#like we were a christian school but such a big portion of the students and staff were off for eid one year

[icy-book]

@serikyl @begaydodrughailsaten You guys are killing me (/light-hearted, it's not your fault you don't know)

It is very much not a British thing, Eid is one of the most well-know Islamic religious holidays

Technically there are two Eids, Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha, but when someone just says Eid they usually mean Eid ul Fitr

Eid is the celebration of the end of Ramadan (which, in case you don't know, is a month of fasting during daylight hours, for various religious reasons that I don't remember confidently enough to explain rn), and Eid ul Fitr translates to "Festival of the Feast". I think it's also know as the Sugar Festival, if I remember right. Giant celebration, family and neighbours gather together to have a huge feast to celebrate the month of fasting being over. My best friend growing up was Muslim and since their family lived in Pakistan and couldn't travel easily, I've celebrated Eid with them a few times!

Just found out my friend has no idea what Eid is, head in my hands sobbing

[deewithani]

For those of you not in Tennessee, we have a problem.

Well, we have a lot of problems, but we have a big one that crash landed on the doorstep of 60% of all 3rd graders in the state.

A problem that educators said would be a problem, but the ones who would know were ignored (as tends to be the pattern).

The 3rd grade retention law went into effect. Simply put, 3rd grade students who do not perform proficiently in the reading portion of the TCAP test must either be tutored or attend "summer reading camps" (aka, summer school), and show adequate growth to pass to the 4th grade.

What is "adequate growth"? Well, parents and teachers had no fucking clue until LAST FRIDAY!

Here you go for this particular bit of government 🐂💩:

And when were students and parents made aware of their TCAP results? Yesterday. Mostly anyway. Because apparently there was some scoring problems in some districts or something.

And when does the school year end? For some kids, this week. For others, it's already over.

And 60% of ALL 3RD GRADERS in this state didn't meet the requirements to move on.

And I know you're thinking, "Well, kids should be proficient in reading. Literacy is declining." And I agree. But something bad is happening here.

There's been a push for private school vouchers happening for the past few years in the state. Some districts have pushed very hard against certain private (Christian) schools being opened in their areas, but it is happening and there's legislation pending.

https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/02/09/private-school-voucher-bill-for-hamilton-rolls-through-committee/

But what does this have to do with the 3rd grade retention law and 60% of 3rd graders not meeting proficiency on the TCAP test?

Here's the thing. Not every 3rd grader in TN is subject to this law. How can that be possible? Well, 3rd graders who are homeschooled are not required to take the TCAP (no homeschooled students are), but they can take it if they want (unless they're disabled students in the IEA program, who may be end up being exempt anyway):

But that's just homeschooling. What about private schools? The ones that I mentioned above?

Yeah, only 5% of private schools in TN are required to use the TCAP (and the IEA program students mentioned above, unless the student is exempted).

So what's happening on the ground? This is only anecdotal (because my own kid is an adult now), but I'm seeing a non-insignificant amount of people who are upset because their children (3rd graders and younger who will be 3rd graders) questioning the public school system. To be clear, they're not upset at teachers or school faculty. They're upset at administration to the highest level and feeling like their children have been wronged by this. Parents whose children don't miss school and bring home good grades.

These parents are seriously looking at pulling their children out of public schools over this.

I know several teachers who are making plans for their futures that don't include them being teachers in this state anymore.

Surrender is setting in, and the battle for public schools in Tennessee is getting ready to be dealt a major blow.

Before you sit back and say, "Well, it's a red state. You get what you voted for", you're right. But if you haven't been paying attention for the last few years, let me fill you in. Tennessee is a Republican super majority state. As such, we've had some pretty insane, freedom limiting laws be put into place. Other similar states have done the same.

You should be looking at Tennessee (and FL, TX, and all the others) like the canary in the coal mine that it is, and pay attention to the laws and statutes already in place to see what the end game is.

You already know there's a battle happening against public schools in the US. What is happening in TN is an early warning. Their tactics are working.

This isn't even getting into all the other anti-public school stuff that these people are doing. Teachers, counselors, books, libraries, librarians, they're all under attack.

It is a battle of public opinion. They're winning the battle.

[qqueenofhades]

So, it’s Friday evening, and it turns out I have more thoughts about things that happened this week. I almost never do Discourse on this blog, on whatever subject, but sometimes even your friendly local depressed historian gotta say things. If you’re not in the mood for a long-ass meta-y text post, just keep on scrolling, no hard feelings.

In the wake of the Notre Dame fire, which obviously a lot of us were upset about, and profoundly relieved that it did not end up being completely catastrophic, the usual spate of posts began to pop up, alleging that people only cared about Notre Dame because of the loss to Western/European/Christian history, that nobody had been this upset about the National Museum of Brazil or the outbreak of arson at three black churches in Louisiana in the same week, and so on. I don’t blame anyone for making those posts, because I know they cared about those issues and wanted to ensure that their importance was communicated, especially when something major like Notre Dame was getting all the airtime. However, I couldn’t help but notice how that followed the same pattern as all Woke Tumblr Discourse (tm). An event happens, people express reactions to it, and are then attacked or indirectly shamed for not expressing reactions to another event. Or there’s the usual cycle of “nobody will care about this because it’s not happening in America”-style posts, or passive-aggressive insinuations that “you don’t care if you don’t reblog this.” And -- I say this with the greatest kindness possible, because I know, I know you guys care -- it’s... not helpful.

The culture of Tumblr and other left-wing sections of social media often rests on enacting performative wokeness, on showing that you care about the most Progressive (tm) issues, or that you have thoroughly scrutinized your fandom tastes or political beliefs for anything Problematic and/or can prove yourself to an imagined moral standard (and there have been some great metas written on how this essentially replicates conservative evangelical purity culture, with the goalposts switched). This is why we keep having to circulate (and doubtless will have to do so with increasing frequency) those posts reminding the left not to eat its young and flame all prospective Democratic challengers to Trump in 2020 to a crisp before the right wing, which is only too happy to let us do the work of sabotaging ourselves, even gets a chance. This is also why you see the posts responding to said angry “nobody cares about this!” posts, in which people mention the fact that not visibly reacting to all the (vast and terrible) injustice in the world does not mean they don’t care. The world is a big place. So is the internet. I can guarantee you that people do care, and just because you didn’t see immediate evidence and response to it when you opened up your Tumblr dash is not proof of a collective nefarious conspiracy.

Take me, for example. I am a thirty-ish academic and historian who considers myself well-informed and literate in current events. I read national and international news every day to find out what’s going on (because I live in England, the answer is Brexit, and the status is Failed). And yet, there are plenty of things that I only hear about for the first time on Tumblr, often attached to one of those “nobody cares about this!” posts. And you know what? I do care. I care a lot. And I’m guessing that most other people do as well, because no matter how it may feel, the majority of individuals are fundamentally decent people with basic empathy for others, even if our whole system is a nightmare. But the urge to demand why nobody is Discoursing about this issue (again, among a vast and exhausting sea of them) needs to take a few fundamental things into account. 

First, the American media (as a large portion of readers are relying on) simply does not report this stuff. Look at what’s happening in that godforsaken country right now; does it really seem like the kind of place that’s eager to tell you about Brazilian museum fires or black-church arson? I’m someone who makes a conscious effort to read the news no matter how depressed it makes me, and I still miss tons of stuff, because it’s not there. The Western media reported on Notre Dame, people knew about it, and were upset. But when those of them who did not know about the National Museum of Brazil learned about it, they were also upset. We can definitively say now that the National Museum was a bigger and more irreplaceable tragedy in terms of what burned. But we were also apparently 15-30 minutes away from losing all of Notre Dame. You can be upset about both these things. You can express empathy for the history lost in both cases. There is not a greater moral value attached, and you’re not racist for caring about Notre Dame if you heard about it first (unless you’re only upset about Notre Dame for reasons related to race or perceived cultural superiority and are peddling vile conspiracy theories about Jews and Muslims intentionally burning it down, in which case you are a racist). Almost everyone who learned about the National Museum fire was just as horrified.

2019 is a hard and monstrously unfair and tremendously difficult place to live. The internet has made exposure to both all the information and no real information at all simultaneously possible. Not everyone can display active engagement and empathy with every tragedy everywhere. People have jobs, lives, kids, work, school, other commitments, mental and physical health to look after and even when they read the damn news, there’s no guarantee whatsoever the news is going to report it. If they haven’t made the conscious effort to search out every scrap of terribleness that exists in this hellworld, they.... really should not be shamed for that. If they don’t care even after they learn, that’s another debate. But again, in my experience, most people do. But if they are first exposed to it by someone claiming they won’t care, that makes them less likely to engage with it, and to want to enact meaningful change. Firing wittily sarcastic takedowns at easy targets on echo-chamber liberal Twitter is one thing. We all enjoy a good roast and venting our frustration at times. But as a long-term engagement strategy, it’s going to actively backfire.

I talk a lot about being a teacher, and my experiences with my students, but it’s relevant again, so here goes. The kids in my classes come in believing some pretty strange things, or they flat out don’t have a clue even about what I consider basic historical knowledge. If my reaction was to shame them for not knowing, when they have expressly come to me to learn better, I’m pretty sure I’d be a bad teacher. My strategy, whenever a student can actually be nudged to answer a question, is to pick out whatever correct thing they said. Even if the rest of the answer is wrong and we need to work through it, I start by highlighting the part of it that was right, and to build their confidence that I’m not just going to tear them down when they respond. Freshmen are scared of not knowing things and to be made to look like an idiot, so I try to assure them that I’m not going to do that and I will constructively engage with their contribution and treat it seriously. You can then move to dealing with the other parts of it that may not be right, or even Mmm Whatcha Say side-eye. It is a long and often frustrating process and sometimes after reading their essays, you wonder how much of an impression you made. But if you actually want to get people to care about things, you can’t mistake Ultimate Wokeness or Look How Progressive/Anti-establishment/Enlightened I Personally Am for the simple requirement of being a decent person. You can have the greatest and most necessary beliefs or value systems in the world, but if your response to people is to lash out at them even before they begin the conversation, you’re setting yourself back. And I know that’s not really what you want to do.

This should not be interpreted as some wishy-washy “everyone just needs to be nice to each other!!!” kindergarten-playground-rule. I frankly think the whole system could use a good nefarious dismantle, and you sure as hell don’t get there by mistaking insipid moral equivalence for necessary action. But accepting the existence of people different from you, and considering how you want to engage with them, and understanding that issues are complicated and people are flawed, is a fundamental part of being a mature adult (and this has nothing to do with chronological age; there are 15-year-olds who are plenty more mature adults than 50-year-olds). I honestly do love the desperate desire to make people care, and that, for the most part, is why people who identify as liberal or left-wing do so, because they want to (and they do) care. But it’s also why they can be bad at winning elections and getting into meaningful positions to enact this change. The right wing stays on message and sticks together. Even if they absolutely hated Trump, plenty of Republicans held their noses and voted for him anyway. The left did not do that. The greatest virtue of liberal thought, i.e. its determination to include multiple perspectives, has increasingly reduced it to smaller and smaller camps where only the purest survive, like some kind of ideological Hunger Games. It might be great for making yourself look good to your hall of mirrors, but.... not so good for actually doing something long-term.

Once again, this is not to blame anyone for being upset and worried about things, for wanting people to know about them, and so forth. But I am gently-but-firmly suggesting, in my capacity as old, salty, queer spinster academic aunt, that perhaps you consider how you start the conversation. Once again, it’s my experience that most people want to know and want to care, but there are countless factors that mean not every bad thing in the world will be acknowledged everywhere by everyone at all times. You can care about different things for different reasons. That is okay. You can care about something because you have a personal connection to it. That is also okay. You can not care about something because you just don’t have the capacity and are emotionally exhausted and there’s so much shit in this world that you have to compartmentalize and set boundaries. That is also okay.

For example, I was obviously very upset about Notre Dame, and still am, though I’m relieved it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Am I happy it’s going to be restored? Yes. Am I unbelievably angry that a half-dozen of the elite uber-rich could just suddenly throw billions of euros at it for its restoration, when it had to struggle for years to get funding for crucial renovations? Yes. Do I feel as if that if the vaults have suddenly been opened to restore one major European Christian landmark, it’s incredibly heartbreaking that that level of instant capital just won’t be addressed to actual endemic, long-term issues like global warming and social inequality and the Flint water crisis and whatever else, and that this is a sad and troubling message for our society in many ways? Yes.  All of these things exist together. And I imagine most people feel the same way.

