International Mother Language Day

Every year, during the month of February, of the 21^st century Bengali’s all around the world amongst themselves come together and celebrate the Bangla Language Movement; in honor of all the brave soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Bangladesh from Pakistan.

Now you’re probably wondering with all these historical turning points, why does it matter to us in America?  Well, International Mother Language Day is a public holiday in Bangladesh, where it is also known as Shohid Dibosh, or Shaheed Day. It is indeed also a global observance, but not really a public holiday in other parts of the world, but more of a cultural remembrance.

On International Mother Language Day the UN agencies participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity. They also encourage people to maintain their knowledge of their mother language while learning and using more than one language. Governments and non-governmental organizations also use the day to announce regulations to encourage language learning and support.

 On this day, also known as World Mother Language Day many people celebrate the remembrance of the year 1952 through various ways of commemoration. For this exact day about 60 years ago is the very reason we speak and interact with Bangla today. A few months ago on behalf of Ekushey February various Bengali associations around the Greater Washington metro area came together and produced a phenomenal program revolving around the historical traditions, customs and context left from the courageous soldiers and freedom fighters/leaders for us to cherish, share and pass down from generation to another.

It started off with the opportunity for the audience, performers and others to set foot on the stage, barefoot towards the remake of the Shohid Minar to set flowers on it as respect and remembrance for the freedom fighters who had fought in for the country. Then there were various types of performances ranging from dancing, singing and poetry all relating to the emotions of Ekushey February. For each were unique and thoughtful to fulfill the full heritage of Bangladesh and the struggle it took to get there. Finally the show ended with a Music skits (Giti Alekkho), a type of short play mixed with artistic performances, which was dedicated to a few bhasha shoiniks known to our Bengali community as a kind of remembrance to them along with many others who had also sacrificed their lives for a mother language they believed they had the right to have.

The show truly left an imprint to the meaning of Ekushey February and why it is so significant to the entire language and ethics of Bangladesh. That influential program like these shapes up today’s Bengali culture and community. Which impact the minds of Bengali youths to carry on with themselves and share with others their Bengali legacy that they have learned and experienced. All in one the program was a great success both a commemoration and a merriment.

All the beautiful performances truly portrayed the spirit of Bengali and shared the story behind Ekusher February. These types of cultural events are crucial to preserving our Bengali heritage. They teach about our history and traditions so that the Bengali youth, like myself, can understand where we come from. Without such events our traditions would not be passed along and our wonderful language, along with its associated culture, could be forgotten. Finally, even though we live in America, we still need to know our ancestry and our past; otherwise we lose a huge part of our identities. 

Wherever people may be on this patriotic day, it is a time to celebrate Bangladesh’s culture and the Bengali language. And being a Bangladeshi American myself, I truly encourage everyone to take a moment of their lives and truly enhance their knowledge of their culture and where they come from. Likewise to take a stand and celebrate such a day, that just like anything else in life, comes only once a year. 

Any questions,comments, or concerns? You can reach me at ss.delwar@gmail.com

Vicious Cycles are Made to Be Broken

Confession time, boys and girls.

I eat when I'm stressed.

And boy, have I been stressed lately.

AP exams, Volunteering, homework, tests...all of these things have driven me to the fridge.

Calorie by calorie, my self esteem went down the drain. I began to hate what I saw in the mirror. Every piece of clothing I owned seemed to hug my bloated body.  I stopped exercising and sleeping regularly, and my body reacted even more strongly than it had before.

That's right, kids. This isn't my first rodeo. I have more experience with over eating and... purging than I'd like to admit.

About a year ago, I was at the height of my battle with bulimia. I can't truly describe to you what that was like. I felt I had to eat, at all times. Then, I had to get it all out of me. It was as if my body was possessed with this monster that was insatiable and never happy. I was lost and didn't know how to crawl out of the hole I'd buried myself in. I hated myself and everything I was doing to my body, but I didn't feel like I could stop. I felt powerless. So I tried to take power back. I ate around 700 calories a day, literally starving myself in order to punish my bulimia. The cycle just got stronger.

Most of my loved ones brushed it off as a phase. Most of them thought all I wanted was attention, and that there was no way I was "stupid" enough to jeopardize the future I'd worked so diligently to build.  I got to the point at which I was scared of myself and what I could do to my body. I just didn't know how to break the vicious cycle.

People came to my side once I realized I needed to cry for help. I became aware of my triggers and how to avoid them. I wasn't happy, but I felt far less hopeless. Day by day, it got better. Through all of this, I overcame.

So here I am, bearing my soul for you, my internet compadres. I'm never going to conquer bulimia. That's not me being a pessimist, that's me being honest. Bulimia is not something one can conquer straight out.

