To blog, or not to blog

When I started this blog, it was not completely out of my own choice. As a result of visa complications, I had to enroll in the MA program of American Studies at the INAES, University of Tehran. One my professors (who was the Institute Chair also), required us to set up a blog and post our weekly assignments in there, so that classmates could read and comment on each others' work before the next class.

He is an interesting guy. He started his study in mechanical engineering in the US. Then, at the outbreak of the Islamic revolution, returned to Iran, leaving his study unfinished. He went to the seminary and became a clergyman. Sounds like a big career switch? There's more. After 12 years in seminary, he started his education in sociology and finished with a PhD. Looking at his profile clearly shows how prolific he is. And you can get an idea about how demanding he was as a professor. He kept repeating to us poor souls, "INAES is not a hotel".

And as a University of Tehran professor, he was very strict about academic standards. And other professors, although not requiring us to post our homeworks to a blog, were not less demanding in their coursework.

So basically, when I managed to collect my visa after a nerve-racking wait of 10 weeks and losing my first semester at the University of Toledo, it was a God-sent blessing in every sense. But seriously, my time at INAES was helpful with giving me momentum to adapt to transition from engineering to sociology, academically speaking.

When I got rejected in my first visa interview in Dubai, I already knew about my ranking in concours and hence my admission to the University of Tehran. That unfair rejection in Dubai was so disappointing that I was very reluctant about applying for visa again. Eventually, I consulted INAES chair about my dilemma. He encouraged me to try my chance once more. If that too failed, I had my place with them at INAES and could later pursue my PhD in the US. And if successful, he maintained, that would be a great opportunity to learn things first hand, not through books at INAES library (which was a great one BTW).

I passed the extensive visa interview at Nicosia, but I didn't receive my clearance in time, missed my first semester at the University of Toledo and had to enroll at the University of Tehran. Then, I got my delayed visa. Although I was an enrolled student at the University of Tehran and had my obligations to remain there to finish my Master's and although he didn't want me to leave them, he still helped me to get over with the paperwork for leaving there. I'm ultimately grateful for his support and mentoring.

Anyway, my problem at INAES was of a different nature. I was not afraid of writing per se. Not even with writing in English (which was the language of instruction at INAES). The problem was with both the amount and the style of writing in my new academic discipline. Even before getting into a college of engineering, I had difficulty with elaborate writing.

I was considered among the best in Alavi School when it came to my knowledge in Islamic and Quranic studies. And we had rigorous courses for that matter in addition to our regular curriculum in secular sciences (math, physics and stuff). I usually ranked 1st or 2nd in competitions in Quranic and religious knowledge. Yet, when it came to essay writing in those subjects, my grade was usually among the lowest. I was very good in Persian literature and composition (no modesty about that). So, I had no problem with writing. But I was a strict observant of KISS principle. And I had the same problem with all courses that demanded extensive writing (paper-blacking as I used to call them).

Getting into engineering made things worse. In engineering, KISS is among our Ten Commandments. When you can explain something in one page, it's absolute waste of time and resources (and above all, gray cells) to write more. As engineering students, we preferred textbooks that explained things succinctly and clearly. By the same token, in engineering companies, when you write a report, you must stick to this fundamental principle. If you see any engineering document that is not written as such, be sure that some other hand has been behind that. Lawyers are the most ardent observers of verbose and complicated writing.

So, I was hardened in my style of writing over years and now, I had to change it over a short time. And I had to practice it online on a weekly basis. And it was not fun. Yet, that was not all. I had other reservations about blogging.

I've been into computers since 1986 and into Internet since 1994. Still, I did my best to keep away from blogging. With my background in engineering and technology, I'm not technophobic or cyberphobic for sure. But blogging is an obsessive addiction (bloggers know what I mean). This obsession comes in two ways:

1) What you write and what others think about it. A blog is not a personal diary (although it functions that way for the blogger). Even not like a newspaper/magazine editorial or op-ed. Once you publish a post in your blog, it's out there. Not just for the limited readers in your institution, your neighborhood, your city or your country. It's accessible to the whole world to read (although not necessarily read by the whole world). And we have a small flat world. And when you're obsessive (like me) about the quality or content of what you put there, it makes the job difficult.

You may say, bloggers write primarily for their own satisfaction, so why the fret? Should it really matter what others think about what's written in a blog? Yes and no. If you were writing only for yourself, you could have done so in your own diary, the old-fashioned way. But cyberspace is mainly a platform to share opinions. And admit it or not, you put your thoughts out there for others to read and (if you're not a megalomaniac) you care about what your readers think about your thoughts. That's how thoughts thrive. But still, all of us have some degree of ego.

2) Updating your blog. This is even a bigger obsession. When you gather some readers, you want to keep them. You feel like updating your blog frequently. That's the essence of blogging and cyber-culture. Everything runs 24/7. Out of sight, out of mind. So, you have to have something new for your readers all the time, whenever they check on your blog. But that's easier said than done. You may run short of time. Or worse, run out of ideas.

Then, if this second obsession overrules the first, you resort to writing anything. Just to go with the flow of cyberspace. Just not to lose touch with your readers. And I've seen bloggers who write things such as what they've had for breakfast or other nonsense in that line. And in great details. Just to keep their blog updated (and I admit some of my posts show such phenomena). It's OK if you write a little about yourself to give a background of your thoughts. But writing all about yourself or anything that just comes to your mind?

So, when the surge of blogging took over Iran near the turn of the millennium, as a sociologist and Internet-addict, I spent a lot of time surfing through blogs to know about ideas and thoughts of those people who dived in head on (and Iranians are passionate fans of anything technologic and modern). Yet, my voracious reading of those blogs made me more and more reluctant about jumping the bandwagon for both reasons mentioned above. I resisted the temptation even when I saw some friends (or people I knew well) rushed into blogging.

But like any addiction, when you are pushed into something of this nature, you may have a hard time not going with the flow. And that was how I felt when we were required to set up a blog for our course in Cultural Studies and Ethnology of America at INAES. And when I started my blog, I was thinking to myself, I have to stay focused on the objective of my blog which was on American Studies.

Not just because my high-standard professor had a low-tolerance for nonsense, but also because of my own convictions. To me, my blog was a platform to share my thoughts about America, sociology and religion. These were the things I was going to focus on in my new discipline. I looked at this blog as the academic beginning of my new career. As we were supposed to explain about ourselves and our research interests in our first post, I put my Statement of Purpose that I had written for application to sociology programs in the US. And as the title of my blog, I put: In God we trust.

This has been my motto since early childhood as an Iranian Muslim. Actually, this was the core of one of the first prayers that my mother taught me in that age to begin my day with (Quran, end of 65:2 to 65:3; and those verses are so eloquent). And you see this phrase over the doorframe of many old houses in Iran. As a child, I felt so proud living in such a country. And whenever I passed by such a house, apart from the architecture (and old houses in Iran are magnificent in that sense), I admired the owner of the house, unbeknownst.

