Oreet and Karim Nagi Together In Richmond, Virginia April 2008

More Information coming soon!!!!

Hello Everyone!!! I'm BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

I haven't been able to log-on for months!!!!! I finally made contact with the new tribe execs, and they reset my tribe for me today!!!! Its good to be back. There is so much I need to tell you :0)

Hater by Maya Angelou

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time, trying to make you look small so they can look tall.

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time, trying to make you look small so they can look tall.

They are very negative people to say the least. Nothing is ever good enough!

When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters...That's why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can't handle seeing you blessed... It’s dangerous to be like somebody else...

If the Ceator wanted you to be like somebody else, You would have been given what was given to others! Right? You never know what people have gone through to get what they have...

The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don’t know my story... If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, you can rest assured that the water bill is higher there too!

We've all got some haters among us! People envy you because you can:

Be ONE with the CREATOR and ONE with SELF
Light up a room when you walk in
Start your own business
Tell a man / woman to hit the curb (if he / she isn't about the right thing)
Raise your children without both parents being in the home

Haters can't stand to see you happy; Haters will never want to see you succeed; Haters never want you to get the victory, most of our haters are people who are supposed to be on our side! How do you handle your undercover haters?

You can handle these haters by:

1. Knowing who you are & who your true friends are *(VERY IMPORTANT!!)

2. Having a purpose to your life? Purpose does not mean having a job. You can have a job and still be unfulfilled. A purpose is having a clear sense of what the Creator has called you to be. Your purpose is not defined by what others think about you.

3. By remembering what you have is by divine prerogative and not human manipulation.

Fulfill your dreams! You only have one life to live...when it’s your time to leave this earth, you 'want' to be able to say, 'I've lived my life and fulfilled 'my' dreams,... Now I'm ready to go HOME! When the Creator gives you favor, you can tell your haters, 'Don't look at me...Look at Who is in charge of me...'

Watch out for Haters....................BUT most of all don't become a HATER!?

'A woman's heart should be so hidden in Light that a man should have to be Light first to find her!

--Maya Angelou

Bellydance Classes with BatSheva (University of Richmond)

Registration will begin Aug 1 online registration application

Beginner 1: Belly Dance Basics
Spice up your fitness routine with belly dance, a fun new workout that promotes strength, balance and confidence. The shimmies, undulations and hip isolations of this ancient art form are great for targeting the lower torso, an area that is prone to weight gain with age and after child birth. Belly dance is the perfect way to celebrate your femininity while doing something fun and healthy.

Dates: Sunday, Aug 31-Sep 21
Time: 1:00 PM-2:00 PM
CRN: FIP108.01 | Fee: $60
Status: Scheduled

BatSheva
Instructor, Office of Community and Professional Education, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies

Dates: Sunday, Oct 5-Oct 26
Time: 1:00 PM-2:00 PM
CRN: FIP108.03 | Fee: $60
Status: Scheduled

Beginner 1: Belly Dance Basics
Spice up your fitness routine with belly dance, a fun new workout that promotes strength, balance and confidence. The shimmies, undulations and hip isolations of this ancient art form are great for targeting the lower torso, an area that is prone to weight gain with age and after child birth. Belly dance is the perfect way to celebrate your femininity while doing something fun and healthy.

Instructor: BatSheva
Instructor, Office of Community and Professional Education, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies

Belly Dancing II

Dates: Sunday, Aug 31-Sep 21
Time: 2:00 PM-3:00 PM
CRN: FIP108.04 | Fee: $60

Beginner 2: Drum Solo Technique and Choreography
In Beginner 2, you will be guided into sharp and intricate hip movements. This class is designed to increase your stamina and to get the movements into your muscle memory. Once you have mastered the combination at a medium speed, we pick up the pace and the combination will be strung together into a dynamic drum solo choreography.

Status: Scheduled
Instructor: BatSheva
Instructor, Office of Community and Professional Education, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies
Dates: Sunday, Oct 5-Oct 26
Time: 2:00 PM-3:00 PM

CRN: FIP108.05 | Fee: $60
Status: Scheduled
Instructor, Office of Community and Professional Education, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies

Beginner 2: Drum Solo Technique and Choreography
In Beginner 2, you will be guided into sharp and intricate hip movements. This class is designed to increase your stamina and to get the movements into your muscle memory. Once you have mastered the combination at a medium speed, we pick up the pace and the combination will be strung together into a dynamic drum solo choreography.

