Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Christmas is everywhere with lightings, decorations and all (and yes, shopping). Merry Christmas! Or should it be said Happy Holidays?

Those guys who are unhappy with God and religion being present in people's life, have come up with a bright idea: instead of greeting each other with Merry Christmas (which should be the most normal rational way of greeting over Christmas) people have to say a neutral greeting just to be politically correct.

An apple is an apple no matter what you call it. What makes an apple an apple is its unique delicious taste and pleasant fragrance. If you refer to it in a neutral way like fruit or call it whatever else just because you don't like the name or feel allergic to its taste or flavor, it will still remain an apple.

True, in this country, religion and state have been separated to preserve freedom of religion and belief for every individual and to prevent politics from playing with religion (and have they succeeded BTW?); but what makes Christmas a holiday widely celebrated everywhere all over centuries is remembrance of the person said to be born on this night and not just because it's merely a holiday (actually, Jesus Christ has not been born on Dec 25, but that's another story).

Let's accept that statesmen should avoid religious talk so that all people could feel their religious freedom been protected (and this could violate freedom of expression for the persons who happen to be in office in a secular government system and for the people who've elected them). But why should such practices find their way into people's daily life and even into church? Even as a Muslim, I find it absurd to make people get used to greet each other in such a tasteless way. I was greeted with Happy Holidays twice in churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and trivially I replied on both occasions with Merry Christmas).

Speaking of Christmas, I've continued with my field work as a Sociologist (or Anthropologist? the line is blurring over recent decades) observing festivities at various churches. I just have to find some time and access to Internet to write more about all the interesting things I've observed yesterday, last night and today.

Merry Christmas!

And Now, You're a Free Man!

Long long time ago (maybe in my previous life!), I'd seen a movie where some bonded people (slaves?) had got their freedom. Some guy told them: "And now, you're free men" so that they may rejoice something granted that they should had enjoyed long before. Well, I really can't remember the title or anything else about that movie, but this sentence and scene I remember quite vividly.

Whenever I achieve a milestone (or a turning point) in my life that would demand a great deal of concentrated effort to overcome obstacles and extraordinary patience to cope with the hassle thereof, I say to myself: "and now, you're a free man". Especially, when the objective be something very basic that I should had got for granted.

Plain and simple, there's nothing more aggravating to me in this world than going through foolish paperwork (do we ever have non-foolish paperwork BTW?) and wasting a lot of resources and burning valuable gray-cells to go through procedures that shouldn't be in place at all. And all that for something that's among my basic rights as a free decent human being deserving to enjoy what God has given me.

First time I uttered this was when I got rid of military service. When I was 16, I'd volunteered to defend my country during the war imposed on us by that lunatic criminal Saddam and I am (and will be) proud of my volunteering then. But forcing people to waste their time to serve something ultimately useless (called army duty) in the most foolish way is something I cannot stand. I have difficulty understanding why educated people should spend 2 years with marching and other mundane senseless chores instead of using the skills learnt at a hefty price with govt budget (state universities in Iran are tuition-free) to serve their country in a tangible way.

And then it was when I could release my academic credentials. I had served my duty to my country as an engineer for more than the budget spent on me over the years I was a student of Electrical Engineering. Yet, I had to go through a paperwork crusade to have my official transcripts released. I needed those papers to be able to apply to programs in Sociology in the US (and elsewhere). And I had to send those EE grades to departments out there to be evaluated for admission. Still, I wondered how official grades for EE courses passed more than 10 years ago could be a criterion in any way to determine my eligibility for admission to a graduate program in Sociology.

And after going through all the hassle for getting a US visa (again, utmost foolish paperwork serving neither security nor safety nor any other interest of this country, just making troubles for qualified people like me and not necessarily keeping bad guys at bay), I landed here just to go through another batch of extensive paperwork at UT to get registered as a graduate student of Sociology.

Today, I finished with this too. And now, you're a free man!

