A message to a friend. It doesnt matter what was said...its about what was felt.

I am sitting in my bed after a long day of working and reading for school and I saw your name listed on the side of my friends. Its almost fall out and I spent the last hour procrastinating and having an awesome conversation with my roommate. It was enlightening. "Some days are heavy and some days are mean, some days fall somewhere in between." I really dont know why I am aimlessly writing you, but somewhere it makes sense. Somehow the fall time puts me in a spell, binds my emotions and whispers, "remember" as if it were a secret in my ear.

I came across your facebook page (I wish I would have just ran into you), and it hit me. I dont know who you are now. I knew you 5 years ago (was it really that long ago?) and I knew ashley, and we all knew each other, and we were each other's world, and now we are strangers that once knew of a similar time.

I am sorry that this is so overly nostalgic and sentimental. I could have just said, "remember when?" But that didnt seem right. In fact, it seemed wrong. I hope you remember all the names and car ride we shared. All the pain and joy. Its all episodes, seasons if you will, of pain and joy and trying to understand how they are so intrinsically connected to each other. ebb and flow. change and grow. make friends and remember them at odd times of the night.

Don't forget, Lindsey Irvin, because even when I do, I remember. Somewhere, sometime, in the middle of an Autumn night, with my hoodie on and my memory intact, I see us all standing there at 15, wondering what would happen next.

-Micah Aaron Hughes

Introducing Palace Players

It beckons, it breathes, its so quite, and I always leave...


I ran as fast as I could. The car sped away without stalling. I stopped and wondered if the feeling of forgetfulness ever lingered in its simply complex structure, in it's oiled heart. The mid seasons always pass by unnoticed, and unmoved by my persistent begging to stay awhile and talk. The coffee is always cold when the conversations are good. Brian wrote a poem that rolled in my head as if they were die in the hand of one ready to cast. Casting shadows in artificial light never sat well with me. Emptiness ensued as the sun's reflection bounded away off the top of the automobile. Automatically. I am not mobile and fear is never noble. If I could reach into my heart and shake these feelings loose, I'd set them beside you and ask why they were such an awkward fit. You can try them on if you'd like, but they might shrink. Your favorite colours away fade when what's supposed to keep them clean, only makes them a fragment of what they were, once upon a time. Yet they are still our favorite. Like memories, like endless rambling words, like stories that have no meaning...yet they always mean something to me.

...or so it seems.

Dear Bruce

I seem lost in the world of my friends words. I couldnt explain it if I tried, because self pity never gave me good reasons why. I beckoned to my dreams and they discretely hid in the shadows. If I lay in my bed long enough, I can hear your whispers of something in tomorrow, I just cant sit there long enough to tell you if I'm free.

It's all possibility...
maybe...



I just want to say the Bruce Hanglider is my good friend and whatever he says is undisputed truth.

Thank you and now I am going to think.

Is it possible?

I want this:

The Master’s program in Arabic provides a foundation in both Arabic literature and Arabic linguistics, with Linguistics or Islamic studies as possible minors.

Applicants must have at least three years of Arabic and are expected to enroll in advanced Arabic seminars. Arabic language courses taken to enable students to reach the seminar level do not count towards the degree credits. Advanced proficiency in Arabic is demonstrated through enrolling in advanced Arabic seminars and passing a proficiency test in Arabic administered by the department and testing listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing.

Master’s Degree Course Requirements:

Candidates for the Master’s degree in Arabic take a program of 36 credits (12 courses) plus a research paper. The distribution of the courses is 7 in the major and 5 in the minor. The minor may be in Linguistics or in Islamic Studies. Students are required to take at least ARAB 392, ARAB 547, and ARAB 555.

