What is disinformation? Why is it so effective? Is all disinformation from Russia? What is the main purpose of disinformation? How is disinformation disseminated? Why are we susceptible to it?

The Study sand mural by Rohemah Muhamed (podcast listener).  This is a conversation of love that might serve as an example of how to come to know the adjacent other. America's immigration histories are rich and diverse. Often, our presence in America as the children of immigrants renders us living within invisible barriers from on another.  One of those barriers is Coptic Christianity and Islam in Egypt.  John Abdou is a leader within USA Waterpolo and a son of southern California. John and I come to know each other in our first ever conversation. Through this conversation we both came to understand ourselves and our lived experience with more depth and clarity. We speak on love of nation and love of origin. Touching upon our understanding of America's exceptionalism, we meditate on our blackness in America and the result of our disenfranchisement. This is love. This is respect. This is brotherhood.

Syed Hadi al-Qazwini is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California and a leading voice of ethics, philosophy, and faith for my generation. He holds many degrees in from secular institutions of knowledge as well as religious seminaries around the world. Hadi descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. His sage and healing takes on our current American moment are heart and mind expansive. This conversation is for all humans interested in a more beautiful reality. What is the self? How does one inquire from within? Where is within? How can one enhance their supplication and meditation? How does one develop the self, spirit, and soul? Is there a people's history of Islam? One that was not written by the conqueror? We discuss the beauty of supplication as offered by the family of the Prophet to God. We discuss Imam Ali's beautiful morning prayer. The prayer of Zain al Abideen (Ali Ibn al Hussain - the 4th Imam of Shi'i Islam) Al Saheefa Al Sajjadiyah called munajat or silent whispers of love.

Peace. Peace. 

Do we need religion? What is religion? Who gets to claim acting pursuant to religion? When people look to their faith systems for understanding, what are they then saying about society at large? Is there a role for the particularisms of religion in plural societies? Are some understandings of being religious or faithful better than others? How can we come to an understanding of religion that is more becoming of our humanity? How can our faith and faithfulness meet the moment?

What is islam? What is its role in governance and policy? What are the objectives of Sharia? What are the pillars of assessing Islam’s relevance to public policy making? Are the ideas of deen (faith) and dunya (worldly affairs) still valent? Can we approach them differently than we have before? Is there a philosophy of religion?

 Dr. basma abdelgaffar argues that this isn’t necessarily so. How can we come to understand the role of faith and religion in governance? What is religion? What is the role of ethics? How does religion play a role in secular governance? First, we must come to see the plurality of possible interpretations of; religion, ethics, and public good. when can we challenge the religious claims of religiosity?

What are islam’s possible contributions to governance? What are the aims and objectives of the of Sharia? How can we go about assessing mindsets and heart-sets? What are our purposes and objectives in policy-making from an Islamic perspective? There are only two ways to make policy decisions, tyranny or a democratized process. The purpose of public policy making must be the betterment of society and bring about sustainable positive change to the status quo. Islam and environmental policies. Islam and; covid vaccine, food security, and much more.

For a masterclass on life we come to none other than author, counselor, publisher, and communal pillar, Munira Ezzeldine. Munira walks us through the transformational power of making the intention of living through curiosity. From San Diego, through life's transformations, she fell in love with Joe Bruin. We take the trip together from young students in love to the parents of Lions. From the suburbs of Southern California to the mass graves of Srebrenica, Munira tells the story of taking her teenagers to the land of her ancestors. In Montenegro, in the villages of her parents, her children saw a society that holds pluralism in its DNA and a cosmic permission is given to be in awe of diversity and culture. How can we train our children through exposure to have the requisite resilience necessary to explore life to its fullest potential? We discuss the Tadic decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. What does it mean to be a Balkan American Muslim? The value of walking our children through history in the most intimate way possible. We also discuss how to allow ourselves to re-see reality through the process of growing through the stages of growth that our young people experience. How can we be comfortable in liminal states? Being steady in pandemic times. False optimism doesn't work, run toward your anxiety - understand it, engage it. As parents, we impose our anxieties upon our kids, while much of the effort should be about letting go differently at different stages of our development. Parenting is a slow process of letting go. Letting go requires growth at each stage. "What your kid does is not a reflection of you." Your children's choices are not a threat to you. The key to parenting is curiosity. You have to trust the process. Simply, a masterclass on being an exceptional human.Mu

