The Prison Cell
It is possible...
It is possible at least sometimes...
It is possible especially now
To ride a horse
Inside a prison cell
And run away...
It is possible for prison walls
To disappear,
For the cell to become a distant land
Without frontiers:
-What did you do with the walls?
-I gave them back to the rocks.
-And what did you do with the ceiling?
-I turned it into a saddle.
-And your chain?
-I turned it into a pencil.
The prison guard got angry.
He put an end to my dialogue.
He said he didn't care for poetry,
And bolted the door of my cell.
He came back to see me
In the morning,
He shouted at me:
-Where did all this water come from?
-I brought it from the Nile.
-And the trees?
-From the orchards of Damascus.
-And the music?
-From my heartbeat.
The prison guard got mad;
He put an end to my dialogue.
He said he didn't like my poetry,
And bolted the door of my cell.
But he returned in the evening:
-Where did this moon come from?
-From the nights of Baghdad.
-And the wine?
-From the vineyards of Algiers.
-And this freedom?
-From the chain you tied me with last night.
The prison guard grew so sad...
He begged me to give him back
His freedom."
-Poems by Mahmoud Darwish
free and unfettered access to information about all subjects, popular or not, is a key principle underlying my involvement in wikipedia. I used to edit anonymously, but have found that "membership has its privileges," particularly in the face of increasing calls for the deletion of not insignificant articles on controversial subjects.
some sounds of my city
birds
roosters
church bells (the time, every hour, and one beat for a quarter hour, two beats for a half hour, and three beats for three quarters of an hour)
cars and people yelling about who's car is parked behind theirs
the call to prayer, five times a day
children playing, screaming, laughing, crying
the carpenter's shops (there are still carpenters in Nazareth
just like in Yousef's days)
the neighbours chatting over the balconies or visitors calling for someone to come down
arabic music hebrew - the voices of the jewish tourists from tel aviv getting their "authentic arab experience"
TV news broadcasts "live from the neighbours' living rooms!"
birds
roosters
church bells
Girls in Bethlehem costume pre-1918, Bonfils Portrait
This user supports the right of all individuals and groups to violently resistmilitary aggression by other parties, but due to an alleged consensus she is afraid to name particular individuals or groups which certain administrators find to be unacceptable.
The Anti-Flame Barnstar Alright, this would be two barnstars for the same basic issue, but I admire you keeping your cool in this recent kerfluffle, and in not stooping to firing broadsides at every insulting post from a certain unnamed editor. I rather doubt I could have kept nearly so far above the fray in your shoes. Ravenswing 04:17, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Integrity For your ability to compromise while remaining firm on your values. Also, for one of the most calm and level-headed, yet bold responses to an A/E report (the third paragraph in particular). ya3teke el3afyee ya a5tee. - asad (talk) 03:21, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
The WikiCup 2010 Ribbon of Participation Awarded to Tiamut, for participation in the 2010 WikiCup. J Milburn, Fox and The ed17 09:00, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
The Excellent User Page Award Rarely are Userpages so full of sadness and poetry. You have a way of latching onto little details—"sounds of my city", the Mona Lisa-esque quality of the "woman from Ramallah"—to reveal the larger picture in the space between the words. As you wrote, "That's what moves me to write. My love for all people which begins with love for myself, then my neighbours, my people, and expands outward from there, everywhere." Beautiful. --AFriedman (talk) 06:39, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
The 50 DYK Creation and Expansion Medal Congratulations for creating or expanding 50 DYK articles. Fine work! Binksternet (talk) 16:43, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
The Geography Barnstar is hereby awarded to Tiamut for exemplary development work on the Outline of Palestine. ~~~ 23:18, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
The WikiProject Palestine Gold Medal Awarded for your outstanding contributions to WikiProject Palestine: for creating so many excellent, well-written, articles using your impeccable judgment, admirable clarity of expression, good humour and wisdom. Ian Pitchford (talk) on 21:52, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
The 25 DYK Medal Congratulations! For your very good Middle East related DYKs and other articles. Chanaka L (talk) 04:32, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence This is for your tremendous expansion of Imwas, not to mention starting the articles of Meiron and Jacob's Well with richly sourced information. I've always come to you when an article needs a great lead or a quality copyedit. This barnstar of quality, effort, and dedication could have no more of a fit owner. Congratulations and keep up the good work! Al Ameer son (talk) 07:57, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
Civility Award For managing to put across your frank views on the anecdotes relating to the Moses Montefiore Windmill without resorting to personal attacks and an edit war. Mjroots (talk) 12:29, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar For scholarly contributions and all-round good sense. PRtalk 22:47, 4October 2008 (UTC)
