Somebody, light this

joint for me so we can pass

zen in a circle.

a bottle of red wine

in primordial forest:

man’s next telescope

I live, a Buddhist.

Is this why your manger chills,

plastic baby Christ?

pick me up

pick 

again on touch: because you do it so 

around and again and never on me! you 

frustration in my life, built up of time 

zones and oceans and the seams of 

when there’s a you and a

me

type of sea, 

for fish for fish for fish in my pocket

wiggling with eyes and tries 

to grow biceps and triceps.

for fish for fish for fish for you, your

rivers that built the canoes we kiss tonight and

tomorrow night we kiss the rivers for lying about building 

them and us

up 

high on the squishness of the waves that built 

your skill at good-byeing away again seam

ripping my rivers 

and rivers of joints apart from when we met 

hoards of boats ago yet you hoard only 

my joints of all things?

hunched over me as i hunch over 

what i associate with you? 

what could i associate with you 

other than your posture as you’re watching 

me. maybe a physical thing 

that i hate the way i hate the way 

rivers build canoes and 

canoes build nothing and

nothing builds 

again on touch, of all things.

First Sonnet

I love writing as a personal ability

I can use it and make whatever I want as I see fit

It feels enlightening, and has the capacity to be frightening

There is no way I will use the term “lit”

No, there are no terms to describe it for me

I use it every day, or at least think about it, I am not obsessed with it

Coming up with such ideas is always good with a cup of British tea

For my level of skill despite being only above average I do not contest it

Creations Encompassed

Singular, I am one singular being?

I disagree, I am many, and many am I

That belief always sways while I flip a dime

“Will these thoughts change with enough time?”

There is no one to answer but myself

The mind both does and does not have such wealth

I hear the silence as music

Although off-topic, I peer through the darkness

The light shines through and I am in a world of white

Too bright, then too dark

It is no walk in the park

This is my mind, why not have a look inside

I disagree with me being one

I live in all of my creations who will not be undone.

WINGLESS ANGEL

I was born in a kingdom with underground passages. The king was a tyrant and the queen a woman made up of lies. Poverty, lowliness, and humiliation. I was raised like a guinea pig for experiments. I was raised with the seed of a soul. I have wanted wings since I was a child.

Since I was a child, I wished to fly away from the harshness and darkness of this life. An old man once said to me: “I want to fly. Nothing is certain in this world, but whoever denies heaven will be denied by heaven. I believed it.

I began to have a will to the sun. I knew that even in the land of underground passageways, we are made up of the power of the heavens and the earth. It is not a flight to the top. Rather, we fly to the bottom. To the very depths of humanity.

The ugliness of human beings, their meanness toward the upper class and their pride toward the lower class, became my strength. Wingless flight. I descended to the bottom of the underground passage. There, the living had no purpose, and their souls were as good as dead. Here it became clear to me for the first time that I was an angel without wings.

I planted the seeds of my soul in them without reserve. The will to the sun. With their last strength, they ran up the underground passageway and escaped to the earth. To a land without a tyrannical king and a false queen.

Burnt by the sun and with blinded eyes, they ran up to a high cliff. Then, arms outstretched, they soared toward the sun, one after the other, light and full of happiness.

Received the Rekitei Shinei Award in Japan, 2019. Invited by Master Ngo of Taiwan to write haiku for World Haiku and started writing haiku on the internet. In 2020 Richard Vallance of Ottawa, Canada invited me to write here as well, spreading my haiku around the world. In Arabic-speaking countries, Mahmound Al-Rajabi and Ragbi published a collection of my haiku. Starting in 2019, they published four books of haiku in the Arabic-speaking world. 

I’m the winner of the Arab Golden Planet Award for 2022. Arabic-speaking countries awarded me the title of Doctor of Literature in 2023.