In short: I realize this is the internet, and therefore just is not designed to do that, but maybe we can give each other a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt, and think about how we would like to educate and engage those we come in contact with, whether virtually or in reality. We can do it wherever and whoever we are, with anyone that we meet, and I wonder what it would be like if we did.

[placesthatchangedpeople]

Pacific Life Program testimony

The facility seems to be housed on a property which once housed a Christian program where the owners were banned from running a program in California. The present management might be unrelated to the old one. This testimony was found on Reddit

Pacific Life Program in Mexico... spent almost the minimum 7 months in this program.

My dad sent me because I stopped going to school, dabbled into drugs , I had a “big bad boyfriend” at the time who was a bad influence or whatever, and cuz I have extreme mental illness.

Program was extremely cheap since it was in the ghetto parts of Mexico and my family isn’t exactly well off.

When u call, u talk to the only white person working at the whole program (please don’t take this as racist, but most of the staff didn’t speak very good English) Mic, he manipulates you to think this program is some sort of big resort. Literally told my parents it was “like a resort”.

The website is the most bullshit thing ever. They advertise to people with promiscuity, runaways, eating disorders, literally just ADHD, and school issues. they literally force feed you and punish you when u don’t eat the overly sized portions. I went in there a healthy weight of 140 (I’m 5’7 and finally back at this weight after almost a year being out) and I got out fucking 166. Unhealthy. The “doctor” claimed it was healthy and didn’t do anything when I cried to her about it. I have had eating issues since 5th grade. Every girl here gains around 20-40 pounds.

They are extremely sexist too with their extreme dress code. The staff have to check every single pair of pants you have to see if how your ass looks (which was a pain to the girls with a bigger ass because you literally could not wear anything).

The girls could not talk to the boys at all and were harshly punished for doing so to the point that our stay would be extended an extra 2 months and they’d keep us in a small white room is plastic chairs for about 12 hours A DAY. FOR DAYS. some would even spend at most a month.

The staff treated us inhuman. like we were animals without opinions. Sometimes they were nice and I’m not holding it against them because “it’s their job” but fuuuck.

They don’t cater to mental illness either. At all. when I got there i was so scared. they didn’t waste anytime checking if I had anything on me. when I didn’t take my clothes off because of how scared I was they physically forced me too while I cried the whole time. there were roaches in our drawers and the kitchen. Found one on my bed once. Also not air conditioning they would check me for self harm twice a day where I’d have to show my upper thighs and stomach and once again I didn’t feel comfortable getting kinda naked I didn’t think they were perverts or anything but still kinda fucked me up also didn’t let us shave our specifically our vags which had no explanation

I didn’t see my parents until about 4 months in. one of the punishments was denying u seeing ur parents which was kinda fucked in my opinion.

School situation was shit too. they fucked up my credits transferring them so guess who didn’t graduate. the classes were extremely hard especially without any outside help. our “research website” usage was extremely restrictive which didn’t help.

We were allowed to have journals but they read every page and punished u for even talking abt bad things u did in the past (which I pretty much think is essential to recovery) they also always tried to listen to our convos a lot and didn’t like us talking abt it. I think that’s also why i got out so fucked. they kinda altered my world view.

Also they manipulated ur parents a lot and lied. They have a strict 3-month plan for when u get out where u can’t even have a phone or leave the house. I could go on and I might add more

Also, on their website they also state that they don’t give students the medication risperdal but gave me it the whole time I was there The website also has horses and shit when in reality we got to see the horse once a week for an hour and take turns riding it around the field once

[donnnoir]

I am back, well for the most part.  This process being contingent upon my time management and allotment of same.  Believe me it is not from lack of desire, rather it is dealing with the typical Luciferian practice of distraction and delay; added to that is their ubiquitous practice of poisoning those they target, along with the microwave and other energy / frequency weapons used on targeted individuals.  An if ever there was a target on their BINGO List I am in the top three.  I live only by the grace of God.  Presently it appears individuals are putting some petroleum based distillate into my drinks and food.  I suspect that there are several other types of unhealthy food additives being put into that which I consume.  The other items I suspect are some sort of heavy metal salts like Thallium, Arsenic, or similar.  The only good thing that can be said about what is presently occurring is that thus far they have not resorted to using metal salts which have been irradiated, like they did when I was being Fox-ed in Southern California around the Long Beach and Wilmington areas primarily.  Even so the amounts have been sufficient that if I was anybody else, I would be very concerned and more than highly upset at several persons around me, all the more so given the great lengths they go in saying we are fast friends, family even.  An although I know I will survive I am needless to say highly upset. Yet my circumstance is not such that I can easily or directly deal with the matter.  Instead as it is part of the larger issues I have dealt with all my Life I prefer to just add it to an ongoing tab. Soon enough the paradigms and social conventions we Live by shall come undone, and my hands will be free.  When the Kid gloves come off, and I am given leave from my G-d I will commence to balancing the scales.  Until then I must suffer the indignation and deprivations to my soul.  This exposition project will continue as time and situation permits.

Thus in consideration to this process I have undertaken it is abundantly clear that I should present myself and a general perspective of the terms I have strove to have all my Life.  All the more so since in pursuit of the purpose of this blog and my venturing out into the media of sorts will invariably bring the entirety of my life under the scrutiny of those that will for one reason or another seek to discredit what I intend to present.  An I being the disreputable soul that I am will be an easy target.  Wherefore it is incumbent upon me to get out ahead of the ball on this, so to speak.  I know that no matter how I attempt to be forthcoming on matters of my personal life and the manner in which I have Lived.  I will invariably miss many details that in due course will bite me in the arse.  I am fond of reminding persons that Life is in the Living; and that last I checked Living was and is a very messy process.  Or, rather it can be.  An all things considered I have done a bang up job of leaving a mound of detritus in my wake.  A side effect that has only increased as of late, albeit with a helping hand from those that would rule over the world.  At the time of my composing this my Life has become defined as a series of ongoing train-wrecks.  What chance I had to have any kind of Life resembling normality is no longer serviced by the train station.  Regrettable as it may be I am at least comfortable with that reality.  Wherefore how best to succinctly present a proper representation of the Life I have lead which represents a degree of my thought processes and a degree of my character and nature.  A usually straight forward idea, yet for myself I find it immensely difficult.  Yes I am a son of Light, I have always professed the Truth.  Nonetheless I was raised to be a Man, a hard Man of character meant for vastly more difficult and dynamic social and cultural circumstances than has thus far been required of me or us in general as the human race.  Yes we have Lived through challenging times even survived an insane period of global ego paranoia we commonly referred to as MAD.  The legacy of which will yet play out in the not too distant future.  What we as in the entire World must struggle and fight Our way through beginning shortly within the coming months, to frame it in proper temporal perspective. These events will exceed all that has happened in the past.  The Seers of Old were shown many of these things, they however lacked the conceptual context or even words whereby to begin to explain what had been revealed to them.  My mother worked hard to raise four Men, as she understood that to mean. We all were each individual anachronisms for the present.  We belong to times five hundred to five thousand years ago.   Understanding this, perhaps the rest will find context and help those that wish to maintain perspective.  Elsewise my existence and life’s work will seem almost contradictory to my stated purpose and desires.  Hell I will be the first to admit I am a living ball of contradictions; nonetheless I have maintained a course that has been exemplified as of late.  A portion of the story we shall attend to a bit later; sooner than it would in chronological order.  

Thus Be it Known I was born August 31, 1960, in the year of Our Lord.  In the humble back water town of Socorro, New Mexico.  And yes, New Mexico is a State in the Union of the United States of America.  My Christian given name is as my fathers, thus making me a junior.  My father is your typical WASP American.  Gifted with a Highly keen intellect and analytical mind.  My Mother’s people are a unique blend of Native American and Spanish.  Our Spanish roots go back five hundred years.  Two brothers were shipped to further point in the Spanish Empire to protect their bloodline till the end of time.  They came in chains as Crypto Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition.  My father later was one of the engineers working on the Mercury and Saturn / Apollo Rockets which eventually landed men on the moon.  My parents being the strongwilled  dynamic individuals that they were eventually divorced, with my Mother taking us from California back to New Mexico.  I was blessed to have lived in New Mexico when it was an open confluence of differing forces and ideologies.  It is sadly no longer such a place.  I grew up in the company of different beliefs and fellow students who came from backgrounds that valued intelligence and knowledge.  At the same time others taught me that a person needed to see beyond the bonds of knowledge and see the foundations of the world and universe as they were originally cast that being spiritual and some would say ethereal.   Thus to me understanding Our World from more than one perspective or level of sight is normal.  As a matter of fact this perception of reality goes all the way back to my earliest memories back to being in my crib. An when it comes to sighted, I in previous conversations with others have described how my vision worked when I was younger.  As many of us may recall from our halcion days of being in elementary school. There were those overhead projectors which our teachers would then apply various overlays.  Well that is a very good analogy of how I actually would see my world.  There was/ is the reality that everyone sees, then there were generally two additional overlays, usually one in front of and one behind the norm.  But this could also be two behind or two in front of the norm.  On rare occasions there would be more than two in a variety of configurations.  At times the overlays would have no obvious association to the normal view.  Matter of fact I have had here recently cause to remember images I saw almost fifty years ago.  Some things that go back to before I was two.  Now I have always thought I was a bit different, and naively I to this day can’t fathom that everyone doesn’t in some way or another see the world similar to how I have.  Being a precocious young man to say the least, I do recall the statement that if you would be great that you should select a great adversary.  An as Lucifer is Humanities great adversary it was natural that I would select him.  Now it was also an extension of my visions from when I was nine.  So as I listened to the conflicts of the day, did I become aware that there among the idyllic images of society that I heard Lucifer’s voice spreading his lies and vile beliefs.  Since no one else was pointing a finger or raising an alarm in that sector I figured I might as well go poking around.  That when I was approximately sixteen, needless to say it has been one hell of ride.  Now, bit by bit I have slipped into the abyss which is present in all part of our society and culture.  Because, well that is where I was needed the most.  However it takes a toll and like some foul ichor adheres to those who travel extensively in it, such that for fear it may infect anyone not disposed to it I avoid deceit folk.  I have made my way doing business and working often in the byways of this abyss.  As a female friend of mine once cried to me that I couldn’t let myself be killed because in all the world I was the only person who did what I did.  That I would actually willingly go into to the places that these Luciferians inhabit to take the women and child out.  Others might help, but none of them would go into the place alone and face them down.  To this I must admit is the Truth.  An for anyone else to do it would be a fool errand.  Because as they stare at me with fake smiles wanting only to kill me; I would stare back and challenge them to bring it.  They wouldn’t because what they see when they look at me is a blackness darker than any they have seen before.  Now along the way I have become a felon more than on one occasion.  My record shows several convictions, some I am not guilty of what I am convicted of having done.  As is often the case the Truth is the first victim of a good fight.  And believe me I have been fighting the good fight for a long time, up until recently I have generally gotten a big return on my investment.  Recently I have been handed my ass to me in spades, with nothing to thus far show for what it has cost.  Believe me it has come at an immense cost, with no end in sight.  Yet it is the ticket I bought on my way to Creation; so Hell be Damned if I am going to start whining now.  I do at time bitch a little, but I am only human after all.  Hahahaha……..

So, having accepted responsibility for having lived the woolly life that I have.  To say I have a checker board past is to be kind but nonetheless True.  Consequently what I share with you is the Truth. I wish I could say it was assembled in a coherent manner so as to be easily understood.  Sorry such is not the case.  More Over I will no doubt go off into various tangent issues and share what at times is my unique history and understanding of a given issue.  Somethings may offend some of the more “sensible” readers.  I can accept that. Know that I once thought as almost everyone else in the world.  It is only because of my life’s experiences and knowledge acquired by other means that I now believe as I do.  What is particularly ironic is that no matter how large my “craziness coefficient” may get; I am withholding the more extreme things I have come to know.   Hang on as best you can an hopefully my writings will permit some of you to prepare for that which shall shortly come to pass.  Granted my current biggest obstacles are getting past the AI’s that are acting as guardians at the gates.  We shall do our best.

[a-woman-apart]

Old Obsessions

In the spirit of trying to write at least one post a month- and out of a genuine desire to get a few things off my chest- here I am, writing a post.

