Somehow, since I became a family, every minute in which I am alone and not listening to two kids screaming in stereo feels like a vacation.

Here I am, a Palestinian Arab who only knows how to write in Hebrew, stuck in central Illinois.

I always see my wife as the clever one, as the wise one in the family.

I very much hope that when my wife reads my writings so she reads it as if she is a character and not the real one. Sometimes she takes it too personally.

I'm not sure that I recovered, but I also know that I cannot afford going back yet. I see how much the kids are happier, I guess, here and I think that they might have a better future not hiding.

Christmas is relentless. It's around the clock. I sit with my little ones in front of the TV screen, and we watch movie after movie after movie.

Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope left for an Israeli-Palestinian discourse that is built on equality and liberty rather than a fruitless discourse of master and servant.

Israeli independence - what we Arabs call al-Naqba, 'The Catastrophe' - it created Palestinian identity more than anything else.

Thanksgiving is the only day of the year when most of the stores here are closed during the day and reopen after midnight. Even restaurants shut down for the holiday, except for the fast-food chains.

I'm always sad when Dad doesn't like my columns. He waits for them every week and usually likes them, in which case he doesn't say a word - it's only if he's critical that he bothers to call.

Only those who are empty within, seek to suppress those around them

It's easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school.

Most of your happiness will come from your relationships with others. Handle them with care.

Children are not vessels to be filled but lamps to be lit.

I live in a neighborhood so bad that you can get shot while getting shot.

I live in L.A. - I love L.A., first off - but I didn't realize how much better the air quality was in Vancouver until I went back to L.A. for a weekend and I literally felt like I was breathing fire.

Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and Grover helped me fix up my wounded arm. "It's green!" Nico said with delight.

The Grail is the womb of the beloved.

Like my sister, 981 women die every day on Earth from pregnancy and birth-related complications.

Women have never been a chief negotiator in any UN-sponsored talks.