Email Author Mehammed Mack

2006 Stories by Mehammed Mack

• Sod Off!

  published September 14, 2006

  Lawns are the SUVs of the garden world. The lush suburban yard, the SoCal American dream, requires inordinate amounts of water, not to mention... More >>

• The T-Word

  published August 17, 2006

  THE FIRST PRO-LEBANON RALLY finally materialized in Los Angeles a day shy of the U.N.-sanctioned truce between Hizballah and Israel. In... More >>

• Did You Hear the Boom Boom?

  published July 20, 2006

  When the spin got too disconcerting, I muted the sound on the TV news and tried to focus on the scenery the reporter was blocking with his... More >>

• Iran Loses Game, Keeps Hair

  published June 22, 2006

  After a series of calls to underground sources in the local Iranian community, I finally get the info I’ve been waiting for: The best and... More >>

• Lighting Up

  published June 22, 2006

  IT’S HARD TO FIGURE who the real winner is in the West Hollywood City Council’s resolution that directs Sheriff’s... More >>

• Demolition City

  published June 22, 2006

  ON WEST HOLLYWOOD’S LAUREL AVENUE, below the bustle of Sunset Boulevard and the Virgin Megastore, is a big white house with a... More >>

• castle

  published June 22, 2006

  TARA, THE 92-YEAR-OLD white Colonial mansion at 1343 N. Laurel Ave., is so named because of its resemblance to the house featured in Gone... More >>

• News

  published June 22, 2006

  BUILT IN 1948 AND DESIGNED by Arthur W. Hawes — the man behind the venerable Crest movie theater in Westwood, an Art Deco... More >>

• The Spider and the Wasp

  published June 1, 2006

  In Terrorist, a novel whose title will either roll eyes or raise eyebrows, John Updike seeks to crack open one of the hardest shells... More >>

• The Activist Candidates

  published May 25, 2006

  IN THE RACE TO REPLACE termed-out Assemblyman Paul Koretz of the 42nd District, the front-runners are as polished as the neighborhoods... More >>

• The Spy Trap

  published May 4, 2006

  When I heard that my old friend/enemy the FBI was going to hold a recruitment event at USC — in cooperation with the student group Weapon... More >>

• True Colors

  published May 4, 2006

  At the March 25 Gran Marcha — an ecstatic coming-out party — I felt more like a lucky observer than an active participant, being... More >>

• 2005 in Words

  published April 27, 2006

  “Your policies have created a hole in my heart and in our family that can never be filled.” —Cindy Sheehan, in a... More >>

• Yes, a Moderate Muslim

  published April 20, 2006

  Ever since he came to this country in 1971, Egyptian-born retired cardiologist Maher Hathout has played one of the most active roles in... More >>

• Rainbow Rabbi

  published April 20, 2006

  Lesbian Rabbi Denise Eger has established a sanctuary for homosexuals who refuse to choose between their religion and their orientation. Called... More >>

• The Muslim Hipster

  published April 20, 2006

  I meet the majestically named Reza Aslan at the Panera Bakery in Santa Monica, a sterile hub of laptops and executive attitudes, maybe not the... More >>

• Writing on the Walls

  published April 20, 2006

  In 1976, muralist Judy Baca cofounded Venice’s Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) to preserve and promote her art form.... More >>

• An Untamable Voice

  published April 6, 2006

  In the midst of a rock-star-style tour of American cities arranged by Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin — who reached all the way up to... More >>

• Terror Logic

  published March 16, 2006

  UCLA’s Dodd Hall was fortified Friday night by an impenetrable network of fences, yellow-jacketed security guards and saberlike metal... More >>

• Dubai Bares All

  published March 16, 2006

  FOR ARAB-AMERICANS, listening to the national conversation about the Dubai ports deal was a painful experience — in large part... More >>

• Miller Time in the Church of Arnold

  published March 2, 2006

  Austrians and their admirers (Germans) regularly convene at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Santa Monica restaurant, Schatzi on Main, to mingle... More >>

• Fading Lines

  published February 16, 2006

  IN THE AFTERMATH of the Muhammad-caricature row, Muslims in Europe express little of the theological indignation of their Middle Eastern... More >>

• Male in the Maghreb

  published February 9, 2006

  “The novel of French expression is where one finds the most audacity in contesting the social order,” Moroccan writer Tahar Ben... More >>

• Auto-Iconography

  published January 26, 2006

  From a distance, on a stark, clean, post-rainstorm morning, the StoryCorps mobile recording booth looks like a glistening mirage — an... More >>

• How Green Is Your Library

  published January 19, 2006

  “Give applause to God on this magnificent day,” screamed Jamie Lee Curtis, raising both hands in messianic fervor, “because... More >>