I think the last time I wrote was Saturday. On Saturday I went to madressah in the morning and talked with the Grade 10 class. Carol showed me Ikea and we played Around the World basketball with her sons and walked in the afternoon. Then Fatema came to get me and took me to a dinner put on by a Sunni women's group. The speaker was really good - her name is Merve Kavakci, she is the Turkish lady who got kicked out of Turkish parliament for wearing hijab. She is a professor in D.C. at Georgetown University now. She comes across as very very well educated, very sharp. She spoke about the politics and hijab issue in Turkey.
Yesterday I was with Fatema Zahra's family and we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Ambelside Park. It was a beautiful day. Capilano has a series of suspension bridges to cross and is set up in tourist trap style but it was very nice. I enjoyed even more Ambelside Park. It is on the beach in West Vancouver. We had a barbecue there, watched some baseball, climbed trees, looked the skate park, played in the sand and just had a nice time. We saw a sea otter in the water about 30ft from shore. There were some men catching smelt using nets of some kind from the beach. A light breeze was blowing and it was very fun and peaceful.
In the evening we had Kushali for 11th Imam (as) at the masjid. It made for another late night but it was of course also nice. Today I am at Taki Uncle's house relaxing. Fatema asked me to prepare a speech of some kind for a group on Wednesday so I need to work on that shortly.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Saturday, May 29, 2004
It's Saturday
Checking in again. Yesterday I dropped off the travel bug at Richmond Nature Park - a bog. It was wet and the trail just wound around and around. But eventually I found it. Then we went for Juma prayer and then I got to drive in Canada - I took Br. Taki and his family down to Whiterock to visit a lady in the hospital. Then I had halal friend chicken for dinner and now I am at Sr. Carol's house. In a bit we are going to Madrassah; Shaykh asked me to stop at grade 10.
Oh - cool thing. There is a bald eagle's nest a few blocks from the mosque - right over the road in a big tree, and you can see the eagle sitting on th branch. Awesome.
Oh - cool thing. There is a bald eagle's nest a few blocks from the mosque - right over the road in a big tree, and you can see the eagle sitting on th branch. Awesome.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Checking In
Hello everyone, Asalaam Alaaykum!
I am in Richmond B.C. and Fatema Zahra's house right now. They are always great hosts. Yesterday I visited their Shia Islamic school that goes to grade 2 right now. We went to mosque in the evening and it is the nicest mosque I've ever been in, alhumdooleluh.
No pictures, I haven't taken any.
I am in Richmond B.C. and Fatema Zahra's house right now. They are always great hosts. Yesterday I visited their Shia Islamic school that goes to grade 2 right now. We went to mosque in the evening and it is the nicest mosque I've ever been in, alhumdooleluh.
No pictures, I haven't taken any.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Fi Amanillah! Adieu! Adios! Auf Wiedersehen! Ciao! Sayonara! Khuda Hafiz!
Well, in about 3-4 hours I should be off to the airport. This is my destination.
I am scheduled to return to Otowi the afternoon of June 3, so I will try to blog then. In the mean time, I hope all of us stay safe, healthy, sane, and happy!
I am scheduled to return to Otowi the afternoon of June 3, so I will try to blog then. In the mean time, I hope all of us stay safe, healthy, sane, and happy!
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
I picked up Quackers
I went and picked up Quackers the Travel Bug from the new Duck Outta Water cache today. I am hoping to leave her in Canada.
Okay, now I seriously need to write that grad school paper!
Okay, now I seriously need to write that grad school paper!
Monday, May 24, 2004
Buying
I bought a $650 fridge and a $350 mattress today to be delivered upon my return from Vancouver, insha'allah. Big purchases scare me a bit as I almost never do it and always hope I can really afford it. But I'm looking forward to having the stuff as I pretty much did need them. The other big ticket items I "need" are a sofa and a new driveway with covered parking (hopefully); those will have to wait for now.
My niece Haily hung out with me today - went up to school to pick up my overtime pay form for one of the trainings I have to do in a few weeks, then went and picked up the books the bookstore didn't take for trade, had a spare set of keys made so Haily can watch my birds and Leo while I'm away, and made the purchases I just mentioned as well as socks and underwear. Never can have too much of those!
Then Laura, Haily and I did a geocache. It was up on Fountain Creek near the Skate Park in Stratmoor. It was hid well! It was a dumpy tool box with dumpy tools but we had fun finding it. Carol, do you think we could find some caches in Vancouver, maybe?
The Geocaching Website shows all the caches; I couldn't figure out which ones might be in the right places that we could actually go to them. I tried to see if there were any in Stanley Park, but I couldn't find any.
Tomorrow I have to pack and write a graduate school paper and clean up the house a bit. I have to be at the airport around 2pm on Wednesday. Needless to say, while I am away I don't think I'll be blogging until I get back June 3.
My niece Haily hung out with me today - went up to school to pick up my overtime pay form for one of the trainings I have to do in a few weeks, then went and picked up the books the bookstore didn't take for trade, had a spare set of keys made so Haily can watch my birds and Leo while I'm away, and made the purchases I just mentioned as well as socks and underwear. Never can have too much of those!
Then Laura, Haily and I did a geocache. It was up on Fountain Creek near the Skate Park in Stratmoor. It was hid well! It was a dumpy tool box with dumpy tools but we had fun finding it. Carol, do you think we could find some caches in Vancouver, maybe?
The Geocaching Website shows all the caches; I couldn't figure out which ones might be in the right places that we could actually go to them. I tried to see if there were any in Stanley Park, but I couldn't find any.
Tomorrow I have to pack and write a graduate school paper and clean up the house a bit. I have to be at the airport around 2pm on Wednesday. Needless to say, while I am away I don't think I'll be blogging until I get back June 3.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
X Marks The Spot
Both caches have been found this weekend; that's cool. The Buttered Popcorn one seems to be hard to find; we thought it might be when we hid it. Renee, what is FTF that the guy wrote in the log? The other one has been found at least twice. This is fun.
Happy Birthday Leila (tomorrow)! Thanks for inviting me up for the gathering.
I am busy thinking of what I need to do to leave on Wednesday for Canada - packing, taking care of the house and pets, etc. Yesterday I cleaned out some books and traded them downtown for about $250 worth of credit. I like that better than the library; I like to own books, not just borrow them. And then when I don't want them anymore, I can trade them.
Happy Birthday Leila (tomorrow)! Thanks for inviting me up for the gathering.
I am busy thinking of what I need to do to leave on Wednesday for Canada - packing, taking care of the house and pets, etc. Yesterday I cleaned out some books and traded them downtown for about $250 worth of credit. I like that better than the library; I like to own books, not just borrow them. And then when I don't want them anymore, I can trade them.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Check out the Caches
Sister Soljah and I planted two geocaches last weekend.
They are both officially approved; hopefully someone will go find them this weekend. If someone does, I'll probably let you know in the blog. But maybe you'll want to go find them for yourself; you can borrow my gps if you want to. Or I can go with you and pretend I don't know where they are. :)
Buttered Popcorn Cache
Bluestem Prairie Dog Cache
They are both officially approved; hopefully someone will go find them this weekend. If someone does, I'll probably let you know in the blog. But maybe you'll want to go find them for yourself; you can borrow my gps if you want to. Or I can go with you and pretend I don't know where they are. :)
Buttered Popcorn Cache
Bluestem Prairie Dog Cache
School's Out!
They finished their finals and I graded them all. Then I waited for the LTE to put the virus patch on my computer so I could record the grades. Then I ran around the building getting signatures to show I did all the end-of-year stuff - returning library stuff, signing off on keys, turning in grades, putting books away and turning in obligation cards and unplugging and hiding stuff.
The evil eye did I receive for finishing before other teachers. I must be a slacker, how could I be finished already! What did I do, give Scantron tests? (No. I must just be efficient and organized. ;) ) A few students came by querying about their grades. "Did we pass, Ms. Beatty? Or did we get an F?" With relief they left or with plans for summer school.
Now for better or worse the days are more free. Maybe there will be time to get bored or find cool things to do to not get bored. Or uncool things to do to prepare for the next school year. Lots of meetings and trainings and conferences and still grad school but now maybe I can watch 9pm TV re-runs without falling asleep. And I have a big Netflix queue to catch up on. And geocaching to do, perhaps.
Happy Summer Vacation
The evil eye did I receive for finishing before other teachers. I must be a slacker, how could I be finished already! What did I do, give Scantron tests? (No. I must just be efficient and organized. ;) ) A few students came by querying about their grades. "Did we pass, Ms. Beatty? Or did we get an F?" With relief they left or with plans for summer school.
Now for better or worse the days are more free. Maybe there will be time to get bored or find cool things to do to not get bored. Or uncool things to do to prepare for the next school year. Lots of meetings and trainings and conferences and still grad school but now maybe I can watch 9pm TV re-runs without falling asleep. And I have a big Netflix queue to catch up on. And geocaching to do, perhaps.