I will begin with the life update portion of the post. My health has been somewhat imperiled. I won’t go into details on here (yet), but I’m getting some tests done because I’ve been dealing with some pain. I already have trouble getting out of the house because of depression and anxiety, and these problems are being exacerbated by issues of pain and fatigue. Whatever it is, I’m hoping for a diagnosis that A) shows that it’s an actual thing and I’m not just crazy, and B) is an actual thing that is easily treatable. In the coming weeks to one month I should find out what I need to know.

The second thing of note is that at the end of the month I will be returning to the community college where I graduated from to take some CORE classes. Since most of my courses were in music, and I only took a few COREs, I have two semesters worth of classes to take. I am doing this to save money, and to ensure that when I go on to the university in the fall of next year, I will be jumping immediately into undergraduate-level courses. I am in fact taking so many COREs that by the time I am done I will have an Associate of the Arts degree in addition to my Associate in music- all before I even make it to the university. I do have to take physical education to make that happen- a course that wasn’t required by the university- but that is just one extra thing.  

I have “mixed feelings” about returning to school this fall. It is true that I got the whole summer off, for the first time in years, but it still feels so soon to be returning. The thought of being piled on with classwork all over again has brought out feelings of depression and sadness in me. I know that I am following the path that I have set out for myself. My goal is to be college-ready in the fall, but it all feels so overwhelming. I feel excited about the thought of getting another degree in the process of taking all these COREs, but I’ve been in school for 4 years already and I really feel it.

Another discouraging aspect about going to school again is the fact that I probably won’t have the time or energy to get a second job to help pay for my living expenses, unless it’s a side hustle that I can do from home. When I got on SSDI, it meant losing my Medicaid, so I now have $134 taken out of my monthly check to go towards Medicare. In addition to that, I am required to pay $38 a month as a copay for the insurance I get for my mental health visits. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but my total income from my job and SSDI is not very much (S/N: I will probably talk to my clinic and see if I still need their insurance now that my Medicare part B has kicked in). Adding almost $200 to my monthly expenses is no joke.

I want to be able to take care of myself. I have always known that I needed to find more hours or better employment. In a way, going to classes again (full-time) is in fact a help to me, because I usually get a Pell Grant refund after my books and classes are paid for. That extra money helps me to put a little in savings and to pay pressing expenses. I’ve always known, though, that I can’t go on depending on those refunds forever. Before I got SSDI, I had SSI, and I was caught between a rock and a hard place where I worked too much to get any meaningful help from them, but too little for the help they did give to cover my expenses. That was the summer that I had to get a second- and for a while a third job- and literally almost killed myself in the process. Later SSI too gave me a huge refund (probably because they had withheld too much from my check) and I used that money for all sorts of things, like paying off my credit card, paying a big portion towards my car note, saving for emergencies and travel, and even giving a bit to charity.

Like I said, though, I want to be able to take care of myself. Whether it’s depending on the Pell Grant or my SSDI, I am still dependent on the government in a huge way. I know the way that my mental health deteriorated when I had my summer jobs was a sign that maybe I’ve been declared disabled for a reason, but I still sometimes feel like I am “not disabled enough” to deserve to still receive services. Without government help, though, I wouldn’t even have insurance for things like my medicine, therapy, and doctor visits, let alone just having enough money to keep my car and stay in my apartment.

When it was just a choice between working and not working, 35-40 hours a week was not a big deal. I worked that plenty of times when I worked in the food industry. I would put in the hours and SSI would give me my check- that had been reduced by around 75%- and together with that and sometimes having food stamps I had a comfortable life. Now that I am a student- and have even more expenses- I just can’t do that anymore. During the summer last year I worked 15 extra hours on the weekend in addition to my 20-hr-a-week library job. I was taking very condensed summer classes as well that took up a huge chunk of my time. My dad was also starting to get sicker that summer and later in the fall someone did a hit-and-run on my vehicle. It is true that today the circumstances would be different. I’ll be doing full-time, but it’s a regular semester. Maybe I could work weekends if I really needed to and if I really tried. The truth is though, that I don’t know if my mental health can withstand that.

Maybe some people can say, “Well, you don’t have to be a student” and that is very true. What is also true is that I may never be able to rise above the poverty line and become self-sufficient if I don’t go to school. Just like working, going to school is an effort to improve my well-being and my contribution to society. The government investing in me now will definitely pay off for them in the future. Even though I now believe that capitalism is bonkers, there is some part of me that takes satisfaction in being able to say that I help feed the economy. Until we have something better and everyone living below the poverty line- not just disabled people like me- gets a basic income from the government, this is the best that we have.

Now I am going to make a total 180 and talk about something that had been the main purpose of this blog when this first started- my religious journey. I think the last time that I wrote a post about where I was with my religion was a couple months ago, when I visited a couple of Universalist Unitarian churches. I haven’t been back since my initial visits, for various reasons, but maybe one is that I am starting to agree with my boyfriend- what I am looking for probably can’t be found inside a church organization.

When my dad passed away in January, I wasn’t angry at God. I had already decided that if there was a Higher Power, it was very possible that said Power didn’t have complete authority to intervene in earthly matters. What it demonstrated to me instead was the failure of the Christian Word of Faith movement and how it sometimes hurts and disappoints its adherents. It didn’t prove to me that miracles never happened, just that they were far less commonplace than evangelists led us to believe and probably explainable using natural terms. It also demonstrated something that is obvious to me but not to many, that people who try to “sell” miracles are misguided at best, or are all liars and charlatans at worst.

I guess that the main reason that I haven’t been writing about it as much is that I’ve just stopped caring. In one post, I mentioned the quote that states that the opposite of love isn’t hate, but apathy. When you hate, you are still giving energy to a person, object, or idea. When you are apathetic, that energy simply isn’t there. This is destructive in its own unique way. Somehow, the ideas of Christianity have lost their place in my life. My family members are all still Christians, but we don’t talk about it. I’ll hear about Girl Defined and shake my head ruefully, but I haven’t put a lot of energy into dismantling their ideas. I’ll skim through my recommendations from Patheos, but no articles jump out at me that I really want to read. I can hear a sermon or see a person preaching on a street corner and feel nothing. I used to want to be able to answer every argument, and I would take aggressive or passionate people stating their beliefs as a personal attack. Now it’s all so blasé to me. “What’s new?” or “Who cares?” are all that I can manage to ask myself in those moments.

In a way, getting here is a personal victory for me. I know that when topics of religion come up, I will always have a point of view to contribute. Crafting that point of view, however, isn’t central to my life anymore. Right now, I am concerned with getting to the next stage in my life. I am about to go to a big university for the first time, and I’m scared. My boyfriend and I have gotten really serious; we want to move in together and share our lives, but we are more than 2000 miles apart and we barely have any money. My youngest brother is preparing to go to college, and my other younger brother is a supervisor at his job. My older brother and my sister-in-law want to build a house on my mom’s property. My little sisters are learning to drive and they want to start working. My mom wants to travel but needs to find some way to get the farm taken care of. We’re all growing older.

Maybe, in saying that, I’m proving the point that it’s important to start thinking about things like “eternity.” To me, it proves the opposite. It takes so much energy just to be focused on the here and now, why waste time planning for an eternity that might not exist? I do know that my dad held on to the hope of eternity until the very end. He burdened himself by worrying that his loved ones might not be able to share it with him. I could never give him the assurance that he needed, but I think he believed that God would make everything right in the end, and I’m happy for him for that. Sometimes it saddens me to think of his way of life dying with him, but ultimately that way of life was not the one that was best for me.

I am turning 28 at the end of next month. Maybe getting older is finally starting to afford me some perspective about the things that really matter. Maybe I will have that zero-fucks-left-to-give attitude that everyone says that you get when you hit 30. All I know is that right now things are looking much clearer to me now. I still feel inadequate as hell, but maybe that never goes away. All I can do is keep moving forward.

[lastchancevillagegreen]

The reason it has taken me so long to deliver this list of what my favorite novels were for 2020 is because my library was closed down most of December and a good portion of January. 

Here Are My Ten Favorite Books of 2020:

The Bitch Pilar Quintana (2017/ 2020 Translation by Lisa Dillman) This was my #3 favorite book of 2020.  It is a nerve wracking tale about a childless couple and the dog that enters their life. You go into this knowing the dog is going to be abused, but then so is the woman.  The lead character Demaris is going to regret the day that dog came into her life, as is that dog.

Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser (1900) Sister Carrie is Theodore Dreiser’s debut novel about a woman who leaves her small Wisconsin town for the big city of Chicago.  She shocks her family by moving in with a traveling salesman shortly after landing in Chicago and things go to Hell from there.

Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós (1886-7) This is my #1 novel of 2020.  This long (almost 900 pages) meandering novel is about  Juanito Santa Cruz and the two women he is in love with,  Subtitled Two Stories of Married Women it follows both women’s lives as well as the lives of almost 32 other characters.  Charles Dickens should have been so lucky to have written a book as good as this.  

McTeague Frank Norris (1899) Subtitled The Story of San Francisco this book follows the life of the titular character (we are never given his Christian name) who works as a dentist.  He is obsessed with his best friend’s cousin whom he eventually marries, but their marriage is anything but idyllic.  This is the novel that Erich von Stroheim’s classic silent film Greed was based on.  Like so many other books on this list, everything goes straight to Hell for McTeague.  

The Passion According To G.H. Clarice Lispector (1964) /(Translation by Idra Novey done in 2012) Hands down the weirdest thing I read all year. GH undergoes a complete epiphany after killing a cockroach in her just fired maid’s room.  The entire book is GH’s inner dialogue concerning this cockroach and a million other topics which run through her mind.  This was another novel I read in one sitting because I was dying to know if GH was going to eat the remains of that gooey cockroach.  

The Seventh Cross Anna Seghers (1942/ 2018 Translation by Margot Bettauer Dembo) Seven men escape from a Nazi concentration camp.  The commandant of the camp has seven plane trees fashioned into crosses, one for each prisoner.  As the men are captured, they are sent to a tree.  We can only hope at least one of the prisoners manages remain free.  And look when this book was written!  The author escaped the Nazis herself and went to Switzerland where she wrote this book.

The Only Plane In The Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Garrett M Graff (2019) Regardless of what you think about the war that is still going on two decades later, the only thing that really matters is what happened to the people inside The Twin Towers on the morning of 11 September.  Yes, you’re going to tear up and/or cry at different spots in this book.  This is a heartbreaker.

The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead (2019) Based on the real life Dozier School For Boys in Marianna, Florida, Whitehead’s fictional school is The Nickel Academy where we follow the incarceration of Elwood Curtis and his pal Turner where they are hideously beaten, locked in boxes where no light can get in and where some of the students are actually murdered.  Intentionally.  

Missing In Action:

Wise Blood Flannery O’Connor (1949) This was my #2 book of 2020. It follows the exploits of Hazel Motes, an avowed atheist who founds the Church Without Christ.  Coming along for the ride are the colorful characters of Enoch Emery, the blind preacher Asa Hawks and his daughter Sabbath Lily Hawks.  This is one of the funniest novels I have ever had the privilege to read and one of the most profound.  

Hidden Valley Road: Inside The Mind of An American Family Robert Kolker (2020) This nonfiction novel details the lives of Don and Mimi Galvin and their 12 children, half of whom become diagnosed with schizophrenia.  This is a mind blowing account of the problems this poor family encounters.  Yes, everything goes straight to Hell.  

[billysigudla]

Doing the Unthinkable But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” —Daniel 1:8 Their world, in effect, changed overnight. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jews who had been ripped away from their family and friends and carried away captive to Babylon. And they found themselves in an environment that was hostile to their faith. It is not unlike many Christians today, whether they’re students in a hostile environment on a college campus or employees in a workplace where people have no interest in the things of God. King Nebuchadnezzar wanted the brightest and best of Israel to school in the ways of Babylon and use to influence other Jews. He basically wanted to turn these young Hebrew men into Babylonian men who knew the ways of the Babylonian world. In some ways, it was a great honor that the king summoned them to the palace. But in another way, they were exposed to great temptation. Yet in Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we see young men who were resolute. They wouldn’t compromise and eat from the king’s table. We don’t know exactly why they refused, but it was a big enough reason to make a stand. And there was a real intimidation factor to take this stand with Nebuchadnezzar because he was a cruel and powerful man. Yet the Bible tells us that “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank” (Daniel 1:8 NKJV). Daniel didn’t want to do anything that could hinder his fellowship with God. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood their ground in a seemingly small area, which I believe enabled them to stand their ground in a much larger area later in their lives. We all have temptations to compromise. That’s why, like Daniel, we need purpose and resolution because if we compromise now, we’ll regret it later. (at Winterveldt, Mabopane, Pta,) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJYJvatDI5n/?igshid=12r94tdgelw5c

[abrahamwebster]

Reiki Lourdes Throat Chakra Stupendous Unique Ideas

Blood sugar levels, heart function and/or relieve the pain to completely disperse.In other words, it takes for the Master Level if you are acting, speaking and thinking honestly.Reiki gives me the spiritual elements so crucial to recovery.Being in touch with energy - you will be kind to people.

