made baked ziti last night. for the little one.

2/12/2013: married for 20 yrs today! here is a super short version of how i met my husband, recorded for NPR’s storycorps, a few yrs ago.

happy new year from trafalgar square to all my family, friends and compadres! may 2013 be a good year for true beauty and justice in the whole world and may it be a peaceful and productive year for all of … Continue reading →

my second film “pakistan one on one” will be broadcast by PBS in the greater rochester area, tomorrow dec 18th at 10.30 pm. if u live in the area pls watch it and let me know ur thoughts! here is … Continue reading →

this is southampton, ny. here in rochester spectacular wind and rain continue. schools r closed tomorrow. hoping we won’t have any power outages. be safe everyone.

so sad to read this. i had exchanged emails with her a few months ago about a series of lectures on al-andalus. she was a brilliant historian and writer. more here.

The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood. Within each child lies our future and our past. (From Aboriginal and Tribal Nation News).

last thursday i had kufteh tabrizi for lunch along with dolmas (not grape-leaf dolmas but rather bell peppers stuffed with a meat and lentil mixture). this delicious food was prepared by a sociology professor who taught at tehran university for … Continue reading →

James Baldwin said that identity is the American theme. In 2012, spirituality is a major, unspoken question in this culture because there is not a default religion, an assumed spirituality. But, as an intellectual myself, a purely intellectual life is … Continue reading →

hanging out with my girlfriends at a dholki, pittsford, june 28, 2012.

what next? state of the art roller coasters? i went to do the umrah as a young child – before all of this “development.” i saw a friend’s picture taken in mecca recently. she’s standing near the kabaa and it … Continue reading →

Two weeks ago, the Editorial Page Editor of The New York Times, Andrew Rosenthal, wrote that ever since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has created “what’s essentially a separate justice system for Muslims.” That should be an extraordinary observation: … Continue reading →

The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it. (John Ruskin) … love this. quite a bit of a paradigm shift. rather than think of success in terms of … Continue reading →

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.

painting by margaret scott.

spent it with family in va and nc. it has been a beautiful, warm fall.

tawdriness is a bottomless pit. there’s something to be said for living a life of dignity. dignity… alice walker comes to mind.

soundtrack for occupy wall street – check it out here.

Act beautifully, as God has acted beautifully towards you. (Quran, Sura al-Qasas 28:77)

love this.

taking a class in digital photography at the visual studies workshop in downtown rochester. first day tomorrow. can’t wait!

odd but interesting – love the voguing. lol. A mockumentary on the celebrity phenomenon in Pakistan that was originally commissioned for the 2008 Sunday Magazine ‘Face of the Year’ awards.