And when I discovered later that Americans have the same motto, although I felt (and do feel) very critical about the politics of American gov't, I felt a sense of admiration about America as a nation.

So, when I started my blog, it seemed the most trivial thing to me to put my motto (which was also shared by Americans) as the title of my blog. This would constantly remind me of my objectives while writing in my blog. And hopefully, people who read it would feel the same. And as I'm an Iranian Muslim, I might write about Iran and Islam also. After all, I've been doing comparative studies on Iran and the US since I read that book in sociology when I was a kid.

And now, it's been 15 months since I started this blog. When it became clear that I would leave the University of Tehran for another UT on the other side of the planet, I was thinking to myself, I will continue with this blog and although not under the same restrictions by my professor, I will try to stay focused. I have managed to do so (more or less). However, productive that I was when I arrived here, I've become very lazy about updating my blog. And I wonder why.

Have I become busy? Sure. And that's what my friends easily guess by the infrequency of my blog updates. And at times, I've thought to myself should I continue blogging. It's difficult to answer that question.

In Islamic teachings, we are told that whatever job not started in the name of God, is (would be) incomplete (futile). So, I may deduce from the same logic that this blog should go on. And when I think of the above mentioned reservations about blogging, I can certainly say the second one (lack of ideas) has not been an issue. The more I study American religion and life, the more I feel I'm in the right track about my research. But I have to admit that I'm a perfectionist person (in both ideal and pathological senses). So, the first reservation about blogging definitely applies to me.

When I write something and share it with others, I feel it must be as informative as possible. And high standards for blogging set by the above mentioned professor at INAES has exacerbated things for me. He expected our posts to be rich with information, supported by extensive research and reinforced by links to relevant websites. And although I'm no longer a student at INAES, I'm still under his intellectual influence. His ideal blogging style was something like Wikipedia. It's ideal, but very difficult to write that way everyday. Especially, when you're buried under heavy coursework in graduate school.

When I arrived here, I was not so overwhelmed with study and coursework. Or at least I didn't feel the pressure as I should. I was in a new environment and although I had ample information about the US as a result of studying about here for years, getting to experience things in person was different. That was the main reason that INAES chair strongly encouraged me to study America from within, not from afar. That is the essence of sociology.

I enjoyed visiting places and writing my thoughts as some sort of report of my observations. I justified the time I spent on blogging by the improving effect it had on my writing. Not merely writing. Rather, focused writing as a sociologist. As time went by, I began to feel the pressure of life in graduate school. And sometimes when I put aside time to write on my blog, I felt guilty. It was at the expense of my formal academic studies. I have much more to read in addition to my old self-studies on the side of my engineering job and further to my current coursework here to improve my knowledge and insight.

And do not forget that for engineers, efficiency too is among their Ten Commandments. Sometimes, I wonder whether blogging is an efficient way of improving my writing. Maybe that's the main reason I've been so lazy (read reluctant) about updating my blog, even over summer that I had many interesting observations. But maybe my fastidiousness with my writing is the reason. But I still wonder maybe I should rethink my blogging habits. Or maybe I need to manage my time more efficiently. And I still wonder.

But looking back at my posts, I feel more or less happy. It may lack on quantity, but it's not so bad on quality. I may have gone off-topic at points, but all in all, I believe this practice (efficient or not) has helped me organize my thoughts as I proceed in my new career.

Christmas 2007

In Islamic teachings, we are told not to make fun of people and their problems; God might put us in their shoes someday somehow. And although I've experienced such lessons that God has taught me over my life in several occasions, still, I slip from the straight path at times.

One of the bad habits I've carried over from Iran is teasing sons of clergymen over their religiosity. I'm not the only one with that habit. And I assume it not to be limited just to Iran. You know, when somebody is a man of God (whatever brand of religion he belongs to), people expect him to be not only an exemplar of what he teaches and preaches, but also to be successful in bringing up his children that way. So basically, those people and their children are under scrutiny. Everywhere in the world. You expect the son to be a chip off the old block.

And when you see symptoms to the contrary, you may be tempted to tease the poor guy. Surely, that expectation is unrealistic. Just think of the prophets who have had far-from-perfect sons. But anyway. That temptation to tease exists.

I had a friend here who was the son of a well-known evangelical pastor. Last spring, he was extremely busy working on his thesis and PhD application essays. Trivially, he didn't have time for anything else.

After I returned from my church visits on Good Friday, I casually asked him about his church visit for the day. He told me he had not visited any (and understandably so). We were good friends poking fun at each other like brothers. And then think about the lines above about the temptation. And you know. I told him "I'm a better Christian than you; I've visited FOUR churches for Good Friday and you've not been to any". Although he was familiar with my sense of humor and although he knew that I was talking tongue in cheek, he gave me a tired look and said nothing. Knowing well about his stressed out days, I immediately regretted my silly joke. And now, God has put me in the same situation.

Joking aside, I don't know why people associate faith and religiosity only with visiting churches. And as a sociologist, I hate it to see almost all so-called research papers on religion limiting their measure of religiosity mainly to church attendance. And this false assumption is not limited to secular scholars who have no understanding of religion; people, those who acclaim to be religious (or those boasting lack of it) aren't any better. All are equally obsessed with religion as merely attending a place of worship. Whether what they do there is true worship (or worship at all) is another story.

True, one of the most important pillars of any religion is worshiping the Creator and people cannot consider themselves true believers without praying and showing their humility to their Lord. But is that all? What about religion in our actions? In our daily life? When we're not in a place of worship?

Equally, self-acclaimed religious people are conceited about their worship (or what they think is worship) and their non-religious (or sometimes Godless) counterparts are happy about not being one of those hypocrite fool guys visiting places of worship.

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to be put in my friend's shoes. Nowadays, I can hardly spare time to visit any church, even once a week. One night at the beginning of the semester, I saw Pastor Bill in my dream. He was unhappy that I'd stopped visiting them regularly. Hope Lutheran was the first church I visited when I arrived in Toledo. And my second post in the US was a brief description about my visit. Although the post is very succinct, I had such a good time and I made my first Toledoan friends in there. And as it was very close to the campus and as I felt myself at home there, I used to visit Hope almost every week. So, there's no surprise that as I got busy, I missed the church and its pastors and (at least in my dream) their senior pastor missed me.

After that dream, I was thinking to myself kiddingly, "now, you are not a good Christian". I visited the church over the weekend for Sunday service and had a good a time visiting Pastor Bill and Pastor Tom after such a long time. And when they inquired about my being away, I mentioned about my dream and joked that I had not been a good Christian. A joke that Pastor Tom found very funny, but I assume Pastor Bill didn't enjoy it that much; he told me: "of course, you are a good Muslim".