Hope Lutheran Church

Yesterday, I started my job as a Sociologist here. I attended Sunday Service at Hope Lutheran Church. They have an interesting motto: "Got Hope?, Come to Hope Lutheran Church".

I'd attended Church Services in Tehran, Isfahan and Nicosia. In Tehran (Assembly of God Church), they were very fussy about membership and I almost always had difficulty entering there as I was not a member (or so they said). Or maybe it was my Islamic appearance? God knows.

Anyway, here, I entered the Church without any problem and sat myself at the first available pew in the back. And after the first service (actually Gloria by Vivaldi performed by Church Choir), people around me welcomed me as a newcomer and were mostly keen to know how did I find it all and whether I enjoyed it (of course I did).

The pastor came over to greet people and he was delighted to know why I was there and about my research plan (role of religion in society and poeple's life). And after being invited to their lounge for refreshment (with delicious cookies and stuff), almost any member of the Church Welcome Group (indicated by badges on their chest) asked me how did I feel. And when they got to know that I was a Muslim from Iran, their reaction wouldn't change. Especially, elderly people were keen to have a talk with me. I enjoyed my first field study much. Let's see if I face the same at other Churches.

I also got friend with a UT alumnus. Efforts by secular intellectuals to erode the role of religion (and even God) in society and confine it to backyards of people's life is not merely a concern on my side of the world. Religious people everywhere have the same common concern.

Arriving in Toledo, OH

Well, this comes after a long lapse. I'd been more than busy over my last days in Iran and couldn't have been able to update my blog.

I've successfully arrived in Toledo. Apart from being jet-lagged and sleepless and having long stops at the airports en-route, I really enjoyed my trip. All my flights had little delay and I landed in Toledo in time. My journey (from Mashhad to Bahrain to London to Chicago to Toledo) took near 32 hours. Quite an odyssey!

I'd been warned a lot about tough security measures at London Heathrow airport. It was not much different than Tehran or other Iranian airports with the exception that we had to have our shoes screened (the same as in Chicago). I can say I had a much rougher experience with security inspection at Mashhad airport.

I enjoyed my London-Chicago flight aboard an American Airlines Boeing 777. Flight attendants (who were mostly on the aged side) did their best to make us feel less bored over that long-haul boring flight. They didn't make a show of it. Their hospitality was warm indeed.

And I didn't face any problems with CBP (Customs & Border Protection) officers at Chicago O'Hare airport. Maybe I was lucky to land in a northern airport. CBP officers at southern ports of entry (e.g. Miami, Atlanta, Memphis or LAX) are rather tough as far as I've heard.

Anyway, these were very friendly and the one handling my case was more than that. When he summoned me to the counter, he told me it would take him 5 minutes to finish my special registration (a procedure for aliens entering the US), but he would do his best to make it in less than that. It could really take long at one of those southern airports.

After he put multiple admitted stamps in my passport and forms in rapid succession, he grew more intimate and loudly made jokes about his colleagues sitting at neighboring counters who happened to be immigrants (like him). He was from Mexico and his adjacent colleagues from China and Pakistan. Immigrants serving as immigration officers.

But when this very amicable CBP officer arrived at his counter to begin his shift, he was extremely heavily armed with all sort of paraphernalia hanging from his waist as if it was a combat zone and not arrival terminal of a civilian airport. This is America!

By sheer luck, I skipped luggage inspection at Chicago which could be the most inconvenient of it all (sometimes causing you miss your connecting flight when combined with a lengthy special registration). I had checked in at Heathrow for both my London-Chicago and Chicago-Toledo flights by AA. And it made American Airlines carry over my luggage to the connecting flight without giving it back to me at O'Hare.

First, I feared my luggage might have been lost at Heathrow (not showing up at O'Hare luggage claim). And AA representative didn't know where it might be. She took me through Customs gate to the other side to find about those presumably lost luggage so that Customs officers could inspect them. I had honestly declared about the food in my luggage and they were keen to have a look.

