Thesis timeline.

I'm pushing to graduate by December, my thesis topic is still in it's fetus phase, I'm picking names for my lets call it "baby".

*A brief on my thesis topic: It will basically be an educational campaign, teaching little girls residing in the United States on the people of Islam, women in specific, not necessarily Arab; to try and eliminate negative stereotypes and judgements for the future.

Here's a map of the stages of development for this baby.

New thesis.

I have had a big thesis rejection from our graphic design Executive Director. The new look is still work in progress. I will be posting a link to the new blog for my thesis soon. Meanwhile, all I can say is:

Sigh.

Thesis project.

For all my dear readers and followers, I'm excited to announce that my thesis blog is now up.

Read about the project intent, and see the process here.

Comments and suggestions are highly appreciated, 

as well as nice words of encouragement ;)

Muslima website.

My Thesis project website is up, click here to go there, or just type in: www.MuslimTale.com

*** p.s. this is more of a summary that explains my thesis project ***

A taste of what I'm listening to right now.

yep. Beck is keeping me up and awake while working on my thesis.

I'm sure this guy gets high when writing his songs.

Dazed and confused.

That's exactly how I've been feeling on the inside lately. I'm anxious about my thesis final review, concentration levels have reached below minus, emotions kicking-in on high levels and I forget a lot {which is creeping me out, simply because I'm supposedly at an age where that should not be happening}. 




Wish me luck.

Kalimat: Magazine Feature.

I'm ecstatic about Kalimat magazine's fall issue, where my thesis project is featured. 

"Kalimat Magazine is committed to rejuvenating Arabic culture by providing an outlet for political, cultural and social expression within the Arab region and its Diaspora. At the same time, it is a visual communication tool that serves to change Western perception of Arabs. The purpose is to be an open outlet for expression and to increase participation within the cultural/creative scene, therefore, the content is created by Arab people, the writers are Arab, the editor is Arab, the people featured are Arab."

Flip to page 109 to read my article.

Open publication - Free publishing - More arab

*** Thank you so much Danah Abdulah ***

Back for a tiny moment.

Those past couple of weeks have been insane. I've had a thesis hiccup but am back on my feet (after a week of sleeplessness and nightmares).

Meanwhile, here's one Dave Matthews song I love (try to listen closely to the lyrics). And the coexist logo (which I wish more people would tolerate and go by).

A week from now.

A week from today is my midpoint thesis proposal presentation. When I think too much about it I feel funny in my stomach. I believe that I can do it first time around, to me, failure is not an option.

Muslim.

For those of you aren't familiar with who I am. 

Here's a brief intro to who Lama, aka Lema is.

Place of Birth: United Arab Emirates

Raised in: Jordan

Country of Origin: Palestine 

Current City of Residence: San Francisco

Favorite Season: Winter

Loves: Paper 

Hates: Liars

Religion: Islam

So here's why I'm telling you all this...

Since moving to the U.S. I have felt a lot of questioning, 

confusion and misunderstanding from some people, first 

was because I was raised in the Middle East, and second 

was because, to some, I belonged to a so-called terrorist 

religion, aka Islam.

This made me feel uncomfortable and at unease. 

So, instead of smiling and nodding, I'm doing something about it...

I'm currently working on my MFA thesis project, and it's 

an educational program, targeting the younger generation.

I'm working with a beautiful team of artists I hand-picked myself.

They, and the final project will be revealed later in May, 2011.

The title of my project is: 

Amal, A Muslim Tale of Hope.

(Amal is translation for Hope, and it's also my name, 
Lama, written backwards)

***Calligraphy done by my friend Wael Omari***

Muslima: Parent's guide book on Islam.

Part of my thesis project was a parent guidebook on Islam. Since parents are an integral part in a child's life, I felt intrigued to write this book; dispelling common misconceptions and misunderstandings on Islam.

(Click to enlarge)

Almost there.

Really excited (and nervous) about this. My thesis project is *almost* done. 

My own wisdom.

Don't feel too sorry for yourself, or you'll end up being sorry...

Too much school work, grad thesis included and freelancing, am I being too tough on myself?

Say hello.

I'll be putting up new work soon, just a little bust working on my thesis at the moment...

Tease you.

I will be posting my thesis project soon, meanwhile here are my teaser ads...

Take it easy?

My midpoint review for my thesis ideation is in less than two weeks, I'm taking two other classes AND I commute...Life can be overwhelming sometimes...

Illustration by Jess Gonacha.

Good.

I'm sitting on my desk working on finalizing my thesis proposal when I discovered this reflection. Too bad I found out when the year is almost over. But looking back, was it a "good" year? hmm...