ILLUSTRATIONS
Stories Illustrated by Michal Tamir
Click on any picture to meet the person
“There are currently 72,000 families, approximately 500,000 people, without any government support in Kirkuk”.
One of my fondest childhood memories was when my father took me to Australia to watch a soccer game. It was the match between Australia and Iran in 1997.
It was a close game that ended 2:2, and was just enough for Iran to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
I remember my father jumping up and down and people celebrating in the streets.
When I was in Israel I once lost my way.
It was about 11pm and it was raining. Then I saw an old couple walking hand in hand. They were so tiny. So, in order to get under the umbrella with them, I had to walk hand in hand with the old woman. She finally asked me: “Where are you from?”
A perfect day for me is a day where I can drive without being judged and wear my Hijab the way I want.
When I was in kindergarten, we had a celebration and I was the “Pink Butterfly.”
My partner made me cry because he was so slim and so little and I was chubby.
Women shouldn’t just think about marriage, sons and serving men.
In Gaza, they should become managers, engineers, ministers and singers.
They broke half of the house, and threw everything on the floor. They searched everywhere EXCEPT in the wallet on the table, which had our passports inside.
When you are alone all day, when you are sick of thinking in silence, when you look for the closest people to you and realize that they have all disappeared.
You are not that funny anymore. You are just a sticky piece of shit! You thought that those other people are the same as you? You are wrong! They like you when you are strong, they like you when you make them happy. But when you are down? You are alone! Alone! Alone! Totally alone!
“Pain on the liver”, part of my new theater piece that is in the works.
Feminist movements throughout history have demanded gender equality. Instead, they should have demanded supremacy. Female supremacy is not radical, it is reasonable.
The day women take the wheel, the world will see true peace. I would like to live in such a world.
Once my father saw me playing basketball and told my mother that I was not allowed to play with my male cousins and that she should teach me some girls stuff. I yelled at him and told him that I will play and won’t cook or do girly stuff. The next day he took down the basketball net.
My father never shouted at me. He used to leave if I would raise my voice, which I did often.
We were close but in a different way.
Every time I want to make my mother, Monia, happy, I tell her she looks like the Italian actress and fashion model Monica. Ti ammo mama!
Today, I don’t think that I admire any famous personalities
except those who dedicate their lives to bringing peace and goodness to mankind, like the Dalai Lama and others like him.
The salesman at the drugstore refused to place the change in the bare hand of a cross dresser. When I asked why, he explained that he was disgusted by me as a man in drag. I appreciated his honesty.
Even for me, it took years to open up to myself. I was a thousand times more disgusted of myself than he was by me.
I thought about the time it takes to overcome reluctance, to get familiarized and open up, and he probably haven’t had many chances to do so.
Even I took years to open up towards myself. I was a thousand times more disgusted in myself than he was by me.
But that word stuck in me like an atomic particle gradually. That night, I suddenly felt surrounded by people who are disgusted by me and are ashamed to express it.
