like a fish needs a bicycle...

shameless plug

ok, friends, the time has come for me to publicize a very important report that i've been working on all semester and that was launched at NYU law school last night by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

it's called "Americans on Hold: Profiling, Citizenship, and the 'War on Terror.'"

you can read and hear all about it here.

you can digg it on Digg.com here.

and you can see how some news outlets have been covering it thus far here and here.

finalmente

this month was full of nasty weather. it made me think of rachel, who always used to say that "april is the cruelest month." for a long time, i thought she was reponsible for that profound and timeless insight. then i found out that she was an english major, so of course, she was quoting t.s. eliot.

in any case, this april was yucky. we had a "northeaster" apparently, and though NYC was (thankfully) spared most of the resultant flooding, it was cold and rainy and gross for weeks after the lovely spring weather should've arrived. this was especially unwelcome because we got teased by some lovely 65-degree days in march... which were then followed by almost a month of wearing my big winter coat.

but then, this weekend, it suddenly got beautiful outside. sunshine and 70+ degrees outside. it was so nice all at once that i almost couldn't take it -- i just felt overwhelmed by the lovely weather. but i got over it, and we did, of course, make the most of it. we went walking around brooklyn and took naps and went to prospect park and played frisbee with rooms. it was a really relaxing and much needed weekend.

and now, that special time of year has officially arrived. the time when i put on my flip flops and refuse to take them off until labor day. yay! :)

the domesticated animal

when i was a kid, i spent several years of my life wanting nothing more than dog. then i spent a few more years wanting nothing more than a horse. my sister, shadi, and i were tireless advocates for our cause... we harassed our parents constantly, making all kinds of logical arguments, impassioned pleas, diatribes about what it is to be "american," and, perhaps most importantly, comparisons to other children with dogs of course, my parents never caved. they maintained that there was no need to have an animal, and that, if they got us one, we would get lazy and irresponsible and they would just end up having to take care of it. i think they were also, perhaps unconsciously, operating on the sensibilities of the culture they grew up in, which taught them that dogs are dirty. but that's another story. in any case, we weren't happy about their decision, and at the time, i felt quite oppressed and deprived.

in retrospect, i not only completely agree with them, i think i'm even more averse to domestic animals than they ever were. for one thing, they were absolutely right about kids getting lazy and not taking care of their pets--i can't even count how many kids i knew growing up who neglected their dogs. their parents would have to feed the animals, and no one would give them the exercise they needed. also, i've just concluded that having domesticated animals is, for the most part, quite ridiculous.

if you have a farm, and you need dogs to herd your sheep, then great--domesticate a dog. i think that has been a legitimate reason for a human to "own" a dog for centuries. but otherwise, i just can't understand why humans have tamed, bred, bought, and sold dogs and cats. to me, it seems not only cruel to them, but also wasteful for us as human beings.

living in new york, i constantly see people walking around with their dogs... dogs that live in tiny apartments, have nowhere to run around, and have to poop on the sidewalk and have their owners clean up after them or face a $300 fine. the very fact that they're living somewhere that requires their owners to clean up after them is, to me, testament to the fact that they're living somewhere that they shouldn't be living. dogs should be able to run free, and poop in a place where it doesn't matter and it all biodegrades. i suppose that having a dog in a large suburban backyard is less cruel, but still seems so unnatural.

the other day, i was listening to NPR (as usual), and i heard a discussion on brian lehrer about the recent pet food contamination that's been in the news. they had a few guests and callers who were outraged at the quality of pet food these days. one guest was expressing her indignation that pet foods today are made from "meat by-products," which are the dead or diseased parts of animals that we would never feed to humans. at that point, one of the guests, an experienced veterinarian, interjected, saying that dead and diseased animals are exactly what dogs and cats would feed on in the wild, and their digestive systems and immune systems are designed for that--we shouldn't even be trying to feed them food that's fit for humans.

