to hijab or not to hijab

I recently got invited to a Muslim wedding and have been advised to dress modestly, hijab would be best. I'm a bit torn here though. My friend (a female) is not muslim, nor is she converting, but is marrying a muslim man. Apparently only men are allowed to marry out of their faith. Here are some of the rules on the website of the mosque where the wedding will take place:



Parties wishing to get married at XXXXX Mosque must comply with the following requirements before making appointment:

1. Marriage will not be performed between a Muslim female and a non-Muslim male.
2. Approval of the Marriage by respective fathers or recognized Muslim guardians shall be demonstrated prior to the performance of the marriage. This condition especially applies to the bride. Written permission from the Parent / Guardian of the bride consenting to marry.
3. An agreement on the Dowry (Mahr) to the bride between the bride’s guardian and the groom must be completed.
4. Marriage performance/reception shall conform to Islamic standard; no alcoholic beverages, no drugs of any kind, no sensual music, dancing or singing, no free mixing of men and women and immodest dressing
5. Two Muslim male witnesses.
6. Presence of the ‘Wakeel’ (guardian) of the bride at the time of marriage

There are some rules on here that, in my opinion, seem oppressive and unnecessarily outdated. By the way, I did not add any of the bolding or italics, that's straight from the mosque's website.  I have somewhat of a superficial understanding of Islam and its treatment of women and would love to learn more, but I do feel that some of the tenants of Islam conflict with my personal values. I'm definitely planning to attend the wedding and promise to not mingle with men or dance sensually. But do I hijab? I don't know. I want to out of respect for my friend and her new family and a general respect for people's religious views. Any thoughts? -Alex

Looking for Something to Do

My friend introduced me to this website, which happens to be run by Alicia Silverstone.

Anyway, when I saw this post I thought, "That's something an AmeriCorps person would take on in their community, or on their campus."


Remember how we would get that little baggie of vegetables from the taco truck that nobody ate? I actually do order takeout pretty often, so I'm going to start it personally, but it would be cool if the restaurants in my block changed their policy to asking whether or not people wanted the plastic, rather than just assuming and giving it to everyone.

Besides that thought, I hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all.

H is for Reunion

Yesterday, a couple of us got to visit the new recruits. They fed us food acquired from the neighborhood walk. We talked about how awesome we are and how impossible it will be to match our cohort. Truly, it's an amazing new bunch. How badly I miss the rest of you -- Summer

International Yummy

Hey guys! John and I got back from the Honeymoon. It was so fun and we had a great time- my first big adventure to Europe.
Anyway, I'm probably going to post like a million photos on Facebook, so I thought I'd just put some yummy food photos on this blog, since that was the best part of the trip (in my opinion). I've already decided my next trip is going to be an official "eat your way through _____" trip!