I got to do some illustration’s for ArabAd’s July issue cover story: Women shaping the economy. Very interesting report, highly recommended! Here are the illustrations for you to check out while I’m stuck in bed for the next 3 days with ‘acute amygdalitis’…
And last but not least, here’s Neneh Cherry’s ‘Woman’. Enjoy 🙂
Meet Vanessa, Nour & Ashley, the characters of my new comic that you will see every month in ELLE Oriental magazine. They’ll be discussing the month’s topic of the magazine from 3 different perspectives. They represent the different faces of the modern Arab women.
This month’s topic is love & sex. Click on the image to view it in full size. (!) Text by ELLE Oriental editorial team.
And let’s not break the tradition, I wish you a beautiful day with this song by Cat Power “Empty Shell”. Enjoy… 🙂
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*Nefrah mennik = you get married (translation for non arabic-speaking readers)
I thought social pressure for marriage starts for women in their early 30’s. But guess what! From the moment girls are born, they are brought up to “hope” and “dream” of the day they will get married (most women I know dream of this day). Marriage & childbearing is still regarded as the most rewarding achievement in the life of a woman, while all the other “career-related” achievements are only secondary and should be avoided if the financial situation allows it. This clearly causes a lack of confidence and sense of failure to some of the women who are not married – which I find completely wrong! I’m glad Kolena Laila initiative is giving me the space to say what I think about all this!
Other Lebanese “bloggeresses” for Kolena Laila.
• Café Thawra “Fighting the right ennemy”
• Identity Chef “The Lebanese Laila: 5 lessons in Marketing & Self Branding”
• … (let me know if I missed someone! 🙂 )
Now before I leave you back to your holidays (for the fortunate ones) and to your work (for the not-so-lucky ones like me!) here is a song from the soundtrack of a movie that I’ve been CRAVING to watch, but haven’t had 2 free hours in a row to do so. Walk The Line <3 The song is ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ sang by Joaquim Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon for the movie … Enjoy, and have a great day 🙂
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Translation of Arabic sentences:
“B3id el sharr: God forbid!
Sayer bi zahi2 hal TV: TV is so boring lately
Sketo Naji tole3 ma3o sida. la2to mnel philipiniyye: Rumour has it that Naji is HIV positive! He caught it from the domestic worker at his house.
Lah ya 7aram ya Rosanne. Shou hal ossa!: Oh no! Poor Rosanne.. What a disaster!”
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So, today is World Aids Day 2009. In Lebanon, sex and all its derivatives are still rather taboo subjects. Besides, the not-so-alarming numbers of HIV-positive people makes the issue not-so-alarming comparing to other political or social problems. However, why wait until it is spread like in some other countries? The increasing sex-tourism approach to Lebanon, combined with the very high lack of STD awareness in Lebanon (mainly due to non-secular school systems) AIDS is very vulnerable to spread, and to spread fast. Let us not forget to raise awareness about it everytime we get the chance.
Other Lebanese bloggers on World Aids Day:
• Chantal
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Well, it seems that all my trials of changing the water bottle at work are doomed for eternity. It’s unfair that they make them so heavy and thus impossible to carry. We girls always end up calling each other for support. I’m going to get a stock of 0.5L bottles w khalass. With this, I wish you all a lovely sunny week-end! 🙂
Sorry Omar! 😀 Hahaha! Yes this is a true story, and it will teach all of you that acetone is NOT the best choice to clean your laptop (or your table, or anything else, except your nails!) And they say that women lack common sense! One thing is sure: some substances are much safer in the hands of women.
Couldn’t resist to share this little story that happened today. Have a great day 🙂
And that, my darlings, is the story that happened right before the interview for the reportage with al horra. I want to thank my colleagues through this post for their constant support! You’ve been wonderful! Now regarding al horra, it was supposed to broadcast the interview today but someone decided to make elections in Iran (since when are international politics more important than the blog? 😛 ) So i guess it’s postponed till later. I’ll keep you updated anyway. Now the moral we can retrieve from this story, or the questions we can ask ourselves: who cares about make-up and anti-cerne and whatnot. Honestly, I had never used those tools before my colleagues inflicted them on me 🙂 … It felt kind of weird, I personally don’t believe femininity lies in make-up or in colors. It lies in expressions, behavior, actions. I wish more girls in Lebanon would follow this belief!