November 2011
1 post
How Do YOU Define Success?
The past few days I have been attending various professional development sessions that have validated my choice to be a teacher. However, it has also reminded me of the huge burden I take on to educate over-scheduled, burnt out children who, it seems, are not allowed to be just that- children.
Often times I have students in my classes who know they are great students because they are high...
September 2011
1 post
10 Years And Always Counting...
Today is 9.11.2011 and the Internet is full of activity around anniversary stories, American pride, and proclamations that we will never forget. I definitely appreciate all the sentiments and the camaraderie that Americans feel as they remember the event on the day of its anniversary. In many ways, however, September 11 as an event has defeated Americans. Immediately after the attacks, I had never...
August 2011
1 post
“Information society is the building block for knowledge societies. Whereas I see...”
– UNESCO definition for ‘knowledge society’
July 2011
2 posts
Camp Craze
One of the perks of being a teacher is summers off…a lovely time of the year where teachers decompress, vacation, turn off their brains, and just chill. Of course, none of these things are in my nature. This summer, I filled my schedule by adding a twist to my what I do during the school year. I taught and worked with slightly older students in camp settings.
I spent a month in Meadville,...
May 2011
3 posts
“Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever is not kind has no faith.”
– Prophet Muhammad (Thanks to my student FP!)
“Live amongst people in such a manner that if you die they weep over you and if...”
– Hazrat Ali (Thanks to my student FP!)
“One of the principles of Islam is that on his deathbed every person must try to...”
– His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan (Thanks to my student FP!)
March 2011
5 posts
“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable...”
– Rev. Martin Luther King via a postcard purchased by RM at the King Museum in Atlanta.
“The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for...”
– Rev. Martin Luther King via a postcard purchased by RM at the King Museum in Atlanta.
“One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right if the head is...”
– Rev. Martin Luther King via a postcard purchased by RM at the King Museum in Atlanta.
“Most people are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority...”
– Rev. Martin Luther King via a postcard purchased by RM at the King Museum in Atlanta.
“Science investigates; religion interprets.
Science gives man knowledge, which...”
– Rev. Martin Luther King via a postcard purchased by RM at the King Museum in Atlanta.
February 2011
1 post
“Never before in the history of textile has a piece of cloth caused so much...”
– (Mohamed Keshavjee re:hijab)
January 2011
1 post
In The Heart of Darkness
There are so many connotations to the word ‘Light’ and I explored this with my classes last year when we were deconstructing Surah Noor (Light) from the Qur’an. For example, light facilitates sight and what one sees assists in the development of a worldview. Sight contributes to a certain type of knowledge and understanding. Therefore, light signifies intellect or wisdom in some...
December 2010
1 post
Radiance
As my wedding approaches, though we are still 7 months away (thank goodness), more and more friends and acquaintances have begun to probe/ask/encourage a mindset that is needed to plan a wedding. I had coffee with my friend/part-time wedding planner Ashu and she gave me the best wedding advice thus far.
She emphasized that the kind of wedding that I will have will not be set by the decor and...
November 2010
4 posts
This Thanksgiving...
Each Thanksgiving, I try to reflect on the year and give thanks for the many gifts I have been blessed with.
This year, I give thanks for:
- The attempt to revive my intellectual pursuit: I have been able to take advantage of many learning opportunities that make me feel as though I just might be able to carry on the spark that was ignited within me in London
- My family: for being a large part...
What is Happiness and How Can I Pursue It?
I attended a conference at Emory University that was part of the Dalai Lama visit entitled Pursuit of Happiness: An Interreligious Perspective. While the Dalai Lama was not present at this particular event, key scholars and religious figures were representing what happiness means in the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist traditions.
I marveled at the similarities of these traditions but...
Albanian Muslims risk their own lives to save Jews... →
What if we lived in a world filled with hope and love? And acted on every hopeful and loving intention?
The 55 Funniest Signs From the Rally to Restore... →
Absolutely hilarious!
October 2010
1 post
I'm Marrying My Best Friend!
I realize that the announcement of my engagement is considered formal (now that it has been up on facebook for a few weeks) but I realized I hadn’t mentioned it at all on my blog. Seeing as this blog is a record of my life, my engagement would be an important event to include.
I feel very lucky to have fallen in love with my best friend- everything about him screams his unconditional love...
September 2010
5 posts
“American Muslims must understand the sources of this fear and must behave...”
