pshashe in orbit

this story—the first prose i’ve written in about five years—is about guilt, the closet, and diaspora, told side by side with a version of the old folktale of ferhat and şirin. there is a trigger warning for allusion to suicide and drug use.

if you want to read the story and the website gives you trouble, you can always request a PDF from me here or at [email protected].

The last her doctor has told us is that it could be any day now, she has weeks at best. She herself is very tired and in a lot of pain and wants all to end as quickly and peacefully as possible.

My birthday is this sunday, I have never spent a single birthday without my mom. Unfortunately I only got permission at work until next thursday to leave, but I dont have enough for the bus tickets and to cover the days without pay I’ll take especially since i cover as much as i can of her pain medication, oxygen tank and the rent of the especial hospital bed she uses.

please if any of you can help with anything i’ll be deeply grateful, I just wanna spend one last birthday with the human being i have loved the most in my whole life , my paypal is paypal.me/heyxo or [email protected], thank you in advance and also for all your kind words

“I want to be a regular 17-year-old. I like clothes, I like makeup. I get up in the morning, check my Instagram, have breakfast, and walk in the hills around the village. Sometimes I go to Ramallah with friends to go bowling, eat ice cream, and go to restaurants – but I am not a normal teenager. Both my parents have been in jail, as have I, and now my eldest brother, Waed, is imprisoned too. If I were permitted to be a regular teenager living in a normal country, I would play sports. I wanted to become a football player but I don’t play here because there is no time. Instead, I have been involved in demonstrations and confrontations with the Israeli army since I was a child. Many criticize that, but why not criticize the army who places itself in front of children? Under the occupation, everything is a crime. People should not accuse us; it is the occupation that is wrong”.

“This morning we woke up to find Israeli courts have ordered us to pay over $12,000 in damages to three Israeli teenagers. They have allegedly suffered emotional distress as a result of our role in Lorde cancelling her planned concert in Tel Aviv. We wrote an open letter to Lorde, asking her to respect the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and she did. As a result we were sued for causing emotional distress.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12141158

In a few short hours we’ve been overwhelmed with offers of financial support from New Zealand and around the world. We will not be paying the court ordered amount. Instead, we would like to redirect the support extended to us back to Palestinians in need of mental health support. We’re launching this crowdfunding campaign with the hope of raising $12,000 (or more) for The Gaza Mental Health Foundation. They financially support the work of incredible grassroots organisations such as The Gaza Community Mental Health Program among others. The foundation will send donations in their entirety to organisations which are providing vital mental health support to the traumatised families of the Gaza Strip. Emotional distress is a lived reality for Palestinians in Gaza, where over half of children suffer PTSD as a result of Israeli military attacks.

La Bruja Roja 

“Where Are They Now? A Year Later, Mixed Fortunes For Panama Papers Line-Up.”