Anisah Hashmi
Places of Residence
Hartford, Lahore and Edmond
The majority of Anisah's life was spent living in West Hartford, Connecticut and Lahore, Pakistan. Oddly enough, they are the exact opposite of each other because unlike West Hartford, Lahore is poverty-striken, full of fascinating culture, and quite dusty being a city built on top of a desert. Oh and if Lahore's website looks dinky and unprofessional, it's probably because there is hardly anything "official" made there. Anisah was born in Hartford, Connecticut and lived in the same house for ten years. For the six years she was in Pakistan, she would frequently return to Connecticut during the summer time as a result of the horrendous monsoon season, heat and humidity of the Pakistani summer. While in Pakistan, Anisah and her family lived in two different houses but she and all of her siblings attended the same school. Most recently, Anisah has moved to Edmond, Oklahoma where she has spent the last two years of her life. She denies any association with Oklahoma because well, she calls it "hick country". It's evident that she probably has trouble telling people where she is from.
Family
Then and Now:
Anisah's family is pretty large, consisting of her mother, father, two brothers and a sister. Her father, Fayyaz, is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. He's always working on new ways to fix a broken heart and the lastest craze is robotic surgery. If he had video games skills, they'd really come in handy with robotic surgery. Fayyaz likes watching the history channel and if he is ever at home, his head is buried in a newspaper or book. He also enjoys being the family punster. Susan, Anisah's mother, is a registered nurse, but she is currently not practicing. Instead Susan prides herself on being a domestic engineer, which might be the hardest job there is. Susan enjoys gardening and talking about the weather. She also loves to dance when the mood hits her to things like The Beatles or the Moody Blues. Razi is Anisah's oldest brother. At 23 years old, he has a job as the executive director of CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) in Oklahoma. Currently he is studying for the LSATS in hopes of attending law school in upcoming years. Razi is a social butterfly and often he does not sit still for a moment. He enjoys new gadgets and eating Pho, Vietnamese Soup. Nyla is Anisah's 21 year old sister who recently graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Imagine having to knit a sweater instead of writing a thesis paper. She has had several jobs for fashion designers, but she is currently working for Elie Tahari as a knit wear designer. Nyla has a kitten named Giorgio who is less than a year old and she enjoys dressing him up in costumes. She also loves being silly, excells in drawing and sewing and loves living in New York City. Siraj is the second youngest member of the family at 19 years old. He is a junior at Dickinson College and this year he is studying abroad at University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He hopes to find a career in medicine, although he has not declared which type of medicine yet. Siraj loves the Boston Red Socks and sports in general. He also is rather talented at quoting funny things he's seen on TV or in the movies. The Hashmi family would claim he is the only one without common sense in the family; he rather enjoyed eating food with his hands when he was younger too. Tinkerbelle is the family cat, at 4 years old she is a hide and seek loving, gurgling cutie (yes, she does gurgle instead of meow). Her favourite food is tuna fish and she loves to flirt with anything that moves.
Education
Anisah's educational history could be a book on its own. Her first place of residence was West Hartford, Connecticut. She went to Lollipop Tree Nursery School when she was a wee one and learning how to fingerpaint from 1992-1994. From there she graduated and attended Norfeldt Elementary School where she learned more serious stuff like the alphabet and how to tie shoes from 1994-1995. Her family moved to Lahore, Pakistan where she went to Lahore American School for a lot of elementary school, and she spent first grade there from 1995-1996. Then her mother got a little bit home sick and they decided to go back for second grade where Anisah's school district changed and she went to Braeburn Elementary School from 1996-1997. The last time she would go to that school was for fourth grade from 1997-1998. When Anisah's family went back to Pakistan, they did this several times, Anisah went to the same school from and 1998-2001, for the rest of elementary school and one year of middle school. She spent the rest of her middle school years in Connecticut at King Philip Middle School from 2001-2003. Once middle school was over, where she learned a great deal about being a teenager, Anisah went to Hall High School from 2003-2005. Her family got antsy again and moved to Oklahoma where she went to Casady School for the remainder of her high school years, from 2005-2007. Finally, she ended up at her new home, Dickinson College, where Anisah will be spending the next four years. Let's hope she don't transfer.
Employment History
Anisah's first job ever was babysitting for her neighborhood. She did this for several years before she got her first official job with a paycheck. The next job she had was as a counselor in training (CIT) at Renbrook Summer Adventure in West Hartford, Connecticut. At this job, Anisah focused on creating a musical production with some young campers and other CITs as well as counselors. She was only able to do this for one summer because of the relocation of her family. Her lastest job was waitressing at the Garden Pizza and Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant. Her favourite part of this job was making a t-shirt for the restaurant featuring yummy mediterranean foods like hummus, gyros, and falafel. Although the restaurant is a small family-owned business, they receive a lot of customers who crave good food.
Travel
Living in Pakistan made travelling easier for Anisah's family. The list of places they've been too might seem a little lengthy, but they all know they're very fortunate to have seen the things they've seen. Life is beautiful. Below is the list of countries they've been to:
- Afghanistan
- Canada
- Egypt
- England
- France
- Jordan
- Italy
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Spain
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
Fun Facts
- Anisah enjoys being in theatre productions tremendously. She's been in 9 productions in high school alone including: Steel Magnolias, You Can't Take It With You, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Crucible, The Answer: Improv Comedy Group, The Voice of the Prairie, Why the Lord Come to Sand Mountain, Honk!, Our Town, and Children of Eden. Yes, she is a theatre "nerd".
- She enjoys making t-shirts for her friends and at one point she had a business called Pegasus Designs that she maintained with Lindsay Washbond, a very close friend of hers.
- When Anisah was in third grade, she had a pet goat named Charlie
- Anisah loves to write. In the past she has written for school newspapers and had her poetry published. She also likes to write short stories and plays.
- Anisah has been in numerous school choirs. Her most recent choir was at Casady School in Oklahoma and they had been one of three choirs chosen from the midwest to perform at Carnegie Hall.
