Words of Week 25

Teetotalism: Abstaining from alcohol
Dread: Overwhelming fear
Exasperate: To make very angry
Amorphous: Without shape
Stark: Bare, without decroation

Where am I?

I start most of my posts with the source of my inspiration, and this topic came to me at 4:17 am in the morning as I was falling asleep thinking of how great of an author I wanted to become. Then it hit me, what am I to write about? Philosophical rants and humanity's faults compressed between two hard covers isn't what people want to read. We don't want to be reminded of our vices and our responsibilities. And that is why we read fiction: because we want to escape reality for a while, and think about other people or other creatures. And then a second wave of realization hit me like a strong aftershock and I thought to myself, even if I wrote fiction, my characters would be so out of this world because they hardly appear in any other fictitious work. What characters? Us, Muslims. 

I have noticed that Muslims are barely present in pop culture. We aren't in fiction books unless written by Muslim authors for Muslim readers (with a few exceptions). We especially aren't in dystopian books. So what? Is there an undercover conspiracy we will all be wiped out before the year 2100? We aren't in movies unless we are selling oil, committing crime or being involved in acts of terrorism (with a few exceptions). We aren't in comedies unless we are made fun of. We are not in TV shows that depict daily lives of people (with a few exceptions, those exceptions being when we are portrayed as suspicious criminals). We aren't present in schools in movies and TV shows while every other minority gets represented with and without their sad stereotypes. 

Why doesn't the protagonist have a Muslim friend who doesn't eat pork and dislikes gossiping? Why isn't there an antagonist who stops using drugs under the influence of a nice Muslim friend? Why isn't there a Muslim coworker who abstains from alcohol? Why isn't there a Muslim politician who is honest? Why isn't there a Muslim neighbor who brings over food in Ramadan? Why isn't there a Muslim fashionista with a hijab(head covering)?

We aren't that hard to write about or act out. A few dietary restrictions, no cursing, no gossiping, no lying, no flirting, no tight clothes. There you have it. Ideal Muslim teenager. Tries to appeal to the mind and heart of zer friends with the way ze leads zer life. Is confident, can't stand injustice, and performs selfless acts on a daily basis. Can make jokes and have fun as much as any teenager but can also lead intellectual conversations and discuss the importance of life. Is not perfect, makes mistakes -- because is human (SHOCKER!). We can be incorporated into any story, I guarantee it.

If you cannot find actors to play in your movies, you might as well ask one of us and we will do it. We do have acting talent in our community. After all, Muslims are only 1.6 billion of the 7 billion population of our globe, a mere 23%. In USA, we are a minority with a small number of roughly 2.6 million people. (Source)

So I decided to change pop culture and introduce some strong Muslim characters. (Belle dreams big #2) And I hope more people join in. If you aren't familiar with our lifestyle, I am certain you can befriend a Muslim and ask zer if you have questions. In the end, the life of a writer a movie maker and a public artist always contains large amounts of research and first-hand experience.


Lots of highlighters
~Belle

Expectations Everywhere

Succeed. Be remembered. Make history. Make us proud.  Be comfortable. Have a job. Get married. Have children. Be patient. Go to a good university. Be intelligent. Get a PhD. Own a house. Be wealthy. Drive a sports car. Be attractive. Travel the world. Make friends. Be nice. Donate money. Win the lottery. Be generous. Share your talents. Socialize. Adopt a pet. Be you...Only then maybe, you can try being happy. (:  

You see, there is an ancient gramophone in the back of my head that plays the above message on repeat. For me, that gramophone started playing when I started high school, and it has been there for nearly three years. And today, as I was spending a cynical and and equally miserable day, I thought to myself, why? Why do I put up with this ugly, bad mash-up recording?

The world expects each and every single one of us to act and exist in a certain way and we are burdened with countless external expectations as if our own self-established expectations weren't enough. So, to find a better track to play in the background of my daily life, I took a tour in the record store that supplies my imaginary gramophone and I saw that all the expectation records were categorized into three sections:

1. Inherent expectations,
2. Identity expectations, and
3. Individual expectations

I chose the top records from each section to represent that section.

