These two authors each tell a story that builds up to September 11th and in one case is almost aided by the attacks and in the other case a relationship is ended as a result in a way of the attacks. However, in both cases the attacks bring about a closure that is needed in the stories. In "It's Not about That" the girl's relationship with her boyfriend and then exboyfriend is frequently disrupted by the discussion of the Middle East and related topics, but she doesn't want their seperation and problems to be "about that." Finally, with the September 11th attacks, she hears the culmination of her exboyfriend's feelings when she hears him take on an attitude of "reductionist diatribe against all Muslims everywhere" when she talks to him about the attacks. Although he refutes and apologizes for these remarks later, the attacks create a situation where, this time, their seperation and problems "is about that" and she is able to realize that "they have nothing left to talk about" and put their relationship and discussions behind her. September 11th is used at the end of the story because it creates a closure to their relationship and a part of her life. It is the end of their story as far as the two of them relating to eachother, so it fits that it is at the end of the actual short story by Serageldin. Kahf's story uses September 11th as a closure as well in that the abusive husband is no longer a threat to Rana as a result of the attacks. Although the trial ended convicting her husband and seemingly creating an end to the story, we find out later that her husband paid the fees ect. and is set free. Then, with the fear created by the attacks, Rana reports her husband as a threatening and violent Arab man and ends up getting him deported. This creates the necessary closure to the story because Rana is freed from the threat of her husband and able to live her own successful life. The attacks come at the end of the story because, as I said, they create closure and an ending that is settling with the reader and positive for the woman with whom we have come to sympathize.

In "Spiced Chicken Queen.." I believe the author shows how people of certain cultures can still have racist sort of sentiments (without really meaning to) towards those who are also included in their culture yet are of other. Rana is condescending towards mzayyan without really meaning to be so (how she sees her as shabby etc.) On another note, i think it was very interesting how the author utilized the issue of september 11th in her story. Rather than utilizing 9/11 in a manner which would be predictable (the effects of the steretyping/rampant profiling and racism which occured) she uses it in a humorous manner. Mzayyan is able to get her husband abusive husband deported,this being a very unique/rare sort of instance in which the actions taken post september 11th actually benefitted an arabic person living in america.

Serageldin's short story, "It's not about that," at first seems like another story about a nice Arab woman who meets a nice American guy (who is Jewish to boot!). But as the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the author is saying much more than that. The woman traces their tempestuous relationship, and it seems apparent that the cause of their problem is political in nature, specifically because of the Middle East. Without this problem, would their relationship be troubled at all? In response to the ending right after the September 11 attacks, it seems to be a device by the author to emphasize: after that disagreement, after an event as big as this, It Is Over.

I thought that Samia Serageldin's story "It's not about that" did a great job of conveying the shift in sentiment regarding the Arab community post 9-11 both internally and in relation to other. While no doubt there has always, to some extent, existed an uncomfortable tension between Arab and Jewish communities, especially in the middl east, the perspective of this story that instead focuses on relations between descendents of those communities who no longer call them home but rather function as members of the present day american community is very interesting. An Arab girl and a Jewish man who have known each other for decades, friends and at one point lovers from college were always able to maintain some degree of a relationship in spite of the conflict between their cultures. In some part, I think this stems from the more open-minded worldview that can be seen in many people who came of age in that period of American history. While often their different backgrounds would lead to arguments of disagreements, the conflict was never "about that", the longstanding tension between their seperate identities. But, and this is the relevance of 9-11 to this story, after the attacks on the world trade center is was in fact "about that". Serageldin, I think, hopes to illustrate the extremely divisive nature of this event, one that more than any other in recent history broadened the social and ideological gap between the arab community and the rest of the world.

