The world is awaiting the royal wedding tomorrow. Media is full of all sorts of news: which officials got invited, what cake they will have, what dress the bride will wear, she is doing her own make up? Why?
In the world of wars in Libya, Afghanistan,..., radiations in Japan, unrest in Syria, tornado in Alabama,...the world wishes to escape it all, crawl into a fairy tale story of a prince marrying a regular girl, the girl becoming a princess, and feeding girls the princess stories. Fashion, music, festivities, and all the glamor coming with it are fun and nice to watch. I love celebrations, creation of beauty, demonstrating and performing arts, I will probably watch parts of it myself. However, I do not think the royal young couple are the couple the world should set their eyes on tomorrow.
I beg to differ. Tomorrow, the world should be watching a different couple, learning from them, admire and cheer for them, celebrate them, and make them their kids' role models, not princes and princesses who are born royalty or become royalty by association. Rather those who reach for the stars despite all barriers and odds, who stand next to each other till death sets them apart. I am talking about the all American couple Senator Gabriell Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly.
It was less than four months ago, on January 8, 2011, that Senator Gabriell Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head while having a town hall meeting with her constituents on a weekend. Captain Kelly, her husband, was supposed to fly on STS-133 but the incident made him leave training and preparations at Huston to be next to his wife in Arizona, where he was told she might have 4-6 months to live. He did not fly with that mission. Every day he was next to her silent body, that eventually opened her eyes one day, communicated with her husband by rubbing his wedding band, telling him she knows him, loves him, she kept the tradition of defying odds, and encouraging her husband to continue making dreams reality.
Tomorrow, he will be the Captain of STS-134, the last flight of Endeavor, and his wife, miraculously and constantly improving, flew to Florida to be there at KSC and send him away, along with president Obama and 40,000 or more people at KSC, and the nation and hopefully the world watching them. I will be watching the launch from our auditorium with our own Senator Mikulski. I encourage you to watch history on Friday 3:47 pm EST on NASA TV too. The couple to watch tomorrow is not the royal couple, it is Mark Kelly and Gabriell Gifford, dedicated to their goals and ideals next to each other, moving forward!
Related:
Obama's moving speech at a nice ceremony for Arizona victims few days after the event (although I could not get the audience cheering at the beginning when people were killed and shot and mourning):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztbJmXQDIGA
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Turn of the events
When we meet a new person we admire and respect or simply like, when we work on getting to know them, or even better finding a new friend in them and we succeed, we get thrilled for having them in our lives, for them letting us be part of their lives. However, often times, we may learn that in fact we were meant to be in their lives in that point in time, that they needed us, more than we needed them, to open a new window, give some hope, lend a hand, or simply be there for them.
Monday, April 25, 2011
كفر به احساس
تمام شعرهاى دنيا گفته شد.
هر كس در هر عصرى،
همان شادى ها را چشيد و دردها را كشيد و سرود و رفت.
اگر شعر درمان نباشد چه؟
اگر شعر، ريشه دردها باشد چه؟
شايد بايد بى دين و ايمان شد،
كفر گفت به احساس،
برود پى كارش،
ديگر جرات نكند كسى را دست بيندازد.
نه تو را، نه من را، نه هر كس ديگرى را.
شايد بازار شعر بايد كساد شود.
مشتريانش كمتر، تلفاتش كمتر.
پيش از آن اما، در سوگ شعر شعرى بايد سرود.
هر كس در هر عصرى،
همان شادى ها را چشيد و دردها را كشيد و سرود و رفت.
اگر شعر درمان نباشد چه؟
اگر شعر، ريشه دردها باشد چه؟
شايد بايد بى دين و ايمان شد،
كفر گفت به احساس،
برود پى كارش،
ديگر جرات نكند كسى را دست بيندازد.
نه تو را، نه من را، نه هر كس ديگرى را.
شايد بازار شعر بايد كساد شود.
مشتريانش كمتر، تلفاتش كمتر.
پيش از آن اما، در سوگ شعر شعرى بايد سرود.
Monday, April 18, 2011
خوش به حال دخترك
دخترك سه ساله با پدرش آمده بود تولد ناتالى 12 ساله، چون پدرهاشون دوست و فاميل بودند. دخترك با فارسى كتابى و شيرين حرف ميزد، و به خاطر اين هنر برترى داشت به ناتالى و ويكتوريا كه همه حرف هاى او را نميفهميدند. در جواب سوالات ميگفت بله. لباس زيبايى به تن داشت، و يك پاپيون قرمز بر سر. كلاسيك ترين تصويرى كه ميشود از يك دختر سه ساله ايرانى داشت. چندى نگذشت غريبى كرد. مامانش رو خواست. "بابا، بريم. بابا بريم خونمون. بابا شب شده، بريم خونمون."
