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Thursday, June 5, 2008

A Recent New York Transplant

Railings, Railings, Railings
Photo by myself in Summit, New Jersey. This was probably the back side of some stores in the middle of a quaint town.

Mark and I walked around Summit this weekend, after his nephew's birthday party. Nothing was open, except the nail salon, which was packed.

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Recently I heard an amazing segment on the This American Life podcast. There are tons of billboard ads in the subway stations about the televised series, which runs on Showtime, Sundays at 10 pm.

In this particular episode, host Ira Glass interviews Haider Hamza, the son on an Iraqi ambassador. At the age of nineteen, he worked for the Ministry of Intelligence, as representative of the country.

Hamza appeared on television shows as an 'Iraqi youth', and was coached by psychologists in what to say, and how to behave. Then the war started, the tables turned and he had to flee the country with his family.

Hamza is intelligent and eloquent. He describes in accented, perfect English his complicated relationship with his parents and equally complicated situation as a cog in the Iraqi propaganda machine.

What's Hamza doing now? He's living in New York as a Fullbright scholar.

To be sure, not everyone living here has such colorful back story.


For the This American Life podcast, click here. For the Hamza episode, click here.

Related posts: On Dopplegangers and Memory

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Neat photograph. I couldn't live like this. Way too many people all jammed together like sardines in a can.

Mom Knows Everything said...

Are there a lot of apartments like that in New York? I always picture it more like Sex In The City. Yeah I know, too much TV. LOL

Kitty said...

Thanks Mr Lincoln
I'm not sure these were apartments, lol. The lower level was definitely shops.

Hi Tammy
This was in Summit, New Jersey, about an hour away from the city. I don't think they were apartments, though it looks like squalid living, doesn't it.

I can't imagine Carrie within a 10 mile radius!

Anonymous said...

I can only begin to imagine the fun my sons would have with all those stair ways - oh the games of hide and seek and chase they could play.

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

I know that NY is a pretty, er, eclectic place. But I didn't imagine anything like your picture! Still, it's a great insight.
Ciao

http://scarletesculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com

Kitty said...

lol RB, all I can say is...kids!

Hi Jamjar, I guess I have been misleading. The photo is from New Jersey! Not exactly New York City. Though I'm sure there are some crazy balconies around.

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

I am going to add you to my blogroll, if that's okay with you!
Ciao

http://scarletsculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com

Eva said...

Thanks for the picture and the link.

I immedieately thought about The Sopranos. They will forever be linked to New Jersey in my mind :-)

Eva

Kitty said...

thanks Jamjar! I'm flattered.

Hi Eva
I should go on about New Jersey. New Yorkers have such opinions about their sister state. That will be for a future post!

Jilly said...

Love this. Your photographs are superb.

Kitty said...

Thank you, Jilly!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for listening to the story and sharing it on here...

Haider

Sylvia said...

Very nice photo.