Tololy's Box

Yay

Has anyone seen this video clip and listened to the profound lyrics and the angelic voice of this “singer”?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr16JudR7U4]

Yay.

بلا تعليق

-1-

في ندوة المحامين حول قانون الاجتماعات، وتعليقا على حديث الوزير ناصر عن برامج تمكين المرأة، علق نقيب المحامين صالح العرموطي مداعبا ان “من يريد التمكين هو الرجل”ØŒ مدللا على رأيه بقوله ان المحامية السيدة تزداد نفقات تغطيتها في التأمين الصحي للنقابة سنويا بنحو 60 دينارا عن معدل نفقات المحامي الرجل!

جريدة الغد

-2-

مجموعة من الشباب المقتدرين مادياً.. يرفضون فكرة الزواج من كثرة الشوفات المتراوحة من أقصى حالات الانفلات عند بعض الفتيات إلى كل الانغلاق .. وعلى ما يبدو لم تسنح لهم فرصة التعرف على الشريحة المعتدلة بين النقيضين..
بينما ترفض بعض الفتيات العزابيات الزواج هرباً من المسؤوليات..
فهو بالنسبة لهن سلسلة كوابيس من المجاملات والتنازلات فبدلا من أن تتحمل الواحدة مسؤوليتها فقط.. فإنها بعد الزواج تنسى نفسها في سبيل تحمل مسؤوليات أسرتها النووية وما يتبع من حمولة أسرية ممتدة ! فبين رفض فكرة الزواج.. وقبولها.. وبين الإقدام.. والتراجع..
تبقى مشاكل الشباب معلقة تريد حلاً!

جريدة الرأي

Rouge for the Feminist

I have had several changes of heart concerning makeup during my life. Around third grade, I started biting my nails with a vengeance. As a passionate nail biter, the only cure to my bad bad habit was polishing my nails black or red. Oddly enough, this cure still works to this day –as the moment I color my nails is the moment they become untouchable by my eager teeth.

In 10th grade, I got called to the principle’s principal’s office. A disciplinary-type of administrator thought I had mascara on, and all my attempts to explain that I had nothing on my eyes were in vain. The administrative goddesses were not convinced my lashes were that long.

Then, of course, came college. The strange personas I adopted during this time were translated in my makeup rituals. At one point I was too practical for makeup, wearing minimalist block-colored clothes. At another I was an exotic dresser, wearing nothing on my face but mascara and black kohl along with fortune-teller type rings and necklaces. At another stage I preferred tight skirts, a black leather jacket and gloves, and the makeup was darker and more piercing. Later on, I took on a more sophisticated-chic look that toned down the makeup to more natural, less obvious selections.

Makeup was an integral part of all these transformations. Often I wondered, does makeup, the idea of covering up your supposed flaws and enhancing your beauty, mesh with the idea that you are a complete, independent woman regardless of male/female attention you may or may not get?

This question and more about the history of makeup (from royal courts to brothels to homes) were treated in this essay in The Smart Set by Paula Marantz Cohen :

All Made Up

Women’s application of makeup is an update of the Narcissus myth. One cannot apply it — or at least not well — without looking in a mirror. The self-reflexive gaze required has elements of the lover’s gaze: Eyes and lips are focal points and demand the most attention and care. Thus, applying makeup is a ritual of self-love, a kind of worship at the shrine of the self, though it can also reflect insecurity and even self-loathing. At its best, it is an exercise in self-critique, and, if you’ll permit me to be grandiose, a path to existential understanding.

…

Of course, one of the paradoxes of makeup is that it adds another level of concern to the one it is designed to appease. Wearing makeup means having two faces — a real face that threatens to be dull and unappealing if not given some assistance, and an artificial face that has to be maintained. If one wears makeup one has makeup worries: Is the foundation even, the eye make up smudged, the lipstick properly applied, etc.? By the same token, checking makeup is a useful rite. It allows for a respite from the hurly burly of life. It says, quite literally, hold on while I straighten up the mask that I’m showing the world. I suspect that men are more violent than women because they don’t have these “time-outs” in which to take stock and put their masks in place. If they wore makeup, they might think twice about going to war where, moreover, the opportunities to put on lip gloss are decidedly curtailed.

For the record, I always forget my lips. I like red lipstick but admittedly it does not look good on me, so they’re always alla naturale. I wonder what that says about me.

Solution Violence

For the past two days I have been reflecting on an aspect of my character which I have never taken seriously before. There have been some incidents in my life during the past three years, like being stalked online or having my computer sabotaged, that have angered me to such a degree that I considered punishing the people behind them using physical force.

I don’t believe in violence as a solution to any problem. For the most part, I don’t believe much can be done to solve 99% of the problems I face. When I do think of a solution, it is often communication. This is why I am always surprised when I think of a solution to a problem along the lines of “I will send a group of guys to break this person’s face.”

What surprises me the most is that I think of myself as an intelligent person who does not adhere to the “tribal violence” mentality that I see prevalent in my society. If so, I ask myself, why do I even consider beating a person up as a means to teach them a lesson or perhaps get them off my case? For example, if my online stalker is put in the hospital after having his jaw broken at my command, would that really keep him from stalking me? I know it would make me feel better. Is that wrong?

I guess any such action would solve the problem to a degree, but not entirely. I have never resorted to violence to the extent I mentioned above, but I have considered it seriously as a solution to a number of problems. Does that make me a violent person or simply a person at loss for a solution?

What do you think?

I Am Mother Earth

It is official, we are all, deep down, the sons and daughters of Africa. More exciting stuff at the bottom. From Discovery News:

DNA Confirms We’re Out of Africa

A new genetic analysis of people from around the world added further confirmation to the African origin of humans.