Track 01 - Inherent Expectations, 'Me, Myself and My Soul'

These expectations come from being a human. As I don't believe in speciation and therefore a huge chunk of evolution, and instead believe in creation and having a somewhat sacred purpose in my life, I am expected to behave in a predetermined way. My personal belief dictates that I am not an 'animal' and I am not just a step in the evolutionary ladder either. I am not the result of infinite impossibilities and I am definitely not here by chance. I am above an animal, and I am above a plant. I am superior, BUT only if I lead a life that sets itself apart. My inherent expectations are to be honest, to be trustworthy, to be loyal, to be kind, to be compassionate, to be patient, and to be selfless. I enjoy this track because it encourages me to grow into a big-hearted person. I can do more than merely eating, sleeping and living a pointless life. I can do more than what an animal is capable of.

Track 02 - Identity Expectations, 'Insignificant Part of a Significant Whole'

These expectations come from being me. When I first started this blog, I wrote a post about identity, who I am, and to what communities I belong to. Every piece of my identity has different expectations. My gender expects submission and femininity. Our society and the way we have lived our lives from the beginning have shaped these expectations. In a matriarchal society I would have been expected to be dominant and stubborn. My countries expect patriotism, and to an extent, some nationalism. People whom I haven't met expect things from me, and then they act surprised when I tell them there is too much pressure on my back. As a teenager, society expects rebellion, peers expect perfection, parents expect obedience, and younger people expect exemplary lives. My school expects success, my teachers expect minimum grades, the education system expects proficiency in subjects that don't interest me, colleges expect participation in sports when I can't even kick a ball, and newspaper columnists expect revolutionary inventions and philanthropic organizations, so they can write about me: the outcast of her generation. As a daughter and as a big sister, my parents expect a sharing attitude, positivity and a healthy balance in my life. As a best friend to two incredible girls and as an attentive listener to the whole population, I am expected to be a locked chest full of secrets and problems and I am expected to be wise and give good advice. My relationship with this track is complicated. Perhaps, I need specialization in some of these categories to ease up on myself.

Track 03 - Individual Expectations, 'I Am Invincible"

These expectations come from myself. These are the things I expect myself to do. If you read my blog on a considerably regular basis, you'll know I expect big things from myself. I expect to change the world. Yeah. Belle dreams big. Apart from my seemingly unachievable dreams, and unattainable goals, I want to become a best-selling author, meet inspiring people, give a TED talk, intern for National Geographic or Google, marry someone I genuinely love, set up an art exhibition, live in a house near the ocean, and publish a photo journal. The problem with my individual expectations is that most of them are based on the future and I tend to think that only after I achieve them I will be happy. And, materializing my life and relying on achievement to be happy makes me everything but happy. I need to focus on now and carpe diem.


&&&

Now that I am trying to reduce the active expectations in my brain, I have been thinking about one question. If we cannot yet fulfill the expectations that come from being human, how can we fulfill expectations that come after? We are full of greed and narcissistic desires, and we don't strive to keep them at a low point. We can't get rid of them because we are human, but we don't work towards refining our values either. Which is more important: inherent expectations or identity and individual expectations? How do we raise our children, what should we focus on? I think if we focus on inherent expectations, we will improve as a society because 1. they are simpler and 2. they are broader. If we work towards being loyal in general, then we fulfill our inherent expectation AND other expectations such as friend and country loyalty. So, I am going to shift my focus on being a more worthy human and I believe the details will come by themselves.

Lots of record sleeves,

~Belle

Fingertips

I am taking an economics class this summer and my latest lesson was about protecting oneself from identity theft. Apparently, about nine million Americans every year get their identities stolen. They go around not knowing who they are or why they exist. The government recruits them for scientific research and after being given new identities, these nine million Americans are released into the wild to become a part of the working class and work their way up to have their identities stolen again.

*I am joking about the last part. They aren't released into the wild, they are sent overseas for dangerous medical experiments.

Apart from the provoked confabulation on my part, I was struck with an extremely inefficient idea to prevent identity theft. Instead of sending lengthy emails, delivering documents in the mail, asking for personal information over phone conversations and swiping cards and signing checks to pay, why don't we have all our information on our personalized body features. Since every human being has distinct fingerprints, noseprints and retinal patterns, we should get rid of all of our old identification methods and adopt a new technology with the entire population's distinct feature data in it.

