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seafoamlesbian · 6 months

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this song hits a little too close to home

(please don’t die - father john misty)

#fellow travelers #web weaving #words #parallels

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seafoamlesbian · 6 months

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it’s so over !!!!!

(i’ve loved you for so long - the aces / powder blue - the cactus blossoms)

#fellow travelers #web weaving #words #parallels

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seafoamlesbian · 6 months

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having a painful time

#fellow travelers

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seafoamlesbian · 7 months

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palestinian literature

okay! so as a literature major… i figured i would also suggest some palestinian literature for you to read.

fiction

❥ Against the Loveless World - Susan Abulhawa

Nahr is a woman born in 1970s Kuwait to Palestinian refugees. The story follows key details of her life and switches between her past (and all the hardships she endured as a palestinian woman) and the present (where she is kept in solitary confinement in israel) and all the events that lead up to her capture.

Difficulty: High (it’s a book that may make many uncomfortable as it presents graphic violence of all sorts and negative opinions towards israel and jewish people. however uncomfortable though, it is a book that forces one to think about history of the marginalised and the suffering and hatred that can follow extreme levels of cruelty that blur any sort of nuance with which a victim might view a community connected to their oppressors. this is a story less about the oppressors though, and more about the pain and suffering of a woman displaced from home multiple times and the trials and tribulations that followed)

*note: sexual violence mention

❥ A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum

A story that touches upon the immigration experience, misogyny, oppression, domestic abuse, and cultural expectations and taboos—through the eyes of three generations of Arab women.

Difficulty: Medium (it deals with a lot of aspects of oppression and misogyny but nothing too terribly triggering. though it may cut deep for a lot of women, especially arab women. it’s a book written about arab women, for arab women)

❥ Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands - Sonia Nimr

A historical folkloric novel about a palestinian girl, Qamar, who develops great healing skills and travels around the region, sometimes dressed as a man.

Difficulty: Easy (hehe it’s a fast-paced story full of adventure and pirates! and through all the adventures qamar goes on… although she never finds a home, she does find family along the way)

❥ Salt Houses - Hala Alyan

The novel follows the story of a displaced family, the Yacoubs, over multiple decades in the various places they move to—from Jaffa to Kuwait to Amman to Paris and then finally Boston. The plot challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand—one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.

Difficulty: Medium-High (the story is heartbreaking and very raw but also beautiful and lyrical and presents the experiences of different generations of the yacoubs in a very nuanced and authentic light)

❥ Minor Detail - Adania Shibli

The novel begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba―the catastrophe that led to the displacement and exile of some 700,000 people―and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers murder an encampment of Bedouin in the Negev desert, and among their victims they capture a Palestinian teenager and rape her, kill her, and bury her in the sand. 25 years later a girl starts investigating this very crime and becomes particularly obsessed with it, mainly because it happened exactly 25 years before she was born.

Difficulty: High (as you can tell by the summary, it dives into really serious crimes and atrocities. a very haunting but worthy story to read)

*note: sexual violence mention

❥ The Parisian - Isabella Hammad

After the First World War (1914-18) shatters families, destroys friendships and kills lovers, Midhat Kamal goes on a journey of self discovery. The novel touches upon the tangled politics and personal tragedies of a turbulent era: the struggle of Palestinian independence from the British Mandate, the strife of the early 20th century, and the looming second world war.

Difficulty: Easy… ish (as easy as reading about colonialism and war can be)

❥ My First and Only Love - Sahar Khalifeh

After many decades of restless exile, Nidal returns to her family home in Nablus, where she lived with her grandmother before the 1948 Nakba. She was a young girl when the resistance began and through the bloodshed, she had fallen in love with a freedom fighter, Rabie, the only man she ever loved—him, and all that he represented: Palestine in its youth and spring. Years later Nidal and Rabie meet and through his encouragement, Nidal decides to look into her family history and discovers that her absent mother had been a nurse and lover to a Palestinian leader. The story follows an epic but heartbreaking tale of love, emotion, desire, urgency and political immediacy.

Difficulty: Medium (it is a truly heartbreaking but beautiful story with the most brilliantly strong narrative voice and the most bittersweet of endings. it will definitely move you to tears in the best way possible)

non-fiction

❥ The Question of Palestine - Edward Said

Said traces the fatal collision between two peoples in the Middle East and its repercussions in the lives of both the occupier and the occupied—as well as in the conscience of the West. The book renders a timeline of events in Palestine as well as the Middle East with precision.

non-fiction is always a difficult read so i’m not gonna bother outlining any difficulty haha

❥ I Saw Ramallah - Mourid Barghouti

An autobiography of a poet who recounts his decision to leave his country in 1966 to pursue his studies before trying to return to Palestine only to find out that he had been exiled. He was a Palestine a while ago and now he is a refugee with no home to go to. He then starts a 30-year struggle to get a permit to visit to Ramallah, his homeland. Barghouti writes from a place of exile and displacement, highlighting the struggle many palestinians like himself faced in their relationship with home and belonging.

❥ The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians told through pivotal events and family history. A deeply insightful and thought-provoking read.

❥ The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappé

Since the Holocaust, it has been almost impossible to hide large-scale crimes against humanity. In our communicative world, few modern catastrophes are concealed from the public eye. And yet, Ilan Pappe unveils, one such crime has been erased from the global public memory: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948. But why is it denied, and by whom? The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers an investigation of this mystery.

A deeply honest and empathetic account of the atrocities carried out upon the people of Palestine. Pappé challenges colonialism and racism using in-depth research and critical analysis. Must read.

Poetry

❥ The Butterfly’s Burden - Mahmoud Darwish

A compilation of three books by renowned arab poet Mahmoud Darwish that touch upon the life and horrors in Ramallah, love, and a longing for a Palestine before the occupation. It’s just a compilation of the most beautiful and lyrical poetry with thought provoking themes and ideas embedded all the way through.

fun fact! MD is known for writing love poetry when speaking of his country as if he was speaking to a lover. at first glance it sounds like the poem is simply about love but when you look deeper, you realise he has personified his homeland and is professing his undying love and devotion to it.

❥ Poems of Palestine - multiple writers, curated by Fady Joudah & Lena Tuffaha

this is an online compilation of various poems written by various palestinian poets

❥ Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear - Mosab Abu Toha

A collection of poems that emerge directly from living one’s entire life in Gaza, making a life for one’s family and raising a family in constant lockdown, and oftentimes directly under attack.

the title poem is one of the most beautiful yet soul-crushing poems i’ve read.

more poems include lines like: “borders are those invented lines drawn with ash on maps and sewn into the ground by bullets”

these books are a wonderful way for you to educate yourself on the palestinian identity, their history, their voices and their stories. instead of hearing about the palestinians from the media, why not read what they say from their own hearts? understand them in their purest form.

you may find these books on amazon or your local bookstore. and can probably find e-book pdfs online for free if you search.

happy reading! 💛

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seafoamlesbian · 7 months

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they call me the yearner

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seafoamlesbian · 7 months

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but you didn't have to cut me off

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seafoamlesbian · 8 months