another guest was talking about how she cooks especially for her dogs, and she can't believe that people feed their dogs regular pet food. at that point, the veterinarian also brought up another very good point: dogs will survive just fine on pet food, and perhaps the energy she spends cooking for her dogs could be spent preparing and delivering food to all the starving *human beings* in our society. of course, she was quite offended, and pointed out that there's more than enough of food in the world to feed all the human beings, but that that food is just poorly distributed. a fair point, of course, but maybe her time, energy, and money--and that of others who cook especially for their pets--could be spent distributing that food to humans who need it.

then a lady called in and started, "hi brian. i'm a cat therapist in new jersey." a cat therapist? i seriously busted out laughing. i thought doggy day care was bad. i thought pet resorts (that can run in the thousands of dollars) were really bad. but cat therapists? wow. just wow. what is wrong with people?

there was one guest on the show who was talking about how, in the past 10 years, there's been a noticeable trend towards americans conceiving of their pets not as "family pets," but as "members of the family." they think of their pets as their children, and treat them that way. i find this all really disturbing. in hearing this lady talk about this trend, i was reminded of a news piece i saw about the immediate aftermath of hurricane katrina. in the piece, there was an old woman who was rescued from her attic by a relief worker in a motorboat, but she absolutely refused to get into the boat until they agreed to allow her to bring her *15* cats onto the boat in cages. she finally sat on the boat, along with her several cages of cats. i couldn't help but wonder how many human beings could've been sitting where those cats were sitting.

for me, it just all keeps coming back to this simple fact: animals aren't humans. my faith teaches be to be kind and fair to animals, and i definitely think that lots of meat industries do disgusting and terrible things to animals that they shouldn't be doing. but my faith also teaches me that humans are unique among God's creation--we have the ability to know our Creator, and we are endowed with a rational faculty. to me, this makes sense. to me, humans are the priority. and when resources are scarce, we have to prioritize.

before we put cats in those seats on the rescue boat, we should make sure all the humans in new orleans have been rescued. before we make elaborate home-cooked meals for domesticated animals, we should make sure all humans have been fed. and before we spend our energy fighting for animal rights, we should make sure all humans have rights.

in this day and age, there are countless charities, countless causes, countless places to put our money. it's easy to get compassion fatigue--there's way too much in this world to be depressed about. it's easy to get overwhelmed--there's way too much to fix. and it's easy to get tired--there's way to much to put our energy into. that's why i think priorities are necessary.

i don't think it's fair to animals to make them our household possessions, our playthings, our replacements for human love and interaction. it's not natural or healthy for them. and it's not healthy for us as individuals--or as a human race.

i understand there are people who have sane and healthy relationships with their dogs and who give them plenty of space to run and play. but i still don't think maintaining animals as our domesticated pets is a good use of our time, money, and energy. i think we would all be better served if we spent our time and energy improving the plight of humanity. perhaps some day, when all humans have human rights, when all people have enough to eat, and when all societies enjoy social justice, we can cook for animals and give them psychotherapy. until then, there are people being tortured every day, there are people suffering from domestic and sexual violence every day, there are poeple starving every day... there is much to be done. and i just don't think making chicken parmesan for fido should be at the top of the to-do list.

detachment

detachment is not minding that i didn't win the third oral argument--even if i lost by a point.

detachment is not being indignant at losing--even if i had a better command of the case and a better oral presentation.

detachment is not feeling anything personal towards judges--even if they were unfair, not following the rules, being hypersensitive and/or biased.

detachment is not ruminating on the injustice i believe i experienced--even if it could be factually proven.

detachment is not caring enough to write a blog entry about it at 12:36am when i'm already quite tired and have much else to do.

return to nashvegas

happy wedding, delara and e-steve! it was lovely! y'all seem so happy, and i'm very happy for you both.

it was really a nice weekend for all of us. the weather was perfect--a welcome respite for those of us living in colder parts. and we all got to spend some quality time with people we love. AND we ate at cracker barrel (the texan in me was long overdue for some biscuits and gravy). before we went last weekend, i hadn't been to nashville in quite some time. but i had been many times. this was my favorite trip there. :)

here are some highlights...