2 posts tagged “celebrity”
"What do you mean, what do we do for fun? We do the same things you do."
-Farah (female student from the UAE)
Today I had the opportunity to be a part of a group of students from our university who were part of a panel in a discussion with three fabulous young women from the United Arab Emirates. Though my main purpose at the event was to ask one question and then carry the microphone to individuals in the audience who didn't understand the point in waiting to speak until the microphone was given to them, I really learned a lot.
When getting ready for the discussion, the girls from the UAE were told they needed to come up with some questions to ask the American panelists. Their response was that they didn't want to know anything, and though that seemed a little rude to begin with, they quickly explained that they already knew everything about the United States and Americanism, and I think they were pretty accurate in that claim. They spoke much better English than many of the students I interact with on a daily basis, and their English education begins formally when they are in kindergarten.
Once the discussion got going, it was obvious that their main purpose was to debunk any skewed perceptions we Americans had of their culture or their country, and I think they did just that. In response to questions about terror, they discussed how peaceful their country was, how they had never witnessed a terrorist attack, and how they never heard any of the bombing going on from the war in Iraq. They eat at Chili's and T.G.I.Friday's, drink coffee from Starbucks, listen to the All-American Rejects, talk about boys, and wear extremely modern clothing. One of the girls even had on acrylic fingernails painted a bright yellow. They were just like us. They were witty, cracked jokes, and had a charisma about them you wouldn't expect from an area well-known for the oppression of its females.
It amazed me just how backwards the presentation of the American media has been in regards to this culture. While I know the UAE isn't representative of the entire Middle East, they did shed some light on our common misconceptions about Arabic culture. Tonight, I even found myself searching the Internet for high school teaching opportunties in the UAE. I found a few, and they definitely peaked my interest. After all, free health care, no taxes, and students who know grammar better than most American grammarians doesn't seem like a bad tradeoff.
And I'm pretty sure if we'd gotten around to asking, they would have been pretty pissed about the Reese/Ryan split too? I wonder if they're Team Spears or Federline?
Dear Reese and Ryan,
Please come to your senses and get back together. I need to restore my faith in love and its ability to work. I refuse to believe this is really happening.
Thanks,
Your Devoted Fan
*Please note that I am extremely heartbroken by this break-up, but this letter is not to be taken seriously. The truth is, I have a complete obsession with celebrities, especially the way they handle themselves in relationships. Reese and Ryan seemed, from what you can possibly gather from tabloids and award shows, to be a couple who had remained undeterred by their position in the limelight. This break-up comes as quite a shock to me, and I'm sure it was shocking to Sandi89 on YouTube.com who made this video almost a month ago:
Or perhaps Sandi89 was onto something the rest of us just couldn't see. Whatever the case, I did get a little teary-eyed when watching this, regardless of how cheesy it might be.
