Visible Muslim women are accustomed to erasure and censure for simply existing. From E.M. Forrester’s A Passage to India, the Orientalist summer reading I endured in high school to the incessant online attacks on U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the hatred has no end and no bounds. From classical literature, popular press, law, everyday conversations, and social media rampages, visible Muslim women are scrutinized even though they are a part of a vast global population. This paper examines the perspective for deep thought and the impetus for change that the pandemic parenting experience offered me. Being around my children and at their beck and call 24/7 allowed me to see the world more through their eyes. The subtle bigotry and insensitivities that I experienced pre-pandemic intensified, because not only did I want to survive, I wanted my children to grow in a world free from hate. Sitting around and ignoring the slights would not be possible. Free from daily microaggressions and constant commuting, but saddled with intensive childcare, cooking, cleaning, and sanitizing responsibilities, I developed a keener awareness for the degenerative biases I faced in the periphery of my pre-pandemic life. Being a pandemic academic parent empowered me to confront systemic racism, misogyny and internal Islamophobia. My only goals were to stay alive, be authentic, and stop self-censuring. If it all went to hell in a handbasket, so be it. I survived 2020. Over 1.64 million people did not survive the coronavirus. This is my journey from a shy little girl in Central Florida to motherhood and the faculty tenure vote put in perspective by the pandemic.