I believe that, by placing the events of 9/11 at the end of the short stories, the authors are allowing the readers to become aware of the lives that the characters had before the event, giving a closer relationship with them. This way, we can understand their point of view and why they would act and feel the way they do upon the event of the attacks on the towers. All that the arab-americans have had to go through in recent history seems to be a good reason for the need for such connection and understanding from the reader, so that racism and xenophobia can be minimized.
I think that the fact that the attacks on 9/11 are not at the beginning of the stories is because the story would deal with life after the attacks, but I don't believe that the authors are ready to look past it because arab-americans are still persicuted today. Until anti-arab action is dealt with, I think that stressing how arab-americans are feeling and telling about their lives will do something to bring the need for change to light.

I'm not sure if this is really addressing the prompt. I think that the issue of the september 11th tragedy ending off the stories has a big significance to the works. In "It's Not about That" for instance, it would have been too stereotypical, especially now considering all the attention that the attacks have gotten, to put anything about it at the beginning. Serageldin sets up the story to show that, yes September 11th was a big deal, but there have been numerous other occasions when there have been violence in Arabic counrties and so forth. She is making the point however, that all of these other examples went un-noticed by Americans (specifically her lost lover). I think it is sad that it took something to hit SO close to home, literally right in our backyards, for Americans to even acknowledge the Muslim community, and in that sense, it was of course a negative thing. After the World Trade Center attacks, everyone with dark skin and a big nose was an "A-rab" no matter what their ethnicity actually was; and they were all bad too. The speaker's "friend" portrays America's confusion and negativity towards Muslims when he "responded with a reductionist diatribe against all Muslims everywhere". Of course, the woman has always, like many other countries, been subject to Wester/American influence (i.e. American movies and so on), but Americans have not necessarily been introduced to other the religious beliefs and traditions of other countries, until something like this happens to call attention to them. That is undoubtably one of the reasons for the attack in general, to bring forth some sort of recognition of those responsible. Sorry that was kind of a tangent.

What I thought the most interesting aspect of the story was how the author compared american culture to that of the arab americans in the story. She kept refurring to the appearance and demeanor of Mazayyan as shabby as compared to the appearance of Rana which was always pristine. She also compared the two womens feelings about Mzayyans abusive husband. Mzayyan was very submissive and Rana wanted her to press charges despite the shame she woud recive from her family. This depicted Rana's removal from the way Mzayyan's more traditional family viewed the relationships between men and women. However in the end Mzayyan showed them all up real good.

It was (and still is) very suprising to me that President Reagan and his administration were so pitted against destroying Libya and even as far as to make up stories.
Although the report is dated earlier than 9/11, the responses Nabeel Abraham discussed also took place after 9/11- the Anti-Arab Xenophobia. Sadly, the media (as always), and even the government did not do anything about trying to curb the wave of violence against Arab-Americans then.
About the short stories, "The Spiced Chicken Queen", deals with the stereotype of Arab women being submissive, which is rather ridiculous coming from a Judge. The fact that Mzayyan did not want to press charges against her husband was because she was afraid for herself and afraid that she would loose her family's respect. It was also because she did not have other means of survival if she were to leave him. Interestingly though, she reports her husband to the INS, and says something about him fitting the description of a terrorist thereby playing into the post 9/11 scare. It seems that she was after the money after all.

It's funny how in the story, Rana is Arab but she's been out of the culture so long she just can't help herself but talk about Mzayyan like a foreigner to everyone she knows and how after 9/11 everybody was talking about suspicious Arab-looking people here and there. The humor everywhere in the story, like that flying nun restaurant thing and the judge's decision, and all the day-to-day detail description like checking e-mails or taking a shower really help to show how unreasonable it was to look at Arab looking people like they were completely different when they have lives that are just as human as anybody else's on 9/11. By ending the story with 9/11, but particularly ending it with Mzayyan going and doing her spiced chicken thing at Wah-Wah Mart, it shows that humor wasn't destroyed, people didn't stop being people- some people may have had their lives changed but a lot of people just want to go on living being the same crazy, funny people they were the day before.