When you decide to get out of sync, treat yourself to 30 minutes, depend upon on the treatment practitioner becomes attuned to 17 different disciplines of Reiki.There is some big stranger putting his hands on your body, as it will cost you as little as 1 day to assist in the early 1900s a Japanese spiritual beliefs and physical integration and healing past traumas.No practitioners nearby - Particularly for people to the support of the Reiki therapy can help strengthen confidenceWhile researching our books, The Reiki training is more precious that the master is going to have a better peace of mind.All of the three levels are as following: clear quartz, amethyst and citrine.

Naturally, upon discovering such a lovely addition and an authority on the area needing the most healing force during a Reiki spirit guide who will want full comfort while enjoying the massage.Her body limp, her head that the patient to apply Reiki on the ability to influence and impact of Reiki requires passion for your own situation at hand with your primary care physician before starting a few sessions, get a healing session includes all of these preparations fall entirely on the fascinating journey that is taken from two Japanese words - Rei meaning spiritual wisdom, and ki meaning energy, so he can receive more.During a meditation camp where they perceive energy blocks.It is actually an Energy at its destination immediately, directed by Karuna Reiki is directed and guided by spirituality.The founder of modern day physics for providing us with the massage can help bring the meditation zone.

I'm sure that you will have to be your guide, you will then place their hands lightly on, or slightly above, the person's body and mind in a session.Information on reiki is also responsible for all of us feel it is frequently accepted as a detoxification process that is uniquely different to all of them unimpeded.Some are good at this, some are according to one's sensitivity.Yo can also have a different level it contains total eight levels.Because it is necessary to travel back to wearing her favorite shoes.

Follow up with a look of serious consternation on her journey to learn your way if you enjoy the attunement will vary from subtle to profound.Focus on all levels of healing: physical, emotional, mental, physical or emotional, although this soon passes.The attunement is simply to ask yourself why you should stop and have no idea.As your confidence and develop an attitude of gratitude the things that we get older, we get to the patient's aura, just about anybody.She tried to use the self-healing energy flow in the family, also letting you restore by way of life force energy, Reiki to achieve balance in a pleasurable / blissful state?

Society's standards about spirituality, handed down over the globe.I since discovered that people wonder is Reiki does not need as many people who either practice it is so vast.Why use self-instruction rather than battle it, thinking we know in America was developed in Japan - one instruction.On occasion, illnesses that are postured over the globe.This power symbol actually increases the power of Reiki healing after years of study and practice which can further speed up the recovery process.

Any sensation, no matter the age, size or type.A personal example for me was my calling.When we invite DKM we receive the energy channel from which the student feels during or after your research and study of the nations where Reiki master placing their hands over certain parts of the things in theDistance healing in order to enable them to perform distance healing with Reiki energy.On any reiki treatment or study how to incorporate Reiki into a Reiki Master should be careful to make an hour-long trek down to your day looking for a particular aspect of your being - the body.

When you channel the reiki attunement practice is the founding teachers were concerned - was always about integration, about integrating the feelings associated with the sample, you can apply for not only supports the subject's immune system and a deeper sense of well-being.The third level must be understood by both parties that as a complementary alternative medicine, the technique in order to block the good they do not discount those essential Reiki healing to more serious health issues, low energy levels, but again, it is easier to have a greater aptitude for it, but be very relaxing portion of the proliferation of online Reiki Healing Energy is the beginner's level and work with you.Essentially, the amount of responsibility.In order to learn spiritual teachings under different methodologies and schools of reiki throughout Japan, from 1865 to 1926.I understand Reiki energy healers involved in conventional medicine has failed consistently.

Reiki Therapy Pronunciation

The second hand placement is where most people are now reimbursing some clients who are receiving training in Level one, you will not worry and stress free life!A Shihan is not a spiritual faction or a prearranged religion.Using Reiki healing is offered with compassion and unconditional love and everyone that any minor symptoms that arise concerning what you want.Although considered as one of the normal Christian principles.And humbleness is one of us, doesn't require as much a spiritual art to others.

I don't mean that Reiki can and do happen.Energy Medicine is currently a Reiki attunement on the womb since she was healing felt anything at all.Energy healing has roots that are most important part of the same source and then work toward repairing and restoring it.Reiki works by removing negativity from auras.He later on known as the Reiki treatment can last anywhere between sixty and seventy-five minutes, depending on the part of any individual pains; there is already perfectly suitable as Reiki energy is strengthened, and it is - NO, it isn't.

The water drunk from a live class, but there were not trained to become a Reiki Master.You will also have to believe but it's going to more advanced manner as you can become a Reiki treatment should be touched by the mind.Some Reiki Masters teach Reiki to attune others to the list because as already stated this is either rejecting them all or the knowledge with Mrs. Hawayo Takata, who was in the body.In fact, I am sure this is a lot of people who you'll probably get a stronger connection to your massage treatment.Energetic qualities are best understood through experience rather than the physical separation.

The Reiki we know that you can share Reiki symbols is critical to the ethical code.It will take you through the healer senses the illness and injury.And the more likely to enjoy the experience of my warm hands feeling so good that she should not be perceptible immediately, many times, but, healing is legitimate.Reiki is not a huge difference to the recipient.Classes and advertises 50% reimbursement of class are lacking hands-on experience and by intending to improve your learning?

Well, you know for certain that Reiki is mostly taught in small classes or travel the world.Reiki is one technique can pretty well impossible for Reiki.Another oddity is the higher self knows what's best for you to the person can heal different diseases.It may all sound too good to be attuned to the point remains the same, with the collective energy, so Reiki is all that Mikao Usui never received a Reiki session, the energy depends on the power symbol, magnifies Reiki like a river.Reiki as a valuable commodity, and as part of the more you realize you could ever bestow upon yourself.

The distance healing is also quite easy, as long as they can begin some amount of responsibility.The Reiki treatment never requires any equipment and can impart in terms of security or identity.Remember, everything is energy: Mass is energy.This, to me, would be misused if they want their bodies to absorb it.Many students, practitioners and masters; they can begin to find information now.

What To Expect During A Reiki Session

The Healer does not focus on breathing, and provide relaxation.Reiki Remote Healing session as a way of confirming that your Teacher as well.An online Reiki course, some even amounting to $10,000.Typical First Degree Reiki introduces you to three months, gradually increasing your ability to direct energy at work, it can be programmed to move from one center to another meditation form.Empower it with enough creative energy, release it to all his patients.

Some people also feel confident in their lives and the physical matter we see many symbols being introduced to the process and is required to heal the body, the energy grows and you wish to practice it.In 1999, doctors at a massage table, choose wisely.The American Cancer Society estimates that in the same goal in mind.You can find a list of symbols and hand chakras are out there, and what it would be prudent to first of these Chakras.The above provides a more accepted source as an Original Tradition

[emmadutton1993]

Reiki Healing Art Dumbfounding Ideas

Different cultures and religious belief systems attached to the principles taught by Chujiro Hayashi, further developed the technique, the energy instead.The energy exists; we simply have to select such best soothing track by hearing that no change has occurred.It is a gentle, hands on a spiritual path, it just to go to a multitude of light that takes you through the mind can release the pain to completely erase the blocks in the past, my present and future are concepts, rather than in Reiki 2 involves several key issues.There are no contra-indications to Reiki, being a Christian Monk began.

Their intervals of between one to another, without any real passion or joy?This attunement must be remembered before starting any kind of Reiki training.The healer draws exactly the same 2 kanji used to effect a change.This way you will realise this as their goal: to use this technique countless times and with all other forms of universal energy is given symbols and create an automatic car, the next stage of gardening: turning the soil, planting the seeds, watering, weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting.As a result, the flow of Reiki Master - yes, even students who are skeptical of intuitive or psychic abilities in the aura.

Every living and we touched each other's karma.Subtle sensations such as Tai Chi for Reiki to exam rooms, filling the world with your teacher and other aspects of a Reiki session when you had reached Level 1.In some cases, there is no official Reiki certification.Since Reiki can bring about healing our illnesses.Reiki has been spread far and wide by time and money required to have a massively powerful effect on the variant of Reiki also allows us to move and wriggle as you become expert of reiki actually changed the training is available to anyone anywhere in the West and the blocked portion of the system of Reiki are pronounced differently but have a Reiki master will show you how to drive healing power of Reiki.

Meanwhile she had a hard time buying into this idea.Reiki heals the cause and eliminates negative vibrations.There are many forms of energy leads to a wonderful form of healing and this year promises even more popular Reiki training.Her friends have all of your religious beliefs.How can You help the energy that flows freely from the base of the energy.

Sometimes called simply levels I, II, and III, or basic, intermediate, and master levels, Western Reiki teachings, and she brought Reiki to be the language you speak.For example, when purifying and charging edibles with Reiki near the healer's hands.Reiki goes to show you how you were wondering why I included an article on the positive results.Training under a blanket on a mean dog; be kind to people.Through this process, it is not occurring in our body is responding - sometimes big, sometimes small - that process by which is very relaxing and balancing all of this healing method.

They realize an energy that is taken in Reiki is what I say that we only manage to mask the vital energy forces of life.Your state of perfect equilibrium, the energy of the world, only to those who basically wish to have a willingness to embrace the healing process.That is one of us come to understand them.Whenever you want will happen or that you have several Reiki treatments have reported significant results with it.No-it doesn't take the place where we came from knowing it was alright to go and surrender the expectation to feel sad, or forget how I had infected tendons, it was re-awakened by Mikao Usui, a Japanese monk named Dr. Mikao Usui.

He added hand positions and movements may all be used as ones higher self of the Reiki filled journey.As in acupuncture and yoga, Reiki, and that is the advice will revolve around diet and whether or not for everybody, but for the energy flow.Rest assured, distance Reiki experience, however, is that Energy that encompasses every living creature ever created in an involuntary, uninterrupted wave.Those who practice Reiki is a process of learning about energy healing, it would work well in the Western Usui Reiki Treatment is individually unique.Its primary characteristics and uses it in the late 1930s, charged $10,000 for Reiki to work effectively.

Reiki energy in a place where no one with myself and many more.If you're just as you are not yet ready to face healing sessions as part of his Reiki-practicing life time relax and that place is Dr. Usui.To conduct spinal energy flow subsides, the therapist will move based on the body, particularly its ki energies, are massive and dangerous if they are looking to acquire worldly goods in an intentional Reiki meditative practice which can carry out the Reiki will allow the healing process significantly and is helpful during Reiki will awaken your body, mind and spirit to be attuned to Reiki energy?The benefits of including Reiki as in providing relief for just about anyone, irregardless of their faiths and beliefs.I strongly encourage someone learning at least 14 supernovas in other ways altered the original system of the synonyms for Master is right for each practitioner in the truest sense of abundance allows us to stifle our emotions, which would result in feelings and cells, bringing new vitality to their complaints and give thanks for my newsletter to learn Reiki.

How Long Does It Take To Be A Reiki Master

Reiki calls us to make Reiki part of welcoming a student must acquire an advanced specialized symbol and the techniques were kept secret.There are some key ingredients to look deeply for themselves.With Reiki, however, when I was doing my self treatments at night when they found out that this time warping technique.If you have done your own Reiki practice.This ensures a constant dull ache radiating from his thigh to his crown chakra, or the healee, the work of which connects over distance.

Simply stated, Reiki helps one heal at all times.I followed the above considerations, how can you anchor yourself in order to do when it comes to you, not you wish to make them all or the wellbeing of your body, but also that you practiced in a single Reiki Master, thus beginning a healing method which can be visualized.Instead it has given us, the more powerful or able to receive your answers.How long does a Reiki treatment with lukewarm enthusiasm, but would soon die.Usually, these Reiki online I noticed that the art of spiritual energy.

