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Muslims strive to open minds
by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan |
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Islam dictates that those who follow the faith, must pray five times
a day and Muslim students on the Auraria Campus are no different.
However, since Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims in the United States and around
the world have been the targets of racism, both subtle and direct,
and rigid scrutiny of their faith and practices. So many Muslims have
felt persecuted and practice their faith in private, so as not to
draw attention.
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by Chris Starck - The Metropolitan
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| Daily prayer is a part of a devoted Muslim's
way of life. The Muslim Students Association in the Tivoli provides
a place for the Muslim students to pray throughout the day. |
The purpose of the Muslim Students Association on campus, specifically
the UCD chapter, is to give these students a place to gather and pray.
The MSA has a spot in the Club Hub, located on the third floor in
the Tivoli, with a room specifically designated for prayer.
“When you’re in a non-Muslim society, it’s very
difficult to keep in tact with your religion,” MSA member Rami
Elkhatib said. “Particularly the most important part is keeping
in tact with your prayers. Instead of people trying to find specific
places throughout the campus to just pray and being forced to be seen
by everybody, instead we can just have a small area where they can
pray and celebrate a lot of our Muslim traditions.”
The MSA, a national organization established by several groups of
Muslims at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in January
1963, has several hundred chapters at universities and colleges in
almost every state in the U.S., as well as in Canada. While the MSA
at UCD has been around since the early 1990’s and has gone through
changes in members, its goals and philosophies have remained fairly
consistant according to chapter president ShemsAdeen Ben-Masaud, 21,
and a senior at UCD.
“We’re trying to educate people,” Ben-Masaud said.
“You find that a lot of knowledge is stereotypical or misinformed,
especially with mainstream media. [There’s] a lot of miseducation
and ignorance as to what the truth is. It is getting better and I
see that [the media] are making efforts, but more efforts are required.”
While the national and international perspective on Muslims has changed
in the media and public since Sept. 11, 2001, there were many challenges
Muslims, specifically those on campus, faced shortly after.
According to MSA member Rania Elkhatib, 20, and UCD senior, about
200 international Metro Muslim students, mostly from Arab countries,
were either sent back or brought back by their respective governments,
mostly because their governments wanted to protect them from possible
danger due to the fact that many, if not most, of the students fit
the profile sent out by the U.S. government. Elkhatib joined the association
for Muslim camaraderie and has always declared herself as an outspoken
activist. After Sept. 11, 2001, she volunteered to speak to several
reporters from local news organizations, but wasn’t exactly
pleased with the result.
“I had a really long interview right after [Sept. 11, 2001]
and we all were trying to explain what the motivations were behind
the terrorist’s actions were and I guess we were lead to believe
that that’s the kind of interview we were supposed to be giving,”
she said, concerning an interview with a reporter from one of the
major television news stations. “In the end [the reporter] only
took partial clips and just showed this whole fear running through
the MSA, and that’s not something we wanted people to harp on.”
Elkhatib did say that most of the female Muslim students at the campus
did not go to school on Sept. 11 due to the fact that they’re
immediately noticeable as Muslims, which could have presented some
potential dangers for the students because of the strong emotions
held toward Muslim Americans at that time.
“My mom woke me up and told me ‘there’s bombs flying
into buildings’ and we just basically didn’t go to school,”
she said. “Almost every girl did not go to school for that week.”
Despite the danger several MSA members feared at that time, that’s
to be expected, but there’s others ways to handle the situation
Ben-Masaud said.
“When you see an opportunity like that you got to make yourself
present throughout the community,” he said. “You have
to take it and flip it the other way around and look at it as an opportunity
to inform. And if you have the right intentions of trying to inform
people and working for the sake of God, then you’re going to
be rewarded.”
The female students are more noticeable, according to Elkhatib, because
of the traditional cloth they wear to cover their head and neck, called
the hijab. The sheik, the Muslim clergymen, around the world gave
the message to female Muslims that if the hijab presented potential
life-threatening danger to women they should take it off to protect
themselves. The cloth is also a controversy in itself in that many
misconceptions surround its purposes.
“It’s a display of your Muslim,” she said. “It’s
also a display of modesty. Basically, you’re hiding all the
features that might [cause] physical attraction. You want men to concentrate
on your mind more.”
One particularly prominent misconception surrounding Islam is that
it is unfair to women, but according to Ben-Masaud, these inequalities
are mostly cultural rules established in countries that are predominantly
Muslim countries.
