Life Update #3 | CHON | Hair Grievances

Hey!

It’s Jante and I don’t really have anything to say other than a couple of things. I guess this can be a mini- Life Update #3?? I think so, mostly because nothing much has happened and I wanted to make this short.

| CHON |

I accidentally discovered the band while browsing YouTube and I listened to the track Book and I instantly fell in love with the sound (I played it on repeat like four times) and I never really found a band like them before. But, let’s be clear my music tastes do not vary at all. It’s actually pretty dead but I can say I've grown like the tiniest bit. A lot of the stuff that I liked 4 years ago ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT pertain to the taste that I have now. I mean my current Spotify playlists is a huge giant mess and I desperately need to delete songs on there that I do not like anymore, but given the fact that I have over 700 songs on one playlist that I’ve cumulated on there since 2011, I am going to need to dedicate a lot of time to doing so.

But according to my very quick Wikipedia search, they are an American band and the track I listened to is from their album Grow. I mean. I loved it. The track I mean. I have yet to actually listen to the album and develop my own opinion on it (I am currently listening to it and for me to truly decide on an album I need to listen to it beginning to end like 7 to 10 times). In all actuality, I discovered them like half an hour ago and I felt like impulsively writing a blog post and included them in it. Go figure.

| HAIR |

Yeah, that’s still a topic. I recently have been getting real annoyed with my hair only because it takes so much time to do upkeep on it. Like if it wanted to do a “twist/braid out" (I have my own method) it would take me 2 hours to just twist/braid my hair. And given the fact that I’m trying (yo but forreal) TRYING to be “healthier” and since that involves like running, my hair has not been lasting a long time sadly.

Which leaves wash n go’s as an answer right? Well, sure….if you didn’t wear a hijab. When I do just try to wash my hair and go, and I am in the unfortunate circumstance of needing to wear a hijab for some reason, I now have to somehow contain all of my hair to fit neatly underneath a scarf. That entails me braiding my hair into two very large cornrows and two braids near my hairline to contain my baby hairs, and by the time I take them out I am left with unevenly stretched hair all over the place. And it’s not a cute look.

So I’ve been looking to getting Marley/Havana twists installed in my hair hence, I don’t have to worry about the thing growing from my scalp for four weeks.  But that requires money and I ain’t got the bank account for that.

So we’re back to just dealing with my hair. My friend actually suggested I just twist my hair and I secure my ends with those tiny black rubber bands and I mean….that could work. So maybe I’ll be okay after all.

Alright. Yep. You really didn’t have to read this at all. I mean thanks for getting to this point. It’s cool. I didn’t really have anything pressing to say actually. But you know what it’s cool. Glad to have you here. Have a wonderful life man.

Sincerely,

Jante

America - Languages - ERGGGHH

Hey, it’s Jante and I got a topic to discuss. Languages.

We use it to communicate with each other so here is my point. Why in America is it such a normal and accepted thing for someone to know only one language?

Look I definitely understand that there are going to be incidents, backgrounds and just times where someone cannot afford to know a language either because it costs money to formally know a language, they don’t have family or friends who know another language to teach them, or it just isn’t a priority because there are more important things to worry about, such as food, water and shelter.

I am not ignorant to this and I’m pretty sure I’m leaving out other situations where learning a second language just isn’t even conceivable.

BUT when I take all of this into account it still leaves many of us (I included) who for too long of a time, were perfectly content with being monolingual. And I realize that me being comfortable with that was just stupid. Plain idiotic.

I come from a background where my mom and step-dad are bilingual, they speak both Swahili and English and my biological father being trilingual where he knows Swahili, Hindi and English. When I grew up, my parents didn’t really enforce Swahili onto me so of course, I didn’t end up speaking it when I got older and I still till this day am not fluent at it at all.

And I’m kinda sick of it.

And the thing is I feel like Americans are so easy to dismiss not learning a second language, because hey, other people should know English.

And the argument does have stuff to back it up. English is the fourth most commonly spoken language with over 510 million people speaking it.

However, the argument becomes flawed when you look at how many native speakers….it’s only 340 million people who actually spoke English as their native language…..which leaves over 100 million people to learn it as a second language.

It just bothers me so much that we have this nonchalance about it and this righteousness about ourselves as English speakers that we absolutely refuse to acknowledge the fact that it’s completely unfair to just assume other people should just learn the language. And it has gotten to the point that English is recognized as an official language by over 60 countries and even though English is not the native language that the populace speaks to begin with! Just so bothersome. So so bothersome.

But sure I understand that two of the major superpowers of the world (America and England) are English speakers and they do have a lot of say in trade and business so it is advantageous for others to learn English as a second language. But why as English speakers do we not feel like it is a necessity to learn another language??