My poems were published in the Albanian magazine “Orfew.al” in 2024. My poem is published in “Daily Global Nation” in Bangladesh. My poem will be published in Polis Magazine, Greece. I’ve received a letter of commendation from Poets UK. My poems were published in a Korean magazine. I have a poem published in Kolkata Jishu International Poetry Magazine, India, and a poem published in a Greek electronic magazine. 

I’ve had a poem published in Poetry Planetariat, Nepal. A collection of my poems were published in Bengali-speaking countries. Three of my poems were published in Half-Yearly magazine in India. Three of my poems were published in Raft of Dreams Literary Magazine. One of my poems was published in Hyperpoem, Nepal. A poem was published in Sophy Chen’s Translation World Poetry Yearbook in China. 

My poem was published in Polis Magazine, courtesy of Eva Lianou Petropou, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Greece and a kind friend. My poems are published in the British art media. My poems will be published in Resonance and Roots Poetry Anthology. (I seem to have forgotten the names of magazines and newspapers in which my poems appeared due to my negligence. My apologies）.

The English poetry collection ‘The Silence of Time’ is currently available on Amazon.  Japanese Poetry Collections: The Boat on the Mountain, The Soul Book / The Cripple of My Soul, Poem to the Fools, Eternal Tower, an Arabic language haiku collection, Snowy Night, Buson’s Brush, Whereabouts of the River, and The Number of my Sorrows

Empowered Women Empower Women

Women’s empowerment is the process by which women become aware of gender-based unequal power relationships and acquire a greater voice in which to speak out against the inequality found in the home, workplace, and community. An empowered woman not only changes her life but also uplifts her family and contributes to society. Though millions of women worldwide are still denied education — a reality that limits not only their potential but also their societies. 

Today women empowerment plays a vital role in societies. From economic growth to social stability, the benefits of empowering women reverberate across every aspect of society. One of the most compelling reasons to empower women is its direct correlation with economic prosperity. When women are empowered with education, access to resources, opportunities, entire economies flourish. According to studies, investing women’s empowerment leads to increase in productivity and growth of a country.

Additionally, women’s empowerment is crucial for gender equality and discrimination. Despite the actions taken in this, still women around the world are facing barriers in education, violence, disdain and rights. Empowering women means challenging entrenched norms and stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequality. It involves creating inclusive policies, providing access to justice, and promoting women’s leadership at all levels of society. All in all, women empowerment takes the important part in all fields – healthcare, economics, education, industry.

Despite clear progress, numerous obstacles continue to restrict women’s equal access to education and empowerment.

Cultural expectations, early marriage, limited resources and gender stereotypes still restrict girls’ choices and ambition. To combat this, organisations such as Women In Tech and the PORLA project are enhancing women’s employability and promoting entrepreneurial skills across remote and traditionally underserved areas. Likewise, the establishment of the Entrepreneurial Women’s Council in March 2025 under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry aims to boost legal, financial and practical support for female entrepreneurs. 

On a personal level, as a high-school student I co-founded Girls Hub, which has supported over 50 Afghan girls and is now collaborating with Nigerian peers hoping that change begins with young women taking leadership in education and solidarity.

If we truly believe that empowered women empower others, then education is the gateway to transformation. From the classrooms of Uzbekistan to global networks connecting Afghan and Nigerian girls, every investment in a young woman’s learning creates exponential returns for families, communities and nations. My journey with Girls Hub, standing alongside students who face barriers and believing in their potential, reminds me that real change comes from shared purpose, courageous action and unrelenting hope. Let us commit to policies that dismantle stereotypes, resources that expand access, and mentorship that lifts every girl toward her fullest future. Because when a woman learns, we all grow.

