Sara Suleri's Meatless Days

Sara Suleri's  Meatless Days

  

Sara Suleri's Meatless Days -- Novel or Autobiography?

Suleri herself does not term Meatless Days as an autobiography, but her publisher markets it as one.
Daniel Wolfe wrote in The Book Review that "the writing is beautifully constructed and yet a little cold; Sara Suleri expertly paces out the boundaries of her subject without giving the reader the pleasure of getting inside." Suleri would respond to it that the novel is not about getting inside but is about showing what happened, without explanation, with "no introductions" (Interview, December 1990).
To be sure, she acknowledges that genre of autobiography, by its very definition, engenders a form of self-censorship because it is one's own choice what to include and what to leave out of the text. However, she adds, "Forgetting is just about as important as what you remember." At the same time, she does not believe in authorial control, saying that "a narrative should shape itself." When she writes, "a lot of it is being dictated by what is down there on the page; what I remembered and forgot was beyond my control." Perhaps for this reason Suleri's prose is peppered with the phrase "of course," as in the opening sentence cited above: "Leaving Pakistan, was, of course, tantamount to giving up the company of women."
Suleri does not need to make many if any revisions to her work; her first draft usually is her last.

 The Selective Autobiographer in Meatless Days

Sarah Suleri's Meatless Days tackles an ambitious number of topics, ranging from gender matters in Pakistan to the history and politics of the country, all within the framework of the author's personal vignettes of her own life. The book's scope is daunting, but Suleri lets us know throughout that she is not telling us the whole story. Unlike many travel writers who try to conceal their selectivity, Suleri is not afraid to alert the reader to the fact that many important events in her life have been intentionally left out of the book. For example, she informs us in parenthesis that she will not write about her sister's death: "For in this story, Ifat will not die before our eyes”(103-4).
Her circuitous (s r-ky -t s). writing style, her habit of following the tangents of her own thought associations rather than a clear narrative logic, make it evident that this is not a self-contained or conclusive story, but one that will leave many unanswered questions and hidden secrets. In the following passage, Suleri describes her own reluctance at times to reach into her past to retrieve information that might be germane to the topic at hand. By admitting to this conscious aversion to bring back certain memories, Suleri is distinctly outlining the terms of her writing, a writing that will produce a story both enormously selective, and necessarily incomplete.
But to travel back thus far is too enfeebling, too bone-wearying a business for my imagination. It is similar to my new reluctance to visit old Muslim tombs and contemplate again what I know I'll find, that inlay of marble on the walls with their curious flat-faced flowers, so dainty and scornful of their own decoration. And then the dead center of the grave can sit so heavily sometimes, surrounded as it is with tiny writing, words like capillaries to tighten in the head, as you read round and round with them all ninety-nine of Allah's appellations. O light, O clarity, O radiance, you read, until suddenly sequence becomes a vertiginous thing, and your brain is momentarily short of blood or breath. I used to enjoy the spaciousness of those places, the shoes-off of it, which put coolness at my feet. Now, I am not sure I would stop to consult those images, even by accident, in a passing book. [76]
In this passage, Suleri explicitly defines the limitations of her willingness to probe her own past.
Suleri often makes use of extended, detailed metaphors to explain abstract concepts, metaphors that often require a great deal of mental acrobatics to comprehend fully. In this passage, she compares bringing back old memories to walking among Muslim tombs and reading the minute engravings upon them.

The allusion to the writing on the Muslim tombs draws attention to the status of Suleri's own writing, especially when she claims that she would "not stop to consult those images, even by accident, in a passing book." this meant to be ironic that how does the act of reading the inscriptions on the tombs, described as "vertiginous," relate to our own reading of Suleri's book.

Post-Colonialism in Meatless Days

In Meatless Days, post-colonialism is used, like the English language itself, self-consciously. Post-colonialism and English have become not just historical links, but tools used by the authors to communicate their unique, non-Western visions of life. Discussion of post-colonialism in this novel illustrates the confrontations of two worlds, Western and colonized, but this conflict is not bemoaned or decried. In fact, post-colonial rhetoric, metaphors, and imagery have been appropriated in it, as it has the very use of English. Meatless Days deliver a forceful image of a unique culture that has collided with Western tradition in no uncertain way. Works such as this can illustrate the effect the fermenting residue of colonial power will ultimately have on nations confronting the dual identities of indigenous and imposed culture.
Meatless Days, colored by the effects of colonialism, provides a unique vision that is not explicitly post-colonial in nature. Meatless Days treats multiple themes (gender and sibling relations, political strife, religion, etc.), but above all it is a personal novel, a celebration and remembrance of her English mother. In communicating her personal vision, Suleri necessarily writes about colonialism, for she is a Pakistani. However, as a celebration of her mother, post-colonialism is conceptualized as a communicating tool and metaphor. She asks, "How can I bring them together in a room, that most reticent woman and that most demanding man?... Papa's powerful discourse would surround her night and day" (p. 57).
Post-colonial rhetoric aids her in discussing her mother's relation to Pakistan and herself.

 Public and Private History in Sara Suleri's Meatless Days

Suleri constantly reminds the reader that she is writing a public history. Even the death of her sister Ifat connects to chaotic politics in Pakistan, for her family fears Ifat was murdered as a result of her father's political leanings. The "alternative history" that Suleri calls Meatless Days is an attempt to deal with private history in a public sphere, setting the two "in dialogue." According to Suleri, she tried to create "a new kind of historical writing, whereby I give no introductions whatsoever. I use the names, the places, but I won't stop to describe them" (Interview, December 1990). In contrast to other third world histories, which she criticizes as too "explanatory," Meatless Days simply presents Pakistan as it appeared to her. Using names and places without much definition, description, or explanation was her "attempt to make them register as immediately to the reader as it would to me."
Some might argue with her assertion, however, that she does not interpret. The New York Times Book Review claimed, for example, that Suleri takes "one step back for analysis with every two it takes toward description." Indeed, some amount of reflection and interpretation is to be expected when one writes from the present looking back on the past. At one point she writes as she recounts a memory in the book, "Could that be it’s?" (p. 134) Here she is wondering, as she reflects back. Indeed, Suleri readily admits, "How does one maintain a sense of privacy when you construct a text like this?" and she acknowledges, "I'm sure I did reveal a lot" and that Meatless Days is "a very private book" (Interview, December 1990).
Suleri, like Anglo-Pakistani author Salman Rushdie, weaves her own personal history into that of Pakistan because the two entities are, as she says, "inextricably connected to one another." Suleri set out to write a historical novel, but one that is not based solely on facts and figures but rather is based on the facts in interconnected public and private histories. The deeply intimate aspect of the work, then, is not subjugated to the history of Pakistan but, combined with her remarkable use of syntax and diction, works instead to complement and redefine the country itself.

