photo of sunset over Gaza by Hadeel Assali This morning, I called Hadeel Assali, a friend from Houston, Texas who recently defended her dissertation at Columbia University. I had...
Read more04 Jun, 2021
19 Mar, 2021
say their names. . .
19 Mar, 2021
Four days after six women of Asian descent were murdered by a white supremacist in Atlanta, the mainstream media is barely releasing the women’s names. Few details about the...
Read more14 Nov, 2020
six-feet-apart….
14 Nov, 2020
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...
Read more31 May, 2020
to the helicopter reporter who referred to the men ransacking the adidas store as “cockroaches”…”
31 May, 2020
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...
Read more24 Apr, 2020
“the present is a transit lounge…”
24 Apr, 2020
Arundhati Roy talking with Imani Perry on YouTube; organized by Haymarket Books Yesterday morning, I disrupted my schedule to listen to Arundhati Roy’s conversation with Imani Perry, The Pandemic...
Read more30 Mar, 2020
on lockdown with the rest of the world…
30 Mar, 2020
Week 1: a Saturday evening sunset at Redondo Beach, a site that is now closed Week One (March 16-22): Two weeks ago, all schools in Los Angeles and most...
Read more17 Mar, 2020
“the new normal”…
17 Mar, 2020
photograph by Richshell Allen, Pasadena City College photographer – “What compelled you to write about social justice issues?”– “How do you push past ‘writers block?'”– “Can you talk about...
Read more26 Aug, 2019
celebrate our voices / / BAN THE WALLS . . .
26 Aug, 2019
The statement below (written collaboratively by Diya Bose, Alicia Vogl Saenz, and me) was read in the order of writers above: Jamie Asaye Fitzgerald, Alicia Vogl Saenz, Elline Lipkin, Manuela Traude Gomez, Diya...
Read more30 Jul, 2019
macondo2019 after a tough take-off…
30 Jul, 2019
Workshop participants Reyna Grande, Macarena Hernández, Olivia Meña, Amelia María de la Luz Montes and partner, Liliana Valenzuela, Fan Wu, and Macondo board member Pat Aldrete with Sandra Cisneros and Ruth Behar at Liberty Bar “I’m...
Read more26 Apr, 2019
on the move …
26 Apr, 2019
My reading at Rio Hondo College’s annual literary festival with an image of my father, Dr. Mohammad Sarwar, in the background; photo by Tom Callinan “Thank you, miss,” a...
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