. 2, 2007 -- The first Diedrich Coffee to open in OC closes (read: first to open, first to close). Poor Costa Mesa Diedrich Coffee regulars!

Jan. 3, 2007 -- Farheen's favorite coffee shop in the US, Diedrich Coffee, 730 Imperial Hwy., closes. =[

Diedrich Coffee is to Farheen and her high school friends as Central Perk is to the characters in Friends. After nearly 8 years of frequent visits, gatherings/retreats at/to Diedrich Coffee end!

I hate Starbucks! The chairman is evil for this reason among others.
I have already been boycotting Starbucks, but now I detest them so much more!

relating education and health issues -- my favorites!

2007-01-03T05:20:42Z

The New Age

A Surprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School

By GINA KOLATA

Published: January 3, 2007

James Smith, a health economist at the RAND Corporation, has heard a variety of hypotheses about what it takes to live a long life — money, lack of stress, a loving family, lots of friends. But he has been a skeptic.

Yes, he says, it is clear that on average some groups in every society live longer than others. The rich live longer than the poor, whites live longer than blacks in the United States. Longevity, in general, is not evenly distributed in the population. But what, he asks, is cause and what is effect? And how can they be disentangled?

Read more!

“If you can stand up to really mean people, maybe you have what it takes to be a princess"

2006-12-28T06:56:23Z

What’s Wrong With Cinderella?

“Look,” he said, “I have friends whose son went through the Power Rangers phase who castigated themselves over what they must’ve done wrong. Then they talked to other parents whose kids had gone through it. The boy passes through. The girl passes through. I see girls expanding their imagination through visualizing themselves as princesses, and then they pass through that phase and end up becoming lawyers, doctors, mothers or princesses, whatever the case may be.”

Mooney has a point: There are no studies proving that playing princess directly damages girls’ self-esteem or dampens other aspirations. On the other hand, there is evidence that young women who hold the most conventionally feminine beliefs — who avoid conflict and think they should be perpetually nice and pretty — are more likely to be depressed than others and less likely to use contraception. What’s more, the 23 percent decline in girls’ participation in sports and other vigorous activity between middle and high school has been linked to their sense that athletics is unfeminine. And in a survey released last October by Girls Inc., school-age girls overwhelmingly reported a paralyzing pressure to be “perfect”: not only to get straight A’s and be the student-body president, editor of the newspaper and captain of the swim team but also to be “kind and caring,” “please everyone, be very thin and dress right.” Give those girls a pumpkin and a glass slipper and they’d be in business.

That's solely an excerpt from a super interesting article! Read the rest here! It's long but definitely worth the time. =]

another article

2006-12-26T01:22:34Z

Oh! I almost forgot to post this article!

Independent Appeal: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?'

Johann Hari on the plight of pregnant women in the West Bank, where babies are dying needlessly

Published: 23 December 2006

In two days, a third of humanity will gather to celebrate the birth pains of a Palestinian refugee in Bethlehem - but two millennia later, another mother in another glorified stable in this rubble-strewn, locked-down town is trying not to howl.

Fadia Jemal is a gap-toothed 27-year-old with a weary, watery smile. "What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today? She would endure what I have endured," she says.

Read more...

Hope you had a fantastic (Christmas) day!

comment article excerpt

2006-12-26T01:19:19Z

2006: a vintage year for ideas that will change our world

Happiness is about earning the esteem of others, behaving ethically, contributing selflessly to human betterment and assuaging the need to belong. We have finally understood it is not economic growth that delivers these results - it is the way we behave

Agree? Disagree? Read the full "comment" article here. It's interesting!

AHHH!!

2006-12-24T20:06:36Z

Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island

For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas. Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports

Published: 24 December 2006

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.

Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.

Click for complete article!

____________________

I don't know how one can avoid languishing post-read....

msfarheen: AHHH!!
msfarheen: jason, fix it!
msfarheen: i have family in india!
stevenbk: wow home to 10,000 ppl?
msfarheen: yea
msfarheen: =(
msfarheen: fix it, jason!!
msfarheen: get your mba and fix it!
msfarheen: now!
stevenbk: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2099970.ece
stevenbk: im working on it!
msfarheen: yea i saw that p.diddy article
msfarheen: but 10,000 ppl!
msfarheen: a tropical island!
msfarheen: unprecedented!
msfarheen: ahHH!

....

AHHH!!!

