Dina Tokio is on our lists for her light and witty videos which deal with fashion, being a young mom and a Muslim woman.
The Reading List
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
A tension exists between the self and the family, particularly in immigrant households. There’s the self you want to be — individual, and unequivocally free — and the self you have to be for your family: traditional, obedient, deferential. I have never read a book that maps this tension out as well as Fatima Farheen Mirza’s A Place for Us. It opens at the wedding of Hadia, the eldest daughter of an Indian-American family. Her errant younger brother, Amar, is returning home after a series of betrayals led to his estrangement. What unfolds is a stunning tale of faith and family. (SE) Click here for the full review.
If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar
In her debut poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar reflects on being a brown, queer, Muslim, American, Pakistani-Kashmiri woman in Donald Trump’s United States. Reading the intricately written poems in If They Come for Us will leave you feeling hollow inside. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking. With poems ranging from deeply personal explorations of religion, sexuality and history to shared experiences of racism and discrimination, it is a wonderful insight into what it means to be a brown immigrant woman. Asghar’s poetry is painful and unapologetic and leaves you begging for more at the end. (FM)
The Playlist:
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (Netflix)
Festivals have always been popular. Until the Fyre debacle happened, though, who knew that behind the festival was another festival of equally wild proportions. Somewhere in this Netflix documentary, a clip is shown of the two founders, Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, and the rest of their team toasting to the festival: “Here’s to living like movie stars, partying like rock stars and fucking like porn stars!”
Americans really are the kings of entertainment, even when they aren’t trying to be. The documentary also shows the sheer arrogance and vapidness of the organisers to think they could pull off a venture so elaborate that it seemingly rivalled pyramid schemes. Although, considering that the organisers sold 95% of their tickets in the first 48 hours of release, one has to wonder who the real dunces are. (RS)