“Follow your passion,” they say
I have decided to approach writing not as a profession, but as a tool.
Somebody that I used to know
I'm writing an author Q&A with Arsalan Iftikhar (The Muslim Guy) on the occasion of the release of his new book, Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies and Threatens Our Freedoms. He writes about becoming the Muslim Guy shortly after September 11, 2001.
Swimming to Palestine
Rummaging through a wonderful cardboard box full of family memorabilia, I came across a series of letters my grandmother wrote in researching for her brother David Diamond‘s biography, which she never wrote. I would love to reconstruct what she might have written. I have a box full of material related to Uncle David and my grandmother. My book contains a […]
Happy Chrismukkah!
Actually I never heard the term Chrismukkah until today, when I searched for a good hashtag for Tweeting my latest Gray Matters article, Christmas for non-Christians. It’s interesting that I have used my feelings about family Christmases in so many genres with such different approaches. I will probably never publish the essay from my MFA thesis, in which I express […]
Trump, Trumping, Trumpet etc.
I have been trying to avoid the many puns that could be used with Donald Trump’s name, so far successfully. I have Tweeted dozens of messages about him to the point that I’ve had to review my Twitter feed and delete some Tweets just for the sake of cleaning it up. Yes, I am obsessed with him, but I will […]
Comments are zero
It took me a while to get back to The Straight Path, my blog on the Houston Chronicle’s site, but I have recently written some posts, most recently this one. It is so different now because access is so indirect and commenters are required to sign up for a chron.com account. I posted that piece yesterday and still have gotten no comments. Basically it’s a good platform for me to post short articles. Way back when the site facilitated comments – comments which I controlled – it was a great way for having dialogue about issues related to Islam and Muslims. No more. Anyway, please read my commentary on the San Bernardino tragedy.
Night and day
For years I was a morning person. Back in the early 2000s I routinely – and deliberately – woke at 4:30 a.m. each day. That still time of day/night stimulated clarity of mind and gave me time to rev up my brain for the day ahead – as opposed to slogging through a first cup of coffee during my first tired, groggy, lazy hour of a day that was never as productive as it could have been. Over the past year or so I have reversed and become a night person. I wake up at 6:00 or 7:00 feeling confused and gross. It takes me a long time to get going, but when the evening comes my brain kicks into gear and I feel energetic through 1:00 am or so. I need to switch back to being a morning person. Early rising is actually an Islamic practice, as productivity guru Productive Muslim explains in a post about developing a morning routine. I love Productive Muslim but just can’t follow his advice. It’s laziness, isn’t it? I’ve tried to come up with reasons why some of us are night people and some morning people, but undoubtedly starting your day early – before dawn, even – is the natural way to go. I just have to figure out how to break through that morning fogginess, perhaps with a promise of an afternoon catnap, and get back to a day that starts with a […]
