First Person

A Country in Between: Remembering My Iraqi American Father

Rooted as much in Michigan as Mosul, he lived to see both of his homes turn to sectarian violence and division.

Dialogue is mostly a form of behavior and personal revelation usually accidental. Therein lies a drama, and a mystery.

Dramaturg Doug Langworthy shone his light on the work of others, but it finally couldn’t lead him out of his own private darkness.

Catching a glimpse of the beloved community in a quirky, inclusive corner of the U.S.

How the queerness of fairy tales and musicals, once coded and now more open, has always spoken—and sung—directly to me.

Changing my headshot opened my eyes to the ways I’m seen—and remain unseen.

I’m reclaiming my birth name in a new musical just as the U.S. elects its first Indian American VP. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

As the trauma of George Floyd’s killing and the specter of COVID entered my home and my work, I was reminded what my country is—and still could be.

One writer’s extraordinary efforts to prove extraordinary ability for an O-1 visa.

Lockdown is no blessing, but I am using it for good: to heal, to step off the grant-writing treadmill, and to say no to more abuse.