Nonfiction Writing

After Halloween ends, I'm usually the person who immediately skips over Thanksgiving and jumps straight into the Christmas festivities. As soon as November begins, I put on my bright red Christmas pants and tell Alexa to blast "All I Want For Christmas is You" through every speaker in the house. I spend about 2 hours jamming out to whatever Christmas playlist Spotify has to offer, and it always includes the classic "Jingle Bell Rock." I don't know if anyone else does this or if I'm particularly odd, but every single time I hear this song, I immediately think of Mean Girls. More specifically, I'm reminded of the iconic scene where the Plastics dance to this song while Regina's mom hypes them up. I can't make it though the holidays without this scene crossing my mind. The first time I saw Mean Girls was with one of my best friends, Kate, when we were in middle school. We watched this movie a few days before Christmas, and looking back, I

One of my favorite family vacations was when my parents, brother and I went to Hawaii for two weeks. One of those weeks was spent on the Big Island. The Big Island has a lot of really interesting things to do and sights to see. There are volcanoes everywhere, and the terrain is littered with black volcanic rocks. A lot of people choose to go to the other Hawaiian islands because they are more colorful and scenic, but I would argue that the Big Island has a ton of unique and interesting features which you can't find anywhere else. However, one downside is that there aren't a lot of people inhabiting this island. My family and I didn't think much of it at first, but we would soon realize what a challenge this would pose. The first day on the Big Island, my family and I went sightseeing. There was a beautiful sunset that I was determined to get some nice pictures of to show to my friends and post on social media. I decided to venture further out into a field of volcanic ro

Claiming that I like bread is an understatement. I love bread. I've spent approximately 90% of my time on this Earth consuming bread. If my house was on fire, I would toss my valuables aside and run straight down to the kitchen to save my stash of bread. If you had the last piece of bread on the planet, I would trade you my little brother for it. I would have a PhD in Bread Studies, if only that was an actual thing. I've memorized almost all of the words to Parry Gripp's "I Love Bread" (highly recommend you look it up on Youtube, you won't be disappointed). The point is, I really really REALLY love bread. Allow me to explain why. "Bread" is an incredibly broad term which encompasses a great variety of foods and flavors. You have garlic bread, bread rolls, breadsticks, sliced bread, baguettes, bread bowls, and more! You can put bread crumbs on literally anything, or get some cream cheese and enjoy some bread in bagel form. Some of my favorite k

My dad drinks coffee every day. His favorite place to go is Starbucks, where his usual order is a grande caffe latte. For as long as I could remember, I would tag along and get myself a tall strawberries and creme frap while he got his coffee. One day, he offered me a sip of his drink. I was always curious about what it tasted like, but I assumed that since we got our drinks from the same place, they would taste pretty much the same. However, the hot, bitter, glorified mud that hit my taste buds did not at all resemble the taste of a sweet strawberries and creme frap. I decided that coffee is disgusting and I would hate it forever and never drink it again. My hatred of coffee stayed pretty strong until I got into high school. I think the real selling point of coffee isn't the taste, but the caffeine. When I was in elementary and middle school, I would sleep every night by 9 pm. But Ray Carrubba and his worksheets had no mercy on me or my sleep schedule, so I got desperate. Wit

When my parents were first married, they watched an Islamic movie together about the life of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Hamza. He was kind, wise, and just a great guy. My parents found his story inspiring, and decided that their first child would be named after him, and thus reflect the same greatness that Hamza's life emitted. Unfortunately for them, I came first. I don't think they were expecting their first child to be a girl, because they had no ideas in mind for baby names besides Hamza. Thankfully, the internet existed. My dad did a quick Bing search for "baby girl names that sound like Hamza" and was able to come across the name they chose for me: Faizah. My dad told me this story, of finding my name off of the internet, when I was about 7 years old. I didn't react very well. My brother (named Hamzah) had just been born, and I already didn't like him because I didn't like to share the spotlight. I had always thought of myself as the supe