saladin ahmed

Continuing my Detroit/Michigan state of mind I just thought to look up Saladin Ahmed, I didn't really know him but when I lived in Michigan I'd seen him perform his poetry at an event or two and we had some friends in common. Apparently since the last time I'd seen him he's gotten married, has two kids, and has been nominated for a Nebula Award. From his blog you can find links to his biography and bibliography. I honestly don't know if he identifies as Muslim per se but some of his fantasy stories deal with Muslim identity in interesting ways. Its worth checking out.

water warriors

Continuing with the Earth Day/ water scarcity theme I thought I would share information/inspiration about an issue affecting poor people in Highland, MI. Basically water is being privitized more and more to the point that poor people living in the community sometimes can't afford it. In response, local activists are trying to assert and defend the people's right-to-water.

First is a brief documentary on the issue:


And secondly, a spoken word performance by Will Copeland (aka Namaste Brown aka the Ill Wizard). (I should also mention that Will is a member of Longhairz Collective and the author of the song 1nce in a Lifetime which I mentioned a while back in "i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome".



Both the documentary and the poem are entitled "Water Warriors"