I really enjoyed all of the readings we had to do this week. But I think the one that captivated me the most was the “What the Garbage Knows,”. It was such a well done story because it takes this one man’s story and ties it to so many of the issues that face Cairo and Egypt. As someone who is not familiar with the geopolitical landscape of this country but in seeing it translated through this man’s life I was able to get a clearer understanding of the society he inhabited. I appreciated that is started pretty informally and was about Sayyid and then unfolds about how the journalist came to meet him. I also appreciated that we learned more about Sayyid organically and his life unfolded as the story progressed. This felt liek we were in the shoes of the writer as when we get to know someone we see them as these very one dimensional figures that is shaped by how we meet them. There is this one cool thing like how he knows so much about people from his job picking up their trash. But then Sayyid becomes this complex character and we learn about his home life and more of the complexity of who he is as a person. I think the author does. A good job of inserting some of the biases he may have had about Sayyid like how well off he was and letting the discovery of his relative well being play later int he story. Overall, what I loved most was that this story affected my mood throughout. It started off very entertaining and gripped me with some of its humor. But then it became sadder and also I questioned Sayyid as a person because his flaws were revealed. And then I felt anxious about the deterioration of their marriage and wanted to see how it would resolve. The ending nicely structures the relationship Sayyid and Wahiba, his wife, with the conditions of the country after revolution.
I liked also the sample of the Naked Don’t Fear the Water. I feel like we were starting to get a good picture of Omar and Matthieu’s relationship. I however, don’t think I can make a fully informed decision about my opinion of the piece because we were write at the beginning of the story when the sample cuts off. I can only glean from the book review that it is an honest account but I feel like I won’t pass judgements on the piece yet. I think embeds are very interesting and this book was in many ways in embed though not in the military obviously. I find it incredibly brave that anyone would willing choose to enter into such dangerous situations. I understood Matthieu’s willingness to go through the process with his friend but the journalists who willing entered dangerous territory seems so far fetched to me. Lastly Dancing For Their Lives I feel did a really good job of sharing the overall story. We didn’t go in depth to any one person as much as the previous two do but I think we can get a sense that these women are doing what it takes to survive. I thought that the line “Lingering together in this comfortable female place, homesick, they were preparing to live off their bodies,” was particularly a brilliant line. I think it set up the piece well and connected to the title of the piece as well.