My luggage could not be found on the other side either and voila: I easily skipped through Customs without even my backpack being inspected! Although, I had nothing illegal whatsoever in there (just my prayer books and a couple of personal stuff). When you trust in God, He would help you in unexpected ways. Well, this was the least of His helps over the course of my endeavor. I've seen more.

There was something really weird about my arrival. I didn't feel excited or such when I successfully landed in the US (actually, I was in the US when I boarded that AA plane at Heathrow). I didn't even feel like being in a foreign country. What made me think otherwise, was numerous flags waving in the wind outside O'Hare terminal 5 when I was inside airport transfer train taking me to terminal 3 to catch my connecting flight. I somehow felt I'm still inside my own country with the mere difference that I had to speak English instead of Persian, and that was no big deal. And when I was aboard Chicago-Toledo plane (a tiny mini-bus like low-flying Embraer-145 jet), I felt as if still flying over my homeland, just like I did when I flew from Tehran to Mashhad aboard those TY-154s (I hated flying those TYs, but that's what you have to endure when you're unfairly embargoed).

You know, people who kill themselves over getting to the US, when finally succeed, feel like being a free man, born again or such just because they've made it to the US. Or when they see a US flag, they feel like having come to their paradise or dream-land (I hate that opening scene in scarface) . But I really didn't have any such feelings of excitement. I simply felt at home as if I was still in Iran. Nowadays, whenever I walk along streets, I need to see flags (which are really abundant here) to remind me where I am.

Well, there exists a big difference here; although Toledo is a rather small city in terms of population (300,000 or so), everything is very large scale: streets, supermarkets, malls, neighborhoods, buildings, etc. But I've never been fascinated with that sort of largeness.

One thing somehow uneasy to me is adapting to Midwestern accent (rather than the East Coast one I'd been trying to learn back in Iran).

And there's also the cold. Thanks God, the weather has been unbelievably mild since I arrived here, better than Tehran I would say. My advisor tells me I've been extremely lucky. It could grow as cold as -10C here at this time of year. Add the windchill coming over Lake Erie and you'd feel much colder than that. Well, for now, I have to enjoy it.

And well, there's something I feel comfortable with here. People are or (at least) appear warm, even in a cold area like OH. Smiling (even if you don't mean it) is part of American culture. It's common for strangers to say hi to each other for no special reason. As somebody hailing from Shiraz, I find it pleasant. Maybe that's one of the reasons I feel at home here.

(*) One Nation under God

Religion has had a big role in American society ever since discovery of the continent by Columbus in 1492. Although early immigrants and settlers (Columbus included) mostly used (or abused) spreading Christianity as a pretext to loot gold and other riches out of this New World, religion has been actually influential in shaping American civilization and culture. Indeed, it was the surge of immigrants fleeing 17th century Europe's religious and political persecution that laid the foundations of what we know today as the United States of America.

The irony is the very people who had sought refuge in the New World to build a city on the hill, soon found themselves committed to enforce their own (sometimes narrow-minded) interpretation of pure Christianity and repressing others who would choose to think differently. Such incidents in America and precedents in old Europe led the Founding Fathers to consider freedom of religion in the Ammendments to the Constitution. Still, religious values are intertwined in American life and culture (and even legislations) and despite waxing and waning over the history of the US, religion will continue to be a cornerstone of American society.

In a poll conducted by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2002, nearly six-in-ten Americans (58%) think the strength of American society is based on the religious faith of its people. Just over a third (36%) take the opposing view. Americans are relatively positive about people of other faiths, but they tend to look more negatively at those without faith. Atheists, in particular, are viewed unfavorably by a 54% majority.

In a recent survey in 2006, the forum shows that many Americans are uneasy with mix of religion and politics. Still, the same survey denotes that Americans overwhelmingly consider the U.S. a Christian nation: Two-in-three (67%) characterize the country this way. A decade ago, Americans were somewhat less likely to tie the nation's identity to Christianity. In 1996, 60% considered the U.S. a Christian nation. Despite all concerns about separation of Church and State, many Americans prefer to describe themselves the way mentioned in American Pledge of Allegiance: One Nation under God.

