Post Academia Blues: Have you got it?

As I finished the body of my dissertation, I contemplated the ways in which I would introduce the topic of eBook and find a nice way to connect the topic in order to get my reader captured from the very first sentence. 

For hours I stared at a blank screen until I realized the important element of Change. The epitome of what my thesis preaches is that change is inevitable and quintessential for any business success. I was happy with my introduction and felt very confident that it linked with my body of work. Now, the blood and sweat I have poured in the last 3 months and a half will hopefully be rewarded with the grade I deserve.

Yet the topic of Change has once again subconsciously been brought up during a conversation my friend and I were having. It has been almost two months since we had seen each other and both of us have begun to adjust to our new lifestyles post St. Andrews. Now that we have both finally submitted our Dissertations, proud to have it done weeks in advance! We began to ask the troubling question that we have put of for almost a year, What now?

A recent article by the Guardian states that many people suffer from Depression after graduation, a result of feeling helpless to the big corporation world out there. Majority of us entered university with ideals of leaving and conquering the world but we wake up to the harsh reality of rejection letter from companies, entry level jobs requiring experience and positions of which applications begin in year 2011.

Especially in this economy, it is almost hard for anyone who has just graduated to find his or her ideal job! This according to the Guardian’s article is the reason behind this depression which is widely affecting large number of graduates. Think about it, How many cover letters could one write stating why they are qualified and fit for the company, how many more “tests” should a student go through and in the end they see the word rejection. Helplessly, we all ponder the thing we most fear, “ Is there something wrong in me?”.

Looking at one of my friends as an example, he had applied for a graduate position in a well-known consulting firm in the United Kingdom. He was thrilled to hear back from the company and went through two interview processes that he successfully aced. Later he conducted quantitative examination with a case study which was done on an 8 hour span. He finally received a phone call from the consulting company that he had successfully passed this stage and was called in for the final stage in which constituted of an  interview with the head of HR, they stated that even if on paper he was perfect for the position, if HR dosent believe you can incorporate into the company’s culture you will not be hired. It was hard to believe that they would not take him in after this whole process, yet he received the phone call that told him that they decided that he was not the right fit into the following company. They tell you rejections are part of life but I can imagine it took him a while to recover, as it should! And we provide the words of wisdom that keeps us optimistic, “ This rejection was for the best”

Yet I don’t believe a job is going to resolve everything, perhaps it will postpone and keep you busy until you begin to settle down and become happy with the new adjustments in your life. Change is hard, especially after years of enjoying a similar lifstyle, group of friends and atmosphere. Some of us come with a different mindset but we always somehow find life post academia in my opinion the hardest transition in our lives.

Confessions of the Arab Bookworm Hypocrite

Never have I ever had the chance to learn so much about the world of Arabic Literature like I have in my recent research on the publishing market in the Middle East. I have come to learn about authors that flourished, others that passed by without a single chance of fame and I find myself even more enticed to actually read the works of Haykal love story to Mahfouz Nobel literatures and the many other authors I have come to learn about in details.

I still wonder if it was my lack of interest in my Arabic studies during my high school years or the lack of creativity it came to teaching the course, but it saddens me that I never showed (and many others perhaps) any interest towards Arabic literature.

I recall as soon as the bell rang indicating the end of our classes, I would take out my Harry potter or Dan brown novels and read as much as I can before the start of my next class. Many of us grew with this idea that Arabic novels, like our courses were boring and lacked the same spark any English best seller novel did and this is perhaps ideally one of the many reasons why the Arabic publishing industry today are suffering.

Yet, I must confess that I am somewhat of a hypocrite, and it took me a while to realize this as I was browsing through the St. Andrews library. I came upon the translated work of Haykal, I was tempted to throw away all my work and sit in the corner and just read the novel. I held the book and stared at it for a while, its rough edges and smudged pages show that this book has been read more than once. I stared at Haykal’s name in English and I sat there and contemplated the ironic situation.

I am an Arab, with the ability to read a book in Arabic yet I wanted to read the book in the English language. It bothered me more than anything that as my thesis proposes strategies for the market to come back to its days of glory, so the least I could do is practise what I preach.

Which brings me to the resolution I have put down, as soon as I submit my thesis to the university, I will force myself to read my very first Arabic novel. It may have taken me 21 years, living in Scotland and working on a thesis only to realize this, but I always believe it is never too late.

Taking the road less travelled by Arabs.

A trip to the capital was needed after a long struggle with dissertation during my days in St. Andrews!

After years of abandoning the traditional monthly visits to London I decided to venture once more as my cousin and I took the cultural root (or as we called it, the road less travelled by arabs) and visited the V&A and the Saatchi and Saatchi gallery.

