21 Jun, 2012

21 Jun, 2012

Today is May Day and the most parts of the world are using today to take time off from jobs and instead, celebrate workers’ rights. In solidarity, I am doing the same.

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11 Jun, 2012

haystack rock, cannon beach

Sehba Sarwar
11 Jun, 2012

We close out our coastline travels with a night at Cannon Beach, half a mile away from the 235-feet tall Haystack Rock, which we cannot approach in the evening because it’s surrounded by ocean. In the morning, though, when the tide is low, we walk up to the rock...

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09 Jun, 2012

a japanese dock at agate beach…

Sehba Sarwar
09 Jun, 2012

Along with many other tourists and locals, who are just as curious as we are, we spend the second part of our afternoon walking through patches of rain to Agate Beach, where a Japanese dock has washed up ashore. The dock – 19 feet long and 7 feet wide...

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08 Jun, 2012

the pacific coastline

08 Jun, 2012

Today, while the rest of my new friends drive away from Silver Falls State Park in a coach that will deposit them at Portland’s airport, I get picked up from the park by René and Minal. As we drive toward the coast, the light continues to shift and change;...

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07 Jun, 2012

the retreat…

Sehba Sarwar
07 Jun, 2012

When my friend Sabina Haque tells me to bring a jacket to Oregon, she’s not joking. In Houston the temperatures were scraping the high nineties as I fly out, but once the NAMAC coach arrives in Silver Falls State Park, the air is cold, and I’m glad I listened...

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03 Jun, 2012

changes in the flying experience …

03 Jun, 2012

The flying experience has changed since my childhood years when I, along with my family, boarded airplanes from Karachi to Lahore. Now the lines are long and the “security” is nerve-wracking. This morning, my husband and daughter drop me off to IAH for a flight to Portland so I...

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14 May, 2012

women under siege

Sehba Sarwar
14 May, 2012

For me, Spring 2012 has been about Women Under Siege, a Voices Breaking Boundaries production, which I’ve been working on since December 2011. We had an intense Part 1 on April 28, packed with videos, installations and performances. A large number of community members showed up to express their...

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21 Mar, 2012

exploring the neighborhood…

Sehba Sarwar
21 Mar, 2012

We’ve been driving by the gates of Villa de Mittal for more than five years and I’ve often wanted to explore the greenery beyond. After meeting Sister Paulette at a gathering, I set a time with her so Minal, my mother and I can actually see what lies behind...

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09 Mar, 2012

stuck in traffic…

Sehba Sarwar
09 Mar, 2012

On our way home from Minal’s school, we find ourselves in an obstacle course. All roads leading east are blocked off. President Obama is landing in Fort Ellington and there’s no way to get across the freeway to our side of town. Ninety – NINETY – minutes later, the...

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28 Jan, 2012

op-ed in the houston chronicle

28 Jan, 2012

On January 27, 2012 my op-ed Observing social change, in Houston and Karachi appeared in the Houston Chronicle.

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17 Jan, 2012

why aren’t there any women?

17 Jan, 2012

“Why aren’t there any women leaders being remembered today?” Minal asks. She’s happy that she knows more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but is also curious about pieces of history that she still hasn’t learned. We talk to her about Rosa Parks and play Thank you, Sister Rosa,”...

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15 Jan, 2012

a room of one’s own…

15 Jan, 2012

Collaboration can be fabulous but working alone is often under-rated. Susan Cain’s op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times reminds us of how creativity is connected to solitude.

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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.