Interview with Rabiah York Lumbard, Author of "No True Believers"

Alexis York Lumbard aka Rabiah York Lumbard agreed to Muslim Media Review's request for an interview about her first novel, No True Believers. You can see all of her works and contact her through her website.

The Young Adult (YA) Genre

Given that most authors who write YA aren’t themselves young adults, what are successful YA authors doing to connect with young readers?

They dig deep inside themselves and remember what it was like to be a teen. They also listen to their teen readers. Being a listener is critical in any form of art.

What separates YA novels & short stories from “adult” literature? Is it language level? Is it that the protagonist(s) must be young adults? For example, why isn’t Crime and Punishment a YA novel?

Documentary: The Newburgh Sting

HBO premiered the documentary "The Newburgh Sting" on July 21, 2014.

The film has a Twitter account.

Review: Barzan

The documentary film Barzan's website has the trailer and links to interviews with its creators. I watched it in light of my national security and immigrant rights concerns. I was fortunate enough to have Alex Stonehill (Director/Cinematographer), Bradley Hutchinson (Director/Editor) and Sarah Stuteville (Writer/Reporter) in the room for a Q&A after the screening.

Dead Man Tell No Tales: Susan Zalkind's Story on Ibragim Todashev

Check out @ThisAmerLife episode 519: 'Dead Men Tell No Tales.' http://t.co/IyJkGD89pk
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) March 10, 2014

This American Life is one of my favorite National Public Radio programs. This episode focuses in another of the glorious episodes in the United States's War on Terror, about which this blog has a series of entries.
Updated March 24, 2013.

BREAKING: FTF has obtained a leaked copy of the FBI's Todashev report. http://t.co/dUSz4Uyh9b

— Fire Tom Friedman (@firetomfriedman) March 24, 2014

Review: The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson

Trevor Aaronson's The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism gathers disparate news stories into one narrative: the frequency of "terrorism" convictions in the United States in the years following 2001 is neither a measure of the threat terrorism poses to public safety nor of the effectiveness of the federal government in protecting United States residents.

Review: The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror by Arun Kundnani

The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror by Arun Kundnani

Arun Kundnani (Twitter) has written a thorough critique of the Age of Obama War on Terror. And you are right, Obama supporters, that your Nobel Peace Prize-receiving hero does not call it a War on Terror like that once-reviled but now surprisingly familiar cousin George W Bush did. Obama and his people are fighting extremism. Isn't that a good thing?

NCIS, another USA national security propaganda show?

My long awaited critique of @NCIS_CBS episode #KillChain here: http://t.co/zasOSssyPq #pakistan #drones #CBS #NCIS #yemen #navy #usa
— Irfan Rydhan (@IrfanRydhan) January 31, 2014

I'm proud that I decided to drop watching USA Network's Covert Affairs. I usually, once I start watching a show, continue to watch it. The worst example of this was that I actually watched all episodes on DVD of Highlander: The Raven, including the special feature where the production team explained how they managed to produce the worst TV show ever.

For this reason, I've never watched NCIS. If I started, I'm worried that I'd be devoting 2 hours a day watching all the episodes I missed.

So I thank Irfan Rydhan for writing a review of a recent episode. I've written other blog posts about TV episodes featuring Muslim characters.