Last Christmas, as I had arrived here before the semester began, I had nothing to do but street walking, sightseeing and church visiting. I visited four churches for Christmas, traversing a distance of about five miles on foot. My Iranian friends panicked when I told them how much I had walked over those desolate streets at that late hour. Later on, I discovered that some of the places that I'd walked around were not so safe. But, I didn't feel scared at all. For the night, I was a guest of Jesus in a foreign country on the other side of the planet so far away from my family and friends. So, I took for granted that he would protect me as his guest over this silent night.

Grace Lutheran was one of the churches that I visited on Christmas Eve. This was another place where I felt at home (and more so). It didn't take long that I started visiting them too on a regular basis (for their contemporary worship though). My fascination with Grace (as a traditional old-fashioned guy) could be seen by the number of posts I've written about them. I've given briefs or details about my observations at Grace here, here, here, here, here and here. And there was another thing that made Grace stand out for me.

I refer to both Grace and Hope as my churches. And oddly enough, although Grace is mostly a blue-collar church and Hope is clearly a white-collar one, and although I supposedly belong to the latter category (as an engineer coming from a white-collar family), I feel more comfortable at Grace. And I wonder why.

At Hope, I felt at home; especially, given the fact that I was literally homeless over my first week and their kindness was very warming over those first cold lonely days that I had to stay at dorm. At Grace however, I not only felt at home, but also among my family. And I miss my original family in Iran so much. People at Grace could fill the vacuum somehow. And interestingly enough, although they are a traditional (more or less) conservative church, my frequent participation in their various religious practices would reveal another point: they are quite open to welcome a Muslim who obviously has no intention to become a church member at any time. And they treat me like a member, not a guest.

Nowadays, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of the work I have to do and I don't have time to visit so many churches this Christmas. And it is very regrettable. Last year, when I arrived here, I didn't have the knowledge that I have now about contemporary worship and how it is different from traditional worship and what those changes mean. Especially, Christmas is the time that all churches do their best to show what and who they are. So, this is the best time of the year to study church services, their styles and their meaning within the ecclesial context of the church body. And now, I have a much better knowledge compared to last year and I have many friends in many churches, but I don't have time to attend any. Well, that's life. You cannot enjoy all the good things at the same time.

But despite being very busy, I felt some sort of obligation to visit at least Hope and Grace, my churches. So, I visited both. And by sheer chance I ended up attending their traditional service at both places. And it was a very interesting experience.

Last Christmas, I had attended the 11 pm service at Hope which was their contemporary one (and had much to amuse me). This year, I visited them at 7 pm and found the service very different and to a degree, solemn. Not that I expect Christmas service to have much fanfare (and I have to admit that I'm used to such attractions at Hope). But compared to last year, this service felt very short and modest to me. There was almost no music, or as Pastor Tom referred to it, special music. But the message was deep.

Pastor Tom is usually very restrained (yet friendly). And he gives his sermons in an eloquent but not very humorous way. But tonight he had adopted some of Pastor Bill's preaching practices. Still remaining more or less serious, He based his sermon on a deep theological movie, Talladega Nights and its not-so-intelligent main character, Ricky Bobby (played by Will Ferrel) who was a race car driver. Before a very important race, he started praying to baby Jesus calling to his tiny little hands, his tiny little face, etc. His wife, who was marginally sharper than him, asked him why he prayed to the little Jesus as he didn't remain a tiny little baby all his life; so he should pray to the grown-up Jesus. Ricky Bobby answered, "I prefer to pray to the little tiny Jesus. This is the Jesus I like". The sermon could be heard here. The rest of the sermons are available here.

Then, Pastor Tom concluded how we replace the real Jesus with the one we want him to be; the tiny little Jesus who doesn't put any demands (or responsibility) on us; the part-time Jesus whom we remember when we need him; the story-book Jesus who amuses us; nevertheless, not the real Jesus.

My experience at Grace was not so different though. It was the same traditional church I was used to with hymns, prayers and sermon. And the message was about how to practice being like Jesus, not merely celebrating his birth.

Before the service began, I met Pastor Jacobs and gave him a draft of my research design and analysis that I had prepared for my Advanced Research Methods course. It was not specifically focused on Grace and dealt generally with the issue of contemporary vs. traditional worship from a cultural perspective (although I come from a background of numbers and math, I hate quantification of religion). But still, a good chunk of the material in it was on Grace (as my case study). When I had given him my first research report on Grace last semester, both he and his wife found my account of the light-loving toddler mentioned in this post, the most interesting part of it. He received my research design and analysis with interest to read it later.

While I was wandering around the hallways and reading bulletin boards to see what's new in my church since my last visit 3 months ago, he emerged from his study with a big cake and told me he had baked it himself. A pastor-made cake? Quite a Christmas Eve gift, although I had not hung any stockings and my visit was unannounced.

And there's something I like about Grace; their dedication to teach worshipers in any opportunity in any possible way. The pastors believe education and learning to be a full-time job, not limited just to Sunday school. In their worship, they follow the Lutheran tradition as much as they can, according to the Lutheran Book of Worship. Sometimes the pastor, while leading the service, refers people to certain pages in the book where liturgy is described step by step and it could be easily seen that the rituals and procedures are followed precisely. This would also serve education purposes for the congregants (on-the-job training I'd say). Tonight, Pastor Lauman was explaining before Communion that if you prefer the pastor to put the bread in your mouth, hold your hands together in front of you like this (and he showed how). So, even if people are new and unfamiliar with rituals and traditions, they won't feel awkward in this church.

Before visiting Grace, I checked Kroger to do some grocery shopping. To my surprise, I found it closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Last year, I found all stores open even on Christmas Day and I took it for granted as a result of dominant consumer culture in the US. But those people who work in those stores (typically for a low hourly wage) are human too. They are entitled to celebrate Christmas, even if not on religious grounds, even if they celebrate it just as a holiday. They too have families and loved ones and prefer to spend their time with them. Consumerism should not deprive these people of their rights. And when I saw the notice on Kroger entrance, although it sounded like a little bit of inconvenience to me, I felt happy at heart.

I had noticed over Thanksgiving Day too that all stores were closed, even Burger King and Arby's that are open till late after midnight. And as I had no frame of reference, I assumed it was a practice for Thanksgiving Day only. Now, I find that things have changed this year. And if these store closures do not come at the price of their hourly wage, it feels good to me.

Speaking of Thanksgiving and shopping, it reminded of Black Friday that I'd written about in my Happy Thanksgiving post. And I found the following in E-Words of Grace for December:

It was on Black Friday, Nov. 23, that 9 Grace members met at 3:30 a.m. to grace some 200 people with free coffee and hot chocolate. Best Buy, next door to the church, would open at 5 a.m. to these eager shoppers who stood outside all night with temperatures in the mid 20's. The hot drinks were given with a card that read "A token of God's Grace," as well as the name, address and times of worship and Sunday School at Grace. Since God's Grace is a free gift, any donations that were offered were lovingly declined.

