SamIAm

I still remember; after not being able to put the book down, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi had left me in a mental and emotional funk. One of the things that had me mesmerized was his carnivorous island. The strange island, where “meekness rules” and the wildness in you is made to …

Palestine is hard to talk about – its recent history frustratingly arduous to track with all the failed peace initiatives, ceasefires and UN resolutions. It seems to be stuck in an endless video loop. And many of us have watched this on screen our whole lives. Smoke. Fire. Dead children. …

  I loved the new X-Men movie. So when the generalized chatter about the other superhero movie in theaters ran in the direction of pleasant surprise and praise, I snuck out of the house late last night to catch The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on the big screen (don’t judge — …

Her voice is like glass. It has the clink and tingle of something fine and delicate. Even her hesitation before saying something she had to wring out of the past is like a muffled chime. I can tell just by listening to her, Alia is beautiful. When she was twelve, …

They say : This liberates you? I want to known for my intellect and not for how short my skirt is …communication barrier… BEHOLDEN I don’t want to be just another rape statistic …status of women is decreasing… …Western women as sex object… …honors me, protects me, it tells me …

Sometimes a news article doesn’t come close to the startling insights and drama of the responses it elicits. The recent Arab news piece on the surveillance of Saudi women gives us the best of both worlds — objective news reporting with a smattering of yellow journalism woven into the comments. …

I watched the Maryam Namazie interview with the lady who was defending gender segregation. It is intriguing how she made MSA events look like feminist projects that will end up being abandoned because of the “Separate is never equal” movement. According to her line of reasoning, muslim women can only …

A case study by universities in the UK has sparked opposition and a good deal of attention in social media sites. It explores gender segregation as a practice to accommodate speakers from ultra conservative religious groups. People are rightfully upset. I have been to a bunch of MSA events on campus and …

This is not a post on parenting per se but I am discovering how any and every thing can be linked to the shrill cry – “but think of the children”. You will not, however, have to deal with an appeal to emotion or an illogical argument. In a recent …

I happen to scroll up the chat window, to the very first message my friend had sent me in 2009 and it started like so — Assalam aleikum wa ramatullahi wa baraktuh, I hope you, (husband), and the kiddos are doing well. My best wishes and congrats on the new …