Ask a Somali

Ifrah Jimale works for Common Bond and Caribou Coffee and lives in MInneapolis. She likes to read anything and likes camping. She writes the "Ask a Somali" column for the TC Daily Planet.

ASK A SOMALI | Keeping Muslim traditions alive in Minnesota?

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Are the Somalis in the United States interested in keeping the Muslim tradition of their parents?

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What's the polite thing to say on Ramadan?

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Ramadan is a month-long time of fasting, with the date determined by the lunar calendar. This year Ramadan ends at sunset on August 18. Fasting means no food and nothing to drink (not even water!) When that's in the heat and long days of summer, as it is this year, fasting from sunrise to sunset is particularly difficult.

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Dressing for the wedding

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

This last week a coworker had some questions for me.  She'd been to a Somali wedding and saw several of the women there dressed in much more revealing clothes than she'd ever seen Somali women wearing.  She wanted me to shed some light on this.

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Cell phones and hijabs: A match not made in heaven

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Question:  I keep seeing Somali women with cellphones tucked into their headscarves.  Is this a common thing?

I don’t know how this started, but it seems like almost every Somali woman in the city is talking on her phone while it's tucked into the fold of her hijab. It makes me wonder who first started this and if that person is still doing so. Did one woman start this one day, and then her friends all did it, and their friends, or did it happen at a group meeting where everybody decided this is how they will use their phones from now on?

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Pop music and Somali-Americans: "The Somali Beyoncé" and beyond

By Ifrah Jimale, Ask a Somali

Q: What kind of music do young Somali-Americans listen to? Are there Somali or Somali-American pop stars?

A: Like most immigrants before us, young Somali kids try to fit in rather than stand out. More likely than not you'll see the car next to you on the road with the window down and loud rap music blaring out. Our young boys wear baggy clothes and imitate rap stars like 50 Cent, Young Money, and Lil Wayne. They adopt a lot faster than their elders, or their older siblings. This of course creates a huge rift between the young population and the older generation. Among the many things that divide them is music, clothing style, religion of course, and almost everything that is perceived as an Americanization.

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