Re-introduction

Hello Community.

I have fallen off the Patch radar for quite a while. However, I have decided to return and blog on local, national, and international issues.

When I first wrote as a blogger for Patch, I was still a graduate student and largely single, living with my parents. I moved to Michigan in 2007 from Massachusetts with my family. I was freshly out of undergrad at 19 - yes, you read that right- and starting my PhD at Wayne State University in Political Science. Since then, I had obtained two Masters Degrees (Near Eastern Studies and Political Theory) and a PhD (Political Theory focusing on identity, Patriotism, Americanness, and Muslim Americans)- and have moved from daughter to mother, student to teacher, and teen in my parents' house to a homeowner in Canton.

More over, I have learned a lot about who I am, what I am, how I operate, and how I am perceived. The reason I decided to re-introduce myself on Patch is because I have wanted to engage in the Canton community, as a resident, citizen, activist, and community member. I want to reflect on issues - historically, contemporarily, politically, socially, artistically, and it so many different realms. I want to connect with my community. To engage and share with you my thoughts and reflections; hopefully, you decide to do the same with me.

Thank you for reading my re-introduction and I look forward to discussing issues with you. I am a political scientist - so, it is only natural - that I expect some push and pull, some tension of ideas. But, isn't that what freedom of speech is supposed to represent - the democratization of ideas - the "Market Place of Ideas" (J. Milton, J.S. Mill, and Justice W.O. Douglass).

Take Care and Peace.

Reem