Happy Summer Vacation
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Spanish
Javier Orobio has finished long ago the translation of my book into spanish and today he let me know that 3000 copies are printed and already being distributed around the Americas, alhumdooleluh.
Try your hand at Islamic Spanish. :)
Today we had a potlatch staff lunch. There was a fair amount of humorous roasting going on, so it was a fun afternoon. They give out awards like "foot in mouth" for the person who says the stupidest thing during the year and the "plastic knuckle" for people with attitude problems, etc. (referring to giving the finger because you have a plastic knuckle and can't bend it.)
Although I really like endings and fresh starts, I don't feel so tired at the end of this year as I often have; I feel I could keep going right now. But I am looking forward to doing summer things.
P.S. does the linky code work?
Try your hand at Islamic Spanish. :)
Today we had a potlatch staff lunch. There was a fair amount of humorous roasting going on, so it was a fun afternoon. They give out awards like "foot in mouth" for the person who says the stupidest thing during the year and the "plastic knuckle" for people with attitude problems, etc. (referring to giving the finger because you have a plastic knuckle and can't bend it.)
Although I really like endings and fresh starts, I don't feel so tired at the end of this year as I often have; I feel I could keep going right now. But I am looking forward to doing summer things.
P.S. does the linky code work?
Sunken Treasure (More about Prospect Lake)
Sunken treasure
By ANDREA BROWN - THE GAZETTE
The draining of Prospect Lake has brought out a lot of treasure seekers with metal detectors, including Orlin “Swede” Knutson.
This week, Knutson hit pay dirt.
The retired electrician found a wedding ring missing in the lake for 39 years.
“It’s a total miracle,” said Carolyn Case-Greening, 59, as she was reunited Wednesday with the gold band worn by her late husband, Jack Case.
He lost the ring while water-skiing in the lake in 1965, before their first wedding anniversary. It became even more of a loss after Case died in a plane crash in 1989.
“He’s up there in heaven, happy it is found,” Case-Greening said Wednesday, rubbing the heavy gold band inscribed with both their initials. “He’s out of hot water.”
Case-Greening decided to call Knutson last week after seeing his picture with a Gazette story about discoveries in the lake, such as a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle with the keys still in the ignition.
A car is a lot easier to find than a ring on the bottom of a 50-acre lake, but she said she was inspired by a higher power to contact Knutson in the hope he or a fellow prospector might come across the ring.
“The Lord told me to call him and put in a description,” she said. “It’s a needle in a haystack after 39 years.”
While her signal came from above, Knutson’s came from below.
Under about 8 inches of wet sand, to be exact.
“You get a good signal and you dig it. You don’t know what it is,” he said.
He didn’t know he had found the missing ring until he got home from his expedition Monday and saw the shiny band among his usual haul of fishing lures and rusty sinkers.
Then it clicked. He remembered the phone message his wife jotted down from Case-Greening a few days earlier describing the ring.
“What are the odds of finding a certain ring?” said Knutson, 67, who has scoured the ground with a metal detector since the late 1960s.
“Then I looked at the sheet of paper with the message.”
It was a match.
Case-Greening said she and Jack were newlyweds struggling to make ends meet when he lost the ring.
“I hadn’t wanted him to go water skiing that day. I had a bad feeling about it, but he went anyway,” she said. “When he came home he was just pale and sick looking. I said, ‘What’s wrong? Who died? What happened?’ He said, ‘I lost my wedding ring.’ He was an auto mechanic and I was in nursing school and we didn’t have much money.”
They bought another ring and started raising a family. Through the years, “We’d laugh about him losing his ring,” she said. “But he felt bad about it all his life.”
His life ended 15 years ago.
“He was killed in the United Flight 232 that crashed in Sioux City, Iowa, the big one that was going from Denver to Chicago, in July of 1989,” she said.
Crash investigators retrieved Case’s second wedding ring for her.
Case-Greening has since remarried. Wednesday, she brought along a framed blackand-white photograph from her first wedding to show Knutson.
“The ring is a wonderful anniversary present,” she told him. “November would have been 40 years of marriage.”
She gave Knutson a metallic “Thank-you” balloon and a gift certificate for a steak dinner.
Finding the cherished ring was reward enough for Knutson.
“The life of a detector isn’t that glamorous. We find a lot of junk,” said Bob DeWitt, president of Pikes Peak Adventure League. “People call us treasure hunters. This is a treasure.”
By ANDREA BROWN - THE GAZETTE
The draining of Prospect Lake has brought out a lot of treasure seekers with metal detectors, including Orlin “Swede” Knutson.
This week, Knutson hit pay dirt.
The retired electrician found a wedding ring missing in the lake for 39 years.
“It’s a total miracle,” said Carolyn Case-Greening, 59, as she was reunited Wednesday with the gold band worn by her late husband, Jack Case.
He lost the ring while water-skiing in the lake in 1965, before their first wedding anniversary. It became even more of a loss after Case died in a plane crash in 1989.
“He’s up there in heaven, happy it is found,” Case-Greening said Wednesday, rubbing the heavy gold band inscribed with both their initials. “He’s out of hot water.”
Case-Greening decided to call Knutson last week after seeing his picture with a Gazette story about discoveries in the lake, such as a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle with the keys still in the ignition.
A car is a lot easier to find than a ring on the bottom of a 50-acre lake, but she said she was inspired by a higher power to contact Knutson in the hope he or a fellow prospector might come across the ring.
“The Lord told me to call him and put in a description,” she said. “It’s a needle in a haystack after 39 years.”
While her signal came from above, Knutson’s came from below.
Under about 8 inches of wet sand, to be exact.
“You get a good signal and you dig it. You don’t know what it is,” he said.
He didn’t know he had found the missing ring until he got home from his expedition Monday and saw the shiny band among his usual haul of fishing lures and rusty sinkers.
Then it clicked. He remembered the phone message his wife jotted down from Case-Greening a few days earlier describing the ring.
“What are the odds of finding a certain ring?” said Knutson, 67, who has scoured the ground with a metal detector since the late 1960s.
“Then I looked at the sheet of paper with the message.”
It was a match.
Case-Greening said she and Jack were newlyweds struggling to make ends meet when he lost the ring.
“I hadn’t wanted him to go water skiing that day. I had a bad feeling about it, but he went anyway,” she said. “When he came home he was just pale and sick looking. I said, ‘What’s wrong? Who died? What happened?’ He said, ‘I lost my wedding ring.’ He was an auto mechanic and I was in nursing school and we didn’t have much money.”
They bought another ring and started raising a family. Through the years, “We’d laugh about him losing his ring,” she said. “But he felt bad about it all his life.”
His life ended 15 years ago.
“He was killed in the United Flight 232 that crashed in Sioux City, Iowa, the big one that was going from Denver to Chicago, in July of 1989,” she said.
Crash investigators retrieved Case’s second wedding ring for her.
Case-Greening has since remarried. Wednesday, she brought along a framed blackand-white photograph from her first wedding to show Knutson.
“The ring is a wonderful anniversary present,” she told him. “November would have been 40 years of marriage.”
She gave Knutson a metallic “Thank-you” balloon and a gift certificate for a steak dinner.
Finding the cherished ring was reward enough for Knutson.
“The life of a detector isn’t that glamorous. We find a lot of junk,” said Bob DeWitt, president of Pikes Peak Adventure League. “People call us treasure hunters. This is a treasure.”
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Graduation
Today we held the Coronado graduation at the World Arena. It was nice. I've moved up in the world; this year, instead of sitting in the staff seating I got to sit as an escort with the seniors. I remember somewhat how I felt at my high school graduation. I had to give a speech and I was quite nervous about that. And I remember feeling a mix of fear and joy together - a lot of possibilities lay ahead and also a lot of change and uncertainty. My college graduation wasn't as big a deal to me. By that time, I was ready to be finished with school for awhile and do something less selfish than going to school all the time. I was ready to actually do something with my education. But I remember not feeling as hopeful about the future by the time I graduated college; by that time, lots of doors have closed by the choices made, and one's path has become a lot more narrow. I hope all my students go on to bright futures even though I know some of them won't; some of them will be in graves shortly, others will be in unhappy marriages and other problems. Maybe, though, for one or two them, something that a teacher said or did will help them out. Maybe even something I said or did, although I'll probably never know. I feel a little sad seeing some students I really like and care about going on their ways because I'll likely never know what happens to them. And I think that I sometimes don't let my students know how much I care about them; I am not a gushy teacher. These students I've had for two years; wait until it comes to those I've known all four years. That is, if I am still here at Coronado in four years. Right now I love Coronado, but sometimes life takes you in new directions.
My friend Laura is unhappy with me for not mentioning some of the things we've done together lately in the blog. Last weekend we went to P.F. Chang's for lunch with her husband. I'm not a big fan of Chinese food, but she brought me there once before and I have to admit it is good food there. Afterwards we played with the animals at the Pet Ranch on Powers and went to Goodwill. I found a Tony Hillerman book (I'm really into his books lately, they're very very good), and an AbRoller thingy. Each for about $2. The AbRoller is a good workout and is fun, I was pleasantly surprised. I think I mentioned before that Laura is my workout buddy at Curves and once in awhile we do a sleep over here and watch movies. She has keys to my house. So if you want in, I guess you should talk to her.