“Muslim males and Muslim females enjoy the same rights under
Islam, whether it be in this country or not,” he said. “A
lot of the things we see [in the world] are, unfortunately, culturally
biased. They’re more cultural inequalities.”
Anyone who wishes to be a member of the MSA may join, but to be an
official member you must be a UCD student.
In a world where events shape perceptions of Muslims, perceptions
that change everyday, Raheem Khan, a 20 year-old senior at UCD and
president of Muslims Intent on Learning and Activism (MILA), who collaborates
with the MSA, said one of the biggest problems afflicting the perceptions
of Islam is not only miseducation, but lack of independent thought.
“Most people follow the mainstream media, which sometimes portrays
Islam as a negative religion,” he said. “People [should]
think independently and look to other sources.”
Ben-Masaud agreed.
“Reliance on mainstream media and the government for every
single aspect as far as information is concerned, is not exactly giving
the full truth,” he said. “It’s good to encourage
independent thought through other publications and actually meeting
a Muslim person.”
Ten States with the largest
Muslim populations:
1) California
2) New York
3) Illinois
4) New Jersey
5) Indiana
6) Michigan
7) Virginia
8) Texas
9) Ohio
10) Maryland
(Council of Islamic Relations, 2000)
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Ex-pro wrestler steps out of ring and into literary circles
by Tuyet Nguyen
The Metropolitan |
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An adult film star once commented to Mick Foley that she didn’t
allow her son to watch his wrestling matches because they were too
graphic. Foley quipped back that he didn’t allow his son to
watch any of her work either.
After wrestling professionally for 15 years, Foley has more than
a few of these anecdotes under his numerous title belts.
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by Will Moore - The Metropolitan
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| Mick Foley grimaces as he describes his injuries
sustained in the ring during his speech in the Tivoli Turnhalle
Aug. 28. In his lecture, the professional wrestler related anecdotes
about his career and life. |
On Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Tivoli Turnhalle, as part of his book
tour to promote his debut novel “Tietam Brown,” Foley
shared stories and jokes from his personal life and from his days
on the wrestling circuit to an eager crowd of wrestling fans and non-wrestling
fans alike.
Foley is probably best known under his many wrestling monikers—Cactus
Jack, Dude Love, Mankind, Jack Manson and others—though in recent
years he has stepped out of the ring and into literary circles. His
two volumes of autobiography, “Have a Nice Day!” and “Foley
is Good,” have both reached number one on the New York Times
National Best Seller List, while “Tietam Brown” was just
recently nominated for a People’s Choice award in England. Foley’s
shift from body slams to manuscripts has been more an interesting
turn rather than a direct path. In mid-1999, World Wrestling Entertainment
assigned a ghostwriter to write Foley’s autobiography. In an
ironic twist, Foley admits this was the start to his writing career,
“After reading five or six chapters of his work I just thought
it was a little boring. I really felt I could do a better job on my
own so I just sat down one day and started writing.”
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by Will Moore - The Metropolitan
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| Mick Foley
throws back his head in laughter during an autograph session before
his speech Aug. 28. Fans from all over the Denver area turned
out to hear the wrestler speak. |
As Foley’s writing has been hailed as having a uniquely aggressive
tone with a surprisingly gentle core, this could also be used to describe
the personality of Foley himself. During his recent appearance, despite
the intimidating reputation as the “Hardcore Legend,”
he showed his personable and funny side to audience members, such
as telling his story of making Dee Snyder a better man and of the
origin of Vince McMahon claiming to have “grapefruit-sized testicles.”
When there were technical difficulties, he shrugged them off; when
he was lost in a train of thought, he referred to the notes he had
written on the palm of his hand; and when his most persistent fans
asked, he never shied away from an autograph or the chance to tell
a good anecdote. Yet as with any good speaker, between the jokes and
narratives, Foley was able to slip in a few words of goodwill and
wisdom. When asked what the best path to becoming a professional wrestler
would be, Foley replied, “Go to college,” then he joked,
“not this college.”
Not without a bit of modesty does Foley talk about himself, “I’m
not really trying to inspire people to be all they can be and to try
and convince them they can do whatever they want because sometimes
life doesn’t cooperate that way. I just hope there’s a
little bit of message to what I’m saying [and that] people are
enjoying it.”
Concerning his participation in professional wrestling these days,
he had this to say, “I’m not very involved anymore. I
came back a few months ago for the first time in 18 months and had
a very good time and I was invited back any time I want to show up,”
he added, “It’s nice to know I can come in and out, that
I can do it at my own schedule.”
