al l
A R O U ND
Carnegie Mellon Qatar Campus
Issue 2,Vol. 2 Tuesday, November 15th 2005
Back From Ramadan !!!
After a month of grumbling tummies, sober classes and mass occupation of the recreation room sofas,
we’re proud to say that Ramadan is finally over! This week’s edition is dedicated to post Ramadan happenings around Carnegie Mellon and a look into the experiences of some of the students. Don’t miss out
on our Entertainment Weekly and news coverage!
Special Points of
Interest:
Terror Strikes in Jordan
• Ramadan—From different angles
• ‘My Friends & I’… A message to my best friends
• CMUQ’s latest gossip;
an Antifeminist perspective
Inside this issue:
FAREWELL
SLEEP &
FOOD
2
RAMADAN &
SCHOOL
3
ACTIVITIES
UPDATE
5
CMBA
5
HOTTEST
CELEBRETIES
GOSSIP
7
ENTERTAIN8
MENT WEEKLY
Picture Source:
<www.aljazeera.net>
Data Source:
<www.aljazeera.net>
The curtain of terrorism being pulled over
the Capital of Jordan, Amman, in recent suicide
bombings. According to officials, the bombings
were targeted at various hotels, one in which was
carrying out a wedding reception. In an Al-Qaeda
statement, the bombers have been identified Abu
Khabib, Abu Muaz, Abu Omaira (husband) and
Om Omaira (wife). As a result of the bombings,
many people have been arrested though many
more had been killed and injured (57 & 100 respectively).
By Ramsey Ramadan
News Editor
A Word from the Editorial
Board
Here we are again, with a new look, and new material. We are sure
that a lot of you are thinking ‘Why do they keep changing the layout?’ Well it’s
not really about the layout as much as its about All Around’s image as a whole.
Our main target is to develop All Around as to satisfy your wants as a reader.
You might have noticed that it took as a while to come back with the
high standard we’ve always aimed to obtain. And this is mainly because we were
establishing a solid ground for All Around to ensure continuity and accuracy.
Our next step is to get you more involved with All Around. We would
like you to share your ideas with other readers through writing, just like we
share our ideas with you. We will be interviewing some of you, to learn more
about your personalities, likes, and dislikes! You may share a piece of advise, a
complaint, or a word of appreciation to someone. All Around is Carnegie Mellon
Qatar’s property, and hence it involves you as a member of CMU-Q’s community as it involves us!
2
All Around, Issue 2, Vol. 2
Farewell Sleep & Food
Before I tell you
about my personal experience, I would like to mention
that no matter how bad you
think my Ramadan habits are,
keep in mind how our campus looked on the first day
of Ramadan. Let me put it
this way: there was not a
single couch or chair without
a CMUQ student sleeping on
it! Now you are ready to
read about my experience.
My worst two habits
in Ramadan concern eating
and sleeping. Even though
you might think these two
are not habits they are a necessity, organizing them is
my" bad habit". The problem
is that after I come back
from university, right before
Iftar, feeling tired, hungry and
exhausted, I still feel extremely sleepy Iftar. Being
who I am, my shortest nap is
usually four hours long.
Naturally, I wake up at
around midnight and start
my day then. I have my usual
green tea, with something
sweet of course, an hour
later I have a slice of a pineapple, a diet coke and I finish
it off with a cappuccino.
Sometimes between the
drinks I have a snack, I am
not going to include examples though!! An hour before
Fajir (Dawn) I start reading
Qur'anand I pray for a while,
perhaps not every day, but I
always intend to do it. Finally, I pray Fajir and sleep.
So do you think that this is
wrong or bad? In my opinion
the answer is no since I get
around nine hours of sleep, I
get to eat for around four
hours, and still have time to
study and pray.
Try telling that to my
friends though!! They have
cajoled me into becoming
more like them, and as a result I now either sleep an
hour after Iftar or I don’t
sleep at all and continue
studying after Iftar. So my
“routine”, which was mentioned above was disrupted
as I no longer get as much
sleep and food overall. I
could only sleep a total of
seven or less and since I
stayed awake after Iftar, I no
longer had an appetite. So it
was farewell sleep and food!!