Well, this is some sort of marketing (read evangelism). But still, done in a graceful way. Things like this make me feel Grace is my church.

Snow, Worship and Technology

Winter has begun (although not on calendar). We've got our first batch of serious snow. It appears that snow is taken much more seriously in the US. And it also appears that declaring different colors and levels of emergency is part of American life. They have declared level 2 emergency in Lucas County for a few inches of snow. That means schools, colleges, universities and everything would be closed. And trivially, all commencement ceremonies are cancelled. I'm really sorry for those graduates (one of my friends included).

As school kids in Iran, we had to cross our fingers real hard to get a shutdown even for high-schools for this level of snow. Closing universities? No way.

While I was watching breaking news on snow and emergency, I noticed the marching list of closed schools and cancelled events at the bottom of the screen. Level 2 emergency means "only people with a real and important need to be out on the roads and streets should do so". And as almost all people go to church driving their car, that meant a big percentage of those marching names were that of churches.

Although I was too busy to attend any church services today (snow or shine), I felt unhappy about churches being closed. And again, I was thinking that back in Iran, snow could hardly have a serious impact on daily prayers at mosques or weekly worships at churches. Rain and snow might affect the attendance but rarely lead to cancellations.

Even Friday prayers which are usually held at big places city-wide (sometimes open air) rarely get cancelled by snow or rain. I remember having attended Friday prayers in snow and rain. Once, I had to wipe snowflakes off my mohr (a piece of hardened clay we Shia Muslims put our forehead on as a sign of humility before God) in between one rak'ah and the next. Regular daily prayers which are held at mosques aren't even affected that much as mosques are generally isolated from outside weather.

Anyway, looking at those marching names, I was trying to find the names of the churches that I knew. I was aware that level 2 emergency meant closure of all roads and hence all churches (announced or not announced), but I was curious to see which of those churches would announce their closure through TV, a modern medium. As a former engineer, I'm always interested in the interaction between religion and technology (media included).

And as anticipated, I could locate CedarCreek Church. Over recent months, they advertise their web address as www.cedarcreek.tv not www.aroundthecreek.com although that old address still works. But isn't it interesting that a church has adopted .tv as their web domain? The founders of this church come from a strong business background and their church is run (and looks) more like a corporation than a church as I've described in a previous post. So, there should be no surprise about using a .com domain. But .tv? That sounds too much to me. The name you choose for your web address and the domain you register show the nature of what you do. Is it more about worship or entertainment? Even if neutral domains like .org or .net are already taken, isn't there any way to register a church website under a less material name? Couldn't something like .us serve?

Anyway, I came to school to check my Emails. Fortunately, computer networks are not supposed to shut down in abidance by snow emergency levels. And voila, I got this interesting Email from CedarCreek Church senior pastor:

What a weekend! The snow prevented 5,000 Creekers from making it to church. You can catch the weekend's message as a video, or as a podcast, on the web at www.cedarcreek.tv.

As you can imagine, when we have to cancel weekend services the giving drops well below budget since only about 20% of you give online. This would be the week to start giving online, it's actually very easy to do and you can do it as a one-time gift or you can set it up rhythmically, i.e., weekly, monthly, etc. To start giving online go to www.cedarcreek.tv and select “Online Giving” at the top of the homepage. If you have ever done online giving or online registration before you can use that log in, otherwise select create account to create your own user ID and password. You will then be able to schedule your contribution using your checking account, Visa, MasterCard or Discover.

Lastly, we've added a twelfth Christmas service at the Perrysburg Campus on Saturday, December 29, at 3:30 p.m. This service is not shown on the invitation cards, but it will be shown in our newspaper ads and on the web. Please be praying that many people cross the line of faith this weekend.

Your fellow laborer in Christ,

Lee Powell
Senior Pastor
lee@cedarcreek.tv
http://www.cedarcreek.tv

P.S. Now for the infomercial....we have Bibles available at near cost, $25.00 including tax. We have the Life Application Study Bible, which would be a great gift idea, and you can pick one up at either campus, or you can stop by the Source at the Perrysburg Campus during their regular business hours before, during or after the services.

Well, this Email sounds like a very interesting example of how technology could serve religion even when the nature turns the table around. But as a former(?) engineer, I have a couple of thoughts.

First, communicating through Email while people are glued to TVs to watch what's going on. Do not forget that under level 2 emergency, news media reporters are categorized the same as health care and other emergency personnel when it comes to road closure. So, TV is still considered a major information dissemination medium. Supposedly, a big percentage of church members are assumed to prefer Internet over TV (an older technological medium).

Second, even under inclement weather conditions, people are entitled to catch the message (albeit on cyberworld). And I'm thinking about how technophobic philosophers like Borgman lament about the adverse impact of technology on communal celebrations in Christianity. As an engineer, it was a real torment to read his views on technology in his Power Failure book. But I have my own business-driven cynicism about seeker churches: customer retention in any possible way.

Third, snow is not so bad after all. Under normal conditions, online collection constitutes only %20 of their income. But now, snow could be leveraged to adapt the customers to an online culture which is more reliable. You can set up automatic/periodic donations.

Fourth, isn't it impressing to have TWELVE services for Christmas? And then I received 2 followup Emails, correcting the date typo (Dec 22 instead of Dec 29) and more advertising for their numerous services. They appear to be very excited about their business. Although he emphasized that he didn't mean spamming, it felt exactly like that to me. And worse, receiving 3 Emails in succession, encouraging people to invite/bring more guests made me think of network marketers. And all that boosted by a TV ad on Friday targeting for a 15,000-20,000 audience. As an engineer, I was always concerned about quantity vs. quality.

And finally, the infomercial part: buying Bibles and other books on-site. I have to say compared to all the high-tech elements in this Email, using online technology to promote off-line sale sounds very disappointing. And I have to say over my first visit to CedarCreek bookstore, I found books rather magnificent and hence expensive. I had the same problem in Iran with businesses rendering religious objects (books, icons, etc) into profitable commodities.

But seriously, is it only me who thinks that business (especially, online donation acculturation) comprises the major content of this Email? And I wonder what is serving what. Well, I have to admit that although I didn't feel completely comfortable with Consuming Religion, I tend to agree with the author partly on his grievance against commodification of religion.

----------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. I received this Email on Christmas Eve:

It was good news to the angels and is still good news today, Jesus the Savior was born so that we could be in relationship with God!

There were 928 people who crossed the line of faith this weekend at CedarCreek. The angels are rejoicing! Please pray that they will grow in their faith and become living testimonies for Christ. While many gave their lives to Christ 16,464 were encouraged by the powerful God-inspired music and media.

May your Christmas be a time of celebrating Christ's birth and sharing wonderful fellowship with family and friends.