– WashingtonPost
“A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a...”
– Aime Cesaire
Discourse on Civilization, 1989
“True destruction
of the Quran cannot be done with fire it is destroyed when we...”
– Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (Lupe Fiasco)
“The good deed and the evil deed are never equal. Repel the evil deed with...”
– [Qur’an 41:34]
“On September 11, 2001 terrorists hijacked my religion. May we remember those who...”
– Yours truly….from the heart. (Partly inspired by Kareem Salama’s music video, Land Called Paradise)
August 2010
2 posts
“We’ve reached the point in life where the people we want to be with most...”
– RK’s comment on ZS’s facebook photo…
Ramadan Mubarak
If you have known me for a while, you know that I have been fasting since the 7th grade during the month of Ramadan. At first, I started fasting because I felt obliged and was up for the challenge of abstinence from food during the days (and hoping the practice would better allow me to fit into my jeans). I found that participating in the fast really forced me to be reflective constantly- the...
July 2010
4 posts
GOOD LUCK AJ!!!
“In Sufism, eight qualities must be exercised. The Sufi has:
Liberality such as...”
– Shah 1990: 246 in Ahmed 1999: 51.
…These stories [stories to illustrate Sufism] are allegories, metaphors, stories within stories, and like the layers of an onion they require patience to peel; they sometimes end in tears… (Ahmed, 1999 p.51).
Was London Just a Dream?
I had breakfast today with my friend EM who is currently completing her first year in London- speaking with her made me really miss being surrounded by intellectuals constantly pondering and reading in search for knowledge…
I got home and checked my facebook and saw RP’s pictures from an IIS alumni conference in Dubai that my Eastern colleagues attended and then checked an email...
Mean Girls
It seems as though times have really changed…when I was growing up and attending middle and high school, there were definitely distinct friend circles…you had your cheerleaders and your jocks, your advanced placement students, and your involved-in-every-club people but I never felt such defined boundaries at any time during my career as a student.
I had lunch today with two of my...
June 2010
5 posts
Counting My Blessings...
I am ABSOLUTELY floored. My day today started off with complete pride in my students for their amazing performances and gallery pieces for their end of term assessment. The way that they were able to make connections and present their learning using such creative mediums for their parents and peers made me wonder what really can happen when you raise the bar.
Today I learned-
No matter how high...
May 2010
1 post
“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good...”
– Grabbed from NH’s facebook status- LOVE IT.
April 2010
2 posts
Houston- We Have a Problem
In the past few years, I think I have learned that I might suffer from a disease called commitment-phobia. I also feel that I have masked this diagnosis and called it ‘dedicated ambition’ that results in my ability to to pick up and move where opportunities take me.
My nomadic life began in London where I entered a liminal space, not really belonging here nor there. While this was a...
March 2010
1 post
A Turning Point
I am on a high.
I experienced today what I think most teachers live for. Today, my 8th grade class soared to new heights and exceeded all my expectations. In their self-regulated, self-facilitated discussion they:
- were respectful and inclusive of all their peers
- made such insightful connections that I felt that maybe I could learn a thing or two
- proved their potential to be amazing...
February 2010
3 posts
Being Reborn- Shantaram
I have been reading this book for a few weeks now and am absolutely enthralled by it. The author, Gregory David Roberts,has an incredible eloquence about him as he immerses himself in a new culture with new people and makes meaning of his life through his experiences. I am not done reading the book but this is the first time that I have marked up a novel by highlighting passages that have moved...
In Memory of Amin Virani
I haven’t blogged in quite some time- the turn of the year has already been challenging and I have in some ways been avoiding reflection for fear of it being too painful.
On December 24, 2009 my family and I laid to rest a man who had touched our lives in so many ways and most likely didn’t know it. My cousin, the oldest born boy on my dad’s side of the family that fulfilled my...
December 2009
6 posts
“To the faithful, no explanation is necessary. To the faithless, no explanation...”
– Unknown but stole this from my friend NL’s facebook status!
Snow in Texas- Revisiting Something I Take for...
It’s snowing in Houston- enough to cover treetops…
I went to class on Wednesday and my students could not stop talking about how it was supposed to snow this week. During break, they refreshed the weather page multiple times on their iPhones to make sure the forecast didn’t change. Yesterday, salt trucks were in the streets preparing for this event. MT was telling me that she...
