Last night I enjoyed painting at the Totally Radical Muslims Zine launch at the Last Bookstore in Los Angeles thanks to Taz Ahmed and Writ Large Press. It was a release for the second issue of the zine, entitled "Voices of Fired Resistance." It featured stories by diverse muslims. The night featured a great lineup of poetry, prose, music and dance, and challenged ideas of what constitutes a muslim. I'm proud of the reclamation of identity, and the adjustment to what it means to be totally radical. I hate the term Islamist, as it brands the madness propagated by horrible people on both sides of a disgusting war as being representative of over a billion muslims worldwide. We are a diverse group of individuals from different cultural backgrounds, varying interpretations of religious values and various gender identities and orientations. Let no one else define us, but ourselves. Thanks to Taz for hosting and inviting me to take part. These were very quick sketches, during a succession of inspiring, short performances.
Thanks to Zehra Fazal, Saba Waheed, Pia Ahmed, Meymuna Hussain Cattan, Asma Men, Sasha Ali, Taz Ahmed, Amir Abdullah, Saleem, Nasia Anam, Alicia Virani, Naazneen Diwan and Maya Jafer.