Most Influential Person in History

Another poem I wrote for my Intro. to Creative Writing class. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy ;)

Who deserves to be ranked #1
of the most influential person in history?
Would you give the title to Einstein, your daughter or son?
I promise, it's really not a mystery!

Before the great men and women in time

are given credit or praise,
Mothers should be first in line,
For these individuals they raised.

We all recognize the respect our mothers deserve,

And would even fight others to defend them,
But then where do we get the nerve,
To ignore, hurt, or even curse at some?

For all the pain and sacrifices they went through,
The time and effort they put in,
Raising, teaching, and taking care of you,
Disobeying them in good is a great sin. (1)

You love her home cooked meals, comfort, and advice,

There is almost nothing she wouldn’t do for you,
The least you could do is be helpful and nice,
For the countless things she continues to do.

Mothers deserve the best for these reasons and many others,

You will never be able to pay her back for all she has done,
It's been said, "No matter what a man does, he will never be able to have the status of a mother,"
And that's why she is #1!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) In Islam, when parents advise something good according to God, we should try our best to do so. Likewise, when they tell us something that we shouldn't do because God said so, it is not a sine to not listen to them.  

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt 4/5

 

For this month's book review, I will be sharing a book I had to read for a class at uni. last semester. The book Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, is a memoir about McCourt's journey through his many years of teaching. Majoring in elementary and middle school education, this book was interesting for me even though McCourt taught high school and college. We can all learn something from the experiences of other teachers!   

Overall, I enjoyed reading McCourt's book on his experiences in teaching. I like how he got creative with his students in his lessons, like his grammar lesson in "disguise," his lesson using excuse notes, teaching with food, and creative writing with reviews. McCourt also includes his encounters with parents of students and problems students went through like racism and conflicts with students meeting parent's expectations. One chapter in particular was ironic to me because I went through similar situations in one of my English classes my first year at uni. My professor had a lesson on fairy tales like McCourt and she also taught the same poem, "My Papa's Waltz." Throughout the book, McCourt included stories from his personal life, like memories of his childhood he would tell his students, him as a husband and father, and his work other than teaching. There was also some humor put into Teacher Man that I thought was funny.

There are some parts of the book that I thought was interesting and worth sharing here. In his prologue, McCourt describes what others felt was the status of teachers at the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't good. He writes, "In America, doctors, lawyers, generals, actors, television people and politicians are admired and rewarded. Not teachers." But even with this negative view of the teaching profession, McCourt did have a number of students telling him they wanted to teach in the future too, which I'm sure is nice for teachers to hear.

There were many other parts in his book that I marked because I liked them, but a few that I didn't like. For example, there were two  parts were McCourt got physical with his students and hit them, which I don't think a teacher should ever do. Also, a few personal stories on his private "romantic" life didn't have to be included in my opinion. Nonetheless, I did like this book for the most part and gave it a 4/5 stars. If you do plan to teach in the future or currently teach, I would recommend this book to you, but also if you are curious to know a little bit about the teaching profession. After all, as a quote says, "Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions."

If you would like to purchase a copy of Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, then check out Teacher Man: A Memoir by Frank McCourt 

God in The Iliad

While reading The Iliad, I couldn’t help but notice how the gods were described. I know there are polytheistic religions, both in the past and present, but I never understood them well until reading Homer's work. Homer's The Iliad  is an example of how the ancient Greeks viewed God. They believed in a number of gods, such as Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc. But not only were there numerous gods for almost every aspect of life, these gods were similar to humans. Being a Muslim, the basic belief of Islam is to acknowledge and believe in One God. This belief includes not associating partners with God, worshiping Him alone, and not comparing Him to His creation or vice versa. Of course people are free to believe what they want, but because The Iliad is an example of people who did believe and worship many gods, this caught my attention. I like learning about religions and what people believe, so I found it uncomfortable, yet interesting, to read and learn the lifestyle and beliefs of ancient Greeks as depicted in The Iliad.

