Category Archives: Arts and Poetry

Alice’s Pearls

I was interviewed few hours ago for a documentary and one of the directors’ questions was about my pearls. My answer had nothing to do with eclectic styles mixing and matching old and new, luxury and humbleness, ‘East’ and ‘West’, or the importance of filling one’s neck with necklaces that strike me fancy. Even if […]

Islam through the Lens of Young Syrian Women: between Unity and Diversity

On February 28th, 12pm, students in Dr. Pamela Chrabieh’s “Religions of the World” course at the American University in Dubai had the opportunity to watch the documentary “Turoq” and meet its directors, Sarah Hassan and Leen Al Faysal. Sarah and Leen are former students of Dr. Chrabieh. Sarah is journalist and producer with CNN International […]

مدخَل

تدخلني فأدخلك، تركد في أمعائي فأحبُكَ وتُغضبني.   كولترِيْن يداعب تنهداتنا فأسقط عليكَ، تقَع فيَّ، وأناديك ريثما يعود إليك دفءُ سوائلي.   أنتشلكَ من تراب ضلعَيَ فتنحلّ وتذوب بين ذراعَي على نغم شموع ميعادي، دمٌ يسري في لعابنا، تلعقه عينايَ قبل لسانِك المجنونِ.   تغمرني فأصبح نوراً يلفُّكَ.   تناديك مشقّاتُ الأيّام، فلا تسمع تدحرج […]

The Me I Am

The Me is a mere stereotype, an ideological battleground, a fracture along party lines, an emotionally-laden symbol of the nation, a mother who needs protection against the outside enemy, a coup d’Etat. The me is the background urging, praising and supporting. The Me is a dichotomy, a binary system, purity-impurity, honor-dishonor, a perfect-broken vase, bda3a […]

Silenced

As a Muslim Arab girl, growing up in an Arab society, I’ve often felt like I was silenced or not welcome to be talking in my community. When I was growing up, my parents were supportive and encouraged me to always speak my mind but later on in life, the more people I met the […]

My ‘Go Home!’ Movie Review

‘Go Home’ by Lebanese director Jihane Chouaib is a powerful statement about the difficulty that many members of the Lebanese diaspora face when they go back to their homeland, with a particular focus on war memory, post-traumatic syndrome disorders and identity crisis. I watched the movie two days ago at the Dubai Film Festival and […]

Keset Hayaty El Gdeeda (My New Life Story)

I took 3 different photographs of my sister in which she resembles 3 different women. I made sure all 3 pictures are exactly the same, in terms of makeup and lighting, and focused on dark makeup on her eyes and eyebrows, for a deeper intensity. The first picture depicts my sister with her long flowy […]

قول فتاةٍ شمطاء

  :القول في ما لا يقال كلماتي كاذبة !آهٍ كم أحبُّها كلماتي كجسدي تستودع من يلمسها ،فتخرج حبّاً في متاهات المعرفة سراجاً يضيء لمن خسر الهاوية .فسامره الكلام في زاويةٍ غاوية يرفع كلامي عينيه نحو أرضٍ باقية ترضخ لها السماوات الزائلة .فتهزؤ منها نشواتي العائدة أقوالي أفعالٌ تخشاها الأمثلة تحملها الأحلام نحو يقظاتٍ مستعجِبة ترضِخُ […]

أبحثُ عن فارسي

في داخلي شوقٌ لغزلِ الكلمات للرقصِ فوق السطور للبوحِ بأسراري للورق… في داخلي حنينٌ لأيامِ وحدتي… انطوائي مع قلمٍ وورقةٍ وكتاب… تقوقُعي في المسافةِ الواقعةِ بين قلمي والورق… في داخلي ما بقيَ بعد أن بعثرتني الحياة… أذابتني في حلقتها المفرغة، ومضت… ♦ ♦ ♦ أبحث عن قلمي عن فارسٍ على صهوةِ أفكاري… عن حاضنٍ لكلِّ أسراري… أبحثُ […]