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The complete report on Public Opinion on Religion and Public Life (PDF file), could be downloaded here.

The report on Americans views on Religion and Politics could be viewed here. The complete report (PDF file) could be downloaded here.

Why Study America? (2)

I come from a religious (yet open-minded) family and have lived in a country where traditions (especially religious ones) lay the foundation of its culture. Personally, I'm not a traditionalist though. Some people hold to traditions just because they've been in place for generations regardless of who's set the trend and why.

Well, in that sense, I'm somehow on the anti-traditionist side. To me, traditions are worthy only when their religious origin has been firmly and rationally established (that's a very controversial issue indeed). Yet, I'm keen to know about traditions in any society and as a religious person would like to study about societies where religion and religious values play a big role. America is an example.

Many people are surprised at hearing this. Maybe they're right, maybe not. A country where roughly half the marriages (first attempt) lead to divorce wouldn't be easily considered as a religious country. Yet, religion is very important in American Culture and the functioning of everything in there from daily life to government and politics.

(*) The Changing Face of America

Once, diversity in American society used to be expressed in terms of black and white. That was the case even until 1970s. However, after national quotas on immigration were repealed by Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, this trend began to change. This caused immigrants from other parts of the world like Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean to move more freely to America. As a result, multiracial immigrants began to play a bigger role in American society.

By studying statistics acquired from the U.S. Bureau of Census, we could observe drastic increase in population and percentage of ethnic and racial groups other than black and white as represented in American society over past three decades, taking into account the factors that affected these demographic changes. U.S. Census data show the Hispanic population in the United States now numbers more than 41 million, or one-seventh of the U.S. total population of more than 296 million.

Apart from the changes in methodology employed by the U.S. Bureau of Census (in determining census respondents' race and ethnicity), high birth rate among these newly arrived ethnic groups has greatly contributed to these changes. By July 1, 2050 the Bureau estimates Hispanic Americans will make up 24 percent of the U.S. population.

Furthermore, inter-group marriage has resulted in the increase of multiracial people; again, altering the old black and white pattern of diversity in American society.

Based on these factors and statistics, we may concludes that this trend will continue for decades to come and the percentage of Hispanic and Asian ethnic groups representation will further increase. This could have important results, especially when considering Hispanic representation.

Hispanics now fill top positions in the U.S. government, with Mexican-American Alberto Gonzales serving as U.S. attorney general and Cuban-born Carlos Gutierrez as secretary of commerce. In 2004, Florida voters elected another Cuban native, Mel Martinez, formerly secretary of housing and urban development, to the U.S. Senate.

Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States are growing three times faster than the national average for all firms. According to the bureau's Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002 to nearly 1.6 million. Those firms generated about $222 billion in revenue in 2002 -- the most recent year for which data are available. The emergence of Hispanic-owned businesses mirrors the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States.

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The original title could be visited here.

The full text of the Census Bureau report (PDF, 631 pages) is available on their Web site here.

Furthermore, these articles show the increasing trend in Hispanic population and the role they would play in the future of America:

Hispanic-Owned Business Booming in the United States

Hispanic Americans Contributing to the American Mosaic

Why Study America? (1)

As I've mentioned in my SOP, I read my first book in Sociology when I was 10. What you learn in childhood would leave quite an imprint in your mind that would last for years to come. That book was written by 2 American Sociologists. So, they had mostly focused on American society. In that sense, my passion for studying Sociology began concurrently with keen interest to know about the US, the most diverse country (ethnically and racially) in the world. In my opinion, diversity has been one of the key points turning into a superpower a country that didn't even exist 5 centuries ago and was ruled by the British till 18th century .

George Washington, in a letter to John Adams, November 15, 1794 puts it well:

... there is no need of encouragement: while the policy or advantage of [immigration] taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for, by so doing, they retain the Language, habits and principles (good or bad) which they bring with them. Whereas by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures and laws: in a word, soon become one people.

