eid is what eid is
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On my mind
This weekend is Eid, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, so Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating! I’m still unsure of what I’m going to be doing. Normally, Eid is a festive day spent with family and friends. We go out to our community prayer, take a million pictures in our new outfits, eat to our heart’s content, take a solid Eid nap, and play games and hang out until the evening.
All I’ve told my parents is that I really really need us to get out of the house and be in nature at some point. We’re still going to dress up because I cannot be in pajamas for this many weeks straight. I’ll figure out how to pose us for some cute family photos. We’ll call my brother and other relatives we can’t see in person.
Let’s pretend our house looks like this. I thought I ordered Eid decorations and they were just taking forever, but I in fact did not buy them, just the Ramadan ones. Fail.
On the bright side, quarantine Eid means we don’t have to wake up super early, argue about who’s running behind and then fight traffic and look for parking in downtown Phoenix. (But I will kind of miss that?)
I am grateful to have made it through this strange month of solitude with my health and safety and so much additional time to rest and reflect while there’s so much sadness in the world.
And speaking of sadness, yesterday, we found out that 68 people are being laid off at The Atlantic. Layoffs are not unusual in the media industry and many companies and organizations have made the same decision, because of the pandemic. It’s particularly heartbreaking knowing how hard my colleagues have worked over the last year despite the fact we are in a pandemic and they have consistently churned out important, valuable journalism that led to an increase of 90,000 subscriptions since March…
My job is safe for now, but it’s hard to not to think about how it could have easily been me. If your job is hiring, please let me know so I can share with my talented colleagues who will be looking for their next opportunity. And if you’re someone who has lost your job due to the pandemic, I’m happy to pass your resume on, make a connection, send you some job listings and groups to join, and offer some moral support.
What I’m noting
🍏The joy of vegan cooking with Tabitha Brown // Auntie Tabitha is everything. Watch her videos for delicious recipes and uplifting conversations by this inspiring woman. I now say “cuz that’s my business” just like her.
📺Monk in Quarantine // Real ones remember the show MONK with the brilliant but frustrating, OCD detective Adrian Monk. Tony Shalhoub brought back one of my favorite character for a hilarious short video that proves Monk was right all along—we should have always carried wipes.
✒️All your favorite Rumi poems were mistranslated // Great Twitter thread on how Coleman Barks, the man who has translated the most popular English versions of Rumi’s poetry but he never studied Sufism, Islam or Persian? Yea, get ready to get schooled.
🌍What African nations are teaching the West about fighting the coronavirus // Many African countries aren’t seeing the same amount of coronavirus cases as other parts of the world. There are several reasons why that is, including an aggressively shutting down, tracing, and isolating people.
👩🏿🦱When the World Unravels, Braid Your Own Hair // Learning to do your own hair in a pandemic
📿An imam on carrying out Muslim funerals amid the pandemic // As COVID-19 ravages families in New York, a religious leader offers comfort — and some semblance of tradition.
That’s all for me. Let me know what’s getting you through the pandemic from books to music to recipes to workouts, so I can feature them in an upcoming newsletter. You can always hit reply to this email if you want to share or just say hi.
Have a good weekend!
— Nesima
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