(This might be a hard read, since it is a direct response to the horrible, tragic passenger plane crash that happened in Karachi on May 22nd, 2020, and is informed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is sloppy, and messy, and emotional, and angry in ways that are perhaps unwarranted, but I can at least … Continue reading On resilience, again
Category: Observations
An overdue reflection
Increasingly, I find myself missing the Netherlands. If you talked to me at any point over the last year, you would have heard some variation of the following: "I don't really like traveling or going out of my comfort zone but..." and I know the part about not liking travel sounds weird but give this … Continue reading An overdue reflection
“I promise there’s a reason I’m flushing my hair!” and other superstitious concerns
"I can't help but feel that this is my fault." My best friends, my mother, and my therapist have all heard me say some variation of the above sentence. This tends to be in response to some kind of bad news, and no matter how much physical distance is between the epicenter of the bad … Continue reading “I promise there’s a reason I’m flushing my hair!” and other superstitious concerns
Somewhere between Pakistan and America, you’ll find my discomfit heart
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
Max Weber should have lied
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
Dormant anger in the postmodern era and a music review
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
The old Lie
I imagine the hardest part of living through a war is not being able to see the enemy as anything but just that; an enemy. I imagine the other hardest part of living through a war is realizing you had no stake in it until your way of living was turned into a small pile … Continue reading The old Lie
In defense of the fantastic
I will be the first to admit that I read fiction far more than I read non-fiction*. In her fairly successful attempt to make sure her children turned out to be fluent in English, my mother filled every bookshelf I ever had with books either bought firsthand, secondhand, or passed down from her own childhood. … Continue reading In defense of the fantastic
Long note: honest despair
I realize my last few blog posts have been a little more depressing than I usually put out. I try and imbue optimism in everything I write, because there's enough sadness going around without me adding to it. And yet, here I am. I forced myself to take a social media hiatus after some encouragement … Continue reading Long note: honest despair
bee-stung tongue
But sometimes your tongue is so laden with all the ways you can phrase a sentence that you end up swollen and heavy-jowled, and all that comes from your lips are disjointed words interjected with hesitation and insecurity. You sit down, red, and pretend you aren't being stared at by people who're wondering what the hell you're doing there; you pretend you aren't pretending those people are staring at you because it's much easier to displace the responsibility of criticism than admit you hate some aspect of your identity.