As gross and as terrible as it sounds, an unhealthy relationship with self control and food is something that always has and always will be a part of my life, at least in the foreseeable future. I'm no longer purging, but avoiding my triggers has gotten more and more difficult. I'm too afraid to be a disappointment to everyone around me to let it go. I'm honestly too afraid to fail.

In all of my faults, I'm not afraid to fail myself. Not anymore.

There's too much at stake.

If you're struggling with bulimia, feel free to contact me at julia.cahill01@gmail.com

You can do this. After all, vicious cycles are made to be broken.

No More Thinspo!

Pinterest, the latest social-media site to be hailed as the next Facebook or Twitter, has reached an Internet milestone — though a rather weird one. It’s the latest website that’s felt the need to ban thinspiration, or thinspo, content.

WHAT IS THINSPO AND THINSPIRATION

For the unfamiliar, thinspiration consists of photos, tips and angst-ridden quotes meant to provide visual inspiration and motivation for those looking to whittle their bodies down to tinier proportions. With a disturbing similarity to pro-anorexia websites, thinspo typically consists of photos of female bodies with pencil-thin arms and jutting ribs. It’s nothing new, but as it spreads across the Internet, an increasing number of social-media sites are attempting to put a lock down on it.

As Pinterest has generally been considered to have a female-heavy user base, it’s not surprising that some female users are creating thinspo boards. And as the images compiled together can be an uncomfortable, if not alarming, sight, it’s also not surprising that Pinterest has received a number of complaints about the boards. Rather than see-sawing over the issue, the company took decisive action on March 23 by announcing a ban on such content. “We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse,” the company wrote in an email sent to all users, adding that the new terms will go into effect on April 6.

Pinterest’s ban seems to be taking a cue from Tumblr, which just last month issued a ban on content that advocates self-harm. While it’s great to see that these sites want avoid being associated with unhealthy thinking or used as a virtual meeting place for women and girls who are looking for motivation to self-harm, the ban presents two problems.

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS?

First, enforcing the ban seems ultimately futile, particularly in Pinterest’s case. There’s a lot of wiggle room in the acceptable guidelines. Determining if a user is “explicitly” encouraging “self-harm or self-abuse” is a gray enough area that many of these thinspiration boards could slip through. So far, Pinterest has indicated that it plans on addressing users who have been flagged by other users, and dealing with them on a case-by-case basis. For its part, Tumblr’s version of the ban seems hesitant about taking a hard line against specific content (though they do explicitly prohibit other kinds of self-harm, such as cutting and suicide, not just thinspiration), though they do note that they’ll show health warnings to users who search for content tagged with “thinspo” or “anorexia.” Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence that this type of content will disappear from their sites

The second problem with ban can be summed up in a question: what else can social networks do? These sites don’t create content — they’re merely platforms for users to share their own or borrowed content. So the images that make up these thinspiration blogs and boards are user-compiled mixes of celebrities, fashion models and self-portraits of young women (often of the reflection-in-bathroom-mirror variety). Self-portraits are practically the currency of the Internet, and Facebook and Instagram have also been flagged for enabling unhealthy body images. And as Pinterest is essentially made up of shared content — and a lot of that content is advertisements — it’s hardly a surprise that photos of ultra-thin women get pinned. The advertising industry, and particularly the beauty and fashion industry, has long been accused of perpetuating a beauty ideal that includes hip-free figures and vertebra you can count. We’re bombarded with these images everyday, whether they’re collated on a website by a struggling teenager or not.

THIS IS ONE THING THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE

Sure, you can attempt to ban the women and girls who collect these images into one disturbing collage, but a ban on the individual components is impossible because they’re so insurmountably ubiquitous. We’re so surrounded with images that promote a certain physical ideal that our culture is basically one big thinspiration board. Social-network bans or not, you don’t have to look hard — or even really at all — to be bombarded with these types of images. For more information about this ban, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/pinterest-thinspiration-content-banned_n_1380484.html.

Have any thoughts on this post? Another topic you want covered? Contact me at – beccaxtoskey@gmail.com

