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

oh wow. guess what! The Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois—whose design was the creation of Canadian Baha’i architect Louis Bourgeois, and whose ground was first broken by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá himself—is now officially one of the Seven Wonders of Illinois. Those of you who voted in the contest know how close the race was—time to rejoice (and check out the awesome video)!

Update: Read the news at the US Baha’i website.

photo courtesy of wallyg (cc).

I didn’t get the chance to post about this earlier, but I figured it would only be fair to post something, particularly as a follow-up to last fall’s post about the Dawson College shooting. I join other Baha’is in America and worldwide in assuring the friends and family of the victims of my heartfelt prayers in this dark and tragic time.

Let it be said that I haven’t watched, heard, or read the last words of the Virginia Tech shooter, diffused throughout the media after the fact (in an action that neighbour James Howden called “the ultimate sell-out” where “…mass murder and mass media join hands and celebrate the power of rage and heartbreak”). I don’t really plan to. Acting out an emotional, mental and spiritual sickness is still acting out, whether it happens in Blacksburg or Montreal, in Columbine or in Taber, Alberta. Oddly enough, in the media fallout from the Virginia Tech massacre, I discovered that one of North America’s first school shootings happened at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa in 1975—weird (although still not surprising) to know that such things have happened so close to home.

Why do we rush to blame someone else when things go horribly wrong? In the case of a school shooting like this one, emotions run high and blame shifts from target to target in rapid succession—the perpetrator, his parents, the educational system that brought him up, the laws of the land, the government, the church, God—et cetera. I confess to being a victim of such blame-gaming myself; it’s like a ritual we’re all trapped in, and it never goes anywhere. You just know that despite all the blaming, despite all the public displays of anger and grief, despite tougher gun laws and stricter regulations, there’ll be another shooting next year. Because that’s where we’re at now—that’s what we’re trapped in.

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I came across this movie by chance after discovering the lolworthy Masses Are Waiting video put together by “some Baha’is in Budapest” (hearsay?) Anyway, I was going to click to the next video… until I noticed who the girl in the green shirt was. Look closely.

Remind you of someone you know? lol. get your ruhi book today. just ask T.

Update: As of December 2007, there’s a sequel!

While Baha’is have been using the newly purchased and renovated Baha’i Centre on Macarthur Street for several months now, this past Wednesday marked the official opening and public dedication of the Centre. A crowd of about 60 people, including Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien, Ottawa-Vanier MP Mauril Bélanger, various city councillors, heads of local religious communities as well as business owners, attended the celebration yesterday afternoon. I was invited to sing as part of a quartet from the Ottawa Regional Baha’i Choir. It was an amazing and very positive afternoon! A news story about the opening ran in today’s edition of the Ottawa Citizen:

After a small, but determined religious community in Ottawa raised enough money to buy a former restaurant and renovate it, the Ottawa Baha’i Centre opened its doors yesterday.

Baha’i rules don’t allow members to raise funds outside the faith, and that means the 1,000 members from the Ottawa area raised $700,000 through their own donations.

[…] The new centre, which took 16 months to transform, has a library and bookstore and it will be a meeting place for feasts, or for events with guest speakers. The library and bookstore will be open to the general public, Mr. Smith said.

Mayor Larry O’Brien was among the 60 people who turned up for the event. Mr. O’Brien cut the ribbon and offered an inspirational message about faith groups and how much they contribute to the city.

MP Mauril Belanger was also on hand to welcome the Baha’is to his riding. The Baha’i choir sang a few songs, and Niels Hansen-Trip, a member of the spiritual assembly, spoke.

“The event was well-received and a lot of people talked about the amount of spirit at the occasion,” said Mr. Smith.

Louis Brunet, who took the photo included above, took a slew of photos throughout the entire event, and has already posted them on his photoblog: elbi.smugmug.com. Go check them out and share in the occasion (and see the quartet in action!)

Update: martinsquest.com featured this story as well; check out his link to the Baha’i Centre renovation pictures. Also, check out Vafa’s Baha’i Centre renovation slideshow (which, coincidentally, played on a continuous loop at the opening ceremony).

I’ve become addicted to this song lately, so I thought I’d share it with everyone. It’s a traditional tune called Ieva’s Polka, performed by Finnish quartet Loituma. It’s also the source of the infamous leekspin fad. If you find yourself getting addicted too, try checking out the Loituma Remixes Collection.

you may have seen this lovely little World Religion Day stamp being forwarded back and forth across the Internet lately, and shouted to yourself, “Forsooth! A Canadian stamp about World Religion Day? A stamp with a quote from the Bahá’í Writings on it? Happy day!” Well, at first I did that too, until I realized I couldn’t actually find any press release or news item that could confirm whether or not said stamp had been released by Canada Post.

