{"id":20686,"date":"2012-06-29T10:36:12","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T06:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=20686"},"modified":"2012-06-29T10:36:18","modified_gmt":"2012-06-29T06:36:18","slug":"so-then-farewell-cairo-let-my-exile-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/so-then-farewell-cairo-let-my-exile-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"So Then, Farewell Cairo: Let My Exile Begin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I prefer not to write about my personal miseries: other people\u2019s miseries are so much tidier. But this misery is an exception, as it affects you.\u00a0(Well, it affects regular ArabLit participants. If you turned up just today because you put \u201carabic sex\u201d into a search engine, then you can disregard all that follows.)<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, I will get on a plane and travel away from the Mother of the World, one of the world\u2019s great centers of energy, creativity, warmth, and craziness. For financial and family-health reasons**, we will be staying out at the far edge of the map for at least a year.<\/p>\n

Questions people have been asking me:<\/p>\n

What about the blog? Will you keep doing the blog!?<\/strong> I certainly hope so. I am imagining this blog as the Ariadne\u2019s thread that will keep me tied to the belly button of the Universe, will keep me from drifting into nothingness, and will eventually lead me safely back.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s very nice and hack-poetic of you. But how, when you\u2019ll be at the edge of the map, far away from any sort of Arabic literary dialogue, will you keep churning out this stuff?\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t know. I hope to rely more on correspondents like Mohga Hassib, Mona Elnamoury, Jennifer Sears, Nora Lester Murad, and others. (I haven\u2019t asked most of them yet, but\u2026how could they say no?) If you would like to pitch in, of course I want to hear from you. Perhaps we could even apply for some funding for you.<\/p>\n

I also want to run more series-type things, a la the \u201c10 rules.\u201d This summer, I would like to start a \u201cWhy I Teach X\u201d (where X is an Arabic book in translation not generally taught in UK and North American universities). More teaching-assistance materials. As Mona Zaki has suggested, a whole section for educators.<\/p>\n

If you want to pitch in to help with any of that, let me know.<\/p>\n

Can I have your stuff? \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are you leaving because of Morsi\/Shafik\/Tantawi\/fondue shortages\/etc\/etc?\u00a0<\/strong>No.<\/p>\n

Where should I send your review copies now?\u00a0<\/strong>Very nice of you to ask. Please email me at mlynxqualey \u2013 at \u2013 gmail.com for an updated address.<\/p>\n

*There are many people upset at my use of \u201cexile.\u201d All I can say is: Yes, I claim this word, I claim this as my home, and if you disagree, that is your right, too.<\/em><\/p>\n

**It\u2019s not my health; I\u2019m (physically) fine, touch wood. At least, as far as I know. Touch wood, masha\u2019allah.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M. LYNX-QUALEY: It’s time to bid a sad adieu to my adopted home town. I hope to be back, though, soon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":20687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,124,80,235,482,5],"tags":[378,18342,8815,13571,5499,5818,18337],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}