Most importantly, the gods in The Iliad can be compared to humans. These gods are jealous and selfish. This is seen throughout The Iliad. For example, the Trojan War begins with the actions of jealous and selfish gods. Paris, the prince of Troy, is picked by Zeus to decide which goddess deserves the golden apple with "for the fairest" inscribed in it. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite want to claim this apple, thus they bribe Paris. He gives the apple to Aphrodite who has promised him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, the wife of Menelaus. Paris and Aphrodite get what they want, but trouble begins once Helen is taken away (Fitzgerald 280). This is a selfish motive of the goddess and only leads to problems for the humans. I found this jealous and selfish trait of the Greek gods and goddesses to be unlike the true nature of God. God doesn’t have selfish motives and He also doesn’t need someone else to do His work for Him. Unlike humans, God isn't selfish, jealous, or in need of assistance.

Furthermore, the fact that there are many gods and goddesses creates problems. As seen in the apple incident, tension occurs when gods/ goddesses compete against each other. In addition, they argue amongst themselves such as in the case of Zeus and his wife, Hera. Zeus promises to help the Trojans because he owes Thetis a favor, but he knows that Hera will not like it because of her dislike of the Trojans. When Hera brings this up to Zeus in conversation, the two bicker. Zeus says to Hera,

Marvelous, you and your guesses; you are near it, too. But there is not one thing that you can do about it, only estrange yourself still more from me… And now you just sit down, be still, obey me, or else not all the gods upon Olympuscan help in the least when I approach your chair to lay my inexorable hands upon you (Fitzgerald 306).

Not only does Zeus silence Hera, but he also threatens her! This again was uncomfortable to read because God doesn’t have a family like humans where he would have to compete, disagree, or make threats. His Oneness makes it possible for things to occur (like creation) or else gods/ goddesses would be bickering about everything and nothing would get done.

Finally, the close interactions of the Greek gods/ goddesses to humans is also worth mentioning. In The Iliad, Athena directly gets involved in human affairs when Achilles gets ready to kill Agamemnon if the latter was to take Achilles' "prize". Athena is sent by Hera to prevent any violence between the two men: "And Athena, stepping up behind him, visible to no none except Achilles, gripped his red-gold hair… 'Enough: break off this combat, stay your hand upon the sword hilt. Let him have a lashing with words, instead: tell him how things will be'" (Homer 295). Athena is made to get involved and do the thinking for humans. In reality, God doesn't get directly involved in human affairs like this where he makes "appearances". The gods/ goddesses do this frequently and favor certain humans, especially Athena, in both The Iliad and The Odyssey.

All in all, the behavior of the Greek gods/ goddesses was interesting to read about and made an impression on me. Although I don’t agree with the ancient Greek's belief and interactions with the gods/ goddesses, I understood the idea more that in the past, some nations were polytheistic. I've known this but didn’t get into the subject deeply until I read The Iliad. Homer's story involved gods/ goddesses that were selfish, jealous, had families and helpers, would argue with each other, and directly get involved in the world. While some people may agree with these beliefs to explain the events that occur in the world, I believe otherwise.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Robert, trans. "The Iliad." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin, 2004. 280+. Print.

Books and Movies Tag

So I came up with a tag a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to put it up for others to answer. For those who aren't familiar with tags online, it's basically a questionnaire that people answer and they tag a number of people to also answer them as well. For my tags, I will try to vary my answers without making them up and ask that everyone else try to do the same. Feel free to answer the questions here in the comments below ;) Let's start with my books and movies tag!

1. What is your favorite book genre? movie?
For books, I like action/ adventure and comedy for movies.

2. What is your favorite book series? movie series? individual book? individual movie?
My favorite book series is Fablehaven; movie series, Harry Potter; individual book, The Eighth Scroll; individual movie, Cars.

3. Worst book? movie?
Worst book for me would be The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey (I plan to finish the series though since I have the first 3 books) and Rango for movie.

4. One book you would recommend to everyone? movie?
I would recommend the book Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed to everyone (see my book review @ http://sfwritinginwonderland.blogspot.com/2013/01/reclaim-your-heart-by-yasmin-mogahed.html) and the movie would be Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

5. Do you like movies based off of books? Why or why not?
I actually do b/c I like visuals, to remember and to see how the movie images compare to my visions when reading.

