13 Mar, 2021

a year has passed…

13 Mar, 2021

my family began the year by ordering black and gray masks but have now accumulated patterns that we can match with our clothes One year has slipped away since...

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south asian writers resist…

zoom screenshot featuring: (top row L to R): Beyond Baroque Executive Director Quentin Ring, me, Shreerekha Subramanian; (middle row L to R): Mahmud Rahman, Torsa Ghosal, Neelanjana Banerjee; (bottom...

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IGTV conversation with ali zaidi…

On Thursday, December 17, Ali Zaidi and I engaged in an IGTV conversation about memory versus truth in which we revisited our intersection 33 years ago in Lahore. For...

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memory versus truth . . .

February 1987: Posing at Hiran Minar, outside Lahore “These photos were taken when we went to Hiran Minar,” artist Ali Mehdi Zaidi told me via a WhatsApp call after...

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six-feet-apart….

Six-feet-apart signage in Los Angeles at a health clinic, a grocery store and at a taqueria When the pandemic first broke out, signs were temporary—masking tape for pickup lines...

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12 Nov, 2020

farewell, asmi sahib…

12 Nov, 2020

Veteran activists gather for a visit (from L-R): SM Shahid, Saleem Asmi, Zawwar Hasan, ABS Jafri, Dr Haroon Ahmed, Iqbal Jaffery My sister, Beena Sarwar’s remembrance about our family...

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burning up…

More than 30 fires are burning up along the Pacific coastline. Closer to us, the Bobcat fire started up on September 6, and expanded from 33,000 acres to 45,000...

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25 Jun, 2020

kendrec mcdade’s last words: “why did they shoot me?”…

25 Jun, 2020

L: Black Lives Matter poster designed by Minal; R: a poster at the Juneteenth protest “This is where he began to run,” Jasmine, a Black Lives Matter-Pasadena representative, spoke...

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to the helicopter reporter who referred to the men ransacking the adidas store as “cockroaches”…”

To the NBC4 helicopter reporter who referred to the men ransacking the adidas store as “cockroaches:” Last night, I watched as you offered commentary from your helicopter about the...

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week 11: honoring legacy…

Yesterday, more than 50 invited family members and friends from around the world signed in on Zoom to celebrate my father and share stories about him. The baithak was...

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