Goals

I'll get to where I've been, but first please allow me to share with you where I want to be.

As a Mescalero Apache, I want to learn all I can about the history, art, literature, culture, food and faith of my ancestors. I would love to learn the cooking techniques and incorporate more indigenous ingredients into my diet.

As an American, my hope is to build a stronger community through communication and continue to break down barriers of misinformation. I'd like to see less government involvement, less war for profit, and more unity among races, religions and classes.

As a Muslim convert, given the current dynamics surrounding equality vs. superiority, i would like to lessen the gap of misunderstanding between the 3 major religions of the world. I want to highlight our similarities while simultaneously debunking common myths and misconceptions concerning our faiths. 

As a professional, my goal is become Chef/Owner of a small business.

Labels

Who is Malina? I hate labels. I do my best to stay away from them, but then how would I describe myself? As I write this list, it does not go in order of importance. This is who I am today, not who I was or who I may become. I'm in my early 40's. I am the oldest of my fathers 6 children, otherwise from my mother, I was the middle child of 5 for a while until my mom married again and had her last two kids. Of my mothers biological children, I am the 3rd born. I am a wife and mother of 2 son's ages 16 and 17. To make things easier, I'm going to start a list of  "I am's"

• Mescalero Apache, French (i will add to this after I do the DNA test)
• American
• Muslim
• College Graduate
• Culinary Instructor

I'm on a journey to learn how to be a more compassionate person. I've been hurt and have been the cause of pain, both the cure and the poison, depending on who you are and at what point in my life you interacted with me. There are some things I'm super proud of and some that I'm super ashamed of. I don't profess to be a good person, just human and far from perfect. Thankfully I am on a healing path and am enjoying the benefits of the healing process, in turn I hope to be a source of healing for some and better yet, for many. 

Throughout this blog I will share stories of my past or present experiences, post videos and sometimes just post about current events. 

Thank you to whoever cared enough and took the time to really get to know who I am.