Storytelling for Solidarity

March 2025

I just read a fantastic and damning critique of Alex Garland’s new film Warfare. The film centers a group of soldiers having to escape a neighborhood rife with Iraqi insurgents in 2006, and all I could think about is how, right now, is a piece of military propaganda what the world needs?

Now, I was already going to write about this subject—the role of storytelling in this moment—for my monthly newsletter, but I’m glad to have such a glaring example for why.

There’s a lot happening, and people need our help.

No, this isn’t a post to say that things are suddenly bad. Atrocities have been ongoing, both in the United States and outside of it, but never so brazenly, and it’s laid bare what I’ve always feared—a lack of critical thinking.

This is the age where people are more outraged by the plans for a bombing being leaked than the bombing itself. Where they’re more outraged about the university being penalized than the students it punished for protesting a genocide. Worst of all, folks aren’t outraged about any of this. Some may be cheering it on, and others have just given up.

But how did we get here?

Well, my take—and this is truly my take—is that the stories we’re telling have failed to meet the moment. Consumers are being fed slop like Warfare rather than narratives about the value of questioning authority, or speaking truth to power.

So, if you haven’t already, perhaps it’s time you consider how the stories you consume or make can exist in this world. What will your stories build solidarity with. . . those trying to consolidate power or those who seek to share it?

Solidarity with the latter, after all, begins with empathy. It begins with, “I understand you.”

And that understanding doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s a direct outcome of reading stories and immersing ourselves in the lives of compelling characters. Following flawed figures (can you tell I enjoy alliteration?) and seeing why they make the decisions they do expands our ability to do the same with people in this real world.

It also arms us with the wisdom to notice distractions when we see them. To avoid them, and to teach those who consume our stories to overcome those distractions too.

So, ask yourself, how are your stories—both those that you create and consume—meeting this moment?

Let’s stand in solidarity.

Announcements

March was as busy a month as ever, and April will be even busier. It’s also Arab American Heritage Month. If you do one thing to celebrate in the coming four weeks, it’s this: support Arab creators.

In a time where anti-Arab bigotry is as high as I’ve ever seen it in my nearly thirty years, choose to be a voice for empathy. Support the artists who are doing the same.

To that end, it’s a wonderful time to pre-order my upcoming book, Bashir Boutros and the Jewel of the Nile.

Announcing it here first, this novel was named a Gold Standard Selection by the Junior Library Guild. It has also received another award which I can’t share until later in April (will announce on Instagram).

But please, support the book. Pre-orders help me out tremendously, and it would mean the world.

Aside from that, I’d love to see you in Haddonfield, New Jersey (20 minutes from Philadelphia) at the South Jersey Book Festival on April 12th!

And, as always, don’t be a stranger. Reach out!