RANDA JARRAR

This is terrorism. A fucking civilian airport?!

I love La Caution– a two-brothers-from-Morocco rap group out of France. Check out their The a la Menthe, the perfect summer anthem.

Friends, books, movies, and music are all that’s keeping me from getting bogged down in depression about the bullshit that’s going on in Gaza and Iraq right now.

There’s another film version of Capote’s journey during the writing of In Cold Blood, and there’s a “review” of it in The Independent.

…of the Yacoubian Buildings. Raouf Moussad in El-Ahram Weekly:

By comparing the Arabic original to the English translation, by Humphrey Davies (American University in Cairo Press, 2004), I noticed a remarkable difference in the terms used for same sex practices. The Arabic uses terms like ” shuzuz ” (meaning deviancy or abnormality) and its derivatives, which correspond to English usages such as “fag”, “faggot” and “poofter”. By contrast, the English translation replaces shaz and shuzuz by “homosexual” and “homosexuality”, which do not imply sexual practices that are deviant from the social norm. It’s as if the Arabic original urges the reader to condemn people who practice same sex, whereas the English version sympathises with them.

The treatment of homosexuals at the hands of Al-Aswany is similar to the treatment of Nubians and Christians — two groups marginalised in Egyptian society — in the novel. With all three groups, we need to ask why it was that Al-Aswany chose to represent them only to vent his venom against them. Is it because they cannot answer back, because their complaints will fall on deaf ears in a society that consistently ignores them, or casts them outside?

I’m back in Dickland, also knows as Austin, where people drive everywhere and I’ve been to see everything about 9,000,001 times. You’d think that camping out in a cottage for three weeks with only a few hours of social stimulation a day, and those only after 5:30 PM, would be boring, and that real life in a metropolis would be exciting, but’s it’s actually the other way around.

Needless to say, I am having trouble adjusting.

The new issue of Words Without Borders is up, with an introduction to Libyan lit by Rockslinga pal Khaled Mattawa. The issue includes two poems by Salim El-Okli, which I translated: Reckless Habits and The Clamor of Your Longing. They’re super-sexy: I worked on them in a coffee shop, and half-way through, had to take a cigarette break.

I’m leaving Hedgebrook. Sniff. Today is my last day. And so I say goodbye…to my awesome work space: And my window seat, from which I would spend every morning looking at the trees and drinking my tea, and in which I’ve been moved and inspired at all hours of the day:And the bath house, which gave me sanctuary and a bathtub big enough to hug all of me:I’ll miss the wood stove and the warmth and fire it lit inside it and inside me, and the cool detail of the fishermen on its side:I’ll miss walking along the muddy flats of the beach:So, peace out, my small safe space. I’ll miss you, and take a bit of you with me on my journey out.

I’ve been so lucky here, hanging out with talented, wickedly fabulous, interesting women– it’s been so fun sharing our ideas and our visions and our fears and our stories. Every Sunday, we’ve had a reading/workshop, and yesterday’s was so fucking cool. Almost all of us read things they’d recently written, things this place has fostered and inspired. Gloria Steinem arrived here on Friday, and it’s been so fun having her be part of our dinner table, and hearing all her stories. She joined us yesterday and read something of hers as well.

My fellow residents, Rosemary and Ghida and Munju and Rosemary and Susan and Gloria, gave me some brilliant suggestions and encouragements. It’s surreal being in a workshop with Gloria. She gives such right-on advice– on wording, voice, details, and the title– prefacing it with, “Once an editor, always an editor.” It was incredible; possibly the most helpful workshop I’ve ever participated in.

This place is a gift.

Been getting lots & lots & lots & lots & lots of writing done! It’s great. Settling into a routine. Finished revising the novel at last. Committed to a theme for a collection. Wrote 3 short stories, and 4 short shorts. Loving it.