Register on-line

deans.richmond.edu/scs/thin...ses/list/

WHAT THE F**K!!! - INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL & FUNDRAISER

Ok, here it goes. I don't know what's going on in the minds of other people, but their intentions have a way of flooring me everytime. I think I am a little to Optimistic and have a very good outlook on life.....or maybe I live in the world of wishful thinking. Whatever it may be, nothing prepares me for s**t that comes out of people's mouths.

Here it goes:

I made an agreement with a local resturant to assist them with a fund raiser for Autism and the International Food Festival. Well, today I had to break my foot off in her a**

Here is the e-mail I sent to her:

Hello Shahida

I want to let you know how disturbing your comment was last night as well as your behavior toward me and my dancers. I also am not the fool you make me out to be. Your comment about standing at the side of the street and getting customers to your establishment indicates your lack of respect for me and my fellow performers. I am not sure what you think "bellydance" is....or what you believe about those who are performers, but I will not stand by and not speak up for this community. Your comment was deplorable.

You also lied to me on several occasions and certainly is not a woman of her word. As of today, I and my dancers will no longer perform at your establishment. I have forwarded this information to the entire Richmond Bellydance Community and if any of them are interested in performing.....it is up to them to do so. I respect the ladies in this community.....and they spend hundreds of dollars and their time in study, lessons, and costumes to represent their expression of this beautiful dance form. What you are trying to do is not only insulting, but represent the person you are.

Your advertisement of an International Food Festival and Fundraiser for Autism was a complete and utter lie and you will be reported to the Autism Foundation today by one of the dancers who is on the National Foundation of Autism Committee. This community of dancers are not a bunch of low lives and hookers. If you ever tell another dancer to stand out on the street again, I hope they tell me and then I will take this to the "next" level.

BatSheva

Intentions are very powerful! Negative intentions are often revealed to those who are positive.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost caused an accident and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, full of disappointment and rage. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't pick up their garbage and spread it to other people in your life, whether at work, at home, or to people that you don't even know on the streets.

Always remember that good people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.....
"Love the people who treat you right and forgive and pray for the ones who don't."

Drummer Eric Stuer from USA passed away 09Jun08

Texas couple dies in one-vehicle crash

A Texas couple died Friday evening in a one-vehicle accident on Interstate 49 in Natchitoches Parish, according to State Police.

The dead were identified as Deborah A. Longoria-Stuer, 53, and Eric K. Stuer, 55, both of Richardson, Texas.

Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a fatal crash involving one vehicle at 6:55 p.m. Friday on I-49, milepost 158, in Natchitoches Parish.

State Police identified the fatalities

According to State Police, the accident happened at 6:55 p.m. as Deborah Longoria-Stuer was driving a 1994 Ford Explorer northbound on I-49. She lost control of the Explorer when a tire apparently blew out.

The Explorer ran off the left side of the road and overturned several times. Longoria-Stuer was partially ejected and Stuer was ejected.

Both Longoria-Stuer and Stuer were pronounced dead.

A passenger in the Explorer, 26-year-old Jules Stuer of Richardson, Texas, also was ejected, but received only minor injuries. Jules Stuer was transported to a hospital.

Routine toxicology tests are pending.

Resource: TheTwonWalk.com

Short Biography of Eric Stuer from Wikipedia:

Eric Stuer (born 1953 in Stamford CN USA) was exposed to a wide variety of music and art at an early age by his family, who enjoyed an active artistic lifestyle in the NYC area. He moved with his parents to Houston in 1957, and began formal study of percussion in 1962, first with big band drummer Jack Dudney and after several years from Houston Symphony percussionist “Hap” Fulghum. His professional career began in 1968 at the age of 15, with a series of fashion shows for Sakowitz department stores and a string of casual engagements in the Houston area.

His musical studies had continued from then until 2008 (that he passed away), with various teachers and from various other sources. He has since the early 70’s been based in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, and specializes in various styles of drumset performance, along with a variety of hand drums and ethnic percussion, including homemade and found objects. Eric has experience arranging and composing, and is webmaster of Rhythmweb, an online resource for those researching rhythm and world percussion.

Update Number One:

Chris Sampson, drummer and webmaster of OMRadio wrote:

A note from OM: Without Rhythmweb.com, OMRadio might never have existed. Because of his tireless efforts, Eric Stuer made a huge difference in the modern hand drumming world. We have lost a great soul who asked for very little, gave all he had, and was kind beyond words. I knew Eric as a brother and friend and many times called him up to share the latest events. I was supposed to enjoy his company in the coming weeks as he had begun coming to Houston to play with Abu Bakir Kouyate. He was so jazzed to have some great gigs down here. My heart is heavy with this sad loss and I hope you will honor Eric in your own way. Here is the magnificent site he ran: Rhythmweb.com

MORE DRAMA........RUMORS UGH!!!!!!!!!