I got home early as we were not officially required to go back to school after the graduation ceremony. Given the ten-hour time difference, it seemed a good time to call M. We had made plans to discuss the direction of the future after I get back from Vancouver. I tried to get some idea of what that is going to be like but he didn't want to discuss it until after I get back. He said he's doing Scuba Diving now; sounds like fun. I'm actually feeling nervous about going to Vancouver a bit. I haven't seen the people there in a few years and I always worry that I'll disappoint or be a burden guest, you know? I feel like I was held up as a star pupil of the Vancouver School of Shiaism back in the day (no, it is not a real place) but I don't feel very lustrous anymore, if I ever was.
I am sitting on the fence about taqlid and have been a long time. I started out following Seestani as everyone I knew did. But I've basically made a transition away to Fadlullah although I have never declared it publically. What I am actually doing in practice, it seems, is doing what I always did on most things but on some things I am specifically following Fadlullah with the assumption that on the other things there is little or no difference in the rulings. I have a lot of personal reasons for the change, but in a way it feels bad simply because Fadlullah is more permissive on many things that actually matter to me, so it kind of feels like taking a step down. On the other hand, sometimes it feels like a relief. I must say that I do understand and relate to Fadlullah more based on what I can read in English.
I have another graduate school paper due tonight that I hope to convince myself to start shortly. So, I guess that's all here for now.
My friend Laura is unhappy with me for not mentioning some of the things we've done together lately in the blog. Last weekend we went to P.F. Chang's for lunch with her husband. I'm not a big fan of Chinese food, but she brought me there once before and I have to admit it is good food there. Afterwards we played with the animals at the Pet Ranch on Powers and went to Goodwill. I found a Tony Hillerman book (I'm really into his books lately, they're very very good), and an AbRoller thingy. Each for about $2. The AbRoller is a good workout and is fun, I was pleasantly surprised. I think I mentioned before that Laura is my workout buddy at Curves and once in awhile we do a sleep over here and watch movies. She has keys to my house. So if you want in, I guess you should talk to her.
I got home early as we were not officially required to go back to school after the graduation ceremony. Given the ten-hour time difference, it seemed a good time to call M. We had made plans to discuss the direction of the future after I get back from Vancouver. I tried to get some idea of what that is going to be like but he didn't want to discuss it until after I get back. He said he's doing Scuba Diving now; sounds like fun. I'm actually feeling nervous about going to Vancouver a bit. I haven't seen the people there in a few years and I always worry that I'll disappoint or be a burden guest, you know? I feel like I was held up as a star pupil of the Vancouver School of Shiaism back in the day (no, it is not a real place) but I don't feel very lustrous anymore, if I ever was.
I am sitting on the fence about taqlid and have been a long time. I started out following Seestani as everyone I knew did. But I've basically made a transition away to Fadlullah although I have never declared it publically. What I am actually doing in practice, it seems, is doing what I always did on most things but on some things I am specifically following Fadlullah with the assumption that on the other things there is little or no difference in the rulings. I have a lot of personal reasons for the change, but in a way it feels bad simply because Fadlullah is more permissive on many things that actually matter to me, so it kind of feels like taking a step down. On the other hand, sometimes it feels like a relief. I must say that I do understand and relate to Fadlullah more based on what I can read in English.
I have another graduate school paper due tonight that I hope to convince myself to start shortly. So, I guess that's all here for now.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Finals
I had a student fail by just a few percent today and she is bugging me to change her grade or let her turn in late work, etc. I am not inclined to be lenient in this case because she is in an extra help class in which she chose to do nothing all semester and she didn't even turn in her final review or late work on the deadline for it (last Friday). I feel bad because she was close, but it didn't seem important enough to her earlier to do something about it when she had the opportunity. Plus I think she has little understanding of the material she was supposed to learn. I am encouraging her to do summer school and she seems a little happier about that than repeating it next year. I hate this part of teaching.
I got my classroom computer back today and am very very happy about that! It broke down the middle of last week. These things are only a year old and we are on an 11-year tech renewal plan - i.e. they are supposed to be what we're using until 2013 if you can imagine that. All my little personalizations are gone, of course, but I am working on putting them back up. I have to go through a back door to do it because we are denied access to make any changes to our drives - we can't even change the time or volume on these machines - only admin passwords have privileges enough to do that. But, we have external drives on the network where we can store stuff, so I can put background pictures and what not there and still run them. They don't advertise that because they don't want us to do it, but so far they aren't stopping us. Anyway, I am glad it is back so I can enter grades and stuff in my classroom instead of having to go to the math office where there are a few computers shared - it is just less convenient carting everything around and scheduling your computer time around other teachers during finals week.
I got my classroom computer back today and am very very happy about that! It broke down the middle of last week. These things are only a year old and we are on an 11-year tech renewal plan - i.e. they are supposed to be what we're using until 2013 if you can imagine that. All my little personalizations are gone, of course, but I am working on putting them back up. I have to go through a back door to do it because we are denied access to make any changes to our drives - we can't even change the time or volume on these machines - only admin passwords have privileges enough to do that. But, we have external drives on the network where we can store stuff, so I can put background pictures and what not there and still run them. They don't advertise that because they don't want us to do it, but so far they aren't stopping us. Anyway, I am glad it is back so I can enter grades and stuff in my classroom instead of having to go to the math office where there are a few computers shared - it is just less convenient carting everything around and scheduling your computer time around other teachers during finals week.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Caches R Us
Sister Soljah came down yesterday and we placed two geocaches. It was tons of fun buying stuff to stock them and then going out and deciding where to hide them. Beautiful day for walking. We also found a cache - it was in the coolest big dead tree. Then we watched Zoolander, one of my favorite stupid movies. I will miss her when she moves.
The morning was cool, too - mom and I went to the annual Horticultural Society's plant sale and to the Good Earth nursery and bought some plants and I planted them. I am really excited about the Spanish Gold Broom I bought, I haven't wanted some for awhile and I hope I can keep it alive and have it really take off. It is a deserty pseudo-evergreen high altitude shrub that gets yellow flowers in spring. It can get big - up to 6 feet wide and four feet tall, which is exactly what I want mine to do.
I have two big graduate papers due this week, one today and one Wednesday. So I have tons of work to do. I wish my computer at school were fixed as that would help save me some writing time - I could get some in during passing and plan periods. Oh, well.
Have a nice week!
The morning was cool, too - mom and I went to the annual Horticultural Society's plant sale and to the Good Earth nursery and bought some plants and I planted them. I am really excited about the Spanish Gold Broom I bought, I haven't wanted some for awhile and I hope I can keep it alive and have it really take off. It is a deserty pseudo-evergreen high altitude shrub that gets yellow flowers in spring. It can get big - up to 6 feet wide and four feet tall, which is exactly what I want mine to do.
I have two big graduate papers due this week, one today and one Wednesday. So I have tons of work to do. I wish my computer at school were fixed as that would help save me some writing time - I could get some in during passing and plan periods. Oh, well.
Have a nice week!
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Troy
Well, I don't have much to write right now. I have a couple of graduate papers to write, but they're not blog so they don't count. Next week is finals week and so it'll be quite busy. Friday mom and I went to see Troy. I liked it, but it was a bit violent for mom's taste. It raises some good morality questions although it doesn't explore them in depth, it just presents them as being. Good cinematography as well. The story itself is a bit fast - more focused on violent action - to win a bunch of oscars or be remembered in the hearts of viewers forever or anything like that.
Watched Logan and Sam last night for a few hours - they played on my sky chair out back, we ate veggie corn dogs, and Logan played the mummy game on my computer while Sammy practiced writing.
I think Renee may be coming today to do geocache stuff, we'll see.
Watched Logan and Sam last night for a few hours - they played on my sky chair out back, we ate veggie corn dogs, and Logan played the mummy game on my computer while Sammy practiced writing.
I think Renee may be coming today to do geocache stuff, we'll see.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Board Antics
Wow. Any of you who live in the Springs try to catch one of the replays of last night's D-11 School Board meeting on Channel 16. Kind of like watching a train wreck, or a circus, I can't decide which.
If you just watch the first half-hour, you'll get the idea. Eric Christen, the one who distributed fliers against our new contract, goes on a tirade about negotiation meetings to which the public are not invited (which are legal by the way, a law to change it did not pass in congress). Then when Sandy Shakes gets to speak, she reprimands Christen publically for violating the privacy of executive session (he has repeatedly informed others of discussion that takes place during executive session of board meetings - which is supposed to remain confidential because it can involve things like individual teacher salaries or contracts and what not). Apparently this time, after a meeting he sent out an e-mail to some folks talking about the meeting and referring to something he said during executive session about trying to do "guerrilla warfare" against the district until they could get rid of the three returning board members in the upcoming November elections. She said she was appalled at anyone who would try to do "guerrilla warfare" against the district.