So I called up Canada Post trying to confirm the existence of an official World Religion Day stamp, and they said they don’t know of any such design for a commemorative stamp, nor is there such a design in the works. A look at the 2007 Commemorative Stamp Lineup confirms this fact—unfortunately, while the above is a very nice design, it’s not a real stamp. Yet. Maybe, if there’s enough encouragement from philatelists and their ilk, Canada Post could be convinced to eventually issue a stamp along this theme?

At any rate—feel free to oooh and ahhh at this excellent (anonymous?) stamp design for now, and if you’re friends with the local postmaster, perhaps you could slip him or her a little suggestion for next year…

Learn more about Baha’i stamps (also check out the MSN group).

Happy Ridván to you wonderful people. We had a glorious celebration here in Ottawa, including performances from the Ottawa Regional Bahá’í Choir, and a solo on The Garden of Ridván from yours truly. Afterwards, a crowd of many people made their way over to Pej Central for a celebratory barbecue. I took the opportunity to ask Sam to explain to us the significance of Ridván:

If you really want to know, look up a lengthier explanation of Ridván (check Wikipedia’s article too).

Update! Ridván photos are up now (mostly from the barbecue so far)!

Related News:
Baha’is celebrate ‘King of Festivals’ (BWNS)
Les bahá’ís fêtent Ridván (bahai.fr)

Here’s how to ROFL. Thanks to Shin~Shin (via Youtube).

Honestly, I’ve never paid very much attention to these volumes before (I’m not a big reader… sue me) but for some reason, this year’s edition caught my eye and I’m actually intrigued by its content. According to the Baha’i World News Service, the 288-page volume “covers events throughout the world, digests major communications and statements from Baha’i institutions, provides up-to-date facts, figures and information, and showcases some of the exciting advances in the field of social and economic development”. It also includes, for the first time ever, a directory of major Baha’i websites (maybe that’s what piqued my interest). The article is accompanied by a short video interview that should give you a good intro.

I have lots of memories of growing up Baha’i—there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t understand back then that seems a lot clearer now (naturally, I suppose). For example, my mother was on the Spiritual Assembly in the town where we lived, so I remember going with Mom to meetings now and then, hanging around in a separate room playing with toys while the adults discussed boring and serious things in the living room. Who knows? They were probably talking about the same kinds of things I did while pioneering and serving on Spiritual Assemblies in the province of Quebec, some 15 years later—correspondence, administrative procedure, the healthy growth and progress of the Baha’i community, planning for upcoming Holy Days and the 19-day Feast.

I always loved attending the 19-day Feast (well, most of the time, I suppose—everyone has their off days too). Back then, our local Baha’i community was fairly small, so Feast was always held in people’s houses, allowing different families to offer hospitality each time. And it was always so beautiful! Pleasant, restful music playing as the friends entered, prayer books in small piles on a coffee table, candles lit and softly flickering throughout. Everything was so big back then, so grand and amazing. High-topped dressers filled with books like God Passes By and Lights of Guidance, with curios and mementoes, and here and there you’d see an engraving with the ringstone symbol on it, or, up on the highest shelf, you’d see a beautifully framed reproduction of the Greatest Name of God. You’d see art from many cultures along the walls, and you’d smell perfume in the air—perhaps rose or jasmine. And then, when it was time to eat, you’d get up and walk (don’t run!) to the table at the back where the hosts would lay out platters of persian rice with tahdig (or “tahdeeg” or whatever), kookoo sabzi, adas polo, baghali polo, chicken drumsticks, and so on. I can smell it all now just writing about it. (On a side note, I’m somewhat glad the Fast is over.) Listening to prayers, either chanted in lilting tones or spoken softly, has left me with fond memories and a great love of Persian chanting. Sometimes I would recite prayers too, along with the other children. Sometimes, I fell asleep (hey, it got late, and the chanting sometimes sounds like a bedtime song).

We’ve learned a lot about the place of children in the community since I was young. “Our children need to be nurtured spiritually and to be integrated into the life of the Cause,” the Universal House of Justice wrote in its message to the Bahá’í world on Ridván, 157 B.E. (April 2000).

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Late jazz trumpeter, king of bebop and Baha’i Dizzy Gillespie drops some knowledge on the Baha’i Faith with friends Seals & Crofts, and proceeds to rock the stage with them at the 1972 Baha’i Carribean Conference. See the video on Youtube.

after a few months or so trying to tweak the heck out of them, my flickr photosets are now online and ready for you to flip through. huzzah! share and enjoy.