Category: CULTURE
A Woman’s Right to Move
When I was in eighth grade my teacher had us write down our goals for high school. My number one goal was to get accepted to the University of Michigan. I was unsure why I wanted to attend the institution so bad. Nobody in my immediate family had attended and I actually knew very little ...
Ambassador of Poetry … Dr. Ali Ajami
Ambassador Dr. Ali Ajami advocates for Arabic Poetry through his attendance and participation in various literacy forums among which is Dearborn Open Mic.
Love Always Wins At The End, Poem by Alaa Barakat
The world has stood against me once It told me I was not welcome To run on its grounds To seek a dream I once had The world was tough and mean But I didn’t let it distract me From the journey I have already started The world did not change its mind immediately About ...
Multicultural Match
So, one day you meet this guy on Match.com.  He’s quiet.  He’s interesting.  He’s worldly and open minded.  Oh, and did I mention he’s gorgeous?  How is it possible this beautiful guy isn’t already snatched up?  And how is it possible that he’s smitten with you?  This is what I thought 13 years ago when ...
Nick Vujicic in Arabic by Haidar Mazen
No arms, no legs - no worries! Nick Vujicic uses his story to inspire and inform people all around the world. Nick is an Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome,[4] a rare disorder characterized by the absence of arms and legs. He is one of the seven known surviving individuals planet-wide ...
Racism Smiles On S. Brady by Yasmine Badaoui
Yasmine Badaoui is a free lance writer, and she is an editor in Miss Muslim.She has a bachelors degree in Psychology from Iowa State University. Yasmine recited her poem at the Dearborn Open Mic last Wednesday that talks about the controversial Statue of Hubbard and the discussion of its removal from Dearborn.
Amer Zahr … Activism Through Comedy and Writing
Amer Zahr is an Arab-American of Palestinian descendant. He is known for his stand-up comedian, writer, filmmaker, producer, adjunct law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, and former lawyer. He was born in Jordan to refugee parents of Palestinian heritage originally from Nazareth and then moved to the United States when he was three ...
Dearborn Open Mic … The Artistic Oasis in Arab American Dearborn
"Dearborn has a consortium of Arabic poets, Young Artists, and Arab American creative writing talents, that it should be considered an intellectual and artistic center, if it wasn't for the lack of that expression in the community. We are going to change that."
The Argeeli Romance
I was sitting in a café with a friend of mine. We both ordered our argeeli (another name for the hookah or shisha). These are water pipes, and are used to smoke flavored or straight tobacco. I ordered mine mint flavored, dried, with a glass of Perrier and he ordered a grape mint argeeli and a glass ...
Endangered Art
Imagine a world without art. No Rembrandt, no Hemingway, no Kubrick, no J.S. Bach, not even “Cirque du Soleil”. As scary is that may sound, let us imagine for a moment that artistic imagination isn’t a human characteristic. Is it possible then, that we would lose our inspiration, and the compass of our humanity or ...