Think Before You Give: IOs in Haiti Are Not Without Fault

The Onion recently published an article entitled “Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called ‘Haiti.’” I condescendingly chuckled at an initial glance but knew that I stood among the ignorant sympathizers the article targeted. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti was that country mentioned on flyers plastered across the dance school on Milton that I passed for three years on my walk to and from campus – flyers that decried the Canadian government’s presence in the country.

Bad Romance: Feminism and women of colour make an unhappy pair

Influenced by seventies empowerment classics, the Spice Girls, and my own experience as a veiled teenager vacillating between homogenous and diverse ethnic communities, the word “Woman” became a defining characteristic of my identity during my middle and high school years. While unaware of all the word’s connotations, I knew from a very young age that to be a woman is beyond breasts, Aunt Flows, and unmentionable monologues. Struggle is inherent to every woman’s life, regardless of her appearance, her location, her age, her past. I believed that to be a woman was not only to experience this struggle, but also to realize it, to embrace it, to fight.

How a Real Man Serenades a Woman

After a few random hours of joking around with my new roommate, I made my way over to bed around 1 am. Exhaustion was fresh and thriving throughout me, but I held on to whatever energy I had left so I could get some much needed Arabic revision. Classes were starting within a few weeks and all I had remembered to say was “La arif” or “I don’t know”.

Story of my academic life.

I Hate You, Potential Employers.

I’m feeling depressed. There is nausea. There is heartache. There is dryness in my throat. My nails are shorter.

And I know exactly why.

A Response: There Are Just No Good Muslim Women Out There

A good friend of mine recently forwarded an article my way with the intention of my eyes wandering down to the author’s bio and somehow marrying him. While a thoughtful gesture that I surely appreciated, I was more intrigued by the topic of the written piece; the title caught my attention immediately: There Are Just No Good Muslim Women Out There.

Well, you clearly haven’t met me Mr. Sitte.

Mad Men Hijab’d

I don’t care if the weren’t any stylin American muhajjibabes in the 1950s and 1960s ..I’m going to Mad Men Myself anyway.

Some Tips on Taking a Class on Middle East Politics

This past semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to TA a political science class on the Middle East. While an introductory ME class at the 300 level, intended for really anyone other than straight outta high school first years.

The following is a list of tips for those of you planning on taking any class on the ME. Some are general tips, applicable to any class, but these are primarily to help you not only pass any ME class but also not look like a bigot doing it. And yes, these are all based on actual experiences (minus one or two).

Miley Cyrus – A Conversation

Contrary to your ridiculous propaganda, Miley Cyrus, it is not a party in the USA. The country is in complete shambles thanks to a broken economy, escalated warfare, a president upon whom too much hope has been put, heightened racism and right-wing fundamentalism, and Tiger Woods’ fall from a the high moral mantle we, as loving fans, placed him upon. And go put a sweater on.

Love – A Conversation

Haddaway truly asked the question of our time: What is Love? He proceeded to attempt to answer it by requesting that his lover refrain from hurting him no more, implying that he was in love and was simultaneously being hurt. Thus love, in this discussion, becomes a form of pain.

At His Mercy

The fida’i in this story has captured an Israeli soldier, but is unable to kill him. He comes to realization that the Israeli is no longer an abstraction. That the Israeli is a live, breathing human being. And he reflects on the tragic situation which has fallen upon both of them. The “brief struggle” prior to 1948 versus the new reality of a new people living in and breathing the land that was once entirely his. The situation is not as clear and simple as he had envisioned it prior to having this man at his mercy.