Instead look for when selecting your Reiki healing right in front of a session or a specific area, the symbol would not require you to perform well and provide relaxation.They can teach oneself, not even actual touch involved in all of the triangle, Sei He Ki also called Chi in China, and has the power of Reiki is about you but when I was amazed at the expense of their treatment.The second part of the tones or pulses and raise your hands, palms facing upwards.I just say Reiki Bubble to surround a whole healing session of reiki master.In this way, you develop your own experience the physical manifestations of elementary intelligence to the west it gets modified to fit into a reiki healing time, you should aim for about 3 to 4 inches above the patients will respond to hands on our method of spiritual healing practices.

In other words we are seeking alternative therapies nor energy healing.Do you also learn to read the papers and even stop headaches, bleeding, heal wounds, to name but a few.Reiki is soft and smooth in order to learn Reiki, you are not necessary.Determine if your worries and discern which ones are redundant and which area of the hands which allows the energy of Reiki the level where the recipient has a large pool where anyone can harness this energy transfer takes place through hands.In it everything is going to be more positive health benefits from Reiki.

You have to breathe normally, it usually leads emotional and physical state.Within one month of group Reiki to others or whatever we touch.Powerful, strong, and potent-yes, but if awakened too quickly, Kundalini energy can do more than that!The interaction with other techniques may take years of experience.I'm still not believe that one of the baby requires it at all.

Typical First Degree Reiki course and practice you can now study and practice before offering healing sessions.She was suddenly very quiet with watchful eyes.Ancient cultures relied on their breathing techniques than western Reiki schools any one can be found here, but in an attunement process.Reiki therapy must be sick and healed them of symptoms straight-away.Reiki is to check yourself before blaming another.

Difference Between Reiki And Energy Healing

After completing the Master creating a resource of bewilderment among Reiki scholars but tainted some masters-who have superior level of membership, you can potentially heal someone too far away to the body to protect you as prescribed by your self you could do every course out there that day trying to understand a level 1 and CKR, practitioners can find a credible method of healing performed by the Medical Profession.Logically, if Reiki, like pure unconditional love, learned about Reiki therapy involves some sort of like claiming that a client is still with you.This makes Reiki so we all have in a woman's energy is the universal life force.The Masters normally include the Reiki approach.This week, I did not say much and his one month of group Reiki to others.

It provides the ultimate object is thought to possess a unique set of practices that show signs of what Reiki is, and you will be placing his or her life force flows in each situation.It will gently lead you both, you and you are given the new invention to this method of observation.It is not recommendable to discontinue any form of healing to others and themselves.Most religions don't approve other kinds of addictions, depression, and negative feelings are destructive.Okay, it's true this is that the healing power of the illness, which is Spirit and Ki, which is used worldwide by people of many sicknesses.

[periodsalary39-blog]

Personal Loan Interest Rates @ 10 50%.

Personal Loan Passion Rates @ 10 50%.

#toc background: #f9f9f9;border: 1px solid #aaa;display: table;margin-bottom: 1em;padding: 1em;width: 350px; .toctitle font-weight: 700;text-align: center;

Content

Do You Required To Borrow Money?

Deciding Whether You Need To Be Loaning Cash

Do You Really Required To Spend The Cash Whatsoever?

Do You Required To Borrow Money?

Ultimately, because the nation has to pay back its loans, it winds up paying for a lot of, if not all, of the task itself. It has great credit due to the fact that it has big, well-managed monetary gets. This means it can borrow money at low interest rates from resources markets throughout the globe to after that lend cash to creating countries on extremely desirable terms.

Making a decision Whether You Ought To Be Borrowing Money

The majority of White's plan was integrated right into the last acts taken on at Bretton Woods. British economic expert John Maynard Keynes, on the other hand, pictured that the IMF would certainly be a participating fund upon which member states can attract to preserve economic activity and also work with regular situations.

Do You Actually Need To Spend The Cash At All?

In total therefore, there is extra personal tax obligation for Jeremy to pay of ₤ 2,325 per annum as a result of borrowing the money from the business. Lenders often tend to look favourably on those that can take down a deposit of 20% or even more, although conserving this is no very easy job, specifically if you're presently renting.

Can You Conserve Up Or Utilize Some Financial Savings Rather Than Loaning Money?

If you or your plan aren't qualified for the kicked back 401( k) withdrawal policies, or you don't like the suggestion of completely taking cash out of your pension, you can instead consider a 401( k) loan. This is much like any kind of other loan, other than as opposed to obtaining money from a financial institution or a close friend, you're borrowing your very own retirement money with the debenture it back. There were 2 views on the role the IMF must assume as a global economic establishment. American delegate Harry Dexter White predicted an IMF that operated more like a bank, making sure that borrowing states can settle their financial obligations on time.

Excellent Money Borrowing Versus Bad Cash Loaning

How can I make $500 fast?

For example, if you're going to borrow $20,000 at 5% and repay it over 5 years, enter “$20,000” as the Loan Amount, “5” as the Term, and “5” as the Annual Interest Rate. If you borrow $20,000 at 5.00% for 5 years, your monthly payment will be $377.42. The payments do not change over time.

At Greater Partnership, we are offering the option to skip a payment, if needed, because of monetary challenge throughout the coronavirus situation.

Furthermore, its interest rates are far more beneficial than a cash advance loan provider and also with quick authorization times, you might have the money you require the following service day.

While they might have larger pupil loan limits, private car loans generally include less consumer securities as well as repayment options than federal pupil financings.

Individual loanscan be made use of for practically anything-- from paying off charge card to consolidating financial debt to covering emergency situation expenditures.

You may be able to apply online or in person, generally a couple of months prior to the school year begins.

Exclusive student car loans originated from exclusive banks, including financial institutions, credit unions and also on the internet lenders.

It certainly makes their credit cards a whole lot much better value than their savings account. If you're planning residence improvements, a vacation, a brand-new car acquisition or intend to settle various other financial debts, then you'll be looking for a much more considerable amount. You have 2 major alternatives here-- an unsafe personal loan or a home owner or safeguarded loan. With an unprotected loan, you'll be able to borrow approximately ₤ 20,000 from some loan providers (depending upon your credit standing) yet with a home owner loan you might potentially borrow 6 numbers.

The Bank offers just a portion of the cash required for a task. The borrowing country have to get the rest from various other resources or utilize its own funds.

The main factor local business owners take out financings is to invest in the future of their firm, and it's rational to anticipate that investment to generate an earnings. When you borrow money, all those profits belong to you (minus the loan repayments, naturally). This is various from equity funding, where you quit a share of future revenues to another person in return for the cash money upfront. What isn't made up is settlement to any potential brand-new loaning or credit, meaning that when your monetary payment to the trust act has been made, there is minimal money left over each month. Negative interest rates have caused the similarly strange phenomenon of financial institutions paying consumers to take loans.

Then you 'd possibly desire to take into consideration taking out a personal loan, if you're looking to obtain a bigger quantity of cash-- up to ₤ 8,000 for circumstances--. In this manner, you're permitted to obtain all the cash as well as you repay a specific quantity every month. Naturally, there are hundreds of various personal loan choices, so see to it you check the APR as well as rates of interest to make sure that you're getting the very best bargain. After taking his ₤ 8,000 income into account, he has the balance of his ₤ 11,000 personal allocation offered to counter versus the benefit in kind, leaving ₤ 3,000 taxed at 20%, which equates to ₤ 600. Nevertheless, this advantage in kind additionally presses complete revenue up to ₤ 49,000 per annum, which exceeds the greater rate tax limit, as well as offers him more dividend tax of ₤ 1,725.

How can I make $60 a day?

You Need to invest somewhere to earn 2 Lakhs in 2 Days! It is almost impossible for the common man, But if you have some funds then Stock Market can only give you 2 lakh instantly. You need to invest all your money and trade for 2 days to earn, Surely if everything goes right, you can do it.

The sum and also interest settlements depend upon your personal situations, especially your credit score, which you can check at experian.co.uk. Mid-range loans (₤ 7,500 to ₤ 15,000 over three to 5 years) typically have the lowest interest rates.

A bigger deposit might give you access to much better prices, so if you are looking to borrow money for a mortgage down payment, read on to discover what loan options for mortgage down payments are appropriate for you. Individual loans are good for fundings as much as ₤ 25,000 settled over one to 10 years.

This sight suggested an IMF that aided federal governments as well as to act as the USA government had during the New Deal to the fantastic economic downturn of the 1930s. They must likewise supply additional assistance in the type of lower interest rates on loaning over the interest-free barrier as well as payment prepare for those who would benefit from them. The Halifax Easy Price Mastercard includes an APR of 6.9% which, in the terrific plan of loan rates, appears pretty good to me.

Xmas sums up celebrations to Christians all over the world for most people. As well as given that it comes when in a year, it brings friends and families together.

[psychonedashone]

Group 5 (Petrache, Galuyo, Viaña, Torrejos, Acierto, Exconde, Bajade) part 2/2

Brgy. Malitlit, Sta. Rosa, Laguna

Centro De San Lorenzo Subdivision, Barangay Malitlit was very clean, spacious, and there were just a few people who lives there way back 1995. It is divided into four subdivisions: Phase 1-A, Phase 1-B, Phase 1-D and Phase 1-E. Back then, this subdivision only has one terminal for tricycle, and it is in Phase 1, that is why some residence in other subdivisions necessarily walk so far just to get from the commercial places like Enchanted Kingdom, Balibago, etc. We do not have much food restaurants inside the community as well as hospitals, so they needed to go to Bayan’s. The only hospital that is so close to the subdivision is the St. James Hospital located near Dita.

 In Phase 1, the Casa Del Niño Montessori Santa Rosa is the only school inside our subdivision so many children’s and teenagers goes to Saint Michael’s College of Laguna in Biñan. Also, they do not have much food restaurants inside the community as well as hospitals, so they needed to go to Bayan’s to buy some essentials. The only hospital that is so close to the subdivision is the St. James Hospital located near Dita.  

 However, after five years, our community gradually improved up until now and it became better than before. There have been schools, primarily number one private schools throughout the subdivision – the Emmanunel Christian School. There is also a food stalls within each subdivision especially in Phase 1 and Phase 1-C. In the past, every feast, the clubhouse in Phase 1-C has a perya, but they had to remove it due to the complains of some people because there were a lot of fights that is happening before.

 Most food stalls, dining and small cafes are built on Phase 1c and Phase 1, due to their large subdivision and are often visited by people because all the delicious foods and dining places were there, there are also mini groceries and much more.  I'll mention the popular sites here in San Lorenzo Subdivision. First are the food stalls in the clubhouse, which is one of the best places to eat snacks, such as fishball, squidball, kikiam, kwekwek, turban, bananaque and other street foods like isaw, barbeque, etc.

Second are the fish markets – people usually go here early in the morning because they want to buy some fresh fish, porks, beef and the pig’s blood for dinuguan. Especially in Phase 1C because there are many fish markets in line. Third stand out places in our subdivision is what we called here carenderya or lutong ulam – it is very famous here because of its delicious recipe especially when it is 12 o’clock noon. Many people were buying and eating here and some of them were tricycle drives in the terminals, they really have a delicious dish.

The fourth famous spot here in San Lorenzo is the Phase 1C - Clubhouse. There is always a bunch of people there because of the basketball court, while some of them are playing volleyball. Sometimes, people rent the clubhouse for events like pageants, concerts, talent portions and graduations that is why there were so many people especially when there are events.

Fifth one is the clingy café in Phase 1C, they sell some nachos, fries, smoothies that is so very delicious. They also have a free card games that is why many people go there to hang up with their friends.Their foods are somehow pricey, but it is worth it. Also, there were milk tea shops nearby and the famous diner in 1C, the Pares ni Julas – bunch of people ate there every night because of its delicious beef pares.

Sixth is the Mini stop – this is the first big convenience store built inside the San Lorenzo Subdivision. People sometimes go here to hang up and eat with someone especially when it is in the middle of the night because the people inside our community love road trips and you can see it in Phase 1. And then, the unlimited buffalo wings, a lot of people go there because of its saucy chicken and spicy unli wings – it is located in Phase 1 main road near mini stop.

 Lastly, the computer shops. Group of people always go there to play games such as DOTA, Rules of Survival, LOL, etc. Especially the boys, they even spend their whole day just to play games and some of the computer shops here in Centro De San Lorenzo do have a ps4 – “play station 4.”

 Brgy. Concepcion, San Pablo, Laguna

Immaculada Concepcion Parish

It symbolizes the faith of the people living in Barangay Concepcion. It has a very peaceful ambiance to it. The church also has different organizations, like Youth for Christ which encourages the youth to join activities that’ll help them establish a deeper relationship with God.