So, the foursome is not united on everything. We knew Eric Christen was the extreme member there, but Cox and Breazell almost always vote with him on everything. I was glad the President, Shakes, did not this time - otherwise we would be without a contract for next fall. I was also glad that she said those things in public.
If you just watch the first half-hour, you'll get the idea. Eric Christen, the one who distributed fliers against our new contract, goes on a tirade about negotiation meetings to which the public are not invited (which are legal by the way, a law to change it did not pass in congress). Then when Sandy Shakes gets to speak, she reprimands Christen publically for violating the privacy of executive session (he has repeatedly informed others of discussion that takes place during executive session of board meetings - which is supposed to remain confidential because it can involve things like individual teacher salaries or contracts and what not). Apparently this time, after a meeting he sent out an e-mail to some folks talking about the meeting and referring to something he said during executive session about trying to do "guerrilla warfare" against the district until they could get rid of the three returning board members in the upcoming November elections. She said she was appalled at anyone who would try to do "guerrilla warfare" against the district.
So, the foursome is not united on everything. We knew Eric Christen was the extreme member there, but Cox and Breazell almost always vote with him on everything. I was glad the President, Shakes, did not this time - otherwise we would be without a contract for next fall. I was also glad that she said those things in public.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Finishing
I like finishing things. The end of a school year is very chaotic, but it is kind of cool when you can say, "That's the last time for that this year." Seniors are finished - yesterday was their last class day and I entered their grades today. Finals are next week for the rest of the kids.
Yesterday was possibly the last union meeting for the year - I think we may have one next week, though, they haven't decided. And, they're doing a Baldrige meeting when I'm in Vancouver. They basically ok'd me to participate in the leadership training in July at Copper Mountain; that should be fun.
Tonight the school board is supposed to ratify our master agreement that we negotiated - like our pay raises, etc. We got a flier that has been passed around in anti-public ed circles encouraging people to show up to the meeting and sign up for citizen's comments and poo-poo our master agreement and try to get the board to vote it down. And guess who was involved in passing them out? The regular anti-public ed folks - including our own BOE member Eric Christen, or so I heard. But, I can't go - tonight I have to write a graduate school paper due this evening that I haven't started yet - not quite sure what it is supposed to be about. But, for this professor I should be able to do well enough anyway. And, I have to watch Enterprise. Getting down to the end of the series, you know, and the Xindi problem is soon to be resolved.
Last week of May, first of June I am supposed to go to Vancouver to visit. I think I might ask my niece Haily to pet sit for me. I am mostly worried about Leo - my sort of cat - that he gets fed and stuff; and I hope he doesn't get too lonely without someone to hang around for a week.
Yesterday was possibly the last union meeting for the year - I think we may have one next week, though, they haven't decided. And, they're doing a Baldrige meeting when I'm in Vancouver. They basically ok'd me to participate in the leadership training in July at Copper Mountain; that should be fun.
Tonight the school board is supposed to ratify our master agreement that we negotiated - like our pay raises, etc. We got a flier that has been passed around in anti-public ed circles encouraging people to show up to the meeting and sign up for citizen's comments and poo-poo our master agreement and try to get the board to vote it down. And guess who was involved in passing them out? The regular anti-public ed folks - including our own BOE member Eric Christen, or so I heard. But, I can't go - tonight I have to write a graduate school paper due this evening that I haven't started yet - not quite sure what it is supposed to be about. But, for this professor I should be able to do well enough anyway. And, I have to watch Enterprise. Getting down to the end of the series, you know, and the Xindi problem is soon to be resolved.
Last week of May, first of June I am supposed to go to Vancouver to visit. I think I might ask my niece Haily to pet sit for me. I am mostly worried about Leo - my sort of cat - that he gets fed and stuff; and I hope he doesn't get too lonely without someone to hang around for a week.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Whew!
Wow! What a day!
But first, I had a great weekend.
Saturday, you may have gathered, I went to Denver for the Prophet's (saw) Birthday seminar thingy. I had to give a speech. I think I did ok, but not great. But the event was nice and fun. I suspect it bombed as a fundraiser for the Ahlulbait Center - not sure if that was a primary goal, though.
Sunday was Mother's day and my mom had to watch her grandkids while my brother was at a coaching clinic in Las Vegas. So I went over and the two of us took the kids geocaching. It was my first two official caches. Well 1.5. I put the first one in my gps, and for the second, we just returned to one I had found before with Sister Soljah when she took me geocaching. The kids got into it and enjoyed it and we wore them out with all the walking. It was fun.
Yesterday I had an AP Stats meeting again and we got a lot accomplished. I guess I was tired, because I went home and fell asleep on the couch.
Today, I went in to find that things had been a bit chaotic with my sub. My computer died - major stress with senior finals and grades due like now. I am very computer-attached. I had a senior who was supposed to give a final presentation with the computer and obviously we couldn't. Lot's of other stuff too to make the day stressful, but the computer is the main thing.
My sis-in-law came by and watched my class a bit; she is a Horace Mann insurance agent and came here to a staff meeting a few weeks ago and was here to fulfill some appointments that came out of that. Well, I've got to go to a union meeting thing now.
Hope I'm not forgetting anything.
But first, I had a great weekend.
Saturday, you may have gathered, I went to Denver for the Prophet's (saw) Birthday seminar thingy. I had to give a speech. I think I did ok, but not great. But the event was nice and fun. I suspect it bombed as a fundraiser for the Ahlulbait Center - not sure if that was a primary goal, though.
Sunday was Mother's day and my mom had to watch her grandkids while my brother was at a coaching clinic in Las Vegas. So I went over and the two of us took the kids geocaching. It was my first two official caches. Well 1.5. I put the first one in my gps, and for the second, we just returned to one I had found before with Sister Soljah when she took me geocaching. The kids got into it and enjoyed it and we wore them out with all the walking. It was fun.
Yesterday I had an AP Stats meeting again and we got a lot accomplished. I guess I was tired, because I went home and fell asleep on the couch.
Today, I went in to find that things had been a bit chaotic with my sub. My computer died - major stress with senior finals and grades due like now. I am very computer-attached. I had a senior who was supposed to give a final presentation with the computer and obviously we couldn't. Lot's of other stuff too to make the day stressful, but the computer is the main thing.
My sis-in-law came by and watched my class a bit; she is a Horace Mann insurance agent and came here to a staff meeting a few weeks ago and was here to fulfill some appointments that came out of that. Well, I've got to go to a union meeting thing now.
Hope I'm not forgetting anything.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Answering the Hijab Question
I just wrote this this morning.... I don't think the footnotes show up here, but I did have a few. If you really want them, I can send the word doc.
Answering the Hijab Question
- masooma beatty –
“Why do you wear that thing on your head?” “Thing” referring to hijab, the scarf that covers my hair and that is a practice of my faith, Islam. I think all Muslim ladies wearing hijab in a non-Muslim society have been asked this question repeatedly. It is a fair, usually sincere question. It is called “Thing” because the asker doesn’t know its name. The asker doesn’t know how many times I’ve been asked before, nor does she (or sometimes he) know that occasionally, when asked, the “Thing” is a word spouted out with disgust and the question as a whole is rhetorical, intended as insult. This time, it is simply a genuine question that is new to the questioner, and I don’t mind at all that it is asked – in fact, many times I see people who want to ask but don’t because they’re not sure it is okay, and I want them to know it is okay with me.
I would think that by now I would have a prepared answer ready for each time I am asked, but the reality is that every time I am asked I am somewhat taken aback. Why? For one, because I am so used to it and feel so normal in it that I forget that I might appear strange to someone else – especially when I’m mostly around people who’ve known me awhile. Secondly, because each time I am asked, I am not sure what kind of answer the questioner wants. Is it the short, “I wear it because I’m Muslim and it is part of our religion” answer? Many times, that is all people are really wanting – they don’t want a long philosophic discussion, they just want a simple way to categorize the scarf in their mind “Scarf=Muslim”. “Oh, ok, I know who you are now, I am happy.”
Or are they really asking about women in Islam? Are the thoughts behind the words “Why do you wear that thing on your head,” really something like, “Why does Islam ‘make’ women cover their hair? How are women really treated in Islam and why do you buy into it?” In which case, the answer I need to give will take more time. Or perhaps they’re asking what it really means to me to wear it. They are thinking, “What is your life like wearing that? How do you feel about it? Why do you do it?”
So, when I receive the question, I am tempted to ask, “What do you mean?” But, that doesn’t sound right – it seems to be telling the questioner that she is asking an absurd question. Instead, I pause, evaluating the person and the situation, trying to guess the right one. If the situation seems rushed, I might be tempted to try the first, the “Scarf=Muslim” answer and then if that is unsatisfactory move on to answers two and three. Answer one seems dismissive; too simplistic. But often it works for my students who ask as the bell is ringing to end class after we’ve already spent three months together. They forgot if I said anything about it at the beginning of the school year and now they just finally got up the courage to ask because their friend pushed them to, and they’re really wanting to know that I am Muslim and a little about what that is. Giving them a treatise on women’s rights in Islam as they walk out the door is inappropriate, as is telling them in detail my personal experiences.