خوش به حال دخترك، هر وقت ميخواست كافى بود به باباش بگه، باباش هم بغلش كنه و با هم برن خونشون كه همين نزديكى است پيش مامانش. خوش به حال دخترك كه نميداند ويكتورياى كوچك وقتى هم سن او بود چه ميكشيد وقتى دلش براى مامانش تنگ ميشد و نميتونست همون موقع بره پيش مامانش. خوش به حال دخترك كه نميداند آدم بزرگ ها هم با همه بزرگيشان نميتوانند هميشه هر وقت خواستند بروند خونشون. خوش به حال دخترك كه با يك كيك همه مشكلاتش حل شد و خوشحال شد و بعد هم رفت خونشون.
خوش به حال دخترك، هر وقت ميخواست كافى بود به باباش بگه، باباش هم بغلش كنه و با هم برن خونشون كه همين نزديكى است پيش مامانش. خوش به حال دخترك كه نميداند ويكتورياى كوچك وقتى هم سن او بود چه ميكشيد وقتى دلش براى مامانش تنگ ميشد و نميتونست همون موقع بره پيش مامانش. خوش به حال دخترك كه نميداند آدم بزرگ ها هم با همه بزرگيشان نميتوانند هميشه هر وقت خواستند بروند خونشون. خوش به حال دخترك كه با يك كيك همه مشكلاتش حل شد و خوشحال شد و بعد هم رفت خونشون.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
People that keep me going 2: Yuri's Night 2011
Last night the passionate intelligent cool space enthusiasts of D.C. gathered in Science Club to celebrate 50 years of man in space, anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight to space. I find it Ironic that Americans celebrate victory of their competitors during cold war era; but this in itself I believe is something worth celebrating! In fact, Yuri's night celebrations and yurisnight.net was founded by an American and now it is annually celebrated in over 70 countries in 7 continents and 2 worlds and counting!
For some unknown reason the celebration at NASA was canceled this year. So, most space enthusiasts of the area were jammed in this narrow three-level club. The atmosphere was electrifying, cool, and fun. Science club with pictures of Einstein, shuttle launches, chalk boards, ... was the perfect venue. As unbelievable as it was, people were having drinks over loud music as one would in any bar, and proving theorems on the chalk board with space suits on! I am not kidding. One guy was trying to prove sum of natural numbers, when performing what today I learned is called a Ramanujan summation, is -1/12! and he had many hooked and engaged and it was all normal! Funny part is my reaction to this guy when claiming that 1 + 2 + 3 + 4+ ... is -1/12 is exactly as Ramanujan himself expected one would in his letter: "If I tell you this you will at once point out to me the lunatic asylum as my goal. I dilate on this simply to convince you that you will not be able to follow my methods of proof if I indicate the lines on which I proceed in a single letter."
The organizers did a great job. They had planned trivia question on space history, science fiction movies, and science and technology. Let's just say questions were designed for the special audience and were tough! If you thought I knew anything about space, think again. I did miserably on the first two sections; science and technology was my strong part. Good thing nothing is done alone in space industry and it is always the team work that counts and matter.
The most entertaining part was how questions were yelled out, teams reactions, jokes and comments made. It was all so loud, so happy, and yet educational. Going through the answers and realizing our mistakes was so fun whether it was yelling oh yeah, or aww, or a loud laugh. The energy of the speaker* who went through 45 questions and answers, 15 in each category, in the most entertaining and funny way you can imagine was very impressive. The whole event was only few hours but well planned, just the way we like it! Enough time to mingle and socialize, enough time for trivia, enough time for people to play with legos and build shuttles, enough time to drink and mingle more, enough time to say goodbyes. Everything was accounted for, and everything worked like clock work, just as we like it.
The gifts and souvenirs were the most precious ones for our crowd. Pictures of astronauts, CDs on missions,...., and above all for me the little miracle that happened. I had seen very nice little NASA pins people wear for formal presentations, meetings, or gatherings on their jacket; It was always on my mind that I should one day go to visitor center and buy one. The thing is the size of a penny and may cost 2-3 dollars. But it looks so nice and cute to wear in formal gatherings. Out of the blue in the dark loud bar, this librarian guy walks to me and hands me a NASA pin and just looks at me. As if I had asked him for one and he says here we go! "I always wanted one of these!", I tell him. "Well, Merry Christmas!" he says and goes away. We all know each other very well, without knowing each other!
It was past mid-night when I got home. You would think everyone would take it a little easy the next working day. No, everyone was just pumped up! Well deserved thanks were delivered to organizers, photos of the event were uploaded, the geeks who could not sleep well the night before because they could not work out the physics mathematical question requested the question to be posted on the event's facebook page, answers were discussed, and the esteemed organizer* announced there will be gatherings soon to start planning next year's event!