Here we go again! Things must be going to smooth. People are getting bored again. I got a call yesterday about a rumor pitting me against another bellydance teacher.

My caller was shocked and so am I!!! She was told a made-up story about me stealing students. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! Of course it is a lie. Some women hate to see peace amoung professionals. Clearly I have my students, you have yours. The universe has more than enough for everyone. Noone need to steal from anyone. The reality of everyone being at peace in our community is obviously too much for C. to take.

LADIES, I am too mature for this HIGH SCHOOL GIRL DRAMA.

Ignore as I have. Give her no power. I as always, I wish you love, light, and complete happiness.

Your sister in dance :-)

Umm Kulthum: The Voice of Egypt

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php

Arabs agree," reads The Rough Guide to World Music. "Umm Kulthum is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer."


The name Umm Kulthum may not strike a chord to Western ears, but she was a larger-than-life presence in the Arab world. The Egyptian singer's career was long, its heyday extending from the 1930s to the 1960s, and her music became a powerful symbol of Arab nationalism. When she died in 1975 at the age of 70, 4 million people poured into the streets of Cairo to mourn her passing.


Today, her music is everywhere. Even at truck stops, CD kiosks are brimming with Umm Kulthum's many recordings. In the 1950s and '60s, her fame grew, thanks to her legendary live radio broadcasts. On Thursday nights, the streets of Cairo would empty as people gathered around radio sets to hear the great singer. You can still hear a lot of Umm Kulthum on Egyptian radio today. In honor of her famous broadcasts, her music is played at 10 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month.


Umm Kulthum's Palace

Umm Kulthum lived on Cairo's Zamalek Island, on a quiet villa overlooking the Nile. Sadly, the house was razed in the early 1980s to make way for a block of apartments, but on nearby Roda Island, there now stands a bronze statue of Umm Kulthum in front of a palace that houses the Umm Kulthum Museum.


Dr. Walid Shosha manages the museum, and he's also a professor at the Academy of Arts. One display features two of Umm Kulthum's glamorous trademarks: the scarf she always held in her left hand as she performed and a pair of diamond-studded cat-eye sunglasses. Also on view are Umm Kulthum's luxurious dresses, gramophones, instruments and audio-visual displays.

"Visitors spend hours," Shosha says, "listening to Umm Kulthum, getting to know her, reading intimate articles about her life and the way she lived."

A Voice Like Egypt

Also on display are books about the singer, including a biography written by Virginia Danielson, curator of the archive of world music at Harvard University. The recent documentary, Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt, was based on her book. Danielson says that Umm Kulthum's early religious training set the course for the singer's immaculate and nuanced diction.


"She was born to a poor family," Danielson says, "and at the time Egypt was under British occupation, and virtually the only schools that were available or encouraged were religious schools. Now what you learned was to recite the Koran, and that tended to give people a profound appreciation for the sound of the language. And, of course, the Koran is written in very elegant Arabic. Umm Kulthum had a very powerful voice, equally strong from the lowest to the highest part of her range, and she was musically very inventive. She schooled herself musically by learning to command the Arab musical system and learning to improvise in that system the way a jazz musician would improvise using the Western system."


Danielson also points to Umm Kulthum's great appreciation of fine poetry.

"She had an ability to link musical improvisation to the meaning of the words that she was singing in such a way that the meaning was really felt by listeners. Many scholars say poetry is the art of the Arabs, and so to sing poetry well is something that will tend to garner great appreciation among Arabic-speaking listeners."


Casting a Spell

Umm Kulthum was also a master at casting a spell over her audiences. In the documentary, there's a clip of Umm Kulthum singing, sometime in the 1940s or '50s, and the audience begins to sing back phrases to her. Danielson says it has to do with the Arab word tarab.
"Tarab is a concept of enchantment," Danielson says. "It's usually associated with vocal music, although instrumental music can produce the same effect, in which the listener is completely enveloped in the sound and the meaning in a broad experiential sense, and is just completely carried away by the performance."


Umm Kulthum's music also lives on in U.S. The Arabesque Music Ensemble, a Chicago-based group, has released a CD featuring a trio of composers who wrote more than three-quarters of Umm Kulthum's songs. Arabesque member Hicham Chami says that Kulthum was adept at finding just the right material for her music.

"She was a no-nonsense businesswoman; besides her tremendous talent, she was very successful in surrounding herself with not only the finest musicians of that period, but also the finest composers. As young musicians, we decided it was about time to give credit to these composers, and reward their legacy."

