the road conditions in saudi arabia by now, it's common knowledge that women aren't allowed to operate a vehicle in saudi arabia. in fact, it is more acceptable for young boys to sit behind the wheel than a human being who can give birth. however, what is vexing to those who are aware of this issue, is that the most vocal advocates of this practice are the women themselves, insisting that chaos will ensue should they become drivers. chaos, in the middle east? never. many of these women believe that their emotional instability, their inability to concentrate, if thinking about something else, and their susceptibility to being rattled by loud noises and bright lights would cause so much damage, it would be unthinkable for them to take the wheel.

having been to saudi arabia, and being a woman, i personally would support the law, and not because i would cry if someone would cut me off, or i wouldn't be able to think about how to get to my destination while remembering to press the brake when necessary, but because the road conditions their are abhorrent. potholes galore, uneven lanes, are there any lanes?

i began my trip from abu dhabi, united arab emirates, and anticipated the endless stretch of highway that runs through the empty quarter, the most desolate region in the world, surpassing the likes of the sahara, which some bold adventurers may feel the urge to discover, or the himalayas, which are peppered with hotels and the northface tents. the empty quarter has no value. no touristic value, no economic value, no aesthetic value. looming sand dunes of varying tans which dutch boy would label as "biscuit", "buff", and more fittingly "camel" scatter about the endless horizon. the air is so heavy that the sun, which is obviously in the sky, isn't fully visible, although it scorches the surface of the ground, the road, the car, your face. there is no escape from the sun in the empty quarter, especially on any road you take.

although the empty quarter is in essence, empty, there are inhabitants of these roads. the asphalt is worn down in 4 distinct paths on the two-lane highways, the exact place where the tires of massive commercial trucks would travel. these once gradual rifts are now deep gashes in the road, paralyzing drivers in their lanes with no possiblitiy of passing a slow moving vehicle ahead. even if there happens to be a break in the road where you may be able to pass someone, chances are, it is being blocked by a sand dune slowly traveling across the desert, which has strayed onto the only part of the road that the truck could pull to the side onto. these truck drivers aren't evil, they would love for you to pass them. they travel slowly because the slightest action such as driving over a pebble could throw the whole truck off kilter and cause a massive and devastating reaction on this road of death that they would rather avoid. you can be sure then, that if driving in the empty quarter you should happen behind one of these cautious truck drivers, you will be stuck behind them until you reach riyadh, unless your car plunges into a pothole first.

growing up in colorado, i have become used to our four seasons: almost winter, winter, not yet the end of winter, and construction. colorado roads are riddled with potholes like the pocked face of a thirteen year-old boy. you become good at dodging them and our construction season fills them in quickly in a fruitless action that only delays the pothole reconfiguration for another few months. in saudi arabia, some of these potholes have been around to see the turn of two centuries. one might even call them "omega potholes" because they are so massive it is ridiculous, and there is nothing more ridiculous than the word "omega".

dodging these potholes, i close my eyes and let the male driver take care of it, all the while humming "under pressure" david bowie's voice resonating in my head. there must be a limit to the depth and width of potholes. even if it is really deep, how deep can it actually go in a concrete-based substance? you can stand neck high in some of these craters. and the fact that a human being can stand in one of these says a lot about the width of these holes.

reaching riyadh, you feel some relief. you can see the reflective paint that warns people not to stray into your lane and towards your car heading right for them. the potholes are filled with that rubbery substance the melts slightly in a brutal sun. the roads are even! you aren't stuck behind a taxi driver or a bus. riyadh is a sigh when you've been holding your breath for hundreds of miles. riyadh, jeddah, mecca, and madinah are rarities in saudi arabia in that they are urban centers with fairly decent road conditions.

women in the middle east, according to the west, are unenlightened simple folk, who swallow what is spoonfed to them without any questions. they allow themselves to be taken over by the men. their thoughts and ideas are colonized by the males much like the middle east was colonized by the west. how then, are these women so willing to accept this law? you would think that they would begin their liberation with this law, since it seems the most easy to erradicate, and yet, they choose to stick with it. they choose not to drive.

