Living in multiple worlds has forced me to view the world using multiple lenses. From my adoptive parents, I am from three distinct communities: Native America, Arab America and America. From my birth parents, a world of the unknown, the unspoken. The title, RELATIONS, becomes then a statement and even a question.
For inspiration, I turned to authors such as Diana Abu Jaber, and Amy Tan. Each has addressed issues of identity in their memoirs. They admit, however, that they live in two worlds. For example, Tan lives in the Chinese and American worlds and Abu-Jaber the Arab and American worlds.
RELATIONS is a photo album with many missing pages, many missing photographs. Divided into two parts--- Below the Bridge and Above the Bridge ---these essays and poems represent pockets of time and distinct experiences. RELATIONS documents my own challenge in searching for my true identity while also sharing with my audience intimate struggles. It is not by any means a complete autobiography. Poems were important and they should be viewed as creative nonfiction in nature.
This thesis is for those RELATIONS who have walked before me, those who walk aside me, those who will follow me, and those who have yet to step foot in this world.
