Happy Friday! Ta-Nehisi Coates from The Atlantic speaks about the challenges and joys of being a writer. [brightcove vid=2699651273001&exp3=1054655355001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=29913724001&pk=AQ~~,AAAABvb_NGE~,DMkZt2E6wO3_sfth6vHgTpNZZSEwcydt&lbu=http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2013/09/advice-on-writing-from-i-the-atlantic-i-s-ta-nehisi-coates/280025/&w=480&h=360] Read more
I am not sure why I have not written in a long time. I try to dissect my feelings. To open up the bloody mess and follow the veins of my thoughts and explore the chambers of my heart. I get lost every time. I must accept that I will never find my way through the clutter. Of course, I miss Ibrahim. I have learned that I will always miss him. I miss him in different ways everyday. Most days,... Read more
Always show your love. Even when you are upset. Especially if you are upset. No one under four [or any age for that matter] reacts as well to disapproval as they do to the promise of unconditional love despite their mistakes. It’s important to remind them that despite the partial egg and toast remnants stuffed up their younger brother’s left nostril and the time-out inevitably in his future, you do in fact, still love him. Be one with the television,... Read more
Eds. note: Please welcome activist, storyteller, politico and Love InshAllah anthology contributor Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed as our newest columnist! Her column “Radical Love” will be published the first Tuesday of every month and will explore the connections between social justice & intentional love. We thought we were doing something new. Something fresh and cutting edge. But something old too, building on “our” punk DIY roots. At one of the first meetings in my Oakland apartment two years ago, sitting around... Read more
Beat of Heart A new dawn is a new day a new chance The world, illuminates And we dance To the beat of heart Tango out of the shadows Dabkeh onto challenges Salsa out of mistakes Hip hop back into our knowing Life, speaks Have you seen a dancer with fear? Hope emanates from traveling feet whipping arms and spines Folding over and back we take a bow and rest in the night Peace, breathes — Dina Badawy is an... Read more
Our love today to the incredible, inspiring and unstoppable Ameena Matthews. Ameena, a community activist and violence “interrupter” with the Chicago-based organization CeaseFire, recently received BET’s #BlackGirlsRock Community Activist Award. “If I’m not gon’ do it then who gon’ do it? Black girls are activist, black girls are humanitarians, black girls rock!” Learn more about Ameena and the BlackGirlsRock award, here. Read more
Watch these four awesome young women demolish female stereotypes, particularly those associated with Halloween. This video is from round four of the Brave New Voices Grand Slam Finals 2013 in Washington, D.C. The four incredibly talented poets, from left to right, are: Hannah Halpern (@hanhalp), Amina Iro (@FlipsHijab), Reina Privado (@PoetryAndCurls), and Asha Gardner (@AshaGPoet) and they are a part of the DC Youth Slam Team. You can go and “like” DC Youth Slam Team on Facebook here if ya fancy it, too.... Read more
Years after India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, the eastern portion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan began its own struggle for independence. As the seeds of civil war were being planted, a missed connecting train from the small town of Parvatipur laid the first root of my family tree. My paternal grandfather found himself stranded in Parvatipur with no way to get back to his base in Rangpur until the following morning. I imagine my Karachi-based grandfather... Read more
My grandmother didn’t have to see the world. My mother placed it at her feet with two foreign looking Muslim grandchildren. She had strong Christian values yet once my mother converted to Islam she stopped cooking pork and carpooled us back and forth to Quran classes. She hated to travel but that was perfectly fine with her because my mother did enough traveling for the both of them. My mother would beg and plead for her to come with us... Read more
For artists, from an artist. For women, from a woman. Art has the power to show three sides to a story. Here is the golden rule I abide by as an artist: you must challenge your own internal prejudices and stereotypes. Question your world view. Your cognitions. Your reactive behaviors. Face your vices, your demons, your ghosts: only then as an artist will you be able to create pieces that give your expression the real justice. Ultimately, this is what... Read more
Love, InshAllah
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