Writing

Making It

Hello Everyone:
3 exciting things below! My writing, an event at the NYC Municipal Archives, and the Muslim Women's Story Lab moves forward!

A short piece I wrote on making art, diversity, and compromise, was just published in Montrealserai -- a lovely online webzine focused on arts, culture and politics! 

Here's a little excerpt to get you interested:

"So I look down at my feet. My sandals are touching ground where Diego Rivera once stood, or sat, or walked by. I’m pulled into a world which, when he was creating it, was all but banned subject matter. Poor people’s lives, indigenous lives, didn’t matter. He made space, literally, by painting giant public murals that projected the sound and color, history and memory of poor and working class people in Mexico. And he showed not only what he knew to be true, and beautiful, but what he knew had power to change the world."     Read on ...
 

And here in New York, I'm making the final preparations for a discussion at the NYC Municipal Archives on the history of sterilization abuse in NYC and the struggle for change.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Please RSVP to: visitorcenter@records.nyc.gov
31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007

We have a terrific panel and will be displaying archival materials from the women's own collections.  Here is one example of what you'll see:
 

Courtesy of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party Archives.

Courtesy of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party Archives.

 

Last but not least, I got great news that the Muslim Women's Story Lab is going to move forward this fall! Stay tuned for updates.

Have a wonderful Independence Day. It's time to get free!

 

 

Tuesday, September 16 – Words Without Borders

Tuesday, September 16 – Words Without Borders

I am pleased to be featured in a reading this Tuesday, September 16th - a Bookend event in the Brooklyn Book Festival.  Hosted by Words Without Borders an organization dedicated to publishing, and promoting works in translation to English readers, I’ll be reading a beautiful short story translated to English taken from their September issue.

History as Territory

History as Territory

I went to a wonderful talk last night organized by the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance on reclaiming feminisms at the grassroots.  The inspirational speaker, Sandra Moran, spoke about planting.  The first part of creating something new is developing an idea, planting a seed.  To do that, you must reclaim what is yours and decide that territory will be where something new can grow.

New Day (Now Rouz), New Waves

New Day (Now Rouz), New Waves

Happy Spring! — Nowrouz Mubarak! For those of you who have been thrashed around by the waves of winter, do not despair! The shore is near. This winter, my experience of being in the world has felt like one of a sea lamprey attached to the fin of some great whale.  Yes, I get food, great soul-enriching sustenance from doing what I was born to do, but the ride is not an easy one.

Circles

Circles

I haven’t written an update for months. I’ve wanted to, but every time I sat down to share a thought, or an observation, I was acutely aware that something was incomplete. And so, I said to myself, why offer a fleeting, shredded little thing when you can gather up your thoughts for something substantial? Little did I know, that the substantial is made from the tattered bits and pieces.