TGFL – Thank God for libraries!

 This is something I wrote awhile back for Todays Parent Magazine and am reposting here in light of the recent Margaret Atwood/Toronto Councillor (and brother of the Mayor) issue.  Read about that here: http://boingboing.net/2011/07/27/toronto-councillor-to-margaret-atwood-on-library-closures-get-elected-to-office-or-pipe-down.html.  Seriously, where are our priorities?

Ode to the Library

I can’t begin to tell you what the library has meant to me over the years.  I first fell in love with the one above my preschool class.  I actually remember the cozy nook where I would snuggle with a book in the bitter cold of winter.  I probably couldn’t read yet, but somehow the pictures opened up a world of wonderment, and I knew that the words would come soon. 

In elementary school, we were fortunate enough to have a huge library with volumes of  the latest encyclopedias and “Shakespeare Simplified.” I spent months helping organize the books with the implementation of the Dewey decimal system.  It was a daunting task, but so amazing to see how many books the school library had, the possibilities.

In high school, the latest, greatest, most modern magazines were at our fingertips.  Teen People was a favorite (and not just for the 21 Jump Street features! – ya, I’m that old).

A few months spent in Saskatchewan, where I knew nobody, had the nearby library becoming my closest friend. 

And now, with my own children, the library is good for storytelling time (my toddler), quiet study time (my teenager), and an escape from ‘the hustle and bustle of life that is better than a luxurious spa weekend’ time (me).

They have diversity initiatives, writers-in-residence to encourage budding writers, youth leadership workshops, book clubs and so so much more…

I can’t begin to count the memories made, or the dollars saved, or the knowledge obtained, or the happiness I’ve reaped over the years. 

The library is priceless.

_______________________

*Ifyou follow my twitter feed, @iamsheba, I mentioned the sad situation about the Muslim students of Valley Park Middle School in Toronto who are having to deal with those wanting to take away their prayer time.  You can still sign the petition here (in support of the TDSB and the students):  http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/letuspray

May Allah reward you:)

Really?

The Billionaire Sheikh Who Carved His Name Into an Island

You can read the article here:  http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/07/billionaire-sheikh-who-carved-his-name-island/40224/

And let us all reflect on this verse from the Quran:

“Everyone upon it [the earth] will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.” (55:26-27)

 

 

 

I Just Wanted to Write

Although I come from a long line of people who hate excuses, I must forsake my family heritage to offer a few right here and right now in explanation of why I’ve been so un here.

Excuse #1:  I started teaching again.  It’s secondary school and I love love love it!  But there is a learning curve.

Excuse #2:  I started learning again.  As in officially prepping for graduate studies.  And there is definitely a learning curve.

Excuse #3:  I felt like I was ‘type-cast’ into a certain type of article/post and I wanted to try my hand with other types of writing.  One day I might tell you about my article in a Wedding Magazine or my piece on the Gulag labour camps of the Soviet Union – but I’m not sure if you’d be interested.  This is me repeating the line about ‘learning curves’.

Excuse #4:  How many ways can you write about time management and goal setting?  I was seriously starting to bore myself    I mean, buy the book or work-e-book and be done with it

Then there is the host of other regularly scheduled time zappers that just happen to be a part of everyday living.  Like children.  Like cooking.  Like cleaning.  Oui, c’est la vie.  – Did I mention I’ve been taking a French language course?

The only thing it seems that I haven’t been doing is connecting with others in the cyber world.  Now, this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing except that I’ve missed you and missed writing here.

There have been times in the past few months that I might have come across something and wished to share but didn’t because I thought it would seem random.  There have been other times that I’ve felt like the site needed to be revamped but the process seemed to exhaustive so I let it slide.

And most times my excuses for dealing with the learning curves simply got the better of me.

But no more, inshaAllah.

In the past, people have approached me with ideas on how to expand this site or what the “iamsheba” brand should be about.  I resisted their suggestions, not because I felt that there was anything wrong with them (or maybe there was ) but because the ideas didn’t allow me to focus on the only thing I was sure that I wanted when this blog was first born:  I JUST WANTED TO WRITE!

And so it is in the spirit of that first inkling of inspiration that I return to you now.

I won’t always be in full writing form;

my thoughts might seem jumbled, my sentences incoherent, my words misspelled, my absences frequent…

but I will aim for writing that is (hopefully) inspirational.

Because that is how  I am Sheba was born.  And that is how she will rise again.  May Allah SWT put barakah in her and you and all that you do!

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Heba

P.S.  I know it’s hard to stay connected on the web these days by sheer volume of what’s out there.  I tried to get up to date with all that’s new on the Muslim website scene recently and seriously my head was spinning.  There is sooo much out there now!  I’m still deciding if that is a good thing because the idea of too much choice is paralyzing.  Read this one to see what I mean:

Is That Your Final Answer?   Why Having Too Many Options May Not Be a Good Thing and How to Decide Between Them

What I’m trying to say is that if you want to keep abreast of when I do post, you can follow @iamsheba on twitter or enter your email address into something or other somewhere here (I think!).  Do people still use email?