Iqra’i

Iqra’i makes the Yale Herald! Head swells to unprecedented proportions!

The Cigarette Smoking Blog was the first in a number of cultural and political criticism blogs from a circle of Yalies that have received a positive response from conservative bloggers in Washington, DC. This feisty group of intellectuals was recently termed “the Yale Mafia” by James Poulos, who runs a blog called Postmodern Conservative and also writes for a blog called The American Scene.

Another blog, run by Dara Lind, BK ’09, Nicola Karras, BR ’10, and Kate Maltby, SY ’10, is called Iqra’i—a feminine turn on the Arabic command, ‘Read!’ as the angel Gabriel commanded Mohammed—though none of the girls are Muslim. Over spring break, Lind actually met up with Poulos in Washington D.C., and was later introduced at a party to Peter Suderman, another conservative blogger and Iqra’i fan.

Suderman, a freelance journalist who serves as online editor of Doublethink magazine, happened upon Iqra’i in February. “It was immediately obvious that the writing was much better than usual in the blogosphere, even from reading just a few sentences,” he said.

If you don’t already read the rest of the Yale Mafia, you should. Especially the most recent post about tradition from the Reactionary Epicurean.

Actual conversation:

Me: Hey, [RE], are you coming to read Titus Andronicus?
RE: Yeah, I just have to finish blogging.

I may have enjoyed playing Tamora a little too much.