February 23, 2017. Today I observed a graduate class at the university. Most of the students are working on a masters in human resources, management, and similar things. Mme El Boujai is the professor ( she has the curly hair here) and she divided the students into four groups, each concerned with a contemporary issue in society. Today's group was tasked with terrorism. They read two different novels by Moroccan writers concerning the making of "kamikaze" (suicide bombers). It was really interesting to hear Muslims discuss terrorism from a perspective that is altogether different from what we generally hear in the United States. As a surprise to the class --or maybe just me-- the author of the second novel came to the class to talk to the students about his book. This is Youssouf Amine Elalamy, the author of Oussama, Mon Amour. Though most of his books have been translated into English, this one has not-- the title is part of the problem, and it was published in 2011, just a few weeks before Bin Laden was killed. In the category of It's a Small World, Youssouf is also a Fulbrighter and spent three years in New York City a while ago. But he was recently invited to the University of Maryland and also spoke at Hood College, which is in my town of Frederick, for those of you who aren't familiar with it!