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

As a follow-up to the Fulcrum article on the same topic, The Charlatan, Carleton University’s student newspaper, ran an article about the denial of higher education to Baha’is in Iran and the greater campaign by Iran’s government to destroy the Iranian Baha’i community [1][2][3][4][5]. The article quotes Sam Benoit as chair of the Carleton CABS and Tahirih Naylor as a representative for the office of governmental relations for the Bahá’í Community of Canada. Both describe the restrictions on higher education for Bahá’ís in Iran – including the Iranian government’s numerous attempts to shut down the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education, an “Open University” organized by the Bahá’ís of Iran.

Learn more about Iran’s campaign to deny higher education to Baha’is.

Visit the University of Ottawa CABS website for more resources, including photos from Dr. Payam Akhavan’s Nov. 17th talk on the situation of the Baha’is of Iran.

• There’s a Call for Photos on flickr’s Bahá’ís group:

  “Allah’u'Abha! We’re putting together a photo collage with images from around the world of Baha’i youth offering service, but need more photos! The slide show will be used at this year’s NEBY Fest (www.neby.org).” – Read more.

• Dr. Abdu’l-Missagh Ghadirian is coming to Ottawa for a talk on “Spirituality and Healing in the Stressful”. The University of Ottawa CABS is sponsoring the talk. It’ll start at 7:30 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2006, in Montpetit Hall Room 202 at the U of O campus.
• My brother works as a tech for the National Gallery of Canada, installing art exhibits here in Ottawa and across Canada. Take a look at some photos he took of the wierdness he had to put up and take down in Shawinigan this year.
• Don’t forget the recent letters from the Universal House of Justice:
  • December 27, 2005 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors;

  • December 28, 2005 to all National Spiritual Assemblies;
  • December 31, 2005 to the Bahá’ís of the world.

  Take the time to study them – not just once, but many times. The December 27th letter, in particular, is the foundation for the next Five Year Plan, and taking the time to understand it early will mean that the Baha’i community will be able to hit the ground running come Ridván.

  If this item is gibberish to you – send me an email… we’ll talk.

Verily the most necessary thing is contentment under all circumstances; by this one is preserved from morbid conditions and lassitude. Yield not to grief and sorrow: they cause the greatest misery. Jealousy consumeth the body and anger doth burn the liver: avoid these two as you would a lion.

visit the Elections Canada website to find out when and where to vote today.

MartinsQuest.com has the following announcement on Tahirih Naylor’s upcoming move to New York City:

On Sunday January 22nd, just 17 months after we helped her unload her things into her apartment on Laurier, we will be having an all-inclusive going-away party for Tahirih at Saffron’s Persian Restaurant at 6:30pm and then chilling afterward at Anisa’s. Clear your schedule and come out since she wants to see everyone there! Dinner starts at 6:30pm

Tahirih’s tireless work for the National Spiritual Assembly’s Office of Governmental Affairs brought her to Ottawa, and her devotion has landed her a position with the Baha’i International Community, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that both encompasses and represents the world-wide membership of the Bahá’í Faith. Apparently, I knew this before anyone else did. Go figure. Make sure to join us at Saffron’s tomorrow to wish Tahirih well in this next chapter of the unfolding story of her life.

Update: Dinner was awesome and the after-party at Anisa’s was delightfully wolfy. Check out the “official” photos on Martin’s smugmug site.

Ottawa Senators: 3
Anaheim Mighty Ducks: 4
Dan Jones: 1

So after narrowly surviving the worst day ever at work, I joined several of my colleagues from work at the newly christened Scotiabank Place (previously the Corel Centre) at my first ever NHL hockey game, starring the Ottawa Senators vs. the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. We had a VIP room (or whatever you call it) all to ourselves – like a hotel room that gives onto the rink. It was heated, catered and everything, with comfy couches and a private washroom. I felt like a little kid at Disneyland or something. it was awesome (and I kept on saying so throughout the evening – just so it was clear). I even caught a hot dog from Spartacat (the Senators’ mascot), and it was wrapped in a signed Senators bandanna. I traded it for a blanket from a colleague whose kids are way bigger hockey fans than I am – I’m not picky. The hot dog was great. Sure, the Sens didn’t win in the end, but it was a good game, and it was fairly won.

Check out the pictures on flickr.

Delta alerted me to the upcoming NEBY Fest 2006 (where NEBY == North East Baha’i Youth), which is happening February 17th-20th in Stamford, Connecticut (site of WWE headquarters, among other things). Where is Stamford? Here. It’s right on the coast, north of Long Island, and within an hour of New York City. Apparently NEBY Fest is the largest youth conference of its kind in the US (probably even in North America). Maybe you should go! If you do, call Delta and start hooking up rides for the weekend.

Registration is $50 USD before January 31st; Family rates are also available before that date. They accept credit cards, and you can fax in your registration form. FYI.

whole-hearted congratulations to Ayafor and Elham on their wedding this past Sunday. it was truly beautiful to see both of you at your best and surrounded by caring friends and family on such a very special and auspicious day. may your marriage be blessed with divine confirmations and be infused with the spirit of love, fellowship and unity for all eternity!

See Kamran’s pics of the wedding on flickr.
See Martin’s pics.
See Bagha’s pics.
See Arash’s pics.
See Vafa’s pics.

