THE MIDNIGHT SUN MOSQUE, est. 2010 🇨🇦 If the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem means “the furthest,” then does that mean that the Midnight Sun Mosque on the literal edge of the Arctic Circle is the new Al-Aqsa? Maybe not by exact distance from Mecca (that distinction belongs to Southland Muslim Association in Invercargill, New Zealand). Nor is…

If this is a book you’ll buy, I’d be grateful if you ordered a presale today. Preorders are one of the best ways you can support an author. Because they’re counted as first-week sales, they can make or break a book.

Omar Mouallem is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. He’s reported on Muslim and Middle Eastern issues for The Guardian, The Ringer, and WIRED, coauthored the national bestseller Inside the Inferno: A Firefighter’s Story of the Brotherhood that Saved Fort McMurray, and dIrected two documentaries. His forthcoming film, The Last Baron…

DOME OF THE ROCK/AL-AQSA PLAZA, est. 691 🇵🇸 The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem is charged with symbolism and contention. Often overlooked is the significance of its location on Temple Mount (Harem al-Sharif) to Prophet Muhammad’s first followers, who prostrated toward Jerusalem years before making Mecca the Muslim capital. Islam is, as it…

Earlier this year, Edmonton City Councillor Jon Dziadyk (Ward 3) proposed naming a green space in the north side neighbourhood Beaumaris after Kahlil Gibran. You can read about the plan and community group with whom Coun. Dziadyk has partnered in this blog. The Councilor’s office is preparing a package to…

In 2012, I made the leap into full-time freelance writing. It was six years in the making. I eased toward the career shift after gaining enough experience and connections as a magazine editor. Still, I worried that I might not have the self-discipline and self-motivation to…

This blog was originally published by Third Verb in October 2016. I took on an interesting assignment for Reader’s Digest this summer. It was not a career-changing story and few readers outside of the magazine industry would even notice my byline, let alone remember me for it. It was a…

A letter from a perennial villain is discovered. A tragedy transpires. Who said LinkedIn was useless? Me — I did! — up until a few weeks ago when I found an unread months-old message from Jennifer Chan Yih, a data scientist who discovered an old letter inside an antique typewriter…

The article was originally published as “The Man Behind the Camera” in the June 2015 issue of Alberta Venture. Copyright belongs to the author. The smell of leather and sweat filling the Beverly Bronx Boxing Club is quickly ­forgotten when Kris “The Raven” Blackwell arrives. Tall and busty, with a…