Dark
Light
When All Other Lights Go Out:
Wagner, Howard Shore, and the Long Road Home When I was a little boy, sitting alone in the…
Blood, Death and Hope
In Fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, menopausal women are literally women who have reached the age of “despair.”…
Inshallah, my love
Days after my third round of IVF ended in failure, I let a friend of mine pull me…
Beirut: On Weathering Wars
Beirut often feels like a ghost town. Streets that used to be lined with party-goers and late-diners are…
Essay two: Excelling as Defiance: The Early Life of Doria Shafik
I began my journey into the life of Dr. Doria Shafik more than three years ago. Throughout these…
Remembering the Egyptian Novelist Sonallah Ibrahim: “Taking a Scalpel to the Communist Dream”
When I first met Sonallah Ibrahim (August 3, 1937–August 13, 2025) in 2016—the Egyptian novelist with his shock…
Not Forgotten: The Story of Doria Shafik
Essay One: Where the Story Begins Academic research has always held a special place in my heart. It…
The Masculine Codex
“You’re very brave for coming here,” the white woman standing next to us keeps saying. She is like…