My shared workspace, a sunroom off the living room, is quite visible. I wanted to find an attractive way to cover up my pinboards when they're not actively being used that wouldn't spoiling the aesthetic of the living room and decided upon a crazy quilt.
The focal fabric is the beetle print & I've also utilized yellow & orange fabric that was left over from the living room cushions. Then, I added additional fabric scraps from various outfits, including red & green raw silk; blue embossed silk; red-blue, green-blue, & orange-pink two-tone katan silks; orange, green, & pink jamawar. I finished it with olive green and gold ribbon from the household gift-wrapping stash. The quilt will consist of six 12"x12" blocks. The pictures above and below are of the first two pieced blocks. This was the first time that I've used the sewing machine, so there's a lot of experimentation happening, but I've been enjoying the challenge so far. This is the stumpwork structure for the plum-headed parrot. Because it's going to be appliquéd onto a garment, I wasn't able to use wire to shape the wings and body. I experimented with cotton stuffing and felt instead, and have attached cut-away stabilizer to the back of the fabric. I've yet to make the beak and the claws; I'm planning to cut out two layers of felt for each.
I'm starting a new embroidery project! The plan is to embroider three different South Asian parrots, the first of which is the plum-headed parakeet, and then to appliqué them onto the lehenga that I will wear to my sister's wedding in December of next year. Using the reference images above, I've selected matching embroidery floss.
In addition to the timeline of efforts to remove Dr. Driskill from OSU, I wanted to share the details of my contribution to the complaint that is being handled by OSU's office of Equal Opportunity & Access. The first installment made public the cover letter summarizing my complaint. The second installment covered my second year in the PhD program (2018-2019). The last post covered my third year (2019-2020). This final post covers the events of my fourth year (2020-2021).
While I anonymize the faculty members and students who were only tangentially involved in the events leading up to my departure from the program, I have chosen to name the faculty members and former students who were a part of the problem. I do so because my silence did not afford me any protection when I was in the program, and my naming people and describing what happened in no way approximates the level of harm that they caused that led me to give up the degree that I worked towards for a decade. One of the things that I have learnt from transformative justice movements is that there is a vast difference between holding oneself and others accountable and punishment. In addition to the timeline of efforts to remove Dr. Driskill from OSU, I wanted to share the details of my contribution to the complaint that is being handled by OSU's office of Equal Opportunity & Access. The first installment made public the cover letter summarizing my complaint and the second installment covered my second year in the PhD program (2018-2019). This post covers my third year (2019-2020). The next post will cover my fourth and final year (2020-2021).
While I anonymize the faculty members and students who were only tangentially involved in the events leading up to my departure from the program, I have chosen to name the faculty members and former students who were a part of the problem. I do so because my silence did not afford me any protection when I was in the program, and my naming people and describing what happened in no way approximates the level of harm that they caused that led me to give up the degree that I worked towards for a decade. One of the things that I have learnt from transformative justice movements is that there is a vast difference between holding oneself and others accountable and punishment. In addition to the timeline of efforts to remove Dr. Driskill from OSU, I wanted to share the details of my contribution to the complaint that is being handled by OSU's office of Equal Opportunity & Access. The first installment made public the cover letter summarizing my complaint. This is the second installment, which covers my second year in the PhD program (2018-2019). I have also posted the third (2019-2020) and fourth (2020-2021) installments.
While I anonymize the faculty members and students who were only tangentially involved in the events leading up to my departure from the program, I have chosen to name the faculty members and former students who were a part of the problem. I do so because my silence did not afford me any protection when I was in the program, and my naming people and describing what happened in no way approximates the level of harm that they caused that led me to give up the degree that I worked towards for a decade. One of the things that I have learnt from transformative justice movements is that there is a vast difference between holding oneself and others accountable and punishment. In addition to the timeline of efforts to remove Dr. Driskill from the Oregon State University faculty, I wanted to provide details about the complaint that I submitted to OSU's Office of Equal Opportunity and Access. This post is the first installment, which makes public the cover letter for my complaint. It was emailed to Ms. Roni Sue (OSU's Equal Opportunity & Access), Dr. Rogers (Dean for the College of Liberal Arts), and Dr. Bernardin (Director of the School of Language, Culture, & Society). Subsequent posts will cover events that took place in my 2nd year in the PhD program (2018-2019), my 3rd year (2019-2020), and my 4th and final year (2020-2021).
I created this timeline because I wanted people to be able to learn about the efforts to remove Dr. Driskill from the Oregon State University faculty--a movement that is taking place on multiple fronts--in one place. Although I and many other former/current WGSS graduate students only became aware of this issue recently, there are Native people in and outside of the academy that have been aware of Dr. Driskill's persistent fraudulent identity claims and have been working to address the harm caused by their pernicious actions for at least a decade. Non-native scholars such as myself have a responsibility to take this issue seriously, to center the work of queer Indigenous scholars in lieu of a "representative one voice" (to use Dr. Jodi Bird's phrase), and to disrupt the academy as a "pretendian factory" (to quote Dr. Liza Black). My hope is that this particular case may offer insights that can be used in other situations.
photograph of rainbow prayer beads draped around a book that sits on a multicolored geometric carpet. the book is called women of sufism: a hidden treasure: writings and stories of mystic poets, scholars and saints. it was edited by camille adams helminski. the cover features a sufi woman clad in white robes, head bent in prayer while holding a veil above her head. a metal pedestal rests on the carpet before her and upon it is an incense holder. the smoke wafts up and blends with her robes. SUMMARYThe first section "In the Heart of the Prophet," traces a history of women's active participation in the early Muslim community and highlights the example set by three women of the Prophet's (PBUH) family: Khadijah, Fatima, and 'A'isha. Helminski explains, "Because the original impulse of Sufism is classically understood to have opened with the example of Muhammad and the revelation of the Qur'an, even though these women lived before anyone used the term 'Sufi,' we might consider them to be foremost among the first Sufi women" (Helminski 2003, 3). Having explored accounts of the first Sufi women, the book turns to early Sufi women. Helminski describes this transition as follows: "After the death of the Prophet Muhammad and the first four caliphs who followed him, the spiritual authority he initiated became fragmented. These early Sufis sought to clarify and deepen that interior spiritual connection that they saw as the essence of Islam" (20). Many of these accounts have been compiled from historical biographies, some of which have been made accessible through the efforts of contemporary Sufi women scholars. Helminsky describes Sufism as "popular Islam" that, in contrast to "official Islam," was instrumental to the spread of the religion across the world. (I am a little skeptical of this division since many leading Muslim othodox theologians were Sufis, and tasawwuf is a central Islamic practice, but I digress.) Attributing Sufism's greater role to its higher tolerance of local customs and promotion of more egalitarian relationships, she writes: "The resulting social integration of essential Islamic principles occurred as Sufism not only spread to farther lands but also repenetrated the heartland of Islam, enabling the 'heart's blood' to flow more freely throughout the whole body of Islam" (75). From the 12th century onwards, there was a shift from mystics practicing autonomously to mystics clustering around and following particular saints around whom tariqas formed. REFLECTIONOpa gifted me Women of Sufism 11 years ago when I first decided to major in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It feels appropriate that this is the book that welcomes me back into doing scholarship.
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