For instance, in the US there is a huge Hispanic community, something that has definitely become more relevant since I moved to Houston. I mean Mexico is like right there. Why isn’t it required for the American public school education to teach Spanish from kindergarten to when they are a senior in high school?  

Like what cons are there to learning two languages? None. Absolutely none.

And the thing is, this can be done. Sure you would have to rework the entire school curriculum but I don’t think that it can’t be done. It’s feasible and it enlightens people and gives people a necessary and handy skill that they wouldn’t be able to get on their own.

But yeah, until that happens, I really do urge other people to LEARN A LANGUAGE. Specifically, a language that you have people who can practice with you but honestly any language that you are interested in will do. I mean, don’t be arrogant. 60 plus countries have listed English as an official language for a reason man. The least you can do is attempt to learn a language.

I understand, you may never be completely and utterly fluent. And that’s fine. What is important is the intent and the effort to do so.

So for me, I am making a pretty big goal for me to accomplish but I think I can do it, it’s gonna require a lot of practice but I’m really determined to do this.

•         At 28 years old, I will know and be able to communicate Spanish and Swahili adequately.
•          At 35 years old, I will have a basic understanding of Arabic.
• 
  

But that’s just my personal goal, and in the end, just don’t be an arrogant fool. Learn a language if you can.

And app I really suggest downloading is called Duolingo. Free language service that helps you learn a language by playing games and activities and “messaging” their robots in order to help with the conversational skills. I am learning so much from this and I urge everyone to use it. It can honestly jumpstart your second language journey.

I wish you all the best of luck and have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Jante

Thoughts

Courtesy of ReligionFacts

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY. THE THINGS IN ITALICS ARE OPINIONS OR MY THOUGHTS ON THIS. ANYTHING ELSE I TRIED TO MAKE IT AS UNOPINIONATED AS POSSIBLE.

Hey, it’s me. I have stuff to say. Let’s do it.

I am going to try and not say anything on here to furthermore boost the flames and the tension that has arrived here. I’m trying, I promise.

I don’t want to bash anyone here, nor do I want to denounce everything that has happened. So let’s get this clear. Donald Trump is our president, not going to argue against it. The Electoral College is the system we use (I don’t necessarily agree with it) but nonetheless it is what we got and it chose him as our president elect for the next four years.

Okay, cool? I’m glad we got that settled.

Now, here comes the unpopular opinion or the one that is going to “rock the boat” if you will. I am a Muslim. This should be fairly obvious to everyone but if you aren’t aware well, yeah that’s me. A hijabi – at times – that lives here. Okay no one is shocked here. This hasn’t tipped anyone over into anger, I’m just stating facts here.

Next thing would be much more provocative but still it’s a fact. On December 7 2015 Donald Trump read a statement from his campaign that he wanted 
a “total and complete shutdown on Muslims” entering the United States. He then said “We have no choice. We have no choice.” Now when I hear this statement, I honestly cannot see any metaphors that he could have meant or anything of the fact. And I would like to make it very and supremely clear that I have family, specifically Muslim family members that live OUTSIDE the United States.

Does he mean to think that because there are Muslim terrorists that exist we shouldn’t have any Muslims enter the country?

Statistically speaking, there are roughly 106,000 jihadist militants that exist according to this CNN article. And according to the Pew Study, 23% of the world’s populations are Muslim, 1.6 billion people to be exact. And taking into account Trump doesn’t mind the Muslims living in the U.S. (3.3 million of them), that means he didn’t want a total of 1,596,700,000 Muslims to enter the country of the United States until representatives figured out what is wrong because .006625% of the Muslim populace are jihadi militants aka terrorists.

I’m sorry, but as a Muslim, that seems incredibly islamophobic. And as a whole islamophobia is not nearly as brought up as it should be in the media because it is and continues to be a huge problem. That’s not reassuring to me as a Muslim. But, it continues.

He continued to state that we have to look at mosques because there is “anger”.

 Alright now this one doesn’t seem to be islamophobic but disrespectful. I think that I can speak for the majority of Muslims and say that we don’t have anything to hide in our mosques. Especially in the mosques that I’ve been a part of, we are fairly open to people who are either interested in the religion, curious as to what exactly Muslims do, etc. So it’s just hurtful that people think that we could or would have something to hide in our mosques? I’m sorry, but I don’t even think Donald Trump has been to a mosque.

