Fantasy Colbert League: June 1-June 3

Welcome back from the long break! It feels good to return. Although we have a shortened week ahead of us, there are some good guests lined up. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was previously on the show, and Lisa Miller was supposed to be on earlier in the year. Vampire Weekend is totally awesome, so I am ready to get my Report on again. Currently, I am actually on a Caribbean cruise, so I wrote this before my departure; therefore, I won’t be enjoying the new episodes until I get back. Oh well, I guess it’s a legitimate excuse.

Tuesday marks Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s second appearance on The Colbert Report after her first appearance back in 2007. Ali is a feminist activist and critic of Islam. Born in Somalia, where her father was imprisoned for opposing the government, the family eventually settled in Kenya, where she was a devout Muslim. She was taken to Germany, disputedly for an arranged marriage, and then escaped to the Netherlands requesting political asylum. Throughout this time, she lost her faith, and studied at Leiden University. Her religious journey is chronicled in her new book, Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. She has also written the books, The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam and Infidel. She founded the AHA Foundation in support of women who are abused in the name of fundamental Islam.

Fract: Even with Stephen: Hirsi Ali was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2005.

Lisa Miller is the author of the new book, Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife, which was released on March 23rd of this year. The book discusses peoples’ views of Heaven and how they have changed over the years, and also talks about the different images of Heaven which people envision. In addition to writing this book, Ms. Miller is the Religion editor at Newsweek, a role she has held since 2006. She has also been the Society editor since 2000. Lisa graduated from Oberlin College in 1984 with a B.A. in English, and before joining Newsweek, she held positions at the Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal. She won a 2010 Wilbur award for her work at Newsweek. The Wilburs honor excellence in secular media for communicating religious ideas.

You can visit Lisa Miller’s official website here.

Fract: Blogs, spare me: Lisa Miller helped to launch the popular “OnFaith” blog at the Washington Post Online along with fellow Newsweek editor Jon Meacham and Washington Post writer, Sally Quinn.

Vampire Weekend is a relatively new indie rock band, having formed in 2006. The band consists of four members: Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio. Vampire Weekend is also the name of the band’s debut album, and they also released a second album, Contra, earlier this year. The band has always felt success, as they were named, “The Year’s Best New Band” by Spin magazine in 2008, and one of their earliest hits, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was on Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Best Songs of the Year” when it debuted. Vampire Weekend has performed an acoustic show for MTV Unplugged, they have performed on Saturday Night Live, and have a song on the Twilight soundtrack for the movie, Eclipse. Their music has appeared in the comedies, Step Brothers and I Love You, Man, and the band will also begin a tour later this summer.

Fract: Ivy League rockers – Vampire Weekend met when they were all attending Columbia University.