 "I" Versus "They": The Textual and Communal Self in Sara Suleri's Meatless Days

Although Meatless Days is more explicitly personal than Joan Didion's The White Album or Slouching Towards Bethlehem, it nevertheless belies a clean categorization as autobiography. Suleri, links her personal story to the narrative of her culture. She conflates her internal landscape with the external landscape so that what is personal is never simply personal -- it is part of a larger question, a more historical assertion. In turn, Suleri begins to "lose the sense of the differentiated identity of history and [her]self" (14). Her mind becomes a "metropolis" (74) "a legislated thing" (87).
Suleri struggles with a feeling of national displacement: her motherland is Pakistan, and yet her own mother -- White, Welsh, representative of the colonizer -- can barely speak the "mother tongue." She is a woman from the third-world, and yet, as she puts it, "There are no women in the third-world" (20), "Pakistan is a place where the concept of woman was not really part of an available vocabulary". By rooting her self in language, Suleri addresses her postcolonial identity. She deals with the "the unpronouncability of [her] life" (138) by becoming "engulfed by grammar" (155), by "living in plot" (154).
The manner in which Suleri constructs the identity of her family and friends, sheds light on the way in which she constructs her own identity, in discussing them, Suleri uses the same techniques as in discussing herself: she fuses somatic discourse with textual discourse. The sister who was once "a house I rented" (4) becomes after her death "the news" (68), and later, a "municipality" (104). Her mother, who "seemed to live increasingly outside the limits of her body" (156), becomes "the land [her father] had helped to make" (140) and later, "the past [Pakistan] sought to forget" (164). Her face is described as "wearing like the binding of a book" (151). Even her friend, Muskatori, is represented as such a convincing piece of "land" that, as Suleri declares, "they could build an airport on [her]" (70). Suleri refers to her own "schizoid trick" (personality disorder) of disconnecting the syntax of "life and body" (68) and, again and again, we see the trick, or technique, in action. The book, which is self-consciously intertextual and academic, turns everything in its wake into a construction of language, a piece of text. The body becomes a narrative device, a metaphor for -- but also a way of dealing with -- its fragmented surroundings.
  
When Suleri leaves Pakistan, she remarks that she "was not a nation anymore" (123). More than a denial of physicality, the statement contains an explicit correlation between her self and her narrative subject. She abstracts history -- nationhood -- into her body, and then reads her body for historical clues. At various points in the book, Suleri describes herself as a "landscape" (87), an "otherness machine" (105), and a "state" (127). In one particularscene, Suleri and Shahid swim together and get bitten by fireflies. Suleri interprets the bites as "tiny writing on [her] skin" (108). When Shahid attempts to apologize, Suleri tells him it doesn't matter: "It never had any plot to it anyway" (108). In this scene, Suleri, like Didion, dramatically broadens the personal and physical. She turns this scene of physical play into a scene of textual play. She interprets the blemishes on her body as metaphors for the place she holds in the community: she is written upon, or, colonized.
Throughout Meatless Days , food functions as a link between body and nation. In Meatless Days , this logic holds: through food -- what the body consumes -- dramas of national identity play out. In the second chapter, Suleri writes that "Food certainly gave us a way not simply of ordering a week or a day but of living inside history, measuring everything we remembered against a chronology of cooks. Just as Papa had his own yardstick -- a world he loved -- with which to measure history and would talk about the Ayub era, or the second martial law, or the Bhutto regime, so my sisters and I would place ourselves in time by remembering and naming cooks" (34). Whereas her father measures history by keeping track of male heads of state, Suleri measures history by keeping track of what enters her body. The passage makes explicit not only the connection between body and history, but it reveals a gendered dichotomy: the males participate directly in history; the women, on the other hand, exist only in metaphorical relation to it. They keep track of history by what they consume, by what enters and fills their bodies. This blurry relation between body and nation/language, is one that structures the novel.

 A Method to Her Madness: The Style of Sara Suleri

Sara Suleri's Meatless Days is an incredible literary work. Part memoirist, part sage writer, Suleri shows us the wonder and the anguish of her childhood and surrounds us with the bold colors and sundry sounds of a volatile postcolonial Pakistan. Her intensely original style and flair for description leave the reader with the sense of having read a complete and utterly true story. Each chapter is brimming with memories from her past and present, interwoven with dialogue, thought, and breathtaking description. The book, which is written in a free flowing form, resembles in many ways the way a mind thinks: constantly drawing upon different musings in order to come a final conclusion.
The most striking aspects of Meatless Days are how credible the story feels and the uniqueness of Suleri's personal ethos. Suleri, who appears to bar nothing from the reader, presents herself as a warm and trusted interpreter. She unlike any other writer is credible, unfaltering and her personal ethos is strikingly well defined.
Perhaps the most expedient method by which an author can create credibility is to prove that she knows more about a topic than the reader does; more intricate details; more complicated names and histories. Including exhaustive detail about a topic proves to us that our author was truly a part of the event, or that she studied the issue in great depth, either outcome solidifying our faith in her credibility. Suleri, McPhee and Didion all use this method in their work. Throughout Meatless Days, Suleri intermittently updates us about the changing political situation in Pakistan, each time mentioning exact dates, and numerous names which have not made the evening news for many decades:
How different Pakistan would be today if Ayub had held elections at that time, in 1968, instead of holding on until the end and then handing military power over to-of all people! -- Yahya . . . If Ayub had held elections there might still have been a deathly power struggle between Bhutto and Mujib: Mujib, the elected leader of East Pakistan; Bhutto, of West Pakistan. [120]
  
