Personal essay as a genre isn’t to prove a point. It’s to encourage human connection. Thanks for your reply.

That must be a story - write it up and share!

Wait, but you still read it? Why?

Not gonna lie, watching the Wire for the first time last year did not hurt in name selection. Any breathing woman would agree.

His last name. Which matters when you’re going through an international checkpoint with a passport. Until that happens, all we really know is that he’s a cutie pie with big bright eyes.

And that was just at 4 DAYS old.

Who wouldn’t want to be in a comforting womb right now?

Thank you! Sounds like you may be a believer in humanity?

Thank you for raising this. Idris has a very Muslim identified last name, so it’s more about how the world will see him regardless of his personal belief. Right now, the world just sees him as cute, I hope :)

Thank you! Goober is accurate for what he looks like now, he’s Chunk.

I am so glad you see the humor in the photo selection. Part of me feels like bad mom putting out a picture of my kid like that, hah!

Do you hate me because I didn’t consider myself a writer until, well, your reaction?

Oh hunny, it’ll be expanded soon. And it was done so poorly that it has nothing to do with actual counter-terrorism, straight up permission to harass people. I have a career in national security, nothing about this ban is helpful for our country.

What’s not mentioned here explicitly is my career in national security. I approve of vetting and selection of immigrants, have worked on it too. I do NOT agree with poorly written laws and blanket discrimination rooted in pandering and not actual counter-terrorism or economic policy. This ban was so poorly thought out…

That’s what I’ve settled on. He will have lots of rich history to draw on, so he has plenty of choice. But... but... the challenge I see is the world will react to him a certain way regardless of how he defines himself. His daddy has an obviously Muslim last name, so even if he doesn’t believe he will be assumed…

The funny thing is... my parents used to be Republicans too! Thank you for the kind words for Idris.

Thank you! Swell is such a great word.

Or he’ll change it for the better! Thank you.

Surprisingly not so bad! Some people just suck in life, that doesn’t bother me, but it’s good to see the good people come out of the woodwork.

I’m so glad you got the joke in posting that one photo, which was Idris at 4 days old once we were taking out of the hospital cocoon.