At the Border: Transformation and Transition in Contemporary Conference

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
 السلام عليكم

boleh tak nak curi tulis kejap. i'm supposed to be revising and doing assignments.
Hari jumaat lalu, my class was assigned to go to this conference held in Oakton.

At the Border: Transformation and Transition in Contemporary Feminism

Friday, April 1, 2011

8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Join friends and colleagues from a wide range of disciplines, backgrounds and institutions as we explore one of the most significant themes to emerge in Women’s and Gender Studies in recent years. At the Border: Transformation and Transition in Contemporary Feminismwill present work by academics, activists, writers and artists that examines the many ways the concept of borders and border crossings informs contemporary feminist discourse. Highlights of the day include a keynote by renowned trans activist, biologist, poet and musician Julia Serano, as well as a plenary session featuring playwright, director and performer Tanya Saracho, recently named “Best New Playwright of 2010” by Chicago magazine.

It was very exciting. A conference going on at Oakton! That’s major! My day started with the breakfast of some hard rock bagels, cream cheese and decaf coffee. We entered the theatre hall with the introduction of the theme of the conference, “At the Border”. We are at the frontier of transforming our lives, adapting to changes and entering the human age where we have to HUNT for SURVIVAL. Cars, mechanism and skyscrapers will be left abandoned with the running out of power supply and fuel. It’ll be the process of decivilizing human kind.

The opening was great and hit me hard. Then we were served with a speech and some stage reading by a keynote speaker, Julia Serano, a male-to-female trans, a queer. Tahu pengisiannya macam tu, my friend, Cheyenne and I weren’t amused. We didn’t clap and stayed sober.

ini syndrome kat Malaysia...:(

forget melayu..this is extremely insulting to Islam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ya Allah…indeed, we are at the border. We are at the frontier. We are on the verge of the Promised Day. Kenapa sedih, ateeqa nasha…bukankah sebelum akhirat kita akan melalui zaman kegemilangan Islam? Is there going to be a bahtera that would take these kemungkaran away? Will there be an approaching catastrophe that would wipe out these kaum? wallahualam.

“Dan demi sesungguhnya! Kami telah mudahkan Al-Quran untuk peringatan dan pengajaran, maka adakah sesiapa yang mahu mengambil peringatan dan pelajaran (daripadanya)?

(Demikian juga) kaum Nabi Lut telah mendustakan peringatan dan amaran (yang disampaikan oleh Rasulnya).

Sesungguhnya Kami telah menghantarkan kepada mereka angin ribut yang menghujani mereka dengan batu, kecuali keluarga Nabi Lut, Kami selamatkan mereka (dengan menyuruh mereka keluar dari situ) pada waktu jauh malam,

Sebagai limpah kurnia dari Kami. Demikianlah kami membalas orang-orang yang bersyukur.

Dan demi sesungguhnya! Nabi Lut telah memberi amaran kepada mereka mengenai azab seksa Kami; dalam pada itu, mereka tetap mendustakan amaran-amaran itu.

Dan demi sesungguhnya! Mereka telah memujuk Nabi Lut mengenai tetamunya, lalu Kami hapuskan biji mata mereka, serta (dikatakan kepada mereka): Rasalah azabKu dan kesan amaran-amaranKu!

Dan demi sesungguhnya! Mereka telah ditimpa azab yang kekal pada pagi-pagi hari (esoknya).

Lalu (dikatakan kepada mereka): Rasalah azabKu dan kesan amaran-amaranKu!

Dan demi sesungguhnya! Kami telah mudahkan Al-Quran untuk peringatan dan pengajaran, maka adakah sesiapa yang mahu mengambil peringatan dan pelajaran (daripadanya)?” Al-Quran, Al-Qamar (54):33-40.

Allah sgt murka masa ni..sampaikan Dia exclaim repeatedly “Rasalah azabKu dan kesan amaran-amaranKu!” dan “Dan demi sesungguhnya! Kami telah mudahkan Al-Quran untuk peringatan dan pengajaran, maka adakah sesiapa yang mahu mengambil peringatan dan pelajaran (daripadanya)?”.

Sekarang kita berselubung dgn ahli-ahli maksiat. Dengan diri sendiri pun boleh jadi tak percaya. Ya Allah…teguhkanlah pendirianku.

"As a religious person myself, whatever decision I make, I feel obliged to take into account of my religion’s preferences. In the Abrahamic religions, it is clearly stated that homosexuality is wrong. However, in the end of the day, people are still bound to self-interpret the texts because they feel that no hermeneutics can help them reconciling with the trouble they face; those who come to the extent to committing suicide for their remorse and those who feel greatly oppressed in the position they are in if they do not come out. I discussed with my Muslim and Catholic friends; if the prohibition of homosexual manifests itself in the scriptures without the least ambiguity, then I long for a scholar/scientist/economist/politician/sociologist/psychologist, regardless of who everv(and yes, it's my responsibility too), to enlighten the whole world by providing us with legitimate reasons why homosexuality is wrong to practice. Still holding firm to my beliefs, I also need logical explanations to argue why in the eyes of religion, homosexuality is a shameful act because this phenomenon does not only affect the secular but also the religious."