I am Lolaxon Sodiqxonova, a 17-year-old senior at the Specialized Boarding School in Namangan, Uzbekistan. I am passionate about empowering women and have already taken several actions toward this goal. For example, I worked as the Head Ambassador of the PORLA project, which educates women and girls on AI tools and STEM, even providing opportunities for internships. This sparked my interest in women’s empowerment and encouraged me to co-found Girls Hub, a global platform mentoring young women on scholarships, languages, and some aspects of STEM. Today, Girls Hub has two international collaborations and more than 100 alumni. Moreover, I entered the world of start-ups with this project and became the winner of the Digital Generation Girls – Start-Ups Competition. My dedication to this field also led me to success in a prestigious international program—the Women2Women International Leadership Program, hosted by Emerson College and held at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The Intersection of Combinatorics and Biological Systems: A Computational and Molecular Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the fundamental role of discrete mathematics, specifically combinatorics, in understanding biological structures. From the quaternary logic of DNA to the complex folding patterns of proteins, combinatorial optimization provides the necessary framework for modern bioinformatics. We analyze the mathematical constraints of the genetic code, De Bruijn graphs in genome assembly, and the combinatorial explosion in phylogenetics.

1. Introduction: The Digitization of Biology

Modern biology has transitioned from a descriptive science to an information science. The biological cell functions as a complex information processor where discrete units (nucleotides and amino acids) are arranged in specific sequences. Combinatorics, the study of counting, arrangement, and permutation, provides the language to decode this information.

2. Combinatorial Logic of the Genetic Code

The most striking example of combinatorics in nature is the triplet codon system.

2.1. Permutations with Repetitions

The DNA alphabet consists of four bases: \mathcal{A} = \{A, C, G, T\}. To code for 20 essential amino acids, the sequence length n must satisfy the condition 4^n \geq 20.

If n=2, then 4^2 = 16 (Insufficient).

If n=3, then 4^3 = 64 (Sufficient).

This redundancy (64 codons for 20 acids) allows for synonymous mutations, providing a combinatorial buffer against genetic errors.

3. Graph Theory and Genome Assembly

In DNA sequencing (Next-Generation Sequencing), the laboratory can only read short fragments (reads). Reconstructing the full genome is a combinatorial puzzle.

3.1. De Bruijn Graphs

To assemble a genome, bioinformaticians use De Bruijn graphs where:

Nodes represent (k-1)-mers.

Edges represent k-mers.

The problem of finding the original DNA sequence is transformed into finding an Eulerian Path (visiting every edge exactly once) within this massive graph. This reduces the complexity of searching through n! possible permutations of fragments.

4. Combinatorial Explosion in Phylogenetics

Phylogenetics aims to reconstruct the evolutionary tree of life. However, as the number of species (n) increases, the number of possible tree topologies grows factorially.

My name is Shahlo Rustamova, daughter of Ilhkom, a passionate and ambitious student born on June 8, 2007, in Shakhrisabz district, Kashkadarya Region, Uzbekistan! 

I am currently a first year student of Shahrisabz State Pedagogical Institute on the basis of a state grant. I have earned several educational grants and awards, and I am an owner of national Biology certificate.  

With a deep interest in leadership, public speaking, and writing, I continue to work hard toward achieving academic excellence and inspiring others in my community.

PROBLEMS OF LINGUO-COGNITIVE STUDY OF THE UZBEK LANGUAGE 

Abstract: 

Shomurodova Dilafro’z Bahodir qizi 

Student of Denov Institute of Entrepreneurship and Pedagogy 

Email: shomurodovadilafruz07@gmail.com 

The article discusses the fact that in Uzbek linguistics a number of studies have been carried out on the linguopoetic, pragmatic, derivational, and communicative features of texts, and that the emergence and development of such fields as pragmalinguistics, discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, and linguoculturology in world linguistics have led to the appearance of serious theoretical approaches in interpreting the phenomenon of text creation. 

Keywords: cognitive, anthropocentric, linguistic, semantics, psycholinguistics, pragmatic, linguoculturology, functionalism, ethnolinguistics, perception, integration 

It is well known that in world linguistics texts were initially approached mainly from semantic and syntactic perspectives. In recent years, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, the tendency to study texts on the basis of linguoculturological, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, cognitive, and psycholinguistic principles has intensified. Texts began to be viewed not merely as a collection of semantically and syntactically connected sentences, but as a form of communication possessing social value and as a mental construct that reflects the knowledge, linguistic thinking, national psychology, and mentality of speakers of a particular language. The formation of the anthropocentric paradigm is associated with the study of the speaker as a linguistic subject.