Imagine a machine that combines fingerprint authentication, iris scanning, and noseprint recognition. One of the three would have been weak by itself, but in having three, we would ensure to reduce identity theft to almost zero. Along with reducing identity theft, the machine would also aid in:

• Creating millions of jobs: By requesting people who can produce the machine theoretically and materially, who can market it, who can manage the data inside the machine, and who can protect the data etc. 
• Fixing the economy: By reducing unemployment and therefore increasing the money supply in the market and also by inducing safe monetary decisions and transactions as a result of the reduction in identity theft 
• Reducing air and water pollution: Reduces air pollution by reducing the paper usage and therefore the need for cutting trees. Reduces water pollution by reducing the need for paper recycling centers which use paper and excessive amounts of energy to recycle paper and dump their processed water back into streams that either provide drinking water for people or habitat for marine organisms 

I think, it would also be convenient to add speaker recognition. That way, people would be protected from all sorts of psychopaths. If it were just fingerprints or noseprints, some desperate maniacs would go around trying to chop pieces of people's bodies. When we add iris recognition, although it eliminates losing parts of your body, it puts you in a all-or-nothing scenario in which an unstable minded person may as well deprive you of your existence and drag your dead body to my miraculous machine. So, if I also add speaker recognition (there must be a secret code to initiate a call to 911 and protect the person's account in case someone is holding a gun to their head) then, I am sure people would think it easier to get a job then to steal someone's identity. 

The machine will have all your needed data such as credit card bills, insurance plans, mortgage payments, loans, emails, tickets, passwords, cloud data and so on. To secure all this data a security system needs to be built for the sole reason of encrypting each piece of information and protecting it so it is impossible to access by pure computer hacking talent.

I am still thinking of a name, but I will update if I find one.
Until then,

Lots of TARDIS stickers,
~Belle

Words of Week 24

Con artist: A person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk
Ponzi Scheme: A swindle in which a quick return, made up of money from new investors, on an initial investment lures the victim into much bigger risks.
Ambivalence: Uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things
Succumb: To give way to superior force; yield

Cogitation: Concerted thought or reflection; meditation; contemplation
Stoic: A person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.

I accidentally deleted my other post and I had to substitute my list for next week. I am really mad at myself and if you saw any of the words I posted earlier and can remember them, please tell me // 

Charms in tuesdays with Morrie

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, 191 pages

*The title on the book is capitalized as I have typed, so it is not a mistake although most online reviews and pages for the book capitalize the t and the w.

"Simpson trial was in full swing, and there were people who surrendered their entire lunch hours watching it, then taped the rest so they could watch more at night. They didn't know O. J. Simpson. They didn't know anyone involved in the case. Yet they gave up days and weeks of their lives, addicted to someone else's drama."

"Love is the only rational act."

"Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

"Love each other, or perish."

"People are only mean when they're threatened."

"In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? [...] But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."
--
No matter how old you are right now, no matter how many books you may be reading at this time, and no matter how busy you might be, allot three hours of your day today and read this book. Your view on how to live your life will completely change, and if it doesn't you can email me for the three hours you lost. This book not only has a powerful writing style, but also a beautiful plot. It is a highly emotional story, one that will definitely remain unforgettable to me for the rest of my life. I am certain that you will fall in love with Morrie and I hope after you read it, you take his advice and start thoroughly enjoying your life.

Here is a picture of my copy from the library. I have also read 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom and I really enjoyed it, though not as much as this one. tuesdays with Morrie became a favorite as soon as I finished the last page and really, I cannot express how much I would be happy if every single soul on the planet could read this book and cherish it.

photograp by Belle, 2013

Charms in Insurgent

Insurgent  by Veronica Roth, 525 pages (Divergent #2)

"Like a wild animal, the truth is too powerful to remain caged."

"Noise and activity are the refuges of the bereaved and the guilty."

"There is no real reason for tear glands to overproduce tears at the behest of an emotion. I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity."

"People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them."

"[S]ometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like."
--
I really enjoyed every bit of this follow-up to Divergent. The plot kept me turning the pages, and the story was filled with both emotions and actions. I am looking forward to Allegiant, both for the mellifluous writing and the anticipated ending.

