"...a better self-portrait..."

My online friend and sort-of neighbor Ibrahim Abusharif has a thoughtful article in the Christian Science Monitor on American Muslim artistic endeavors and their hoped-for improvement of Muslims' public image.

A vigorous cultural presence, one hopes, can help a people reclaim their right to show who they really are while protecting the interior narrative of their faith from being co-opted by fringe extremists, whose deeds, then, are trumped up by media "experts" who often peddle medieval fears about Islam with impunity. When people are known at a visceral level - something pushed along by the puissance of art - their place in society becomes layered and authentic. Their sense of belonging strengthens, as does their voice in public debate.

My heartfelt wish is that non-Muslim America turns away from American Idol and their own inherent predjudices long enough to take notice.