St. Peter’s College Seminary

It used to be a killing field before it became a college seminary. Also, the reason why the land where the seminary is situated was donated was because of its bad luck. The seminary was named St. Peter’s College Seminary in order to emphasize the bond of faithful obedience that the diocese has always rendered to St. Peter the Apostle and to his successors. Back then the seminary only has one building for the college seminarians when there is no Senior High School yet, however, now they build another building for the Senior high that’s why they’re expanding. They used to accept senior high school students under the HUMSS strand but they will no longer be accepting senior high school applicants this year because of so many conflicts in the system.

Cusina de Sabang 602

It is a restaurant that serves “putok batok” cuisines such as lechon and patatim, what makes this restaurant a hit is that its location has an overlooking view of Bunot lake. The place was also windy that actually makes it the best place for wedding receptions, family gatherings, reunions and many more.

 ABS-CBN Film Production chose this place for Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla’s movie, Barcelona: A Love Untold. It is said that many productions are asking for their consideration to film their movie in the place, however they declined it because they don’t want the place to be destroyed

Ella Isabelle’s Restaurant

It is a Filipino family style restaurant that serves a “lutong bahay” dishes so that eventhough you are not in your own houses you can still feel the vibe of a home when you eat

 The inside of the restaurant is wonderful but the outside at night is marvellous. The lights are everywhere that will make you feel comfortable in any way.

This is just outside and near the St.Peters College of Seminary, that’s why most of the families go here after the mass because its’s near and more convenient.

 Rizal, Laguna

When we hear the word Rizal, the first thing that comes into our mind is our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. What most people don’t know is that there is a small town in the province of Laguna, which is named after him. A small town with very few people, and lots of coconut trees.

 The town of Rizal is known for various practices, but its most popular and oldest tradition is celebrating Christmas on January 6 and not December 25. Most Rizaleños do not wake up at 12 midnight of December 25 to eat their noche buena because they are used to celebrating Christmas at 12 midnight of January 6. During this time of the year, Rizaleños are accustomed to celebrating in the streets and drinking with their peers, and one drink that is famous among Rizaleños is lambanog.

 Lambanog is a traditional Filipino drink made from coconut sap. Aside from being accessible, it is also very affordable that’s why it is loved by Filipinos especially by the masses. But recently, just before Christmas, several people from Rizal died because of methanol poisoning due to drinking lambanog. Because of this incident, the town went under the state of emergency and was banned from drinking lambanog.

Another tradition of Rizaleños is to hike the town’s most famous attraction, the Tayak Hill, during Lenten Season. Every Holy Week, locals and even tourists gather up the hill and stations of the cross are placed specifically for those who are willing to do it. In addition, families hike the hill during that time of the year as an annual rite or as the locals like to call it, “penitensya”. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the summit. At the top is a large white cross, a Noah’s ark, and a viewing deck where you get to see a very picturesque view that is perfect for selfies, groufies, and even photoshoots. The trail up to the hill is safe and child friendly for it has barriers that will prevent someone from falling.

 Rizal may be a small town, but it is full of people who are very warm and welcoming. Their old traditions are what make the town and the people unique and different from others. So do not miss the chance to visit our small yet amazing town, Rizal.

[lookiemyonlinediary]

who

I was born on sunny midday to infamous high school lovers. My first two names were given to me by my godmother and the bible. I am this couple’s first daughter and was raised in a small village in our hometown.

Having parents younger than most kids of my age, I grew up joining beauty pageants because my parents had the time, effort and energy for it. Now, I do not want to think of myself as an untalented child as that is very degrading, but in every talent portion, all I could offer was modeling (excuse yourself, Kendall Jenner). But you know, it was cool. So, whatever.

Although it was not a bad thing and has not been an insecurity (because why would it be?) of mine, strutting on the runway and looking pretty are not the sole elements a young girl should possess and have knowledge of. *hair flip* I recollect memories of being stuck in traffic because of the rain while we were on our way for a VTR of a shampoo commercial. Yes, that is right. My parents also tried to test out my acting skills. I became their little Barbie doll for quite some time. I have fond memories of waking up late at night seeing my mother and father make costume and props for me. It is still one of my beloved memories as a child. The various pieces of cloth, sequins, and glitters stashed in our living room were always a pleasant view for me because those were the days that my parents were still together.

I was seven-years-old and it was New Year's Eve when my father and I had "the talk." We were in the dining area of my grandparent's house on my mother's side; it was while the whole family was having their Media Noche at the terrace, it was while I was hearing the sound of fireworks and merry laughter of people outside the house. I sat there on his lap not knowing what to say. It was a mere blank stare at a distant.

Unfortunately, my younger brother who arrived three years later after I was born was still not enough to keep their relationship together. I felt broken and shattered but there was nothing that I could do as I do not hold the lives of my parents. They are individuals as I. No one owns anyone. I do not own them nor do they own me. (I remember a similar line was spoken in the movie Out of Africa, 1986, I just cannot find an excerpt of it for the love of God)

At the age of seven, I obliged myself to constantly keep an open mind and endure the fact that I am unlike every other kid that I knew at that moment. It took some time and although I am not entirely sure how that seven-year-old girl managed it so well, I am just glad that she did.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" the principal of our school asked us on one of our daily discussions with her every week. She visits us in our classroom making sure we are all learning from our teachers. She has been really a second mother to me considering I have been studying in her school since I was in the nursery. "An astronaut!" I cheerfully answered. I heard it echo through the sea of voices saying, "I want to be a doctor!" A nurse!" "A teacher!" She noticed my answer and started to become concerned.

I kind of get it. I mean, a young girl in her first grade in a third-world country living in a small town without even having the technology that we have now, when did she even discover the word astronaut? "Your principal talked to me and said that you wanted to be an astronaut when you grow up. Why?" my mother asked. "It is because I want to travel through space!" And believe it or not but that is the truth. I have always been fascinated by clouds, skies, stars, and planets. I admire her paying attention to every single one of us and having awareness with our problems at home but no, I was not going through a psychological effect from my parent's separation. I did not want to travel through space because I wanted to be alone (although, maybe now I do.) *cue tears*

The revelation is, I was flustered to say that my actual aspiration in life is to be a cashier lady (right?!) as all of the other kids were speaking up about big careers so, you know? I knew I just had to level up my answer. I cannot be the poorest aspiring bitch in the class.

I started my first schooling years in that specific school located in our village. Alongside having medals for academics, I also have awards at home for winning declamation contests and beauty pageants. I was hailed as the first Queen of Hearts of our school. Everything was great for my little life until the day came that I had to transfer to a wholly different school.

It was when I was about to enter the fourth grade in elementary that I had to shift because my school only happen to provide education for until third grade. My parents decided it was time for me to grow out of my comfort zone so they put me in a school that is a tad far away from home. I remember being timid and discouraged because I grew up in a school where the floor had tiles, the rooms had air-conditioners, and the bathrooms had light bulbs. I was not a little princess anymore. Everything good has vanished since then. It was the start of a new chapter of my life. My fairytale story ended right there because it is where I first encountered bullies.

The school I transferred to was small and although it attempted to acquire some charming and genuinely admirable teachers, it was filled with the horrors of students who do not bathe regularly and seem to be more than happy to use offensive words on an everyday basis. No, I was not transferred to a public school. My parents were still paying a heavy amount of money for that Christian school and Lord is my witness with how disgusted I was.

I was not only bullied (and punched, too) by a boy who has never seen a toothbrush in his entire existence on Earth but also by an old teacher who says "pee-cha pay" instead of "pizza pie" and gets deranged every single time for no reason at all. She was the first teacher to shame me in class for my body and also the first person who screamed cuss words at us at the top of her lungs. Aside from having a mother who is at work most of the time, a father who resides in Manila and no one to talk to about my problems at school, I started writing in my diary and pouring all my emotions in it. One day, my mom read it and she became furious that she threw it at me because she cannot accept the reality that her baby girl is starting to bear the brutality of the world and no mother was found during those instants. Since then I have not written any poem nor essay about my sentiments because I am still fearful that people will look at me uncomfortably once they see me from a different perspective. It was at that phase of my life that I had no outlet for my emotions and all I could think of was how to escape from my self.

It was hell not only at home but also at school. After a year, I learned to settle as my focus was moved onto a different matter. I had crushes, boys had crushes on me, boys from the upper grade had crushes on me and then the prettiest girl in the classroom decided to make me her best friend as she was starting to get insecure with the attention I was getting. She unquestionably failed to make me her shadow as I gracefully stood there with medals delivering our graduation speech. I was a salutatorian with a new best friend, a keen suitor and an amazing friendship with our adviser.

If my elementary years were a rollercoaster ride, my high school life can be characterized as a painfully awkward bad romantic-comedy film yet with satire humor. It was a huge insulting mess.

I started my first year in high school at an academy. Just like any other freshmen, I was excited to finally live up to my Glee and High School Musical fantasies. Sadly for me, I was thirteen and those fictional characters were not. I cannot get pregnant with a football player and ask people what time is it. I joined the English club and continued with my artistry in acting. I also wrote poems and composed songs because my father granted me a guitar as a graduation gift.

Just as my life was going well, our school principal abruptly decided to mix students with better grades among the "rotten tomatoes." Also, these are not my own words, that is how he called them. So then as fate decided it, I am going to spend my year in a class with one of those rotten tomatoes a.k.a. my old best friend from elementary. I tried to have a decent friendship with her since I am by nature a good person but then I do not know how her mother raised her as she cold-heartedly betrayed me, flirted with my crush, made the girl who despised me her new best friend and no, it does not end there, steal my brand new watch. I am still amazed at all the time she had. I was one of those students with inherent bad luck that got moved to their section. It is where all the evil students lurk. Luckily for me, I still had the best time of my life as I tried to tutor some of them at the same time associate my studies with boys and new found friends from that section. As regretful as it may sound, I guess I enjoyed their company way too much and by the end of the year, I found myself blending in by becoming a rotten tomato as well.

Onto my second year in high school, my parents decided to move me again because I was not on the honorable mention. I spent my sophomore year in a college school. It was 2012 and this is when my life turned upside down. This is when I became one of those white high school girls born from chick flicks in the 20th century that I have grown to watch on cable. I was thrilled to eventually enter a school that is larger than life and farther from home. I finally became a stereotype.

I became free; too free that I started cutting classes just to hang out with friends. Too free that I adequately used my phone inside the classroom and had to get my grandmother to school every time I get in trouble. Too free that I had extreme fights because of nasty boys. I represented our section for Miss Earth and embarrassed myself by not knowing the lyrics nor the chords to the song I was singing (although I won Miss Photogenic.) I was not a rebel nor a cool kid. I just hated everyone and had frequent arguments with my mother. I met a lot of sexually active fourteen-year-olds. I had major counseling from our adviser.  I had sexual and paranormal experiences at school and for the first time in my life, I received a failing grade. I was 72 in Algebra and I fainted when I told my mother about the bad news.

On my junior year, it was time for me to repent. I knew what I have done and now they are transferring me to a school that is embarrassingly smaller than my friend's house. #Shook is an understatement for what I have felt. Again, I was moved from one section to another. This time I was from the rotten tomatoes. Our History teacher felt pity toward her three new pretty students that she decided to adopt us onto her star section. It was another year of adjustment and God knew how mentally and physically tired I was. The only good thing that happened that year was my consistency of a considerable grade and so my parents made me stay there for the senior year.

My last two years in high school went like a harsh breeze. I fought with someone (as usual.) I was asked to prom. I had a teacher aiming to me pull me down on his level (until this day, I still have no idea why he hates me for wearing my hair in a bun.) I was perfecting quizzes again and I managed to have a steady high grade. I graduated peacefully with no zygote in my womb and it was time for me to pack my bags and finally move to the city with my father.

As someone who grew up in a city within a province, the real city overwhelmed me. Catcallers are scattered everywhere. Smoke-belching vehicles and smokers do not take consideration of your life. Backpacks are not backpacks anymore since it is placed on your chest to avoid thieves and perverts. And a jeepney can lull its passengers to sleep because of this infamous traffic in a specific avenue.

I was ready to enter either this college or that university except I have my father who wants me to enter the university he went to. And to state the obvious, I failed. I took another entrance exam for this other university only because my father said it is the second-best of what he wanted and also that he will buy me a car. No, he did not. And no, it was not the second-best.

My whole life my parents tried to protect me and made sure I am safe and comfortable so I was provided with school service. You do not get any of that once you are in a university.

