It was a busy and fun Arab American Heritage Month for me. I tweeted @EdwardECurtisIV every day of the month about Arab Americans in Indianapolis and other parts of the state. Among the highlights were two original maps charting the growth of Syrian-owned grocery stores from 1915 to 1940 designed by Jeffrey Wilson, professor of geography and Associate Dean for Research at the IU School of Liberal Arts. I also premiered one of the Ziad Hefni portraits that will appear in the 2022 Arab Indianapolis book from Belt Publishing.

I was interviewed about Arab Americans in Indiana on WFYI Radio (my interview begins at 38:10 here) and I composed a new blog post about Romanos the Fencer for the Indiana Historical Society. I was also interviewed by the Middle East Policy Council about my personal connections to Arab American history.

Then, Indiana Humanities called to tell me I had won a grant to help fund my documentary on Arab Indianapolis. We begin shooting in June! It was the perfect end to a very busy month.