Azizati Amal…
“Dear Hope”, or so began those sobbing letters in “Samar” magazine,
basically a local adaptation of the Italian photoromanze, with such house-
hold names as Paola Pitti, Katiuschia, Maria Antoinetta, Simona Pelei, and
Michela Roc, or their male counterparts such as Frank O’neil, Franco Dani,
and the Italian heartthrob Franco Gasparri. When the latter had a motorcycle
accident, Samar organized a competition for the best love letter dedicated to
him, and throughout the Arab region legions of die-hard fans started pouring
their gut out, in sympathy, in agony and in solidarity with the star.
Azizati Amal,…
I could never forget the letter where the “tormented Khalil” promised her that
if she ever managed to bring him closer to his beloved they’d call their first
female newborn – what else but! – “Amal”… Of course, some other letter
where at the thin edge of either social disaster or a full-blown prank, such as
the one coming from Egypt where a teenager supposedly came home quicker
than expected to find his father’s room locked. Peeping through the door he
finds his sister in bed with his father and her husband watched.
Azizati Amal,…
I find it difficult living in Beirut where things eventually crumble no matter
how hard we build them. Do you advise me to leave?
The tormented S.
Beirut
Dear tormented S.,
Living in Beirut? Imagine like living near a volcano, or on the fault lines
where earthquakes are recurring, or in some seashore shantytown. Every
other year, you’d have 10 to 15 thousand people dying… The difference is
that Beirut’s fate is not a matter of elements of nature. It’s man made. But
perhaps these men are behaving without considering the implications of
their actions, maybe that makes them as senseless as the elements of nature.
So you’d better live with it unless aunt Sumayya from the US sends you an
invitation. Patriotism only gets you so far.
Amal.