Roundabout Dubai

Local Girls in the Big Apple

This is yet another story involving local women, though this is more spicy and interesting than the boring surveys and academic studies. It’s here, in the reality of experiencing another culture and testing one’s own and other people’s ideas and prejudices that local women, at least some of them, show a different side of their selves; not totally different, but more like a hidden side that needed to blossom under the right conditions and the extra bit of fresh air. They impress even the most hardened New Yorkers, smoothly navigating the cultural divide and reconciling the conflicting demands of their identities and those of an alien city. And as they taste the Big Apple, their spirits soar, their dreams take wings, and they shine as bright as the stars of a clear night in the Arabian desert. They are perhaps the best ambassadors to their country and culture, shining through the dark perceptions and false images and finding their modern voice. Freedom is truly infectious!

Sadly, the Aussie who chaperoned them was fired and deported, apparently over the publication of this article (though other theories are abound). The piece appeared in the New Yorker magazine here.

posted by bandicoot @ 10:01 AM