DESERT STARS

by TINA GE

They say the night sky tells stories. The fiery red eye of the East, in the constellation Taurus, is called ad-dabarān, the Follower. It is named as such because it follows on the heels of its lover, the cluster athThurayyā. Yet the star al-‘ayyūq prevents them from being together, condemning the follower to chase ath-Thurayyā across the sky for eternity.

Another star, al-Jawza’, was engaged to Suhayl, the second brightest star in the sky. Suhyal lived with his two sisters across the river, the Milky Way. On the day of the wedding, al-Jawza’ was found dead and Suhyal crossed the river with one of his sisters who was subsequently named the Shi’ra Who Crossed Over. The other sister stayed home and cried relentlessly and so she was named the Little BlearyEyed Shi’ra. She is said to shine less brightly because her eyes are filled with tears.

Stories of love, longing, and loss are not just written in the sky. They are scattered in faces across this country—in the students at NYUAD, in the taxi drivers around the city, in workers at the mall. They can be found in couples strolling in the park or families playing on the beach. The narratives often center around labor migrants, people who have left their countries and loved ones to pursue dreams of financial stability and freedom. They are tales of faith, reflected in people who devote themselves to Islam in their own ways. To love something—a person, a dream, or a religion—and to fear losing it is distinctly human.

In journalism, they ask us to report on the newsworthy. We are tasked with finding stories in the chaos of New York, where something newsworthy happens every second of the day. I’ve always thought that I needed to be in an environment like that to make it as a reporter. Yet in Abu Dhabi, I found out that some narratives are tied to the quiet, just as stars are married to darkness. Only in silence is there enough space for people to be vulnerable without fearing judgment or rejection. It is in the stillest of moments where they speak the loudest truths, openly and unabashedly.

I came to the UAE this spring looking for a change of pace. It is here where I discovered there are stories to be found everywhere, not only in the heartbeat of bustling streets in a city but also in the silence, in the infinite sky with constellations that hold millions of stories about love and loss.

Desert safari is a popular tourist attraction in the UAE, taking visitors dune bashing in an Arabian desert and stopping at a campsite for dinner. by TINA GE