by Natasha Tynes | Feb 13, 2007 | Everyday me!, Media watch
Update: Very good news! Soon after posting this, I was contacted to run this article. I’ve moved the whole of it there, but here’s a bit of it with the rest now on their site.
Here’s the link to the full article, as published on Common Ties. Enjoy!
I submitted the following essay to an unnamed media outlet but it never made it to print. So I thought I’d give it exposure in the place it really belongs: Mental Mayhem. Comments are welcome.
If you scratch the glass
My husband and I moved to the Unites States from Amman, Jordan a year and a half ago. During this period I had to adjust to a myriad of lifestyle changes. Whether it was learning how to use the garbage disposal, handle a furnace, or even attempt to catch a glimpse of the American dream, my life in the past 18 months has been overwhelming and hectic at most times.
But of all the pieces of Americana that I try to acquaint myself with on a daily basis, there is one that never ceases to dazzle me to this day. It is the American high school. We currently live in the suburbs of Washington DC, right next to a buzzing high school. This location has its perks, one being the serenity of the suburbs and affordable rent. But living next to a school can be tiresome, as it brings into our quaint neighborhood at some instances a good share of noise. From weekend concerts to high school football games, the serenity of our suburbs gets shattered as a result of this constant teenage activity.
Putting the inconvenience aside, I have to admit that our location near an educational edifice has introduced me to a new realm: the world of American high school kids. It is a world that I had previously watched in awe from my parent’s house in Amman via American movies. Of course, being so close to a high school doesn’t really give me a full access to the mysterious life inside this building. I am merely a voyeur. I observe from afar as kids march half asleep to school in the mornings and drag themselves back home in the afternoons.
Read more
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 6, 2007 | Jordan, my nation, Shutterbug
UPDATE 2: My friend Sinan has provided me with a picture showing the detail of the very same location (circled in red) in the context of all the recent development.
UPDATE: I received a recent picture of this same location today from a slightly different angle. Thanks again Scooby! I’m going to reorient the page for comparison. Amazing!
Reader and friend Scooby provided me with this phenomenal
picture of Zahran Street in 1955 [And the new one after the update]. It goes without saying that that the development that has occurred throughout the years to this street and to the city of Amman generally is mind-boggling.
Can anyone provide me with a more recent picture more recent pictures of Zahran Street?
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 3, 2007 | Books, Jordan, my nation, Political mayhem
Last week, The Guardian newspaper ran a profile of Jordanian-Palestinian
novelist/poet Ibrahim Nasrallah. Of course I was thrilled to see a fellow
countryman profiled in such a highly
acclaimed publication. However, it ailed to realize that the focus of the article
was on the constant harassment he was/is receiving from the notorious Jordanian censorship
department. It really is a shame what intellectuals have to go through in our part of
the world for simply speaking up. Here are some excerpts of the article:
Last June, a journalist phoned Ibrahim Nasrallah and asked
him how it felt to face a host of charges concerning national security. It was
the Jordanian-Palestinian writer’s first warning that he was facing prosecution … The charges related to his fourth collection of poetry,
Nu’man Yastariddu Lawnahu (Anemone Regains Its Colour). These highly figurative
poems, first published in 1984, were suddenly banned, while the poet himself
faced charges of insulting the state, inciting dissension and reporting
inaccurate information to future generations.
… The authorities raided the offices of his Lebanese
publisher in the Jordanian capital, Amman, confiscating copies of the banned collection. Protests from the Jordanian Writers’ Association and the Arab Writers’ Union were soon joined by support from the press in Jordan and the rest of the Arab world, while an internet campaign mobilised support from further afield. After almost four weeks which Nasrallah remembers being "haunted by these threats", the case was dropped on July 9 2006.
You can read the whole article here. I have to admit, I have never read anything by Nasrallah. Shame
on me I know. Anyone out there willing to loan one of his books (In Arabic
please)? Now after reading this article, I’m really intrigued. Here are two of his of poems translated
by Ibrahim Muhawi.
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Battles
They’ll wake up in the morning
And they will fight
That which you saw last night was my dream
The other will answer: no, it was my dream
They will gently retrieve two pistols
From the sides of the same pillow
And at the same moment
They will fire
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Bewildered
In the beginning
The horses said, we need plains
The eagles said, we need summits
The snakes said, we need lairs
But the humans remained bewildered
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