I will always miss you.
By Yasmine Abdelrahman
Editor-In-Large
Lina
Mona
Samiha & Yasmine
What you should expect to see in Ramadan!
Charity
Organizations
In Ramadan
Ramadan is a holy month
during which every Muslim commits him/herself to participate in
all types of worship. There are
many worshiping rituals that Muslims can do during Ramadan, such
as Taraweh prayers, Zakat, read
Holy Qur'an, and being part of
charity activities. Charity work
takes on many forms; you could
be giving money, clothes, shelter,
education, and food to the poor
or those who are in greater need
than yourself, and these things
could be done through charity
organizations.
What I want you to be
aware of, is that these charities
operate throughout the entire
year and not just during Ramadan,
but they are more active during
the holy month. In Qatar, there
are many charity organizations,
including ‘Sheikh Eid bin
Mohammad Al-Thani’s Charity
Organization’, which is known to
be a very active organization.
‘Sheikh Eid bin Mohammad AlThani Charity Organization’ plays
a significant role in many charity
works like building Mosques inside and outside Qatar especially
in poor Muslim areas.
In Ramadan, volunteers of
the organization work very hard
to gather as many donations as
possible to send them to Muslims
inside and outside Qatar who are
in urgent need of the donations.
They also help preparing poor
families for Eid al Fter; buying new
clothes for children and the remainder of the family members.
You may learn more about this organization and others by visiting:
www.eidcharity.net
By Noor AlJassim
Staff Writer
All Around, Issue 2, Vol.2
Ramadan
School
&
Ramadan is a special
month that brings with it precious
moments which add to our memory each year and stay with us long
after. Personally, a lot of these
memorable moments are those
that I have spent in school. Though
Ramadan meant initial pangs of
hunger, it brought great joy as it
also meant shorter classes and less
homework! I particularly remember how as kids of junior grades,
the whole lot of my class never
lacked energy to reach the playground, even during Ramadan,
much to the amazement of our
teachers who thought that fasting
had exhausted us. Well, not when
it came to games!
Things changed as we
moved onto higher grades, with
loads of work to do, however,
Ramadan brought the fun element
with the Iftar parties that we had
among friends, which also kept us
bonded together. Oddly enough
while other students felt that
Ramadan brings in a busy schedule,
I had a lot of time in the afternoons to do my studies. Thus,
Ramadan was also academically
relevant for me especially in my
final years of high school. Moreover, there were other enriching
experiences that became a part of
the schedule during the month…
like the valuable lectures focused
on charity and being benevolent to
others.
On the whole, past Ramadan months that I have spent in
school were very unique, thus I
cherish them and those in the four
years of college, I look forward
to… so that when I am asked to
write about ‘Ramadan in college’, I
will hopefully have a lot to speak
about.
By Basheera Banu
Staff Writer
3
Ramadan
‘The Distinction between the Past
and the Present’
Whenever the orbit
turns and another month of
Ramadan approaches, happiness and joy return to the
Islamic nation, for with it
come two of the greatest gifts
of Allah, namely, the fasting
month of Ramadan and the
celebration of the revelation
of the Holy Qur'an. A mixture of feelings overwhelms
the hearts of Muslims all over
the world, for Ramadan, in
some ways, is one of the
things that distinguish Islam
from all the other religions.
Prophet Mohammed's companions are always the immortal model to follow when
it comes to how we can take
advantage of this Holy month.
Umar Ibn Al-Khattab
used to pray at night for what
he wished, until it was in the
middle of the night, when he
would wake up his family to
pray; then he would call to
them "prayer... Prayer". What
some of the Muslims do
nowadays is they spend the
whole night watching TV, or
going out to restaurants, and
waste those valuable nights
on frivolous activities. No
one is guaranteed that he/she
will live until next Ramadan,
so how can we waste the one
we are so fortunate to be
alive for now? No one is saying that you should forego
everything else in your life
and only pray. Everyone has
work, studies and jammed
daily routines that might
make it harder to focus on
worshiping only, but even the
simplest thing that you might
do during the day could be
equivalent to praying in the
middle of the night, such as
giving money to the poor and
visiting or calling relatives
only for the sake of strengthening familial bonds.