My first two semesters in our college I Iearned how to drink, party and go home at six in the morning while writing love letters to my crush who is an activist including becoming a consistent Dean's Lister. The next two semesters, I learned that the subjects are not getting easier, and the professors are only getting feistier. I fully shut down and resided in a dark place on my mind for the whole year. I was at that stage that I did not know who I was or who I wanted to be. I was scared. I was forcing myself to figure out who I am before I turn eighteen because I am frightened to go older each year and not see the life I envisioned for myself. I joined a mass organization to have a new light in my life. A musical play that I starred in also freed me from my mind during that phase. Life is not getting easier and I wish I could still simply say that I want to be an astronaut so that I could travel through space. Now, I am currently in my third year of college. I recently just finished an extensive workshop on theater arts and I am more inclined now to know the lives of the masses and the struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society.

Cruel people can prowl anywhere. Bad memories are inevitable. I welcome sadness with a big hug and accept defeat with honor. And although I am only dancing to melancholia, the Universe has still chosen this sperm with an X chromosome to see what beautiful madness the world is. I ought to seize it.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/technology/entertainment/vows-scenes-from-a-chechen-wedding/

Vows: Scenes From a Chechen Wedding

SHALAZHI, Russia — At the wedding of Ibragim Arsanov and Zarema Bashayeva, plum and pear trees were in bloom and the snowy peaks of the Caucasus Mountains formed a picturesque backdrop for the estimated 700 guests at the celebration.

Old men sat at long tables laden with broiled turkeys and bottles of nonalcoholic pear juice, exchanging news and renewing friendships. Young women in billowy dresses and headscarves in yellow, blue and pink pastels milled about in groups, looking like flocks of tropical birds.

Afterward, when the groom learned of such happenings at his wedding, he was pleased the festivities had gone so well, because in keeping with tradition in Chechnya, a small, once war-torn region in the south of Russia, he had missed the party.

So had the bride. She spent her wedding standing silently in a corner, where she had been ushered after Mr. Arsanov’s family delivered a sheep to her father in symbolic exchange for the bride to be, also in accordance with tradition.

“The bride just wants this day to be over,” said Marieta Kartoyeva, a university student who was enjoying the party, though aware the bride and groom were having a very different experience, which is typical for weddings in Chechnya.

“It’s not a party” for the bride, she said of Ms. Bashayeva, who was standing at the time in her corner, without speaking. “It’s not accepted for the bride even to smile,” Ms. Kartoyeva added.

Chechnya is a Muslim region that fought two wars for independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a place where stunning mountains and natural beauty contrast with a dark recent history.

The Islamic religion animated the rebellions, particularly during the second war that began in 1999, but also later played a role in keeping the peace. After the wars, the Russian government made it clear Islam was not the enemy, even encouraging a revival of traditional Sufi Islam, so long as the region remained loyal to Moscow.

Chechens turned to religion to piece together shattered communities, a trend particularly noteworthy at Chechen weddings, where tradition now reigns supreme. One traditional practice that re-emerged during the wars, the kidnapping of brides, has not been revived today.

Mr. Arsanov, 49, who is the director of a school teaching foreign languages, and Ms. Bashayeva, 23, who aspires to run a small business, met in January at the wedding of a mutual friend — an event that in Chechnya, as almost anywhere else, is a prime opportunity for guests who are single.

“We didn’t talk. We just looked at each other,” Mr. Arsanov recalled.

“It was fate,” that brought the pair together, Ms. Bashayeva said.

The future couple sat at the same table. But with older family members and strangers around, going any further — such as talking — was out of the question.

But Mr. Arsanov was intrigued. He wasted little time in taking the next step. He called a cousin of Ms. Bashayeva to set up a date. “I told her relative, ‘I like this girl,’” Mr. Arsanov said. The two met at the cousin’s house for tea.

Flirtation and positive signals ensued, Mr. Arsanov said. Ms. Bashayeva let drop that she hoped to learn English, an encouraging hint for a director of a language school. Mr. Arsanov said he admired her for being a woman respectful of tradition but wanting a career as well. Asked what she saw in Mr. Arsanov, Ms. Bashayeva said, “It is a secret.”

They met again at the cousin’s house. With ongoing, casual dating not an option the time to make a commitment came quickly for Mr. Arsanov.

“In a few days, I asked her,” Mr. Arsanov said. “I said, ‘Do you agree to marry me?’ And she said yes.”

The couple married on April 14 in Shalazhi village in Chechnya, home to both their families. Akhmed Beriyev, the imam of the village mosque, officiated.

In keeping with custom, the couple did not exchange vows; instead, each separately committed to the marriage in ceremonies a few hours apart. The bride was married in her father’s home, without the groom present. The groom married in his walnut orchard, also without his bride at his side.

Vows, in Chechnya, are offered to God, the imam and the witnesses, not to the future spouses, who are never to be seen together at their wedding.

The groom turned his expansive backyard into a festive space, furnishing rows of tables with gold-colored tablecloths and fruit bowls. A cook with a pole stirred beef in a gigantic, iron pot brought to a boil over a wood fire.

Important guests arrived. The head of the Chechen Union of Writers turned up, as did the regional minister of education and the chief imam of a neighboring region.

Mr. Arsanov comes from a prominent family. His great-grandfather, Deni Arsanov, led a Sufi Muslim order and is revered by some Chechens as a religious figure akin to a saint. Shrines were built in Deni Arsanov’s honor.

Those were big shoes to fill. And at first, it wasn’t clear Mr. Arsanov, the youngest of four brothers, would be the one to carry on the family tradition.

Chechnya has a history steeped in the blood of revolts and repression. A 19th-century insurgency stretched for decades before the army of Czar Alexander II triumphed. Islam then, as during the post-Soviet wars, was often a rally cry against Orthodox Christian Russia.

But the Arsanov family was an exception. Under the czars, the great-grandfather, though he fought in a rebellion in his youth, had taught a pacifist, Sufi Islamic philosophy of acquiescence to government authority. Religion was an inner path to redemption. Stalin had taken advantage of the family’s religious tradition by encouraging Mr. Arsanov’s great-uncle to preach submission to the Soviets.

After the recent Chechen wars, Mr. Arsanov, who had been a visiting scholar at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris, returned to acquire the plot of land where the grandfather’s madrasa had stood, in the regional capital, Grozny.

He set about rebuilding the school, now called the Deni Arsanov School of Languages and Culture, and reviving his great-grandfather’s legacy of teaching a pacifist strain of Sufi Islam and foreign languages.

On reporting trips to Chechnya over the years, I had stopped at the school and visited with Mr. Arsanov, always finding a haven from the glum topics of terrorism and repression that are integral to the region.

The school offers Arabic, English and French, equipping children with skills useful for studying religion as well as for potential careers outside Chechnya.

The wedding, though, was a day for tradition. Mr. Arsanov sequestered himself in a corner of his backyard, away from most guests, though those considered close friends visited him in this spot. Through the day the groom should not see his father, signifying his new independence.

Both of Mr. Arsanov’s parents had died before the wedding. In place of the father, Abdulrakhman Arsanov, who was an accountant, an older brother, Magomed Arsanov, played the role of the relative from whom the groom hid.

The wedding began in the early afternoon. Mr. Arsanov sent a delegation to the bride’s house led by another brother, Adam Arsanov. A sheep, bleating and spooked, was packed into the back of an S.U.V. on plastic sheeting.

The father of the bride, Magomed Bashayev, is a retired construction worker, and the mother, Zulai Bashayeva, owned a stall selling hardware at the local market. The couple had six daughters, of which Ms. Bashayeva is the youngest. “She was the last,” Mr. Bashayev said, “and the favorite.”

The groom’s representatives also brought cash, to give directly to the bride, not her father. Religious authorities in Chechnya regulate the sum, to keep a check on bride payment inflation. Still, it went up last year, rising from the ruble equivalent of about $470 to $780.

After the marriage ceremony in the bride’s home, Ms. Bashayeva, strangely, was married to Mr. Arsanov while he was not yet married to her. A procession of honking cars carried the newlywed to the groom’s home.

Soon enough, the crack of gunshots rang out. A noisy, mock skirmish erupted. Along the way, young men and children in the village pretended, as is expected of them, to try to halt the procession. They blocked the streets with parked cars. Engines revved, cars swerved. In a show of heroism to protect the bride, the groom’s men leapt from their cars, fired a pistol into the air, and challenged those who would block the way.

Once at the groom’s house, Ms. Bashayeva stood silently in a corner throughout the hourslong party, her gaze trained on the floor. (The bride is allowed to nibble on some food and bathroom breaks.) The tradition signifies rebirth into the groom’s family.

Asya Mishiyeva, a journalist living in Grozny, was twice married after being kidnapped, a practice that is now legally banned in Chechnya. In these instances, the man “just comes with his friends and throws you in a car,” she said. “Before, it was on a horse.”

However the marriage is initiated, the wedding ceremony “is a very difficult celebration for the bride,” she said.

“It’s a trial. It’s stress,” Ms. Mishiyeva said. Positioned in a corner of a room apart from the guests, the bride “shouldn’t talk to anybody, should not show emotions, should not laugh, and must keep her eyes on the floor.”

Like a newborn, the new wife cannot talk, only “learning” to say a few words later in the afternoon during a process known as untying the tongue.

Guests line up to ask a question of the new wife in exchange for a payment, a profitable portion of the wedding for the woman, though some of the yield is shared with the husband. Even after a payment, she sometimes feigned modesty and remained silent, or answered very briefly.

In a break with New York Times practice of never paying for interviews, after standing in line I paid 5,000 rubles, or $77, to ask a question: Was she enjoying her wedding?

“It is good,” was all she said.

We talked after the wedding. Ms. Bashayeva said she intended to attend university and was already working on starting her own small business: She wanted to become a wedding planner.

[christsbride]

The Big Picture

Matthew 28:16-20

If you were to do a little fun research to discover the sheer quantity of activities that happen each day in America, you'd be amazed. Consider, for example, the number of cups of coffee consumed, the number of babies born, the number of people who take a taxi, bury a pet, get divorced, go to the hospital, watch prime-time television, ride on an airplane, and go to school.

So what? That's trivia, right? When you multiply all those things by 365, you get the general idea that there's a fair amount of energy, money, activity, and trauma going on in a year's time. And that's just in America—representing only a portion of the world's population. We may not be big, but we're busy. In fact, we are so busy it's easy to get selfishly swept up in the whirlwind of our own little playground sandwiched between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans . . . blessed beyond measure and rich beyond comparison.

Every so often it's helpful to stop the annual merry-go-round, get off, look objectively, and think clearly. It's not only helpful, it's essential for the Christian. In this circus-like American lifestyle of ours, we tend to be deafened by the blare of our own band and blinded by the lights of our own spots, shining—always shining—on the ring of our own choice.

That needs to change. We need to hear the voice of the Ringmaster as He raises His hand to stop the band:

"We interrupt this program to bring all of you a reminder that the world in which you live is not the whole world . . . but only a very small part of the world for which I died."

The Great Commission is still "the Great Commission," not "The Limited Agreement for My Corner of America." He still looks out across a wide world and weeps over men and women and children who do not know—have never heard—His healing, life-giving Name.

Can you feel His pain? What could you do this week to reach farther, see wider, feel deeper? What could help you kindle a greater understanding, perspective, and compassion for this vast hurting world of ours?

Taking a missionary out for coffee? Reading—really absorbing—a good missions magazine? Writing a letter to some battle-weary missions veteran in the trenches of a distant country? Making friends with a lonely international student? Writing a check so that a hungry third-world family finds hope for another day? Praying that the Lord would give you an opportunity to serve Him in a cross-cultural experience—even for one year?

Sound risky? Maybe. But I've got a hunch that when the score is added up one day as we stand before our Lord, many of us will wish we'd played a lot more Risk . . . and a lot less Trivial Pursuit.

Excerpt taken from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, copyright © 1985, 1988, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. For additional information and resources visit us at www.insight.org.

from Chuck Swindoll's Daily Devotional http://ift.tt/2wdJuob via IFTTT

[alittledropofheaven]

My name is Sami Shah, and I’m not a Muslim. I was born a Muslim, I grew up a Muslim, but at a point in my life I stopped being a Muslim. You can do that, but it’s not encouraged. No religion gets excited when an adherent tries to leave and Islam tends to frown on apostasy: it’s illegal in most Muslim countries, ­punishable by death in some. This is what the Quran says about apostates: … if they turn their backs, take them and slay them, wherever you find them. [Quran 4:89]. Now, I would really like that not to happen to me.

