Al Markaz has kept its dining room closed due to the pandemic. Carrollton’s South Asian community misses the food, but longs for its beloved gathering space even more. Published on D Magazine.
Culture shock: What the loss of communal dining means to our sense of connection
"... my fervor for cooking and dining disappeared, leaving me to wonder what this meant for the future of communities. Food, an object of connection and cultural importance, became something that was both harder to access and consumed in solitude."
His dream is written in Spanish: juggling of identity in Netflix’s ‘Gentefied’
"Gentefied asks us how we express our love for ourselves without diminishing that of others in our communities, as well as how important our identities are that we are willing to sacrifice our dreams to cling onto them."
Timelessness in the music of Fishmans
"Stripping music of its extra components in such a way is a feat most people desire and appreciate yet one which few people can accomplish. But Fishmans seem to do it at many turns of their career, crafting singular compositions that I probably would have been able to learn in my beginner piano classes and combining them to make cohesive, long tracks that feel like they go by in seconds."
The moments of clarity in ‘Ramy’
"... those moments, though our confusing lives continue after them, live in us as a reminder of who we are. At those moments we rate ourselves a 5, when in all other moments we might rate ourselves a 3. Yet we remember what the 5 felt like so we can strive to reach it again."
In Fort Worth, An Old House Is the City’s New Cultural Hub
"Even as this community of musicians and business owners branch out, they find a way to make wherever they are home by appreciating locality."
The time Rosalía sounded like my mother’s cleaning music
"Somehow, while having to balance all of these ambiguities, Rosalía does not fail to leave out any aspect of her new identity that she’s embracing, that of a powerful, self-realizing woman, a pioneer of the emerging genre of flamenco pop, and a product of cultural eclecticism and diaspora."
Revolutionizing Maghrebi Art To Move Towards a Cultural Identity
"The universality of the guilt and loss of identity experienced by Maghrebi immigrants allows for the contemporary art of the Maghrebi Diaspora to have tangible effects on the world. Its conception offers an avenue for Maghrebi immigrants to represent their unique experiences as a collective body."
Ali Haider 