My other|matters post today:
A paean to voluptuous women everywhere - myself included.
I came across this yesterday and though it’s anonymous, the words are a valuable reminder for me as I struggle with growing frustration with my state of health this year.
I started the year with a resolution that 2008 would be my year to “Be Strong,” especially physically. Free weights, healthy eating, challenging walks were all to be part of my daily routine and were to run concurrently with spiritual, emotional and mental striving for excellence.
Soon after the new year though, a stress fracture sidelined me for months, during which time I had two severe bouts of the flu along with increasing lower back pain due to my scoliosis and a degenerating disc.
Now, eleven weeks after my initial stress fracture diagnosis, my foot continues to swell daily. Today, I went to an orthopedist for a second opinion and he says I never had a stress fracture in the first place.
I’ve succumbed to some abbreviations in text messages, but all my other writing remains immaculately structured, written, and spell-checked. So when my paternal cousin, who is seventeen years younger than me, added me on Facebook recently, I was shocked at the “English” she left splattered across my Wall:
Cousin:
hey baji!hw r u?cute pic khekhekhe hope evrifinz f9….tc peace!
Baraka:
Hey honey, nice to see you here! Alhamdolillah all is well in San Francisco - how are things in Lahore? Give my salaams & love to your family!
Cousin:
hey sym er baji….finz r goin awryt….evri1z bz in xamz man….pray 4us!!!mom sa w/s n keep in tch!!khekhekhe…
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I truly fear for the future of literature…and the world.
I found this photo too fascinating not to share. I love perfume, but like many things that are easily obtainable in the marketplace, I rarely think about where they come from and the many hands that are needed to make every product I use.
Odors are up at the perfumery in Kelaa M’Gouna, Morocco, which pays this gentleman to toss rose petals in the air.
What do you and your loved ones taste like?
Share with me at other|matters.
Basil is off to the East Coast for Board duties, which means I can scurry down to visit my parents for the weekend. It’s always so wonderful to be pampered, have access to a tub (rather than our small shower stall), be fed delicious Amiji-cooked meals, and to converse in sweet Urdu.
I’m a complete wreck every time Basil travels though. My weepy, dramatic, Punjabi self clings and wonders if this is the last time we’re going to see each other.
I can’t help it, drama is embedded in my genetic code. Even now, almost six years after my marriage, my father still gets teary every time I leave his home with Basil, so much so that I can almost hear the strains of any number of sad babul songs begin to play.
And, I have to admit, I get teary-eyed myself each time too.
My aunts, even the happily married ones, still weep every time those songs play and the bride exits stage right toward a new and, perhaps, uncertain life. There’s a comfort and dependability about the parental home, the babul ka des, that fills many women’s heart with yearning for simpler times. And yet, many of us leave our homes with our partners, gladly and with hope, and, often, oceans away from those we love, who nurtured and formed us.
As much as I often long for childhood times, people, and places, I am where I need to be and chose to be. Believing that allows me to move forward on most days, but I can never quite stop looking back even as I step further away.
While I was sick I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and highly recommend it. It has deeply impacted my life. Reading about the industrial agriculture and meat industry made me reflect on how feasting on an increasingly unhealthy soil and upon the flesh of animals whose short lives passed in misery, filth, and fear affects each one of us.
There is no invocation or slit of the knife that can make that sort of suffering halal.
Pollan’s almost spiritually-infused sense of ecology and gratitude for the earth’s bounty has made me aware once more of God’s abundance and grace. I guarantee it will transform the way you interact with food - in a good way. Lest you fear (like Nerda did) that it will “turn you into a vegetarian”, let me just say that I think it will cause you to think more deeply about what you choose to take into yourself, to become a part of your flesh and bones.
After reading the book, I signed up for Capay Farms‘ local vegetables/fruit delivery and was very happy with the first box we got chock full of fresh (picked the day before), local family farm vegetables, fruits, herbs, and nuts. I’d never cooked fennel before, the asparagus was bursting with flavor, and those Nantes carrots were the carrotiest ones I’ve ever bitten into. I’ve also made a commitment to only eat grass-fed, pastured meat, which means it is expensive and will be a rare treat.
For a local farm near you selling produce or grass-fed, pastured meat check out Local Harvest and Eat Wild respectively and do read Pollan’s exquisite book!
Also, do read beautiful Umm Layth on the spirituality of feeding loved ones.
Have a beautiful weekend!
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Speaking of babul songs here’s another beautiful one used to promote awareness about intimate partner violence.
One of my favorite good-looking intellectuals, Noah Feldman (Why Sharia?), makes an appearance on The Colbert Report.
In related news, a “prominent scholar who happens to be Jewish makes the case for more Islamic sharia law in Muslim-majority states, while another distinguished legal scholar, a devout Muslim, argues that the best thing for those states, and for sharia, is to keep them separate.”
McCain’s removal of Arab-American Ali Jawad from his bus motivates The Daily Koz’s DHinMI to post a nuanced overview of Detroit and its Arab-American population.
The “optimistic Muslim” David Liepert prompts journalist Andrea Useem to believe that community transformation will come from orthodox Muslims. [HT: These four links brought to you by the cool cats at Talk Islam]
This is Where I Need to Be is a collection of oral histories by diverse Muslims living in NYC. You can buy a hard copy or download a PDF of the book for free here. [HT: Yasmine]
I had two bad bouts with the flu within the past three weeks and am still trying to catch up on my life.
In the meantime, more delectable reads:
just another angry black muslim woman? shares the story of Aqaba village, students imaging “whirled peace” and her thoughts on Palestine while living in the Middle East.
Goatmilk lands an exclusive with journalist Robert Fisk.
The Pakistani Spectator interviews our very own dear brother Irving of Darvish.
Mind.Body.Soul motivates our spiritual ambition.
No Impact Man thinks about living in gratitude instead of desire.
Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey on Christian rage and Muslim moderation.
And, Avari recommends The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, and says that the NYT, not Daniel Pipes, is the problem.
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