Watermelon/Tarbuj

To quote people across Tajikistan: "Are there tarbuj (watermelon) in America?"

To quote my mother: "There are watermelons in Tajikistan?"

To answer you all: 

Yes, yes there are.

There are watermelons in Latvia

There are more watermelons in Dushanbe

There is watermelon art...

...and art made from watermelons

There are balls painted like melons...

...and melons used like balls

Its a bit like being a modern-day hunter/gatherer

Hunt successful, the prizes are carried home

Refrigeration is very important

But sometimes you just can't wait

and the hunters eat their prey in the wild

Moalem presides at the carving

Nazira likes watermelon

Mari likes watermelon

Sometimes I feel like a harbuza in a pile of tarbuj

*To be followed with a rousing chorus of the watermelon song:

Just plant a watermelon on my grave and let the juice 

 seep through.
Just plant a watermelon on my grave, that's all I ask of you.

Now Southern fried chicken is mighty, mighty fine, 

but all I want is a watermelon vine.
So, plant a watermelon on my grave and let the juice, 

 seep through.

Lessons in Tolerance

 Living abroad, I am constantly reminded of how special America is, because we believe that despite differences in race, religion and origins, we are all Americans, and we are all equal. In so many countries, even liberal democracies like Italy, where I am now, that fundamental equality is not assumed to be true. We know that our country isn't perfect, but as long as we are reaching for that dream of a pluralistic society - for the American dream - we are being true citizens of America.

Mari's op-ed in today's Yale Daily News (YDN - Culture Shock at Home) is an eloquent stand against the current climate of religious intolerance.  As she writes, it is shocking to compare the kindness and generosity of individual Muslims we encountered in Tajikistan with the inflammatory rhetoric about the Islamic community center in New York  and threats of Koran-burning in Florida. We must remember that our values are not threatened from the outside, by Islam or any other ideology, but by the voices of fear and hatred that always lurk within society, and within our own souls.