Tireless Contributor Barnstar. for your tireless contribution in Arab and Palestenian related articles especially Mavia and Liwan, you are the perfect user :) MARVEL (talk) 15:03, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor For your edit summary hereAvi (talk) 15:09, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar in recognition of your dignified conduct in the face of very unpleasant provocation, and the continued high quality of your contributions in spite of these difficulties, notably the very high quality of the article Sumud which you created in just a few hours NSH001 (talk) 19:11, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
The Resilient Barnstar There should be a Hemingway barnstar for grace under pressure, but this will have to do.G-Dett (talk) 13:09, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Sumud You are a singular editor, and I often wish that the virtue all ethnographers now claim as of peculiar force among your people, sumud, were recognized as a distinctive contribution and testimony to what is, under the civilized veneer, a violent world. Nishidani (talk) 14:38, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence For your astonishing effort in providing wikipedia with high quality material on Palestine-related subjects such as the good articles of Tawfiq Canaan and Palestinian costumes and your dozen DYKs, not to mention your work on depopulated Palestinian villages. Wallah Mabruk! –-Al Ameer son (talk) 23:10, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
The Arabian Barnstar Thank you for your hard work on Arab, not to mention Palestine, related articles! Funkynusayri (talk) 04:23, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar For grace, diplomacy, intelligence, and magnanimity! G-Dett (talk) 18:03, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar This is for all the work you did from July to spetember on articles relating to palestine. You deserve this, and your work is appreciated. Cheers! SJP:Happy Verterans Day! 23:51, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
Mediation Barnstar I award this Barnstar for helpful mediation (requiring a significant investment of time and patience) of a difficult dispute on the Legal status of Hawaii page, and especially for calling me on my own screwups. Mahalo nui loa!--Laualoha 23:53, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence Thank you for turning a brief article about Nadia Abu El Haj's tenure battle into the detailed biography she deserves. — Malik Shabazz (Talk | contribs) 19:43, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar Kindness and for understanding every angle of a story Irqirq 20:40, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence is hereby awarded in recognition of extraordinary scrutiny, precision, and community service. Awarded by Addhoc 16:24, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
The Mighty Defender of the Wiki Barnstar just for that what includes your poems too greg park avenue 20:50, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar for all your much-needed contributions, Regards, Huldra 15:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
The Resilient Barnstar For standing up for yourself against people who make Wikipedia unbearable at times. MetsFan76 22:33, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
The Resilient Barnstar For your learning from your mistake and for going aobut it in a civil Manner, Happy Editing! Aeon 19:26, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
The Sandwich of Exceptional Excellence (Potato Salad of Congeniality cluster, 1st. class) In Panis, Veritas. Awarded to TIAMUT for for being Civil and Assuming Good Faith in a frustrating situation :)--Doc TropicsMessage in a bottle 20:10, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
Some of the hooks from my DYKs for your reading pleasure
...that Aramaean treaty-making in the first millenium BCE, as documented in the Sefire inscriptions, included loyalty oaths that invoked magical rites with curses to befall any violators?
...that the liwan, a long narrow-fronted hall or vaultedportal often open to the outside, has been a feature of Levantine homes for more than 2,000 years?
...that the village of Anasartha, located in Western Syria and today known as Khanasser, derived its water supply until 1975 from a 12-kilometre long Byzantine-era qanat?
... that most of the place names in Palestine are Arabised words with ancient Semitic roots that were preserved by the local indigenous population, facilitating their identification with biblical sites?
...that the SemitictriliteralQ-D-S meaning "holy" has been used in ancient and modern Semitic languages since at least the 3rd millenium BCE?
...that local legend in Lajjun, a district center in Palestine under the Abbasids, held that the spring that served as its primary water source sprang from a stone after Abraham struck it with his staff?
1999Ehud Barak becomes Prime Minister of Israel campaigning under the slogan of "Us here. Them there," [6] a concept-turned policy known in Israel as Hafrada (Separation)
October 14, 2003 Ahmad Hajihosseini, Observer for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), says "the form of apartheid Israel practise[s] against Palestinians fulfill[s] all elements of the crime as defined under the 1976 apartheid Convention."[7]
Things deleted from articles that I wish we could keep (if only I had a Wikipedia:RS)
Kudna: The area was populated by the Shadfan family, who were forced to flee during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. All that remains of the Shadfan family is an old water well (that is said to have a special ability to cause women who drink from it to give birth to boys, rather than girls), a few ancient ruins (including a rock-made device for crushing olives), the remains of a fence, and their family cemetery.
References
^Uri Davis (2004). "2". Apartheid Israel:Possibilities for the Struggle Within. Zed Books. ISBN1842773399. ((cite book)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
