J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at The Beatnik Cowboy, Crossroads Magazine, Disturb the Universe Magazine, The Rye Whiskey Review and Misfit Magazine. You can find him most days at his home in Ohio, taking care of his disabled mother and trying to hit another crazy 20 team parlay. He still has a blog, evil delights, although he rarely has the time to write on it. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)
In the small town there was an old library, a few churches, and even a place where they sold worms for fishing and nearby, in the summers anyhow, a corn stand. I only realized far after that I never brought my bike there, such as in stories and films. If I could go back, I would have, for a bicycle fits a town and one could go on adventures and take more pictures of the local flora and fauna.
Yet I still have much memory in the mind’s eye and a few photos from walking. I used to fish off the shore walls and near little bridges and no matter what theory says, worms always got the fish to bite or at least become curious and nibble more than any metal or plastic lure. There were wooden bridges and stone ones, and moss and rocks and the sun-bleached parts caught my eye whist people generally were friendly and many of them waved.
There was a series of canals and though they go in Northern Ontario it was based off a model of waterways from somewhere in Europe. These waterways, often called ‘intercostal,’ can be found in southern Florida also. They are often secondary homes or cottages, and I suppose that means upper middle class or affluent populaces inhabit them. Or old timers that simply always lived there through the generations. Maybe each situation is unique, and they can’t exactly be categorized.
I remember the winters frozen and sometimes an ice fishing hut or series of them could be viewed as one looked from the purlieu of the lagoon intercostal waterways out to the white and grey lake frozen and crystalline-like under a December or January sky sun laden. That would make a good landscape painting for someone, some soul involved in such, and often as I walk summer fields and meadows or winter hills with vistas, I have the passing thought whimsical of wishing I knew a painter to talk about all with. In fact, I should have lived in older times where letter writing, where true soulful epistolary was the norm. But, in lieu of not having a confident or artist contact I’ll tell here…
The area was big, several square kilometres and none of the houses could have basements for the water could go in and that would be problematic. The dwellings were built on piles, telephone poles wooden and probably chemically stained to preserve them. Some houses were bungalows and nondescript with simple screen doors and others towered over the earth maybe up to four of five stories tall, and those usually had expensive power boats over forty feet long outside of them bobbing up and down a little bit in that lake water.
And it was quiet while someone watched the nice world there and the change of seasons. Boat. Book. Walk. Reflect. Even pray or meditate. Repair a bird house wooden or sit on the porch and watch the world go by. When we went to church, so long ago, the old man that gave the exegesis about the gospels used to say that his goal should be the same for his community. And what was his goal? It was for his maker, his God, to simply say in heaven when the day arrived, to say about the life one had lived on earth, ‘Well done good and faithful servant.’
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Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian poet, writer, and photographer. The Book of Love and Mourning, a third collection of prose poems and landscape photographs, is set to be released in winter 2025.
WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL LIFE: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS Jaloldinova Gulzirahon Otabek kizi
Student of group 101, Computer Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, Andijan State University
Today, thanks to the extensive reforms being carried out in our country, many opportunities are opening up for women. In this regard, we consider it appropriate to quote the speech of our President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the Senate of the Oliy Majlis in June 2019: “I am often concerned about the stereotype that has emerged in the minds of our people. Usually, we respect a woman, first of all, as a mother, a keeper of the family hearth. This is undoubtedly true. However, today every woman should not be an ordinary observer, but also an active and proactive participant in the democratic changes taking place in the country.”
Through this speech, the head of our state emphasizes that women should have their place not only in the family, but also in all developing spheres of society. We know that today our progressive women are working in public administration, education, art and culture, medicine, sports and a number of other areas and are achieving many successes. Their activities testify to the fact that women have their place in society, that their rights and interests are determined by law, and that they have equal rights with men. Also, the participation of women in political life is of great importance not only for our society, but also for our state.
In particular, one of such women. We can cite Tanzila Norbaeva as the first woman in the history of our country to be elected to the chair of the Senate. During her long career, she held such positions in public administration as Head of the Secretariat of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Head of the Secretariat of the Head of the Complex for Social Protection of Family, Motherhood and Childhood, Leading Specialist and Chief Specialist of the Information and Analytical Department on Education, Healthcare and Social Protection of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan.
