Articles

The four walls of our home in Iran were the limit to cultural education for my sisters and me. What I came to learn about my country's culture and traditions I learned in the West from those Iranian friends I came to know as my family.

The Origins Of Sufism, commonly considered Islamic mysticism, date as far back as the Prophet Muhammad (570–632), who left the legacy of Islam to the world. Though its practice was already in existence during Muhammad's time, the term Sufism appeared about two centuries after Muhammad.

For the community of Corvallis, Oregon, there are some bridges that were years in the building. Bridges between members of the same religious community.

Letting go of fear is hard sometimes, but I'm learning that if I turn everything over to God and trust in His love, my fear lifts—and good things happen. That was certainly true while our son, Richard, was growing up.

Prague, 1998: Babatunde Olatunji, master of drums and virtuoso of West African percussion, had a midnight gig. A fan nudged through the crowd at the concert's end.

When I was growing up, our family had something that no one else at my school had. In fact, as far I know, no one in our whole area had one.

How do you know when you've made the right decision? A lot of people will say, "You just know. You have a gut feeling.

Shortly after 9/11, I recall journalist Tom Brokaw's haunting question in closing an edition of the evening news: "What's next?" Now, skimming the first few pages of the newspaper, my eyes fall on threatening words—smallpox, germ warfare, vaccinations.

"Endure. " "Submit.

My husband and I are grandparents who don't buy the rocking-chair concept of aging. There is a spirit in our generation that just refuses to "grow old" gracefully—a spirit that resists the idea of aging.