Moreover, it was due
to the length of the prayer of
the commander of the faithful, Uthman Ibn Affan, at night
and his recitation that he may
have recited the entire
Qur'anin one rak'ah. Can you
imagine yourself doing that?!
No one does that nowadays,
and no one even tries to!
When we come to compare
between how the Prophet's
companions used to worship
in Ramadan and how we do
today, we would absolutely
realize how much we need to
get closer to Allah during this
holy month. Those faithful
companions used to fight battles in Ramadan under the
heat of the sun, and still they
did their best to worship Allah in every single moment in
all the twelve months, even
more in Ramadan. They did
not have what we have today
of the modern facilities, airconditioners and labor-saving
machines, but they kept on
worshiping Allah sincerely;
from the bottom of their
hearts. Unlike them, we consider Ramadan a month in
which we can watch new TV
shows, eat delicious food, and
spend the whole night in
some restaurant or mall.
By Dana Hadan
Staff Writer
4
All Around, Issue 2, Vol. 2
My Friends & I
“To my dear best friends,
I might not have said this directly!”
On the first day of orientation (2004) I was
amazed at how I didn’t know any of my classmates. I
was born in Qatar and lived here throughout, so I
was expecting to know at least someone, but my
expectations were false. I worked the year before I
joined Carnegie. All of my interactions in that year
were with individuals older than me; the youngest
of which was 25! So in the first week of university, I
couldn't help myself stop thinking ’Oh my God, am I
going to be friends with these people, they are
pretty childish’.
It took me some time to lose that attitude. I
knew that there was nothing wrong with my classmates and that it was all about me, my previous experiences and how they changed my personality and
attitude. I started making friends by the end of the
first month.
It has always been a tough job for me to be
best friends with someone. I have been through
harsh experiences with previous x-best friends, so
thinking of living another experience was a ‘No No’!
So, even when I became friends with few of my
classmates I knew that our friendship will not develop.
I made more and more friends everyday.
And without me noticing, I was getting pretty close
to three of my friends. I don’t know how that
Yaz and I,
Chillis
Mahooy, Lina, Me, and Yaz,
Ambassador’s House
happened, but it just did! At the end of the year, I
was best friends with the three; Lina, Yasmine, and
Maha O. We told each other everything and spent
a lot of fun time together. One day in the Eid break
I was out shopping with Maha O. With no doubt,
we were talking (gossiping actually) while shopping;
updating each other of the latest news and recalling
funny incidents from last year. Sometime during our
bonding Maha said “The other day, I was thinking of
how we became best friends, but I couldn’t remember!” Her comment made me remember the idea of
‘not wanting to be best friends with anyone in the
beginning of the year’. I spent few minutes trying to
remember how we got so close. But soon enough,
and without mentioning to Maha, I gave up and
thought to myself ‘How doesn't really matter, what
matters is that I’m grateful for having her (and Lina
& Yasmine) as my best friends’.
It’s wonderful to have close friends who
you can share anything you want with. It’s amazing
to have someone who would listen to you when
you are upset or stressed just because you are their
friend not because they are after anything. More
over, it’s incredible to be the pocket of memories
and secrets of others who trust you enough to
share their personal issues with you. Having a best
friend or best friends I should say is one of the best
pleasures in the world. Finally, I would like to say
that being grateful describes a tiny bit of how I feel
for having my BEST FRIENDS!
By Noor AlAthirah
Editor-In-Chief
Mahooy and I,
University
Lanoosh and I,
Applebeas
“Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having to weigh
thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are chaff and grain
together certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and
with the breath of kindness blow the rest away…”
By Dinah Mulock
All Around, Issue 2, Vol.2
5
Activities Update: Week of November 13
Submitted By Kristin Gilmore, Director of Student Activities
MONDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL: Mondays at
5:30pm in the Qatar Academy Gym
AMERICA'S VISION OF INT'NL SECURITY:
Wed. at 6pm at the Diplomatic Club
Monday night basketball will continue during Ramadan
and is organized by Lanny Duke. Please contact her at
492-8278 or via email at lduke@qatar.cmu.edu for
more information. All students are welcome Mondays
from 5:30 - 7:00pm!