See the wedding video. (right-click and choose “Save As”)

happy friday the 13th. have you noticed the full moon out? according to anonymous poll, exactly the same proportion of people as usual had bad luck today.

for those of you who are wondering about co-webmaster Martin’s uncharacteristic silence, he’s been very busy being a web minion servant for the Conference Board. Martin has taken on much of the web publishing duties that used to keep me so busy, and for that I am most grateful. I tend to take on more of the hardcore design and scripting jobs now. to many of his fans’ chagrin, though, the combination of a demanding work schedule and an equally demanding schedule as a member of the local Teaching Committee (and a very successful teaching team as well) has made it difficult for him to find time to post updates to his website. Contrary to the insane ramblings of conspiracy theorists who see this as a ploy to jack up the hits on my own website at Martin’s expense, I for one would like to voice the sincere hope that soon, Martin will once again be able to offer us, his faithful fans, more of the same high-quality, uplifting and original content we’re used to from MartinsQuest.com.

Love ya’ Martin! ;)

Counsellors meet to discuss plans – Baha’i World News Service (BWNS)

Baha’i youth rate ‘Making the world a better place’ their top priority – U.S. Baha’i News

Global governance needed to counter terrorism – Baha’i World News Service (BWNS)

Leading painter expounds on role of the soul in artistic process – Canadian Baha’i News Service (CBNS)

what am i reading right now?: the 27 December 2005 letter from the Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. get your hands on it and study it. mmmmkay?

still feeling pretty down and blah. many thanks to the friends who sent little notes of concern and encouragement over the past few days. it seems like I’ve got a case of the winter blues. sad. or maybe SAD. oh well. if that’s the case, at least it’s good news to hear that I’m not clinically depressed. I just need more serotonin yum yum. and I probably need to cut out some of the sweets from my diet (i.e. no more homemade prozac).

The Rideau Canal’s open, which means the outdoor skating rinks must be open too. Whoever wants to do some skating around, drop me a line. I’ll probably break out my skates and have some fun on the canal soon – gotta remember to get them sharpened. Skiing would be great, too – Catherine just went out to Mont Cascades with friends over the weekend, and apparently it was great.

sigh. still feeling blah and still got my head in some grey clouds. I’m gonna go dump my hot chocolate and get some plain old water. that might help me flush some of the chemicals out of my body.

I’m thinking I should redo the experiment I did a while back, and take some more time to reach out in friendship, to connect with the people around me and to get to know them a little better. last time I tried it, it seemed to have some positive effects on my life in general. I feel like there’s still a lot I have to learn about what friendship really means and how it works – although I’ve come a long way in the past few years. Anyway.

I haven’t been feeling at my best since the new year – physically or spiritually. feeling kind of slow, kind of depressed, kind of achy and a little out of breath. I haven’t been sneezing or coughing or running a fever, so it’s not a cold or the flu or anything. I don’t feel like I’ve been doing all that much, either. I’ve been getting sleep, but I have the same run-down feeling as I get when I pull a string of all-nighters. Sure, I stayed up late over the holidays, but they’re long gone – you’d think I would have recovered by now. But instead I feel like my insides – especially my lungs, heart and the rest of my upper body – have been rolled over by a squadron of tanks. It’s almost like the feeling I got a couple years back when I got exhausted and depressed from pushing myself too hard (a daily commute from Drummondville to Bécancour over an icy highway, among other things) back then it was really bad, though – I would get home and fall right asleep on my couch. It was really difficult because I didn’t have friends who would pop in and visit me, either. Except for the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, though. But they always wanted to talk about getting saved. To heck with getting saved, help me just breathe.

It’s weird being depressed. You don’t feel like doing anything that’s fun or interesting or in any way good for you. You just want to be alone with your thoughts, and most of those thoughts are about how awful things are. Depression is really frustrating – you know you need to lighten up, you just can’t figure out how. If you haven’t been through it, it’s hard to understand.

Maybe I’ve been gradually getting depressed without realizing it. if so, that means I need to take some action and reach out to avoid falling into a funk. man. how did this happen? oh well – shoot first, ask questions later. it’s chocolate time.

btw, you’re all invited to my “don’t be sad” party. we’ll figure out when and where later.

Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness. But when sadness visits us we become weak, our strength leaves us, our comprehension is dim and our intelligence veiled. The actualities of life seem to elude our grasp, the eyes of our spirits fail to discover the sacred mysteries, and we become even as dead beings.

There is no human being untouched by these two influences; but all the sorrow and the grief that exist come from the world of matter—the spiritual world bestows only the joy!

hey y’all, just a quick note to say happy gregorian new year (or happy 76 days ’til Naw-Ruz?) and thanks to all the people who came out to our little games night. it was properly insane and lots of fun. who knew they made a board game out of MAD Magazine?

Anyway, photos up soon (from new year’s as well as Natalia’s Birthday on the 1st)… just let me catch my breath here. This is gonna be a busy week – back to work with a huge queue to catch up with, not to mention a Reflection Meeting for our Sector of Ottawa, meetings galore, and, finally, the beginning of the Intensive Teaching Phase of the 4th cycle of the Ottawa Baha’i community’s Intensive Program of Growth. And even more. Gah. More later y0. peace