*snip snip snip*

[ajnabieh]

I hate, hate, hate cutting things. Hate it. I'm assuming those of you who write recognize the feeling at least a little. I especially hate cutting bits I like, when they no longer fit the tone or structure of the piece they're in. Sometimes they're beautiful, or funny, or meaningful, but they just have to go.

Hey, I guess that's what having a blog is for.

This used to be in the fourth chapter of my dissertation, as the introduction to a subsection on my fieldwork teaching ESL in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

I got the question every time I started working with a new group of students, and this day was no exception. "Where you from?" Wilad asked, as I put the children's book I'd been using to teach colors and clothing back in my purse.

I used to answer that question with "Kensington," my Brooklyn neighborhood, or "Philadelphia," my hometown. But that's never the question they're asking. "I'm American," I say.

"You husband 'arabi?"

I thought of my wife, with her Jewish last name, who was at home with our six-month-old son. "No," I say. "My husband's not Arab."

(Linguistic note: Arabic lacks a copulative verb [i.e., to be] in the present tense. Native speakers of Arabic learning English often drop them as well. In my fieldnotes and writing, I try to preserve syntax where I can, because I think how we talk matters.)

OK, now back to the exciting task of finishing my damn dissertation this weekend. *makes more tea*

Comments

[shadowings]

i loved that. it's too bad it has to go. =(

[ajnabieh]

Me too. :( Oh well, the blog's the beneficiary!

[kass]

That is a lovely scene. I am sorry you had to cut it, though glad you posted it here!

[ajnabieh]

Someone on my campus started a "snippets" art program, where you send words that you cut from your writing and they "recycle" them into new writing pieces, like a found poetry thing. This seemed a bit much to send, though...

[(Anonymous)]

I have so many anecdotes like this one if you just substitute atheist Jewish husband with Muslim name . . . but I must say I was really excited when I first read the the title because I thought you were talking about snipping up sheets of paper, which as a language teacher I spend an inordinate amount of time doing!

Shedding Khawatir (blogger isn't playing nice with Open ID for some reason)

[ajnabieh]

I have definitely spent more time this semester doing arts and crafts than I expected. I brought my Risk board to class one day and made a student play a model game of Risk with me! I made a map quiz! I handed out index cards with prompts for group work! Weirdly, I appear to be turning into that sort of teacher.

It really seemed as if my students (adult women in an ESL program) couldn't come up with any possible reason why a white girl would be there to teach them if she wasn't Arab or married to an Arab. Also, they were totally blase about my speaking lousy Arabic, but the day I diagrammed a sentence it impressed them massively. "She can write 'arabi!" Apparently that was much more impressive to them.

Boo to Blogger. :(