Table of Contents

Page 1............Turtle Playground Painting Page 2-3........CERRU Orientation Page 4............Note from Director of Mos of Mosque Alert Page 5............Upcoming Events

By Christine Ramkaran

On Sunday, September 13th, 2015, CERRU had the amazing opportunity to help restore the Turtle Playground on 138-12 61st Rd (Horace Harding Expressway). Painting the Turtle Playground was an experience of many 'firsts.' It was my first time ever painting, it was my first time getting to work with Green Earth Urban Gardens (along with a handful ohandful of other amazing organizations), and it was the first time I felt as though I truly gave back to my community. It was an incredible opportunity and I am so glad that I had the chance to be a part of such an awesome project. The event was organized by Green Earth Urban Garden Inc., a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to promote social and environmental solutions through urban farming and therapeutic gardening. The organization was founded by Mau-reen Reagan on June 11, 2011. In addition to CERRU, several other interfaith/social change or-ganization attended the event, such as the Ah-madiyya Muslim Youth Association and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens. We were pleasantly surprised when we were visited by As-semblywoman Nily Rozic and Councilman Rory Lancman. Rozic and Lancman took time out of their busy schedules to stop by the playground and thank all of the organizations for partaking in such a positive and inspiring project.

Turtle Playground Painting

Christine is a Dialogue Fellow and president of grrrlz. She can be reached at:

chrstnram13@gmail.com

CERRU MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | Issue #10 2

TeamworkBy Noelia Santana

I was nervous. Nervous about getting to Queens on time. Nervous about doing physical activity at the Alley Pond Park Adventure Course. Nervous about being too awkward when meeting new people. Nervous about having to say my name over and over again to make sure people dont mispronounce it. But on that bright sunny morning, I tried my best to squash my anxiety as we (other CERRU members and myself) traveled to Alley Pond Park for the CERRU Orientation. When we arrived at the park, we delved right into the activities after meeting our instructor, Patrick. Patrick took us to a large open field where we played variations of the classic games of tag and dodgeball. After continuing on with a game of all my neighbors and finding a plastic chicken, we broke up into two groups: the Superman and Batman teams. The next few activities (balancing on a beam, spider web, trust fall, and pretending the ground was made of lava) all focused on effective teamwork and communication. But the best part of all these actbest part of all these activities was that we had a chance to get to know one another; and after a while it was easy to see who was shy, who was the most adventurous, or competitive, etc. However, the most important activity, at least for me, was the climbing activity: two 30- foot-high vertical poles - one with a horizontal pole attached to it, and the other with a small plank attached to the side and a hanging ball a few feet away from it. Our tasks? To climb the first pole, walk across the hori-zontal pole to the other side, walk back to the middle, and then jump off of it. But, what about the pole with the plank and the hanging ball? Well, we had to jump off of that one too! Of course, we were given a rope, a helmet, and other pprotective gear to wear, but if youre anything like me, that wasnt enough protection. So there we are, CERRU members and Park staff, gathered around these poles, under the sweltering sun. As Im watching each of my new friends climb the first pole and walk across with ease, I grow more and more nervous. And then finally, I volunteer to go next. Sadly to say, I didnt even make it a few steps above the ladder before I chickened out. After that, I began to feel the familiar feelings of shame and embarrassment. Everyone else could do it, so why couldnt I? Then something caught my attention. It was Yael, a CERRU staff membestaff member, on the plank of the second pole, and she looked terrified. I watched as the rest of her team coaxed, yelled and cheered her to jump. Even-tually, after maybe ten minutes, she finally jumps.

CERRU MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | Issue #10 3

Watching this unfold, I started to grow less fearful and more determined to get on that second pole. The second time around, Im one of the first people to volunteer to go. After making sure I had put my helmet on correctly, I started the climb. As I did this, I started to sweat, so much so, that I actually thought I was going to slip off the pole! But by giving myself a little pep talk, I managed to make it to the plank. However, as I stood up on the plank and looked down at my teammates, tears sprung to my eyes as I realized what I had just gotten myself into. The only thing left was to jump. Problem is, I couldnt move! This was truly one of the hardest and scariest things Ive ever done in my life. Jumping meant that I was putting my life in someone elses hands and it meant giving away all control- and this isnt something Im used to (yes, Im that dramatic). Granted, Patrick was an experienced instructor, but that didnt stop my overactive and paranoid mind with imagining the most gruesome demost gruesome deaths! The one thing that really motivated me to jump was hearing my team mem-bers cheering me on. Out of all the team activities we did that day, this was the one where I really felt my teammates there with me, yet it wasnt a team activity in the same sense that the other activities were, since I had to jump alone. But feeling their support and enthusiasm, fueled my own determination to complete the task. So, finally, on the verge of sobbing and peeing my pants, I jumped from the plank and into the air. That day was all about coming out of comfort zones, both figuratively and literally. In my case, it meant coming out of my shell, making friends, doing physical activity, and jumping 30- feet into the air. For others, it mightve meant overcoming a fear of heights. As clich as it sounds, I came to realize that even if you fail the first time, that doesnt mean you should stop trying, especially if you have a team behind you.

FFor anyone interested in visiting the park, it is located in Little Neck Bay, Queens, NY, 11364

Noelia is a Dialogue Fellow!

