2008 Woodie Awards
'Islam Talk' provides focal point for open mic event
Angelo Lanham
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: News
Billal Asghar, a senior global studies and health science major who moderated the "Islam Talk" open mic, urged people in the crowd of about 20 to speak about anything they felt strongly about Wednesday around the benches outside of Clark Hall.
"There was a theme," Asghar, 22, said later. "Social injustice."
One by one, crowd members spoke at Asghar's prompt. Some read poems, and others plugged events for their clubs.
"Justice for the people / used to mean a lot more before / now its just a mask, a cover for / the image of revolution, the idea of change / nothing really happens / injustice still remains" went a passage from a poem read and written by Karimah Al-Helew, a sophomore social work major.
"I'm half Palestinian," Al-Helew, 19, said. "I write a lot about that."
She explained that this time around she wanted show that she could write about other topics, even though she has written about other things and chose injustice in general.
"It's not all about being revolutionary," she said. "It's about doing something."
Another poem, composed by Yousef Nawabi, a senior biology major, had a passage that went as such: "Racial clash, epithets slurred / emotions shaken, not stirred."
"It was actually for an event I had to go to for immigrants' rights," Nawabi, 21, said, noting that the main focus of the poem was Guantanamo Bay.
People are sent there for nothing, he said.
"They're not given a reason why. They're just taken from their families."
Maryam Amir-Ebrahimi, a senior child and adolescent development major and president of the Nigerian Student Association, urged tolerance for the homeless when encountered around campus. She added that students generally have the choice of what and when they're going to eat, and any meal is just a card swipe away.
"We have the opportunity to eat lunch," said Amir-Ebrahimi, 21. "How many people do we see digging in bins to make some money? The reality is that these people are hungry. Reach out and help these people who don't have that (opportunity)."
Asghar also spoke for the homeless and said that we can't just tell them to "get a job" since they don't have the economic base to do so.
"They aren't given a fair shot," he said.
Asghar, who helped organize the open mic event, said he was pleased with the way the event turned out.
"But we didn't have a mic," he said.
"It seemed like everyone cooperated, and benefited from one another," Asghar said.
"There was a theme," Asghar, 22, said later. "Social injustice."
One by one, crowd members spoke at Asghar's prompt. Some read poems, and others plugged events for their clubs.
"Justice for the people / used to mean a lot more before / now its just a mask, a cover for / the image of revolution, the idea of change / nothing really happens / injustice still remains" went a passage from a poem read and written by Karimah Al-Helew, a sophomore social work major.
"I'm half Palestinian," Al-Helew, 19, said. "I write a lot about that."
She explained that this time around she wanted show that she could write about other topics, even though she has written about other things and chose injustice in general.
"It's not all about being revolutionary," she said. "It's about doing something."
Another poem, composed by Yousef Nawabi, a senior biology major, had a passage that went as such: "Racial clash, epithets slurred / emotions shaken, not stirred."
"It was actually for an event I had to go to for immigrants' rights," Nawabi, 21, said, noting that the main focus of the poem was Guantanamo Bay.
People are sent there for nothing, he said.
"They're not given a reason why. They're just taken from their families."
Maryam Amir-Ebrahimi, a senior child and adolescent development major and president of the Nigerian Student Association, urged tolerance for the homeless when encountered around campus. She added that students generally have the choice of what and when they're going to eat, and any meal is just a card swipe away.
"We have the opportunity to eat lunch," said Amir-Ebrahimi, 21. "How many people do we see digging in bins to make some money? The reality is that these people are hungry. Reach out and help these people who don't have that (opportunity)."
Asghar also spoke for the homeless and said that we can't just tell them to "get a job" since they don't have the economic base to do so.
"They aren't given a fair shot," he said.
Asghar, who helped organize the open mic event, said he was pleased with the way the event turned out.
"But we didn't have a mic," he said.
"It seemed like everyone cooperated, and benefited from one another," Asghar said.
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