things that make you go hmmmm..... ?

I've been away from the blog for a while. I'll try to post with a little more frequency. An odd observation.... I was just checking out some of the statistics for the blog and for some strange reason I'm getting alot of page views from Russia, Poland and the Ukraine.... way more than from the US... at least recently... What's up with that?

avengers: ramadhan infinity

thoughts and prayers

the hamilton mixtape: immigrants (we get the job done)

cryin' in the streets

On my way home this story was on the radio: An Indian American Muslim singer resurrects an old civil rights anthem. It struck me as a really "Grenada-esque" story.

 The new version of the song:
 

The original:

grammar nazis

turkish soap operas in the land of the telenovela

Turkish Soap Operas, Latin America, and Emerging World Kinship By Afshin Molavi deals with some interesting cultural crossovers in the world of entertainment.

revolutionary mujer

trump's basic message

eid mubarak y'all

Secret Muslim? Hmmmmm......?

ramadan: a de-colonial centering moment

From Hatem Bazian: Ramadan: A De-Colonial Centering Moment

orlando is an onion

I continue to be surprised by the complexity and intersectionality which is being revealed in relation to the tragedy in Orlando.

1. Hero With a Muslim name Imran Yousuf, the bouncer at the club of partial-Muslim ancestry who acted to save dozens of lives.

2. Peel a layer and get a telenovela Omar Mateen's gay ex-lover claims Mateen was motivated by revenge over being romantically jilted.

3. Contrary to the claims of Trump and others that Muslims don't do enough to help the authorities, here is an account from The Muslim who reported Omar Mateen to the FBI.

4. Imam Zaid Shakir on Orlando

5. A Joint Muslim Statement On The Carnage in Olando

6. Dr. Farrokh Sekaleshfar was a cleric who came to Orlando to give an academic talk on homosexuality in Islam. A snippet of his talk was quoted repeatedly in the news. But here is a broader sample of Dr. Sekaleshfar's comments.

hero with a muslim name

I haven't been blogging for a while, but I feel like putting this out there. One of the interesting details which have emerged from the horrifically intersectional onion-like complexity of the recent Orlando shooting are accounts of Imran Yousuf, an ex-marine and bouncer at the nightclub who saved dozens of lives during the attack: What was really weird to me is that the initial reports identified Yousuf as a Hindu when he clearly had a Muslim name (both Imran and Yusuf are in the Quran). It also raised questions in terms of who gets included or excluded in what "Muslim" means in the popular consciousness. The church-going black president who repeatedly claims to be Christian? Muslim. The mass-murdering, Grindr-using, alcohol-drinking, gay-club regular? Muslim. The hero who saved at least 60 people during the Orlando shooting with a Muslim name? Hindu. I finally found an article which unpacks a bit more info regarding Imran Yousuf's background in India West:

The Yousufs emigrated from India to Guyana four generations ago. Imran Yousuf’s paternal grandfather is Muslim, and his grandmother is Hindu, so his father Rasheed is a mix of both ethnicities. Yousuf’s mother Norma is Hindu, and Imran Yousuf identifies as a Hindu, said Christina Yousuf.

So its not clear how exactly his father identified, but loosely speaking, Imran is "one quarter" Muslim. .. which should be at least one half Muslim by birther standards, right?

you damn dirty ape

i hope my district wins

cary grant, esther williams, angelina jolie & the romance of the gun by christin lavin and brian bauers

I first heard this song on the radio last year a few days after a relative was shot. I didn't know the name of the song then, but I finally managed to put together enough clues to track the song down.

Cary Grant, Esther Williams, Angelina Jolie & The Romance Of The Gun by Christine Lavin and Brian Bauers from christine lavin on Vimeo.

And here is another version from a concert:

happy to be nappy

yet another "Happy" cover, this time from Maimouna Youssef