Let’s look at some of the stories featured in Saa Nasta Newsletter during 2022.
‘A Day in the Life of a’ series:
This year I started a series called “A Day in the Life of a…” where professionals share their experiences about their everyday work life. I featured a journalist, an academic program manager, and a healthcare administrator. I featured people from Michigan’s Bangladeshi community so you can learn more about what they do and for college students to find information about potential career fields.
@chilipeppercooks:
The food blogger and social media influencer Shihan Chowdhury is best known for his signature mark of adding chili pepper to his sweet and savory dishes as @chilipeppercooks on socials. A marketing professional by trade, Chowdhury shares some nostalgic Bangladeshi food with his personal twist and creates a wide range of wings.
Halal charcuterie boards:
How do you take a national trend and personalize it for a Muslim audience by making it halal, following Islamic dietary laws. I researched and reported about halal charcuterie boards, also known as grazing boards for The Kitchn. During the pandemic charcuterie boards — often featuring meats and cheese — became popular in the Muslim community. Business owners were using halal cold cut meats or prepackaged meats and cheeses without remnants, to make this treat available for those who eat halal. Some people also added South Asian sweets or Middle Eastern treats to cater to a range of taste palettes.
Communities of Hope:
Communities of Hope is a series I reported and narrated for WDET which features people from minority communities who found ways to hold onto hope and persevere during the pandemic. Bangladeshi Sadya Chowdhury of Zafreen’s Kitchen lost her job and created her own business, like Mohtashim Mahin and Tufail Uddin who opened Thru The Lens Production when they needed a way to work as wedding photography and videography but people were not hiring as weddings got canceled.
Check out the whole Communities of Hope series here. A Communities of Hope event was held in May to recap some of the stories.
UCLA Presentation:
What does it mean to preserve history? That’s something I discussed for a UCLA library science Global Islam course class called the “Grassroots Self-Documentation: Community Archives Among North American Muslims,” for UCLA. Previously I documented histories of South Asians in Detroit, many of who were Muslim subjects.
SAADA Convening:
Previously, I took part in the South Asian American Digital Archive where I recorded 10 oral histories of 13 women who are Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs from Metro Detroit. This year I presented my findings during a SAADA convening to share what I learned while conducting the oral histories, and what South Asians can learn from each other’s communities.
Thank you for staying with Saa Nasta! If you’re enjoying the stories you read, or have suggestions or future stories, email me at thesaanasta@gmail.com, or simply reply to this email! Happy Holidays!