The Washington-based Georgetown University School
of Foreign Service’s Dean, Dr. Robert L. Gallucci, will
speak about ‘America’s Vision of International Security’
on Wednesday, November 16 at the Diplomatic Club
at 6:00pm. The lecture is sponsored by the new Centre for International and Regional Studies, a research
centre supported by Qatar Foundation and co-located
with the Georgetown University School of Foreign
Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) in Education City.
ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY LECTURE: Wednesday at 12:00 in LH1
Don Marinelli, the co-director of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, will be
giving a talk on Wednesday at 12:00pm in Lecture Hall
1. This lecture is open to all of Education City, So
bring friends! For more information on the Entertainment Technology Center visit: http://
www.etc.cmu.edu/
ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK, PITTSBURGH: Application due December 1
Applications for the ASB trip to Pittsburgh are due
December 1 by 12:00pm. Please send applications VIA
EMAIL ONLY to kgilmore@andrew.cmu.edu.
MAKING THE CONNECTION LECTURE SERIES: Sunday, November20 at 12:00pm in A156
ORIENTATION COUNSELOR APPLICATIONS: Due Thursday, December 15 at 12:00
On Wednesday at 12:00pm in A156b, as part of the
"Making the Connection Lecture Series," we welcome
Mr. Yasser Hamad, Executive Director, Business Development & Marketing, of Salam International. For
more information, contact Khadra at kdualeh@qatar.cmu.edu.
It's hard to believe, but it's already time to start thinking about orientation 2006! You can find an application for both the head orientation counselor and orientation counselor positions and accompanying instructions attached to this email. Applications are due
Thursday, December 15 at 12:00pm. Please direct
questions to me at kgilmore@andrew.cmu.edu.
cmBA Business Club
A Whopping Success for the First Bridges
of Knowledge Meeting
Carnegie Mellon's Business Administration club
(cmBA) recently hosted the first meeting in a series
called "Bridges of Knowledge"; a program designed to
build bridges between CMU-Q and the people from
Doha's business world. The first presentation featured
two guest speakers from HSBC: Mr. Kapil Chadda, Director of Global Investment Banking, and Mr. Mark
Norbury, Relationship Manager for Multinational Corporate banking.
During their lecture the guests gave a brief
introduction about how the bank started, how it
grew, and what it is like to work there. Both discussed the key characteristics one should have in
order to work for HSBC, such as commitment and
loyalty. The lecture was informative and interesting,
and cmBA is proud of hosting a successful event. I
personally would like to thank all those who attended, and encourage all students to come to the
next presentation to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about business in Doha as well as the
networking possibilities.
By Noora AlAnsari
Editor-Collection
President of cmBA
6
All Around, Issue 2, Vol. 2
More than Just ‘Antifeminist’
Last week, during a friendly conversation, my
friends and I discovered that among us there is a student who not only believes that women shouldn’t join
the workforce after marriage, but also that their contribution until this day has only lead to the destruction
of the Arab and Islamic civilization. For that, his/her
solution to this problem is that "women should finish
high school, stay at home and raise their children".
No one can deny the fact that some married
women, especially those who have more than three or
four children, find it hard to balance between their job
and their motherhood responsibilities. However, it’s
the mothers that decide for themselves if they want to
stay at home or not. It’s believed, by the student, that
if the husband can support the family then the wife
should immediately stay at home. However, in this
belief he/she ignores some basic facts. The first is that
if all women follow such an advice to stay at home,
then their will be no room for those women who
‘have’ to work in the workforce. Another fact is if the
husband dies and no one can support the family a
woman without a college education will find extremely
hard to find a suitable job. In addition, if we agree that
women should stay at home and raise their children
then this will lead to a big gap between the mother
and her children. This is because she will not be up to
date with changes in the world and technology and
once the "boys" join university it will be hard to communicate.