The detailed descriptions, facts, and citations that an author puts in a book help to build her credibility, yet strangely, what the author leaves out can be just as important. Although Meatless Days recounts her own thoughts and history, Suleri admits that there are aspects of her life in Pakistan that she will never fully comprehend and thus can not explain to us. When writing about her brother, Shahid in the section entitled "The Right Path; Or, They Took the Wrong Road," she confesses her imprecise understanding of her brother: "We had always thought of him, having as he did, the greater mobility of the male, as the most Pakistani of us: it never crossed my mind that he would choose to stay away or choose a life that would not allow him to return" (101). Though she confesses that she does not have a full knowledge of the topic on which she writes, we continue to value Suleri's interpretation. Her disclosure of her lack of certain understanding, in fact adds to her credibility. Nonfiction pieces are meant to be loyal to actuality and, as fellow human beings, we understand that when one is writing about certain significance or the inspiration of another it is impossible to possess complete understanding. Thus, admitting a lack of expertise in certain areas helps to confirm the actuality of the story.
What authors leave out of their stories is just as important as what they leave in. It helps to build credibility when an author admits to us that she will not tell us about something because her lack of understanding will not allow her, but it is also effective when an author tells us that there are some topics about which she chooses not indulge us. Scattered throughout Meatless Days are mentions of a woman named Dale. It is apparent that Suleri cherishes her, yet she never divulges where they met or even the nature of their relationship. The modest amount of information about Dale is a clear choice made by Suleri, who even writes in the closing pages of her book: "I will not mention Dale at any length, although great length occurs to me (be distracted, elsewhere, Dale, as you read through this shortest sentence)" (176). This line adds further to the mystery of Dale and to our frustration about our lack of knowledge. But Suleri's refusal to bestow upon us her entire story creates credibility. Her story is a personal one. Thus, it is expected that there are certain people and memories from her past that she would want to keep for herself. Although we may be frustrated and curious, we expect that if her story is in fact credible she, like the rest of us, holds certain memories sacred and will shield them from the world.

The powerful and effective nonfiction writer like Suleri is a trusted interpreter of events. The greater the displays of knowledge, prowess in written word, and alluring personal style, the more effectual the author is as a trusted interpreter, yet she must make heed not to inject her writing with too much of her own opinion and judgments.
Suleri's seemingly emotionless and judgment-free writing style can at times take readers by surprise because her writing is so extremely personal. Her writing about her father's sudden divorce from his first wife, Baji, after having fallen in love with her mother, is completely free from any judgment of her father's insensitive action toward his daughter Nuz:
Mamma at twenty-five must have been a talking thing-but I would hardly have thought that sufficient for him to pick up his life with Baji and just put it in his pocket. Oh, knowing his makeup I have no doubt he sang with pain, but he went through with it anyway. The divorce was conducted by mail, and in Karachi Nuz at nine was told that her grandparents were her parents, that Baji was her sister. [116]
Suleri was wise in omitting many of her own judgments out of Meatless Days. The book is already charged with her very personal and very painful stories. Thus if she had included more of her own judgments and emotions, her credibility would have been threatened, and the book would be at risk for appearing too slanted a view.
In brilliant displays of her writing expertise, Suleri, like Didion, often uses other means then direct statement to convey her emotions or opinions. Much of the uniqueness of her style comes from her ability to substitute other images as metaphors for her emotion. In the chapter "Goodbye to the Greatness of Tom," Suleri describes her relationship and its end with a man named Tom by piecing together images of their time together, thoughts about being alone, and scraps of conversations with her sisters. At the conclusion of the chapter when she describes Tom's final words to her, she does not write about her own sadness but instead lets her interpretation of his words portray the emotion for her:
In the closing words of the chapter, Suleri successfully uses the image of the wind whipping through an empty cave to portray her sadness. Further, her certainty that she would hear Tom's name in the wind clearly conveys that she was affected by the ending of their relationship. Suleri's subtle yet stirring manner of conveying her emotions is unparalleled. This ability enables her to weave her own personality throughout her writing while still maintaining her credibility.


Just as central to the effectiveness of a piece as an author's credibility is her personal ethos. A writer's personal ethos is the lens through which she views the world and the manner in which she projects this view to her reader. The writer's voice is of course extremely significant to the personal ethos of the piece. The words of the people about whom the author writes also help to create its message.
In Meatless Days, Suleri's quotes people in a style that is uniquely her own; so much her own in fact that she often seems to be feeding her own eloquent words right into the characters mouths. In "Goodbye to the Greatness of Tom," she quotes what her former boyfriend supposedly said to her once in sadness: "'I am sick,' he said in self remorse when he last spoke to me. 'It clutches at my heart and does not let me move,' he wailed; 'It puts me out of pulse and frightens me' (89). It can be safely assumed that her boyfriend, in a moment of intense emotion, did not speak so poetically and explain himself in symbols. It is also safe to assume that when her mother expressed her worry about her biracial children she did not wonder to herself, as Suleri tells us: "What will happen to these pieces of yourself‹you, and yet not you‹when you dispatch them into the world? Have you made sufficient provision for their extraordinary shadows?" (161). Although it is apparent that Suleri gives us her own lyrical interpretation of other people's words, the constant weaving of her own voice throughout every aspect of her story is enormously effective in creating the personal ethos of Meatless Days. The book is a memoir and as such we look to be taken to Suleri's world as she sees it. By shaping the character's words into a voice that is more her own, she creates a world held together with the majesty of her own prose. The fluidity of her voice as narrator is never broken, not even broken in the words of other people.
It goes with out saying that Suleri, McPhee, and Didion are all masters of prose. Credibility and personal ethos in the nonfiction piece can be helped by detailed information, subtlety in employing judgment, and well placed quotations, but what ties any great piece together, any piece that makes you quiet with inspiration, twinge with recognition or shiver with emotion, is the writer's ability to create brilliantly crafted words.
  
