The last few days have been. I feel completely and utterly wrung out, like I don’t want to do a single thing even when I’ve got tons of stuff to do. My nephew was with me last week. He was en route to a new job overseas. What a wonderful time we had together! But […]

I can’t believe how busy I am! My schedule as artist in library at Fairview is chugging along! Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to catch my breath before I need to begin a new program/project/presentation. But it’s fun! And the people I’m meeting might very well be teaching me more than I’m […]

What do you do when you get such a nice compliment that it kind of floors you? I spend a lot of time reminding myself to not take myself so darn seriously! And I am really fortunate that I have a family who keeps me grounded. I don’t want to ever become one of those […]

Apologies for the infrequency of my blog posts. This summer has been beyond hectic! And with all the work I’ve been doing, both writing, updating websites, preparing for conferences/workshops and preparing for Artist in Library residency that started today, well…things have been crazy. And blogging has not been a priority. I’m doing a workshop at […]

Last Saturday I was presenting at a one day workshop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called Muslim Journeys. It was a great opportunity and I had a wonderful time! It was well attended by educators from all over Wisconsin and even other states nearby! And one of the ladies exclaimed to me afterwards that she […]

Just warning  you, this will be a rambling post. One of my nieces (actually she’s my husband’s cousin’s daughter) just called me this afternoon, out of the blue, and excitedly thanked me for the Eid gift. She said she almost had tears in her eyes she was so happy with what I’d given her! This […]

Have to laugh at myself here. I should be working on the teacher guide for King for a Day, but instead, I’m writing about how I’m procrastinating on it. Got me to thinking of that hadith that I love so much. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Make use of five things before five […]

What a time it’s been! Part of me just wants to curl up into a ball and cry over what’s happening in Gaza! And yet with the end of Ramadan, and the beginning of Eid, and the big party I had planned, and all the presents and the food and the celebrating, that just wasn’t […]

So this year I went back to my favourite version of the Quran–the A. Yusuf Ali translation. It’s the translation I grew up with, with the Arabic Quran (the actual Quran is in Arabic–the English is always a translation!) on the right side of the page and the English translation with its attempts at Olde […]

We’re well into the last ten days of Ramadan, more like the last week of it in fact, and yup, I’m wondering where the month went! It flew right by! And now the work in earnest begins. Nobody knows the importance of tradition and celebrating your festivals as much as a kid growing up poor […]