Though there are more arguments to be mentioned about this issue, I am launching the debate
through our newsletter, whose Editor-in-chief is a
‘female student’, since I believe that it's unfair for that
student to simply ignore his/her argument, especially
that he/she hasn’t found any brave supporter until
now.
By Yasmine Abdelrahman
Editor-in-large
“Nemesis”
You gave birth to me, you life choking piranha
I try and I try and I try…but like Dracula,
You don’t stop until you suck me dry.
Moments stretch to infinity while you drown me
In your so called Godly divinity
You hypocritical bundle of stink infested morals
What I’d do to be rid of you…no one would believe.
It’s okay though, cause I’m counting down the days,
And when mine comes, I feel sorry for the silent walls
That will fill your life, instead of me.
By Anonymous
All Around, Issue 2, Vol.2
By Amun Bashir, Theme Editor
Bond goes Blonde
Well, agreeing with the acronym
“change is good”, we seem to have the
new James Bond signed up and ready
to shoot the next Bond flick ‘Casino
Royale’. British actor, Daniel Craig was
revealed on the 14th of October as the
second British actor to play the highly
action-packed role and the first to be a blonde. Let’s
hope he doesn’t lose intelligence points with his hair
color.
Picture Source <http://www.eonline.com/News/
firstlook.html>
Feeling Too Cool for School
After a flop movie with a side order of
bulimia, the Olsen twins are back in the
news, this time with Mary-Kate dropping
out of sophomore year at New York
University. Mary-Kate’s publicist stated
“[she] has taken an approved leave of
absence from New York University to
focus on her increasing responsibilities
as co-president of Dualstar Entertainment Group and
to pursue personal interests”. The brunette star of ‘Full
House’, 19, was recently released from a medical facility after treatment for an eating disorder. Both twins
became co-presidents of Dualstar last year bringing
their worth to a whopping $150 million per twin.
Picture: Source <http://i.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/
imgs/031222/9229__olsen_l.jpg>
It’s Official!
With massive speculations revolving around the nuptials of ‘Punk’d’ host Ashton Kutcher,
27, and actress Demi Moore, 42, we
can finally confirm that the couple of
two years has finally tied the knot. The
wedding was held on September 24th,
however the newly-weds were highly
secretive of their private Kabbalah
style wedding in their home in Beverly Hills. Rights of
their wedding pictures were sold recently to OK!
Magazine, revealing the happy couple.
Picture Source <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9673020/>
7
Jude Law on the Market
Again
Sienna Miller and Jude Law have reportedly ended their ten month engagement. Some may say it was in
the works after Jude Law allegedly had an affair with
his children’s nanny and apologised to Miller months
before. Miller is refusing to comment on her personal
life, but links have already been made between her and
the latest Bond boy, Daniel Craig.
Picture Source <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9672110/>
Katie Holmes vs. Martin
Holmes
Reports suggest that Katie Holmes and
her father Martin Holmes got into a
shouting match over the bulge she will
carry at her wedding. A devout Christian, Martin Holmes was livid at the fact that his daughter was carrying Tom Cruise’s child prior to their
wedding. Moreover, her practice of Scientology,
Cruise’s preached religion faired no better with her
not so happy parents. Calling Cruise “no good”, Martin
Holmes demands that the couple marry and marry
fast.
Picture Source <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9546108/>
Fashion Flops! Well, we all have our
bad days…
8
All Around, Issue 2
Garfield
Internet Source <http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_archives_strip.html>
Peanuts
Internet Source <http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/peanuts/archive/peanuts-20051005.html>
PONDER COLLECTION!
1. Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
2. Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
3. Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?
4. Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?
5. Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
6. If you can't drink and drive, why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor, and why do bars have
parking lots?
7. Do you need a silencer if you are going to shoot a mime?
8. If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
9. Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
Internet Source <http://www.ahajokes.com/pon01.html>
All Around’s Directory
You may forward any contributions, enquiries, questions, or suggestions to
our official e-mail address
<all-around@qatar.cmu.edu>
Or to the Collection—Editor; Noora Al Ansari <naa@qatar.cmu.edu>