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Jewish people have many different garments that can denote their faith. One of these garments is a yarmulke or, in Hebrew, a kippah, which means “dome”. Wearing my kippah is something very special to me and has been an important part of my spiritual and religious journey here at UW–Madison. Growing up in a largely …
We are nearing the end of the semester, and with that comes the end of our fellowship time together. While I am ready to be done with my term papers and final exams, the ending of the fellowship comes with less enthusiasm. It might be the lack of human connection we have all been experiencing …
Growing up, I felt as though I existed in a dual world: one that encompassed my religion of Sikhi and one made up of the religions of everyone else at school, Christianity in particular. For example, Christmas and Easter (Christian holidays) were the only religious holidays acknowledged in school. However, at home my parents ensured …
Throughout elementary, middle and high school, I was always looked at differently; I was always the odd one out. Being one of the few Hindus and brown-skinned girls in my school, I looked and behaved differently than the expectations and standards that all the white people held towards me. With my Hindu/Jain religion and culture, …
Some Interfaith thoughts for Earth Day: In Judaism, we read the Torah cyclically over and over again every year. Each week gets its own chapter, its own parsha. There is an idea in some branches of Judaism that the parsha of your birth week impacts you as a person. In this way, it is the …
Imagine, you are 15 years old again. You are sitting in your World History class, and your teacher pulls up a powerpoint for the current unit. Suddenly, on their colorful slides, they click to a page with the name of your religion at the top. Within three bullet points, and a clipart image of a …
Being a part of the Sikh diaspora is something I find difficult to put into words at times because most of my life has been dominated by my desi appearance. I didn’t mind it as a child since I was one of the few desi students at my small K-8 school. But even then, I …
Throughout this Fellowship, people have shared many of their person, familial, theological, or scriptural perspectives on religion, especially during our “Religion 101” sessions. When I was asked to put on an “Atheism 101” session with Kally, at first my mind drew a blank. What is there to talk about in non-belief? We have no founding …
There are many topics that came to mind when deciding what to write about for this post, but to be candid, I am burnt out. Every idea that came to me seemed too cliche, too boring or too laborious to attempt. 2020 was a tough year, and 2021 has been more of the same. Every …
A crucial period of personal growth takes place for all humans between the ages of 17 and 22. This could mean leaving home for work, becoming a primary caretaker at home, or even becoming a parent. For me and my peers in the Fellowship, this period meant leaving for college and becoming more self-sufficient, among …