Let’s say that I meet someone who is really asking question two, “Why does Islam ‘make’ women cover their hair? How are women really treated in Islam and why do you buy into it?” I want to be careful not to answer apologetically or defensively. Apologetic answers try too hard to win over the questioner and convince entirely about the beauty of Islam and in particular, women in Islam, in a few minutes. But instead of winning over, the effect is that you seem to be asking pardon for being a practicing Muslim woman and trying to minimize anything unique or different about you. Or you seem to be overly positive – which suggests to the listener that you are white-washing. Apologetism does not increase understanding.
And defensive answers are understood for what they are. I have read great poetry written by young Muslimahs who in heartfelt words complain against being viewed as if they have AK-47’s under their long coats (jilbabs) and who pit the Islamic view of women against scantily clad women on billboards. While this is a perfectly valid self-expression, it does not suffice as answer to a sincere questioner. It doesn’t work because it assumes a position of extremes. The average person who wonders about hijab doesn’t think you’re a terrorist and doesn’t think the Western view of women is that she is fodder for advertising campaigns, either. So if that is your primary ammunition, you will miss the target. One of the largest complaints I encounter from non-Muslims or new Muslims about Islamic literature about women is that when it mentions the role of women in the West, it stereotypes it into this media fodder stuff that, while not absent of truth entirely, is not what lies in the hearts of the readers as being true.
I think in this answer, it is appropriate to share the Qur’anic verses related to Islamic modest dress: (Yusuf Ali translation used here)
“And tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That
is purer for them. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands….” (24:30-31)
"Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage, there is no blame on them if they lay aside their outer garments, provided they make not a wanton display of their beauty; but it is best for them to be modest and God is One who sees and knows all things." (24:60)
"O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their persons when abroad that is convenient that they should be known and as such not molested. And God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (33:59)
In a nutshell, isn’t the Islamic answer to why Muslim women wear hijab here in these verses? The first mention if for modesty in inter-gender relations, mentioned with commandments for both men and women. The second is similar, advising against wanton display of beauty, and the third is about being known as believing women and not harassed. So if someone is asking me the technical reasons rather than my personal reasons, this is what they need to hear. We believe in the Qur’an and this is what the Qur’an tells us.
Sometimes what happens next is that the asker questions the need for such extreme modesty on the part of women. It often seems unfair and oppressive to a non-Muslim. Given the time span allotted for most discussions when this question comes up, it usually comes across as either apologetic or defensive if you attempt to go into how the ‘awra ( or, what part of the bodies are adornment) for men and women are different, and how men and women are stimulated differently, and how hijab is a symbol of honor and an actual means of some protection – even in a society when it can also be an opening to an affront. These answers are all correct, but they are not quickly absorbed. If it is possible to think back to the first time you heard them, weren’t you skeptical and not readily convinced by them? To be convincing, they need to be supported with data – scientific, religious, and incidental evidence. After all, we do not expect someone to accept the existence of God without evidence and logic, why should we expect him to accept the need for Islamic modest dress without similar evidence and logic?
Instead, this is often an acceptable segway to answering question three, “What is your life like wearing that? How do you feel about it? Why do you do it?” There may not be time to adequately introduce all the evidence in favor of hijab in a truly convincing manner, but often, giving your own story of what it has meant for you will suffice for the purposes of this conversation. The tricky thing here is that you have to know the answer yourself, first. I’ve been asked so many times I assume I know the answer and then sometimes find that I don’t know what to say. I have accepted hijab as being right for me but haven’t necessarily taken the time to think through and verbalize the answer to this question. It’s a worthwhile exercise – not just so you can answer someone else, but also to learn about yourself and the role of your religion in your life.
Initially, I wore hijab only because after studying Qur’an and hadith and hearing lots of interpretations of these, I concluded that it was a requirement for a Muslim woman. It took me a year to conclude that much. I didn’t understand why, as I had yet to be convinced by all those ‘awra and protection and other miscellaneous arguments. I had simply been convinced that those verses in Qur’an mentioned earlier did indicate a woman should cover her hair. So I began doing so. This beginning was preceded by a lot of concern. I knew my family would be devastated, hurt and angry, and I worried about how friends, bosses, professors, and strangers I encountered would react. As is often the case, the worrying turned out to be worse than the reality, but there were some genuine difficulties with family. I had never before been in a position in which what I believed was the right thing to do was also something that made my mother cry for a week - because she loved me, was afraid for me, and because she didn’t understand why the way she raised me wasn’t good enough for me anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so difficult.
And yet, I still wear hijab. A decade or so later, my family has adapted and we are very close. And hijab is precious to me. It is a matter of dignity to me. If someone were to take it away from me, I would feel humiliated and devastated. I hope I am never in a situation like that of some Muslimahs in France, Turkey or Germany, in which I would have to choose for myself or for my daughters between hijab and education or other public activities we take as rights here. While the outside perception of hijab is that it is constraining, wearing it I feel liberated. I have trouble understanding the rare but existent thinking about hijab that it somehow offends or harms those who have to look upon it or that it is somehow less my American privilege to wear it than it is to wear, oh, say, the goth look.
Yes, sometimes I feel hot, but not as much as people who’ve never worn it might suppose. And yes, initially hijab was somewhat physically awkward, but now I feel like I move freely and can wear it all day without dying to take it off as soon as I get in the door so I can finally be comfortable. And I don’t feel like an outsider or that I’m being stared at all the time. I just feel like me.
When I was little, I had a pair of dark sunglasses that I loved to wear because of the privacy I felt – no one could tell which way I was looking. Now I enjoy a sense of privacy in hijab – a sense of control over how much of myself I share with others and how much I keep to myself. It gives me power in social interactions because I am the one setting the limits where I want them to be. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by wearing hijab to dispel some of the stereotypical notions people have about Islam and Muslims. They recognize me by my hijab and upon coming to know me, they have a more accurate picture of Islam and Muslims.
I’m easy to pick out in a crowd. At the beginning of every school year, there is a district-wide staff meeting - a few thousand of us in one of the high school gyms. Inevitably, months later someone will come up to me and say, “Don’t I know you? I saw you at the district meeting. You were in the bleachers on the opposite wall way down on the south side.” I enjoy the humor in that, but then I feel guilty for not knowing all the people who “know” me.
My co-workers, my students – they like my hijab, too. They know it as part of my identity and would view it as a loss if it were gone. They would even fight for my hijab if it were threatened. Yes, there have been some job interviews in which I knew they just didn’t know how to take me or how I might fit in with them, but there has also always been a place that’s been happy to have me just as I am.
I’ve received far more positive reactions from strangers than negative ones. Positive ones tend toward smiles, opening doors and the like. And more importantly, on the positive side, people interact with me on higher intellectual level than they did before, and I like that. Negative reactions are mostly just “the look”, and I don’t notice it much. I do try to dress for my environment, and that may make some difference. I don’t go fishing up in the hills in a black chador; it just seems impractical to me, and unnecessary. I say that only because I know some sisters who have had more trouble than I have and for some of them, it seems to be related to their adoption of a particular Islamic “uniform” no matter the weather, location, or circumstance. As for the occasional negative reactions, I feel I have learned from them. I have learned to understand what causes them, and I have learned to empathize with people who face them – particularly when it isn’t over something they chose, like a scarf, but is instead over something they didn’t – like where they were born or the color of their skin. I think I’ve also learned to be more tolerant of differences myself after experiencing being “different”.
It doesn’t bother me if some people never really understand why I wear hijab, and I admire their tolerance of something they don’t get or don’t agree with. And, I don’t think people who don’t wear it are all “bad”. I think my mom is one of the greatest people in the world, and she doesn’t wear hijab. My journey in life led me to Islam and as part of that, to hijab. I am grateful for the freedom to make my own journey and I honor that freedom for others, too, even if it leads in different directions.
So, that is my answer to question three. Maybe I won’t tell all of it to everyone every time, it is adaptable to suit the occasion. I think most Muslim women have a similar story to tell. If you haven’t thought about what your story is, maybe now is a good time.
Answering the Hijab Question
- masooma beatty –
“Why do you wear that thing on your head?” “Thing” referring to hijab, the scarf that covers my hair and that is a practice of my faith, Islam. I think all Muslim ladies wearing hijab in a non-Muslim society have been asked this question repeatedly. It is a fair, usually sincere question. It is called “Thing” because the asker doesn’t know its name. The asker doesn’t know how many times I’ve been asked before, nor does she (or sometimes he) know that occasionally, when asked, the “Thing” is a word spouted out with disgust and the question as a whole is rhetorical, intended as insult. This time, it is simply a genuine question that is new to the questioner, and I don’t mind at all that it is asked – in fact, many times I see people who want to ask but don’t because they’re not sure it is okay, and I want them to know it is okay with me.
