American Creations

Immigrants are reviving Paterson, N.J., from its difficult past. It was nearly 6,000 miles from the family and friends he left in Egypt a year ago to the park bench where Ismail Mohamed sat puffing on a cigarette, surveying a block lined with Middle Eastern restaurants. But it felt very much like home. A mile…

Playwright Yussef El Guindi is determined to confront U.S. laws, rhetoric and fears tied to Arab-Americans. SEATTLE – When terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Yussef El Guindi stopped writing. The Arab-American playwright’s career had only just started to take off, but stunned by the magnitude of the tragedy,…

Satire is often used to educate and broach tough topics. As negative perceptions of Islam persist throughout the U.S., some Muslim women are trying a softer way to build bridges: comedy. It’s intermission, and the Comedy Clubhouse is buzzing with conversation. Young people in business attire or hipster T-shirts have refreshed their drinks and are…

Bobby Rogers’s art finds beauty and creativity in unseen communities, from black Muslims to Minneapolis gang members to faces of police brutality protesters. Three years ago on a hot summer day, Philando Castile was shot and killed by police officer Jeronimo Yanez in Falcon Heights, a St. Paul suburb near Minneapolis. Bobby Rogers had recently…

The market for halal food is expanding rapidly. But where some see opportunity, other see an attempt to reduce religious faith to a marketing buzzword. Sameer Sarmast’s adventurous appetite long ago moved beyond his mother’s South Asian cooking. He likes spicy enchiladas, Jamaican jerk chicken, Texas-style barbeque, and Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. But one thing hasn’t…

Rahim AlHaj, who has been nominated for Grammys, hopes to draw attention to the experiences of those caught in violent conflict in Iraq and elsewhere. Rahim AlHaj knows about loss. He knows about losing his country and losing the beloved musical instrument that set him on his life’s path. The distress of fellow Iraqis still…

Refugees often say that war feels like a wave of violence washing over them, leaving behind death and destruction. The feeling was no different for Katra Ali Hethar, who fled war-torn Somalia in 1991 with her nine small children. Being responsible for so many lives was a logistical nightmare. But even in moments of emergency,…

Children’s books with Muslim characters can help open minds, and provide kids with role models that have stories like theirs. Zara is a curious young Muslim girl with curly brown hair whose grandmother bakes delicious treats in the kitchen. Her mother is a doctor. Her aunt is an artist who rocks pink and purple hair.…

The Moroccan-American author talks about her new novel, in which she gives voice to a wide range of characters, including a racist American. Laila Lalami is never in a hurry to finish writing a book. A disciplined author, she spends months, sometimes years, developing carefully crafted narratives and finding joy in the company of the…

HAMTRAMCK, Michigan — With two boys in maroon soccer jerseys in the back seat of her SUV, Maria Martínez navigates slippery, pot-holed streets past the chain-link fencing of a General Motors assembly plant slated for closure, multi-lingual awnings of Yemeni restaurants and Polish bakeries, a green-and-white brick neighborhood mosque and the neon signs of a…