Wahid's Words

I am grateful to my therapist and to myself that I embarked on this journey. There is no shame in me accepting this opportunity to grow, and I will add increasing mental health service access to my long list of contributions I want to make to this world before I meet my maker.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey ya'll! I'm going to try a new posting schedule for my blog, once a week. This is because 1. I love writing and almost never do it without being prompted and 2. my therapist tells me routines are good. Overview Speaking of therapy, let's speak. I started going to therapy when I was a Junior in college, coming off of the 2016 presidential election. Born and raised in Bangladesh, where mental health is not a topic worthy of being discussed, I was not taught to think of myself as someone who "needed" therapy. This kind of thought process stems from social conditioning, which makes us feel like if we are not capable of dea...

It's only been 2 years, since both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch began an all-out war on human rights and diversity. This is going to be a fight we're going to be fighting for a long time to come, so encouraging a narrative of defeat is absolutely detrimental to the cause. We took back a House, and at least 7 governor seats (2 more too, hopefully). That's progress, even when we don't look at the sheer diversity of the candidates that got elected. I'm going to celebrate these wins, because people like us rarely ever get to do so.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can't take my youth away. This soul of mine will never break. As long as I wake up today, You can't take my youth away. Shawn Mendes and Khalid just released their video for the song Youth, which includes messages of hope, love, and perseverance, interspersed with videos of the youth in all their spectacularly talented glory. It's linked he...

These words are not a revelation, and they are not original. The credit for arming me with this capacity for discourse goes to the eloquent women in my life and victims of any form of harassment in general. Thank you for sharing your stories and your feelings.  Content Warning: sexual assault, sexual harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are more Harvey Weinsteins in the world than not; this is fact. As men, we continuously contribute to a society where everyone that isn't born male, identifying and presenting male, feels threatened, because for generations upon generations, power structures have benefitted them for nothing other than the fact that they were born male and decided they were fulfilled remaining that way. Social Media is powerful, proven by the #metoo campaign and its far-reaching range, roping in stories from individuals all over the globe that have experienced some form of sexual harassment or sexual assault. More often tha...

Being present in discussions of other communities with the intention to learn and not contribute, allows us to create these bridges we keep speaking of, because once we understand another group/individual's struggles, the links with our own become so much clearer. If we only pool our resources together in this manner, then maybe we can work towards a place where we truly understand each other's needs and advocate for the collective, not just our individual struggles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If ya'll have been keeping up with my multiple instagram posts (follow me @thirdworldjar thx), you'll know that I was in Sacramento over the past weekend. What I haven't talked about yet is why I was there, and so I wanted to take some time and elaborate on that, and my experiences in the city in general. First of all, I honestly fell in love with Sacramento. The beautiful, organized streets, the tram, the cold-ish weather- checked off all ...

It is up to celebrities to uplift and highlight the narratives of their fans. By buying into their product (their music, their humor, their beauty), our investment is a crucial component of their survival. Celebrities that not only understand, but acknowledge this codependent relationship between their fans and themselves are those that I am proud to support.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sophia Bush is one of my favorite celebrities- although the initial fascination started with her heart shaped lips and raspy voice that lent itself so well to the heartache that was Brooke Davis on One Tree Hill, it quickly transitioned into an admiration for her dedication to using her platform to better the world. From her environmental advocacy, to her pursuit of giving girls and women an equal access to education, to advocating on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community through media campaigns and fundraising events, she is the epitome of the "activist" we want ou...

An oath I made to myself about the student government elections. I need this constant reminder to stay true to myself, and my beliefs in the democratic process. I will not tire in my pursuit of getting good people that have a passion and dedication and ability to do their work to public office. This I will pursue for the rest of my life, in whatever capacity I can. I hope you will all join me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open letter to USAC: I know your elections are coming up. I know I've involved myself in them intensely. I know that I'm pretty much living and breathing this for the past 2 months, and it's only going to get worse. I know that most people, unlike me, don't really care, and vote so they can say "I already voted" on Bruinwalk during election week with a clean conscience. I also know the power of a vote- this tune for me has never changed. Voting is a sacred right, and I believ e anyone anywhere anytime deser...

She was magnificent. Tall, curvy, dark hair but light enough to glimmer in the sun. Expressive with her face. Everything about her was, some might say, perfect. And he felt it too. Watching her from his favorite street side tea vendor, he observed her; the perfect woman, shopping for clothes, without a care in the world - that in her world, she was the definition of an outcast. When did this happen? When did he turn into the kid that was ogling older women, dissecting their every move? He swore this wasn't the way his mother raised him. Ah, there it was. His mother. His sweet, delicate, doting mother who was a formidable woman in her own right. She'd done everything a mother, a wife, a woman in their society, was supposed to do. And she excelled at it all. So what had changed? When had this woman that he'd known all his life turned into a mystery? ~~~~~ He'd just come back from his evening tutoring session for A Level Chemistry, found his parents' door c...

I've been meaning to write for a while but every time I sit down to write one of two things happen; A. it's a political issue I want to comment about (better suited to social media) or B. it's too personal of an account on the inner workings of my 20-year-old-that-thinks-he's-full-of-wisdom mind. Point being, I haven't blogged in a really long time. So I picked a fairly easy topic: politeness. I've learned that the concept of society is a strictly political one. When we learned to build and organize and realized we had too many mouths to feed to just roam around from land to land, we settled down, figured out how to coexist with other humans trying to fend for themselves, and began to mate within, and then finally, outside of our settled communities.  So then, collections of people didn't really interact with other collections of people, until quite recently. This concept of "be kind to your neighbors" is also a fairly new concept (one that,...