“A practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day — this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.” -Brigitte Gabriel
Said Mahad Farah Shaiye Omar Ahmed Jama Farah Mohamud
The suddenness of our names disrupts their order.
Their names mean “from here.”
Ours are an invasion.
As if we could never be from here, even when we are
born here die here live here
hope here
fear hear
everything here
except from here.
Even if we looked from here, our names would threaten their ideas
of what this world is
of what we are. Of what here is.
What we could be.
white man looking like
the smell of water.
or
The time you thought you had before death.
Break.
Write a sentence as if you feel the pangs of death enclosing.
Write like life is on this line.
Write the last sentence of your life.
Break.
Roadside restaurant white rice with goat meat and side of broth and a glass of water, all served in metal dishware by certified nomads who walk home in the dark through sticker bushes every night.
I pickup my keys and phone and id and debit card and headphones and so much and as I struggle with my backpack and water bottle and go back to my room and out towards the door and still wonder why I’m here grinding. For what?
Break.
Said Mahad Farah Shaiye Omar Ahmed Jama Farah Mohamud
(in case you forgot my name)
Break.
99 Luftballons always reminds me of when my mom, my two younger brothers and I lived in a women & children’s shelter across the street from the Key Arena in Lower Queen Anne for a few months in 1997.
I’d sit in my room, waiting for quiet moments where I could be alone, and I’d listen to radio Disney, hoping my favorite songs came on.
We had just moved to Seattle from Atlanta and we’d only been in America for about two years. I was 9.
My dad was still on his way up from ATL, driving the family Volkswagen across the country with no map to read or English to speak.
He was driving on a hope and a prayer, some confidence and a dash of arrogance. It’s what got us out of Africa, so why fix something that isn’t broken?
Radio Disney was my escape from reality at the shelter and 99 Red Balloons, the English version of the original German, seemed to always be on. It always made me feel good, mainly because of the melody.
The words didn’t really make sense to me, my English was still developing. But it wasn’t about the words. It was about trying to draw emotional meaning from the sound of the words, to fill in the gaps in my heart with imagination and empathy.
When we first got there, the people at the shelter gave me a Seattle Mariners hat. I always assumed that the S on the cap stood for Said, not Seattle. I would grow to find in time that there wasn’t a noticeable distinction to be made between the two.
There were some volunteers who came over to the shelter every Sunday from a Faith based organization. They’d take us to the Seattle Center, my brothers and me, and we’d play around the giant fountain and the dolphin and orca sculptures in the park. Those were some of the only moments in my childhood that I felt like a child.
I used to have a pair of high-top Sonic the Hedgehog kicks, they had a button on the tongue like the Reebok pumps, and when you pressed it, the shoes lit up and made video game sounds.
My memories in Seattle started out so fond. I think it was because we moved there in spring or summer, so we got the warmest of welcomes. This was before the rain, before the trauma, before the endless depression.
My family never had much, but we’ve always had each other. That’s a lot more than most can say, and for that I give thanks always.
Break.
A list of artistic & intellectual heroes:
Claudia Rankine
Tyehimba Jess
Malcolm Gladwell
Donald Quist
James Baldwin
Richard Wright
Frantz Fanon
Tommy Curry
Malcolm X
Fred Hampton
Stokely Carmichael
George Jackson
Colson Whitehead
Teju Cole
Hanif Abdurraqib
Emmanuel Iduma
Dawoud Bey
Gordon Parks
Robert Cappa
Break.
Good evening, thank you for being here.
Tonight I would like to begin by thanking the board and committee members for being here. I’d like to thank my thesis advisor. I’d like to thank my peers, both here and those who could not. OK, let’s jump right into it. Tonight I will be reading exercpts from something I’ve been working on for the last 4 years.
The working title is,
“Towards an explanation of why whites exhale aggressively from the nostrils when they pass me in hallways.”
My agent is shopping it around, but we’re hopeful that Penguin Rnadom House will pick it up, or Amazon.com. Whoever pays more. Anyway. Without further ado,