I would think that by now I would have a prepared answer ready for each time I am asked, but the reality is that every time I am asked I am somewhat taken aback. Why? For one, because I am so used to it and feel so normal in it that I forget that I might appear strange to someone else – especially when I’m mostly around people who’ve known me awhile. Secondly, because each time I am asked, I am not sure what kind of answer the questioner wants. Is it the short, “I wear it because I’m Muslim and it is part of our religion” answer? Many times, that is all people are really wanting – they don’t want a long philosophic discussion, they just want a simple way to categorize the scarf in their mind “Scarf=Muslim”. “Oh, ok, I know who you are now, I am happy.”
Or are they really asking about women in Islam? Are the thoughts behind the words “Why do you wear that thing on your head,” really something like, “Why does Islam ‘make’ women cover their hair? How are women really treated in Islam and why do you buy into it?” In which case, the answer I need to give will take more time. Or perhaps they’re asking what it really means to me to wear it. They are thinking, “What is your life like wearing that? How do you feel about it? Why do you do it?”
So, when I receive the question, I am tempted to ask, “What do you mean?” But, that doesn’t sound right – it seems to be telling the questioner that she is asking an absurd question. Instead, I pause, evaluating the person and the situation, trying to guess the right one. If the situation seems rushed, I might be tempted to try the first, the “Scarf=Muslim” answer and then if that is unsatisfactory move on to answers two and three. Answer one seems dismissive; too simplistic. But often it works for my students who ask as the bell is ringing to end class after we’ve already spent three months together. They forgot if I said anything about it at the beginning of the school year and now they just finally got up the courage to ask because their friend pushed them to, and they’re really wanting to know that I am Muslim and a little about what that is. Giving them a treatise on women’s rights in Islam as they walk out the door is inappropriate, as is telling them in detail my personal experiences.
Let’s say that I meet someone who is really asking question two, “Why does Islam ‘make’ women cover their hair? How are women really treated in Islam and why do you buy into it?” I want to be careful not to answer apologetically or defensively. Apologetic answers try too hard to win over the questioner and convince entirely about the beauty of Islam and in particular, women in Islam, in a few minutes. But instead of winning over, the effect is that you seem to be asking pardon for being a practicing Muslim woman and trying to minimize anything unique or different about you. Or you seem to be overly positive – which suggests to the listener that you are white-washing. Apologetism does not increase understanding.
And defensive answers are understood for what they are. I have read great poetry written by young Muslimahs who in heartfelt words complain against being viewed as if they have AK-47’s under their long coats (jilbabs) and who pit the Islamic view of women against scantily clad women on billboards. While this is a perfectly valid self-expression, it does not suffice as answer to a sincere questioner. It doesn’t work because it assumes a position of extremes. The average person who wonders about hijab doesn’t think you’re a terrorist and doesn’t think the Western view of women is that she is fodder for advertising campaigns, either. So if that is your primary ammunition, you will miss the target. One of the largest complaints I encounter from non-Muslims or new Muslims about Islamic literature about women is that when it mentions the role of women in the West, it stereotypes it into this media fodder stuff that, while not absent of truth entirely, is not what lies in the hearts of the readers as being true.
I think in this answer, it is appropriate to share the Qur’anic verses related to Islamic modest dress: (Yusuf Ali translation used here)
“And tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That
is purer for them. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands….” (24:30-31)
"Such elderly women as are past the prospect of marriage, there is no blame on them if they lay aside their outer garments, provided they make not a wanton display of their beauty; but it is best for them to be modest and God is One who sees and knows all things." (24:60)
"O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their persons when abroad that is convenient that they should be known and as such not molested. And God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (33:59)
In a nutshell, isn’t the Islamic answer to why Muslim women wear hijab here in these verses? The first mention if for modesty in inter-gender relations, mentioned with commandments for both men and women. The second is similar, advising against wanton display of beauty, and the third is about being known as believing women and not harassed. So if someone is asking me the technical reasons rather than my personal reasons, this is what they need to hear. We believe in the Qur’an and this is what the Qur’an tells us.
Sometimes what happens next is that the asker questions the need for such extreme modesty on the part of women. It often seems unfair and oppressive to a non-Muslim. Given the time span allotted for most discussions when this question comes up, it usually comes across as either apologetic or defensive if you attempt to go into how the ‘awra ( or, what part of the bodies are adornment) for men and women are different, and how men and women are stimulated differently, and how hijab is a symbol of honor and an actual means of some protection – even in a society when it can also be an opening to an affront. These answers are all correct, but they are not quickly absorbed. If it is possible to think back to the first time you heard them, weren’t you skeptical and not readily convinced by them? To be convincing, they need to be supported with data – scientific, religious, and incidental evidence. After all, we do not expect someone to accept the existence of God without evidence and logic, why should we expect him to accept the need for Islamic modest dress without similar evidence and logic?
Instead, this is often an acceptable segway to answering question three, “What is your life like wearing that? How do you feel about it? Why do you do it?” There may not be time to adequately introduce all the evidence in favor of hijab in a truly convincing manner, but often, giving your own story of what it has meant for you will suffice for the purposes of this conversation. The tricky thing here is that you have to know the answer yourself, first. I’ve been asked so many times I assume I know the answer and then sometimes find that I don’t know what to say. I have accepted hijab as being right for me but haven’t necessarily taken the time to think through and verbalize the answer to this question. It’s a worthwhile exercise – not just so you can answer someone else, but also to learn about yourself and the role of your religion in your life.
Initially, I wore hijab only because after studying Qur’an and hadith and hearing lots of interpretations of these, I concluded that it was a requirement for a Muslim woman. It took me a year to conclude that much. I didn’t understand why, as I had yet to be convinced by all those ‘awra and protection and other miscellaneous arguments. I had simply been convinced that those verses in Qur’an mentioned earlier did indicate a woman should cover her hair. So I began doing so. This beginning was preceded by a lot of concern. I knew my family would be devastated, hurt and angry, and I worried about how friends, bosses, professors, and strangers I encountered would react. As is often the case, the worrying turned out to be worse than the reality, but there were some genuine difficulties with family. I had never before been in a position in which what I believed was the right thing to do was also something that made my mother cry for a week - because she loved me, was afraid for me, and because she didn’t understand why the way she raised me wasn’t good enough for me anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so difficult.
And yet, I still wear hijab. A decade or so later, my family has adapted and we are very close. And hijab is precious to me. It is a matter of dignity to me. If someone were to take it away from me, I would feel humiliated and devastated. I hope I am never in a situation like that of some Muslimahs in France, Turkey or Germany, in which I would have to choose for myself or for my daughters between hijab and education or other public activities we take as rights here. While the outside perception of hijab is that it is constraining, wearing it I feel liberated. I have trouble understanding the rare but existent thinking about hijab that it somehow offends or harms those who have to look upon it or that it is somehow less my American privilege to wear it than it is to wear, oh, say, the goth look.
Yes, sometimes I feel hot, but not as much as people who’ve never worn it might suppose. And yes, initially hijab was somewhat physically awkward, but now I feel like I move freely and can wear it all day without dying to take it off as soon as I get in the door so I can finally be comfortable. And I don’t feel like an outsider or that I’m being stared at all the time. I just feel like me.
When I was little, I had a pair of dark sunglasses that I loved to wear because of the privacy I felt – no one could tell which way I was looking. Now I enjoy a sense of privacy in hijab – a sense of control over how much of myself I share with others and how much I keep to myself. It gives me power in social interactions because I am the one setting the limits where I want them to be. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by wearing hijab to dispel some of the stereotypical notions people have about Islam and Muslims. They recognize me by my hijab and upon coming to know me, they have a more accurate picture of Islam and Muslims.
I’m easy to pick out in a crowd. At the beginning of every school year, there is a district-wide staff meeting - a few thousand of us in one of the high school gyms. Inevitably, months later someone will come up to me and say, “Don’t I know you? I saw you at the district meeting. You were in the bleachers on the opposite wall way down on the south side.” I enjoy the humor in that, but then I feel guilty for not knowing all the people who “know” me.
My co-workers, my students – they like my hijab, too. They know it as part of my identity and would view it as a loss if it were gone. They would even fight for my hijab if it were threatened. Yes, there have been some job interviews in which I knew they just didn’t know how to take me or how I might fit in with them, but there has also always been a place that’s been happy to have me just as I am.
I’ve received far more positive reactions from strangers than negative ones. Positive ones tend toward smiles, opening doors and the like. And more importantly, on the positive side, people interact with me on higher intellectual level than they did before, and I like that. Negative reactions are mostly just “the look”, and I don’t notice it much. I do try to dress for my environment, and that may make some difference. I don’t go fishing up in the hills in a black chador; it just seems impractical to me, and unnecessary. I say that only because I know some sisters who have had more trouble than I have and for some of them, it seems to be related to their adoption of a particular Islamic “uniform” no matter the weather, location, or circumstance. As for the occasional negative reactions, I feel I have learned from them. I have learned to understand what causes them, and I have learned to empathize with people who face them – particularly when it isn’t over something they chose, like a scarf, but is instead over something they didn’t – like where they were born or the color of their skin. I think I’ve also learned to be more tolerant of differences myself after experiencing being “different”.