Arabic Core Courses (7 three-credit courses)

• ARAB-361-362 Intro to Lit and Style (3,3)
• ARAB-392 Fundamentals of Arabic Linguistics (3)
• ARAB-460 Topics in Arab Culture (3)
• ARAB-525 Qur’anic Exegesis (3)
• ARAB-531-532 Classical Arabic Poetry (3,3)
• ARAB-533-534 Classical Arabic Prose (3)
• ARAB-535-536 The Qur’an (3,3)
• ARAB-543-544 Modern Arabic Prose (3, 3)
• ARAB-547 Issues/Methods: Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (3)
• ARAB-548 Arabic Proficiency: Current Issues (3)
• ARAB-549-550 Arabic Short Stories (3, 3)
• ARAB 555 Introduction to Arabic and Islamic Studies (3)
• ARAB-627 Intro to the Hadith (3)
• ARAB-701-702 Arabic Lit and Culture (3, 3)

Minor Subjects

A. Islamic Studies (5 three-credit courses)

• ARAB-351-352 Introduction to Arabic Culture (3, 3)
• ARAB-373 Women in the Qur’an (3)
• ARAB-444 Introduction to Islamic Civilization
• ARAB-525 Qur’anic Exegesis (3)
• ARAB-535-536 The Qur’an (3,3)
• ARAB-555 Introduction to Arabic and Islamic Studies
• ARAB-609 The Qur’an in History (3)
• ARAB-610 Science in the Islamic World
• ARAB-611 Islamic Thought on the Eve of Modernity
• ARAB-627 Intro to the Hadith (3)
• ARAB-760 Arab Historiography (3)
• THEO-350 Readings in Sufism (3)

ARAB-444 or its equivalent must be taken as the “gateway” course to the minor in Islamic studies. In addition to the courses offered in the Department of Arabic, a range of courses in Islamic studies are offered in the Department of History, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, and the Theology Department. With departmental approval, some of these courses may count towards the minor in Islamic Studies. A partial list of these courses is included under the Islamic Studies PhD program.

NB: Islamic studies courses may count toward the major if they are based on and require study of texts in Arabic. If, however, they are conducted in English and assignments are in English, they may not count toward the Arabic major.

B. Linguistics (5 three-credit courses)

The linguistics course requirements may be satisfied by taking courses in Arabic linguistics or by taking courses in the Linguistics department, or a combination of both.

Courses in Arabic Linguistics offered by the department include:

• ARAB-390 Fundamentals of Language
• ARAB 392 Fundamentals of Arabic Linguistics
• ARAB 404 Arabic Morphology and Syntax
• ARAB 492 Arabic Dialectology
• ARAB 493 Field Methods in Arabic Dialectology
• ARAB 520 History of Arabic Linguistics
• ARAB 547 Issues and Methods in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Lang.
• ARAB-548 Arabic Proficiency: Current Issues (3)
• LING-711 Classical Arabic Phonetics

Linguistics Department courses cover a wide range of subfields including theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and computational linguistics. Students are encouraged to specialize in one field for the minor. Applied linguistics is recommended for those interested in the methodology of language teaching and second language acquisition; theoretical linguistics is recommended for those interested in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantic theory; for those interested in language variation, dialectology intercultural communication, and discourse analysis, sociolinguistics is recommended; for those interested in computer applications of Arabic linguistics, computational linguistics. Consult with the graduate adviser to determine the most suitable courses for your interests. Please consult the Linguistics department course offerings online.

Arabic Proficiency Exam

Masters candidates who are not native speakers of Arabic must pass a written and oral proficiency examination in Arabic. This exam may be taken at any point during the student’s program, but must be completed before the student takes the comprehensive examination.

Time-to-Degree

In accordance with Graduate School rules, students admitted to the Master’s Degree program are allowed three years from matriculation to complete all requirements for the degree and to graduate. In the case of students who are studying part-time for the Master’s Degree, a five-year limit is imposed.

relevance

This has always been the place where I release my guilt, but it never really leaves. I am prone to using rhetoric of the self, as if I can leave it here, or that leaving it here does not mean that it stays here. I often come to gather older guilt in exchange for something new. Now I have come to see, or it has come to me, that I have not the power to take guilt or leave it. Maybe one has to take it from me? Maybe I have to be willing to give it? but, to Whom?

I think it is a relevant thing to ask. I think its also relevant to expect an answer.

InshAllah

God, Save Palestine

Dead Bones Will Dance

infinite feelings

if only...