Weblogs

hawgblawg: Robin Wright on Arab/Islamic Hip-Hop

About time MERIP got a blog. Some nice stuff brewing. hawgblawg: Robin Wright on Arab/Islamic Hip-Hop. Merip has a brand new blog, launched today. I intend to contribute posts on a regular basis–but I will not be abandoning hawgblawg by any means. My first was a meditation on how Robin Wright celebrates Arab/Islamic hip-hop in her book, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World. Read it here.

Read More
Weblogs

Closing with Gospel in Morocco

My piece on the Fes Festival of Music at RD. Closing with Gospel in Morocco | Culture | Religion Dispatches. I recently returned from Fes, Morocco, where I attended the 16th Annual Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. Almost a decade ago, I fell in love with a recording of some of the concerts from an earlier festival. The CD, B’ismillah, had performers from various religious traditions, and I remember thinking it was a wonderful way to showcase the things that people have in common. Although I have become more cynical about the power of simply listening to music in…

Read More
Inter-faith Weblogs

The Joy and Worries of Parenthood

Two of my friends, Rachel the Velveteen Rabbi and Ayesha, Ms. Rickshaw, are both pregnant. They are both blogging about their experiences, and both posted the linked articles very close to one another. I tend not to get too personal on this space, but both pieces brought out powerful memories of when my wife was pregnant. As cliche as the practice hospital run is, we never did it in NY. We had the “go” bag, but we just needed to hop in a taxi. The only limit we had was that my wife could not go into labor during rush…

Read More
Weblogs

The Future of islamicate

When I started this blog almost six years ago the idea was to get some of my witty, well-informed friends to contribute to a commentary on the state of Muslims in the world. I quickly discovered either my friends were not so witty or not so much my friends [/humor]. islamicate has basically become a solo endeavor. I love the community I’ve entered through it and the opportunities that have come my way. It will continue to be an integral part of my online identity. However, I cannot give time to detailed posts anymore, and I don’t want the site…

Read More