You know what I’m going to end it there about “him”. Ya Allah, berikanlah hidayah dan petunjuk kepada hamba2Mu ini. Tetapkanlah kami pada jalan yang benar. Amin.

The next talk wasn’t any better. But still, knowledge is knowledge. In the spirit of the greek and the hindu gods, 3 panels presented "proofs" that the holy scriptures contain the facets and roles of gods as females. For the purpose of Feminism, I understand that these types of exposures are crucial and the stuff that they want to hear to neutralize religions and feminism, at the same time rejecting patriarchy. They think that religions are biased on women and are the roots of patriarchy that enforces Men’s power. Well what can I say if they believe that their god is a male (Christianity)…hinduism nevertheless has millions of gods for everything. at the same time, it's still questionable whether it's a polytheistic or monotheistic religion. The concept of Atman and Brahman in everything..ugh i don't know. confusion. The god of the sun, the god of good luck, the god of the food etc. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t have a problem with my God…He was never gotten nor begotten, therefore He’s genderless. It's not even like his a human or anything that He needs a gender. My philosophy prof argued that for every creation for example human beings, when they die, they will live as energy because applying physic’s law, nothing can terminate energy. Well, first of all my God isn’t a creation. Rather, He’s THE creator. Ultimate Creators don't create themselves. He doesn’t have a beginning nor does He have an ending. Therefore, He doesn’t die and therefore, He doesn’t evaporate in the air as energy. He is incomparable and unimaginable. Islam may have the attributions and names for God, but even then, they are infinite. God ni God lah. He iss supposed to be AMAZING beyond the unthinkable. His knowledge should surpass human's little minds that He created in the first place. Kalau kita cipta robot, takkan robot tu nak emulate master dia? hancur lah manusia. but manusia being manusia, a theory says that one day manusia akn cipta robot yg lebih hebat dr dia sendiri...instead of showing how genius humans are, technically, they're not because they're creating something that will eventually destroy themselves. I do not deny the intelligence of humans' brains though....and what do you know? it goes back to the question, of creation; who created humans' brains?  If you find yourself seeking for the knowledge and explanation about the existence of God, for the reason that “Oh at least the existence of my god makes sense” to increase your faith; then the god that you have the definition to is not supreme enough to be the One True Great God.

Lunch was given free. Alhamdulillah, I had my first roasted vegetables sandwich. Two bread with a spread of olive oil, slices of salads and tomatoes sandwiched in between. Later there was an interview and play by the famous Chicago’s playwright artist, Tanya Suracho. I liked her. I mean, she emphasized on sisterhood and cultural thing. Hillarious too. Fitting with the theme of “At the Border”, she talks about how Mexico and America are neighboring countries. They are sooo many Latino and Latinas (Mexicans) that came to America mainly due to the violence rate against women. I mean, Ciudad Juarez (just bordering America) is one of the most dangerous places for women. Pegi keje, balik keje dah hilang…pegi kedai, balik kedai dah hilang. Police wont solve these muders, govt won’t investigate the lost of these missing girls, 500> cases had gone unsolved dlm bandar kecik ni. Anyway, that is to set aside the genocide and victims of war…negara yang takde war pon tgh berwar within masalah negara sendiri. still, there are victims...and for sure women suffer most in this case. bila ada natural disaster, ponn wanita jd mangsa tak pasal2. for example earthquake at haiti 2010, sambil kucar kacir dan takde tempat tinggal yang tetap, women faced an increasing cases of rape and sexual violence. More than 250 cases of rape in several camps were reported in the first 150 days after January's earthquake.

Then, another talk was presented by a panel of three, one of which is from my women and gender studies class, and the other two were my friends from my philosophy class. Catherine talked about abortion that she performed at the age of 17 (which we didn’t know and she never open up when we talked about the rights of abortion!), dropped out of high school to work and the problems of the budget cut that works as financial aid for families with low incomes. She critiqued that it was inappropriate for the senate to debate about Obama’s pro-choice of abortion and anti-choice of types of light bulbs to save the energy and the whole wide world. I personally do not think there’s anything wrong with his claim. It was ingenious of him to address this problem. Both issues are majorly important. the comparison may seem inappropriate but human rights are human rights...hmm.



Leslie talked about her breast cancer diagnosis and her journey. She said that she was surprised to find that she was more concerned that her boobs might look ugly after the surgery more than her health. That was her epiphany moment and she, yes, she realized that physical has always been temporal and describe her mid-life crisis to be the perfect description of Saw-Revisited. Have you seen the horror movie Saw, Saw II, Saw III? If you haven’t already, then take my advice; don’t even bother.