Your friend,

Lee Powell
Senior Pastor
Lee@CedarCreek.tv
http://cedarcreek.tv

Well, the last words in the second paragraph are worth contemplating. Sorry, I have difficulty looking spiritually at such an all-out marketing campaign that is so obsessed with numbers and does not necessarily limit its reach just to lost kids.

After a year ...

One year has passed since I landed in Toledo after a 32 hour odyssey and going through a yearlong paperwork crusade as described in my Happy New Year 2007 post to start my graduate study of sociology. And how this year has passed? Rather quick I'd say.

People say when you feel time has passed by quickly, that means you've had a good time. Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes, when you're too busy to think about how time passes by, you wouldn't notice much. And it doesn't matter much whether you've had a good or bad one. And I've had quite a busy time (that's noticeable by the infrequency of my blog updates). But now, I'm trying to contemplate over what's been going on and whether it's been a good year. Although there have been some lingering bad memories over my summer and beyond, I'd say all in all it has been a good successful year.

I've passed 2 semesters into my Master's degree and now, I'm very close to a PhD program. A few years ago, when I was still an engineer, that sounded like a distant dream that would come true only for rich kids. At least that's how things go in my country (or generally speaking, my side of the world).

Trivially, I couldn't afford such a luxury as the son of two teachers; although they did for me everything they could within their limited financial resources. And what they lacked in money, they compensated for by their endless passion, love and dedication. But if you don't have a rich daddy, you have to direct your talents into engineering, medicine, anything financially tangible to make a living of your own. That's how I ended up an electrical engineer.

Not that I didn't like what I studied or my field of specialty. I was crazy about math, physics and computers. And as I was fascinated with change and its dynamics (and trivially in ways to control those changes in a desirable way), I chose control systems as my major.

When I was a school kid, whenever our school took us for a factory tour/visit, I was always the last one to be dragged out of the assembly line area, amazed by how things worked automatically, trying to figure out how every element in the system efficiently worked in coordination and in sync with others resulting in a perfect outcome without the intervention of human hand (apparently though). I was also interested in power generation and distribution (pun intended). So, my dream, as a school kid, was to practice computer-based automation in powerplants and power systems (or maybe factories in general).

I worked hard to reach that end and yet all the while I was thinking about studying human systems more seriously. And right when I was about to become somebody in my field as an engineer, I could no longer resist my lifelong dream and switched to sociology. People ask me (and I ask myself too) was it a right decision. Up until now, I believe it was.

Still, even up to the last moment, I was hesitant about leaving engineering. It was one of the hardest decisions in my life. And it was such even when I took the national entrance exam (concours) for admission to graduate studies (in Iran, higher education at state universities is tuition-free; so you have to pass a very competitive exam). I registered for concours in both social science and IT. What made my decision a little bit easier was my ranking (2nd) in American Studies program at the University of Tehran (the biggest oldest most prestigious university in Iran). And then, I got admission with a graduate assistantship at the University of Toledo. Easy decision, eh?

And although secular people may find it funny for a hard core engineer of 15 years (if you count in my college years), I felt a calling by God. My main objective in sociology was (and is) studying the role of religion in society and people’s life. And my systematic outlook as an electrical engineer (computer and control systems) plus my deep religious passion would serve that end.

I come from a very devout religious (yet modern-thinking) family and despite my early education in a very western style school (Iran-Swiss), I did most of my schooling (grades 3-12) in an elite Islamic school (Alavi). They were orthodox in their theology and ideology and yet extremely modern and progressive in their pedagogy. After so many years, I still hold their quality of education as a school to be comparable (or superior) to colleges and universities that I experienced or visited later.

The combination of such a family and such a school resulted in an engineer whose topmost passion is religion. And that was the objective of Alavi School’s founding fathers back in 1950s: to produce religious professionals. Or as anti-religion and anti-modernity people mock (although from opposing standpoints): religious technocrats. And when I hear of such derogatory views, I keep thinking about the iron cage and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and the possible role of such dynamics as discussed in Weber’s famous book in schools like Alavi. And my sociologist friends who cannot reconcile between religion, technology and modernity, label me as being a positivist. But that’s another story.

Then, I remember my last hours in Iran when I was packing for my long journey. My father asked me the same question: "you were an engineer and you were doing well, why the switch to sociology?" Probably, he was unhappy mostly about my going to the other side of the planet for a long time, not about the reason for my going there. I smiled and replied: "you are responsible for my conversion".

Tehran is a megacity. And it’s a hub for everything in Iran. People from all over the country come, work and settle there. And those people come from all walks of life and all sorts of culture and lifestyle. And with that comes diversity and stratification in all spheres of life.

When I was a little kid, my father used to take me to different places in Tehran. I’ve dined at the Hilton, Sheraton and InterContinental, at cafes frequented by artists, writers and so-called intellectuals, and also at pubs where truck-drivers and daily wagers eat. He took me to wealthy neighborhoods and to poor shanty places. While taking me here and there, he never needed to give me rhetoric about stratification and different lifestyles; I had eyes and could see things for myself and notice stark differences.

I reminded my father of my childhood tours around Tehran and the effect that they etched in my mind at such an early age. But he was not responsible merely for opening my eyes to such differences by taking me to those places.

My parents have a rich library (and as tenants, it always gave us real headache whenever we moved from one place to another all over our life in Tehran). My father has studied chemistry and has taught that as a teacher. But the majority of his books are not in chemistry; rather they are mostly in intangible subjects (that don’t make money or sense, whichever way you prefer to look at it) like philosophy, mysticism, history, religion, literature, psychology and … sociology.

My parents tell me that as a toddler, one of my favorite hobbies was tearing/vandalizing their books, magazines and newspapers. They maintain that it was out of my jealousy; they could read, I couldn’t; hence the retaliation on their stuff. Amazing theory, eh?

To save their library, they tried to teach me reading before school. And apparently, it worked. Being capable of reading, I preferred amusing myself with those stuff in a more constructive way. And one of the books that caught my eyes at the age of 10 was a Soc Intro textbook by two American sociologists, Ogburn and Nimkoff (translated by Dr Aryanpour, father of modern sociology in Iran). Reading that book, I discovered my true territory.

It not only introduced me to sociology as a science, but also gave me a sociological perspective on social change; something that had engaged my mind over those years of drastic change in all spheres of life in Iran back in 1980s. There were other interesting topics covered in that book: media, technology, culture and family (of course with the 1960s mindset in the US which was very different from today).

I reminded my father of that book too. He gave me a sad look and couldn’t get along with the fact that sometimes small things could have big effects. He maintained that he had read lots of such books, yet remained loyal to his career as a chemistry teacher. Sorry dad, early childhood distractions could be much more profound and complicated than the ones in adulthood.