During her career, Tanzila Norbaeva proved that women can also actively work in political life and public administration, and bring benefits to society and the state. Indeed, today, more than 1,300 women hold leadership positions in state and public organizations, including 45 in ministries and departments, 39 in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Cabinet of Ministers, and 207 in local government bodies.
Women and girls are given every opportunity to improve their political knowledge and test themselves in various fields. In particular, entrepreneurship centers for women have been established. This center helps retrain women who are on long-term parental leave and who are in a difficult economic situation in their professions, develops women’s business skills, provides them with advice and practical assistance.
Women who express a desire to engage in entrepreneurship are trained according to a special training program based on a list formed by the district (city) khokim and the women’s committee. Those who successfully complete special programs are given the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities, based on the recommendation of the district (city) women’s committee. A preferential loan is provided for setting up. In addition, in order to provide socio-economic assistance to women, the “Women’s Book” was introduced. With this, the head of our state is creating a foundation for women to show themselves in every aspect.
It is true that in New Uzbekistan, all opportunities are being opened for women, gender equality is being created. But as is not without controversy, there are also some narrow-minded people. A woman should be busy raising children and doing household chores. There are also many who think that she cannot function in the same social circle as men. In their opinion, if a woman works in society, actively interacts with society, and financially supports her family, she will change as a result of the influence of some people in society and will lose her place as a woman in the family.
But we believe that this issue depends on human upbringing. It is important to ignore such negative thoughts in society. The Head of our state is creating many opportunities for women to find their place in society, be appreciated, and contribute to the development of society and the state, and is enshrining this in law.
In particular, the approval of Law No. 562 “On Guarantees of Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men” on September 2, 2019 is a vivid proof of this. To date, serious attention is being paid to the issue of gender equality in our country. The practical result of this is that Uzbekistan is also a leader in key indicators of gender equality and gender development: the Gender Development Index (GRI) for women is 0.795 compared to men, which indicates a high level of equality between women and men.
I consider it appropriate to mention that the percentage of our women and girls in political life has increased significantly. In particular, women’s participation in political processes is increasing, and this trend can also be observed in electoral processes. The 1952 UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women. The Convention stipulates that women have the right to vote and stand for election on an equal basis with men. If we compare the results of the last elections to representative bodies, all parties have fulfilled the legal requirement that at least 30 percent of candidates must be women. In particular, 41 percent of the candidates nominated by parties were women.
This situation was also positively assessed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Uzbekistan began participating in the Gender Equality Index in 2019. As of 2019, Uzbekistan’s gender equality index ranked 62nd out of 189 countries on the list. Taking advantage of these opportunities, there are enough of our women who are taking their rightful place in political and social circles.
For example, in the field of sports, our compatriot Diyora Keldiyorova won the Olympic championship. In addition, it is commendable that another of our compatriots, Rayyona Ibrohimova, won 1st place at the International German Language Olympiad. There are many such women and girls in our country who deserve our pride. Why do you think they are achieving success in the world community and raising our flag even higher?
Of course, this is because our country pays due attention to our women and girls and creates opportunities for their development. It is not necessary to put obstacles in the way of women, but to be able to provide them with wings so that they can fly. In short, we must not forget that our women and girls can be the pillars of our society, just like men.
References
Resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Resolution No. SQ-297- IV dated 28.05.2021
The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Protection of Women and Girls from Harassment and Violence”, adopted on September 2, 2019
DR. KB RAZDAN: GATHER YE ROSE BUDS: AN EXISTENTIAL QUEST INTO THE DYNAMICS OF BEING
Writing poetry is a very personal affair and different poets write for different reasons. The most intriguing thing about poetry is that the poet who once starts writing, even if he is writing on a specific topic, does not know when and where he will conclude his poem. This is the power and independence of poetry. No poet can claim suzerainty over it.
Dr KB Razdan is a wizard of words who has guided students of literature at the University of Jammu for three decades, as Professor and Head and then as Dean Faculty and Convener of Board of Studies. He has taught modern and postmodern American fiction, poetry drama, comparative literature, critical theory, translation and translation theory. Having weathered so many disciplines, he possesses the finer sense of aesthetics essential to craft a masterpiece out of the rock material of ordinary life. A poet handles ordinary material, but he extends to it his philosophic shine and it starts radiating subliminal messages.