Included on the disc is "Ghannili," a song made famous when Umm Kulthum sang it in a scene from the 1944 movie Sallama. Youssef Kassab, a singer with the Arabesque Ensemble, remembers seeing Umm Kulthum when she gave a concert in Damascus, Syria.
"She was maybe 50. I was 16 at the time. My father took me, and I listened to Umm Kulthum. I saw her outside, with her chauffeur. He opened the door for her, I looked and she [was] wearing red. Even her socks were red. Shoes red, purse red. Like a queen! Umm Kulthum, she's number one to me."


It's been well over 30 years since Umm Kulthum died. But through her recordings, her millions of fans and the new documentary, the great voice of Egypt will live on for many years to come.
Radio story produced by Ned Wharton.

The Power of Intentions

Intentions are indeed very powerful if they are created in the right way. There are a few basic rules you will want to understand, otherwise your intentions may simply evaporate, or even backfire. By backfire, I mean they create just the opposite of what you wanted.

The Purpose of Making Intentions: We use intentions to guide our attention in a new direction, in order to create a new or different reality. For example, maybe you'd like to change your job. Most people would start with the intent to have a better job, as the old one doesn't satisfy anymore. However, trouble may be brewing here already...

If you move on from something you don't like, to something you prefer, you may deny your current situation. In order to make successful intentions, it is important to deal with the current situation first, and do some analytical thinking about it.

Understand that you created this situation so don't blame anybody else for it. Take full responsibility, and understand that you are the only person responsible for the current circumstances. Once you do away with any judgments of your current situation, you can see it from a neutral perspective. There was a point in your life when it was the perfect decision. Don't compare the now with the past, as you have since had new experiences and gained a different viewpoint.

This is a common mistake in thinking: it is like a loophole in the "mind". You jump from one time-line into another time-line, and then compare them. This leads to false conclusions. Besides that, leave the past; don't reinvent it.

Evaluate Your Current Situation...if you look at your current situation without judgments, you empower yourself. Only from a neutral standpoint can you make a powerful new decision. This new decision will be based on deliberate intent of reaction to circumstances. This is where choice and free will comes in.

Remember - be neutral...approach it like it's the 1st intent. What do I like about what I'm doing now...my current job.

What do I want to improve in my next endeavor?

What would be the perfect life for me?

What would I like to feel from my next endeavor?

What am I good at?

In which areas is this endeavor supporting me to live my full potential?

Write down the answers to these questions, and start to craft a few full sentences out from you answers. Include all the positive points. Make these sentences as precise as possible.

It could read like this: "My next endeavor is exciting: it flows with me, makes me happy, and I am able to learn and grow with it. When you are done, read it out loud. If you have trouble saying the sentence, or even memorizing it, then it is not ready. Simply take a few moments and refine it.

Overcoming Pitfalls when Creating Intentions are formed in your conscious mind; however, it's your subconscious that received these commands and creates the necessary opportunities in your life. In other words, your conscious mind is deciding on this new opportunity and creates a new reality.

1. Use only positive words
2. Include a time frame
3. Remove negations
4. Be precise - Here is a sample test.

Don't think about a blue elephant! What happened? You thought about the blue elephant, you may even imagine it. The subconscious does not work analytically; it cannot understand words like "don't" or "not". It works mostly in images, sounds, and smells.

You want to avoid use of any negative words in your intentions. Always formulate your intentions in such as way that they reflect the outcome of what you'd like to create.

Example of how not to do it - I don't want to have so much responsibility.

Better Example - In my new endeavor I feel comfortable with my responsibility.

Including a Time Frame - There is a difference between creating in your own universe or in the physical world. When you create inside yourself, there is not time involved - you consciousness is timeless!

For example, if you'd like to change your attitude toward someone, you don't need to set a time frame. You can simply create the intention: "I appreciate so and so", or "I value so and so's viewpoints and beliefs." It will work instantly if there is no other belief or intention in its way.

When you deal with the physical world, setting a time frame becomes important. The physical world works within time and space. If you build a new house, first you must have a plan, and then you move dirt, assemble wood, install plumbing, and move furniture, until the house is complete. It takes time and effort.

Pay attention to any reactions you have when you formulate your intention. Your mind may interfere and tell you: "No way. I will never get this," or "this is impossible." If you encounter these instant judgments, formulate your intentions differently, so that they feel more do-able. Sometimes you may want to break a big intention into smaller pieces.

Most of all...if you include people who do not have postivie intentions focused toward you - KEEP THEM OUT OF YOUR SPACE. When you clear yourself of people who envy you, your intentions will have a wonderful outcome.

Take care and remember - Love yourself