Salaam friends,

Earlier this week, I caught a stomach virus, so I spent most of it in bed recovering. But here is what I’ve been up to.

📖 Books I’m reading?

I’m reading Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas. My friend Ted recommended I read this book because Fatin attended the same MFA program we graduated from at Hunter College. Fatin is a good potential guest for the podcast, and an amazing writer.

A sentence from Fatin’s website captures the book: “A dynamic, beautifully orchestrated debut novel connecting five characters caught in the crosshairs of conflict on the Sudanese border.”

My favorite sentence from the book so far is this one:

The scent of baking bricks and dung came and went, carried by the river breeze, and still she looked, drifting between the face, the hands, the dust, the moving broom, so lost in looking that the pulse in her aching arm no longer felt like pain but only rhythm.

🔖 Quote I’m pondering

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes including you.”

— Anne Lamont

📸 Through My Lens

That’s my childhood best friend and cousin Ibrahim— well not a cousin, cousin; everyone who carries my tribe’s name, Zaid, is a cousin. The truck behind him was filled because of Ibrahim’s aunt Sana and a WhatsApp message. Sana decided that she needed to play a role in relieving the people in Turkey and Syria, so she told sisters to buy clothes, shoes, and sleeping bags, and bring them to Ibrahim’s house, since he has a spacious front yard. A few bags arrived, but that didn't satisfy her, so she shared Ibrahim's address in her WhatsApp friends group. In 24 hours, more than 70 large luggage bags were collected, more than a 100 boxes, and 10s of bags of different sizes. We had to drive an hour and fifteen minutes to Long Island to find a place that would still accept the load.

Please give me feedback on Instagram. What do you want more or less of? Or other suggestions? Just me a message @mohamedthewriter

Thank you for reading, and keep on creating!

Mohamed