When Samar L. was in the beginning stages of promoting her new local newsletter spotlighting art and cultural events for the Middle Eastern and North African diaspora, she was shocked at the number of emotional responses from perfect strangers in her inbox.
“I'm one of those people that believe that New York is the center of the universe,” says Samar, who moved to the City from Tunisia and has lived here for the past 12 years. But when she went looking for cultural events tied to the SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African, often referred to as MENA, or Middle East/North African) community, she found a fragmented collection of mostly one-off events that were already over by the time she saw the listing. If these events weren’t passed between group chats or shared through an already functioning network of like-minded individuals, it was hard to know they existed at all.
Samar took action and created Menna, which means “from us” in Arabic, a newsletter that pulled together classes, workshops, exhibitions, screenings, readings and lectures from members of the Arab American community and beyond, all into one place. Over the past year, Menna has evolved into something more expansive: a hyperlocal platform that not only tracks what’s happening across the City within this community but works to connect the people behind it.
“I’ve heard things like ‘this made me feel closer to home,’ or ‘this completely changed my life in New York, and it’s providing a sense of belonging,’” says Samar of the reaction. “Having such a simple tool to counterbalance such a huge societal issue, for me, was extremely surprising.”
We chatted with Samar about the impact of Menna, the surprises that came with building it and what’s next.
Samar L.
Tell me a little bit more about the immediate response from people interacting with Menna.
SL: Every time someone hears about Menna, they're like, where were you all of this time? The amount of messages that I get with the older generation saying like, “I wish I had that when I was in my 20s,” or people just coming to New York [telling me] “this has been a lifesaver.”
[We started as a] newsletter, an email that you receive with the curation of events. There is nothing simpler than this idea. So when I started receiving all of these emails and later on, DMs, [I saw the] discrepancy between the simplicity of the offer and the emotional impact that it had on people.
Why do you think there is this type of void in the Arab, or at large, SWANA community?
SL: For one, the level of bigotry and outright racism the SWANA community has faced is hard to fully grasp, it has been widespread and deeply embedded. For safety, many people learned to make themselves smaller, to stay unseen.
Second, I don't know if we were aware of our numbers. There are a lot of us in New York, but we don't have data . . . because of the census. We’re considered white [referring to having no specific identity on the census to mark other than “white”]. And then physically, we come in every color; there is no one-size-fits-all. So it’s hard, even for us, very hard to look at someone and identify them as SWANA.
Kan Yama Kan at Blinky's (organized by Hala Alyan)
What was your original vision for Menna and how has that differed or exceeded your expectations? Has there been a shift from the beginning to now?
SL: One of the assumptions that I had, and I was totally wrong, is that this is a project that is going to be only interesting for people who have some roots or some connection to the SWANA region. And what I'm realizing right now is that I’m getting more and more people who are outside of that community, but curious.
Today, if you are curious about that culture, you don’t really have many ways—aside from restaurants—to experience it in New York City. I think it’s slowly becoming an educational vehicle or an educational vessel that goes beyond the core community.
We expanded to social media, where we share individual features of New Yorkers with SWANA roots. We try to understand their connection to the land, their connection to their identity, their recommendation of where they like to hang out and how they like to explore New York.
And in what way do you think the state of the world slash the time that we’re in now has affected or contributed to Menna, if at all?
SL: I think it completely shaped Menna on so many levels. What’s happening domestically and internationally, it directly affects the diaspora. There is a state of dissonance as part of this diaspora where you are completely living what’s happening abroad because these are also your countries and you relate and you know these people. These are not just numbers.
And at the same time… you need to wake up in the morning and go to the office and pretend as if nothing is happening. That creates so much emotional dissonance. Spaces like Menna are a survival tool for us emotionally.
By attending those cultural events, by showing up to movies that support specific social issues or political issues, by supporting specific artists who hold values that are dear to our hearts, I think that tangible support gives us a sense of agency.
We're also trying to organize, and especially right now with what’s happening in Sudan, Iran, Lebanon and in Palestine, you’re starting to see fundraisers that are built around cultural experiences and artistic events, and people are showing up.
The cast of the play Driftwood, written by Sabina Sethi Unni
What are the criteria for an event or profile featured in Menna?
SL: First of all, we really like diversity of crafts and categories, so we don’t focus on, for example, just cinema or just music. You really find the richness of what SWANA people and artists and creators are able to build.
The second thing, all of these events are LGBTQ+ friendly, or allies. That’s something that’s very important for us. We had just such a heartwarming reaction from the SWANA queer community in New York. There are spaces for SWANA queer New Yorkers to interact more with the rest of the community. So [we helped create] a beautiful bridge.
The third one, it’s really open to all faiths. We don’t focus on one specific faith; we respect the diversity of the region, [and it goes] beyond Christianity, Judaism and Islam. We try to represent and find events that speak to every type of subgroup of that community.
Anyone can be profiled or featured as long as they align with our values, which are clearly stated on our website. As I mentioned earlier, those are also our criteria for event selection. They need to be against occupation, against colonialism. I think that’s the main, basic thing. They need to be anti-racism or bigotry of any type, an LGBTQ+ ally and open to all religions.
Are we going to be for everyone? Probably not. But I think that we are for the majority. We’ve rarely had issues with those values.
In the beginning you had wanted to stay away from political-leaning events. What changed?
SL: If I want to be honest, when I started, I was like, you know what, we need a breather from politics because anytime you hear about SWANA in public spaces, it’s always linked to politics. So [I said] I’m just going to put politics aside and focus on art and culture. And then what I realized is that I don’t think that’s doable.
I think right now, there is just no way you can make a distinction between our culture and politics, especially in the case of SWANA people. Our mere existence is political.
Omar Offendum + Thanks Joey at Public Records
You recently launched a website. Has your curation approach changed at all for the newsletter itself?
SL: So now, yes, because we launched the website a couple of weeks ago, we’re putting all of the events on the website. The role of the newsletter has now shifted to a more editorial space.
[In the newsletter,] we’re really focused on the events that we think you really need to show up for. We try to stay away from your traditional expected dabke [Arabic folk dance] workshop or belly dancing class.
This is where you see SWANA art colliding with New York streets. This is where you see the future of maqam [a melodic scale] singing in New York. This is where you see an avant-garde photography exhibit. So we’re having a lot of fun doing that.
I think people are appreciating the curation and that lens of “give me the new, give me the imagination of our culture, give me where the culture is heading, not just where we started.”
How has Menna changed the way that you interact with the City?
SL: I'm very grateful for Menna because it has given permission to interact with the City on a deeper level. I'm an introvert; Menna gave me an excuse to actually go and talk to people. And that completely changes the way you interact, I think, with the City at large, because the City is places, but also mostly people.
This is a very people-forward type of platform. The old Samar would probably have picked a spot in her neighborhood because it would have been just more convenient. The Samar from Menna actually asks for recommendations from the people that she’s meeting with, which pushed her to actually go and discover very different neighborhoods.
This is a community that’s extremely scattered. One day you’re in Williamsburg, the other day you’re in Brooklyn Heights, another day you’re going to be in Midtown. It's been a wonderful kind of boost, a wonderful guide for me to experience the City in a very different way, through a very different lens.