Chicago’s Islamic Centers were very certain that it was on Tuesday… However just less than an hour ago, they declared October 23rd as the first day of Eid.

Wishing everyone a very joyous Eid! 

I received a Memo in my mailbox a week and a half ago from the ‘Director of Human Resources & Ethics Officer.” It was distributed on the 2nd of October, as indicated in the date field, but I didn’t get a chance to check my mailbox until a week and a half ago…It turns out that October 4th marks the first day of the Ethics Training required by the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (this applies to state public universities or community colleges professor/instructors and, thankfully, is Internet-based).

A list of important notes was highlighted …which reminds me that I better complete the training or else I will not be able to teach at that community college again! anyway, these few caught my attention:

-You must not discuss, copy or disclose the review quiz question or answers with any other individulas (including other employees and members of the public), during or after your training.

-You may print only one copy of the course material, if necessary, for your own reference. This copy must not be used for any purpose other than as an educational reference for your own individual use. It must not be disclosed to anyone else.

Alright, the question is what if I find the material so fascinating that I want to share the overall general scope of it with friends?! would that be considered un-ethical?!

on another note, a Withdrawal Form was in my mailbox as well …One of my students had decided to drop the course half way through! in the ‘Please help us serve you better. Your comments on why you are withdrawing from this course would be appreciated’ field, she writes: “I test into composition 101, but I need a lower class to help with sentence and paragraph writing.’

(it should be I ‘tested’ and not ‘ I test’)

Anyway, this particular student has constantly reiterated to me about her inability to write, she lacked confidence in her abilities. And when you lack the confidence, you will not be able to step up and improve. My goal was to instill the confidence in herself and help her reach her goal of speaking & writing effectively. Yes, writing can be very intimidating, but it can be learned by almost any literate person…it takes practice and time…I always make it clear to my students that I am always available during nights or via email to assist them with anything they may need or have concerns about… so when I saw her withdrawal form, I was very disappointed for she did not give me the chance to help her nor did she give herself the chance to improve!

I was talking to Layla, my sister-in-law, on the phone a few days ago…Ahmad, my 3-year old nephew, is in pre-school. Early last week, his school had a parent-teacher conference to review the progress of the pre-schoolers. His teacher went through his progress report with Layla. He’s doing well and enjoys school so much. He’s creative too … On that same day of the parent-teacher conference, as part of an in-class assignment, Ahmad’s class had to draw ‘My happy family.’ The teacher pulled out his art work to give to his mom to take home. As Layla was looking at it she saw stick figures of 1)Dad, 2) Mommy, 3)Mona, 4)The Mailman…

Hilarious!

Me: ‘Layla, what’s the mailman doing in a ‘My happy family‘ portrait?
Layla: ‘Hahahhah, your brother asked the same thing. I have NO clue…’

I wonder what the teacher was thinking!
Next time I see Ahmad, I am going to ask him to fill me in on the meaning behind his artwork!

I can’t respect someone who can’t see any fault in a group of people who could be some of the most despicable in the region simply because of whatever material comfort they have provided the elite in their society …and what makes this person less worthy of any respect is that he/she could be very fully aware of their history and yet defend them in the way he/she does …that’s just low and why anyone would see something amazing in that is beyond me… as long as such people are the source of admiration for Arabs, Arabs will deserve to be ruled by the same scumbags that rule them now! I mean when I see things like that, it just makes me wonder if Arabs really are the “victims” they love to portray themselves as or they’re simply being ruled by the type of people that they deserve to be ruled by. Arabs are excellent at sucking up, they are pro-bullshit and as long as they continue down their path they will continue to be bullied around by this superpower and by any other superpower… in fact for at least 200yrs they’ve been bullied around by everyone from the Turks (a.k.a sick man of Europe), and now by a bunch of cowboys… they’re in a pathetic state because they don’t possess or at least care to exercise that basic moral ability of defining what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not… actually never mind… I’ll end my rant here!

But first a few questions.  How would you describe the current state of the Arab world? so are we really pathetic? How pathetic are we…? really? Are we, as a people, lost? impotent? As nations? Is there any type of hope? In what or who?

Which of your 5 senses is most precious to you?

Alright…perhaps I can probably understand people’s reasons for being so reluctant donating through organizations, however these non-profit organizations are channels that have been established - some of which for over 30 years - to help facilitate the transfer process. These are non-proft organizations whose mission is to provide social, educational and most importantly humanitarian aid to less privileged socieites. These organizations, more often than not, have a publicly open financial records - giving anyone interested in donating through them access. Yet so many people out there still refuse to believe the good intentions. Why is it that we have so little faith - if any - in our organizations?

(Read on …)

An amazing Writer…who puts her life lessons - which molded her into what she’s become - into perspective…
Women and children out on the streets hitting and being hit without blinking; young and old men languishing in jails, wilderness, or mountain caves; live bullets whizzing all around; tear gas and tanks; mosques stormed with cleavers and bombs; chants broadcast from cassette players everywhere. The rhythm of the street was rapid and the blood hot. These were days like dreams, and the tales of sacrifices and heroism were like what we read in fiction or history books. Woman proved to the whole world that she was not a nonentity, but the heart, the mind, the feeling, and the living conscience of the revolution.

It all began with the birth of a little baby girl into a Palestinian family from Nablus. Not unexpectedly, the baby girl was received with discomfort punctuated with sobs and tears; she came fifth in a chain of eight girls. The father, who was yearning for a boy to preserve his name and inherit his property, was badly affected by that unhappy event. The fact that girls were unable to preserve the family name was not the only reason for disappointment. He felt that his image as the “father of girls,”as Arab tradition has it, with all the concomitant implications of a diminished virility, was fixed for good. Mother’s reaction, however, was far stronger. She wept for days on end and considered herself a most accursed and unfortunate women.

(Read on …)

If you can sum up your life as it is right now in one word, what would that word be?

It’s Truee!

…..
la la la laaaaa

Is everything meant to be broken?!

One of the most spectacular movie stunts filmed in Chicago 27 years ago for Steve McQueen’s final film, The Hunter, was restaged this past Sunday when a car smashed through the cables on the 17th floor of Marina City, plunging 180 feet into the center of the Chicago River.

A car falls toward the Chicago River in 1979 for “The Hunter.” (Sun-Times Library)

The re-creation:

(Read on …)