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Some students in Jackson Heights, however, may soon be granted a reprieve, as the city has acquired the Blessed Sacrament School building at 34-20 94th St. and will be turning the facility into a public school, set to open in September 2010. Read the rest of my story here.

Read the rest of my story here.

Read the rest of my piece here.

Read the rest of my story here.

I was there for a program designed for teens, to help them spend their time constructively, instead of wasting it on MySpace or forming gangs.

Read my story here.

Also, don’t forget – I am now at a new location- indiejourno.com

I’ve moved base to a new site now. Now, join me at indiejourno.com.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Many of the Afghans in NYC fled Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of the country from 1979-89. In recent years, continuous fighting between NATO-led troops and militants in Afghanistan has prevented many of these families from returning to their homeland. “What’s the point?,” asked Ahmad Waish, a law enforcement officer in New York who hasn’t been back home for 30 years. “The Americans may shoot me, thinking I am an Afghan fighter,” said Waish who was dressed in a traditional Chapan (Coat) with a Keffiyeh around his neck, “And the fighters may attack me saying I am American.” Waish has also been unable to visit his father who lives in Kandahar. “My father can’t go outside – he will be bombed to pieces.”

Outside the Masjid Saliheen at Kissena Boulevard the streets empty out ahead of the evening prayers. Men in beards and tunic-pants hurry to make it to the mosque in time. Two blocks down, in a park across the street, three men sit in a circle playing Chess or Shatranj on a board made of stone. “We are veterans of war,” says one Afghani who did not wish to be named, referring to the Soviet invasion, the Taliban and the American forces. “We have seen so many killings, homicides. We don’t support war in any form. War is destruction,” he said, adding he was against any troop increase in Afghanistan. As he moved his pawns across the chess board, his companions – a Hispanic immigrant and another Afghani from Kandahar puffed silently on their cigarettes. “I remember the first time America attacked Kabul – the rockets firing- bombs left and right in the city. Sometimes I feel like the war was imposed on America – Sept 11 forced America into this war.”

Other Afghanis like 27 year old Yama Qadari are weighed down by a similar sense of war fatigue and are against putting more boots on the ground. “If there was actually any progress on the ground, then why would we need to send more troops to the country?” asks Qadari, adding there needs to be a cohesive strategy to end the carnage in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan started off as a multilateral effort in 2001. At present, there are 39,000 NATO troops along with 65,000 Americans. If the President decides to dispatch another 45,000 more U.S. troops, the longest American war would also potentially turn into its deadliest. “Afghanistan for the last 30 years has been at war,” added Waish. “ Most people under 30 were born under bullets. Children were born under war. What is the condition of people like that? Their main instinct is ‘kill in order to survive.’”

Others expressed cynicism at the President’s Peace Prize. “What peace are they talking about,” asked Akram Jalali, a former medical worker in Queens.” Everyday there are bombings in Kabul, people are dying all the time, they don’t know the meaning of peace,” he fumed. “People are suffering, innocent civilians are dying. Anyone who has been reading the papers knows the carnage there,” said Waish. Meanwhile, as the Chess game continues in the park, one of the Afghani immigrants sums up the feeling in the community. “Everyone here is tired,” he said. “If only people paid more attention to the teachings of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.”

Despite the gloom surrounding the state of affairs in Afghanistan, some immigrants like Yama Qadari are hopeful for the future. He smiles as he says “No country is beyond repair.”

***Meanwhile, here’s what Fareed Zakaria had to say about the troop surge. He’s vehemently against putting more boots on the ground. Also, keep track of what’s happening in Afghanistan with rovingstorm. He blogs at outofafghanistan.blogspot.com

This piece was also published in the Queens Chronicle.

We know that the U.N. doesn’t smell of sulphur anymore, but FYI, the wars are still on in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan is still being overrun by militants, Iran just declared it has a nuclear facilty and China wont re-evaluate the Yen. So, what exactly was Obama being awarded for?

The Peace Prize has just served as fodder to Obama’s domestic critics who treat him like a snake oil salesman, who rests more on his charisma than achieving anything substantial.  A rhetorically gifted charmer who has just watched as the health care debate spirals out of control, unemployment peaks at almost 10% and according to Steve Kornacki of the Observer, a “first term Middle-East push, that has achieved virtually nothing.” Kornacki also mentions a rather liberal Facebook friend of his who wrote on her Facebook page: “I now have every hope of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m a great speech writer and I’m full of good intentions.”

I think that’s a great indicator of how even liberals are slightly embarassed by the whole deal. It’s rather odd because it’s the same Nobel Committee that waited for 21 years after President Carter left office to finally proffer him the prize.

Maybe, they should have waited a while for Obama to emerge from the several morasses he is in, to award him the prize. Or maybe this is just Norway’s way of giving the Prez an “A” for effort.

Read more about the Nobel embarassement here, here and here

Find out how Muslims in the New York borough, Queens, celebrated Ramadan in the recession here.

This piece was published in local weekly, The Queens Chronicle.