"Habibi" and such

I thought that last Wednesday's discussions on "Habibi" went very well as a lot of good issues were brought up. Because the Arab American culture is very rarely heard from the "insider" perspective I think it is good to read such texts. If anyone is looking for another good read also dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although much more in your face and raw, I recommend the book "The Attack" by Yasmin Khadra.

In regards to the point made about "Habibi" being one-sided, I think that it is important to remember that this was written from just one person's point-of-view, and that we should approach it with this in mind. We can not always expect to hear both sides of the story; if this were the case I think we would have a lot different opinions about much of what we "know".

Also, while I do believe that when both sides of the story are told it is possible to portray the other point of view inaccurately; I also believe that one person's portrayal of their culture may not always match up with someone else's portrayal from that same culture. There are cultures within cultures, thats what makes us all so unique; no one else can say they've lived the lives we have!