True, I still feel deeply nostalgic whenever I pass by powerplants or factories (and the industrial Midwest is plentiful with those things). But engineering as a job was a means not a goal to me. I pursued engineering (and more specifically control systems which was my major interest) to make a livelihood out of a profession I loved so that I could study what I loved more (sociology) on the side of my job.

But as I paid sociology more attention over recent years, I realized that I’d be nobody in either field if I continue to divide my time and energy in 2 different paths. Well, maybe not completely different paths. My Statement of Purpose when I started this blog (and when I thought seriously about applying to sociology graduate programs) explains how I view control systems and sociology and how I make a connection between the two and how I don’t really think of my career change as a drastic inherent switch.

But looking at things from a practical perspective differs from dreaming or theorizing. I already knew that my salary even after I get my PhD in sociology would still be lower than what I would make as an engineer with my Bachelor’s degree. And I knew that my first years in my new career would be very hard, financially speaking. As my advisor jokes about it, I’ve had a downward social mobility, from a middle-class engineer to a poor-class student. And now, I understand what it means.

As an engineer, I was not into material culture and maintained my modest lifestyle as a student. I had the money, but kept away from luxurious habits out of my ideological convictions. But choosing a modest lifestyle out of your own free will is different from being forced to live like a poor because you are not allowed to work outside campus (as an international student) and have to suffice to a stipend below federal poverty line.

And although as somebody living below federal poverty line you're supposed to be exempt from tax, they still deduce taxes from that stipend and you have to wait for a year to file for tax return and get those taxes back (not completely though). So basically, poor people give the US gov't (the richest and yet the most indebted in the world) an interest-free loan for most of the year and live further down poverty line. Compassionate Capitalism redefined, eh?

And there's something that makes this interest-free loan even more interesting (pun intended). The money that you get back has been part of your last year gross income. So, it has been already taxed once. When you get it back, it's considered part of your income in the new year when you file for tax return. And that means it could be taxed again. Isn't it cool?

And even as if that taxed meager stipend doesn't give you enough hardship, you're forced to pay health insurance premium out of that. Health insurance companies in this country do their best to make the most profit out of your pocket while giving you the least possible. Well, that's the essence of Capitalism, isn't it?

And to outdo health insurance companies, the university charges you about $1300 a year for health insurance premium. And their coverage is good for nothing; rip-off, as I experienced this summer. I was wise enough to purchase my health insurance for this year outside university. It cost me about $550 for almost the same coverage. And although the Graduate Assistantship covers your tuition fees, you have still to pay all sort of other fees and try to survive with what remains in your pocket. And man, that feels so hard.

You know what my last name means? One who travels a lot. And I’ve been a perfect match to my name all my life. When I was an engineer, I used to travel a lot; for business and for fun. And even on my tours of duty, I had fun as I enjoyed what I did as an engineer and I grabbed on every opportunity to enjoy my surrounding.

When I worked as a supervising engineer in that hydroelectric powerplant in Southwest Iran, whenever our transport van took us to the heart of the mountain where the powerhouse was being built, I kept looking at the green-blue of Karun River and brown-ocher-gray rocks of Zagros Mountains until the last moment that we entered the tunnel. And although I had to inspect instruments, wires, cables, control panels, pumps, generators and all sort or electrical or mechanical equipment for the next few hours, I knew that when I come out of the huge powerhouse cavern, I’d be back again with Mother Nature.

Yet, while I went up and down the four floors of the powerhouse, scrutinizing all those gadgets and stuff, I didn't lose the opportunity to interact with the workers whose job I inspected. Despite my strict quality control standards, my relationship with them was more of a sociologist (or anthropologist?) than an engineer. Even for those who were initially apprehensive about my position (and appearance, as some of them admitted later), it wouldn't take them long to realize this was a different kind of engineer.

And even when not at work, although I didn’t waste much money on buying stuff, I had no qualms to spend money on travel; short and long range. Even when I was going through the last stages of my paperwork crusade to get my US visa, although the trips were stressful in nature, bound by the uncertainties of the US gov’t bureaucracy, I still tried to make the most out of the money I spent. I used the entire day before my visa interview in Nicosia, (literally) surveying the city on foot from morning to late night, visiting every historical place and church I could over my limited time. I was thinking to myself, whatever the result of the interview, I should visit as many places and people as possible to compensate for the money I’d spent to travel to Cyprus. And I really enjoyed my time.

But now, I’m more or less a home-campus-home zombie. The cap on my traveling and sightseeing isn't put merely by my busy schedule as a graduate student. Even as an engineer, I always found some time to do some travel. Here, budget plays a bigger role. And those dental works over past semester were more financially painful; I’ve gone bankrupt and I cannot afford travel and that has made life more miserable. And add that imprisonment factor mentioned in my summer post (and this never leaves the mind of any Iranian student with a single-entry visa).

When I managed to visit Cleveland in July, more than being happy about visiting a bigger city, I felt upbeat about the move and the change (I had a very short trip around Midwest last week, but that was mostly about business although it was fun too). And that’s why I cherished my bike trips around Lucas County over summer so much. Even my half-hour trips to Meijer for grocery shopping were so relaxing as I passed along University/Parks Trail and could enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Oak Opening Region.

But despite all the hardship, when I look at the glass, I can clearly see the full-half. I’ve managed to reach what I had set my sight on, thanks be to God. And although I’m very busy and at times feel overwhelmed, I can see His light at the end of the road and en route.

Happy Thanksgiving

Another holiday. Another shopping spree. Another Happy Holidays. If we don't believe in God and want to be politically correct at all cost, whom are we giving thanks to? Supercenters or shopping malls? Seriously, why celebrate a holiday that is all about God and His blessings and yet omit the reference to the main focus of celebration? Is it all about God or is it just another excuse to spend/make money?

Thanksgiving is the start of the Advent period and at the same time beginning of the biggest shopping season in America. Fortunately, I've been able to keep myself (more or less) away from such tidings (pun intended) since landing in the US. But this one is more than a shopping spree. It's more of a shopping frenzy.

Knowing about Black Friday, I was thinking how people would line up in front of stores at 4 am in a below freezing temperature. Although it could have been a good opportunity for me to make some interesting observations as a sociologist, I neither felt like waking up at that time, nor saw it in myself to ride my bike in such a cold. Then, watching the news, I found people standing in line since the night before to be the first ones rushing to doorbusters. And they have their rules and principles. If you set up a tent or use heaters in that freezing cold, that's cheating.

And yes, we live in an age of technology. There's Cyber Monday (also known as Black Monday). A cyber version of Black Friday. Here, you don't have to shiver while waiting for the virtual stores to open. You can do it at the comfort of your home (or work, if you're a bit unscrupulous). You can find amazing prices and offers very hard to resist. But even as somebody who has spent over 20 years on computers, I'm not a player in this game.

