I remember the first time I watched Kerri Strug’s one-leg vault, I felt sick to my stomach. The conversations around me were centered on how “brave” she had been. As a fellow teenager, I was terrified that she was encouraged to injure herself for the sake of Olympic gold. Why would her coach, who I… Read More What We Should Learn from Simone Biles: Redefining the “Gold Standard”
In the name of making the world—or, at the very least, our countries—a better place, I feel like we are caught in the middle of a fight between “anti” and “pro” everythings. And the more I look at it, the more I think that this line of thinking is the wrong one for two reasons. … Read More Quick Thoughts: To Build a Better World, Stop Asking Polarizing Questions
I have heard, from as far back as I can remember, that marriage is hard work. I always wondered how married people managed to have such full lives, especially after having children, if marriage was so much work. I had this conception of working on one’s marriage as being in a vacuum. Marriage is not… Read More Quick Thoughts: Marriage is Hard Work that Keeps on Giving to the Entire World
While it seems that things these days are pretty terrible, in many ways, they are not. There were protests in the 1960s and the 1990s, and I feel like each time, the topic of the elimination of racism was pushed, with great difficulty, at the forefront of people’s minds. There are again protests in 2020,… Read More The Simple Yet Arduous Work of an Anti-Racist
We made it! My husband, baby, and I have survived our little one’s first 24 months, “despite” being new parents! I say “survive” and “despite”, because according to most parents who gave us unsolicited advice when they found out we were pregnant, having a child marks the end of everything good in our lives. Seriously.… Read More Bringing New Parents Up Rather Than Bringing Them Down: Achieving the “Unachievable”
{ This post was written by my lovely and supremely talented friend, Shirin } The Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program is a Baha’i sponsored program for youth aged 11 to 15 years old aimed towards thinking about their inner lives and actions and how they can contribute to the betterment of their community through service… Read More Socially Engaged Art in Relation to The Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program { Guest Post }
The #metoo movement was quite intense, to say the least. I knew that the prevalence of harassment was high, but some unexpected people in my circle of friends came out with their own #metoo stories that had me shook. It has also been very hard on the men in my circle of friends, who have… Read More A Four Step Action Plan So That #metoo Can Become #neveragain
This week’s posts were written with the victims of school shootings in mind—from those who died to their families, including those who survived and will carry the trauma with them for a long time. I started off the week with a list of immediately actionable things that each one of us can do. I then… Read More It’s Not Just About School Shootings: The Broader Picture, and What We Can Do
Yesterday’s post was all about personal action that can be taken to eradicate gun violence. And while personal action is an essential part of the solution, so is engaging in the overall conversation about guns. None of us, as individuals, has the solution to this problem; but each one of us holds an important insight… Read More Barriers to Help The Weakest Links in our Communities
We all saw the news last week of yet another school shooting. I have to say that I am fed up that so many children and teenagers in the United States could, one day, be faced with a shooter in their own school. It shouldn’t happen, and yet it does. I remember going through safety… Read More Little Things We Can All Do to Create a Safe World (aka No More School Shootings)