While this doesn’t necessarily mean a Mick Foley comeback, Foley
is busy with other projects. For the time being, Foley seems rather
satisfied with the prospect of becoming a full-time writer, “I
have a manuscript I just turned it that I am very proud of and I think
shows an increased maturity in writing. And, yeah, I hope to do some
writing for several years.”
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I have a friend in the military with whom I’ve been in regular
correspondence since he left Texas for the deserts of Iraq. He has
agreed to relate his story, as it unfolds, for the readers of The
Metropolitan.
This series is based on our conversations and the questions that I
send him weekly, in an attempt to illustrate a unique cross-section
of a war that few understand. At times I have known him to be drunk
with patriotism for our country, having served in two branches of
the military — but because the nature of his predicament, he
wishes, for the time being, to remain nameless.
Up to now, the series has been untitled. But now that it has become
a regular addition to the newspaper, I asked my friend what he thought
would be an appropriate permanent title and he graciously offered,
“The war is not over,” Dispatch from the Port-A-John.
He was close with that one, but I think Hell is a little closer.
This is the ninth dispatch in the series.
— Ian Neligh
The hottest part of the day in Iraq is from 1400 hours until 2200
hours. That’s eight hours of desert heat. Noon is bad, he says,
but it’s during the night that things get “superheated.”
The heat radiates from everything,
“It envelops the shade and heats the very air you breath. It
is days like this that really test a soldier’s resolve, taking
everything they have to simply carry out their missions.”
Many of the troops are used to 12-14 hour shifts with no days off,
working with the same people day in and day out.
“Continue on an imaginary journey to a little after 2200, when
you’re finally off duty. All you want to do is take a shower
in the unreliable shower system and fall into your cot for some much
deserved sleep.
You make your way to your room, drop your gear and look about for
your shower shoes (flip-flops) without which you can’t even
contemplate a shower for fear of your feet rotting off from some Iraqi
fungus. You look where you usually take them off, but they’re
not to be found.
You think maybe you just put them somewhere else, or maybe they got
shoved under your cot somehow but then it dawns on you. You’ve
just been ‘got.’
Searching frantically around your room you soon discover that the
prankster — you probably have a good idea of which co-worker
it is — has taken your duffel bag lock and locked your shower
shoes to the inside of the refrigerator, or to the leg of your cot,
making it just a little bit more difficult to take that much needed
shower.
‘That’s OK.’ you think to yourself, ‘I’ll
get him back later.’
After your shower, you come back to your room and toss on your shirt,
only to discover the sleeves have been tied in knots.
Got again! Arrrr...Now the pranks are starting to get a little ridiculous,
but being a good sport, you chalk up another one to payback, and carry
on.
You go about your nightly ritual and then it’s time to sleep.
‘Finally!’ you think as you try to turn back your sleeping
bag, only to find that it’s been tied into a giant knot!
Bang! One more time!
This leads to retaliation on your part, causing you to go into the
room of your tormentor and tape an unoccupied cot on top of his, after
throwing all his loose belongings inside your makeshift ‘cot
burrito,’ with an entire roll of duct tape.
What will his reaction be? How will he ever get into his cot? Will
he ever find all those MRE peanut butter packets you tossed inside
his gas mask carrier?
Will it ever end?”
He says this is the essence of humor in the Army. It’s a good
sign that the American soldiers still have morale as they go about
their new lives in Iraq. He adds that no one ever gets seriously hurt.
A few weeks ago his Sergeant Major had a “bazillion” unit
patches put up all over the inside of a palace. One on the Heli-pad,
one on the marble floor of another palace.
He also had the troops put signs on the Port-O-Johns stating: ‘Vandalism
will not be tolerated.’
In the General’s conference room, he said, there were 20 of
them put up. And most of them had been put up over Arabic writing.
“Well, today we had to take most of them down because, as I
said before, they were covering up words from the Quran. So all of
a sudden, after all the work making Joe put that sh*t up, now they
make Joe take ‘em right back down, and why?
Because we’re going to have a Sheik come in tomorrow and they
don’t want to offend him.
Ain’t that great?
They put up signs on the latrine saying that vandalism will not be
tolerated, and then they vandalize some gold plated holy relics in
this place, and then get scared sh*tless when some sheik is coming
through, so they scramble to pull the signs down and clean the JB
weld (glue) off them.
Like a bunch of kids when their parents are away. I swear, this place
gets more stupid by the day.”
This is on-going correspondence and will be continued in the next
edition of The Metropolitan.
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