Ok. I'm leaving for NYC shortly (read: I'm in the airport)

quote, article, and another resolution

2006-11-27T19:12:24Z

Carrie: When you're young, your whole life is about the pursuit of fun, then you grow up and learn to be cautious; you could break a bone, or a heart. You look before you leap and sometimes you don't leap at all because there's not always someone there to catch you. And in life, there is no safety net. When did it stop being fun and start being scary? -- from "Sex and the City"

________

Burma 'closes' Red Cross offices

The Red Cross says the move will hit those who most need help

The Red Cross says Burma's government has ordered it to close five field offices in the country, severely curtailing its humanitarian work there.

The offices, some of which deal with victims of conflict in Burma's border areas, now face closure, it said.

The Red Cross also says it will remain barred from visiting jails, said to include some 1,000 political prisoners.

Humanitarian work for some of Burma's most vulnerable people was now in jeopardy, the organisation said. . . . click to read the rest of the article! :(

Then, google Burma/Myanmar for a quick history lesson on a part of the world not seen in the media very often.

Resolution: Learn Burmese or Burmese English (the latter to support colonialism or simply make my life easier?), gain skills in policy-making . . . then, make a leap to effect positive change in my family's home (Burma/Myanmar). Because it's definitely worth more than the people who consciously break my heart on a daily basis. :)

f_ma @ 2006-07-29T10:27:00

2006-07-29T17:30:53Z

I admire you, empowered student.

words and the list

2006-07-23T21:00:56Z

I'm taking a class on the history and theory of criticism, and I found the following quote in one of my readings:

"Words were only so far to be considered, as to shew upon what principle they were capable of being the representatives of these natural things, and by what powers they were able to affect us often strongly as the things they represent, and sometimes much more strongly." -- Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

It's a fairly basic concept that I'm sure I can find in other literature. Furthermore, my class definitely focuses more on "the burden of the past" in relation to Aristotle, Horace, Plato, etc. than this quote's idea of the relativity of the meaning of words.

In simple terms, I enjoyed that quote because it reminded me of my love for certain inside jokes.

Ralph's: a Westwood Listonian Chapter

Observe me talk to David, Johnny, Tan, and/or Jose (the glasses behind Tan) one day, but make sure you are prepared to be confused. :)

headline

2006-07-13T05:35:48Z

Israel attacks Beirut's airport =/

I'm praying for you, Middle East! Stay safe, traveling friends; I'll have a big hug for you upon your return to the states.

dont leave

2006-06-10T20:53:30Z

While writing a final paper on a class reading, I rediscovered this quote:

"Indeed, one's attachment to a man depends largely on the elegance of his leave-taking. When he jumps out of bed, scurries about the room, tightly fastening his trouser-sash, rolls up the sleeves of his court cloke, over-robe, or hunting costume, stuffs his belongings into the breast of his robe and then briskly secures the outer sash--one really begins to hate him." -- from My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki

If this is true for women too, I need to rework my awkward method of leave-taking.

And, speaking of leaving, it's just not fair that I don't get to graduate alongside my favorite people at UCLA. Once they leave me, I will be a lost lost (and possibly melodramatic) soul.

=)

2006-05-31T09:39:12Z

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=7071

pretty cool, huh?

also, search "farheen malik" on google, and you'll see a paraphrased version of that article on cbs and nbc. stan chambers also interviewed me for his saturday night segment of "people helping people." there's a slight chance i'll let you know when it airs. apparently, he's supposed to call me when that happens.

ok im very embarassed.

quote

2006-05-23T03:13:01Z

"Like Mrs. Bukowsky had said to the Mayor, 'You never know who it's going to be, or what they'll bring, but whatever it is, it's always exactly what is needed.' " -- Ruth L. Ozeki, My Year of Meats

Stop surprising me, world!

you say you want a revolution

victorian poetry for you

environment and health (in a few forms)

Sunday Dinners

multimedia

article

unicef report

quote + brief life update

f_ma @ 2007-01-12T01:07:00

rebuttal

Opinion Asian Americans for Affirmative Action

article

Little Asia on the Hill

article from june but still interesting!

photography

oh, darkside of the world!

relating education and health issues -- my favorites!

A Surprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School

“If you can stand up to really mean people, maybe you have what it takes to be a princess"

What’s Wrong With Cinderella?

another article

Independent Appeal: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?'

Johann Hari on the plight of pregnant women in the West Bank, where babies are dying needlessly

Published: 23 December 2006

comment article excerpt

2006: a vintage year for ideas that will change our world

AHHH!!

Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island

For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas. Environment Editor Geoffrey Lean reports

Published: 24 December 2006

quote, article, and another resolution

f_ma @ 2006-07-29T10:27:00

words and the list

headline

dont leave

=)

quote

Opinion
Asian Americans for Affirmative Action