6. Any likes/dislikes of book to movies?
Likes include Matilda, The Spiderwick Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Chronicles of Narnia, and of course Harry Potter.   

7. Who is your favorite character from a book? movie?
My favorite book character is Dumbledore and Hermione for movie.

8. Who is your favorite movie actor? actress?
My favorite actor is Robin Williams (from Jumanji and Mrs. Doubtfire) and Mara Wilson (from Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire).

9. How many books have you read so far? movies watched?
According to goodreads.com, I've read 133 books and I've watched about 150 movies in the past 3-4 years! (I've been working on 2 movie pages for my scrapbook and I do have a way that I keep track of what movies and how many I saw.)

10. How many books/ movies do you own in your personal collection?
I have 76+ books in my @ home library collection, but no movies b/c I borrow them for FREE from my public library!

Bonus!!! Books and Movies: Past, Present, and Future

1. What was the last book you read? movie watched?
The last book I read was Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George and last watched the movie Bedtime Stories.

2. What are you currently reading? watching?
I am currently not reading any "fun" books b/c I have a lot of reading for my 5 English classes @ uni. and I don't plan on watching any movies for a while for the same reason, (I have a lot of uni. work...)But, I do entertain myself with YouTube and fairy tales ;)

3. What book do you plan to read next? watch next?
I want to read Monster Madness by Dean Lorey next and watch Brave.

4. Do you know about goodreads.com? Want to share your link?
I do thanks to a friend ;) (thank you so much for telling me about it!) Check me out @ http://www.goodreads.com/sabrinafatima

If you liked this tag and want to answer more questions, check back soon for another fun tag I made and know you will like! Feel free to tag others who haven't been tagged yet :)

Ode to a Good Book in Bed

I just wrote this a few days ago for my Intro. to Creative Writing class. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy ;)

To my dear friend book,
Over 10 years you have been a companion of mine,
Your many subjects reel in bookworms like a hook,
Hundreds of topics and genres to choose from throughout time,
Where should we start to take a look?

Your crisp, new pages waiting to be read,

Or maybe yellowing pages shown much love instead,
You fill bookshelves with your family and friends,
In public and private libraries, some in hearts till the end.

But who doesn't like a good book in bed?

After a hard days work and face turned red,
Come under a warm, cozy blanket on a cold winter night,
Lay down and give thanks for your soft pillow so light,
Thank God for books and beds, rest well and sleep tight! 

Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed 5/5

 

I’m very excited to share today's post with you all, my first book review here on my blog as mentioned in Future Posts IdeasI wanted to bring attention to my most recent favorite book, Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed. Like I mentioned in my Barnes and Noble Book Haul (4), I ordered from B&N mostly for Yasmin's book. I recently started to hear her videos on YouTube and I liked a lot of what she said. Then I found out on her website that she came out with her first book this past August. While on YouTube, I came across a video about Yasmin's book and shortly after that, a book trailer for Reclaim Your Heart. I'm always on the hunt for good "non-traditional" books and with all the constant attention on this specific book, I decided to get a copy for myself. Bottom line, I'm really glad I did!

Normally, I wouldn't mention the texture of a book, but this one is different. Reclaim Your Heart feels soft like velvet/felt, not the typical papery feeling. What's the big deal about the texture? Well, being someone who tries to cover my new books with clear contact paper, before I got the chance to cover this book, water dripped onto the cover. Books usually get "wrinkly/ bumpy" when they get wet, but the material to this book prevented that from happening to my delight. Fortunately, I was able to cover (Decora Clear Contact Paper 3 Yd.)my book before any real damage could be done to the covers and spine. To me, the book deserves at least 1 star for the cover material alone! 

Now about the content. Many of the articles/stories in Reclaim Your Heart were extremely well written. Overall, this book has great reminders for everyone and covers topics that will help individuals. While I was reading Yasmin's book, I thought of family members, friends, acquaintances, etc. that I thought this book would be helpful to. Thus, I came to the conclusion that this book would make a good gift to others as well, even non-Muslims! I truly believe there is something for everyone in Reclaim Your Heart. Through Yasmin's writing, readers can tell that she reflects on everyday experiences such as news, interactions, etc. to learn from them and share that knowledge, which we can all use.