The Daily Moments of High School

As a junior in high school I have begun to notice the daily awkward and annoying problems that take place in school. For instance just today I was walking in the hall at a normal pace like I usually do and of course I get stuck behind the slowest person in the world. He was walking at the pace of a snail stuck in molasses and of course every time I tried to walk around him there were people coming from the other direction and I was stuck behind him taking one tiny microscopic step at a time as I waited for him to move forward. I feel like this is a  problem that every student faces in high school and as irritating as it is it happens every day, all the time. Another daily annoyance that is very similar to this is when I'm stuck behind a couple. Not only am I stuck involuntarily watching what seems like a dramatic romance movie in front of me, but, I again cannot get around them. When a couple is constantly together and they are holding hands it is extremely hard to get around them because obviously I can't go through them and they are holding hands just far enough that I can't go around them on either side. I'm all for romance and I'm a pretty sensitive person myself but maybe school is not the place to cling to your partner and disrupt the flow of hallway traffic. Going out of the hallway, let's take a moment to recognize some awkward moments in the classroom. Everyone goes through that moment where their eyes glaze over and they are gazing into what seems like space when actually they are straight staring at a person. This moment is always really awkward and I have been victim to it on multiple occasions. The hardest part of that situation is when you see that person later in the day and accidentally make eye contact with them again which makes things even more awkward between you two. And let's not forget that moment when you are waving to your friend and of course they don't see you so it just looks like you are waving to a wall. Honestly I don't think high school would even be high school without these small daily annoyances and moments. Because if you really think about it, you will never remember that math test you took or the biology lab you conducted but you will remember the things that affected you each and every day and sometimes they might seem unbearable but one day we will all look back and smile at those small moments of awkwardness and we will shrug off the embarrassing moments and  laugh at all the annoying times that we went through. The truth is everybody goes through this and everyone feels the same way; so if these things happen, laugh about it and hopefully if you're like me you're a junior and only have to endure these moments for one more year!

Here are some images that illustrate some of the moments listed above. Enjoy!

If you want to find more of these funny posts go to http://www.funnyquotesbook.com/ 

The Power of DIY

The Power of DIY

Every holiday, millions of dollars are spent as people try to find ways to show their affection or appreciation for someone else. Every week before Christmas, people ram through the malls like a pack of Spartans trying to maul their way through to victory, or in this case, a new pair of shoes. Every week before Valentine’s Day, the shelves of Hallmark are swiped clean by romantics everywhere and become even emptier than Death Valley. Thousands of shoppers, left with no choice but to buy the cards that say “Happy 3^rd Birthday,” are forced to scribble all over the front cover as they try to make the 3 look like a sideways heart and try to somehow manipulate the word “Birth” into looking like the word “Valentine’s”.  Since when exactly did a holiday turn into this commercialized affair? Why do people feel like they need to buy something in order to express their love for someone? What happened to the saying, “the best gifts come from the heart?”

To me, the best gifts are the ones that are made by the hand and heart. People can go out and buy anything they want, but things that are homemade are unique and priceless. By doing something yourself, or what some people call “DIY-ing”, you also show others that you are willing to spend the time and effort on them.

Many of you must be thinking to yourself, “Well I can’t even draw a pony to save my life. Nobody is going to actually like what I make.” However, it’s the imperfections that make something look truly handmade. After all, we aren’t robots (hopefully).

By DIY-ing, you can make anything that you could possibly ever want to. Want a new lamp? Make it yourself! Need a new bookshelf? Do it yourself! You do not have to go to the store every single time you need something new. You can make everything with your own hands in the comfort of your own home. (Plus, just think of the money that can be saved!)

Still don’t believe me or need to get some creative juices flowing? Check out some of my favorite and effortless DIY activities. 

              

   

DIY Bookcase

 DIY Jars

DIY Mugs

DIY Curtains

Just look at all the things you can make! The instructions are relatively simple to follow, so it will be easier for you to create an end product that you can be truly proud of. No need for mom to feel embarrassed when she displays one of the DIY projects that you gift her.

Have any suggestions or questions or want more ideas?

Email me at evasdu@gmail.com

       
                                                                                                                     

The Joys of Anime As Expressed By An Adoring Fan

          Are you familiar with the term anime? Some people are, some people aren’t. Or they’ve heard about it, but don’t know what it really means. Anime is the shortened version of the term “animation” and in layman’s terms, anime is Japanese cartoons. But to those who are acquainted more intimately with anime, the word anime has a more special meaning.

            

          In TV shows, you are constrained by several factors. Things like budgets can make special effects laughably horrible. Bad acting can make strong dialogue weak and awkward. TV shows can come off as cliché or “been there, done that.” You have to worry about cameras and lighting and bad weather ruining shots. Actors may be injured or have issues with onset conditions.

           

            In anime, you have more options. You don’t have to worry about actors being disturbed by intense heat or cold. Your voice actors are in a controlled environment: the studio. If you want to create a technological, futuristic world, you can do so with the same budget as if you chose to do a “slice of life” anime, which is an anime that is realistic and doesn’t employ anything like magic or other supernatural elements and is thus a “slice of real life” (usually set in or around a high school setting). Sports anime, or anime focused on a particular sport such as Kuroko's Basketball or Haikyuu!! (volleybakk), are similar to slife of life, since sports anime typically don't include magic. Typically. 