Yes, at the end it was all about planning. We did not have a wonderful time in a gathering of wonderful people in a great venue with great music by accident; It was planned for. A concept hardly understood and practiced in my Iranian world and culture. I am so glad for having been exposed to other worlds and ways of doing things.
* This guy's energy and enthusiasm was very impressive. After getting to know him last night, I saw some pictures of him in north pole on his profile. I thought maybe he was part of one of those Greenland/Iceland projects studying the ice levels, etc. and went to the field with the crew. He went with the crew all right; as company's janitor! He proudly listed this past job title and position on his LinkedIn profile. Gotta love his spirit and enthusiasm! Maybe he did it on purpose, so that one day as I can envision him being a project lead of a cool mission, he could say "I started as a janitor!". It reminded me of the classical story of President Kennedy meeting a janitor at NASA during Apollo era!
For some unknown reason the celebration at NASA was canceled this year. So, most space enthusiasts of the area were jammed in this narrow three-level club. The atmosphere was electrifying, cool, and fun. Science club with pictures of Einstein, shuttle launches, chalk boards, ... was the perfect venue. As unbelievable as it was, people were having drinks over loud music as one would in any bar, and proving theorems on the chalk board with space suits on! I am not kidding. One guy was trying to prove sum of natural numbers, when performing what today I learned is called a Ramanujan summation, is -1/12! and he had many hooked and engaged and it was all normal! Funny part is my reaction to this guy when claiming that 1 + 2 + 3 + 4+ ... is -1/12 is exactly as Ramanujan himself expected one would in his letter: "If I tell you this you will at once point out to me the lunatic asylum as my goal. I dilate on this simply to convince you that you will not be able to follow my methods of proof if I indicate the lines on which I proceed in a single letter."
The organizers did a great job. They had planned trivia question on space history, science fiction movies, and science and technology. Let's just say questions were designed for the special audience and were tough! If you thought I knew anything about space, think again. I did miserably on the first two sections; science and technology was my strong part. Good thing nothing is done alone in space industry and it is always the team work that counts and matter.
The most entertaining part was how questions were yelled out, teams reactions, jokes and comments made. It was all so loud, so happy, and yet educational. Going through the answers and realizing our mistakes was so fun whether it was yelling oh yeah, or aww, or a loud laugh. The energy of the speaker* who went through 45 questions and answers, 15 in each category, in the most entertaining and funny way you can imagine was very impressive. The whole event was only few hours but well planned, just the way we like it! Enough time to mingle and socialize, enough time for trivia, enough time for people to play with legos and build shuttles, enough time to drink and mingle more, enough time to say goodbyes. Everything was accounted for, and everything worked like clock work, just as we like it.
The gifts and souvenirs were the most precious ones for our crowd. Pictures of astronauts, CDs on missions,...., and above all for me the little miracle that happened. I had seen very nice little NASA pins people wear for formal presentations, meetings, or gatherings on their jacket; It was always on my mind that I should one day go to visitor center and buy one. The thing is the size of a penny and may cost 2-3 dollars. But it looks so nice and cute to wear in formal gatherings. Out of the blue in the dark loud bar, this librarian guy walks to me and hands me a NASA pin and just looks at me. As if I had asked him for one and he says here we go! "I always wanted one of these!", I tell him. "Well, Merry Christmas!" he says and goes away. We all know each other very well, without knowing each other!
It was past mid-night when I got home. You would think everyone would take it a little easy the next working day. No, everyone was just pumped up! Well deserved thanks were delivered to organizers, photos of the event were uploaded, the geeks who could not sleep well the night before because they could not work out the physics mathematical question requested the question to be posted on the event's facebook page, answers were discussed, and the esteemed organizer* announced there will be gatherings soon to start planning next year's event!
Yes, at the end it was all about planning. We did not have a wonderful time in a gathering of wonderful people in a great venue with great music by accident; It was planned for. A concept hardly understood and practiced in my Iranian world and culture. I am so glad for having been exposed to other worlds and ways of doing things.
* This guy's energy and enthusiasm was very impressive. After getting to know him last night, I saw some pictures of him in north pole on his profile. I thought maybe he was part of one of those Greenland/Iceland projects studying the ice levels, etc. and went to the field with the crew. He went with the crew all right; as company's janitor! He proudly listed this past job title and position on his LinkedIn profile. Gotta love his spirit and enthusiasm! Maybe he did it on purpose, so that one day as I can envision him being a project lead of a cool mission, he could say "I started as a janitor!". It reminded me of the classical story of President Kennedy meeting a janitor at NASA during Apollo era!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
I am a woman!
I am a human,
Not a doll,
Nor a wall,
With an open mind,
A big brain,
A bigger heart,
And many opinions.
Get used to it.
Not a doll,
Nor a wall,
With an open mind,
A big brain,
A bigger heart,
And many opinions.
Get used to it.
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