Port Townsend Community Read to cross Islamic cultural barriers
The cover of the novel that will be this year's Port Townsend Community Read.
By Jennifer Jackson, Peninsula Daily News
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Tanaka, whose father is American, has just jumped ship off the coast of Savannah, Ga., in search of the lost half of his heritage.
"He was swimming," Boyle writes, "rotating from front to back, thrashing his arms and legs, and puffing up his cheeks."
In Once in a Promised Land, we meet Jassim Haddad as he is swimming laps at a fitness center in a Tucson, Ariz., suburb.
A hydrologist from Jordan, Jassim has made a smoother entry into American waters, but like Tanaka, his character plunges the reader below the surface.
Seeing America refracted by the lens of another culture is the focus of Once in a Promised Land, this year's selection of Port Townsend Library's Community Read.
'Of being an American'
"We wanted to find a book that dealt with issues of being an American, especially looking at what it means to be Arab-American," says Theresa Percy, Port Townsend Library director.
"So many people have misunderstandings about Islam, being Muslim and the Middle East, especially after 9/11."
Started two years ago, Community Reads is designed to encourage people to read the same book and discuss the issues it raises.
The first selection, Counting Coup by Larry Coulton, explored cultural divides on a girls' basketball team in a Montana reservation border town.
Last year, the library chose Mark Spragg's essays, "Where the Rivers Changes Direction," and his novel, An Unfinished Life, which depict life, death and the struggle for survival on the Continental Divide in Wyoming.
Recommended reading
"This book was recommended by [Seattle's] Elliott Bay Book Store after the author, Laila Halaby, spoke there," Percy says.
Once in the Promised Land is set in the Southwest, where Jassim and spouse Salwa Haddad have come to live the American dream.
Striving to blend in, they end up sublimating their natural reactions to the point where they lead guarded lives both in public and private.
Halaby wrote the novel after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and it does figure into the plot, but at distance.
"There's the personal relationship of the couple, who are living the dream, and what it means to them," Percy says.
"There's also with how they deal with their own personal histories."
Like in East is East, the book brings to light differences that are invisible.
In the former book, Tanaka is repelled by the odor of meat and butter that American skin emits.
Jassim experiences similar friction just walking through a mall, where staring, a permissible pastime in Jordan, is not considered polite.
"For me, it was a eye-opener about what it was like after 9/11," Percy said.
"It makes you think about those subtle prejudices, as well as racial profiling. Nothing is that simple."
Free events
The library has scheduled a variety of free events around the "Community Read" book, including a concert of Middle East music and a film by an Arab-American filmmaker.
"Hopefully out of this we will have a better understanding of Arab-Americans and the richness of their culture," Percy said.
The Port Townsend Library's 2008 Community Read is Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby.
The library encourages people to read the novel this month, then attend a discussion group and special events in March.
All events are free and are in Port Townsend.
The Seattle-based ensemble performs modern music of Egypt, Lebanon and Syria and traditional music of the Middle East. Space available for dancing.
Gallagher is a speaker with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. Co-sponsored by the Jefferson County ACLU chapter.
A reading guide with discussion questions is available from the Port Townsend Library, which will hold six discussion groups during March at locations throughout the community.
For a list of dates, times and places, go to www.cityofpt.us/library.
In addition, Sweet Laurette's, Provisions Take-Out Deli and Castle Key Restaurant in Manresa Castle will feature Middle Eastern entrees and appetizers on their menus during March.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County reporter/columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
Last modified: February 04. 2008 9:00PM