I’m not one to post an article or forward that I’ve read recently, but for some reason I thought this one was just interesting enough to share.  Enjoy

You are what you eat, so eat well. A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today’s investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called ‘The Doctrine of Signatures’ was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater. Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.

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In March of 2005 I went to a local Dairy Queen with an old friend of mine that I’ve known since I was in 2nd grade, Karen.  We had met earlier for lunch, and decided to follow up with some ice cream.  After going through two years of college, it was nice to know we hadn’t lost touch.  We were still capable of laughing, joking, talking, and relating to one another.  I was really enjoying my time catching up with her.

I had ordered my ice cream and sat down when the following occured: (as retold in my old blog)

We were carrying on a normal conversation, plenty of stupid jokes and funny memories.  In the middle of all my laughing, I kept seeing this boy, about 11 years old, gawking at me.  He was staring.  Everytime I looked, his eyes were fixed on me.  It was quite rude.  And I thought to myself, “Where does this kid get his manners from?”  Of course, I looked over at his father, and his old man’s staring at me, too.  Let me tell you, it definitely wasn’t because I’m some sort of stunning beauty.

Nope, here in homogenized milk white Northville, they were staring at me because I looked so different.  After a while, I started smiling at the man and his son, hoping that they’d realize that I saw them giving me dirty looks.  I thought that if I was smiling, they’d realize I was a nice person, and stop looking.  But did it work?  Nope.  My smiles recieved more glares. 

I just don’t get it.  What was so different about me?  I was a 19 yr old girl, out getting some ice cream with an old high school buddy of mine at a local Dairy Queen, in the town where I grew up.  I was laughing and smiling just like any other person.  But at the end of the day, I’m something different?

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In 4th grade Islamic studies we’re finishing up a unit on Ramadan.  I wish I had been a little more organized back in September and thought to teach to my students this Unit during the actual month of Ramadan.  Alas, it’s now March and we are left to talk about Ramadan as a memory, not as something we’re currently living through.

It’s fun talking about Ramadan with my students.  Their perception of Eid in school is so different from how I felt about it when I was their age.  In my elementary school days I looked forward to Christmas parties, and Valentine’s chocolates, and Halloween candy.  In their elementary school days, they’re excited to decorate the classroom for Eid, exchange gifts, and have extra time during recess to play with eachother.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved Ramadan when I was little (and still do), but it wasn’t a love that I could take with me to school and talk about with my peers.

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Yesterday I was eating lunch with my cousin and we got to talking about weddings and jewelry. We came to a problem that a lot of girls in our communities today are facing: to pay zakaat or not to pay zakaat, that is the question.

It seems like there is a lot confusion about whether or not jewelry that is not being used is part of wealth that needs to have zakaat paid on it. It is unclear what type of wealth it is categorized under: is unworn jewelry part of a regular collection that just isn’t worn often, or it is part of wealth that we hoard for its value?

I told my cousin I thought that if someone has a lot of jewelry, and she just doesn’t have any oppurtunities to wear it, and she does wear it as much as possible, I don’t think she has to pay zakaat on it. But my cousin thought that a lot girls are told by their parents or family members that well after you’re done wearing your jewelry, you should keep it around because it’s a good investment. So in this case, it is kept as a treasure.

Well then, I had a question: why do all these girls have so much jewelry in the first place?

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I’ve recently come across a problem in my 4th grade classroom.  My students want to put stickers on everything.

Okay, maybe not everything.  But it’s starting to feel that way.  Every few days I have a student come up to me, eyes wide open, very deer-caught-in-headlights with a concern:  they’ve seen or read something “inappropriate” in a book, and their answer is to cover whatever it is up with a sticker.

Aside from the fact that I can’t figure out why they chose stickers to solve the problem, I don’t know how to respond to the problem.  I honestly don’t find half the things they think are inappropriate bad.  In my opinion they’re over reacting.

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