Dear Reader, “Spring is our proof that radical, revolutionary change is possible, and very quickly.” This comes from my opening remarks at a “Poetry for Palestine” event, two nights before New Years’ Eve: “I invite you to look at Spring. Trees lay bare for what seems like forever, then buds sprout, and again it seems like forever, but you wake up one morning and you see flowers of every color, and the next week it’s green all over, and bird-songs fill the air. Yet it happens in the most...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, This second Christmas under genocide, Moses comes to mind—not the wrathful old man, but the helpless infant in a papyrus basket floating downriver. The child was destined to perish were it not for the compassion of one person, the daughter of the very Pharaoh who condemned a generation of infants to death. Like Moses, Jesus was a survivor of a mass-infanticide. Jesus was saved by the compassionate intervention of his adoptive father, Joseph. Their journey to Egypt was a mirror...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, Thank you for sticking with me during this difficult year. I appreciate all your interactions and notes of support. Reflecting on a poem I wrote last year from Palestine on October 7, it occurred to me that everyone killed in Gaza during the past year – estimates range from 43,000 to 200,000 or more – were alive at the moment I wrote that poem. This sad truth points to a starker fact: that the loss of life since Oct. 7 was entirely preventable. By the evening of October 7, the...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, As of this morning, I finished a half-marathon to raise funds for scholarships for Palestinian students. I am so grateful to all who contributed to my campaign with United Palestinian Appeal. If you are thinking about donating, this is the time–please do! I share this photo from one of my training runs with the Iqraa-DC running club, and hope to share one from the race next time. ‘Running for a Brighter Palestine’: On mile 9 of an 11-mile training run, in my new Iqraa team shirt....
8 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Reader, Librarians and educators are at the forefront of defending marginalized voices. Yet a climate of fear prohibits many of them from featuring the most silenced and marginalized voices of our times: Palestinian American and Palestinian voices. “Books on Palestine are sort of pre-banned, because who wants to get into so much trouble?,” says Dr. Alice Rothchild in an interview I conducted with her recently. “It’s important to face [anti-Palestinian censorship and marginalization],...
9 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, My mother was 16 when she lost her home, and everything she owned, during the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. Only one thing kept her and her elderly parents out of the refugee camp: her education. With her matriculation certificate, the equivalent of a high school diploma, she was able to get a job with the Red Cross, providing medical care to refugee children. At 16, she became the breadwinner of the family. For decades, education was the Palestinian’s ticket back to life. It...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Ramsey Hanhan'sUpdate Dear Reader, I have exciting news. Distressed as we all are by the horrific situation in Gaza, I decided to break the chains of helplessness by training with the Iqraa Running Club in DC to run a race in the fall. 100% of the donations to my campaign will go to United Palestinian Appeal’s Mahmoud Darwish Scholarship Fund. For no added cost, your donation inspires my team at Iqraa and I to keep going and support each other through these difficult times. Your help is...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Ramsey Hanhan'sUpdate Dear Reader, Today's heroic students are the ones to declare the emperor has no clothes. They are putting their lives, safety, education, and future careers on the line to do what the rest of society has utterly failed: respect human life. Visiting the Palestine Solidarity Encampment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, May 7, 2024. Find your local protests at https://nationalsjp.org/. In those camps, Jewish and Palestinian American students are coming together and...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Ramsey Hanhan'sUpdate Dear Reader, A great big thank you to all who have taken the time to write to me in the past months. Your warm thoughts mean much at this difficult time. Though I may be unable to respond immediately, I do read and ponder every email, and am inspired by your support. I am honored to be delivering a ‘sermon’ this Sunday, April 14, at West Hill United Church in Ontario, Canada (Zoom option available). The topic is “Healing from Conflict: How to Resist Injustice with Love.”...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read