Adjusting to dogs was one of the biggest challenges I have met since moving to Maine from Somalia. When I was growing up watching Hollywood movies, I remember thinking that people own dogs for their own protection. That dogs bite burglars if they try to break in. And dogs are supposed to protect the property […]
Through My Lens
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Recognizing Ramadan important to Maine Muslims
Another Ramadan is here, and again it is business as usual in Maine. Ramadan has always been the time to be with family, pray together and feast together. The last year I sat down with my closest family, including my mother, to break the fast together was 2010. As a kid, even when we did […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Justice could be served with Maine Supreme Court appointee
Gov. Janet Mills last week nominated the first Black judge to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Judge Rick Lawrence’s confirmation would be a giant step for Maine’s minority and Black communities. This news could not have come at a better time as Maine heads into a gubernatorial election year, when we will have to choose […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: It’s time to talk about global gun control
Think about the lasting effects gun violence can have on Americans. That brief moment when someone opens fire at a school, a restaurant or in the mall, and people die while others are traumatized by what they hear and see. Shootings over the last years have sparked a debate on gun control in the United […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Immigrants’ objectives should not be politicized
As a columnist and a public speaker, it is not easy to live a normal life. Anything I write to defend my community or speak the truth irritates some people. A column I wrote in January to celebrate the first-ever Muslim and Somali immigrant elected to lead as the mayor of a city in Maine […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: Somalis have warm spot for cold American winters
Why are Somalis choosing to live in one of the coldest states in the U.S.? I had been asked this question many times. The answer lies in Somali music and poetry. The lyrics are full of a fictional world: A world of clouds and thunder, rainy, cold and snowy – yet green, full of rivers, […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: A common language unites Americans
I disagree with Abdi Nor Iftin. A country that speaks many different languages is not united (“Through My Lens: Here’s hoping that as Maine goes, so goes the nation,” Jan. 7). People who come to America, like every other nationality that has, should make a priority of learning to speak English. Otherwise, we cannot communicate […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’
Growing up in Somalia, I did not hear about Martin Luther King Jr. I had not heard the slavery stories of the United States and the persecution that African Americans have experienced. In fact, the whole experience seemed so distant that I thought the colonial stories of Somalia I heard on the radio every night […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: A common language unites English-speaking Americans
I disagree with Abdi Nor Iftin. A country that speaks many different languages is NOT united (“Through My Lens: Here’s hoping that as Maine goes, so goes the nation,” Jan. 7). People who come to America, like every other nationality that has, should make a priority of learning to speak English. Otherwise, we cannot communicate […]
Posted inThe Forecaster
Letter: Nor Iftin needs to look in mirror for racism
The only place Mr. Abdi Nor Iftin doesn’t find racism is in the mirror, where he should look first (“Through My Lens: Here’s hoping that as Maine goes, so goes the nation,” Jan. 7). All people who hold office are subjected to racism, hate or just plan partisan, over-the-top redirect. To think Mayor Deqa Dhlac […]