some anthropologists have paralleled this phenomena, this lack of wanting "freedom" to female circumcision in africa. the biggest advocates of the practice are women, especically the elders. many of the men, who leave their tiny villages and go to big citites to work, return declaring their newfound education about the dangers of genital mutilation and yet, women want this to happen to them? the conclusion that was reached is that the elder women suffered greatly, mentally and physically with their circumcision, and if the next generation of women are not recipients of this custom, then all of that suffering the older women went through will have been for nothing. is this the reason why women in saudi arabia do not choose to drive? because of pressure of the older women who resent the fact that government officials are considering allowing women to drive?

no, it's too complicated and too emotionally driven. the answer is simple, and the women in saudi arabia are the first to admit that they choose not to drive because they would rather relax and enjoy the ride. they not only accepted this law that oppresses them through the eyes of the world, they took control over it. they looked at their lives and the burdens that are placed on a woman: giving birth, being visited monthly by an unwanted...period, menopause, genital mutilation in africa, sexual liberation to the point of blatant disregard for tact and shame in the west, all of these demands and standards women must follow up on in the physical and mental realm are enough, according to these women. however, they are not yet ready to admit this. by "catering" to the men, appeasing their ideas of women, and agreeing that they shouldn't drive because they are women is a great way of masking their true sentiments towards driving.

therefore, the law isn't that a woman cannot drive, rather, these women are saying that they will never drive, and you better believe it's because we just don't want to. dodging potholes and massive sand dunes, and the anxiety of trailing a huge semi with no chance of passing, are all burdens these women don't feel need to be added to their already long list.  ¶ 5:40 PM 2 comments

  rambling i figure, at least i hope, that since i deactivated my facebook account, that hardly any people have access to this blog, so this is good. i hate writing things down because my handwriting is just gross, and it's a lot harder to erase mass amounts of words in my little sketchbook that i carry around with me. I think i'm a fast typer too, which makes me sad. neil once told me that in class a girl looked at him and told him he typed fast, and he got all depressed, realizing how much time he spent at his computer.

i've made a few life changes. well, am in the process of doing them. the biggest of them being that i bought a pass to the rec center for the summer. i went on monday at around 8 am, hoping to avoid the idiots that go in there to pick up "hotties". you know, those girls that wander around the weight room, tarted up, hoping some sweaty DUDE will approach her and maybe have a quickie in the locker room. it turns out that there were very few people there, which made me more comfortable, but then i realized that the people who were there at the butt crack of dawn were die-hard workoutaholics who go that early because they know how deserted the rec will be, so they can use the machines for longer than their alotted 30 minutes.

i spent 25 minutes on the eliptical machine.

another is to stop drinking pepsi or coke. i'm failing miserably at this so far. but i figure if i weed out all the other crap i've been shoving into my face, i can hang on to this last guilty pleasure. however, i am trying to drink a lot more water and milk, so they've been great substitutes for my carbonated love. i really am addicted.

flossing more.

that's about it...i checked out a book at the library today by sir edward evans-pritchard, the spearhead of social anthropological studies. the first phrase in the collection of essays called "a history of anthropological thought" had the word "savages" in it. i'm skeptical about this book...but being without any anthropology classes for about a year has made me really desperate to learn something that i have been spending money on to learn.

i am also renaming my current state of lonliness into something a little more positive: the independent summer me. last summer i was surrounded by new people and things with the job and the great roommates. this summer, i am trapped in a condo with two inconsiderate sisters, far away from the civilization that struggles to survive in boulder, and working the same job as last year. although i did meet a strapping young lad by the name of dave in the lab today, nothing ever works out in the romantic realm for me, i've given up all hope on every being in some sort of meaningful anything until some guy marries me for my money and i pop out a few kids.  ¶ 8:17 PM 2 comments

  hi new blog. actually, i've never had one, but this font looks like the ghostwriter font.

i'm going to put my photos on here. i have a scanner and a brand new camera, i just need to get the whole scanner thing hooked up.

:-)
  ¶ 2:52 PM 0 comments