3.14159265359 and so on and so on. Pi, in its infinite glory, on Pi day – March 14 – 3-14. On this day the new Pope Francis is already making his mark on the Catholic world and the world at large, proving, as my friend and fellow Patheos Catholic Channel blogger Joanne K. McPortland says, that this is a “good day to think about all that is infinitely unrepeatable.” As I said in my post in February when Pope Benedict... Read more
A year ago CAIR-NY Civil Rights Manager Cyrus McGoldrick, who was conducting twice weekly “Know Your Rights” workshops in the New York Muslim community, reeled in shock – along with many other Muslim, civil rights and Arab-American activists – as the story broke of rampant Muslim profiling being done by the New York Police Department in the name of counterterrorism. Until then, McGoldrick (and others) had been teaching Muslim communities to forge trusting relationships with law enforcement, that “American laws... Read more
The bus is not coming today, and there will be no Wednesday afternoon swimming after school with the home therapist. He’s not venturing out to our home today. Eagerness to play outside as the winds blow and snow piles up? Anticipation of building a snowman and pelting his brother and sisters with snowballs, pulling out the sled and trying to slide down the front yard? Smashing snow in each other’s faces or down each other’s pants? Yeah, not so much.... Read more
It’s a conversation I remember vividly, last April, standing outside Lil D’s school after I had drove him to school and walked him to his classroom. A conversation I had with a mother of a fellow classmate about if public school was good for our children. Slowly, the routines we had been building for years and celebrating as a normal part of his day were dissipating. He was in his fifth and last year in his public school (in a... Read more
The summer of 2010 was one of the most challenging months I’ve endured in my career. I affectionately call it Ramadan boot camp, and let me tell you why. I was working as the website content coordinator for Islamic Relief USA, one of the largest charity organizations in the U.S. Our central office was in Northern Virginia, but I worked fulltime in a telecommuting position 1.5 hours away in my home. The telecommuting agreement came after back-and-forth negotiation. There were... Read more
Every morning the routine is the same – I get up about 30 minutes before the kids and get things ready. Lunches are put into backpacks, notes are written, breakfast is put on the counter (if I’m lucky), the cat is fed and Lil D’s iPad is taken off the charger, zipped into its case and put in his backpack. Oh that iPad. That electronic device that has grown its own personality in this house – Lil D’s sidekick; his... Read more
In Urdu there is a word called himaat, and the best I can explain it in English is to have courage, strength or fortitude — to have the wherewithal to do something otherwise difficult. Or simply put, to have himaat means to have nerve. Himaat is a popular Urdu word, used by elder women and tragic Bollywood heroines alike – meri himaat toot gai. (My courage is broken.) Or, meri ku himaat nay hai. (I don’t have the strength to... Read more
The kids came home from school today with the usual Valentine’s paraphernalia. We don’t “do” the holiday at home really. (Though husband I joke back and forth about it, our latest being riffs on this picture he saw on Facebook that you see to the right. You know — things like No Valentines! Talk to the hand!) Jokes aside, figuring out what to do with the kids when it comes to non-religious “holidays” (which often stem from some religious practice... Read more
Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation today. And I immediately thought two things – how busy and emotional a time this is going to be for Elizabeth Scalia, a fellow managing editor of the Catholic Channel at Patheos (and all the columnists, writers and bloggers on that channel), and is it even possible for a Pope to resign? Apparently it is, but it hasn’t been done in more than 600 years. As the news unfolds, opinions are voiced, speculations are... Read more
I am often stressed by the sheer number of decisions I make for Lil D; making educated guesses at what he wants, what he likes, what he needs, when he must follow through on a something or endure a situation, and when we should cut him some slack. What therapies we try, what treatments we pursue, which doctors we see and when we let things ride. Two articles I recently read have burrowed their way into my head, one from... Read more
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