Before our story begins, our mother is five, and to protect her from the blitz in London, she is sent to her grandparents in Wales. Around the same time, in Morocco, Fatima Mernissi is born in her family harem, surrounded by women, her mother, her grandmother, and her aunts. From them, she learns to treasure education and decisiveness while retaining a sense of humor.
“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it.” ~Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Anwar Masood’s Punjabi shayari is beyond class politics and is for everyone. The humour of Masood’s Punjabi shayari speaks to every Punjabi about the Zinda-dilli and the josh-o-jazba of our culture and tradition. #Punjabipoetry #Alifseyeh #Anwarmasood
“Because You love cremation grounds
I have made my heart one?
so that You?
Black Goddess of the Burning Grounds
can always dance there.
Had Khaldoun lived in our verity-challenged times, he would surely have taken today’s media to task for embracing “alternative facts” and spreading disinformation and fake news. Sensationalism, chaos and fear-arousing disinformation always sells and is good for ratings, which in turn drive advertising dollars, and the media figured that out a long time ago.
I think the human story of science, evolution and scholarship becomes more enriching if it seen as a collective human endeavor, and not necessarily as petty triumphs of one over the other – the West, the East, Christianity, Islam, Judaism.
Africa beckons from Spanish shores. It’s the summer of 2014, and we’re waiting for the 3:30 pm Ferry to Tangier, Morocco.
A raised fist made of rusty-red laterite clay, “Speak Out” is Djakou Kassi’s latest artwork currently on display in Los Angeles, in Signature African Art gallery. It is a symbol of power and support for marginalized communities. African masks cover the larger-than-life clenched fist and the messages carved into the clay cry out against racism and discrimination. “Love”, “No to Hate”, “We are all Human”, and “I can’t Breath” reference the struggle faced by people of color everywhere, especially African Americans in the United States and the Black Lives Matter movement.