[Spoilers and a More Thorough Review]

The relationships between people in this book surprised me in each passing chapter. I think Veronica Roth has a talent with extreme plot twists and manipulation. Peter saving Tris, Caleb turning out to be a traitor, Tris allying with Marcus, Johanna stepping down from Amity... There was so much tension all throughout the book, but the strained relationship between Tris and Tobias made me anxious the most. Fight after fight they came back with more difficulties and secrets, although I had lost all hope at some point, I liked the reconciliated ending. The message deliverance and the factionless overtake was brilliant. One problem I personally had was the death of Jeanine. It was really sudden and I liked her as a strong interesting character, so I wanted to hear her logical fights and plans in an interrogation or a ceremony, but she just died. What I am left wondering is if the factions will open the gates, and go into the world, and who was the Prior who delivered the message in the video?

I. Am. The. Change.

My life, in all its flat eccentricity involves a lot of soliloquies, and yesterday after I watched 6 TED talks, and was in the process of getting ready to pray, I imagined myself a TED speaker. It was a rare moment of pure intellectual inspiration and I recorded what I was saying instead of typing it or jotting it down because I couldn't risk losing certain concepts that formed in my brain -- I had an inner discovery about change. Change as a general factor in our lives and in our society. This was shortly after reading through an infographic about the millennial generation.

In Turkish, there is a saying along the lines of "If you call a person stupid 40 times, he will eventually believe himself to be stupid." This is the case with our generation, the millennial generation. The generation before us (the adults) and the generation before them (the seniors) keep calling us lazy, impassive, inactive, bored, detached, indifferent and disinterested. And in the end, some of us will believe that we cannot change the world, but the world can't afford that sort of a mindset right now. We can't afford to have a fraction of our generation partially hopeful, a fraction of it completely cynical, and the remaining nonchalantly stoical.

Especially at this time, we can't have people unaware of their surroundings and unwilling to act because they don't believe in their power to change the world. There are lots of challenges waiting to be tackled and every single person on the planet needs to contribute to the solutions. By calling my generation stupid and unable to accomplish anything, not only do people demotivate us but they also drag us into a black hole they have created out of their debts, racism, sexism, discrimination, wars, waste and moral corruptness.

They want us to follow their footsteps and throw ourselves into this black hole, but we won't do that. Why? Because we CAN change the world and we WILL, but the first step is to believe. We need people to understand that we ARE capable of doing that. We are capable of changing the world, and we need people to believe that. We are so much more than what the last generation was. We are capable of producing ideas outside the box that is in reality a dotted circle. We are creative and daring. More than the ones that came before us.

But, we need to believe. My generation needs to believe, and everyone else needs to support that belief. The world took a downturn before us, and the people of my generation were the promised saviors. We were born believing and we were going full speed but suddenly obstacles appeared on our road to changing the world. Suddenly people started saying "Nope, there is a speed limit to how fast you can achieve near-perfection" and "You know, you might even be underage to be on this road..."

I am foolishly realizing that people KNOW we are capable of changing the world, and they KNOW we can help them out of their black hole, but they are so proud and so arrogant, they don't want us to succeed, which makes believing the first threshold we need to step over.

A few weeks ago, I had a small debate with a university professor about what should be done about the youth to insure our paths in life. I told him that the youth needs a clear sense of direction but that alone won't solve our issues, and the environment in which the youth grow and mature needs to be appropriate. And to achieve that environment we need to also direct the parents, the teachers, the leaders, and other influences on the youth in the right direction. He told me it was easier said than done, because no matter how much we work on the youth, we can never change the parents or the teachers or the adults in general because their personalities are already set in stone.

Well, with that mindset, of course we can't. If we believe that we can change the environment, we can. And, that sounds so naive and unrealistically optimistic, but it is true. If I believe I can change these people, I will, but I DO need help. I need people who are passionate and genuinely interested in changing the world. I need people who believe they can change the world.

The professor said, these adults already shaped how they live their lives, you can't change a person's lifestyle after he is 50 years old. That is partially true because 'child is father of the man,' but people change all the time. People change over the years, people change overnight, criminals become philanthropists, football players become artists, atheists becomes theists etc.