Suleri's greatest strength in Meatless Days is her flair for description. Her book focuses a great deal on Pakistan, a land most readers have never seen, thus her ability to create striking visual images is at the heart of the book. When writing about her trip back to Pakistan to run away from pain in her life Suleri silences the reader with the grandeur of her description:
I went in search of another cure from him, back to the Himalayas of my childhood, the winsome gullies that climb up the hills beyond the more standard attractions of Murree-a mere hill station of a place, with its mall, its restaurants, and its jostle. [86]
In this short description of a hill side, we can truly envision the mountain with "its winsome gullies", a sweet haven from the bustle of the city below. Each of her chapters are infused with awe-inspiring descriptions which make the world of Pakistan come alive to the reader. Upon finishing Meatless Days, a silence immediately came to me. I knew that if I were to once again crack open the now wrinkled pages, I would immediately be taken back to Suleri's intensely visual world, to the colorful streets of Pakistan, the dusty and uncertain roads of her childhood, or to the cold sidewalks of New Haven.
Meatless Days is a jewel of a book, full of emotion and astounding insight. Sara Suleri is a master writer, who creates a warm and effective personal ethos and develops a bond of trust with the reader. There is clear technique and skill involved in nonfiction writing, and just as a blacksmith must learn the tricks and steps to shaping metal, writers too have steps to follow in their craft.
To read Meatless Days is exhausting. Not because the book is boring by any stretch of the mind, but because Suleri writes so effectively that the reader feels transported to her world. We are involved in the arguments with her father, emotionally wrenched by the death of her sister, and touched beyond words by the enduring love of a family that cannot be together. Sara Suleri must have tirelessly studied the techniques and methods used by remarkable nonfiction writers, for her implementation of their craft in Meatless Days is breathtaking.

Works Cited

Suleri, Sara. Meatless Days. The University of Chicago Press, 1991.
McPhee, John. The Crofter and the Laird. Farrar,Straus, and Giroux, 1998.
Didion, Joan.The White Album. Farrar,Straus, and Giroux, 1990.

Fitzerald, F.Scott.The Great Gatsby. Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995.

The Most Corrupt Countries in the World

More than half of the world’s population believes corruption in the public sector is a very serious problem. Liberia and Mongolia are the two most corrupt countries in the world, according to a recent study. In both countries, 86% of residents believe corruption in the public sector is a very serious problem. Residents in the vast majority of countries around the world believe corruption has only gotten worse in the past two years.

Anti-corruption nonprofit Transparency International has released its 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, which surveyed residents in 107 countries. The world’s corrupt nations differ in many ways. Four are located in Africa, three in Latin America and two in Asia. These nations also vary considerably in size and population. Mongolia has just 3.2 million residents, while Mexico, Nigeria and Russia are three of the largest countries on the globe, each with more than 100 million people. Based on the percentage of surveyed residents that reported corruption in the public sector is a very serious problem, these are the world’s most corrupt nations.

Click here to see the most corrupt countries

What many of these nations do have in common is that their people are largely opposed to corruption. Globally, 69% of people questioned by Transparency International said they would report corruption if they encountered it. In seven of the nine nations with the worst corruption, residents were at least slightly more likely to oppose corruption. In Paraguay, one of the countries with high corruption, 90% of citizens said they would report corruption, while 87% and 86% said they would do so in Mexico and Russia, respectively.

Many of those surveyed in the highly corrupt countries also felt their governments were not holding up their end of the bargain. In seven of the nine countries, more than half of those questioned felt their government was ineffective at fighting corruption. In Liberia, 86% of residents surveyed said their government was ineffective at fighting the problem. This was the largest proportion of any of the 107 nations Transparency International surveyed.

While corruption appears to affect every part of the public sector, certain segments were much worse than the rest. Globally, at least 60% of respondents claimed political parties and police were corrupt. Additionally, more than 50% of people stated their legislature, their public officials and their judiciary were corrupt.

In the world’s most corrupt nations, those institutions were, naturally, even worse. In Nigeria, 94% of people claimed their political parties were corrupt, the most in the world. Similarly, 96% of Liberians reported their legislature was corrupt, also the most in the world. In eight of the nine most corrupt nations, more than 80% of residents considered the police to be corrupt.

Many of these nations remain among the world’s less-developed, and they lack the resources of the United States, Japan and the European Union nations. Among the most corrupt nations, only Mexico, Russia and Venezuela had an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over $10,000 in 2012. None were among the top 50 nations measured in GDP per capita. By comparison, the U.S. per capita GDP was estimated to be nearly $50,000.

Based on figures published by Transparency International, 24/7 Wall St. determined the nations with the highest percentage of respondents who claimed corruption was a very serious problem. Transparency International also provided other figures on corruption perception. Data on GDP by nation came from the International Monetary Fund. Population statistics are from The CIA World Factbook.

9. Zambia
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 77%
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 65% (41st highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 92% (tied f0r 4th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $1,722

In September 2011, Zambia held elections that resulted in the election of President Michael Sata. Since Sata’s victory, several officials from the past administration, including former President Rupiah Banda, have been arrested for corruption. Complicating matters, many of the corruption allegations relate to government officials receiving improper benefits from Chinese investors, who are unpopular in much of the country yet provide direct investment and jobs. Zambia’s residents are poor, with an estimated GDP per capita of just $1,722 in 2012, versus nearly $50,000 in the United States. An extremely high 85% of residents claimed they had been asked to pay a bribe in the past.

Also Read: Countries Spending the Most on the Military

8. Nigeria
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 78%
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 69% (28th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 92% (tied for 4th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $2,720

In Nigeria, 84% of those surveyed by Transparency International claimed corruption had increased in the past two years, a higher percentage than almost any other country in the world. Troublingly, 75% of those surveyed also said the government was, at best, ineffective at fighting corruption, worse than in all but 10 countries. Nigeria is heavily dependent on the oil industry, yet the government refuses to act on accusations the oil companies underreporting the value of the resources they extract and the tax they owe by billions of dollars. Certain transparency groups also blamed politicians for encouraging corruption. In 2012, Nigeria had just the 37th largest GDP in the world, despite having the world’s seventh largest population.

7. Russia
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 79% (tied for 5th highest)
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 92% (the highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 89% (10th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $17,709

According to 82% of individuals surveyed, it is important to have personal contacts to get anything done in Russia’s public sector. Additionally, 85% of Russians stated the government was run by just a few large entities for their own best interests. The only two other countries where residents were more likely to feel this way were Lebanon and Cyprus. The latter was known until recently as a haven for Russian oligarchs’ money. These hyper-wealthy individuals often have close political ties, which allowed many to become wealthy during Russia’s post-Soviet privatization.