It doesn’t bother me if some people never really understand why I wear hijab, and I admire their tolerance of something they don’t get or don’t agree with. And, I don’t think people who don’t wear it are all “bad”. I think my mom is one of the greatest people in the world, and she doesn’t wear hijab. My journey in life led me to Islam and as part of that, to hijab. I am grateful for the freedom to make my own journey and I honor that freedom for others, too, even if it leads in different directions.
So, that is my answer to question three. Maybe I won’t tell all of it to everyone every time, it is adaptable to suit the occasion. I think most Muslim women have a similar story to tell. If you haven’t thought about what your story is, maybe now is a good time.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
We
I learned something today that I didn't know before.
I had always heard the "We" in Qur'an when God is talking explained as the royal We in Arabic grammar - like when the Queen says "We are ready to go," meaning only herself. But Shaykh Hijazi at the seminar today at DU in Denver explained that when God says "We did this", it means that He brings it about through a chain of cause and effect, such as "We bring rain" - it happens through a set of causes and effects of the weather and so on. When God says "I did this" - it happens directly without a chain of cause and effect. Now I want to go back and look and see what things are said each way - like when God created Adam, is it a We created or an I created? A lot of information about what happened can be contained in just that one word. Very interesting!
I had always heard the "We" in Qur'an when God is talking explained as the royal We in Arabic grammar - like when the Queen says "We are ready to go," meaning only herself. But Shaykh Hijazi at the seminar today at DU in Denver explained that when God says "We did this", it means that He brings it about through a chain of cause and effect, such as "We bring rain" - it happens through a set of causes and effects of the weather and so on. When God says "I did this" - it happens directly without a chain of cause and effect. Now I want to go back and look and see what things are said each way - like when God created Adam, is it a We created or an I created? A lot of information about what happened can be contained in just that one word. Very interesting!
Friday, May 07, 2004
My Teaching Schedule for Next Year
Yay, we got tentative course schedules today! I noticed I'm kind of a schedule or list freak in some ways. I just love planning out course schedules. If they paid me to schedule everyone's classes I'd enjoy doing that a lot. I always help students plan out their classes and make four-year plans. Maybe it's that first-day-of-school thing; excited about all the possibilities of a new year. I can't tell you how many times in college I sat down with the course catalog and wrote-up different plans for all my future years in school - getting this minor or that one, or both, etc. Was it possible? How would it work? Did I want to do it once I saw it laid out?
Anyway, here it is, subject to changes:
1st period - AP Statistics
2nd period - Geometry
3rd period - AP Statistics
4th period - plan
5th period - integrated (IMP) year 2
lunch
6th period - Mastery Math 2
7th period - plan
This is the first year ever that I don't have freshmen classes. This year, all but one of my classes were freshmen's. I expect to have lots of students I've had before - ones I have as freshmen now in the sophomore classes (integrated, geometry and mastery 2), and ones I have in FST (Trig) now or I had in Alg 3/4 last year in AP Statistics. 7th period looks like the walking plan - some people in my department walk during one of our plans, and 7th looks like the one since several of us have it together.
I like the schedule; I'm looking forward to it. This is one of the nice things about teaching - there is a beginning and an end and a chance to start over and try things differently, to do better than before. And there is time in summer to try completely different things, or train and plan for the coming year.
Anyway, here it is, subject to changes:
1st period - AP Statistics
2nd period - Geometry
3rd period - AP Statistics
4th period - plan
5th period - integrated (IMP) year 2
lunch
6th period - Mastery Math 2
7th period - plan
This is the first year ever that I don't have freshmen classes. This year, all but one of my classes were freshmen's. I expect to have lots of students I've had before - ones I have as freshmen now in the sophomore classes (integrated, geometry and mastery 2), and ones I have in FST (Trig) now or I had in Alg 3/4 last year in AP Statistics. 7th period looks like the walking plan - some people in my department walk during one of our plans, and 7th looks like the one since several of us have it together.
I like the schedule; I'm looking forward to it. This is one of the nice things about teaching - there is a beginning and an end and a chance to start over and try things differently, to do better than before. And there is time in summer to try completely different things, or train and plan for the coming year.
Drain a lake and what do you find?
There is a long-time used man-made lake here in town called Prospect Lake. For generations people have used it for swimming, boating, fishing and just hanging around. They are draining it because it has leaks that need to be repaired.
Prospect Lake revealing its secrets
By ED SEALOVER - THE GAZETTE
As the hulking metal skeleton of a Volkswagen bug peered out of receding Prospect Lake on Thursday, Frank Kazee found his 14th gun nearby.
As the lake is becoming sand, it is revealing a prospector’s paradise of guns, knives, class rings — even small German cars.
City officials and amateur sleuths are scratching their heads, wondering how so much trash got to the bottom of a 50-acre lake last drained in 1953.
They expected to find some stuff. But it’s been stunning what has emerged during the past three weeks the city has been pumping water out of the lake.
“There’s shotguns and rifles and everything come up at that lake,” said Kazee, a Colorado Springs resident who’s been prospecting the sand with his Bounty Hunter metal detector since 1969. “You name it, we’ve found it.”
Kazee has discovered his 14 shotguns, handguns and rifles at the Memorial Park swimming hole since the water started receding in 2002. The city is draining Prospect Lake and wants to patch its leaks and refill it by next year.
The serial numbers have been filed off some of the guns, likely used to commit crimes, and most are too old to work. Still, Kazee and other members of the Pikes Peak Adventure Club for prospectors let police know when they dig up anything suspicious.
He’s found rings and jewelry, too.
Most items sprawled across the lake Thursday were trash and junk that hasn’t seen the light in decades: an ice cube tray; a 45 rpm record with its label missing; empty pull-tab cans of Colt 45, Coors and Hamms.
The most curious item is the Volkswagen, with its rusted top and broken front window protruding from the water near the east side of the lake.
As birds perched on its top Thursday, 8-year-old Angelica Zins strolled by and wondered aloud: “Are there people in there?”
“There could be,” replied her father, Greg Zins.
City parks and recreation director Paul Butcher said his staffers haven’t noticed any slimy skeletons but have pinpointed the bug as a model built in the late 1960s. When the water drops low enough to pull it out, they will examine it for a vehicle identification number or license plate and try to determine its history.
Butcher’s theory is somebody drove the car onto the lake when it was frozen, causing it to fall through the ice and sink.
The city has pumped about 15 million gallons out of the lake and into Monument Creek. Butcher expects the area will be dry by early June.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0184 or
sealover@gazette.com
Prospect Lake revealing its secrets
By ED SEALOVER - THE GAZETTE
As the hulking metal skeleton of a Volkswagen bug peered out of receding Prospect Lake on Thursday, Frank Kazee found his 14th gun nearby.
As the lake is becoming sand, it is revealing a prospector’s paradise of guns, knives, class rings — even small German cars.
City officials and amateur sleuths are scratching their heads, wondering how so much trash got to the bottom of a 50-acre lake last drained in 1953.
They expected to find some stuff. But it’s been stunning what has emerged during the past three weeks the city has been pumping water out of the lake.
“There’s shotguns and rifles and everything come up at that lake,” said Kazee, a Colorado Springs resident who’s been prospecting the sand with his Bounty Hunter metal detector since 1969. “You name it, we’ve found it.”
Kazee has discovered his 14 shotguns, handguns and rifles at the Memorial Park swimming hole since the water started receding in 2002. The city is draining Prospect Lake and wants to patch its leaks and refill it by next year.
The serial numbers have been filed off some of the guns, likely used to commit crimes, and most are too old to work. Still, Kazee and other members of the Pikes Peak Adventure Club for prospectors let police know when they dig up anything suspicious.
He’s found rings and jewelry, too.
Most items sprawled across the lake Thursday were trash and junk that hasn’t seen the light in decades: an ice cube tray; a 45 rpm record with its label missing; empty pull-tab cans of Colt 45, Coors and Hamms.
The most curious item is the Volkswagen, with its rusted top and broken front window protruding from the water near the east side of the lake.
As birds perched on its top Thursday, 8-year-old Angelica Zins strolled by and wondered aloud: “Are there people in there?”
“There could be,” replied her father, Greg Zins.
City parks and recreation director Paul Butcher said his staffers haven’t noticed any slimy skeletons but have pinpointed the bug as a model built in the late 1960s. When the water drops low enough to pull it out, they will examine it for a vehicle identification number or license plate and try to determine its history.
Butcher’s theory is somebody drove the car onto the lake when it was frozen, causing it to fall through the ice and sink.
The city has pumped about 15 million gallons out of the lake and into Monument Creek. Butcher expects the area will be dry by early June.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0184 or
sealover@gazette.com
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Mom's message from beyond
I called mom to tell her about one of my birds opening the cage and going for a poop on my computer and hanging out all day. Then she told me about her message from beyond.
