-
On Paper, I Should Have Voted for Trump
We learn valuable life lessons the hard way. In 2018, as I proudly stepped out of my final year of high school, little did I know that the journey ahead would teach me valuable life lessons. My post-school life began with an unexpected jab that forever altered my perspective on managing personal finances and also a surprising consideration – environmental sustainability. Who knew?
-
The Trump Election and Its Impact on People of Color: A Personal Reflection
We learn valuable life lessons the hard way. In 2018, as I proudly stepped out of my final year of high school, little did I know that the journey ahead would teach me valuable life lessons. My post-school life began with an unexpected jab that forever altered my perspective on managing personal finances and also a surprising consideration – environmental sustainability. Who knew?
-
Once I Came Across a Faisalabad Slum
We learn valuable life lessons the hard way. In 2018, as I proudly stepped out of my final year of high school, little did I know that the journey ahead would teach me valuable life lessons. My post-school life began with an unexpected jab that forever altered my perspective on managing personal finances and also a surprising consideration – environmental sustainability. Who knew?
-
Denise and More, Still Nel Cuore!
Three-year-old Denise Pipitone was abducted from Mazara del Vallo, Italy on September 1, 2004, and has never been found. At the time, I was a prosecutor in Marsala, Sicily.
-
Sorry, Have I Upset You?
I was a first-year medical student when a stage 3 cancer patient gave me insight into the patient perspective. She described the heartless demeanor of the oncologist who first informed her she had cancer.
-
Not Playing the Game: The Bitter Cost of My Youthful Resistance
In my 20 plus years of existence, I have learned two important lessons: (1) if you want to succeed, you have to play the game. (2) I am not good at playing the game. My life started out in the usual way, for a boy from a lower-middle class family in a Pakistani village. I grew up going to the village school and dreaming of joining the army. I never gave too much thought about the purpose of school or an education — I, like many of my classmates, never planned to study past the fifth or sixth grade.
-
Humanity
Even the name is sacred. Was it worth it? Making all those animals go extinct? Dinosaurs, Dodos, Rhinoceroses, How did they ever harm you?
-
Donkey Voting Down Under
Voting is a fundamental democratic right, allowing citizens to have a say in how their country is governed. But what if it’s mandatory? In Australia, as I discovered when I moved there, the voting process is compulsory, aiming to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot and the opportunity to enjoy hot dogs at the polling booth. Normally called a sausage sizzle in Aussie slang, it becomes democracy sausage come election time.
-
The Inside Story of a Renegade — What’s It To Ya?
It all started in Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, bustling with the aircraft of Cessna, Learjet, and Boeing. Founded in 1861 as a free state, Wichita was Native American land named after the Wichita and Kanza tribes. This land had a rich, deep cultural heritage predating colonization. Filled with dewy, mystic plains and sunflowers that dance in the wind, Wichita is my birthplace.
-
What a Difference! I Voted In India and the USA
I am a proud voter. I voted in India, and now I vote in the United States. A transition from the East to the West – from the largest democracy to a long-standing democracy. My experience voting in these two countries seems so similar. Electronic voting machines and ballot boxes — covered enough to make it a perfect secret ballot, all set up on school premises. There are similarities in election propaganda, the campaigns, the rallies, and the voters have to be 18 years or older. Yet they are so different. India elects every five years, and the US every four.