Dr. Razdan, has a keen sense of the dignified status of poetry. Leaving aside formalistic aspects of poetry, he is more concerned with what he has to say. What shape it takes, let the poetic moment decide. A higher passion draws words from his inside, and they flow into poems, as at a village well, driven by oxen, the ‘tinds’ [the chain of iron pots ] draw water from inside, and let it flow, fertilizing the earth. His verses are like mustard leaves grown on a fertile land, dangling their tiny heads in sheer frolic, carrying messages far beyond their transitory being. The poet rightly calls his work a ‘Cosmodrome of Poetic imagination and Poetic euphoria.
‘The Sieve of Time’ and the talk of filtration hangs heavy on the poet’s creative psyche, the image of the sieve recurs, focusing our attention on the fact how time throws off everything retaining in the sieve only the last remains of man. The somber mood of the poem lends it a touch of deep philosophy, and draws it closer to the fatalistic moorings of Hardy.
What is Poetry? For the poet, poetry is a realization, a revelation:
……a realization
That becomes a revelation,
A Soliloquy erupts akin to a Volcanic eruption.
Here the poet appears to drift away from Eliot’s view of a poem as an escape from emotion, when he calls a poem ‘a soliloquy’. He also deviates from William Wordsworth for whom a poem is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling, recollected in tranquility. Dr. Razdan’s poetics appears to be rooted in urgency which lends its excitement, passion and a rare flow to his poems.
‘O Lord What Fools these Mortals Be’ derides human wisdom which breeds manipulators schemers and crooks. The poet rejects “pretended prudence” and thinks that the wisdom of apes and dogs far transcends the wisdom of human beings. ‘Every Man is Two Men’ talks of the split personality of man, which is home to both the base as well as the sublime. Judas and Christ may be two different personalities, but both are equally loved by the mother who begets them. ‘A Rendezvous with the Contemporary Sphinx’ appears to focus on the narcissistic tendencies in man, and the poet warns one should know oneself if he wants to know the world. He criticizes too much dependence on mind, which can become nemetic [cause for nemesis ] for mankind:
O Ye frivolous man, should ye know yourself, you shall know all men all women” .
‘What’s in a Name’ engages with a quote from Shakespeare, but Carlyle’s reference in the poem is starkly beautiful: No name. No shame.
‘Images and Voices’ opens into the vistas of spiritual and cosmic dimensions. Here, the poet invokes Walt Whitman and his image of a Composite Man when he says
“What I assume, you shall assume
For every atom belonging to me, belongs to you as well.”
‘A Noble Sad Heart’ compares human mind and heart in an unconventional manner.
Our mind is a sponge, our heart is a stream, ….
Most of us choose sucking rather than running..
‘The Lustonian Blundrbuss’ takes a dig on marital ethics, while ‘When Life Walks in the Procession of Freedom’ supports the cause of women who walk out of unhappy marriages. ‘Song of Adam’ makes a plea for innocence in a world full of guile. The poet considers Ethics as the panacea which can heal the world of its maladies, and friendship is the elixir which can guarantee blossoms of Peace, Prosperity and Plenty on this earth:
“Let friendship be a Great Deluge,
A Deluge that engulfs our planet,
With the Blossoms of Peace, Prosperity and Plenty
And let the phenomenon of Ethics
Become an Ideal Panacea to Heal.
-Friendship, An Oasis of Rejuvenation,
Dr. Razdan considers marriage an unequal partnership in which the woman is ‘a sacrificial victim’. [‘The Throne of Tribulations’] From family to the social ethos, Dr. Razdan finds the world under the siege of Mammon, the Undisputed Controller, as a result of which it has been reduced to a ‘Maelstrom of Malevolence’, marked by greed and lust.
While on Nature, ‘The Tree and the Man’, presents a searing indictment of humanity, where the tree calls man a monster, and a desperado, whose mind and conscience are in consonance with darkness. ‘The Day Dreamers of Mankind’ again blasts the myth of Adam, where men think, God in his kindness, will offer them another Eden, and endow them with a modicum of Good Sense, giving them a new opportunity to “create a tripartite Realm of Purity, Innocence and Heroism.” Nothing bad in entertaining such dreams, thinks the poet.