            

           As far as setting and location, you can go anywhere. You’re limited only by how well you can draw and animate. You don’t have to fly out to Ireland and film in a beautiful location. You can draw a beautiful location and what’s best is that you can draw places that don’t exist. Anime eliminates the hardships of live-action sets and special effects and budget issues by being less expensive and looking much better, much less cheesy than a TV show. 

         The irony being that 2-D effects can look more realistic than live-action effects simply because the human eye is highly attuned to artificiality. Try watching the old Godzilla movies or modern shows with bad budgets like Lost Girl or children shows with charmingly bad effects like Wizards of Waverly Place.

          Then try watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica and tell me which one looked dorky and embarrassingly fake.

         You can portray magic or technology without the cheesiness or technical difficulties a live-action set would create. You can also create events that could never be believable in a live-action, such as the 3-D Maneuver Gear of Attack on Titan. 

Could you do this in a live-action? They're attempting to, but I'm worried about that live-action movie they've been working on. How could you portray this believably on a real-life set? 

                In anime, the quality of “special effects” is as amazing as it needs to be because anime is only limited by animation budget. If you want a mystical, scenic setting, you don’t need to fly out to Ireland. You can just draw and animate it and the view will be breathtaking all the same, without issues like cameras breaking or the sky being too overcast to shoot anything. 

                Anime can appeal to all ages, from little girls fond of the sparkles and magic of the magical girl show Sailor Moon to the older, to young boys interested in fighting and adventure with shows like Dragonball and Naruto, to dark shows with mature themes appealing to older audiences like the recent Attack on Titan. Anime has many different categories, such as shonen for young boys, shoujo for young girls, seinen for young adults, and josei for young women.

                  

            There are many types of anime. Some people enjoy the cutesy, child-friendly, more Western-cartoon type of anime, the kind you may be acquainted with such as Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragonball, Sailor Moon, Slayers, and Fairy Tail. 

          These types of anime typically focus on friendship, fighting, and adventure, but usually aren't too violent. Also keep in mind that by "violent", I mean relatively. What Western audience describe as too "violent" for kids is different than what constitutes as "violent" in Japan. 

          There is a common misconception in the Western world that anime is either cartoons for kids or weird pornographic material for perverts.  The truth is that anime can be for kids, teenagers, and adults. Anime like Attack on Titan, a grim show about survival and sacrifice with hopeless, despair, and dark themes appeal to teenagers and young adults, while deconstructing the usual shonen themes of friendship and love conquering all. Anime like Puella Magi Madoka Magica deconstruct anime clichés such as the “magical girl” by putting a dark spin on the classic anime genre. Anime like Bokurano deconstruct other genres, in this case mecha, to the same effect.  

          

          For example, Attack on Titan is a shonen anime. This means it's aimed towards little boys from elementary school age to high school age. However, it appeals to teenagers and adults due to its darker content which includes intense drama and violence. 

   

          People die in anime. And Attack on Titan has a record for killing a lot of its characters. Even in anime that are less... intense as Attack on Titan, the themes are often a lot darker than cartoons tend to be. 

          Which is why it tends to piss anime fans off when you call it cartoons. Truth be told, cartoons and anime are the same thing, on a technical level. But fundamentally, they are different. Cartoons are often comedic, humorous. Shows like Ben 10 and Young Justice League and Batman Beyond are humorous, but also include a lot of action and plot that resembles the complex plots you often see in anime. Shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and W.I.T.C.H. are sometimes mistaken for anime, but the reason you don't call them that is because they weren't produced in Japan, but spiritually, they resemble anime. 

          Anime is something that is difficult for someone who's never seen it before to appreciate. Once you've found your "gateway" anime (an anime serving a purpose much like marijuana as a "gateway drug" to other drugs), you never go back. It's an easy thing to become addicted to, as evidenced by the fact that I chose to write a rant about anime for a school project and far exceeded the  minimum word limit. It's not really an addiction you want to break away from either.  

          Often, I am asked what anime should a first-timer start with. 

           Hopefully, you already watch anime, but if you don't, I hope  my rant has convinced you to give it a shot. 

          Good ones to start with: 

Attack on Titan

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Fairy Tail       
       Bad ones to start with: 

Free!

Deadman Wonderland           

Pupa

Higurashi

          

           To be honest, any anime is a bad anime to start with if you go into it without an open mind. The art style might throw you off, reading subtitles might annoy you and there might not be an English dub, and maybe you just won't like it. 

             I wish anime was mainstream in America, but as it is not, I hope my blog has helped convince you to try it when you're bored and have nothing to do. Hopefully one day you, like me, will end up going from having nothing to do so you're watching anime to watching anime because it's all you want to do. 

                

 If you want to talk about anime, contact me at: thewswc@gmail.com

3rd Quarter WSWC Report (2013-2014)