She had a message on her computer this morning that was a failed send. According to the e-mail, my mom had tried to send an e-mail from her work computer to my recently deceased aunt Mariam at the hospital where Mariam used to work at 2:30a.m. titled "Thanks:)" This morning and it came back undeliverable. Well, I thought surely it was just one of those virus things going around. But then my mom said she never even knew Aunt Mariam had e-mail, and they had never communicated that way, so there is no way my mom had her e-mail address in her computer somewhere or vice versa.
I tried to get her to look at the headers and see if she could find the source and what the original message might have been, but she had already deleted everything.
So my mom thinks Aunt Mariam sent her a message from the Hereafter. What do you think?
She had a message on her computer this morning that was a failed send. According to the e-mail, my mom had tried to send an e-mail from her work computer to my recently deceased aunt Mariam at the hospital where Mariam used to work at 2:30a.m. titled "Thanks:)" This morning and it came back undeliverable. Well, I thought surely it was just one of those virus things going around. But then my mom said she never even knew Aunt Mariam had e-mail, and they had never communicated that way, so there is no way my mom had her e-mail address in her computer somewhere or vice versa.
I tried to get her to look at the headers and see if she could find the source and what the original message might have been, but she had already deleted everything.
So my mom thinks Aunt Mariam sent her a message from the Hereafter. What do you think?
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Summer Plans
The last official day of school is May 22 or May 24 (teachers can come in either day to finish up). On the 26th, I am supposed to head to Vancouver for one week. As soon as I get back, I start two grad classes. On June 14-15, I think I am scheduled for Baldrige training mandated by the district, and IMP training June 21-25. My classes end July 15, at which time I think mom, dad and I will go to Yellowstone for a week. The following week (last week of July), is CEA leadership training at Copper Mountain. I start my next grad class August 5th, and the week of the 9th I'll be doing New Teacher Orientation and AR training. Then, the next week, it is back to Coronado for the fall semester. Hopefully I'll know my schedule of what I'm teaching next fall so I can do some prep work (if I choose to) during the summer. That's all I know of for summer right now.
This week, my major stress is to try to get ready for a speech I'm supposed to give Saturday in Denver. I don't know what I want to say yet. Hopefully I'll see some of you there.
This week, my major stress is to try to get ready for a speech I'm supposed to give Saturday in Denver. I don't know what I want to say yet. Hopefully I'll see some of you there.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Can you take it with you?
There was a man who had worked all of his life, had saved all of his
money, and was a real miser when it came to his money. Just before he
died, he said to his wife, "When I die, I want you to take all my money and
put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with
me."
And so he got his wife to promise him with all of her heart that
when he died, she would put all of the money in the casket with him.
Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was
sitting there in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When
they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to
close the casket, the wife said, "Wait just a minute!" She had a box with her, she
came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked
the casket down, and they rolled it away.
So her friend said, "Girl, I know you weren't fool enough to put all
that money in there with your husband." The loyal wife replied, "Listen,
I'm a believer, I can't go back on my word. I promised him that I was
going to put that money in that casket with him."
"You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!!!!?"
"I sure did," said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my
account and wrote him a check."
money, and was a real miser when it came to his money. Just before he
died, he said to his wife, "When I die, I want you to take all my money and
put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with
me."
And so he got his wife to promise him with all of her heart that
when he died, she would put all of the money in the casket with him.
Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was
sitting there in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When
they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to
close the casket, the wife said, "Wait just a minute!" She had a box with her, she
came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked
the casket down, and they rolled it away.
So her friend said, "Girl, I know you weren't fool enough to put all
that money in there with your husband." The loyal wife replied, "Listen,
I'm a believer, I can't go back on my word. I promised him that I was
going to put that money in that casket with him."
"You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!!!!?"
"I sure did," said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my
account and wrote him a check."
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Mark Cloer, House Representative D-17 Colorado
Yesterday I attended a staffing on statistics. It was fun; there wasn't a lot new but there was a little new. Plus I met the statistics professor at UCCS and Sharon Bruce, a local statistics teacher who has a reputation for being good. During the down time of the meeting, I was checking my district e-mail and got news that we finished bargaining our contract in a record 76 hours. They can't say anything about what was negotiated yet because it has to go before the board and be approved by the board. So I think we'll probably have a ratification meeting this week, insha'allah.
I also got an e-mail about Mark Cloer. As you may recall, he was the one threatened with a primary and harassed big time by Governor Owens for voting against a voucher bill. He's a republican and went against "party lines" to vote against it. They had a Republican Delegate Assembly here at the World Arena today and we were informed of plans for a rally against Cloer because of that one vote so we were told to be at the Arena 7:30 am this morning if we wanted to support him. Mom and I went up there and held signs along with some other teachers from my union and even one of our school board members (not one of The Four). Cloer brought us down to the Penrose room for the delegate meeting for his region. He was nominated by acclimation but there is still talk of people upset with him trying to rouse up an opponent. He explained his vote against the voucher bill to his republican delegate crowd by reading a few pages from the state Constitution that clearly indicate no public funds (tax dollars) are to be used for any private, sectarian, parochial or religious institution - i.e. vouchers are unconstitutional. I think if it were not in the Constitution, Cloer would've voted for the bill and at that point we would disagree. So our next battle may be to try to block a change to the Constitution. My mom was really funny - there was a group handing out anti-Cloer fliers to us, and my mom tore hers up and tried to give it to Steve Schuck. Schuck is the millionaire who routed big bucks to The Four's campaigns and is very pro-voucher, anti-public education.
I also received another Independence Institute e-mail. This one was pretty interesting. The Independence Institute is an anti-union, anti-public education group in Denver. The e-mail starts out by talking about NEA (National Education Association) support for that pro-choice rally in the news last week - I think it was in D.C. Then they made a sudden gear-shift into how some districts in Colorado have automatic union dues deduction from our pay checks unless you opt out. The Institute's big thing is that they are trying to reduce the power of the teacher's unions so that they can have less opposition to all their voucher bills and other anti-public education bills. So, they think it is "evil" that unions in some places have automatic dues deducation unless you opt out. Automatic dues deduction increases membership because it is simple. If people had to send in a check every month, fewer people would pay it as consistently and the unions would be hurt quite a bit financially. Our district is one of those that has automatic deduction. So, once in awhile, some of us whose e-mail addresses they get off of school websites get these surreptitious anti-union e-mails. I don't think they realize I'm on the board of the union! :)
Well, in half an hour here I have to meet online with some of my class mates to work on a graduate school project thing. Then I need to clean house a bit since Laura is coming to spend the night tonight. Also this weekend I need to draft my speech for next weekend's gathering in honor of the Prophet (saw) and if I get around to it, work on more graduate school stuff. I also hope to try to do a geocache, but we'll see.
I also got an e-mail about Mark Cloer. As you may recall, he was the one threatened with a primary and harassed big time by Governor Owens for voting against a voucher bill. He's a republican and went against "party lines" to vote against it. They had a Republican Delegate Assembly here at the World Arena today and we were informed of plans for a rally against Cloer because of that one vote so we were told to be at the Arena 7:30 am this morning if we wanted to support him. Mom and I went up there and held signs along with some other teachers from my union and even one of our school board members (not one of The Four). Cloer brought us down to the Penrose room for the delegate meeting for his region. He was nominated by acclimation but there is still talk of people upset with him trying to rouse up an opponent. He explained his vote against the voucher bill to his republican delegate crowd by reading a few pages from the state Constitution that clearly indicate no public funds (tax dollars) are to be used for any private, sectarian, parochial or religious institution - i.e. vouchers are unconstitutional. I think if it were not in the Constitution, Cloer would've voted for the bill and at that point we would disagree. So our next battle may be to try to block a change to the Constitution. My mom was really funny - there was a group handing out anti-Cloer fliers to us, and my mom tore hers up and tried to give it to Steve Schuck. Schuck is the millionaire who routed big bucks to The Four's campaigns and is very pro-voucher, anti-public education.
I also received another Independence Institute e-mail. This one was pretty interesting. The Independence Institute is an anti-union, anti-public education group in Denver. The e-mail starts out by talking about NEA (National Education Association) support for that pro-choice rally in the news last week - I think it was in D.C. Then they made a sudden gear-shift into how some districts in Colorado have automatic union dues deduction from our pay checks unless you opt out. The Institute's big thing is that they are trying to reduce the power of the teacher's unions so that they can have less opposition to all their voucher bills and other anti-public education bills. So, they think it is "evil" that unions in some places have automatic dues deducation unless you opt out. Automatic dues deduction increases membership because it is simple. If people had to send in a check every month, fewer people would pay it as consistently and the unions would be hurt quite a bit financially. Our district is one of those that has automatic deduction. So, once in awhile, some of us whose e-mail addresses they get off of school websites get these surreptitious anti-union e-mails. I don't think they realize I'm on the board of the union! :)
Well, in half an hour here I have to meet online with some of my class mates to work on a graduate school project thing. Then I need to clean house a bit since Laura is coming to spend the night tonight. Also this weekend I need to draft my speech for next weekend's gathering in honor of the Prophet (saw) and if I get around to it, work on more graduate school stuff. I also hope to try to do a geocache, but we'll see.
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