Flesh and Stone: a Wanderer's Mosaic
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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2005 Flesh and Stone: A wanderer's mosaic Tamaria L Anderson University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Anderson, Tamaria L, "Flesh and Stone: A wanderer's mosaic" (2005). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 1863. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/bmxn-w51e This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLESH AND STONE: A WANDERER’S MOSAIC by Tamaria L. Anderson Bachelor of Arts, English University of Nevada, Las Vegas 1999 Master of Science University of North Texas 2004 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1435594 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Thesis Approval The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas November 11 20 05 The Thesis prepared by Tamaria Anderson Entitled Flesh and Stone: A Wanderer's Mosaic is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing Examination Committee Chair Dean of the Graduate College l~ J - Examination Committee Member Examination Committee Membe ■raduate C o lle ^ Faculty Representative 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Flesh and Stone: A Wanderer’s Mosaic by Tamaria L. Anderson Dr. Douglas Unger, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas There are places in the world that never seem to leave the news, and yet for all we hear of them, we really know very little. The West Bank is one of these, its truths and realities obscured by the blinding flash of news cameras and political manipulation. It remains near the front of our consciousness in part because of its constant unrest, but also due to its role as nexus for three main world religions. This work grew out of an impulse to describe and explain the experience of living as a foreigner on the West Bank. Taking the form of a creative memoir—neither entirely fact nor total fiction—it is rather like life there, on the edge between worlds and times, an image made of fragments, its depth and color a matter of perspective. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................iii CHAPTER 1 GOING AND COMING. CHAPTER 2 EXODUS .....................................................................................................16 CHAPTER 3 COMING TO THE MOUNTAIN........................................................... 31 CHAPTER 4 ORIGINS AND DESTINATIONS.........................................................43 CHAPTER 5 LEARNING THE MOUNTAIN............................................................. 51 CHAPTER 6 WEDDING SEASON...............................................................................71 CHAPTER 7 GLIMPSES................................................................................................. 81 CHAPTER 8 RAMADAN KAREEM.............................................................................89 CHAPTER 9 ON BENDED KNEES.............................................................................106 CHAPTER 10 HARVEST................................................................................................. 119 CHAPTER 11 FUTURE IMPERFECT............................................................................130 CHAPTER 12 TO MARKET ............................................................................................141 CHAPTER 13 DIFFERENT PATHS...............................................................................150 CHAPTER 14 BACK TO BETHLEHEM ...................................................................... 166 VITA..........................................................................................................................................183 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1 GOING AND COMING Acceleration pulled me back into the seat, until, with a mild lurch, the plane lifted, arrowing west toward the mountains, then banking and circling back over the valley, headed east. I was on my way, going back to a place I really didn’t belong. This trip began a few weeks before, with an email from the West Bank; the note was brief, but not the sort one should read at work. Of course I read it, and after the tears, I began hunting for an affordable ticket. Mamasan was ill, she had cancer, wrote Ilham in her uncertain English, but would almost certainly feel better if I visited. How do you explain to coworkers or friends the compulsion to return to the Middle East? Neither religion, blood-ties nor marriage could claim me, and a post 9-11 world had nothing to recommend such a course. Still, a short time later, I found myself aboard a plane as it climbed sharply above the city, following a path I had last taken two decades ago. In the weeks before leaving I made preparations for what I hoped would be an uneventful trip. I’d cleared my desk at work, made arrangements for my teenaged son to have a ride to school and stocked the pantry. On my desk I left an envelope with a cursory list of what should be done in the event I was late returning, which was as close as I wanted to come to admitting something could go wrong. I’d packed lightly, with both culture and weather in mind: no short sleeves, dark, quiet colors, long sweaters and a couple of scarves. I could guess what the weather would be, but other conditions were Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. unknown. Like listening through a heavy curtain, one hears noises, senses motion, but has no way to prepare for the actuality. Were things as bad as they seemed on the news? Fifteen years was a long time, and anything I once knew would be either insufficient or irrelevant. Security for flights bound to Israel is tight. It starts early, and is quite thorough. The stepped up, hyped up ‘increased security measures’ now followed at U.S. airports have been second nature for Israelis for decades—they invented the term, or at least the techniques. One thing to learn quickly, traveling in Israel, is the importance of not drawing the attention of security forces. They are deadly serious, and an uncooperative traveler will most likely be ‘escorted’ at gunpoint for further questioning. Entry into or exit from the country is not a given. I faced the dilemma, as I lined up in New York for the transatlantic leg, of either telling the truth—sure to cause delay, probably interrogation, and likely even denial of entry— or lying. I had little in the way of a plausible lie, but I tried it. My purpose in traveling to Israel? Tourism. Hmm. Perhaps that was not the best choice. Back in the 70’s and 80’s it was okay to say I was a tourist going to Israel. Post-uprising, the line is unexpected. No one travels alone to Israel, certainly not as ‘just a tourist.’ I was passed up the line to a supervisor for further questioning. Exactly what kind of mischief a single, slim, well-searched, empty-handed middle-aged American woman might be up to was not for me to say, but I fine-tuned my story very quickly, making the truth serve, although it was perhaps a little bent by the time we got through. I wasn’t a tourist; I was an ex-resident, going to visit family in Tel Aviv. Luck smiled on me. They didn’t follow up with phone calls or deeper scrutiny. A few more questions, some chit-chat about the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.