Just a couple of experimental pics taken during my visit that i would like to share.

The Fate of Humanity

A Book Review of the novel The Road by Cormac Mccarthy:

The road is a poetic tale of a journey by a father and son trying to survive in a “post apocalyptic world”. The haunting tale through Cormac McCarthy’s eyes projects to the readers the world that we all fear that will dawn upon us. Despite its bestiality we venture into “the Road” to see what is left of the world we will be leaving behind.

McCarthy envisions a future to which humans have returned to their basic instinct in order to survive, an instinct the father is helping his son understand. The settings of the eerie roads, the abundance of garbage and newspapers added a more haunting feeling to the story setting. Our curiosity concerning the state of devastation is only later satisfied along with understanding the reason of the absence of the mother and the “other humans” that are still alive.

McCarthy bares neither names nor characteristics to his characters, in which the story was pre dominantly narrated from a third person perspective, it felt as the story was a tale of a long conversation between a father and son who helped readers connect with the story.

Despite the ferocity of the book, the bond between the father and son in spite of it being cold was what truly capture the heart of the reader. Like a lion to its cub, the father tries to pass all the information to help his son adapt to the new world that McCarthy depicts as our future. Although the father felt his body weaken and loosing faith in the world he lived in, it was his mission to help raise his son to keep hope for a better future, keep his humanity and keep him alive disregard of any other people he may have to hurt on the way.

This critically acclaimed novel is one of the most important books of our time. Despite the horrific depiction, the morality behind the “the Road” is what makes this a crucial read. McCarthy provides us with a new innovative style of writing and story telling that has lacked in the high literary society for quite a long time. This page-turner will manage to capture the attention of the reader from the very first few pages asking only for more.

They always said, never open Pandora's box

I am one those, yes, one of those, those people who try to turn a blind eye to the news toll concerning the deaths that surround us in the middle eastern region. It has become part of the norm, death that is, if you live in the Middle East. Everything Islamic has somehow been connected to fundamentalism and I remember vividly how my life was consumed with the news but when I began to reach a point that I was truly depressed I just decided it was time to suppress all this and leave the news be.

Today watching the whole flotilla aid situation and seeing it all unravel in front of me, I could not have imagined how low Israel has reached! the fact that their reply to killing innocent lives is by saying they are “sorry” for the losses of unarmed civilians and they weren’t “sure” who told them they can shoot just not justify anything at all. There comes the other voice in me that notifies me that with politics nothing is in our hand!

I keep coverage of the news back home and read about how one of Gulf news journalist Abbas Al Lawati was on one of the boats. Despite the fact that this type of mission always carries a certain risk it just was something you do not expect from a ship carrying aid! On another note I really am happy that there are journalists in Dubai with such a passion for bringing in more coverage to our part of the region. As an avid photography journalist I just wish I had the guts to go to Palestine.

What’s interesting in this whole situation is I believe Israel has perhaps landed in Pandora’s box this time. Despite the media conglomerates dictate our opinion, today’s economy will manage to access the truth much faster with no helps from the conglomerates. The Internet has opened up blogs, twitter, youtube and much more outlets that people will use to present the actual facts without the help of the likes of CNN

This news alone comforts me, hopefully now people will understand that perhaps all this anxiety and hatred Arabs feel towards the Israel army and government is for a good and valid reason.

Photos: amore questo e Verona

I Had the great opportunity this past March to travel to Italy with my mother who was on business, We visited the little town of Verona, home to Romeo and Juliet! I usually upload more photos but decided to stick with my favorite 6 this time.

Contemplating PHD

My mind is set on my dissertation, with my relief that I have chosen a topic ambiguous yet confident enough that I can tackle the question of weather I have a future in pursuing a PHD still lingers, the idea of staying longer in the UK is quite tempting yet if the prospects of establishing my career route is open then I say why not go work!

I am not quite sure how easily will it be for me to find a job within the book publishing industry in the UAE, despite its promising future I believe a little empirical knowledge and not just my academic background would help make me a more confident employee.

Yet I am quite excited about my dissertation topic! My topic looks into the prospect of adopting digital publishing in the Middle east as a norm for publishing as oppose to the basic brick and mortar stores. I believe the lack of distribution system should be used to our advantage in digital publishing and promote it as a norm within the middle eastern region, this way not only will authors in the middle east be popular in the middle east but have the ability to gain global recognition!

Now the challenge is how I will manage to increase all this into 15,000 words, yep and the thought that a PHD will be 80,000 words makes me want to choke (although I have three years to write it ! as oppose to 3 months not to mention summer months!!)

Well if I am serious about writing a PHD then I must start working on my proposals before I begin the actual construction of my Dissertation!