When in gay Beirut

When he starts dating again; when your second cousin from the father's side is getting married and you can't deal with the disaster that is about to ensue; when you wake up in his apartment and find a Nancy Ajram/Elissa/Najwa Karam/Haifa Wehbe/Marwa album laying around.

As his fingers rippled across the strings, all watching were transported to a candle lit night wrapped in a balmy breeze.

The notes floated away, each tripping over the previous as it caught up with it.

He looked up from the instrument towards the door of his dirty little old city workshop, distant contentment in his eyes. The grind of life slid off their shoulders, defeated in the face of the peaceful strength of his music.

Firstly I didn’t know Kuwait had a women’s beach volleyball team and secondly what exactly is a modest uniform? It’s a sport that takes place on the beach so I can’t imagine them being covered up too much. I tried to find pictures online of the team but didn’t have any luck. I also tried to find a random picture of a women’s beach volleyball match that didn’t involve a skimpy two piece swimsuit but also didn’t have any luck. I imagine they might be wearing a burkini (pictured above)?

The message was clear: I was being treated this way because I am a Pakistani with an Arabic name. It seemed, as it still does, impossible that at any point during the harassment I was considered an American. Americans do not receive visits by counterterrorism officials for no reason. Similarly, Pakistani-Americans, integrated minorities with hybrid identities, would not be treated this way as their “American” side was impossible to ignore.