Charity & Volunteer Work: 2023
I give back whenever possible because I believes in community. While I've often done this anonymously, I now feel it's important to highlight the institutions to whom I've donated to emphasize that giving back to the community is at the heart of my writing philosophy. Charity and volunteer work are, in other words, inseparable from my writing, performing, or teaching. I give back 10% of all my income, including money I get from writing awards, honorariums, and stipends.
This year's tithing has gone to or is still going toward the following organizations:
This year's tithing has gone to or is still going toward the following organizations:
CHARITABLE DONATIONS
- Ethar KW: A volunteer group battling violence against women in Kuwait
- KareQ8: Kuwait Awareness & Rehabilitation Education
- Kabbalah Center: The Kabbalah Centre teaches the wisdom of Kabbalah and provides assistance on how to apply this wisdom in daily life.
- New Neighbors Partnership: A nonprofit that matches refugee, asylee, and asylum-seeking families with local New York City families.
PATREON
- ArabLit Quarterly - for the indispensable work to document and highlight Arab literature. You can peruse the journal for free here.
- Thom Donovan (Left Melancholic) - for his beautiful and intelligent writing. Here you will find samples of his writing that you can explore for free.
- Mona Eltahawy - for although I disagree that anger should be viewed as fuel or destination, as I consider anger a signal that requires decoding, I agree with Eltahawy's insistence on patriarchy needing to be dismantled not only theorized. In addition, I highly recommend the weekly book reviews and insight into her upcoming projects. Eltahawy is active on Twitter, follow her to get a taste of her content.
- The Great Blight: A Wheel of Time Fan Community.