Maria is a freelance writer and journalist currently based in Vancouver, BC. For more musings on South Asian and Middle Eastern politics, portrayals of Islam in the West and the occasional preoccupation with pop culture faddism, follow Maria at www.twitter.com/mariakari1414.
The Crescent Directive is a nicely packaged story, stratagem, and vision of "how PTA meetings, Thanksgiving dinners, and Little League baseball can save the image of Islam in America".
Your friendly neighborhood Muslim, just like you, likes pie and punk, dislikes terrorists, and answers surveys.
Maria Kari interviews Moin Khan, a Pakistani-American who is embarking on a motorbike tour from San Francisco, California to Lahore Pakistan in an effort to re-envision Pakistani-Western perceptions.
When he makes his comeback this fall, Spiderman will ditch Peter Parker’s persona as scrawny, awkward, white, science-nerd and adopt a new one as the half-black, half-Latino Miles Morales.
Since the self-immolation carried out by a Tunisian fruit vendor which had far-reaching consequences across the region, the world has watched the political and social transformation across the Muslim world.
The social, cultural and political potential of millions of plugged-in Muslims creating and shaping their own narratives is both titillating and promising.
With Osama bin Laden’s death, let us not forget that much remains to be said and done in the name of peace and stability the world over.
An American MA student, of Pakistani descent, was flagged by a Southwest Airlines crew member as “suspicious” and kicked off the plane, all for saying "I’ve got to go."
Over the next twenty years Muslim population in the US will double. As the numbers increase, will levels of mutual understanding and respect do the same?