Two Contradictory Odes
Ode to Enemies I love my enemies, with Neruda's affection. I cherish insults, epithets sarcasm; I pray, to be mocked -- abused -- its my redemption. I love all enemies, not only the weak ones who...
Author: Ali Eteraz
Ali Eteraz is a writer and lawyer. He has lived in the Caribbean, Pakistan, the Middle East, and the US. His personal website is here.
Lessons of a Lonely F. O. B.
Lonely people like to believe that animals don't think for themselves. This makes it easier to convince yourself that all the seagulls in the world all share one brain between them. This, in turn,...
McCain the postmodern candidate
Tom Brokaw was on Charlie Rose the other day and he said that Barack Obama could be our first "postmodern" president. Brokaw admitted that the didn't know what postmodernism was, but whatever it was,...
America, Victorious
One late night during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, as the swimmer Michael Phelps smashed yet another world record, I walked through Philadelphia thinking over its history and was struck by how well...
Amusement from Insipid Places
When I was younger I would ask people the following question: If you could be immortal and all you had to do was chop off the head of the person you most love, would you do it? Most people would look...
Two Thoughts in the Prado Museum, Madrid
I. Guards, sentries, guides, they stalk the halls like silent wraiths clad in their dead blue blazers and knee length skirts. To speak to them is to encounter monotony made woman: instructions...
A warning to Writers: post-colonialism as opium
Writers, when they come to teach you the humanities, run away. The divorce of dignity and method afflicts and impairs every system of thought. Law, for example, ceases to serve the ends of providing...
The Polygamist
Imam Idris Sultan was unmarried, and for this reason he approved of polygamy. He was a religious figure in "this irreligious society" where polygamy was looked down upon. His open advocacy of the...
Who’s Yo Savior, Biatch!
A few months ago I was standing in line at the post office talking to someone on the cell and every now and then I used an Urdu word. Sometimes when I speak Urdu, I say an English word with a FOB...
Politics and Tragedy
Wherein lies the tragedy of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination? Common wisdom holds that the implications surrounding the demise of one of Pakistan’s major democratic leaders are tragic. Others hold...