18 Oct, 2014

i feel at “home” when I’m relaxed and comfortable…

Sehba Sarwar
18 Oct, 2014

I converse with my friend/social worker/fellow-mother Stephanie, as we wait for our children to wrap-up soccer practice. I feel at “home” when I’m relaxed and comfortable, and able to be completely myself with people around me. The space that feels most like home to me is Stettler, Alberta, Canada...

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15 Oct, 2014

for me, “home” means being around family wherever family is…

15 Oct, 2014

Part of my What Is Home? project includes raising question (with a few more thrown in, thanks to my friends Jaspal and Yaksha) to family members, friends and others who cross my path. Here, my friend Sorayya Khan, author of Noor and Five Queens Road, converses with me about...

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29 Sep, 2014

what is home?…

29 Sep, 2014

“When you ask the question ‘what is home?’ are you talking about a physical space or an emotional place?” asks my friend Yaksha. “Those are two different things.” “This is not an easy question to answer,” comments my friend Jaspal with whom I’ve been discussing my project over the...

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01 Sep, 2014

reflections on ferguson and gaza…

01 Sep, 2014

In her August 28, 2014 essay “On growing up in Ferguson and Palestine” published in the Washington Post, poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes: In Ferguson, an invisible line separated white and black communities. In Jerusalem, a no-man’s land separated people, designated by barbed wire. She concludes with: Things will...

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11 Aug, 2014

a perigee moon…

Sehba Sarwar
11 Aug, 2014

I drive along Lawndale Street, but pull over to capture an image of the perigree moon hovering above oak trees, a perfect yellow circle emanating radiance. In appreciation of the natural light, I turn off my headlights, and for a few seconds, remember how the streets looked after Hurricane...

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04 Aug, 2014

biking along brays bayou…

Sehba Sarwar
04 Aug, 2014

On our first Saturday afternoon in Houston after a month of roaming, Minal, René and I meander on our bikes along a trail that’s being built along Brays Bayou as part of a new initiative, trails to connect the city for walkers and bicyclists. Some paths are utilized by...

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02 Aug, 2014

a different narrative…

02 Aug, 2014

I know that I’ve landed in the US when I absorb mainstream news and find barely any mention of the 1,500 women, children and men killed in Gaza.

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29 Jul, 2014

streets of toronto…

Sehba Sarwar
29 Jul, 2014

After visiting with Sharlene Bamboat at the South Asian Visual Arts Center (SAVAC),a 20-year-old arts organization, I wander down the streets of downtown Toronto with my friend Salma. Next to a street stall displaying batik skirts and jewelry, I stop to admire a tree sculpture. A little further down,...

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25 Jul, 2014

landing on water…

Sehba Sarwar
25 Jul, 2014

Minal and I press close to the airplane window as we watch the airplane drop closer toward Lake Ontario’s blue water. In the background is Toronto’s skyline. At customs, after responding to questions such as why I’m visiting Toronto and where’s Minal’s father, we walk over to the conveyer...

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18 Jul, 2014

beets in boston…

Sehba Sarwar
18 Jul, 2014

My sister, Beena Sarwar, has a spate of snack-recipes to share: baked beets, sauteed carrots and baked cauliflowers – to name just a few.

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13 Jul, 2014

window-shopping at the forum…

Sehba Sarwar
13 Jul, 2014

The pre-Eid shopping frenzy has already begun in Karachi, and shopping centers remain open after iftari. One night, my mother Zakia Sarwar and I wander over to the Forum, so I can purchase some books, and after entering the shopping center, we find ourselves walking past a window displaying...

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10 Jul, 2014

sneaking a cup of coffee during an islamabad ramzan morning…

Sehba Sarwar
10 Jul, 2014

My writer friend Ilona Yusuf sneaks me into a café in Islamabad. They may throw us out, she says. But let’s try anyway. She shares the story of how she and her son tried to visit the café during the first few days of Ramzan earlier this month, but...

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I was inspired to begin my blog when I visited the library at my alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, and saw a framed photograph of my friends and me calling for divestment of funds from South Africa.

In 2007,  I began a blog when I visited my alma mater and saw a framed photograph of my friends and me calling for divestment of funds from South Africa. I use the blog to document my movement between spaces, Houston, Karachi, Delhi, Dhaka, Los Angeles and elsewhere, recording observations, images and conversations. Here, I document the multiple realities that I inhabit – writer, artist, mother, activist, educator, and transnational. Interviews from my blog were exhibited at Houston’s Baker Ripley Community Center (2014) and at Houston Public Library in downtown (2015). My papers are archived at the University of Houston’s library.