6. Paraguay
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 79% (tied for 5th highest)
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 58% (55th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 82% (26th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $6,136

In few nations were personal connections considered to be more important than in Paraguay. As many as 88% of the country’s residents said such contacts were important in getting things done within the public sector, a higher proportion than all but two other countries worldwide. This was also the reasoning behind the majority of bribes, with 63% of all such payments going toward speeding up a service. Worse, 78% of residents noted that their government had been either ineffective or very ineffective at fighting corruption, one of the highest proportions worldwide.

5. Mexico
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 79% (tied for 5th highest)
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 87% (3rd highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 90% (8th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $15,312

Globally, 53% of individuals surveyed by Transparency International claimed that corruption had risen in the past two years. However, in Mexico, that figure was 71% as the country’s citizens have become less tolerant of corruption. In addition, 72% of those polled stated the Mexican government was ineffective in fighting corruption, while 78% claimed that having personal contacts was either important or very important in getting the public sector to be helpful. Last year, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won elections nationwide to return to power despite previous allegations of heavy corruption. In a July 2012 article, Time magazine described corruption as “the stubborn remnant of the PRI’s seven decades of authoritarian rule that is at the heart of the drug lords’ ability to operate in Mexico.”

Also Read: The Most Competitive Cities of the Future

4. Zimbabwe
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 81%
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 70% (25th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 86% (15th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $559

Roughly 77% of those surveyed claimed that corruption in Zimbabwe had risen in the past two years, a higher percentage than in all but a few other countries. Potentially contributing to this rise, longtime President Robert Mugabe failed to keep past elections free from violence and voting irregularities. Mugabe’s opponent is likely far more popular with the people, but the upcoming elections on July 31 could still end up rigged in the Mugabe’s favor. More than three-quarters of residents stated that the government was run largely or entirely by a few entities acting in their own best interests.

3. Venezuela
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 83%
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 79% (9th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 83% (24th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $13,616

Venezuela’s long-ruling socialist president, Hugo Chavez, passed away in March. Corruption was a concern in Venezuela since before Chavez’s first election victory in 1998. His chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, has vowed to end corruption, which has often been associated with Venezuela’s socialist government. Before April’s presidential election, opposition candidate Henrique Capriles claimed that nationalization of private businesses allowed public officials to control major industries for personal profit. In Venezuela, 79% of respondents said their nation’s political officials were corrupt, among the highest percentages in the world.

2. Mongolia
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 86% (tied for the highest)
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 77% (12th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 66% (49th highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $5,372

Mongolia had one of the world’s fastest growing economies in 2012, when its GDP rose an estimated 12.3%, according to the IMF. But corruption has been identified by USAID as a critical threat to the country’s continued growth as well as to its democracy. Corruption has become pervasive in the country, after ”rapid transition to democracy and a market economy created huge demands on bureaucracy that lacks the [means] to prevent corruption,” according to the organization. Encouragingly, less than half of all people surveyed in the country said that corruption had increased in the past two years, versus 53% of respondents worldwide. Also, while 77% of people considered public officials to be corrupt, just 12% believed the country’s government to be run by a few large, purely self-interested entities.

1. Liberia
> Pct. saying corruption very serious: 86% (tied for the highest)
> Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 67% (35th highest)
> Pct. claiming police corrupt: 94% (3rd highest)
> 2012 GDP per capita: $673

The vast majority of Liberians surveyed said they believed the country was run either largely or entirely by a few entities acting in their own self interest. A world-leading 86% of residents who spoke to Transparency International claimed their government had been either ineffective or very ineffective at fighting corruption, while 96% of residents claimed Liberia’s legislature was corrupt, also the highest percentage of any nation. A stunning 75% of residents surveyed claimed they had paid a bribe to secure some service, trailing only Sierra Leone. In all, 80% of the population had at one point been asked to pay a bribe. Recently, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf fired the country’s auditor general for corruption.

(Quoted from http://247wallst.com/)

WEDDING IS MARRIAGE OF MIND AND HEART

Wedding is marriage of mind and heart.If you do not believe , see this picture.What is your opinion?

LOVE VS. SEX

Love and sex are NOT the same thing. Love is an emotion or a feeling. There is no one definition of love because the word "love" can mean many different things to many different people. Sex, on the other hand, is a biological event. Even though there are different kinds of sex, most sexual acts have certain things in common. Sex may or may not include penetration.

Differences Between Love and Sex

Love:

• Love is a feeling (emotional).
• There is no exact "right" definition of love for everybody.
• Love involves feelings of romance and/or attraction.

Sex:

• Sex is an event or act (physical).
• There are different kinds of sex but all kinds of sex have some things in common.
• Can happen between a male and a female, between two females, between two males, or by one's self (masturbation).

Ways to express love without sex

There are countless nonsexual ways to show someone you love them. You can show a person you care for them by spending time with them. Go to the movies. Or just hang out and talk. If you are with someone you really like, then anything can be fun.

There are also ways to feel physically close without having sex. These include everything from kissing and hugging to touching and petting each other. Just remember that if you're not careful these activities can lead to sex. Plan beforehand just how far you want to go, and stick to your limits. It can be difficult to say "No" and mean it when things get hot and heavy.

(Quoted from http://www.iwannaknow.org/)

Thought Building Process

Thinking and Doing Research in English:

Thinking and Doing Research in English:
Myths, Realities and Challenges
Nasir Jamal Khattak, PhD (Amherst)

Research is tricky, illusive, rewarding, "difficult," and "easy" to do. It is tricky and illusive because most of us undertake it without proper guidance and training; we do it in a rush. Haste is one thing that we cannot afford in research. A little from here; a little from there; coupled with these is what we say and we should have a research paper, thesis, or dissertation ready. In a way, more or less that is what research is all about. However, there is a method to the madness of research. And that is precisely what makes research difficult but rewarding. It not only contributes to the body of knowledge and discourse that is there in the area in which we research it also helps us further our professional career. Most people not only do research, they have their work published too. So what is it that these people do and we do not? Where do we go wrong and how do we look for a "researchable" topic? Can we find a "good" topic? And what is a "good topic" anyway? How do we find one? And how do we go about it? And how about doing research in English Literature or Linguistics? Is there any difference between the two? How do we bridge the cultural gap? How do we "read" the text analytically to develop an argument? What do I look for in a text? How do we develop a theoretic framework?

