Community News (V14-I9)

Anjum Syed wins Shawnee County Spelling Bee

TOPEKA,KS–Eighth grader Anjum Syed won the  59th annual Shawnee County Spelling Bee on Saturday. More than 80 students from schools around Shawnee County registered to compete in the competition which took place at Whitson Elementary School.

Syed will  represent Shawnee County at the 59th Annual Regional Spelling Bee which will be held on March 3 at Topeka West High School.

The winner of that bee will go on to the Scripps National Bee in Washington, D.C. on May 29-June 2, 2012.

New Muslim organization launched

STATEN ISLAND,NY–The Association of Muslims of North America, a new Muslim organization, was launched earlier this month in Staten Island. It plans to open chapters across US and Canada. The association describes itself as a “grassroots religious, social and educational organization that is to represent Mainstream Islam and be the voice of the silent majority of Muslims of North America.”

Promoting “friendship and peaceful co-existence” among people of different faiths, the group also is intended to assist Muslim immigrants in their efforts to “integrate and become an active part” of American society.

The group is planning a  is a “Peace for Humanity” conference scheduled for June 3 at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, with an expected attendance of about 20,000 people. The keynote speaker will be renowned Islamic scholar Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. The group also plans to have clergy from Jewish, Christian and other religions speak and attend the interfaith conference. The group`s website is www.amnai.org.

Exhibition on ME architecture & engineering

NEW YORK, NY–The Center for Architecture announces the opening of two concurrent exhibitions on architecture in the Middle East. City of Mirages:Baghdad, 1952-1982, in its U.S. debut, presents built and unbuilt work by 11 architects, including Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown. The second show, CHANGE: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present surveys more than 120 contemporary works in 20 countries and territories.

Taken together, the two shows demonstrate the diversity of approaches to design in the Middle East and examine the forces of modernization and colonialism shaping the region’s cities.

“These two exhibitions further the Center for Architecture’s commitment to global dialogue,” saidJoseph J. Aliotta, AIA, LEED AP, President of the AIA New York Chapter. “Over the past two years, the Center’s exhibitions have grappled with recent international developments in the built environment, such as the rapid growth of Chinese cities and informal urban strategies in India.CHANGE and City of Mirages document and present the ongoing transformations of cities around the world.”

“The Middle East is undergoing ‘change,’” said Hassan Radoine, Ph.D., curator of the exhibitionCHANGE. “Building on centuries of rich architectural and urban heritage, contemporary architecture and engineering in the region are shaping new social and economic realities.”

The exhibitions are on view from February 22 until May 5 (City of Mirages) and June 23

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/21/4279346/center-for-architecture-opens.html#storylink=cpy

14-9