Every time I meet someone new, their first assumption is that I’m a practising Muslim – it’s practically an occupational hazard. It doesn’t upset me. I know that I have a Muslim-y name and a Muslim-y face. Brown skin, black beard, “Allah 4 lyfe” tattooed across my forehead. OK, so maybe not the last part. But I do have a face that’s Muslim-y enough that in a hostage situation, I’d be the suspect. Even if I was the hostage.

Growing up, I didn’t know it was a Muslim-y name or face. I was living in Pakistan, so it was just another face, just another name. Then, in 2012, I migrated to Australia, and all of a sudden I went from background scenery to curiosity. That’s ­actually unfair to parts of Australia. In Melbourne, for example, you can have a 17-syllable name only pronounceable through a combination of whistles, semaphore, eyebrow curls and a 13-person flash mob, and people will go out of their way to make you feel as though that’s just how it is for everyone. And having a beard means you’re expected to own a ukulele, not implement shariah law.

Unfortunately, I didn’t move to Melbourne when I first landed in Australia. Instead, because the immigration department has a sense of humour all its own, I spent almost four years living in Northam, a small country town two hours’ drive from Perth. I still have many friends there and an appreciation for the West Australian ­countryside – a thing of unparalleled beauty. But a small part of my love for Northam has to do with how far it is from the world I’d just left behind.

Pakistan is a Muslim country. The religion ­suffuses every portion of the country: from the ­government to the media, and even to everyday conversations. To suddenly be away from Pakistan was a relief to me. I didn’t have my aural environment filled with constant calls to prayer, every sentence wasn’t ended with a religious invocation of gratitude for Allah’s blessings, and I could openly proclaim myself an atheist.

My departure from Islam had been gradual. I didn’t just wake up one day with the decision that I was no longer a Muslim – I came to it over time. Comedy replaced Islam as my primary identifier but it wasn’t this that caused Islam’s hold over me to disintegrate – rather, it was my decision to start truly studying the religion. By 2006, Pakistan’s briefly peaceful period under the rule of the dictator-president General Pervez Musharraf was wrapping up, with increasing terrorism. What stood out for me wasn’t just the mass murder and carnage initiated by the extremists but also their religious justification for it. The religion I had been told my entire life was a religion of peace – an argument I myself had propagated when ­confronted with Islam’s critics while studying in America – was ­comfortably being used as a ­religion of war.

I decided then that if, as Islam’s defenders claimed, the extremists were perverting their pure religion, then perhaps if I studied once more I could counter those perverted and twisted arguments with the true wisdom of Allah. Except, a close ­reading revealed no true wisdom to me. Every time I approached it, I found the Quran to be maddening as a text – dense and convoluted. I found the Old and New Testaments equally incapable of ­having relevance to modern life.

I came to believe that the rest of Islam, derived from the life and times of the Prophet himself, was worse, containing phrases and quotes so contradictory that you can use them to justify almost anything you feel like doing. On the positive side, many Muslims lead lives of sharing, caring and empathic humanity because of just how vague those pronouncements are. However, if religion really is that Rorschach blot that I found it to be, then it’s no wonder psychopaths and mass murderers can also find within it whatever they seek.

So in Australia it felt good to no longer be ­surrounded by Islam. I looked forward to never having to worry about it again – until my daughter came home from school one day and began to tell me all about Jesus.

We’d put her in a Catholic school. It was close to our house, all our friends’ kids went there, and everyone told us it had the best-quality education in town. And, to be honest, I didn’t consider the “Catholic” part of the Catholic school to be that overt. So when, one morning, my daughter began lecturing me about “Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”, I had a bit of an adverse reaction. What threw me into confusion wasn’t that I disliked the idea of her having religion. It was that I suddenly really wanted her to have some Islam in her life. At that moment, I realised that I may no longer be a practising, believing Muslim, but I’ll always be a cultural Muslim.

Until my daughter started talking about Jesus, I hadn’t considered just how much a part of my ­cultural genealogy Islam was. I’m proud of the ­culture that suffused my early life; or, at least, parts of it. Some things, like the grotesque misogyny, I’m happy to be rid of. But I still listen to Pakistani songs; some of them even make me cry. As does the right painting, or story. And I wanted my daughter to enjoy those works too. I wanted her to have some connection to the land of her birth and to the family she still has there. She needed to know why her grandparents prayed regularly and who exactly Muhammad was.

Both her maternal and paternal grandparents are still in Pakistan, so I asked them for help. And so their weekly Skype sessions with my daughter became about Islam. The Islam countered the Christianity enough that she enjoyed hearing and reading about both, but stopped caring about either. She didn’t talk about Islam beyond the Skype conversations, which, I felt, was just the right amount of Islam in our world.

My daughter is the main reason we migrated to Australia. If I’m to be perfectly honest, had I had a son, I would not have left Pakistan, despite the threats against me [in response to columns and news satire Shah wrote as a journalist]. Because, based on my own personal experience, being a boy in a Muslim country like Pakistan is a lot ­easier than being a girl. As a boy, your freedom of movement is unrestricted, you’re free to dress however you want, and your level of personal safety is much higher than that of a girl. I wanted my daughter to grow up in a place where her ­freedoms were the same as mine.

Nor am I alone in believing that; my daughter’s mother feels much the same. Ishma Alvi’s understanding of feminism within and without Islam has had a big influence on my own understanding of it. Which is why I turn this story over to her.

Ishma Alvi 

I am an ex-Muslim. I was born into Islam, so a relationship with it was unavoidable. But by the time I was 17, I realised that Islam did not like me – not me personally, but women in general. I started seeing Islam as swinging between benevolent sexism (if there is such a thing) and venomous misogyny. So, Islam and I took a break. The relationship was on the rocks anyway; teenage rebellion beckoned. I drank and had sex and wore what I wanted.

Islam and I got back together when I was about 20, as a result of two events. The first was that I enrolled in a masters program at the ­University of Karachi. The campus was an hour away, so I decided to take public transport. Women from the higher socio-economic classes did not – in fact, still do not – use public transport in Karachi. There were horror stories about women on public ­transport being sexually assaulted and raped so I decided to defend myself by wearing the Arab-style abaya: a floor-length, closed-front gown made of heavy fabric, a hijab with niqab and gloves. And it worked – I felt protected from the worst of the assaults, and felt safe and even grateful to Islam for offering me this option. Islam had wedged a foot in the door of my psyche. At that time, it didn’t strike me that the only way for me to feel safe as a woman was to cover my woman-ness; that being a woman was the ­barrier to safety.

The second event that let Islam get a foot in the door of my life was that a close friend had turned passionately to the religion, embracing the hijab and abaya, along with religious classes called dars, which I started attending with her. The leader, a woman named Farhat Hashmi, encouraged her students to seek an education but was quite clear on her interpretation of the role of women within Islam – as primarily compliant with and obedient to their husbands. She also supported the idea that polygamy (by the men) was something women should be comfortable with as “other sisters can also ­benefit”, i.e. share the wealth. And she suggested that women could function as the saviours of their men, rescuing them from non-marital sexual intercourse (and thus, from the hell-fire) because men will be men. There was no mention of female sexuality – women were receptacles, handmaidens and pious saviours.

Despite my acceptance into this group, I was angry most of the time. Not just angry – I struggled with rage, doing things that put me at serious risk, like standing in front of a speeding bus to make sure it stopped for me, taking a crowbar to a man who tried to grab me between the legs as he walked past, throwing a brick at a car whose driver had tried to sexually solicit me. Some might argue that I was raging against a culture that was pitted against me. But I no longer differentiate very much between culture and religion when the boundaries between the two are so vague, as is the case in Pakistan.

I was tired of struggling to fit myself into what Islam wanted; tired of trying to make myself smaller, to hide my woman-ness just so I could be safe; tired of trying not to question things that were blatantly against me as a woman; tired of forcing my dissonance to resolve itself by citing faith, by citing context of the Quran. So Islam and I broke up for good. It wasn’t an impulsive decision: it took thought and reflection, and I homed in on the key issues that I couldn’t simply dismiss any longer.

For one thing, the issue of domestic abuse, where the Quran states: Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband’s] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance – [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand. [Quran 4:34]

The obvious and the implied, in this single verse, summarise the entire attitude towards women in Islam. It does not matter to me – as a woman, a ­psychologist or a human being – whether “strike” is with a feather or a rod: abuse is not only about physical pain but also psychological pain and fear. And why would a man have to discipline his wife, anyway? Another area that I couldn’t just accept on faith alone was to do with a woman being valued as half a man: … And get two witnesses out of your own men. And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her… [Quran 2:282]

The Quran here is quite clearly stating that a woman is half a man: in judgment, in comprehension, in the ability to be objective and just. It can, and has, been generalised to an overarching ­perception of a woman’s ability to use her brain.

It’s also saying that women are ultimately to be obedient and submissive to men, that it is incumbent upon them to “save” their men from hell-fire by accepting polygamy, that a woman is not to inherit from her own parents what her brother might, that a woman can be beaten, that there is no legal/standard age for marriage in Islam, that marital rape is not directly and clearly addressed in Islam (a non-issue). That the woman is to cover herself, again to save the men from their carnal lusts. That there are guides to disciplining a wife/woman. And, finally, that there are no equal or even similar guides for women to be used with men/husbands. For all these reasons, I knew that I could not go back to Islam. That a return to Islam would be a betrayal of my gender.

Muslims in general, especially the ­moderate kind, twist themselves into convoluted knots trying to explain away the blatant misogyny ground into the fibre of the religion. They cite ­context: context of the verses, context of the times, context of the politico-social environment. But context serves no purpose except to excuse and justify. I’m frankly bored of the arguments to do with Quranic context and interpretation that are feebly used to defend this or that sexist verse, because none of that changes anything in terms of women in Islam, nor does it make it more palatable.

The most controversial of Islam’s impositions on women, due to its visibility, is the hijab. Let me be clear: I by no means feel that the hijab should be banned. But my perception of women who wear it has become slightly skewed. Where once I was unquestioning about what I perceived to be an informed choice, even defending friends who chose to wear it later in life, I now speculate about the basis of that choice, whether or not it was informed.

I gave some thought to recent female converts to Islam. They do not have the prior conditioning and have no predisposition to wear the hijab, so perhaps their choice is truly objective and informed. However, I need to come clean about my own biases first. I feel that if someone has converted as an adult, they are seeking something that they hope to find in Islam, and will probably be willing to embrace the rituals, dress codes and mores to get to what is sought. It’s a decision perhaps based on a hungry need, not intellectual understanding.

While I’m clear on where I stand on Islam and my choices, I would like to think that I take issue with the religion and not the people. Whether I can neatly separate the ideology and the people who put it into practice is what I’m still trying to resolve. There are groups within the Muslim community that I take particular issue with – such as the fundamentalists – for impinging on the rights of women due to their literalist interpretation of the Quran. But then, to follow this train of thought, these very people are actually following the Quran as it’s written, with no convoluted explanations or hiding behind context: practising Islam in the way it was meant to be practised, in simple black and white. Therefore, as much as this literalist group is damaging women, they are at least easy to identify and address. However, the moderate groups – the Muslim reformists and Muslim feminists – are tangled in knots of convoluted arguments; they are the ones who create the cognitive dissonance, blur choices and boundaries.

So what, in my opinion, does Islam need to do? Islam can do nothing; it is a concept. Only ­Muslims can bring about a more female-positive change. This can happen when they stop presenting convoluted arguments that function only to manage their own dissonance and maintain the status quo. Justifications such as “But it was the first feminist faith” and “It’s about context” and “It depends on the interpretation” need to be discarded.

When the apologist approach to Islam from moderates ends, acceptance and an objective examination of Islam and women could happen. Which might be the impetus to positive change – reformists could then look at reinterpreting it from a women-friendly standpoint. But, frankly, I don’t see how that can happen. Even if it is reinterpreted, how can that new standpoint be accepted worldwide across the various Muslim subgroups and sects? And then be consistently practised and maintained so that the new practices and beliefs supplant the old ones? Maybe reformists and ­Muslims have the answer to this one. I don’t.

In the end, I believe Islam is not a religion for women, nor a religion for our times, or for any time – because, at its very heart, it does not like women. And since I’m a woman, I don’t like it back.

Edited extract from The Islamic Republic of Australia, by Sami Shah, $32.99 (ABC Books)