ONE MORE DAY WASTED

It was a different kind of day.I was not agile and fit from early start of my day.I was haggard and tired.Nothing was looking bright.As i live in Pakistan,the curse of load shedding was looming before me.My UPS was out of order.I telephoned mechanic.He said , he would come but he came very late.I waited and waited but my waiting came to an end very late.My AC was also out of order.I telephoned the company to send their mechanic and they said they would charge one thousand rupees for Service charges. It was very costly thing but I have to accept this offer willingly as there was no option. Company said Mechanics would come at 10 a.m but they came at 12.00 p.m.That was complete waste of time but what to do.I wanted to study but hopes did not fulfill.Life was leading towards minor chores which were quite useless.I was very annoyed with my life.Noting was according to schedule.Everything was just pass time.I am feeling bored and tired.Today, my life was like an aimless boat.I have higher aims but wastage of time is hinderance in my way.Who is to blame? I, myself.or fate or routine life or my region or my luck or anything else.I do not know.I do not know.

Benediction by Rabindranath Tagore

Bless this little heart, this white soul that has won the kiss of
heaven for our earth.
He loves the light of the sun, he loves the sight of his
mother's face.
He has not learned to despise the dust, and to hanker after
gold.
Clasp him to your heart and bless him.
He has come into this land of an hundred cross-roads.
I know not how he chose you from the crowd, came to your door,
and grasped you hand to ask his way.
He will follow you, laughing the talking, and not a doubt in
his heart.
Keep his trust, lead him straight and bless him.
Lay your hand on his head, and pray that though the waves
underneath grow threatening, yet the breath from above may come and
fill his sails and waft him to the heaven of peace.
Forget him not in your hurry, let him come to your heart and
bless him. 

Beggarly Heart by Rabindranath Tagore

When the heart is hard and parched up,
come upon me with a shower of mercy.

When grace is lost from life,
come with a burst of song.

When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from
beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.

When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner,
break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.

When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one,
thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder 

Baby's World by Rabindranath Tagore

Baby's World by Rabindranath Tagore

I wish I could take a quiet corner in the heart of my baby's very
own world.
I know it has stars that talk to him, and a sky that stoops
down to his face to amuse him with its silly clouds and rainbows.
Those who make believe to be dumb, and look as if they never
could move, come creeping to his window with their stories and with
trays crowded with bright toys.
I wish I could travel by the road that crosses baby's mind,
and out beyond all bounds;
Where messengers run errands for no cause between the kingdoms
of kings of no history;
Where Reason makes kites of her laws and flies them, the Truth
sets Fact free from its fetters. 

Mario Balotelli

WARSAW, POLAND –  Mario Balotelli finally showed some quality finishing, scoring twice Thursday to give Italy a 2-1 win over Germany and an unexpected spot in the European Championship final.

Extending its winless streak against Italy in major tournaments to eight matches, Germany had no answer for Balotelli nor Antonio Cassano's creativity.

In the 20th minute, Balotelli had no trouble getting past Holger Badstuber to head in a pinpoint cross from Cassano. Then in the 36th, the 21-year-old striker received the ball behind the defense and blasted a long shot into the top right corner.

While he did score against Ireland , Balotelli was criticized for wasting numerous chances against Spain , Croatia and England .

''All I can say is that when you talk about Italy, everyone needs to be careful,'' Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said. ''We played an extraordinary match. We displayed a model of fair play and attachment to this shirt.''

Germany failed to trouble Italy for much of the match, but Mesut Oezil scored a consolation penalty in injury time after Federico Balzaretti was whistled for a handball.

Italy will face defending champion Spain in Sunday's final in Kiev, Ukraine - a rematch of their 1-1 draw that opened Group C.

''We showed we're on Spain's level and that's where we started this run,'' Italy midfielder Claudio Marchisio said. ''It's no longer a question of fear. Now we've got to pull out everything we still have inside ourselves.''

While Italy has won four World Cups, it's only European Championship title came in 1968. Like when they won the 1982 and 2006 World Cups, the Azzurri have managed to maintain their focus despite a match-fixing and betting scandal at home.

On a pleasant evening at the National Stadium Warsaw, Cassano set up the opening goal by befuddling Germany defenders Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng to lift the ball in Balotelli's direction.

The second goal began with a long vertical pass from Riccardo Montolivo, whose mother is German. Balotelli collected the pass with his back to the goal, controlled the ball with his chest and then sprinted forward and unleashed a blazing shot from the edge of the area as Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer again stood immobile.

''Balotelli's career has just started,'' Prandelli said.

Balotelli took off his jersey after his second goal, which drew an automatic yellow card, although he will not miss the final.

Even before scoring, Italy controlled the pace of the match, although Germany did have several chances from Hummels, Toni Kroos and Oezil.

In the 35th, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon preserved the Azzurri lead by swatting away a long shot from Sami Khedira - and Balotelli doubled the lead a minute later.

To start the second half, Germany coach Joachim Loew brought on Miroslav Klose for Mario Gomez at center forward and replaced Lukas Podolski with Marco Reus on the wing.

With Germany appearing slightly more organized, captain Philipp Lahm had a great look at the goal in the 49th but shot way over the bar.

Buffon made another impressive save in the 62nd, leaping to push a free kick from Reus off the bar.

While Italy largely sat back and protected its lead in the second half, the Azzurri did produce some dangerous counterattacks. Marchisio shot just wide in the 67th and 75th and substitute Antonio Di Natale missed another chance in the 82nd.

Di Natale came on in the 70th after Balotelli went down with a cramp to his left leg.

White-clad German fans greatly outnumbered Italian supporters, unveiling a huge banner before kickoff that featured a giant ''G'' for Germany. However, most of the stadium was filled with Polish fans who supported Italy.