Third panel, Karin, spoke about how great getting old is…more wisdom, knowledge and experience. Only in her case, she realized that she was getting older but not wiser. She has been a bar tender for 10 years (maybe), raising up three boys (roughly) alone, she said, that was the job she would hold on to as it pays good money. But then, she realized her honor and dignity were getting stripped by the degrading comments from the male customers that often she gets thrown at. All she does is serve them, get order and leave. She started to hate her job…and now being a bar tender, enrolling classes at Oakton as a non-traditional student, she dreams to pursue her path into law school. It’s not easy but a woman has to do what a woman has to do. Yeahh, women’s power.

These three ladies are all honors students and they can only go so far if they keep their wills up. Very inspiring. The break out session, we all left for the exhibition of posters and receiving acknowledgement certificates. As I walk, I told Cheyenne that I felt soooo lucky. I still can’t believe I’m doing my degree in America. I’m sooo lucky to be in a classroom full of different, interesting, unique people. Subhanallah…and we can all connect to each other as far as talking about women and gender studies (including Brian and Andrew too!). We have an Indian muslim girl who’s on the program of study abroad from India to America for this spring sem, a red-haired (dyed) Jewish girl who is a burlesque dancer, a girl who was raped when she was a teenager whose parents now are in germany, a Philippine girls who's the Phi Theta Kappa VP and got an abortion, an American-latina muslim who’re mistaken for an Arab (speaking of “at the border!”), a Muslim girl from Malaysia who experienced circumcision (which is one of the major topics we discussed about but mark this, it’s different from female genital mutilation or some sort!), a muslim girl from Bosnia whose country celebrate Women’s Day very extravagantly!!, a home tutored girl who’s a ballet dancer and tutor in Chicago and a few others. Cheyenne replied “Wow..you’re so optimistic. That’s good, subhanallah”. Oke, that response, I didn’t expect. I didn’t feel I was being optimistic, I call it,” overwhelemed”. Syukur ya Allah…teringat kat ayatMu, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)” (Holy Qur'an, 49.13)…and yes, I won't hesitate to include this in my response paper for Tuesday’s assignment.

Oke…the posters could’ve improved their designs…I mean. Wow. You’re presenting this to people! at least make them look good and readable. You do want to attract people into these awareness raising posters riiiiight. It;s for a good cause. Hmm. Anyway, I met my friend from last sem course, a Pakistani guy. He presented his posters on “Stop the Ban of Hijab”. Fuh. My type of feminism. A female Pakistani friend of mine from last two sems happened to be there to and we stopped by at his spot. She commented that “He shouldn’t be the one presenting the poster…it should be a girl because he wouldn’t understand what it’s like to wear the hijab. Why is he presenting it..”. I opposed her saying that “Well, actually, he probably knows what it’s like to be mocked and discriminated by the hijab through his sisters and mother. Come, let’s bug him”..and apparently it was true. He said that his mum used to wear niqab and he felt for her. Mase tu say rase terkilan…teringat hadis Rasul, “Muslims are like one body. If one part of the body hurst, then the entire body hurts too”. Sungguhlah, because muslim women wear the hijab/niqab by choice, the spouse/muslim men are seen are the oppressors. These ignorant commentaries are in and of themselves oppressing! and this friend of mine opposing his dakwah work, whyyyy again? she herself doesn't wear the hijab but still i'm sure she feels for other sisters who choose to wear the hijab. she went on arguing that hijab is not always done by choice. sometimes you're forced to....yes. and? religions have doctrines that works as a guide for the believers to follow by. those who choose to wear the hijab do not actually choose to wear the hijab, anyway. it's what's prescribed. if a person a sister/a father/a brother tells the woman in the family that she should the hijab, then he/she's only doing what is prescribed  for him/her to do in the religion. there's no force. there's only submitting our wills to the will of God.

Drpd elok je tak oppress, jadi teroppress pulak. They use that word freely…likewise how they use the word Freedom of Speech. And then, she started to talk against how hijab cannot protect women from men. Yes, true…but only partly. Who can escape domestic violence and rape…more often, women get sexual harassment from the people they already know. Hmm. Nau’zubillah. Then my prof came and joined the fuss and other people started to crowd up. Listening, jumping in, questioning…then chiao. No big deal. There was this Nigerian guy who backed us up dengan mengganguk dan kate yeah2. It’s worrying when muslim dan muslim dah tak sekepala on what Islam prescribes as though it’s a choice/culture…then claiming it’s okay, it’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with it. Bukan ape, confuse jadinye for the non-muslims. Diff opinions are welcomed but do not manipulate what the quran/hadith says (dushh. a reminder for myself too). I had to miss my bus for that. So, after grabbing some fudge cake and the certificate, I left, pondering…it was fine..though I back home late, at least the rain had stopped.

Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahhu Akbar. Syukur atas peluang ini ya Allah..