Journal Entry/Musings on Religion: This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, that holiest of months in Islam, which just happens to coincide with one of the hottest months in Dakar. Islam is so alive and visible here; it will be interesting to be in a city of believers while they collectively practice this challenging ritual. In Dakar Islam has a soothing and rhythmic presence, like the predictable yet subtle change in seasons in New York. Prayer calls boom from mosque speakers reminding the faithful to stop what they are doing, wash up, pull out their mats, and kneel in devout meditations. On Fridays especially, the main mosque in Mermoz overflows with men in their brightly colored robes bowing heads to mats in a wave that covers sidewalks and storefronts. I admire this sense of oneness that is palpable even to me, the spiritual but unreligious onlooker. There is also something that gets to me in the urgency of the call, the rush to the mosque, the ability to keep appointments with God several times a day, every single day regardless of plans, location, and convenience. I recently spoke to Felicia about religion in another long-winded discussion. Something she said stuck with me; something like this "Going to church for me is like a spiritual alarm clock. It is an appointment I keep to meditate and devote time completely to my spiritual health. God doesn't need me to keep this appointment, but I surely do." I think this may be true for many churchgoers and for people who heed the mosque's call to prayer. On the one hand I appreciate (from the outside) Islam's relatively flexible stance on location (wherever you can fit your prayer mat), but on the other hand it seems overly structured and rigid to "set the alarm" for five specific times throughout the day. Shouldn't the goal of all spiritual beings be to never need an "alarm," to be constantly "awake" so to speak? These are the sorts of questions I think about here up on the terrace on the eve of Ramadan. Luckily I chose to sit under the thatched roof with my laptop because it just rained (we've had a ridiculous amount of rain lately....climate change...but that's for another post). This is the first time in a long while that I've seen (or noticed) a rainbow. It's here now spread across the sky like a giant post-it reminding me that not all things beautiful need understanding. I guess we can all use alarm clocks and reminders once in a while.....