I have always been hyper-aware of my ambition, to the point that I am constantly appraising myself vis a vis others' accomplishments. I wish I could say with confidence that it is benign appreciation, and a desire to better myself. I've recently started accepting it for what COULD be: envy, a truly exhausting emotion to … Continue reading Short Note: Isolation Abroad
I was not excited for this Eid. For all that I was grateful to have relatives nearby in the Netherlands, I really felt the absence of all that was familiar to me. My first Eid in Boston had its bitterness undercut with new friends, an Islamic community to go to the Masjid with, and options … Continue reading Short note: Eid blues and how to fix them
A short note spurred by some mixed emotions over the 70th year of my country's independence and the tumult in Charlottesville this past weekend, as well as the rather political music of The Cranberries. I've often struggled with my not-quite diasporic identity and have written about it ad nauseum in the past 7 years of … Continue reading Somewhere between Pakistan and America, you’ll find my discomfit heart
I've written pretty extensively about my horror, anger, and fear at the American attempts at a Muslim ban and its various iterations. But aside from the practical shortcomings and moral depravity of such an attempt, there was always another layer of outrage towards it: How the hell can they make the visa process any harder … Continue reading Max Weber should have lied
UPDATE: A few weeks after this post, I did, in fact, get ten inches shorn off my hair and donated to a good cause. I cried a significant amount of tears and went through a brief, frantic existential crisis, but it's been a few months and my hair is steadily growing back. One of my … Continue reading Hair, or how this blog post turned out to be longer than I expected. Like my hair.
At some point I need to admit to myself that there are so many articles about music I can get published before people start getting annoyed at me. I'm no music critic; I'm not even an upstart music industry/related field major - I'm just an upstart politics student whose entire conception of life is framed … Continue reading DAMN., Goddamn.
Of the many good qualities imbued in me by my father, one of my favorite ones is the love for fashion he inspired in me. I loved fashion even before my appearance reflected it, to the point that I seriously considered studying Political Science at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, because, "Can … Continue reading My internal politics of dress
The thing about bombings and terrorist attacks is that, after a little while, it’s too easy to divorce an atrocity from the monotony of the day. The horror sits heavy on your skin like a too-thick cocoa-butter moisturizer, and it’s hard to let it sink in. But, with enough time and distraction, you get used … Continue reading The day of and those after
I started bullet journaling over winter break. It has been one of the better decisions I have made in the past few years, and I've seen the direct results of embarking on this organizational journey in my day-to-day life. I'm less anxious, more organized, I remember both short-term and long-term goals; the act of putting … Continue reading On discipline, or how I’m learning to stop self-flagellating
There are days - more realistically, nights - where I'm so overcome by my own sudden, built-up anger that I don't know what to do with myself. It'll come entirely out of left-field, usually while I'm working, maybe triggered by a lyric in a song or something I read. Right now I'm reading about the … Continue reading Dormant anger in the postmodern era and a music review
Neiha Lasharie 