Now you can delete Facebook account permanently

Do you remember that nearly three weeks ago Facebook agreed to a sweeping settlement of notable allegations regarding how it mishandled user privacy and pay $5 billion civil penalty, and also agreed to implement robust new protections of user data?

Well, as part of the new privacy settings, Facebook has enabled the permanently deleting account option. Until recently, you could only deactivate your account, but now you can delete the entire account with one click. Remember that nothing will come back after you push the delete button. It is scary and I am hesitant to do that though I do want to stay away from Facebook. I created my Facebook account in 2007 through the help of a friend. Back then you couldn't create independently (especially if you were living in Afghanistan) you should have been invited by someone. I had a friend at Duke University who sent me an invitation.

Just as a reminder if you want to delete your account, make sure to take a backup of all your photos, videos, status and posts. You will still be able to see them not on Facebook platform though. If you delete your account, you may not be able to use certain services if you have signed up with your Facebook account.

One final thing for deleting your account permanently, obviously there is a 30-day window for you in case you change your mind.

Lots of postcards to be sent out

Sometimes, I think I live an old fashioned life. Yesterday, I went to a used bookstore in downtown Charlotte and bought tons of postcards. I thought I am not going to be a slave of convenience of texting, e-mailing, or calling, I want to write my messages on a postcard. Though calling and texting have immediate advantage, I think it can't be equated with the impression that a postcard makes. Postcard becomes a memory and you can come back to it later, but you can't do it with phone call or text message.

I haven't seen a lot of people in this generation writing postcards. Last time I received a postcard was from my German teacher from Germany. I still have his card as a piece of friendship and teachership. I have an affinity with this medium. It takes me back to my roots where writing letter was the only means of communication. I find values in such tradition since it has become a lost art.

The postcards I bought yesterday were all old and whimsical. Interestingly, I found several Russian postcards capturing famous landmarks in Russia. They are from the Soviet era, between 1970-1990. I wonder who kept them all this time and why? I also found postcards from Germany. Again, they are old from the 1970s and 80s. I found a postcard of Marilyn Monroe wearing white swimsuit, probably from early 1950s. I immediately sent it to my American host dad.

If you like to receive a postcard from me, e-mail me your mailing address and I will send you one with a Rumi or Bedil poem, or simple greetings. This should be only in the US. Please indicate what language you prefer, I can write it in English, Farsi, Arabic, Russian, German, Pashto, and Urdu.

Fieldwork revitalized my native language

For the first time in nearly a decade, this summer, I had a chance to speak in my native language Farsi more than I did before. It was during my fieldwork that forced me to speak Farsi, though it have been comfortable and beneficial had I been able to speak English for the most part. That is what I also preferred, but not all participants were fluent in English. At any rate, I'm content with what have happened.

In my four years of college, I almost forgot Farsi. In college, I barely spoke my native language because there was no other Farsi speakers around. There was a benign retired US diplomat who lived nearby and we hang out a lot. He often called me or I went over to his place, we chatted in Farsi while cooking and drinking.

I have to admit that for the last ten years, I have never read a book in Farsi though I read the news regularly. That is a shame! (I tell myself). I did not have access to Farsi resources either, and honestly, I had no interest. I am a little bit biased towards Farsi and for that reason, I don't read scientific books other than in English. Farsi is good enough for poetry, storytelling and perhaps, Sufism, but not a language that you can use for critical thinking, logical reasoning, especially in the field of philosophy, technology, and science. I know this statement has ideological values, but what can you say when you compare two things. Well, one might say, languages are not things, they are culture and history. I agree, but what could you do in a short blog post than doing a gross simplification.

But getting back to the main point, living in DC with a community of Hazara immigrants this summer was gracefully beneficial to me. I noticed yesterday that my speech has become more smooth and I have become more confident to control myself from code-switching.

Sexual harassment during Hajj

I saw this image circulating on social media, which has become a subject of both ridicule and embarrassment. The text alongside the image said:

“Turkish brothers protect their sisters and wives during Hajj. The power of a society is reflected in how much the men value, protect and care for their women.”

Most of Muslim men and women reacted to the photo emphatically sympathetic towards the women who are surrounded by men, but they also mentioned that creating such a wall may result to trample other women or men.
Non-Muslims have reacted with contempt and scorn. Some said that Muslims have no moral and have no respect towards women even at the most sacred site like the great mosque of Mecca.

Sexual harassment during Hajj has been rampant but it has recently came to light. Here I found a couple of personal narratives of those women who have been sexually harassed during Hajj at Mecca.

1. 'I never told anyone': 5 women's stories of sexual abuse at the Hajj
2. Sexual Assault During Hajj: Will #MosqueMeToo Lead to Reforms in Mecca
3. 100 Women: Muslim women rally round #MosqueMeToo

The depiction of ideal masculinity

I saw this sculpture at a restaurant called Laughing Horse Lodge at Swan Lake in Montana. I looked at it as a beautiful piece of art and took a photo of it. One can see how art is capable of depicting the ideal male body in its best but in a sarcastic form. It shows that masculinity can be commodified and can be sold as an idea. This sculpture is a perfect example of how the ideal of maleness is framed, its symbolic and allegorical meanings reveal our stereotypes. 

It is interesting how muscle has replaced other features of manliness. I often hear people saying things like "he goes to the gym, he looks good." 

It is a depiction of Heracles who fought the Nemean lion, the vicious creature in Greek mythology. I am not sure who is the other person, but the crushed figure at the bottom is a lion. 

Getting ready for another semester

So it is again the beginning of another beginning, another semester, I'm as happy as I was before - well, maybe, I think I was happy for the past two semester and well before that. And I'm now back at this stage, beginning, which is so exciting.
Today, I deactivated my Facebook account, I was offered lots of incentives like you will miss so and so, and I reasoned that I hate Facebook, it told me, maybe I don't have enough friends, it gave me an option to look up for some. I didn't Facebook, I thought, would be a distraction, and honestly, it is.

I sent a few messages to friends with whom I have been in touch regularly and with people with whom I worked this summer in Washington DC, telling them I'm leaving Facebook and here is my contact details in case you would like to reach out to me.
I'm feeling gloriously fine, leaving a distraction behind. I am pretty much flexible at this point to leave social media if I don't find it worthy.

I will continue blogging because this is where I can express myself without distraction and not even being worried if anyone would come by and read it because at the end of the day, I'm writing for myself and it is a cathartic experience that I have been doing for a while. Back in Afghanistan, I did blogging professionally, where I labored from dawn to dusk to create content both informative and useful for all. But not anymore. From now on, this platform for my random thoughts and I like the functionality of it.

At the Natural History Museum

This summer I did a fieldwork in a small community of immigrants in Washington DC & as part of giving back to the community, among other things, I made videos & shared them on their Facebook page. Here's one of them from the Fossil Hall at the Natural History Museum pic.twitter.com/nlOIZ7JIaB

— Nasim Fekrat (@NasimFekrat) August 10, 2019