Sadaf Qureshi

Leisure

Rub Some Dirt on It: Studying, one nap at a time

For most college students, sleep looks like a poor substitute compared to caffeine. Sleeping wastes precious time,

By February 4, 2010

Leisure

Rub Some Dirt on It: Mouse, trapped

For the past week or so, I have been sharing my apartment with a skinny, hairy, uninvited guest—a mouse, who pops in and out through a hole in the wall. He is small, and relatively harmless...

By January 21, 2010

Voices

Steel Butterflies and the Back to School Blues

I briefly considered retiring from my formal education a few days ago. It seemed to me that I had had enough—for real this time. The thought of going back to... Read more

By August 28, 2009

Voices

Getting to know a grandfather, even after his death

Today, the weather is good for the first time in a long time. Come walk with me, down to the Washington Harbor. Past the shop windows of shiny, plastic women wearing soft things and summer things and silver things, who nod at you as you go by.

By March 26, 2009

Page 13 Cartoons

Investigating the Gap

A train—massive and wheezing—pulls into the sleepy station, uses all of its remaining steam to slow its momentum and click-click-click to a gradual stop. It holds its passengers enchanted under... Read more

By March 19, 2009

Voices

Museums of the mind: finding yourself through art

There is no need to come to the Met—or any museum—equipped with an itinerary, a list of works you absolutely must see. You may never find what you are looking for, and you may never leave the hall of white walls and whispering people.

By February 26, 2009

News

Metro proposes service cuts

Facing a $1.3 billion budget shortfall and rising expenses, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has proposed cutting services to avoid raising fares.

By January 29, 2009

Voices

Fleeting impressions from the souls of Marrakesh

Street performers in every city, great and small, charm the penniless and the penny-plenty, the foreign and the familiar, the old and the young alike, in a shameless effort to earn a few dollars.

By January 15, 2009

Voices

Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something fair to eat

Never, in all my years of torturous trick-or-treating, did anyone ever drop a bar of Scharffen Bergen or Green and Black's chocolate into my plastic jack-o-lantern. Considering the incredible cost one would incur giving that stuff away for free, who could blame them? Most Halloween booty-M&M's, Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kats-excite my taste-buds just as much as they aggravate my conscience. All chocolate is not made equal. Aside from the variations in taste, there is also the moral consideration of where it comes from and how it gets to us.

By October 30, 2008

Voices

Re-finding Ramadan

This past month, my phone went one step further and served as my trusty alarm clock as well. It provided a jarring, whining five a.m. wake-up call. This past month was the month of Ramadan, and every morning, just before the sun rose, my phone and I shared a pre-dawn meal. It’s not quite the same as sharing your pre-dawn meal with your parents and siblings. The automated, unrelenting sound of an alarm clock is nothing near the gentle touch and voice of your mother by your bedside.

By October 9, 2008