and words can never really help you say/what you want them to anyway
I had an idea for a Women of Color Conference workshop that involves a film, followed by discussion. The film is entitled The Way Home, and I saw it over a year ago, so the details are somewhat fuzzy, but I think it […]

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every time that i see your face,/i wonder what lies beneath your smile
I miss my cute little preschool kids.
And I miss Dennis the Menace, too.
I was reminded of both this afternoon because I stopped by D’s apartment to say hello and was pleasantly surprised to find myself greeted with such unrestrained joy. I’m always amazed […]

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conversations with (and documented by) my brother the artist
post-its are the funniest way to document a conversation, really.
DISCLAIMER, AGAIN: Please note that I am not as shallow as this exchange makes me out to be. But, really, look at the heavy-duty bags under that first guy’s eyes. Workaholics or drug-addicts need not apply. It’s all […]

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it’s all in a state of mind
Yesterday afternoon, Somayya and I both groaned as usual when we came in sight of the parking garage and the four long flights of stairs we’d have to climb in order to reach her car, which was parked on the uppermost level.
We had just finished a cross-campus-and-back-again trek […]

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i heart traffic school - day two
Patsy: So tell us, Damon, how many tickets have you received?
Damon: Total?
Patsy: Yes.
Damon: Oh, I’d say about…25 to 30. *shrugs nonchalantly*
Everyone: *collective gasp* OHHHHHH…!
Patsy: *shrieks* 25 to 30??!!
Damon: *defensively* Whaaat? In all my years of driving? That’s not bad at all.
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Patsy: *pained expression*
Damon was sitting next to me, […]

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i heart traffic school - day one
Patsy: What’s your name, hon?Me: Yasmine.Patsy: *winces at pronunciation* So what can I call you?Me: *suppressing laughter* Yasmine.Patsy: You really are mean, aren’t you?
Patsy: Alright, someone give me the two-letter abbreviation for “senior.”Jason B.: Old.
Patsy: So, tell us, why are you here in traffic school tonight?Me: For speeding on […]

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I have no resolutions/for self-assigned penance/for problems with easy solutions
Just a little while ago, I was standing in the boys’ department of Target, making mind-boggling decisions regarding whether to buy boys size-small t-shirts in packs of three or five - for myself, of course, since little boys size-small t-shirts fit me very nicely, I’ve recently […]

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just another day in paradise
By the time I finished my last errand of the evening today, it was dark and raining. I came out of the grocery store squinting against the rain and fog and bright headlights that crawled across the parking lot. The man standing just outside the doors nodded and smiled at me. […]

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Yesterday, we went to this wedding shindig thing about 90 minutes away. Although I’d been to fourteen weddings in the course of the eighteen months I lived in Pakistan, this was the first Pakistani wedding in the U.S. that I can remember attending. ‘Twas fun, even though we didn’t know most of the people. Actually, […]

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fake post II: conversational highlights
Yesterday evening, my cousin shook his head and said, “You know how some mothers abandon their newborn babies in cardboard boxes in front of church-doors or hospitals? I really think that’s what we should do with you, too.”
“Yeah, but I’m sort of beyond the newborn phase already,” I retorted.
He rolled his […]

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slip of the tongue
I called up a local mechanic early this morning because my car’s brakes needed to be looked at. When the guy answered the phone, instead of asking if the shop was open already for customers, I accidentally said, “Hi. I was just wondering if you’re awake already.” It took him what seemed […]

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(a.k.a. corrupting the youth of tomorrow)
I was starting to feel old for a while this morning. And you know that never happens.
It happened this morning, while I was sitting on a little wooden chair reading to my cute preschool kids. We were making our way through a story about a farmer who planted what turned […]

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don’t underestimate me (too much)
A: I’m all up for equality, but women don’t wanna be equal, they just wanna rule the world
Yasmine: Oh is that so?
A: uh huh. I mean, do you go to get your car’s oil changed? Or does daddy do it for you?
A: Do you even pump gas in your car?
Yasmine: I […]

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We’ve just spent an hour of our lecture time watching a film called Real Women Have Curves, and another hour discussing our reactions to this movie about a Mexican family in Los Angeles, about a teenaged girl moving between two worlds. As usual, I throw out a few thoughts about identity as fluid and impermanent, […]

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I am sitting in the café’s patio, alone, surrounded by mosaic tiles and empty wrought-iron furniture, late afternoon sunlight slanting across my table, classical music streaming from the speakers.
Just this morning, exasperated at running out of lined paper during my lecture and having misplaced my favorite pen, I walked over to the campus bookstore […]

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