What interests me the most about this season is the Advent part of it. People gear for Christmas and start decorating their homes, trees and places. And that comes with light decorations. My fascination with light and lighting does not come merely from my electrical engineering background. I have been born that way. My mother tells me when I was a newborn baby, my mood considerably changed in places like Shiraz (my birthplace) rich in lighting and light decorations (and conversely turned gloomy and grumpy in places poor in that respect). Fortunately, the neighborhoods near UT have much for me to visit and enjoy. Just if I can find some time to break my home-campus-home routine.

Multifaith Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays in the US. And given its religious backgrounds and its similarities to Mehregan, one of the most fascinating to me. In Mehregan however, Iranians celebrate on sheep instead of turkeys. And in both feasts where celebrations are centered on harvest, I wonder why animals (turkeys or sheep) have to pay the price.

Anyway, attending thanksgiving celebrations (and hence studying religious rituals in churches) was on my to-do list long before coming to the US. However, due to my very heavy schoolwork, I cannot pursue all my wishes this semester. So, I had to choose only one celebration to attend (and even that would put a burden on my time).

When I happened to know about Multifaith Thanksgiving by Multifaith Council of Northwest Ohio, I chose this one. I always love multifaith events. When people sit and learn about how much they share in beliefs and how they worship the same God, they'll no longer waste their time and energy fighting over differences in practice and theology. More people thinking this way and we'll get rid of bigotry. Quoting Dr Martin Luther King, "I have a dream".

Here, representatives of American Indian faith, Baha'i, Baptist, Islam and Mennonites gave speeches to explain how and why we give thanks to God (and I wondered why nobody from Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism was present). After the speeches, we had to dance a little before proceeding to refreshments. A Sufi guitarist gave us the lines to repeat and share the heavenly peace.

Well, as a Muslim, I find the blend of Sufism in the US an example of commodification of religion. For more on this topic, you can read Consuming Religion and Jesus in Disneyland; although I don't agree with all the arguments in these books (especially the first one that at times is overly cynical and sophistic). In short, these books try to explain how consumer culture (and its freedom of choice entailment) in Western postmodern culture, would lead to cherry picking from different religions, resulting in a new conglomerate of elements (bricolage or salad, depending on how you want to look at it) that have lost their attachment to their original sources and hence are devoid of their contextual meaning and cultural/historical setting.

Sufism by and in itself is an offshoot of Islam produced this way 10 centuries ago. But while original Sufism could still be considered Islamic (and orthodox Muslims vehemently dispute such a view), my personal experience, study and familiarity with it in Iran, make me believe what I see in the US is a clear example of the arguments in the above mentioned books. Anyway, back to the party.

We left the program for the refreshments singing "Metta, Karuna, Mudita, Upeka". And after we entered the fellowship hall, we made two counter-rotating concentric circles with the American Sufi guitarist in the center (some sort of Murshid?) and continued singing and dancing. As a conservative Muslim, I found myself in a funny situation. I don't have much problem with Sufism but I don't feel comfortable practicing what I don't completely believe in. And as I was standing beside Imam Ibrahim Abdulrahim from Masjid of Al-Islam, I found him in the same funny situation and feeling. But in the meantime, I found it interesting to sing the following while rotating and holding hand with people on my sides:

"Fill your cup, drink it up, ya Allah Allah"

Well, at least I felt at home with this line, given my lifetime familiarity with Rumi as an Iranian Muslim.

Nice Photos from Iran

One of my friends sent me a link to this slideshow page. As a former(?) nature photographer, I already knew that my country is such a lovely beautiful place, but I was still stunned by some of the photos in this slideshow. I wish they had put some Iranian music accompanying the photos. Anyway, nice job.

Trick or Treat!

I've always wondered how a pagan feast like Halloween has found its way into American culture as a Christian nation. Some historians hold that the Roman Catholic Church moved All Saints' Day or All Hallows' Day to the day after this festival which was celebrated in pagan Northern European countries. Gradually the secular aspects of this holiday obscured the religious one and Hallow's Eve changed to Halloween making this a national American holiday. And unlike Christmas where people greet each other saying Happy Holidays, few people are apprehensive to mention the real name of this holiday.

Nevertheless, like any other holiday, stores would be happy selling stuff (candies and costumes) to their faithful customers. What I find interesting as a sociologist is this "trick or treat" thing. Basically, this is a blackmailing practice for children at that early age. You either give them treats or they may play tricks on you. In the past, such tricks could include soaping your car, throwing things at your window, smearing paints, and whatever else that could come to their creative mind.

Tonight, I had a very short time between my last two classes to ride my bike around the neighborhood to the north of UT campus to make some quick observations. This neighborhood is middle (or maybe upper-middle) class. It appears that we live in a more civilized time and adult people don't like children to resort to uncivilized measures or violence to get their rights. I could see many people waiting patiently with their treat baskets at their door for little masqueraded (or at times without costumes) goblins to come and pick whatever they want. This way, traditions would be upheld without uncivilized behavior.

We have a similar feast in Iran called Chaharshanbe Suri with a few major differences:

First, the festival does not have pagan roots and is traced back to Zoroastrianism. That's why some ultra-orthodox Muslims are unhappy about it being celebrated nationwide. On the other hand, ultra-orthodox Zoroastrians too are not happy with jumping over fire on another ground: fire (as the sustainer of life and a symbol of God's light) is a sacred element in their religion and they consider it a disrespect to jump over fire.

Second, the trick part of the tradition is not so tricky as in Halloween; at most, kids make so much noise with their spoon-pan set to get their treat. However, if you get very pestering, you could be treated with a bucket of water poured over your head. Well, Iranians are generally generous and kind, but they don't like to be blackmailed (even over such a tradition which is all about giving and receiving).

Third, there's no pumpkin carving. In Iranian culture, produce, vegetable and fruits are revered as God's blessing for eating not for wasting. This year, they put sales tax on pumpkins in Iowa. And the rationale? Pumpkins have become more of Halloween decoration than foodstuff (which is tax-free). However, as a taxo-phobic person, I suspect that has been more of an excuse to make a new tax revenue out of a profiting $100 million business. Right on Halloween night, Iowa Governor repealed the tax order.

Anyway, I liked one church playing with this night's famous principle:

God's love is all treat and no trick.

Amen.

MAMA at Grace

MAMA: Mission and Music Alive.

I'm not sure who (and how) did come up with such an acronym. But the way it sounds, serves the purpose. This was a fundraiser event for Salem Lutheran Church (near downtown Toledo). In the event program, Salem Lutheran was described as the mother church of our ELCA congregations in the Toledo area. They are very active in social work (uh oh, as a born again sociologist I'm beginning to use secular words for jobs that have been an integral part of all religions all over their history). This event was a joint effort by Lutheran churches in the area to raise funds for Salem.