Rabbi Stephen Chicurel-Stein: Maestro of Purpose

The Son of St. Louis became Conductor of the Houston, St. Louis and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. Fluent in Hebrew, Spanish, and German, Chicurel-Stein is the 4th Rabbi in 6 generations of the Stein family. His honorable father was a Holocaust survivor, who along with his father’s brother and grandparents found freedom in Rotterdam, Holland, then in 1938 travelled through NY to St. Louis. He tells the stories of courage and survival among the youngest survivors of Nazi genocide. Rabbi Chicurel-Stein speaks to the resonance of the Holocaust in the lived experience of children of Holocaust survivors. From the age of 13, Steve dreamed of becoming a conductor and spent a good portion of the following 20 years rising to that dream. Somewhere along that journey, Steve picked up a book that requires hand-written journaling application entitled The Artist’s Way. The Way allowed an unfolding of Steve’s next curiosity, which turned into a journey to Jerusalem. We discuss the process of allowing our future to come to our present and rising in spiritual development and maturation of ethical character. “The power of listening to what you are hearing.” “The Score of the Infinite.” Rabbinic School and conjugating verbs. Upon a Sunday, after conducting in front of 25k people in two concerts, Steve leaped into the rhythmic dance between reason and faith. 1883 and the founding of Hebrew Union College and the social construction of “orthodoxy.”We discuss the works of Abraham Geiger, Martin Buber, Michael Lerner and more. We speak of identity, heteronormative toxicity, physical and communal safety. I get checked on my Bossa Nova metaphor and much much more.

From the cradle of the Confederacy, through the world, to Los Angeles, Damien DeLaney takes us on a heart and mind expanding journey. The war to preserve slavery left a mark on all aspects of life in Lexington VA, requiring a black boy to grow under the shadows of the confederate flag. Rural cosmopolitanism creates unique divides and bridges across the race divide, Damien gives us a glimpse into his upbringing in a town of 5,000 people. The DeLaneys live in a home occupied for four generations in Lexington, VA. With a public official and storied university professor as parents, Damien teaches us about life in America's south. Survival skills of staying in our lane is one of the ways we manage patriarchy from the time of slave masters until today. We discuss the generation inheritance of resilience and trauma. From Steve Erkel to Jay Z, how can one human transcend so much distance in one life? Damien talks about being Egyptian in Egypt, Moroccan in Morocco and Asian in South Africa. A spell-binding tour of the world taught Kara and Damien much about themselves and the world. What makes a good citizen? How can we manage race as a caste system? The liquidity of identity and racism.

This week we visit with dr. Brian Garcia of Long Beach, CA. We take a tour of American literary history in the post revolutionary period. How did the early artists of our nation compete on the definition of America. How did Europe and European identity force some of the development of what it means to be an America? They were surely not interested in Kings named George on American soil. national identity is a series of stories that we tell ourselves. In that process folks often cite texts they have not read, thus elevating the symbolism over its substance. We mention my article in the journal critical muslim on the nature of closed minds among western muslims as well as the infamous Shaikh McScrooge khutbah at the Islamic center of Southern California. Despite our insistence that nations are social constructs, they are very real. So real that people die for it as an idea. So, how can we build a bridge between American nationalisms? Can we remain hopeful despite lacking optimism? Did you know that Washington Irving has an office in the al Hambra? America has a major cultural inferiority complex that stayed with us from the founding era. At the outset of our nation's literary life, much of the discourse developed like 90s hip hop beefs. The Nassars. Travels around the world. Our Blackstar story. Authoritarianism and the mythology of American supremacy.

It is one of the great blessings of doing this show that I present to you Courtney Erwin. Courtney has been a leader in track two diplomacy initiatives, international law, sustainable educational change for girls, scientific inquiries on a variety of areas of social science to just name a few. Yet we travel to her in Rabat, Morocco for a different conversation. Courtney tells the story of her journey from world capitals and power brokering social change to moving to the ancient city of Fez for Arabic and a spiritual awakening. Courtney is the first American woman to host an Arabic language show in the Arab world. I bring you to one of my spiritual teachers in hope that we can gain tools of spiritual and ethical resilience for our current moment of confusion. Watch a master of the heart and mind capture yours.