doberman pizza. a baha'i (bahai, bahá'í) blog.

hey. hop on over to our pad on Presland to hook it up for a night of new year’s fun and games. doors open at around 7:30 (when else) for an friendly, informal games night. bring Risk, Balderdash, Taboo, Battleship, and whatever other games you can think of. Bring a friend, too. bring instruments and we can have a jam! feel free to pop in any time during the night – we’ll be there for a while. food provided. we might even attempt the party-by-webcam technique we pioneered at the birthday party earlier in the month – except this time, we’ll set it up so that it doesn’t keep shutting off the connection… and I won’t be blocking the view all the time.

anyway. those who wish to play games, you’re more than welcome to pop by; those who’d like to watch, msg me on MSN to hook up the webcam. peace

Today is Christmas Eve. The children are nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. I know I’m thinking of the sugar-plums. (what are sugar-plums?) Yesterday was affectionately known as Christmas Adam among all the incorrigible punsters out there. You know, since today is Christmas Eve, and according to the story, Adam came before Eve, right? Soooo… you get the picture. Feel free to groan. (Whether or not I happen to share a belief in said story is another story entirely.)

Anyway, the weather pundits are predicting “snow or rain” for tonight, so tomorrow may or may not be a White Christmas, depending on the temperature. That kinda sucks.

I like Christmas. I like the thought of new snow quietly falling on grey days, leaving a vast expanse of white sitting like a plush blanket on the slumbering earth. I like the strings of tiny coloured lights that punctuate the human landscape in the darkest days of the year, sending little streams of light out through the gloom, and bringing a small measure of joy into everyday life. I like the way people can be more cheerful, more tolerant – and perhaps, in the way we remember the joy of giving, more conscious of a life beyond the everyday dronery of this material existence.

Generally, Baha’is don’t celebrate Christmas – but I think we can all appreciate the spiritual aspects of the holiday. The challenge for every one of us is to see beyond the materialism that eats at our everyday lives like rust, and to act as if we are spiritual beings with a greater purpose than just making money and spending money. We are capable of great acts of kindness, selflessness, caring and generosity. We just forget sometimes. We are capable of trustworthiness, of forgiveness, of honesty and charity. We tend to forget all of that in between commercial breaks and fleeting distractions. We are capable of not just tolerance or respect – our hearts can burn with loving-kindness for all those who may cross our paths.

Now must the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His: let them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-kindness. When ye meet with cruelty and persecution at another’s hands, keep faith with him; when malevolence is directed your way, respond with a friendly heart. To the spears and arrows rained upon you, expose your breasts for a target mirror-bright; and in return for curses, taunts and wounding words, show forth abounding love. Thus will all peoples witness the power of the Most Great Name, and every nation acknowledge the might of the Ancient Beauty, and see how He hath toppled down the walls of discord, and how surely He hath guided all the peoples of the earth to oneness; how He hath lit man’s world, and made this earth of dust to send forth streams of light.

So— whether or not we have a white Christmas, may you all have a bright Christmas, and may it mean something to you.

and now for a cute story about a rabbit and a cat who fall in love. what??? yes. it’s called there she is!! – a short flash animation about a rabbit and a cat who fall in love in a society where such things are forbidden. The animation is simple but extremely well done – especially for a flash cartoon. It’s reminiscent of anime. The background music is awesome Korean alt-pop-rockish stuff (the kind we used to call ‘super-happy’ in high school), and there’s no dialogue – so it’s perfectly understandable. Go see! (Note: Bonus points if you find the easter egg in Episode 2 – watch it through first, of course.)

Episode 1: There she is!!
Episode 2: Cake Dance

hey. I don’t mean to look like I’m some sort of distribution agent for the Baha’i World News Service (I’m not), it’s just that there’s been so much news coming out lately. here’s the most recently-posted article:

Wrongly imprisoned Baha’i dies in Iranian jail

NEW YORK, 19 December 2005 (BWNS) — A Baha’i who was wrongly jailed in Iran for 10 years died in his prison cell of unknown causes on Thursday, 15 December 2005, the Baha’i International Community has learned.

His death comes amidst ominous signs that a new wave of persecutions of Baha’is has begun. This year so far, at least 59 Baha’is have been arrested, detained or imprisoned, a figure up sharply from the last several years.

Read the entire article.

hey – just a note to let you know that pictures from the reflection meeting at the Glebe Community Centre last Sunday have been posted up – where else? – on my flickr site. Check ‘em out. Go 4th cycle!

Newly released by the Baha’i World News Service:

UN calls on Iran to stop persecution of Baha’is

UNITED NATIONS, 17 December 2005 (BWNS) — For the 18th time since 1985, the United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution expressing “serious concern” over the human rights situation in Iran, also making specific mention of the ongoing persecution of the Baha’i community there.

The resolution, which had been put forward by Canada and co-sponsored by 46 countries including Australia, the European Union, and the United States, passed by a vote of 75 to 50 on 16 December 2005.

Read the entire article.

whoa. talk about high profile. check out the newest article on the Baha’i World News Service:

Professor and prince participate in seminar

WASHINGTON, United States, 15 December 2005 (BWNS) — Suheil Bushrui, the holder of the Baha’i Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland, participated in a seminar on “Faith and Social Responsibility” with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales last month.