The book is broken into seven chapters which includes: Attachments, Love, Hardships, Relationship with the Creator, Women's Status, Ummah, and Poetry. Within these seven chapters are 38 articles plus poems. I personally had a number of favorites from this book. Two little excepts includes "This world cannot break you- unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless you hand it the keys- unless you give it your heart..." (Mogahed, 43) and "No matter what a man does he will never be able to have the status of a mother" (Mogahed, 127). I liked many articles entirely, and after some looking around, I found out that some of Yasmin's book material are also found on her site. I don't think this is bad because I never read anything from her site before reading her book. Plus, I will be able to link some of my favorite writings for you all ;) So, to get a taste of some of what to expect from Yasmin's book, here are some of my favorites in no particular order.

A Successful Marriage: The Missing Link
Seeing Your Home in Jennah: On Seeking Divine Help
The Dream of Life
Salah: Life's Forgotten Purpose
A Sacred Conversation
Facebook: The Hidden Danger
Empowerment of Women
Today’s Opening of the Red Sea: Lessons from Egypt

Overall, I think this is a great book for ones personal library and to give as a gift to others. There is much to be gained from Yasmin's Reclaim Your Heart. If you would like to purchase Reclaim Your Heart, then check out
Reclaim Your Heart
Barnes and Noble
Yasmin Mogahed's site

Feminist/Gender Criticism on Mrs. Doubtfire

Paper I wrote for my Methods of Literary Analysis class.

Feminist criticism looks at the status of females, thus focusing on how women have written and how women have been written, either like an angelic mother (Mary) or evil seductress (Eve) (Lynn, 226-27). Gender criticism is similar to feminist criticism but compares and contrasts males and females. Gender refers to the cultural aspects of sexuality, such as the biological, psychological, and social factors (Lynn, 251). Some of the important information gender critics look for in literature includes: stereotypes, roles, and noticing any references to the body, all three of either males or females. In doing either of these criticisms, critics try to break down prejudices of readers.

Chris Columbus's Mrs. Doubtfire is about the problems of the Hillard family. Daniel Hillard gets fired from work. Loving his three children, they are surprised at first when their dad comes to pick them up after school. Since it is his son's birthday, Daniel decides to throw him a party, even though his wife said Chris couldn't have a party because of his bad report card. Thinking he could clean up before Miranda gets home from work, Daniel hires a mobile petting zoo. Daniel's neighbor dislikes the animals being on her property and the loud music so she calls his wife at work. Miranda Hillard is an interior designer who gets asked to do a project by former acquaintance Stuart Denmeyer, when she receives a complaint and goes home to deal with her husband.   

Daniel and Miranda argue while cleaning up. She says he makes her look like the monster and she gets the leftovers from all the fun. He says she chose the career and she replies back that she had no choice. Saying "it's over"; Miranda has had enough of her husband's behavior and wants a divorce. They go to court and since Daniel has no income or place to live, his wife gets primary custody of their children. But, the judge says it is just as important for children to have a loving father (Mrs. Doubtfire), so Daniel gets visitation rights every Saturday and has three months to get a job and keep it, and create a suitable home for their children.

A stereotype in the movie so far is the man being irresponsible and immature, while the female is the opposite. Daniel is out of work, which his older daughter figures out when he comes to pick them up. This might be an indication that this is common with Daniel. Also, he throws his son a big party behind Miranda's back. Daniel is caught dancing to music with his son on top of the table, to his wife's disgust. Miranda on the other hand, is hardworking and independent. She is an interior designer and doesn’t stay home to do all the housework. Viewers can see that Miranda doesn’t play the typical, traditional role as housewife.

The movie continues with Miranda coming to Daniel's apartment on Saturday to pick up their children. She mentions to Daniel that she is putting an ad in the newspaper for a housekeeper. To spend more time with his kids, Daniel offers to take care of the kids after school, but Miranda says she will think about it. Changing the number on the ad without Miranda noticing, he calls her to get the job. With the help of his makeup artist brother and Daniel's talent in doing voices, Daniel transforms into Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire. Daniel in disguise is hired by Miranda and they get along well. She doesn't know it is her husband she hired and confides in; saying her husband never appreciated her organized cubbies. 