They had plenty to cheer about.

''We're living a dream along with millions of Italians,'' Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini said. ''We're going to enjoy this victory a little longer, then we'll think about Sunday, because we want to continue dreaming.''

 Totally quoted from http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/sports/2012/06/28/balotelli-italy-defeat-germany/
Picture taken from (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/mario-balotelli-takes-control-euro-2012-powerful-blast-211302579--sow.html)with courtesy. 

THE DEFINITION AND BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICs

THE DEFINITION AND BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICs


The Definition of Linguistics.

Linguistics is study of language.

Linguistics is concerned with human language as a universal and recognizable part of human behavior and of the human abilities. Raja T. Nasr (1984).

Linguistics is competence as being a persons potential to speak a language, and his or her linguistics performance as the realization of that potential. Monica Crabtree & Joyce Powers (1994).

The Branches of linguistics

1. General linguistic generally describes the concepts and categories of a particular language or among all language. It also provides analyzed theory of the language.

Descriptive linguistic describes or gives the data to confirm or refute the theory of particular language explained generally.

2. Micro linguistic is narrower view. It is concerned internal view of language itself (structure of language systems) without related to other sciences and without related how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of micro linguistic:

a. Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of sounds of human language

b. Phonology, the study of sounds as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning

c. Morphology, the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified

d. Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences

e. Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences

f. Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used (literally, figuratively, or otherwise) in communicative acts

g. Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)

h. Applied linguistic is the branch of linguistic that is most concerned with application of the concepts in everyday life, including language-teaching.

3. Macro linguistic is broadest view of language. It is concerned external view of language itself with related to other sciences and how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of micro linguistic:

a. Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context.

b. Developmental linguistics, the study of the development of linguistic ability in an individual, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood.

c. Historical linguistics or Diachronic linguistics, the study of language change.

d. Language geography, the study of the spatial patterns of languages.

e. Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language.

f. Psycholinguistics, the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use.

g. Sociolinguistics, the study of social patterns and norms of linguistic variability.

h. Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the area of Speech-Language Pathology.

i. Neurolinguistics, the study of the brain networks that underlie grammar and communication.

j. Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systemTHE DEFINITION AND BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICs

THE DEFINITION AND BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICs



The Branches of linguistics

1. General linguistic generally describes the concepts and categories of a particular language or among all language. It also provides analyzed theory of the language.

Descriptive linguistic describes or gives the data to confirm or refute the theory of particular language explained generally.

2. Micro linguistic is narrower view. It is concerned internal view of language itself (structure of language systems) without related to other sciences and without related how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of micro linguistic:

a. Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of sounds of human language

b. Phonology, the study of sounds as discrete, abstract elements in the speaker's mind that distinguish meaning

c. Morphology, the study of internal structures of words and how they can be modified

d. Syntax, the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences

e. Semantics, the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics) and fixed word combinations (phraseology), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences

f. Pragmatics, the study of how utterances are used (literally, figuratively, or otherwise) in communicative acts

g. Discourse analysis, the analysis of language use in texts (spoken, written, or signed)

h. Applied linguistic is the branch of linguistic that is most concerned with application of the concepts in everyday life, including language-teaching.

3. Macro linguistic is broadest view of language. It is concerned external view of language itself with related to other sciences and how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of micro linguistic:

a. Stylistics, the study of linguistic factors that place a discourse in context.

b. Developmental linguistics, the study of the development of linguistic ability in an individual, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood.

c. Historical linguistics or Diachronic linguistics, the study of language change.

d. Language geography, the study of the spatial patterns of languages.

e. Evolutionary linguistics, the study of the origin and subsequent development of language.

f. Psycholinguistics, the study of the cognitive processes and representations underlying language use.

g. Sociolinguistics, the study of social patterns and norms of linguistic variability.

h. Clinical linguistics, the application of linguistic theory to the area of Speech-Language Pathology.

i. Neurolinguistics, the study of the brain networks that underlie grammar and communication.

j. Biolinguistics, the study of natural as well as human-taught communication systems in animals compared to human language.

Computational linguistics, the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures.

Source : the essencial of linguistics scince raja t nasr. (1984)

language files, monica crabtree & joyce powers (1994).s in animals compared to human language.

Computational linguistics, the study of computational implementations of linguistic structures.

Source : the essencial of linguistics scince raja t nasr. (1984)

language files, monica crabtree & joyce powers (1994).

What is linguistics?

Some basics: What is linguistics and how is it used? What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the study of language – not just particular languages, but the system of human communication. Some of the basic issues of this field are?

• What is language? How is it organized?
• How is it analyzed? How are its units discovered and tested?
• Where is language stored and processed in the brain? How is it learned?
• What do all languages—including nonvocal systems of communication (e.g. writing and sign languages)—have in common? What do these properties show us about human cognition?
• How did language originate? What does it have in common with animal communication? How is it different?
• How many distinct families or stocks of languages are there in the 6000 or so known languages today? What original languages did they come from? How have they changed over time?
• What does dialectal and social variation show us about the use of language? How has this diversity affected issues of social, political, and educational policy?
• What is the relationship between language and culture? Language and thought?

What are some of the branches of linguistics? applied linguistics: application to areas such as speech pathology, reading, social work, missionary work, translation, dictionary compilation, language teaching, error analysis, computer language processing.
dialectology: investigation of regional variation in language.
ethnolinguistics (anthropological linguistics): investigation of the relation between a people's language and culture.
historical (diachronic) linguistics: study of language change and evolution.
morphology: study of word formation and inflection.
neurolinguistics: research into the specific location of language in the brain.
paralinguistics: study of nonverbal (auxiliary) human communication.
philology: study of how language has been used in literature, especially in older manuscripts.
phonetics: description of how speech sounds are articulated and heard.
phonology: study of how languages organize the units of speech into systems.
pragmatics: study of the strategies people use to carry out communicative business in specific contexts.
psycholinguistics: investigation of language as cognitively-based behavior; how it is acquired and processed.
second language acquisition (SLA): study of how older learners acquire language, and of ways to improve it.
sociolinguistics: study of social variation in language: the relation between social structure and language usage, and of social issues involving language.
semantics: study of word and sentence meaning.
syntax: study of the structure of sentences and of underlying principles for generating and processing them.
How is linguistics applied? Many students find linguistics useful because it broadens and deepens their understanding of related fields: languages and literature (English and foreign), social sciences (especially anthropology, sociology, and psychology), education, philosophy, communication... Those who obtain degrees in linguistics often proceed to careers in:

• foreign language teaching
• instructional technology
• ESL (teaching English as a second language)
• teaching and research in general linguistics (phonology, syntax...)
• translation (human and machine-assisted)
• speech pathology and audiology.                                                                  (Totally quoted from http://www.wfu.edu/linguistics/Some_basics.html)

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice was born November 14, 1954, in Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up surrounded by racism in the segregated South but went on to become the first woman and first African American to be a Stanford University provost. She was appointed National Security Adviser by George W. Bush in 2001, and served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States from January 2005-2009.