Read the whole article.

hey. this is just to remind you that the Ottawa Baha’i community’s next reflection meeting will be held this Sunday, December 18th, 2005, at the Glebe Community Centre, 690 Lyon St., from 2:00-5:00 PM. Judging from the past few reflection meetings (see the September 2005 and February 2005 versions blogged here), this one promises to be fun, dynamic, and infused with an infectious spirit of love, encouragement, and unity. Baha’is and their interested friends are welcome – there’s plenty of room for all.

also: check it out. there’s a conference about Huqúqu’lláh (the Right of God) on Saturday, December 17, the day before the reflection meeting. It’s going on at Room 207 of Montpetit Hall, at the University of Ottawa, from 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM. A light lunch will be served. From the email that went out:

The goal of this meeting is to deepen on this great law of God for this dispensation. The Chief Trustee of Huqúqu’lláh, beloved Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Varqá expressed his desire that Bahá’ís “devise a systematic plan for learning and deepening on the law of God in each Bahá’í community to such an extent that at the end of the Five Year Plan most of the believers…will observe the law of the Right of God.”

last night’s alphabet-themed birthday party went rather well. we had about 20 people in and out during the night, and about 6 to 8 people checked up on us via webcam. a big thanks to everyone who came out and made the evening a success, and to those people who made our night by showing up online. we ended up starting a lot later than 5:30 PM, and skipping the devotional portion – bummer, but oh well. you can’t win ‘em all. Maybe I’ll post up the alphabet-themed quotes from the Baha’i Writings I found…

I think this has been my most celebrated birthday ever. there were four parties in the same week (one with family, two with friends, one at work – oh, and the office christmas party but that didn’t really count). Not bad huh? I have to say that my favourite part of the whole birthday experience had to be the meeting on wednesday and the after-meeting hang-out afterwards. To me, part of being Baha’i is participating in the administrative process, being a part of consultation, and experiencing that blessed unity, love and energy that is a hallmark of the Baha’i administrative order. Being there, contributing, and then heading out with friends afterwards to bask in the afterglow was nothing short of affirming and fulfilling.

you can check out the birthday 2005 pics online – where? that’s right, on my flickr site.

NOTE: Also on my flickr site this week, check out the photos from Misagh’s going-away party last Friday – they’ll be going up gradually during the next few days.

tavalod tavalod tavalod mubarak (etc etc) yes it was my 26th birthday today and it was all a great deal of fun fun fun fun (yay) a good day at work was followed by (!!!) a sumptuous dinner at a local indian cuisine restaurant (yum) with tikka and tandoori and butter chicken (etc etc) (yum) and oooohhh there is a new camera in the house (!) a new five mega pixel camera called the canon sd610 (oooh) and it is very good and does many tricks (yay) so i took it out to the inter institutional meeting afterwards and sat and listened during the marvelous encouraging and spiritually charged consultation between the many lovely baha’i institutions (yay!) after which some hungry people went out to the clocktower pub in new edinburgh and had themselves (as we like to call it) a night on the town (word) with perogies and chicken fingers and suicide wings (uh oh) and at the end of it all there was a little piece of cake with a candle on top (yay) that we all shared together.

it made me very happy :) thanks guys! :)

looking for photos from the 2005 baha’i youth and young adult congress in washington DC? try looking around on flickr. and of course, some people took photos of last year’s congress (to tide you over until more photos get posted).

Update: Bagha posted his photos.

mireya writes in looking for pictures of Baha’i food – food served at Baha’i celebrations, commemorations, and various occasions. what can I do but oblige?

• Tableful of food – from 12th Day of Ridván in Sherbrooke
• Black Forest Cake – from 12th Day of Ridván in Sherbrooke
• Cakes from Anisafest, aka the Black & White Party
• Impressive fruit plate from Sarah HT’s birthday
• Payam eating kebab at Vafa’s Birthday
• Baha’i Youth Picnic at Lac Philippe
• Vafa’s Birthday 2004 – plenty of kebab
• Morning Devotional 2 at D&D’s – breakfast fun!
• Fundraising Dinner – fundraiser at persian cuisine express… more kebab
• Naw-ruz @ Persian Cuisine Express – pre-naw-ruz kebab dinner
• Martyrdom of the Báb – fine pics of food at this commemoration

yay it snowed :) I’m all inspired to blog right now but I have to be somewhere else. So I’m just leaving a little note. I love snowflakes. Craig came down from Victoriaville today for personal business, but we were able to catch up at lunch. He stopped over at the Conference Board at around 12:30 and, with Martin in tow, we went over to Kelsey’s for lunch and generally had a good time. I was so happy to see him – it’s been almost six months since we’ve seen each other. We talked all about how the Baha’i community in Ottawa is doing (naturally), how the intensive program of growth is blazing ahead and how the youth have managed to spearhead the entire process of revolutionizing Baha’i community life, turning an ordinary 600-strong bunch of believers into – if I may – a dynamic spiritual powerhouse, a well-oiled machine fueled by love and devotion to the Blessed Beauty, Bahá’u'lláh. He also gave us news of the friends in Victoriaville, Drummondville, and Thetford Mines (where he works now) – apparently there has been a lot of progress. Several Baha’is out there have already gone through the full sequence of Ruhi courses, and the effect on the community is tangible – activity is increasing and so is unity. He said that the Baha’is in Drummondville have apparently been doing so well that even the International Teaching Centre is taking notice, specifically asking for news from Drummondville in their regular updates.

Umm that’s it in a nutshell. Have you seen the photos I took at the Festival of the Covenant in Sherbrooke? They’re on my flickr blog.

Oh and I got my official pilgrimage confirmation back from the Office of Pilgrimage at the World Centre… 30 October 2006 :) :) :) :) :) :) yay yay yay yay yay yay yay