Ahla friends,
A year ago, I started Menna on a single conviction: that culture is one of the truest filters we have for finding one another, that the things we're drawn to can lead us straight to the people we're meant to know. For a year now, we've gathered around this newsletter, week after week.
And somewhere in that year, the list stopped being just a list. Through the emails, the polls you generously took, the time you gave to our surveys, the coffees and the events we shared, I started to know you.
Here's what I know: you're curious, you're cultured, you're hungry for substance (and for beauty). And more and more, you've been asking the same quiet question, where do we actually meet?. I've stood in many of the same rooms you have, talked and brainstormed with so many of you, and dreamt about this, quietly, and out loud with you.
That question, where do we meet? is what today answers. It's our first step toward the thing we've all been reaching for: a space to gather and discover something new about our shared culture, in a way that actually rises to it, far from the clichés and the usual habibi tropes.
So we're introducing Menna Salon, recurring gatherings built around a social hour and a time for learning and discovery, led by guest speakers with real depth and real expertise (no yapping here).
I'm beyond thrilled to invite you to the very first one: "Jinn Flickers Through History," Saturday, September 19th at 6pm.
The night opens with a social hour built around an art-directed food installation (cause we’re aesthetes), SWANA wine generously poured by Terra Sancta, zero-proof options, and the people you have been meaning to meet finally in the same place at the same time.
Then we sit down for a talk with a community member and Princeton professor Beeta Baghoolizadeh to discuss the supernatural world in SWANA culture. Specifically: jinn. What can they tell us about the past? How did they flicker through history, shaping the social worlds around them through their presence and their absence? Yes, you heard right: we're spending an evening with jinn (genies). An hour of intellectual expansion on a topic stranger than you'd expect and closer to the center of this culture than you'd think, followed by an open Q&A, and plenty to carry home.
This night is meant to be a reflection of you: elevated, social, intellectually curious. And I don't want to build it for you so much as with you. I can't wait to meet you in person, introduce you to the Menna team, and hear where you think we go next.
Saturday September 19th, 6-8pm, Williamsburg. Exact address shared after purchase. Spots are limited (we will keep it cosy).
Now, let’s see what this week is bringing
Samar
THE SHORTLIST
The Ones Worth Your Time
MUSIC
Miriam Elhajli, Savannah Harris, Malik Abdul-Rahmaan
Thursday, September 3 | 7:00 PM
Public Records, Gowanus
Jazz drummer Savannah Harris curates an evening with vocalist Miriam Elhajli and bassist Malik Abdul-Rahmaan, part of her Continuum Fellowship residency through the Jazz Generations Initiative
CINEMA
Mutts / Man Push Cart
September 4–6
MoMA, The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1, Midtown
Two films in one program at MoMA. Halima Ouardiri's Mutts (2019, 18 min) is shot inside a Moroccan dog sanctuary as a metaphor for refugee displacement. Then Ramin Bahrani's Man Push Cart (2005), a post-9/11 portrait of a Pakistani street vendor in Midtown built around lead actor Ahmad Razvi's own life.
PARTY
Papi Juice (Oscar Nñ and Adam R.)
Friday, September 4 | 9:45–11:30 PM
The Play Ground, Tribeca
Brooklyn's Papi Juice, the art collective centering queer and trans people of color at the intersection of music, art, and nightlife, brings Oscar Nñ and Adam R. to The Play Ground
MUSIC
Asal: Kiss the Sun Tour
Saturday, September 5 | 7:00 PM
Irving Plaza, Flatiron
Iranian-Canadian artist Asal, born in Iran and raised in Vancouver, brings her Kiss the Sun Tour to Irving Plaza. She performs behind her album Missing Something, where she moves across alt-pop, hip-hop, and R&B.
COMEDY
SubwayTakes Live! with Kareem Rahma
Wednesday, September 9 | 7 PM & 9:30 PM
Brooklyn Improv, Williamsburg
Kareem brings SubwayTakes Live to Brooklyn Improv: hot takes, strong opinions, audience participation, live music, and standup. He's joined by comedians and cultural icons. 21+.
COMEDY & FUNDRAISER
From the River to the Stage
Sunday, September 6 | 5:00 PM
Caveat, Lower East Side
A comedy fundraiser with proceeds going to the Palestinian Social Fund, which channels donations directly to cooperative farming initiatives in Palestine. Early arrivals get complimentary giveaways from regional vendors.
THE FREE ONE
Free and Delightful
CINEMA
AMEJA Presents: Keep the Meter Running with Kareem Rahma
Thursday, September 3 | 6:30–9:00 PM
Tribeca Screening Room, Tribeca
A very Kareem Rahma week!. Kareem Rahma's documentary Keep the Meter Running screens at the Tribeca Screening Room, followed by a live conversation and Q&A with Rahma and producer Adam Faze. Presented by AMEJA (check them out they do great work). Sold out but you can add your name to the waitlist.
ore info here
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We are building a free space to bring SWANA New Yorkers together based on their interest and lifestyles, to find each other, show up for each other, and turn a scattered diaspora into an actual community. No algorithm picking who you meet. No gatekeepers. Just our people, in one app.
We're building it now, with your support. Cause if we don't do it for ourselves no one will do it for us.
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