Arab Woman Talking

When the world is falling apart: Nuclear waste is polluting the air and water, when governments are still insisting on building nuclear plants in their cancer plagued war-torn countries ... when leaders are killing their people, and people are killing each other, when there is no end in sight ... when the planets are at hard angles in the sky, the wind is throwing rocks at cars, and everything seems foreboding ... when you sit puzzled, not knowing what decisions to make or un-make, "oppressed by bonds that could easily be broken" (IChing, #47), when you're taking yourself too seriously ... when you should be doing a million and two other things ... you sit and write a silly blog under a pseudonym. Reclaiming the Tea Party (Setting: Alice @ the Doctor's office) It angers me that they took the name Tea Party It's from Alice in Wonderland, and that's my favorite book. I don't want to associate it with them. My Tea Party is a bunch of loony toons sitting aro...

Where do I get my inspiration? Different places and times: Sometimes it's from personal experiences and events, sometimes it's from stories I hear or read, with a bit of pepper and salt. Sometimes it comes from nature, dreams, and news reports. Sometimes inspiration just comes, from a place unknown to me. Usually, it's a combination of all those things. Below is a paragraph from my latest performance, "In the Lost and Found", followed by the letter that inspired it. (I apologize for taking so long to publish it Leila .) The letter is set against the reality that in Jordan, as in several Arab countries, a woman cannot transfer her citizenship to her husband (while the man of course can). "They tell me I will lose my inheritance if I marry a non Muslim. He has to convert, otherwise the marriage is false, the kids are bastards, and the wife is an apostate, her "blood is permitted" - with no punishment to the killer. I am obliged to give my husban...