I promise you, our mosques are always open. I have NEVER been to a mosque where the door were locked during the daytime. There is no special phrase, password, greeting, gesture, nothing. You can just enter and pray and leave. So the rhetoric that we have to be watched NOW is painful. I spent much of my formative years in a mosque. I am currently a volunteer at a mosque and I taught Islamic studies. A mosque to me, has always been a safe place that is open for me if I ever needed it. It’s just sad to think that my safe place is considered a place to be full of “anger.”

Anyways, that occurred less than a year ago. And it was debated for a short while, maybe a month or so and it was over. And Trump made some revisions in his statement and he took a more “moderate” approach with it.

My thing is, after the election, I was hurt and upset and said that if you voted/were for Trump to unfollow me, unfriend me, and I don’t deal with you. Did I mean it? Probably not because I don’t have the ability to hold grudges and stay mad. I’m actually fairly bad at it. The thing is, regardless of everything else Trump has ever said ever, it just disturbs me that people who know Muslims are still okay with what he wanted to do. It spoke to me that “look I know that you are a Muslim, but I am still going to vote for him.” If I leave the country, and I come back like I did this summer, would I have not been allowed to come back? Is that something you would have been okay with?

To me that just seems like you didn’t care. And I felt devastated.

And yeah, I understand that the Muslim ban is more than likely not going to happen. It completely and utterly goes against the 1^st amendment and I know there is a checks and balance system in place. I am aware.

I am just disappointed that people were okay with voting for a man with this policy that completely violates the 1^st amendment and is discriminatory towards 23% of the global population.

So if I unfriend, unfollow, block, whatever it is I may have done, I promise you it was not because I was weak. No, that’s not the case at all. I am a strong person living in a country that has never respected me with a leader who seems like he doesn’t respect people like me from outside the country. Once I feel better, I will reach out. But I’m hurt. And I need time to recuperate and get on with my life.

 All in all, I hope he does an amazing job as president and I desperately hope he proves me wrong. That’s all I have to say.

Sincerely,

A sad, discouraged, yet hopeful

Jante

Life Update #2 | My Unrequited Love For Aziz Ansari | Lots of Critiquing

Hey! 



|    LIFE UPDATE    |

It's Jante obviously, but I have a new blog post up thanks to an uplifting of spirits and I am just feeling much happier now. I was really feeling quite awful for the past couple of months and I was feeling unmotivated and uninspired and basically every single un-prefix + positive attribute that you can think of. 

Well the basics of everything are:

 - I'm currently volunteering at a local mosque and I subbed for a class one day. I'm also in an Arabic class so I'm learning Arabic again and it's honestly such an interesting language. Maybe one day I can learn it as soon as I know Spanish and Swahili fluently. I want to aim for an age where I can be fluent in both languages so maybe 28? Yeah, 28 is a good age. And I don't think this is a hard task for me to fulfill, I've always been relatively good at languages and I know waaaaay too many bilingual, tri-lingual and multilingual people for me to only know English as a language.

- I also am finally getting a job...hopefully...that's still a work in progress.

- I got accepted into the nursing program and I finished all of my application procedures needed. I'm just waiting for my orientation meeting which will be in December. 

|  MY UNREQUITED LOVE FOR AZIZ ANSARI  |

This is mainly just me trying to live my fantasy that one day Aziz Ansari will somehow stumble across this blog post, read it, fall madly in love with me (in a totally platonic way cause Muslims before whatever-the-hell-he-is) and we become the best of friends. 

I just read (okay listened) to Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg narrated by him and it was just a beautiful six hours of pure joy and undiluted rapture as I listened to his nasally voice read to me his book (and also make fun of me for listening to his book). BUT IT'S OKAY cause I BOUGHT THE HARD COVER...you hear that Aziz! I BOUGHT IT SO GTFO. 

The amazing thing about this was that Aziz, managed to be quite hilarious but also provide great data, experiments and enlightening commentary in regards to social media and the pros and cons that it has on contemporary romance. In the end, I will most definitely be rereading the book again. 

|     LOTS OF CRITIQUING     |

Given the fact that I have had too much time on my hands, I have been watching way more television and films and with that I guess I kinda came across this YouTube channel called TheReelRejects and D4Darious and I guess I have just been looking at films and television shows in a different light?

I wouldn't necessarily say that I've been the most observant and greatest critic of all time but I think I have gained this ability to critically analyse and note whatever I am watching by paying more attention to how a director may set the scene, figuring out why they may shoot a scene in that way, how the set is designed and acting methodology and so on so forth. 

I have also been doing a lot of reading about the movie business and how it works and it has been really interesting. I wouldn't necessarily call this a hobby of mine nor am I interested in participating in it but rather it is something to occupy my time while I await for the next chapter of my life to pop up.

Welp, that's it and I guess I'll talk to you later. 

Sincerely,

Jante