We are finally getting a few minutes rest to announce the birth of our twins, Leo Faiz Sufi Slater

and
Dilaavar Huq Sufi Slater. They were born Tuesday morning, September 19, 2017 in Chicago. We want
to thank our friends and loved ones for their support, love, and care during this time.

We are honoring several admirable people with the name Leo including, Leo (Hebrew: Lev) Tolstoy
and Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstien). Leo and Dilaavar were born in the year of the 100th anniversary of
the 1917 Russian Revolution, which we commemorate.

Plus, we have a proud family tradition of roaring away the monsters, as our three-year-old daughter
Noor Jahan will tell you [https://www.facebook.com/notes/erek-slater/our-great-hopes-for-noor-jahan-
and-her-generation/10152340090499757/]. Leo fits.

Faiz is a popular and beloved Urdu poet and socialist from the subcontinent. Poetry and literature are a
significant heritage for Rehmah, whose father is deeply learned in literature and music and whose
mother is a poet herself.

Faiz means "successful" or "victorious" in Urdu. Leo Faiz could mean "victorious fighter" or
"victorious lion.

Dilawar (Persian: )is a Persian name that means "one who has heart", suggesting "brave" or
"courageous". The word has two syllables "dil" (meaning "heart") and "awar", a common Persian suffix
which means "to have" or "to come to". [from Wikipaedia] We are spelling it Dilaavar to be more
phonetically clear, since he will have family and friends in many parts of the world.

Haq/Huq is an Arabic/Urdu name meaning truth and right (as in civil rights)... For Rehmah, Huq is
a deeply meaningful word in the tradition of Bulleh Shah, Bahu, Waaris and Mansur Hallaj.

The Young Hegelians, especially Marx, had a concept of "Critique that we value,

...if constructing the future and settling everything for all times are not our affair, it is all the more
clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists,
ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as
little afraid of conflict with the powers that be. -1843 Letter from Karl Marx
[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/letters/43_09.htm]

In Dilaavar Huq we are trying to approach the concepts of "intellectual courage" and "honesty to
ideas." Dilaavar Huq might be seen to mean, "one who courageously and compassionately strives for
right," or "one who bravely seeks truth with heart."

In both Leo Faiz and Dilaavar Huq we are trying to approach the concept of courage in struggle. We
are convinced this is necessary in order to discover and accomplish even if what we may find and build
upends our most basic conclusions and social norms.
Our Great Hopes for Noor Jahan and her Generation
April 26, 2014 at 3:04pm

Noor Jahan (Light to the World) was born this Monday, April 21, 2014. She will choose her own way,
but she doesn't have to start from scratch. On her day of birth, loved ones gathered to welcome her. As
a welcoming gift, some of us recited to her ideas that are an important part of the heritages she is born
into. Below are some life-lessons we wish to pass onto her:

When life makes you clench your teeth, instead smile broadly, soften your shoulders and remember:
life is a challenge; life is a struggle, and you wouldnt have it any other way

You are not alone! You are one of billions all over the Earth who are trying, failing, learning, and trying
again Personal success (and failure) is always social. It has been built up by millennia of lessons
learned by billions of people. Together, we are strong, robust and enduring. Individually, we are weak,
unbalanced and momentary. Yet it is the great joy of the human experience that we are weak where
others are strong: it drives us to work with and love each other.

We are part of something ancient and grand. We are Humanity. Our ancestry dates back to four billion
years of life. We are part of the great expanse of the Universe, but also the awe-inspiring complexity of
the smallest of things. We are part of the latest moment in the motion of Nature.

Be radically honest: struggle to understand and act in material reality as it actually moves, not just your
hopes for it. Be in a constant state of internal revolution. Be brave enough to admit and learn from
errors, turn life directions and do what you know is right even if it is so difficult to do so.

Humility! Remember and keep with you always humility. We are just beginning to become aware of
how much we do not know
We have no right to tomorrow. Like the snapping of a twig, our plans may halt in a millisecond. At this
moment, you are relatively healthy and free. It is your responsibility to try to pay back this good
fortune by struggling to understand and act with others towards the constant motion of Humanitys
goals.

Be an example, a beacon to others.

Below are some of our great hopes for Noor Jahan and her generation.

Our children will be part of a voluntary movement that will bring access to literacy, culture and power
to everyone on Earth. As art, science and philosophy become a world discourse within a literate world
population, history and culture will become a right and a responsibility to pass to new generations. Our
children will convince their children to be stewards of this world-spirit. As the individual is
strengthened by spirit and culture in her independence from group ideas and power, a real world
democracy will be forged and continually re-forged. Perhaps for the first time in all of Nature, our
young, fragile species will take the first steps of freedom as we dare to organize ourselves consciously.

Our grandchildren will be on their wayto explore the frontiers of their potentialand the other side
of this galaxy. If we so choose; if together, we believe it moral to do so.