The anthropocentric turn in linguistics shifted attention away from the structuralist principle of studying language “in and for itself” and focused instead on the human factor. The roots of anthropocentrism, which is now recognized as one of the leading paradigms in linguistics, draw upon the theoretical views of W. von Humboldt and L. Weisgerber. The term anthropocentrism is derived from the Greek anthropos (human) and the Latin centrum (center). Initially, the term was used in reference to the ancient Greek philosophical idea that “Man is the center of the universe,” a view that became especially widespread in medieval Europe.

In linguistics, the anthropocentric study of the language system has been manifested primarily in research on linguistic semantics, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatic linguistics, and linguoculturology. Studies conducted within the framework of the anthropocentric paradigm investigate the language system in close connection with the human factor. Although research by Uzbek linguists in linguistic semantics, pragmatics, and cognitive linguistics demonstrates anthropocentric tendencies, studies in this area are still insufficient. 

In particular, approaching text analysis from an anthropocentric perspective has become one of the leading directions in modern linguistics. Many researchers emphasize that in the study of texts as complex and multifaceted phenomena, the triad consisting of the speaker-text-listener (author- text-recipient) should be regarded as the main object. The well-known Russian linguist Yu. N. Karaulov, in the preface to a collection of articles devoted to issues of language and personality, emphasized the idea that “behind every text stands a specific individual who has mastered linguistic systems.” The external and internal structure of a text can be likened to a mirror that reflects the linguistic competence of speakers belonging to a particular nation. 

In early studies of text, attention to the text creator was observed mainly in psycholinguistic and pragmalinguistic research, whereas today rapidly developing fields such as cognitive linguistics, functionalism, ethnolinguistics, linguoculturology, and discourse analysis have made this issue one of the central problems of linguistics. The main achievement of the system-structural approach was proving that language is a systemic phenomenon. However, it became evident that these paradigms shared a common shortcoming: 

language was separated from its owner-the human being. Attempts to overcome this deficiency led to the emergence of pragmatic and cognitive linguistic paradigms. 

Professor N. Mahmudov, reflecting on the formation of the anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics, notes that in accordance with the objective nature of language, the anthropocentric paradigm places the human being at the center, while language is regarded as the main component that shapes human personality. Specialists often cite the aphoristic statement of the famous Russian writer S. Dovlatov that “90 percent of a person’s personality is formed by language.” At the same time, the anthropocentric approach to language integrates the latest achievements of these fields and increasingly strengthens its status as an independent paradigm. As recognized in linguistics, the anthropocentric paradigm focuses primarily on the subject of speech activity-that is, the language user who produces and perceives speech. The inclusion of the category of the language user in scientific paradigms necessitates greater attention to concepts such as personality, linguistic consciousness, thinking, activity, mentality, and culture. 

At present, the concept of the language user is mainly employed in the following senses: (a) an individual capable of carrying out speech activity in a particular language, that is, capable of producing and perceiving speech; (b) a person who uses language as a means of communication, a communicant; (c) a representative of a particular language community who possesses and manifests the lexical resources reflecting the national-cultural and spiritual values of their people. 

In contemporary research, various branches of linguistics approach the issue of the human factor from their specific perspectives. The problem of text interpretation and the human factor is closely connected with issues of text creation and the perception of its content. In studying this problem, it is important to examine not only the text creator but also the perceiving individual-the listener or reader. As N. I. Zhinkin aptly stated, “A person speaks not through individual sentences, but through texts.” Therefore, a person’s stylistic features can be adequately studied only on the basis of the texts they produce. 