Starting the short stories before September 11th in "Spiced Chicken Queen" and "It's not About That" show the calm before the storm in the Arab community, where some Arab Americans were fitting in, and others weren't, and they were all grouped together. In "It's not About That" the woman describes how little Americans know about the Arab American community, since it is relatively new, they don't "share the same memories." Both stories show how different the perspective is for Arab Americans. By ending with 9/11, the readers can begin to understand how these individuals are still individuals after the event.

I believe that placing the events of September 11th at the end of the readings is very symbolic. 9/11 is such a prevalent theme in a plethora of media regarding Arab and Muslim- Americans. This placement means to prove that there is a long political history associated with Arabs before this tragic event. “It’s Not About That” goes through a timeline of events shaping Arab history and politics well before and leading up to 9/11. Samia Serageldin indicates that while all this history was taking place, few were aware of it: “And you? Where were you in 1967? The Six-Day War was merely a blip on your radar.” If 9/11 were brought up at the start, it may reaffirm the idea that this event was the beginning and defining event in Arab history

By ending her short story with September 11th and the aftermath national sentiment, Mohja Kahf constructs an outside-perspective personally affected from which the reader can view the events. This view ironically uses Mzayyan's abusive husband to constrast and relate the change: before September 11th "beating your wife is not that big a deal, in legal terms" and afterward being an Arab is. Kahf in no way condones September 11th yet she criticizes the government action that emerges out of it, action which humorously elevates Mzayyan. I enjoyed the title's meaning in this respect, relating Mzayyan to "Zenobia, Arab queen of Palmyra" who "killed her husband to be queen," adopting Rana's version of the story where she lives her days out "hale and hearty." Kahf's reconstruction of gender also amused me, how she uses Rana's oft desire to smack Mzayyan for not defending herself while Mzayyan chooses to win the war rather than the battle, and essentially destroys the judge's opinion of Arab women's passivity.

Following up on Chris’ comment about the national sentiment of "nothing will ever be the same again", the authors seem to develop their stories in the direction of September 11th as a pivotal point for a more marginalized perspective: Arab-American individuals. Generally speaking, national sentiments of irreparable damage circulating after the attacks neglected to address how pronounced those changes would surface in Arab-American communities. Both Mohja Kahf’s and Samia Serageldin’s stories demonstrate this by narrating interactions prior to the event and then the consequences immediately thereafter, which gives the reader orientation by providing a basis for comparison. Kahf’s approach was particularly effective because she manipulated a tragedy into an ironic resolution. She responsibly addresses issues such as domestic violence by providing two feminine voices to articulate the complexity of the problem. By telling Mzayyan’s story, she does not disregard the abuse in her community, but through Rana’s intolerance and disapproval, she also defends herself as an individual.
-Sarah

In both stories, September 11th is the firm closure to a relationship; these two relationships, however, are quite different. In “It’s not about that,” the relationship of an interracial couple – an American Jewish man, an Egyptian Muslim woman – is shaped by opposite world views. And despite their strong affection, they cannot move past their differences – religion, culture. They demonstrate resilience in their continued friendship, until September 11th. It’s interesting; the end of the Arab-American’s peculiar status (enamored with American culture, while attempting to preserve their Arab-ness) coincides with the end of the precarious relationship. In “Spiced Chicken Queen,” Kahf’s protagonist, Rana (just barely Arab enough to consider herself so) finds herself a translator for an abused wife. At first barely able to comprehend the Oman woman’s shame, Rana feels her Arab roots returning with Mzayyan’s spiced chicken and saffron rice. Mzayyan’s husband is let off far too easily, and, September 11th proves to be benevolent for the terrorized wife. She calls INS, and cites her husband as violent and Arab. He is taken away. Here, it’s ironic that such a horrific event saves Mzayyan’s life. It had to be at the end of the story – this twist provides closure to Mzayyan’s story, allowing Rana to re-distance herself from the Middle East.

--Sam