We gave you hummus, show us some respect.
Alright alright. I'll keep talking.
Starting somewhere
I will be 100% honest with you all, I had no idea what the fuck a Substack was until last week. I pretended to know but I truly did not. The shame isn’t abnormal and trust that by the time I’m halfway done writing this I will already have gotten over it.
Why this, why now?
This has arisen out of a series of horrific and unfortunately unsurprising events currently taking place in Palestine and surrounding areas like Southern Lebanon. I, an Iraqi-American writer who for quite some time made a career out of my culturally confused hybridness, had taken a long hiatus from thinking of myself in any type of ethnic context. I was a sucker, letting capitalism wrap it’s tentacles around me like an off-brand Ursula and I fell into the cycle of just getting that check. Stop talking about your Arabness and finish that listicle about the Royal Family. Talking about your culture doesn’t pay the bills, no one wants to hear it, yadda yadda. Well it’s safe to say that the massacre happening in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli government has catapulted me and many others into a place of necessary solidarity. People are dying every day on America’s dime, will I let my Arab identity also die on America’s dime? Nah, I’m good. There is so much to say and so much to lose by not saying it.
What kind of community am I hoping to build here?
My hope is that I can articulate what others want to say but might not know how to. I’m here to provide personal insight and opinions, and some information that you may or may not already know. You can and will be responsible for your takeaways.
How often will I be posting?
Let’s call this a weekly column. You will get a nice peek into what I’m working on as well, perhaps some excerpts from the book I’ve been “writing” for the last 11 years aka me writing a paragraph and promptly having an existential spiral and not looking at it for six months only to return back in a guilty panic. Who is this panic for? Who knows. Girl vs. time.
Join me on this real-time journey
Hit subscribe if you’re interested in starting a new community with me. As an American child of immigrants I come to you with stories and thoughts that may sound familiar to some and cuckoo to others. Either way, IDK let’s find ways to relate—unless you don’t believe in a free Palestine. In which case I would say get tf away from me. ;)