Posts from Memory Lane: The Cult Against Aging

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

Recently, though ill-advisably, I read Meg Wolitzer's The Ten-Year Nap. Though I knew that the novel might not be relatable to me on a personal level, I was hoping for some enjoyment and a look into other peoples' experienced reality. What I didn't expect to come away with was a feeling of utter dread at the idea of that most natural process: aging. 

Posts From Memory Lane: Fear, Sorrow, Anger, Hate - Unpeeling the Layers

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

One of the most important lessons that I took away from yoga class was the idea of layers. At that time in my life, I was angry a lot - misguided anger, unlike the kind I prize today that can generate change. I asked my yoga instructor about ways to deal with that anger, and she gave me a parable, as well as a lesson on where anger comes from.

Posts from Memory Lane: Digital Space and the Cornupia of Media

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

I'm a TV minimalist. I don't really watch movies or TV shows except through Netflix when I desire either a marathon (or, as the Wall Street Journal puts it: a "TV binge") or a diversion with friends. Oh, and sometimes I'll be found watching stand-up comedy.

When I think of media, however, I think about blogs and videos and online content of other types. I think of books and articles and photographs and art. I don't know whether that makes me more of a snobby academic type or a youngin' whose more plugged into the Youtube than the newspaper or cable TV. But either way, it means that I definitely spend a lot of time online.

And I'm not sorry.

Posts from Memory Lane: Sifting Through Old Papers...

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

Sometimes, I get into a special fever where I need to organize my papers and/or computer files. Right that instant. Even if there's something else more important going on, I just can't tear myself away from this organizing task. And woe to the person who tries to interrupt me in my quest.

I recently got into one of these manic moods and started reorganizing my computer folders. Needless to say, things had been piling up. Labels were all out of wack. There were things from high school in the college folder and tufts of Word documents that had no proper place, just floating in my less-than-infinite computer memory. And there too, amidst all the debris, were the glowing embers of The Past.

Posts from Memory Lane: How Feminists Can (and Should) Use Righteous Anger

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

In the newspaper while I was in Bangladesh, a health official claimed that women who requested maternity leave would just "keep on making more babies" and that they should just leave their jobs because it wasn't what they needed to be doing anyway. They were, as he put it, baby-making machines. As you can imagine, we were more than a little upset.

From this article, my sister and I had a (loud) conversation over lunch about how feminism looks in Bangladesh. We know how sexism looks, clearly, but what about the response to it?

Posts from Memory Lane: Pursuing the Spiritual

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

I was never told to be Muslim.

I grew up in a particularly secular household with a smattering of Christmas and Easter, though until only very recently, I didn't know their religious significance. During my teenage years, I fashioned myself to be an existentialist - though I still held onto agnostic beliefs at that time, so I guess I wasn't a straightforward one. When I finally chose to participate more in my ethnic heritage and culture, I found myself gravitating towards Islam in a way that made me feel calm and correct. It knit some of my spiritual beliefs together and also felt appropriate given my Bengali background.

Posts from Memory Lane: Why Analysis is a Form of Love

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

I love video games. And televised sports. And stand-up comedy. And any other number of media goodies that can be watched, heard, read, or played. But, what I don't love is the continued sexism and racism that I see in these media forms.

More often than not, I find myself unconsciously analyzing any media I take in - for instance, how much camera time a black tennis player got in comparison to a white tennis player during Wimbledon - and pointing out the critique. I'm not exactly silent about these observations, but for some people that takes away from the experience. They think I'm "reading too much into it," or I'm "taking away from the fun/action." Basically, they tell me to keep my comments to myself as much as possible.

Posts from Memory Lane: Generalist Blogger's Life

These posts were written during the summer while I was in Bangladesh, in preparation for the upcoming academic year. Long story short: when I looked back at the archive, I didn't have the desire  or the time to put them up. But now, since I'm coming back to the blog, I decided that some of them aren't half bad. Read on!

 
I always wondered what it would be like to be a subject blogger. To host one of those blogs that had a label attached to it - J's fashion blog or her social justice blog or whatnot. And while I've participated in those projects before, I always come back to this generalist platform that I loosely call a personal creativity blog, but really focuses on everything from activism to understanding the self.