I can’t believe it's already the last week of Ramadan. How did this happen?

This month has flown by, but we can hardly say that it wasn’t fulfilling.

The TMJ team has spent every waking minute of this week juggling the front end, back end and ground work that culminated with our last night yesterday at the Ramadan Suhoor Festival. We had to keep the content flow and storyboard moving, filmings ensued on Thursday at the studio, we celebrated our one year anniversary with our crew here in Michigan and pulled all-nighters every weekend at the festival.

This year has been a year of firsts, and seeing as this was our first tabling event, we learnt a lot. As journalists, much of our work this year has been behind the screen, and we’ve grown comfortable in front of the camera. But putting ourselves out there, on ground, talking to real people with real stories is another dimension of growth we’ve had to go through ourselves. We talked to potential interns who have so much to offer, veteran journalists who want to consult with us, podcasters who offered collaborations and people just coming by to learn about us or tell us what a great job we’re doing. The hard work of bringing our studio equipment and tabling set up back and forth, living on little sleep and spending $$ we don’t have has definitely paid off; there is no doubt that in order to tell stories, we need to be on ground first.

As the editor, this has given me a newfound perspective that we need to put more effort into on-ground storytelling; be it in colleges, giving presentations, networking and bringing more people into the fold. In the digital age, anyone can write and tell stories, but only the brave can take the job out on the field.

Being at the festival inspired us to also launch our own brand ‘TMJ the Label’, where we curated mugs and hand-made limited edition pocket notebooks with inspiring quotes. After all, what’s a journalist without a notepad? We are now looking to create a storefront of our products that can bring in a sustainable revenue to support the front end of our journalism work. I knew that my obsession for ink and paper would finally pay off!

As we gear up to take a short production break to celebrate Eid with our families and loved ones, we revisit all that’s going on in the world, things we reported on just this week for Quds day, for the oppressed in Palestine, Kashmir and others, as well as the Yemen war hopefully coming to an end, with a heavy heart. It’s been a challenging year from the human perspective, because we don’t just write these stories, we really feel them deep down to our core.

From the ones who don’t have much to break their fasts with at the end of each night, to those struggling in various lands with soaring inflation, to those who live under constant occupation and brutality; we owe it to them all to tell their stories and amplify their voices. As we said into the microphone during our tabling event all month, “TMJ News may be small, but we are brave. And a brave press is a free press.”

With warm regards,

Your Editor,

Zainabrights

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Our mission at TMJ is to fill gaps in media when it comes to untold stories, elevating minority voices and covering news and its impact holistically. We seek to uphold high journalistic values with utmost editorial independence, which means we rely on our readers to support our work.We are 100% reader funded and supported.

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At TMJ News, we're not just Muslim journalists - we're truth-seekers. We believe in the power of honest and trustworthy reporting to make a real difference in the world. And we know that you believe in it too. That’s why TMJ is 100% reader and viewer funded to ensure that our work is free from outside influence and that we can continue to deliver the truth.So, how you can best support TMJ on this mission? By joining us on Patreon.

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Can you guess this week's riddle?

We should never miss a chance to solve a fun riddle on a Sunday. So, here we go:“I am something people love or hate. I change peoples appearances and thoughts. If a person takes care of themselves, I will go up even higher. To some people, I will fool them. To others, I am a mystery. Some people might want to try and hide me, but I will show. No matter how hard people try, I will never go down. What am I?”

If you have an answer reply with your best guess. The correct answer will be revealed in our next Newsletter. 😉P.S: The answer to the last week’s riddle is ‘The footsteps. Had you guessed it right?

And that's a wrap for this week! We hope you’re healthy and safe today .

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