Investigating the speech style of a writer or creator solely from the perspective of word choice or sentence construction no longer meets contemporary requirements. Consequently, studying text creation from the perspective of individual style enables a deeper examination of the linguistic aspects of texts. 

It is well known that cognitology is intrinsically linked with semantics. Today, many researchers regard the 21st century as the age of interdisciplinary integration. Interdisciplinary cooperation yields effective results in revealing the essence of particular objects of study. Such an approach is especially appropriate in investigating the speech activity of the human personality, a complex phenomenon. Human speech, like the human being itself, is multifaceted and complex. Therefore, cooperation among linguistic disciplines will undoubtedly yield fruitful results. 

It should be noted that in the early years of the 21st century, significant research was conducted in Uzbek linguistics within the field of text linguistics. Monographic studies emerged on text linguopoetics, content perception, pragmatic, derivational, and psycholinguistic features of texts, as well as text modality and temporality. Studying texts from the perspectives of their creation, perception, and comprehension further deepens theoretical views on texts. Investigating the mechanisms through which the intellect and thinking patterns of a discourse subject are transformed into textual form makes it possible to identify features specific to the reflection of cognitive models in the Uzbek language. In literary works, especially in prose, the expression of key linguoculturological concepts such as life, death, mother, homeland, love, goodness, justice, and woman frequently occurs. Since literary texts are products of creative activity, the expression of particular concepts in such texts naturally manifests individuality and imagery. 

Consider the following text: 

By the side of a great road, a tree was growing… By chance, a traveler came to rest beneath it. The day was hot, and the traveler was tired. He sat in the shade of the tree and rested… The traveler grew hungry. He looked and saw that fruits were ripening on the tree. He was too lazy to climb it, so he threw a stone. The fruits fell abundantly. The traveler ate his fill… The destination was far. He broke off a branch from the tree and made a walking stick… Then his throat became dry. He went back under the tree’s shade… Then he continued on his way… The tree began waiting for another traveler… The name of this tree was Goodness… (O’. Hoshimov, “The Tree by the Road”). 

In this passage taken from O’. Hoshimov’s book Notes in the Margins, the concept of GOODNESS is expressed. In the text, this concept is represented through the symbol of a tree, and the act of comparison employed in the author’s cognitive- discursive activity gives the text a metaphorical meaning. 

Indeed, the most important source for elucidating the relationship between language and personality is the text. A text is not only a speech structure that encompasses all levels of language, but also a phenomenon that fully reveals the linguistic potential of the speaking (or writing) individual. Cognitive metaphors, as one of the factors generating implication, leave their traces in words, phrases, sentences, or entire texts. Units whose meanings have shifted on the basis of metaphor represent the visible part of the “cognitive iceberg” (to use Fauconnier’s term), while its main part remains hidden deep within our linguistic consciousness. It should be noted that the cognitive background phenomenon manifested in such cases has not yet become an object of study in Uzbek linguistics. Studying the cognitive background in connection with metaphor, metonymy, simile, and personification is one of the essential issues of anthropocentric linguistics. 

Today, the study of the human factor as the performer of linguistic activity continues to deepen in such linguistic fields as psycholinguistics, linguoculturology, cognitive linguistics, and pragmalinguistics. 

References: 

1. A. Aliyev, Q. Sodiqov. From the History of the Uzbek Literary Language: A Textbook for University Students. Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 1994. 118 p. 

2. U. Tursunov et al. History of the Uzbek Literary Language: A Textbook for University and Pedagogical Institute Philology Students (revised and expanded edition). Tashkent: O’qituvchi, 1995. 264 p. 

3. M. Vahoboyev. The Uzbek Socialist Nation. 

Tashkent, 1960. pp. 30-32, 49. 

4. M. Qodirov. “A Journey into the Wealth of Words.” Labor and Life, no. 4, 1972, pp. 20-21. 5. A. Nabiyev. Historical Local Studies. Tashkent: O’qituvchi, 1979. pp. 63-74.