Mrs. Doubtfire tries to learn to cook but has an accident in the kitchen so "she" orders out and puts the food on the table for dinner. Miranda comes home from work and is impressed with Mrs. Doubtfire's "dinner". While Mrs. Doubtfire heads out to the bus stand, Daniel's older daughter Lydia comes to apologize for her behavior and thanks "Mrs. Doubtfire" for making her mom happy, which she can’t remember when the last time was. As the days pass, Daniel is able to spend time with his children as "Mrs. Doubtfire" while also working at a TV studio. Mrs. Doubtfire plays soccer with Chris, reads to Natalie, rides bikes with the children, and even vacuums the house.

Daniel finds out Stuart Denmeyer is fond of his wife but thinks Daniel is a loser. Mrs. Doubtfire gives Miranda advice after Miranda says she and Stuart will go out for a drink and talk about their business project. Mrs. Doubtfire says Stuart has other intentions and for Miranda to "wake up and smell the coffee" (Mrs. Doubtfire). Miranda later confides in Mrs. Doubtfire saying she liked Daniel at first, but after she was always working and he was in between jobs, she didn’t get to see their children and would have to clean the house. Eventually, Daniel is caught by Chris and tells him and Lydia that it is their dad dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire. They are happy and promise to not tell their mom or younger sister.

When Miranda comes to pick up Lydia, Chris, and Natalie, Daniel's house is messy. This is again a stereotype of men being messy, while women are neat and organized, as seen from Miranda's labeled kitchen cabinets versus Daniel's "refugee motif" apartment. Daniel learns to cook and clean, and spends a lot of time with his children. Men usually don’t do simple housework such as these, and in today's society, many fathers aren't really involved in their children's life if any at all. Miranda's comment about going out with Stu for work being "harmless" is an example of women being naïve. Many females in similar situations think it is "innocent" but things do go wrong. Daniel admits through Stu that men generally have other intentions in the mentioned situation.    

When Miranda comes again to Daniel's place for the kids, she is impressed when Daniel says he learned to cook, bake, and sew, and his house is clean and organized. Miranda asks Mrs. Doubtfire for her advice on what she should wear to her birthday dinner with Stu and the family. Mrs. Doubtfire says that one dress is too short and the other "screams harlot" (Mrs. Doubtfire). Daniel has a dinner meeting with the CEOfrom his work to share his ideas and Mrs. Doubtfire promises to go to Miranda's dinner party, both at the same restaurant at the same time! When they arrive at the restaurant, Mrs. Doubtfire asks if Miranda will cover her shoulders. Stu gifts Miranda with a "real" bracelet and Mrs. Doubtfire makes a comment to Stu saying he wants more from her.

By the end of the movie, Daniel gets caught when his mask comes off in the restaurant "helping" Stu when he chokes. Miranda is outraged she has been tricked and says she has to go home. After two months, Daniel managed to do what the judge says, but the judge gives full custody to Miranda and supervised visits every Saturday to Daniel because of his peculiar behavior fooling people into thinking he was a woman. Seeing that their kids really miss their dad and Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda takes care of all the legal stuff and Daniel is allowed unlimited access to their children.  

Mrs. Doubtfire's suggestion to Miranda to wear a dress she had worn to a funeral and to cover her shoulders shows that Daniel is protective. He doesn’t want Miranda to show a lot of skin and to cover herself properly so Stu won't "feast his eyes on her". Good men usually care for women like this by protecting them. Overall, this movie's portrayal of a family going through divorce is realistic. Many times because of the parent's decisions, children end up suffering in one way or another. The relationship between Daniel and Miranda, Miranda and Stuart, and the family and Mrs. Doubtfire, are also similar to interactions between males and females in reality.  

Works Cited

Lynn, Steven. "Gendering the Text." Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical      Theory. 6th ed. Glenview: Pearson, 2011. 221+. Print.

Mrs. Doubtfire. Dir. Chris Columbus. Perf. Robin Williams, Sally Field, Mara Wilson, Etc. 20th Century Fox, 1993. DVD.