And society accepts them wholeheartedly. We don't say 'NO. You were a criminal when you were 17 and you need to die a criminal too. You aren't allowed to help our society by being a good person and doing good things. You are forbidden to change." Since this is not the case, why don't we accept small changes in personalities and mindsets? Small perspective changes to make people more acquainted with the world and open their eyes. If I present you with a new way to view the world, your brain automatically registers that and your horizons broaden despite you. You may not have wanted to know, but as soon as you hear what I say, you cannot undo that, you can't command your brain to erase it, you can't restore to a previous version, you have gained a new frame of reference and that's all it takes.

That, is how I believe I can change the world. And, I am not the only person who believes in herself and in this generation to change the world. There may be thousands of us, but that is still not enough. The world holds 7 billion people, we need to move quicker and we need to make people believe. We need support. We need sincere individuals with the same goal. And, we start small, but in the course of time we will grow. If each impassioned individual influences (yay alliteration) 50 close friends and family, and those 50 people become a part of this huge cause to change the world, the impact will grow exponentially. Each of those 50 people can influence 50 people and if everyone continues to pay it forward, and I was the only person to start the chain reaction it would take less than 6 complete rounds of 50 people to cover the globe's population.

And, if everyone believes, imagine how creatively we will change the world. Our diversities and our different educations, cultures, backgrounds, and languages will coalesce in a unique harmony and we will change the world abstractly. And, (not to brag or anything) my generation will be the artist behind this new masterpiece, my generation will be the author of this new world. A new world where education is free, poverty is at its lowest, people aren't hungry and there is a cure for cancer. We CAN do this. But to do that, we need to start, and to start is at the heart. We need to believe, we need to find it logical to believe, and we need to act.

Everyone needs to do something in zer power. If your best ability is to tweet then tweet, if you have a lot of connections on Facebook, then share with people, if you can video blog, then become a YouTuber, make a recording, post it on Tumblr, make a collage on your wall that tells a story, take a picture of it, put it on Instagram. Use the social networking websites/apps to change the same adults who shame them. Show them we can. Show them we can change them, show them we aren't disconnected, show them we WILL change the world. Show them how easy it is for us to accomplish that.

Be inspired. Be passionate.
Because we can get the hell away from that black hole and we can start a new world on a different star. We can watch the galaxies and we can travel on the moon. Is this relevant? Yes. Every ounce of it. I am inspired, I am happy, I believe. I believe that every word I type on this blog, every photograph I share, every single line I draw in my sketch book contributes to something. Something I believe in. Something that will change the world.

Yours truly,
A fervent Belle

Words of Week 23

Conjure: Make (something) appear unexpectedly or seemingly from nowhere as if by magic
Contemptuous: Showing contempt; scornful
Manifesto: A public declaration of policy and aims, esp. one issued before an election by a political party or candidate
Prudent: Acting with or showing care and thought for the future
Premise: A previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion
Retrospect: A survey or review of a past course of events or period of time
Exuberant: Filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement

Sorry.

"Hey! At least I say sorry!"

In reality this quality isn't as positive as it implies because it means we do a lot of things that require us to apologize. Instead of boasting about how apologetic we are and how we always say 'sorry' when required, we should concentrate on reducing the amount of times we have to say sorry. Of course, we are fallible and we make mistakes, but if we are going to brag about our qualities, it should be about how we say 'sorry' at most 10 times a year.

To achieve that level of mindfulness we constantly need to be careful of what we say and what we do. People are fragile, but through perpetual awareness and caution we can  learn to treat each other properly and make it a habit.

Going off on a tangent, the word 'sorry' implies regret, sorrow, pity and suffering. Psychologically, using this word when it doesn't match the context, may make us feel bad about ourselves and lower self-esteem. Don't say 'sorry' when you are trying to go past someone, say 'excuse me.' Don't see yourself unworthy of people's time and energy. We all deserve respect. [I somehow manage to come back to this in each post.]

Lots of bokeh,
~Belle

Words of Week 22

Solicit: To seek to influence or incite to action,especially unlawful or wrong action

Makeshift: A temporary expedient or substitute 

Defraud: To deprive of a right, money, or property by fraud

Fallacious: Containing a fallacy; logically unsound
Slander: The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.