| Our
selection of featured posts on the Meem Blog.
|
 |
AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE ON FUTURE T.V. by Shant
As I was flipping through the channels at about midnight
local time (Beirut) on a Sunday, I come across the
French movie l’Auberge Espagnole . At first I thought I
was on some cable channel and don’t think much of my
little discovery until the logo caught my eye... To my
surprise, I found out that I was watching Future TV! I
got all excited and decided to watch the movie, only to
see what they will make of the lesbian character played
by Cecile de France.
Like I had mentioned
before, it was around midnight and the optimist inside
of me was grinning and thinking, “YAY, finally they
might show that little, tiny, eency, weency kiss that
the character shares with her tango teacher. So I sat
there , watching the movie for the 4th time, probably
leaning deeper and deeper into the couch until finally
the decisive moment pops on my screen and I pop from the
couch and and and and...
She tells him she
is a lesbian, and they translate it as “shazza.” Later
on, they use the word “sou7akiya.” Even though the
subtitling person/whatever (yes, I am holding a grudge)
could not decide on one word, he/she had to use not one,
but two negative nouns. I told myself it’s ok, it’s just
subtitling, yalla yalla please show the kiss and make me
call all the Meem girls and celebrate the first lesbian
kiss on a private Lebanese network…
The flamenco
teacher comes on screen, the two ladies are dancing, the
images alternate between the character describing the
scene, and her dancing with her teacher, the teacher
leans over... And CUT to the next scene. I took hold of
my remote control and decided to watch cable channels.
Ironically, Ellen DeGeneres was on comedy …
ME AND MY LOVER, HER LOVER AND THE HUMMER by Imm
El Foo
So, I have a lover
And my lover has a lover
But my lover’s lover
Is her social cover
See, I have a
lover
She loves me and I love her
And then rings her lover
And I pull up my cover
So here I am
undercover
Hearing her with her lover
Convincing my heart to recover
And so hangs up
her lover
The natural born shover
He even owns a hummer
And THAT pleases her mother
And at this point
my lover
Will come under my cover
And convince me of her lover
And why it can’t be over
This is the story
of my lover
My lover, me and her lover
The hummer, the phone and the cover.
I WANT TO WRITE
U A SONG by Bacteria
I want to write
you a song
I want to write you a story
I want to write what I’m feeling on a paper
And then give it to you so you can read it and maybe
finally understand everything in my heart
You will know what every look in my eyes means when I
look at you
You will know how I feel every time you come close and
touch me
You will know that, when you talk, all I do is listen to
your words because maybe your words will make me know
you better.
I want to know more about you, who you are, how you are
and what you are. I want to memorize you by heart and
maybe then I’ll understand what you mean by every breath
you take and every look on your face.
I want to play you every song that reminds me of you and
sing you the words that make me feel that you are next
to me, and how I might feel your warmth even if you are
not next to me.
I want to keep writing till I have no words left to say
about you.
You have no idea how long I can sit and talk about you.
Definitely not as long as I want to spend time next to
you.
After all, you are what I’m breathing these days.
Because a woman is indefinable and so irresistible…
by Pazuzu
In our struggle
for a place to be, we often forget the ultimate goal and
the ultimate motive behind our activism. Some of us know
we COULD be with a man, if we really must. But even for
those, the idea of radically refusing women and forcing
ourselves to be with a man comes with an inevitable
reduction of the quality of our long-term relationships.
Yes, we could pretend to be normal and conform, but then
would we really live the passion? The incredible love to
need and need to love? We can relatively love some guy
if he’s really nice, patient and loving… But can we love
him so badly that we would feel our hearts beating in
anticipation of a meeting? Can his memory make us smile
long after he’s gone?
Ok fine, let’s
ignore that fact and pretend it’s only minor details,
let’s hide away and pretend these are just
exaggerations… But can we at least love Mr. Perfect as
much as he would love us? No, a lesbian would answer.
And how could we do that to Mr. Perfect?
Now bear with me
and think of the next question tormenting my soul. If I
could live the ULTIMATE love with either a man or a
woman, and for some twist of fate love threw a woman in
my hands and she was my chance… Should I let her fall on
the ground and insist that I’ll wait for a guy to love?
And how many chances does one person get to be happy?
Now aren’t we
raised under the constant cliché that we should not love
people for their looks but for who they are and how they
make us feel? SO what is gender if not a minor physical
detail of nothing at all? When I thought of it from this
angle the answer was as obvious as the sun in the sky…
Of course I’d love her! A couple of years ago I said I’d
love a sexually impotent man if he’d be my Mr. Perfect
and I meant it, great love is a bit rare, you know?
Unfortunately the
age of reason still hasn’t reached some people. Who am I
kidding?! Let me correct that: Unfortunately, the age of
reason still hasn’t reached most people. I assumed that
all I need to do is to explain to people that if I date
a girl then I am not denying the beauty of a man but
instead refusing to deny the beauty of a woman. And if I
explain it, they will understand, at least partially.
Sure, some homophobes converted to “homophilia” but that
was only one friend, one single dude who apparently
loved women so much that he found it natural that I
would love them too. He even went further saying that
what he does NOT understand is that women would actually
love men… Men, according to him, are ugly!
What’s funny is
that all the homophobes that rejected my theory were all
overshadowed by one success story… And to be honest I’m
often scared that in our struggle for our rights, or
even worse, to conceal our true identity, we fight the
enemy so hard and for so long that we forget to stop
from time to time and enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of
the woman right next to us, the indefinable and the
irresistible… |
