Dirt and Robots

 Hello everyone, this was a paper I wrote for a class this semester and felt like it would fit on here. It's a pretty long one so take your time reading this! _____________________________________________________________________________________      Scrolling through TikTok, I watch as women, Black, White, East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and other races dye their hair with this paste called “Henna”. Wanting to know what people online think about the use of something from a region of cultures where everything is made fun of, I eagerly open the comments. The top comment says, “Looks like duck poop lol.” I sigh. This is my culture, as I am Pakistani and Muslim. And boy, has it been a rough 21 years being Pakistani and Muslim. I have had to fight for my right to exist growing up on Long Island, New York. One of these fights was related to henna, or as it is called in Urdu, the language of Pakistan; Bangla, the language of Bangladesh; Hindi, The language of Indi...

 My Bi-Monthly Update: Classes, Day in my Life Video, NASA SUITS competition, etc. By Inaya Syed Hello, everybody! Welcome to another edition of my bi-monthly update! I have a lot to share, so let's get right into it! Increase in Federal Work Study award     To start off, I wanted to share some good news! I received an increase in my federal work-study award. This means I have my job at the library until the end of the fiscal year. The total is $5,000.  Classes     So far, classes have been going well. I had just taken a Calculus III exam this Thursday. I think I will be alright in terms of grades and workload. So far, I am not entirely drowning in assignments.  Clubs     As for clubs, I decided to bring back the Society of Women Engineers to NYIT's Long Island Campus. I am starting the interviews soon. On top of this, the chess club is organizing a tournament on November 13th. Pull up if you are interested! On top of all this, I started...

 My Bi-monthly Update By Inaya Syed Hey everybody!  How is your day going? Today, I would like to update everyone on my life so far. From the NASA SUITS competition to classes, I have a lot to share! NASA SUITS During the month of September, I applied to the NASA SUITS competition through my school's American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter. I initially did not think I would get into the competition, if I am completely being honest. However, at the end of September, I got an email stating I was selected to move forward in the competition.   I was ecstatic! I immediately called Hidaya and told my entire family about the news. I rushed over to a friend, who is also in the competition and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers President. I told him how grateful I was for the opportunity and that I would work on it every day. I still feel some butterflies in my stomach about this whole competition. Right now, we are drafting up a proposal to send to NASA. We get...