Scientists have long believed that modern humans first developed in Africa and spread from there to populate the rest of the world, a theory strongly supported by the new analysis, the researchers said.

In addition, they noted that residents of the Middle East can trace their ancestry to both Africa and Europe, which they said is logical since the region formed a bridge for movement back and forth between the areas.

The italicized bit in the passage is even more interesting than the confirmation that we are all Africans. It means that I am Africa, and Europe, and Asia –all wrapped up in a petite package called Tololy.

Why?

Because my father is Arab, and as such he is Middle Eastern and by extension European and African, and my mother is Circassian and as such is Eurasian. The final product of this human mix of geography is me.

You can call me Mother Earth now.

Pro-Women Laws

Good news for Jordanian women. As I blogged previously, Jordanian women’s organizations have been active in trying to improve Jordanian laws that affect women’s lives. A number of women’s organizations activists had started a campaign to organize a lobby in the House of Representatives last month. Now they met with Prime Minister Dahabi.

Check out this news from The Jordan Times:

Dahabi meets with women’s rights activists

AMMAN (Petra) – Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on Saturday met with a delegation representing the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW). During the meeting, JNCW Secretary General Asma Khader reviewed the committee’s priorities which focus on finalising women-related legislation and ending all kinds of discrimination in existing laws. Dahabi and the delegation members highlighted the importance of increasing women’s involvement in the workforce and examining reasons hindering their participation. Dahabi underlined the government’s efforts to boost women’s participation in the economy and amend related legislation. The delegation briefed Dahabi on amendments proposed by the JNCW on several laws, including labour, social security, nationality, elections and civil status.

The news in The Jordan Times is very brief, but you can read it in details over at Al Rai (in Arabic). I am hopeful things will change for the better for Jordanian women. I truly hope that our tribal and businessy House of Representatives will not overlook the importance of gender equality as its predecessors have.At any rate, that will only delay the legalization of our demands, and will not succeed in “erasing” them.

Linuxed!

I am now safely Linuxed, thanks to Jad who met me this morning and fixed the mess that I created last night.

Installing Ubuntu, the version of Linux I am now using, was easy. It was piss actually and anyone can do it. You just follow the instructions and you’re done. BUT, being the troublemaker that I am, I admit that I messed things up last night. That was not entirely my fault, but also the fault of a bit old version of Ubuntu and some technical jargon I could not understand.

I accidentally erased everything on my HDD, and as a consequence, wanted to go back to Windows. Windows was gone by then, so I tried re-installing Ubuntu to gain access to an OS. Then, my laptop got really confused and said ENOUGH, thou shalt never enter here again! I was heartbroken until this morning when Jad fixed it for me. I should be bummed over losing my recent pictures and documents, but I am not. Not very much, at least. C’est la vie.

So far, I am loving the change. I even found a way to play my favorite strategy game (Caesar III) through Ubuntu. I am sure the ride will be bumpy along the way, but I enjoy trying new things and so I am glad things worked out.

Short Notice

Hi everyone,

I did a silly thing and decided to switch to Linux today. My laptop is no longer functional, it talks in strange tongues now and will not do anything. I will be back when my life is a little less ruined.

T.

A Country in Denial

Some times I wish there was a huge creature who could slap Jordan on the face and wake us all up. Apparently, we are offended by a Human Rights Watch report on the situation of liberties and human rights in the country. We even call it baseless and partial and accusatory. Do we really think this state of denial we live in will last for long? Are the people dumb enough to be lulled by a governmental press release in newspapers?

From the Jordan Times:

Human rights, liberties protected – gov’t

Jordan on Sunday rejected as “baseless, contradictory and partial” a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the situation of public freedoms and human rights in the Kingdom.

A government statement made available to The Jordan Times said Jordan “regrets the accusatory language” in the report and the “uncalculated judgements” made against the country.

“Rights and freedoms protection has not declined as claimed by the report, which made groundless judgements,” said the statement.

On the contrary, it added, Jordan has recently witnessed developments, accomplishments and measures that enhanced respect for human rights, noting that the Kingdom has a plan to achieve more in this field, which includes broad socio-economic changes.

The HRW report, “Democracy Charade Undermines Rights”, released late January, included Jordan among countries that allegedly held “dubious elections” in an attempt to pose as real democracies.

…

The New York-based group, which surveys the human rights situation in more than 75 countries, criticised Jordan for alleged violations related to freedom of speech, arrest procedures, the Public Assembly Law, the Political Parties Law, the NGOs Law, Iraqi “refugees” and treatment of foreign labour in industrial estates.

What would it take for a common Jordanian to realize the truth? A trip to a Qualified Industrial Zone, criticism of the royal family, or getting arrested. No amount of press releases will then blind the public.

Boo!

When I was younger, and had longer hair, I used to enjoy scaring my nieces and nephews. I invented a faceless, hairy monster called “Brake” who would show up whenever I wanted to have a good laugh. I used to wear a black robe, flip my then long hair on my face, put on glasses, and crawl on the floor from behind doors making low and scary sounds.

I remember when I was a kid, there was an older guy in our neighborhood who some times put on a black robe and a maimed gorilla mask and went around running and screaming. That used to freak me out so much and I always cried when I saw him, despite my mother’s attempts to assure me it was just a normal guy underneath the costume.

It is only now that I think I was doing something pretty cruel, and that I might have scarred these kids for life. Who would do such a thing for fun, except a demented aunt like me? But in my defense, I stopped doing “Brake” a long time ago.

And now I found a new monster! I made fake eyeballs like the ones I blogged about earlier today, and wore my brother’s bank-robber’s mask and put on a black hoodie. I am taking my scary activities online. Be afraid, be very afraid.

The tilted head pose and lack of facial features sort of remind me of Jason.