CONTENTS

• Synopsis
• Profile

QUOTES

Differences can be a strength rather than a handicap.

– Condoleezza Rice

Profile

Academic, Republican politician. Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama. The only child of a Presbyterian minister and a teacher, Rice grew up surrounded by racism in the segregated South. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She joined Stanford University as a political science professor in 1981. In 1993, she was the first woman and first African American to become a Stanford provost, a post she held for six years.

In the mid-1980s, Rice spent a period in Washington as an international affairs fellow attached to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1989, she became director of Soviet and East European affairs with the National Security Council and special assistant to George Bush during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification. In 1997, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender-Integrated Training in the Military. She was appointed National Security Adviser by George W. Bush in 2001, and became Secretary of State in 2004 after Colin Powell's resignation.

As Secretary of State, Rice has dedicated her department to “Transformational Diplomacy” with a mission of building and sustaining democratic, well-governed states around the world and the Middle East in particular. To that end, she has relocated American diplomats to such hardship locations as Iraq, Afghanistan and Angola and required them to become fluent in two foreign languages. She also created a high-level position to de-fragment U.S. foreign aid.

Rice's books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed(1995) with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984).

(Totally quoted from http://www.biography.com/people/condoleezza-rice-9456857)

$16 House

FLOWER MOUND, Texas –  After paying $16 to file a one-page claim to an empty, $340,000 home in an upscale Dallas suburb, Kenneth Robinson moved in furniture, hung a "No Trespassing" sign in the front window and invited television cameras inside for a tour.

He quickly turned into something of a local celebrity, creating a website, http://16dollarhouse.com , where he sold an e-book and offered training sessions for would-be squatters. And while real estate experts and authorities say he's misusing the law, Robinson appears to have inspired dozens of imitators who moved into Dallas-Fort Worth area homes — some of which were still occupied by their owners.

But Robinson's time in the house ran out Monday.

Bank of America wants possession after foreclosing on the home last month, and a judge on Monday gave Robinson until Feb. 13 to appeal or move out. Rather than wait to be evicted, Robinson slipped out before sunrise Monday, skipped a morning court hearing and refused to say where he was moving next.

"It's been a huge learning experience," he said in a phone call with reporters.

On his website, Robinson describes himself as a savvy investor who's part of a "paradigm shift" in which people have taken over abandoned homes. Last June, under a law known as adverse possession, he filed a claim in court promising to pay taxes and homeowners' association fees while living in the house. He kept the lawn outside mowed, and the front clean.

Robinson spoke to The Associated Press last week while standing at the front door of the two-story, 3,200-square-foot home with a backyard pool. He declined to discuss his background or say how much money he made from book sales or seminars related to his takeover.

He said he started his website — which describes him as "poised, measured, insightful and wise" — to keep the media and others from misleading the public about his story.

"They think some bum off the street came and paid $15 to get a $300,000 house by filing a piece of paperwork," Robinson said. "That is not the case. That is the sum of what happened."

Robinson's website says he's not a lawyer and isn't offering legal advice but has done real estate research.

Real estate experts say he's got the law just plain wrong.

Adverse possession statutes can be found in most states, said Brian C. Rider, a real estate lawyer and professor at the University of Texas. Someone who has openly taken charge of abandoned land for an extended period of time — using a driveway on a neighbor's property, for example — could try to claim that land later, he said.

But it takes a long time to establish those rights, typically 10 years in Texas. Until then, anyone trying to stake claim to a piece of property owned by someone else is just a squatter, Rider said.

Arlington, Texas real estate attorney Grey Pierson said the law is often used to resolve disputes between homeowners over driveways, lawns or other property with shared boundaries — not to take someone's house.

It's not clear how long the home in Flower Mound was empty before Robinson moved in. Its last owner, William Ferguson, bought the house for $332,000 in 2005 and appeared to run into trouble making payments about three years later, according to county records. Ferguson did not have a listed phone number, and the records don't indicate where he moved.

County clerks in North Texas said they have seen such a spike in adverse possession filings that they've stopped accepting the claims without prosecutors' approval. In a handful of cases, squatters entered homes that weren't abandoned, but left empty for a few days.

"We just had people making bad decisions, taking a portion of the law and applying it in a way that was not legal," Tarrant County clerk Mary Louise Garcia said.

In one case, an Arlington travel nurse came home in September to find her locks changed and two TVs missing, according to a police report. Authorities say Anthony Brown came to the front door and told her that he had claimed the home and she was trespassing.

When the nurse asked Brown for his paperwork, he offered to return the home for $2,000, police said. Brown, who was arrested in October, does not have an attorney listed and did not respond to messages left on his cellphone.

Tarrant County constable Clint Burgess said authorities have interviewed a handful of people claiming "adverse possession" who said they spoke to Robinson. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Robinson attended a December eviction hearing for two charged with burglary. Robinson said then he was attending to show support for the couple.

He says now that he doesn't want to be an example to others.

"The truth is I don't want people to think that they should go out there and do anything based on what I did," he said last week. "Whether they do it or whether they're not is solely up to them."

Robinson hasn't been charged with a crime but police said they responded to several calls from his neighbors. One neighbor, Chris Custard, attended Monday's hearing and was smiling after the eviction was ordered.

"We're going to throw a party," he said.

(Totally quoted from  foxnews.com)