If roti has a North African cousin, it must be msemen, one of the many breads of Morocco. Another is kobsz, a classic Moroccan flatbread. Or try a meloui, a pancake that pairs nicely with butter, honey and fruit. Then there’s baghrir, reminiscent of a spongy crepe. From the city to the countryside to the…
Wild, uninhabited, desolate, forbidden. Though the desert may appear devoid of life, it is anything but! It is arid land, yet it teems with life. Driving a jeep in the peaks and valleys of the desert is like being on a roller coaster, or an ocean-skimming speed boat. It takes experience and skill to know…
It’s called Zellij, the striking patterns painted or carved on plaster or wood known the world over as Moorish tile art. Endless combinations of squares, triangles, stars, diamonds, polygons and crosses, fit together in precise mosaics on walls, ceilings and floors in buildings and gardens all over Morocco. Math marries artistic expression. Enhancing these mosaic patterns are…
Among the things that are essential to living, the writing and reading of words stems from the mists of the past and reaches into the equally nebulous future. Books serve as markers along the path of evolving civilization. “Read!” That was the word revealed by an angel to the Prophet Muhammad as he was meditating in…
L to r: Vergie Hamer, Robin Hamilton, Rev. Ed King, Dorie Ladner, Dr. Leslie McLemore. Photo courtesy of Robin Hamilton The first time I met Dorie Ladner was at the March on Washington Film Festival in 2017 in the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. She was part of a panel of movement stalwarts I’d…
That’s how Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz describes her upbringing with her siblings by their mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, after the death of their father, Malcolm X. I had the privilege of interviewing her recently at the Shabazz Center, created as a memorial to his legacy in 2005, resurrected from the bones of the old Audubon Ballroom…