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'Still searching for truth and meaning'

Katie Kiskaddon

by David Montgomery

College is often seen as a place and time where young people find themselves. This was true for Katie Kiskaddon, but the identity she found might be a bit outside of what Grinnellians normally expect. In December 2003, Kiskaddon converted to Islam after studying many different religions. "It was a lot of, 'this is how I believe things, and this religion actually embodies a lot of things that I believe,'" Kiskaddon said. "I really consider that I'm still searching for truth and new meaning."

Kiskaddon's family and other Grinnellians have generally been very supportive of her choice. "[My family's] always been really open to new things, but then it was actually happening. They've been really good about it, though."

After graduation, Kiskaddon will marry Rashed Chowdhury '03 in a civil ceremony in Ohio. "We couldn't find a licensed imam to perform the ceremony," Kiskaddon said. "We're doing a religious ceremony, just with an unofficial imam."

Chowdhury is currently a student at McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies in Montreal, and Kiskaddon will be joining him in Canada. "I'm trying to get involved, volunteering in interfaith dialogue," she said.

"It's important for people to see how much they have in common," Kiskaddon said. "You can get to demonizing another group."

Kiskaddon converted immediately before leaving for France for a semester abroad. The Muslim headscarf, which Kiskaddon wears now but did not then, is a very controversial symbol in France.

"I wore my scarf once, and they yelled at me in my school, which they weren't legally allowed to do," she said. "They want everything done privately. Secularism is the only religion they want displayed in public. It's not very neutral, because it's favoring one kind of viewpoint in trying not to favor any one viewpoint."

Her impending marriage seems to dominate Kiskaddon's near future. "Being married, I'll eventually have a family," she mused. "I don't have big plans about having a really high-powered career. I do think it's important, if I have kids, to stay home with them."

Graduate studies in religion remains a possibility, as is a possible career as a writer. "I haven't ever seriously tried to get anything published," she said. "It's just something I do in my spare time." Kiskaddon is interested in both children's stories and fables.

Kiskaddon chose Grinnell almost by accident, applying at the last minute after a friend reminded her, but she said she'd do it again. "There are good and bad things, but definitely now that I'm engaged, I wouldn't want to have gone somewhere else."

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