2009 Common Reading Initiative Guide

Fall 2009 Events

The Narcicyst: Iraqi Hip Hop

Monday, August 24, 2009

Dibden Center for the Arts at 8 p.m.
The Narcicyst is an Iraqi MC born in the United Arab Emirates and raised in Canada. His musical career was spawned through the collaborative work of the Euphrates family; a growing collective of Muslim visual artists, musicians, painters, filmmakers and photographers. A graduate in Political Science and Communication Studies, Narcy went on to get a masters degree in Media Studies focusing on the identity politics in Hip-Hop poetics. He has just released his third solo album. www.narcy.net

Maz Jobrani: Comedian

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Dibden Center for the Arts at 8 p.m.
Maz Jobrani is an Iranian-born American comedian. He is part of the "Axis of Evil" comedy group and has also appeared in numerous films, television shows, on radio and in comedy clubs. Jobrani did not take the conventional route to performing comedy. He studied Political Science and Italian at UC Berkeley, where he received a B.A. degree. In fact, Jobrani was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at UCLA when he decided to pursue his childhood dream of acting and performing comedy. He has since made appearances on shows like The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Talkshow with Spike Feresten and regularly performs at top comedy clubs. www.mazjobrani.com

Moustafa Bayoumi

Tuesday October 20, 2009
Dibden Center for the Arts at 7p.m.
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does it Feel to Be a Problem?, will be on campus for a public talk and book signing, as well as class visits and informal meetings with members of the JSC Community. www.moustafabayoumi.com/

NY Masjid: The Mosques of New York City - Photographs by Edward Grazda

August 24 - December 18, 2009

Artist Talk: October 14, 2009
Dibden Center for the Arts Wings Gallery
Since the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Edward Grazda has photographed many of the mosques in New York City. These photographs defy the media stereotypes of Muslims in America. These Mosques reflect and create identities for Muslims within the dense and diverse urban fabric of New York City. Born in Queens, New York, Grazda studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Since the 1970s, his work has taken him to Latin America, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. His photographs have appeared in many publications and are in several museum collections, and he is the author of three books of photography.
http://tinyurl.com/nnym48/