CERRU MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | Issue #10 4

About Mosque AlertBy Jamil Khoury

Fourteen years have passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and yet countless Americans, both Muslim and non-Mus-lim, continue to suffer a backlash inflamed not only by the attacks, but by a regrettable conflation of Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities with the perpetrators of that horrific crime. Consider, for instance, the uproar that erupted in summer 2010 around a proposed Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan. The envisioned center, originally called Cordoba House (later renamed Park 51 and derisively tagged the ground zero mosque) was to be an architecturally profound, state-of-the-art community center dedicated to healing, learning, and interfaith dialogue, open to all communities, and inclusive of a Muslim prayer hall. It was a bold, beautiful vision that would provide services and amenities to a corner of Manhattan desperately in need of a community center. Unfortunately, the Muslim identity of this building project evoked a tsunami of histrionics, fear-mongering, and hate speech. Right-wing media outlets went apoplectic, and a national campaign against a multi-purpose, Muslim owned space in relative proximity to the site of the World Trade Towers was unleashed with a ferocity rarely associated with projects of Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist pedigree. Almost overnight, an inspired center dedicated to peace and spiritual renewal was being maligned as a haven for terrorists, a na-tional security threat, and a desecration of the memory of all those who died in the World Trade Towers. As a playwright, I knew instinctively that this was an issue that needed to be explored theatrically. I understood that resistance to the building of Muslim institutions and houses of worship was, by no means, a phenomenon unique to Lower Manhattan. I simply did not re-alize the extent of the problemhow many similar cases were afflicting communities across the U.S., including those near my hometown, Chicago. In fact, I think it fair to surmise that the post-9/11 backlash against Muslim Americans is most dramatically manifest in the fear of mosques, and the association of mosques with existential dangers. Perhaps not ironically, while Park 51 was being debated in New York, other cases were raging in suburban Chicago, most vividly in the city of Naperville, Illinois. Two Naperville-based Muslim congregations had been denied permission to build mosques on the grounds that traffic congestion and sound pollution that would be caused by these proposed mosques. Soon, these zoning related arguments gave way to overt expressions of anti-Muslim animus and racism. These incidents provided the spark for Mosque Alert, a new play development and civic engagement process that I have been developing since Fall of 2011 into both a fully-realized play and a robust online conversation. Mosque Alert tells the story of three fictional families living in Naperville, Illinois, whose lives are interrupted by a proposed Islamic Center on the site of a beloved local landmark. Our goal is to explore the intersections of public policy, zoning, civil rights, and Islamophobia, with humor, family drama, and raw honesty. During the early stages of the plays development, I worked with actors and a film editor on developing a series of 36 online videos, in-cluding character video blogs, two-character conflict scenes, video essays, and a compilation video called Meet Mosque Alert. These videos have been shared with audiences both at live screenings and on Silk Road Risings website. Since 2011, more than 25,000 individ-uals have engaged my play-in-progress, with many responding to questions Ive posed and offering suggestions and critiques that have helped me shape the final trajectory of the play. A monumental step was taken in summer of 2014 when I gathered the whole of the feedback provided to me by the public, and har-nessed it to create a full-length play script for Mosque Alertthe first play ever to be developed through online crowdsourcing, shaped from beginning to end with the help of thousands of online participants. That fall I was named Playwright-in-Residence at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, during which time we held workshops with students and faculty and presented in classrooms to further shape and refine the script. This work paid off handsomely in February 2015, when, under the direction of Neil Blackadder, the college produced four performances of the first-ever full-length production of Mosquefour performances of the first-ever full-length production of Mosque Alert. The play was received with great enthusiasm and inspired robust conversations on campus. And now, with the support of Queens Colleges Center for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Understanding (CERRU) and Voyage Theatre, Im thrilled to bring this work to New Yorkthe city that inspired me to write this play. Under the direction of Wayne Maugans, Voyage Theatre and Queens College will be producing two staged readings of Mosque Alert on October 15 and 16, 2015, respectively. By giving continual life to this project, we are helping to foster ongoing forums for dialogue and understanding that address broader questions about freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and what it really means to be an American. Our task is a beautiful burden to bear.

Jamil Khoury is a playwright and Found-ing Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising.

TO RSVP FOR MOSQUE ALERT:http://voyagetheatercompany.org/read-ings/mosque-alert/

Friday, October 16th10:00AMColden Auditorium

CERRU MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | Issue #10 5

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, October 14thQ-Side Lounge, 12:15PM

Join us for a Dialogue on...Legalization or Deportation: Solutions to Undocumented Immigration

https://www.facebook.com/events/1489329764696706/

Thursday, October 15thAlchemical Theatre Laboratory Studio A Manhattan, 7:00PM

Mosque Alert

Friday, October 16thColden Auditorium, 10:00AM

Mosque AlertFor more information, check page 4!

To get tickets, RSVP here:http://voyagetheatercompany.org/readings/mosque-alert/

Tuesday, October 20thPowdermaker 156, 4:00PMHistory 255 (Open Classroom): Understanding Threat Percep-tions, Emotions, and Support for Hezbollah and Al Qaeda

Guest Lecturer Shana Levin of Claremont McKenna College

Wednesday, October 21stSU 2nd floor, Hillel Meeting Room,

12:15PMA Discussion with Ari Shavit, Journalist and Author

Sunday, October 25thCentral Y of Queens, 2:00PMA Discussion with Dennis Ross, U.S. Diplomat and Middle East

Expert

Wednesday, October 28thSU Ballroom, 6:30PM - 10:00PMFormal Masquerade Ball,CERRUs Annual Launch PartyStay tuned for more info!