If you were a frosh in 2005, you may remember meeting a big guy with an affable smile who introduced himself as Stan. Stan, it turns out, is Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Artsci카지노 게임 컬렉션11, the same Elamin Abdelmahmoud who writes for BuzzFeed News and hosts several CBC radio shows and podcasts.
카지노 게임 컬렉션Stan was a nickname from high school,카지노 게임 컬렉션 he explains. 카지노 게임 컬렉션When I came to Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션s, that카지노 게임 컬렉션s what I called myself. It was my secret identity.카지노 게임 컬렉션 Indeed, it was an identity he kept secret from his parents, whom he was living with at the time.
The act of deception was harmless; there were no victims and Mr. Abdelmahmoud would eventually stop introducing himself as Stan. Still, it was symptomatic of his desire to blend in, to appear whiter in a very white city.
Mr. Abdelmahmoud came to Canada from Sudan at age 12. He spent his teenage years as one of three People of Colour in a suburban Kingston high school, learning a new language and searching for common ground 카지노 게임 컬렉션 from wrestling to nu metal music to the show The O.C. 카지노 게임 컬렉션 that would enable connections with his classmates and, in the process, enable him to find his own identity.
Identity is the theme of Son of Elsewhere, Mr. Abdelmahmoud카지노 게임 컬렉션s newly released memoir. Through a collection of essays, it tells the story of how Elamin became Stan and then Elamin again. He explores his identity 카지노 게임 컬렉션 his attempts to deny it, his attempts to change it, and, eventually, his attempts to unpack it and accept it. 카지노 게임 컬렉션I came to the realization that suppressing parts of my identity is not a healthy way to live,카지노 게임 컬렉션 he says. 카지노 게임 컬렉션The book is about revisiting those identities.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Part of that revisitation involved coming to terms with the life he had left behind. Being a Sudanese immigrant in Kingston pushed cultural differences to the forefront and add-ed urgency to the quest for belonging. At the same time, no long-er living in Sudan created distance from the close connections that defined the first 12 years of his life. He is neither fully Canadian nor fully Sudanese. He is a son of elsewhere.
Ultimately, the book is about the complexity of belonging, especially for racialized people. For Mr. Abdelmahmoud, part of that complexity included sorting out his feelings about Stan. 카지노 게임 컬렉션It카지노 게임 컬렉션s hard to think back on that time,카지노 게임 컬렉션 he says, 카지노 게임 컬렉션but it was a good exercise. It allowed me to develop some self-compassion.카지노 게임 컬렉션
Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces is available this spring from McClelland & Stewart Limited.
