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Public speaking

What fears have you overcome and how?

As a mother, I wanted to have the right tools to better raise my kids, so I went back to university and got a BA in English Literature, a Teaching Diploma, and an MA in Comparative English Literature. For me, all 3 were a way to increase my knowledge, academic, psychology, teaching, and being a better mother. The degrees opened the window for knowledge acquisition, and I moved beyond the academic by becoming a teacher, afraid of being in front of a classroom. My fear was centered around public speaking, not teaching per se, which was a relief. The fact that I was able to connect with my students and have a meaningful relationship with my kids helped get out of my comfort zone. I’m still shy and prefer being in my own head, especially after I started writing, but my fear has been put to rest, thankfully.

Author of poetry book, Perfectly Flawed: poetry for change.

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Honesty and support

What quality do you value most in a friend?

The most important qualities in a friend, to me, are honesty and unfailing support no matter the situation. Those 2 are the building blocks of true friendships, for then, acceptance of faults and misbehavior become easily explainable and forgivable.

Friends

Fiendishly friendly, forever fearless, fever
Reverent, relief, reliable, readier
Involved, immovable, impossible, independent,
Empower, everlasting, encouraging, endearing,
Needing not lonely, knowing, negotiation,
Decisive, dragon-like, dangerous,
Solid, sturdy, subtle, spoken, spontaneous,

All are parts of being friends,
So much more there is that’s unbearable
Without them, as secrecy, lies, and envy
Have become the norm, while friends
Have become a rare commodity
Whose currency is spiteful and speaks
Loudly of material gain instead of friends.

Exert from my poetry book, Perfectly Flawed: poetry for change

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

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Nurturer, mother, teacher, and writer

What are you good at?

The first 3 have the same base, that of a nurturer. I love having people around enjoying a welcoming and comfortable ambiance that’s conductive to discussions. I also love being a mother, as there’s a great amount of give and take, learning and teaching that takes place in that type of relationship. Mostly, I love giving out hugs to all my babies and extended Family, mostly ;).

As for teaching, it combines the above 2 and taught me that friendship comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Some of my students continue to text me after over a decade having gone by. The best feeling as a teacher is knowing you’ve connected with your students and built a rapport that lasts.

Finally, my writing comes from the above 3, as I’m an introvert who has difficulty saying the right thing in a conversation, so I relegate my feelings and observations to my writing.

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Pirouette


I watch as she pirouettes,
Her dress, a parachute, flies
In waves to her flutters.

Her sensual beauty attracts
An audience, not for her moves,
But for the supplication in her eyes.

They shine with an inner peace
That translates into a pace
Shinier than the purest diamond face.

My gaze is glued to her flexible
Limbs that have divined that the rain bubble
Ensconces her in a world where trouble

Is an abstract concept she’s never
Experienced, as her innocent cover
Protects her as she adds prayer to the dancer.

As her body flows, swings, undulates,
She hears titters on her esthetics.
She says: ‘Believe in a faith that provides
Truth and dares to challenge lies.’

They then turn away and bicker,
Having forgotten why she was a riveting picture.

©️Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

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Books and my poetry collection

Do you have any collections?

Before digital books, I bought so many books that there are still some I hadn’t read when I had to five them away. As any reader would tell you, books are sacred to readers, and re-reading some is a must. It’s a good thing I kept a few books to tide me over!

As for my poetry collection, it’s my own writing, a way for me to express how the world affects me, and on which levels I wish for change to take place. There are so many issues in society today that need to be addressed today whose consequences will continue to disintegrate values, ethics, and religious beliefs.

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Honorable Mention!

The poem:

Of All the Masks we wear

The masks we wear help us hide
Those parts that are vulnerable
Until the fear of being hurt fade.
It secretes your emotions to keep away trouble.

How do you conceal who you are?
How many facets do you portray?
How bearable is life without it thus far?
How is the fear of being exposed flay?

Those answers are subjective and need
Time to elucidate the importance of trust
That is reciprocated and revered.
Balance your fear and your extrovert in a bust

That embodies fears, ambitions, and beliefs
That make it difficult to be a part of the streams.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

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Have a siesta!

How do you balance work and home life?

As a teacher, after the day ends, I need time to recover my patience for my kids, so siesta! Yes, archaic, traditional, maybe, but it actually works. After waking up, I feel rejuvenated enough to be able to help my kids with their work with enough patience, I hope! My time was pretty much divided into early morning with kids and sandwiches for kids, school, home, eat, siesta, teach, make dinner, kids sleep, then time for my husband and lesson plans/ correcting tests.

The best way to keep the balance going is to make sure you spend quality time with each family member. This makes sure you are still connected to them, although your time is limited. Communication is a key component to creating that balance.

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Jewelry and 80s styles

What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?

I still have an expensive blazer that I’m still wearing, given to me by my mom. It’s a black open, quilted, with raised epaulets, and some floral embroidery on the chest.

Now when it comes to jewelry, I still wear my solitaire, 30 years, my mom’s watch- even longer.

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End of Vacation!

At the Beirut airport waiting for my flight home to Canada. The joy of family is incomparable to anything else in life. For each family member, know how to be you without being a follower to their lead.

Fantastic fun, fuming, following, friend

Amble, autonomous, artistic, amazing

Marvelous, mean, mentor, meteoric

Imposing, impossible, incredible

Love, laughing, lying, liberty

Yap, yawn, yell, yuck, yonder.

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Enigmas Galore


The world is a mystery,
Its ecosystems are all aflurry
With busy microsystems that bury
Secrets we need to survive in a hurry.

Within the Amazon forest
That’s teaming with microcosms, that test
The geniuses who uncover their best
Kept perplexing plexus in a quest

For cognizance of what may stop death.

Searching oceanic reefs for answers,
Is another forager for more enigmas,
That’ll blow your mind in amazements,
Which serve humanity’s placements

Above all in food chains, that destroy,
Instead of build and preserve your coy
Knowledge that man can toy
With nature and devastate in a ploy

To persuade all that He’s superior
While being ignorant of ‘self’ and ‘other’,
Where ‘other’ may be race or
Flaura, fauna, marine, that forever

Amaze in their aesthetic and giving nature.
Awake! Awake from your slumber
And remember, life doesn’t need your surrender!