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Reham |
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Issue 5 | Do You Understand Me?: |
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My parents named me Reham. It's the only name I've ever had so I'm kind of attached to it by now, 23 years and 10 months later. I was born in Kuwait, and I've etched into my childhood memory the existence of an oil well in my back yard, I figure if you can't destroy stereotypes -- figure out a way to enjoy them. My first camel's name was Joe, and you'll never believe this -- but he actually smoked Camel cigarettes. The kind without the filters. He was a tough guy. Rugged. Taught me all I know about being butch, and those were valuable lessons, because there are times when one absolutely needs to be butch.
He used to make me go into the store to buy them because they wouldn't sell cigarettes to camels back then, it was a time when healthy camels were still in high demand. Nevermind that I was 6, 7, 8 years old and purchasing cigarettes, I was just a girl, there would be no need for me in society anyway. Well, there would be just one need -- to play host to the seeds of some strong healthy boy, and to give birth, to strong healthy boys. Who will drill. For oil. There's a large population of camels with lung and heart and gum diseases now. People don't care how healthy they are anymore, not since the oil profits grew and the money started to pour in. Camels were inadvertently replaced by expensive German cars. Joe died a painful death. Bless his soul. Well I haven't produced any strong healthy boys. But I'm happy to report that things are actually looking a couple of shades brighter for some of the women of this desert to which I belong. I can wear a hardhat and drill for oil, even without a penis. And I do, ok I don't actually work anywhere near the wells and rigs and pipes. But I do work for the oil sector, and gladly so. I sell my country's best and most abundant resource to the rest of the world, while that's still feasible, and one day it won't be, because the well will run dry. And then we'll have nothing to sell or produce, because we've killed off our camels, and built shopping malls and mansions and American franchises on every inch of land we've got. Okay, I won't ride the wave of this ridiculous tangent any longer. Like I was saying, my name is Reham, and I'm 23 years old. I live to create and communicate. My toolbox is full of words and strings and buttons and knobs and musical notes, and a large array of different colors and moods, and I never go anywhere without it. It's a heavy box but my arms are accustomed to carrying it around. Feel my biceps! |
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