I was very busy for the day, but I always enjoy music fundraisers at churches (and Grace is always a pioneer for such events). Furthermore, I missed my friends at Grace (especially Pastor Jacobs) after a long lapse in my church visits and I could use this event to meet them after such a long time. It appears that I'm so fond of Grace as my church that 3 months sounds like a long time to me. When I visited the church, it appeared that they felt the same way.

One of my senior friends (who is very traditional), warned me that some of the music I would hear this evening would not be completely church-style. Or maybe he was warning himself, because he is not such a big fan of contemporary music, but as a member of welcome team, he had to be present there all over the event. He is a retired professor BTW.

And when Zoar Band started their program, I knew what he meant. I think the word band in a church chorus name should explain enough. I'm comfortable with contemporary music (even when it borders on Rock, combined with Country or at times sounding like Bluegrass) but looking at my senior friend's face indicated that he didn't feel the same. I'm not a person to make fun of other people's discomfort, but looking at his facial expression while Zoar Band was playing, it was difficult for me to stop myself from laughing. The rest of the music performances (which included Whitney Houston style songs) were not completely graceful to him either.

But joking aside, hearing all this and watching contemporary dance at the altar of a conservative (more or less) traditional church was quite an observation for me as a sociologist. It was also interesting to watch Pastor Jacobs (who usually has a venerable restrained appearance) imitating some sort of dance at one point when the music was too animated.

When it came to Salem pastor to explain about their activities, I found that they are not limited to feeding the poor and needy (as I'd assumed based on their location downtown). And she was a lively remarkable pastor. In between music performances, different ministers at Salem would talk about what they do for their community. And I was impressed.

As a church whose web presence is limited to a modest webpage like this, they're more progressive compared to some churches who are obsessed with showing progressivism merely in their appearance or worship styles or efforts at sounding liberal (at the expense of compromising Christian principles).

The last speaker was not a minister or maybe not a regular minister. He explained that he had made mistakes and ended up in jail and he was appreciative of Salem for giving him new chances for a fresh start. You can hardly find people going to such legnth as to give an ex-felon the opportunity to work in a church (later on, I found him to be a registered sex-offender). Yet, Pastor Baumgartner had the faith and courage to give him the chance. When he finished his speech (which was too eloquent for a former inmate), everybody was impressed and gave him a long applause.

The event ended with a reception provided by God Empowering Mothers (Salem Mom's Group). As I was fasting, I could not participate in this last part which was very well-prepared. And there was a Salem Cookbook, Feed My Sheep, filled with family recipes contributed by members of Lutheran congregations of the Nothwest Ohio Synod. Given the quality of the book, I found the book very reasonably priced ($15). All sales would benefit Salem Lutheran Church to support their mission. The book (the main object of fundraising) was promoted like this: "If you love me, feed my sheep".

My first Ramadhan in the US

When I landed in Chicago O'Hare airport, I was looking for a place in terminal 3 to say my noon/afternoon prayers before catching my connecting flight to Toledo. Having failed to find a proper place, I settled for saying my prayer behind a closed gate counter, right across the gate I was supposed to catch my flight. While doing so, I felt kinda weird. Not just because I was saying my prayers as a Muslim in one of the high security airports in the US and that some idiot might have assumed I was preparing for an act of terrorism and hence calling security. Well, such things have happened in the US and also in the UK. I felt weird because I knew this would be probably my last broken prayer before arriving in my new hometown.

In Islam, when you're on travel or away from your hometown for a distance of more than 15 miles, your 4 rak'ah (unit) daily prayers (noon, afternoon and night) would be broken in half; i.e. you have to say those prayers in 2 units (rak'ah); unless you stay in that new place for 10 days or more. In that sense, Toledo where I planned to stay for at least 1.5 years for the duration of my Master's degree program, would be considered my new hometown, religiously speaking. And that despite being at a distance of much much more than 15 miles from Tehran (where I'd lived almost all my life). Trivially, Chicago was not my home, although it was in the same country (U.S.). So, this was my last broken prayer over my 32 hour odyssey before reaching my new temporary hometown on the other side of the planet.

The same rule of travel/hometown applies to fasting. When you are away from your hometown for a distance of more than 15 miles, you cannot fast (it's not broken like prayer; it's void) unless you plan to stay at the place for more than 10 days. Apart from the religious ruling, fasting from dawn to dusk could be uncomfortable when you're away from the amenities of your own home and hometown.

First time I was away from my hometown over a Ramadhan over my adulthood (being 15+ years old when prayers and fasting are mandatory for Muslims), it was 2001 and I was assigned as a supervising engineer at a hydroelectric powerplant under construction in Southwestern Iran. It was my first time being away from Tehran (where I'd lived almost all my life) for such an extended period. Although I enjoyed the beautiful scenery amid steep Zagros Mountains and the banks of blue-green Karun River, physical conditions of the job were rather tough. I had to run up and down 4 floors of the big powerplant to make sure that Instrumentation and Control installations were done properly. Add to that dust and all sort of fumes and particles as a result of welding and metalwork. It was a demanding job even without fasting. Now that I look back to that hard period, I feel good about trying to do my fasting and my job without compromising one for the other.

And now, I have a weird feeling about my first Ramadhan and fasting in the US the same way I felt at Chicago. The physical conditions of my fasting period here is not as demanding and daunting as it was back in 2001 when I was a supervising engineer. There's a different issue.

Fasting like all other Islamic rituals gets its meaning in a communal atmosphere. In Islam, you do all things with other Muslim brethren and this would not only make you feel unified with a body of believers and worshippers, but also would make you enjoy your religious experience in that community. It reinvigorates your religious experience. Fasting over Ramadhan, although may look like an individual practice to non-Muslims, is a highly communal experience.

In Islamic teachings, Ramadhan is the banquet of God. This is a banquet where you purify your soul by abstaining from eating, drinking and all sort of physical pleasures for the whole day and then sit down at the end of the day feeling elated for doing what God has told you to do. At the end of the day, when you sit down to eat and drink, you truly find yourself at the banquet of God. You enjoy a banquet with your family and buddies. So, being away from all those loved ones, doesn't let you quite enjoy your banquet.

Over past 3 years that my parents have migrated to Mashhad, although I was away from them over my Ramadhans in Tehran, I was at least among my friends. Now, I'm away from them too. Being on a solitary banquet, although you may sense the presence of the Host, doesn't feel the same as when you sit with His other guests at the table.

Fall 2007 Semester

It appears that I cannot finish my Master's in Sociology by Spring 2008 and I have to do it within normal 4 semesters (i.e. by the end of Fall 2008) if I opt to do it with a thesis. Last semester, I had a rough time with 4 reading-intensive courses. So, I acted more prudently this semester, taking 3 courses (9 credits in all):

Classical Sociological Theory
Advanced Social Research Methods
Globalization & Law

I have to attend Graduate School Orientation also. This is a one-credit seminar given to new graduate students each fall semester. I'm not a new student, but as I missed my first fall semester, I have to take it now.