Reem > Recent Status Updates

When we hear someone's truth and it strikes some deep part of our humanity, our own hidden shames, it can be easy to recoil into silence. We struggle to hold the truth's of others because we have so rarely had the experience of having our own truth's held.

Chronic stress undermines our mental health and our physical health, and it changes how we think. One study even suggested that one of the best measures of a child’s stress is a parent’s stress level.

Watching development unfold requires patience and more patience... The same goes for reading, writing, soccer, dance, or any other skill. We teach what we can when we see an opportunity. At the same time, we can’t force development to progress any more quickly than it wants. Resiliency builds from early success and success itself relies on appropriate childhood expectations along the way.

Stay warm but firm, confident as a parent but not an indulgent friend; prioritise play; and remain emotionally available yet clear-sighted in limit setting. These are proven steps to cultivating a child’s happiness, independence, and resilience. “

Really struggling with this one. I'm annoyed at the writing style.

Published this year so it's got up to date research. I knew the doctors' claims that breastmilk doesn't convey the proteins that cause allergies was rubbish. Knew it, and so did a bunch of other moms I spoke to. Tsk. Also read something that concerned me, that my doctors hadn't told me: babies with eczema and allergies usually go on to have asthma:( Fuck. 70% of babies/toddlers with egg allergy develop asthma.

This guy is gross. Makes me feel so uncomfortable reading about how he's objectifying this woman. She's married and in love with her husband. He's lusting after her, staring at her, insinuating himself into their lives. It's just gross.

Problems arise not when white people choose to write about non-white people, but when such material is presented as authoritative.

When we write about the experiences of a group to which we do not belong, we should think about the ethics of our action, considering whether or not our work will be used to reinforce and perpetuate domination.

For white and non-white women, black people and all individuals from ethnic groups who are gay there have been historical moments wherein each of our experiences were most studied, interpreted and written about solely by white males... They became the authority to consult if anyone wanted to understand the experiences if these powerless groups. This is the politics of domination.

Audre Lorde's poem 'Litany for Survival':

and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.

Reading it [my first book] critically, I saw that I was trying not only to address each different potential audience, but that my words were written to explain, placate, to appease. They contained the fear of speaking that often characterizes the way those in a lower position in a hierarchy address those in a higher position of authority. Where I was talking to black women was the voice I felt to be most truly mine.

Within any situation of colonization, of domination, the oppressed, the exploited develop various styles of relating, talking one way to one another, talking another way to those who have power to oppress and dominate, talking in a way that allows one to be understood by someone who does not know your way of speaking.

...the absence of a humane critical response has tremendous impact on the writer from any oppressed, colonized group who endevours to speak. For us, true speaking is not only an expression of creative power, it is an act of resistance, a political gesture that challenges politics of domination that would render us nameless, and voiceless. As such, it is a courageous act - as such, it presents a threat.

While punishing me my parents often spoke about breaking my spirit. Now when I ponder the silences, the voices that are not heard, the voices of those wounded and/or oppressed individuals who do not speak or write, I contemplate the acts of persecution, torture - the terrorism that breaks spirits. That makes creativity impossible.

Like the tv show and am glad I got this out of the library. I might have to own it though. So far Jules' preggo pasta looks like a quick and simple meal I could pull off in 15 minutes instead of 30. Provided I leave the other dishes out completely. I'm keen to start eating a salad with every meal though. Seems like a good habit to have.

On the one hand she talks about how covering up as a Muslim woman is liberating because she is no longer judged based on her looks, no longer a sexual object. On the other hand she talks about the judgement she receives from complete strangers who now believe she has no autonomy etc etc. Which is it? Are you judged or not judged? To me it still sounds like you're being judged by your appearance.