I was excited and gratified to have had Mohammed over here in the Abruzzo region of Italy the other week. It’s long been a goal of mine to see a Saudi woman ( not one of the contemporary young ones, but one wearing a black abaya and with her face covered ) walk along the streets of L’Aquila because the visual and cultural juxtaposition of conservative provincial Italy with conservative provincial Saudi Arabia is a ludicrous kind of an idea – exactly why I liked it.
Mohammed is not a woman and nor was he wearing traditional garb, but he does come from Saudi Arabia and he did walk along the streets of L’Aquila.
He’s an archeologist and also I discovered he is a bedouin, from the Empty Quarter, down there on the Yemeni border, and I’m very happy that he came here and connected our two worlds.
Out There & In Here 