{"id":2248,"date":"2019-05-14T17:41:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T21:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2019-05-14T18:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T22:00:21","slug":"a-man-of-different-paths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/2019\/05\/14\/a-man-of-different-paths\/","title":{"rendered":"A Man of Different Paths."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My dad, Jamal is a man of humbleness and works with integrity. Always working hard, no matter if he likes it or not, never the type to complain. I chose to interview him because he is a big inspiration in my life, and I\u2019m greatly indebted for all that he has done for me and my family. He grew up in the heart of the Middle East, Baghdad, Iraq, and has a love for cooking, business, and architecture. But above all, he\u2019s a loving father. \u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/IgXxssqJuwNJv5k2fqXsEqrtGCF9fgz3qO0dGW4yjjyB_CGJ5Gu1s7aUiG-IuPM9pkr8TWoijDRCAYABojl5k1l_wa2i2HQw3RdBDwNB\" width=\"348\" height=\"212\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Growing up in Baghdad, my dad used to walk 1.5 miles to school, when he was only in elementary, in the blazing hot sun of Iraq. He told me \u201cI would always be doing the best in class, having the highest grades\u201d building his confidence, and integrity ever since he was a kid. Jamal was just like any other kids, loved to play sports, and hung out with his friends, but kept up with his studies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When he was 19, he came to America to study construction and architecture. So he went to Wayne State University to get an engineering degree. But it was very hard for him, saying \u201cI came here with only $350 in my pocket, working $1 an hour at a supermarket\u201d. I asked him what was it like working for $1 an hour coming as an immigrant to America, \u201cI hated it, but I didn\u2019t say a thing about it, I had to <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/6lfAB24BKmvXWmLtns07IN6DJv_K2oFe0Sw7F_DXkUtegNKUrY9T_aSrcQL0t4t7qlwDRRbAV-sfbSVaYXaItXGaETtaKtRiFF887Rl-x0o5dX0D-c-OITW_7ItnqeQN-9spsUkM\" width=\"222\" height=\"444\" \/>feed myself, so I hid my emotions\u201d. But that same year, in 1980, the Iraq War struck. He had to drop out of college to help out with the war by donating money and helping with refugees. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0By 1989 he started working as a chef. He never had previous experience with cooking other than helping every now and then back home. He worked his way up the ranks as a chef becoming until he became a sue chef. In 1994 he cooked for Bill Clinton in the Westin Hotel. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Afterwards, he went back to college to get his business degree, for real estate, and construction. In 1995 he married my mom. In 1997 my brother Ali was born.1998, he started his own construction business. In 1999 my brother Mustafa was born, 2001 my brother was born, and I was born in 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 2009 he started his real estate business \u2018Prime One\u2019, working as a broker renovating houses, and selling them. Since then he\u2019s been a loving, and caring father for me and all my brothers, and the same goes for my mom. I love both of them to death, and I&#8217;m very grateful for everything my parents have given me. He\u2019s a man who\u2019s dedicated to his craft and the art of hard work and dedication.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhatever I do, I try to have fun with it, even if I don\u2019t like it\u201d- Jamal Rubaii<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Written by Ahmad Rubaii.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My dad, Jamal is a man of humbleness and works with integrity. Always working hard, no matter if he likes it or not, never the type to complain. I chose to interview him because he is a big inspiration in my life, and I\u2019m greatly indebted for all that he has done for me and &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/2019\/05\/14\/a-man-of-different-paths\/\" class=\"more-link\">More <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":749,"featured_media":2257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions\/2249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}