The poet talks of a buffer zone between Right and Wrong and Truth and Untruth – a No man’s territory which constitutes the battle ground for corrosive conflicts. ‘Ethics of Pure Love’ looks upon parents as bows from which children are shot like arrows, as Kahlil Gibran has said. The poet turns ecstatic in ‘O My Loriana Lore Lee’ giving a final lesson in love:
Can it be
That you merge in me and me in thee?
‘Malady of Gossip’ perhaps embodies a great truth of life, told so beautifully:
A dilemma I find hard to negotiate
My house says to me:
“Do not leave me for here dwells your past,
And the road says to me:
“Come, and follow me,
For I am your future”
This to me appears to be the height of poetic craftsmanship. The language and thought both achieve classical heights., I feel the poetic thrill in these lines.
‘The Trojan Horse’ is a metaphor for people who approach you with Mephistophelean joy. The description of a poet in ‘Anatomy of a Poet’ conjures a scene which resembles the ruins on which the statue of Ozymandias stood:
A poet is a king dethroned,
Sitting amidst the ruins of his palace
What truth can be more piercing and elevating at the same time, as we come across in this exiomatic expression:
It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.
‘The Unassuming Society Man ‘is a bitter critique of modern society, where he compares human mind to a “war room where thoughts play Chess/Making moves and using weapons weird.” ‘Ethics of colours’ points out that men have complete mastery in changing colours beating even chameleons at the game. ‘Unethical Monomanics’ derides human beings who fall a prey to inordinate passions, corruptions, jealousy, greed etc. It is hard to find a more strident criticism of our times:
It is a world of atrophied values
Of frozen emotions, fossilized love
In conclusion, it can be said that “Gather Ye Rosebuds’ by Dr. K.B. Razdan delves deep into the modern myths of happiness and success, and tries to locate the sickness which has seeped into the psyche of mankind. I wonder if Dr. Razdan leaves any aspect of living untouched. It is an existential quest into the dynamics of being. Written in free style, the book appeals directly to the senses, as well as caters to deeply felt realities which disturb the poet’s state of mind as well as the society.
Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, with an opus of 190 plus books, is Laureate of the Seneca, Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky awards. His name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. His work embodies a rare fusion of creativity, intellect, and moral vision. Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
Peace is not the silence of empty streets, nor the pause between two wars.
It is the breath of a child who dreams without fear, the hand of a mother that opens the door without trembling.
Peace is the river that carries no blood, only reflections of sky and the laughter of trees.
It is the courage of voices that rise against injustice, not with weapons, but with the steady rhythm of truth.
Peace is fragile, like glass held in the sun, yet it is stronger than the walls we build and the borders we draw.
It begins in the smallest gesture— a smile offered to a stranger, a word of kindness that travels farther than bullets.
Peace is not a destination, but a way of walking, a way of remembering that every soul is a mirror of our own. ********************************Samar Aldeek – France /Syrie
Peace Is a Quiet Flame
السلام شعلة هادئة
Peace is not the silence of empty streets, nor the pause between two wars.
السلام ليس صمتَ الشوارع الخالية،
ولا الفراغَ بين حربين.
It is the breath of a child who dreams without fear, the hand of a mother that opens the door without trembling.
إنه أنفاسُ طفلٍ
يحلم بلا خوف،
ويدُ أمٍّ
تفتحُ البابَ بلا ارتجاف.
Peace is the river that carries no blood, only reflections of sky and the laughter of trees.
السلام هو النهرُ
الذي لا يحملُ دمًا،
بل انعكاسَ السماء
وضحكاتِ الأشجار.
It is the courage of voices that rise against injustice, not with weapons, but with the steady rhythm of truth.
هو شجاعةُ الأصوات
حين تنهضُ ضدَّ الظلم،
لا بالسلاح،
بل بإيقاعِ الحقِّ الثابت.
Peace is fragile, like glass held in the sun, yet it is stronger than the walls we build and the borders we draw.
السلام هشٌّ
كزجاجٍ في قبضةِ الشمس،
ومع ذلك أقوى
من الجدرانِ التي نبنيها
والحدودِ التي نرسمها.
It begins in the smallest gesture— a smile offered to a stranger, a word of kindness that travels farther than bullets.
يبدأ في أبسطِ إيماءة—
ابتسامةٍ تُهدى لغريب،
وكلمةِ لطفٍ
تسافرُ أبعدَ من الرصاص.
Peace is not a destination, but a way of walking, a way of remembering that every soul is a mirror of our own.