To view the other half of the glass however, this has come at the expense of uprooting millions of innocent native Indians who had been living in the New World for millennia before those white people discovered their continent.

Anyway, having read about America since that age makes me wonder about all the hype and myths surrounding this country.

I'll write more about other reasons that made me interested to study about America. For now, I'll get down to one of the courses that I'm studying this semester. I'll mark course assigments with asterisk (*) to make them distinguished from the rest of my posts.

(*) Cultural Studies & Ethnology of America - What's it all about?

Culture has several definitions. I consider culture as a way of living encompassing history, traditions, customs, beliefs, laws, thoughts, literature, art, architecture, music and anything that would give meaning to people's life. In that sense, culture is a combination of several aspects, all of which should be considered together to get an understanding of how people live.

What makes American culture unique is the way it's evolved as a conglomeration of several ethnic cultures over past centuries. Now, we may think again about the words of George Washington here speaking of diversity and how it builds one people out of many. Well, traces of American Exceptionalism could be observed at that early time; there is a certain (American) way of life and other people coming to the US have to be assimilated to that certain culture.

Nevertheless, studying American culture wouldn't make sense unless we know about various ethnic groups who've lived or settled there over the course of American history, before discovery of the continent by Europeans and after that.

Statement of Purpose

Since early years in my life, I have been fascinated with the study of society, people, the interactions in between and hence the changes that take place. Although financial need forced me to pursue my education and career in engineering (control and computer systems) to make a livelihood on my own, my interest in Sociology never subsided. In fact, I had read my first book in Sociology (by Ogburn & Nimkoff) when I was 10 years old, long before I knew much about engineering or computers.

My long-term passion for Sociology had its influence on my education as an engineer (and vice versa). Control Systems was my major when I studied Electrical Engineering (B.Sc., 1998, K.N. Toosi University of Technology). Studying Control Systems (System Theory in general), we devise a mathematical model for a real-world system to identify its input/output mappings (transfer function) and to know how the system functions, how various parameters (inputs, initial state, disturbances, feedback from outside and from within system) affect its functioning and stability, how is its dynamic behavior (transients) while going from a state to another and how the system could be controlled (with or without feedback). The system could be as simple as air conditioning at home or be as complicated as a power plant, a petrochemical plant or the production line in a factory (e.g. automotive).

Notions and rules of System Theory are also applicable when studying and analyzing human systems; though, they are expressed in different ways and terminology. However, social systems could not be so easily quantified into mathematical equations. Apart from the fact that the human mind is the most complicated system ever known, there exists a major difference between physical and human systems: elements in a human system could be affected not only from outside (e.g. by other members) but also from within (out of free will of the very element). This is what makes the study of human systems more challenging and yet more appealing.

My interest in the human mind is reflected in my bachelor's thesis: "A Study on Artificial Neural Networks & Effect of Flexibility on Their Performance" (1997) which was unanimously evaluated as excellent (20/20). Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are inspired by human brain and neural system. Study of ANNs (rooting in 1940s) has enjoyed increasing interest since 1980s and they have found widespread applications over past decade.

Among the papers that I have written, one is titled: "Interaction among Social Norms Affecting Marriage & Social Pathologies" which was awarded in the 2nd Symposium on Social Problems in Iran (June 2000).

My areas of interest in Sociology include: social change (especially as they relate to culture and politics), the role of religion in society, social networks, mass media & Internet, ethnic and diversity issues, social psychology and social problems. I am also interested in the study of art and history from a sociological standpoint.

After working for several years as an engineer, I could no longer resist going back to what I have loved so long; I decided to dedicate my life and career to sociological research. I believe my education (Control Systems) and my area of profession (Information Systems) have given me a systematic outlook and insight to complement what I have studied and what I will study in Sociology to achieve a better understanding of the dynamics of social change.

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Please visit my Curriculum Vitae here.