Do All Muslims Have Good Knees?

Can you guess the context?
I have been asked many questions about Muslims, the Muslim faith, the Muslim whatever, but this had to be the sweetest and most endearing. If you haven’t already guessed, we were in a mosque, in a prayer hall, in the women’s section, settling down for Friday Jumma prayers. My Jewish friend Bernice and I had just sat down on the red prayer rug.

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TO-DO LIST: 2017

Never once in my life did I meet my New Year resolutions—until 2016.  Either I set the bar too high, got discouraged at no instant gratification, or simply ran out of steam. What was the one resolution you made year after year, and never met? I will tell you mine: lose weight. Until 2016. No, it wasn’t losing weight—though I actually did—but that wasn’t my resolution. It was the summer of  2014, and I was reading books on how to write a book.

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AND THEN I CRIED

It was 5:00 a.m., and the Empire State Building was lit up in blue.
Blue! Could it really be? Miracles do happen.
Four years ago, I had gone to bed well before the election results were called out. Early next morning, I looked out the window and saw the majestic Empire State Building gleaming in blue. I knew then that Barack Obama had won the election.  Perhaps Hillary picked up the outstanding votes

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The Genie is Out of the Bottle

What lay repressed by exercise of restraint, buried under layers of civilized behavior, simmering in the subconscious, is now unleashed. I am referring to bigotry and prejudice. Allow me to get really specific: Islamophobia. It was considered uncivilized and un-American to express hate. Now, thanks to the election rhetoric, it has been sanctioned.

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