Here We Start – Issue #51

Few days ago, we mourned the death of an icon to many of us. We mourned the death of Maya Angelou, who was a huge inspiration to me personally, and to many more I’m sure. I’ve come to know about her from Oprah Winfrey’s show about 10 years ago, and that’s when I read her first autobiography “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”. Her story moved me beyond measures. She was raped around the age of 8 by her mother’s boyfriend, and he threatened to kill her brother who she loved the most in her life if she dared to tell anyone. The horrors that she has gone through, and the guilt she felt at such a young age for her raper’s death made her go mute for five years after it. Knowing the childhood that she’s gone through and knowing where she’d reached decades later is where her inspiration lies. She was known as: an author, a poet, film and series director and producer, actress, civil rights and feminine rights activist, and I’m sure she was known for even much more than that. Many others would have allowed the tragedy that she’s gone through at her childhood to wreck them, ruin their future, and in cases, take their lives, but she didn’t, she grew out of it stronger than ever, and became a person who preaches hope, love, joy, and forgiveness amongst many other inspirational meanings. For that, she is my inspiration and I hope her story continues to inspire many more to rise from whatever they’re in, and become phenomenal.

May you rest in peace Maya, you will always be the rainbow in our cloud.

Let’s talk Sail. As many of you know, we launched couple of week ago our new sister magazine: By The Masses. Whereas Sail eMagazine is exclusive for Emaratis, of opinion articles about community, culture, and creativity, and strictly regular columnists; By The Masses is opened for all nationalities, all genres of writing, and any frequency of writing, and allows one-time writers as well. On the one hand, By The Masses is meant to open the door for all writers to share their unpublished work, share their voices without restriction and without censorship as long as it doesn’t cross the obvious boundaries. On the other hand, By The Masses is also meant to widen our reading options and diversify them, and allow us to learn more from others. We hope this is just the beginning to a much brighter future in reading and writing for all of us.

This month we are joined with two new writers:

• Amna AlMadani: A soon to be 23 year old, who loves story telling in all its forms and aspires to live as one.  She graduated from Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication (MBRSC), in the American University in Dubai (AUD), with a bachelor degree in Digital Production and Story Telling.  Her column “Wondering Out Loud” features questions about the many aspects of life, whether daily life issues or a once in a life time phenomena and anything in between.
• Bahar AlAwadhi: Bahar is a recruiter by profession, an aspiring writer by night, and a new mom of gorgeous twins. She has an unending thirst for learning, as she completed her BComm in Canada, an MA in Dubai, and continues to develop herself with her love of reading and research. Her passions range from psychology, history, spirituality, holistic healing, to animal welfare, traveling, and football.
  Bahar considers herself to be a reflector, and even as a young girl, she would often lose herself in her books and thoughts, and with her column “The Words Within”, she hopes to reflect out loud and share her journey with you as she grows and learns more about this crazy beautiful world we live in.

And now to our issue #51 – June 2014 in brief:

• Guest Article – My Maya: Aida AlBusaidy shares what Maya Angelou meant for her and her special tribute to Maya.
• Hidden Promises – And So It Ends: As Alia AlHazami’s school life is about to end, she pens down this article to her fellow graduates.
• Lost In Reverie – One Minute Of Patience: Alwid Lootah expresses the beauty of being patient and how one minute of patience could change your life.
• Out Of Copyright – It’s Wedding Season!: Muna Al Mulla discusses the pressure that ladies in particular are under when they are approaching the age of 30 to get married, settle down and have a family.
• The Words Within – The Extroversion vs. Introversion Debate: Bahar AlAwadhi writes about what it really means to be an Extrovert or an Introvert. Are these traits being loosely used to set people in defined groups?
• To A Better Tomorrow – Fear; A Push Or A Paralysis?: Salma Bin Faqqas researches into fear; an emotion so strong it could either push us forward or paralyze us in our place forever. What is fear? And how can we transform our fears into strengths?
• To The Point – The Crucial Realms of Sincerity: Mohammed Kazim suggests that many societal issues stemming from post-oil culture are mainly due to a lack of sincerity. Through putting emphasis on 3 realms of sincerity, Mohammed hopes these issues can be eradicated.
• Too Blunt For Words – Some Things Just Don’t Matter: Fatma AlKhaja reflects on how our priorities change in every stage of our lives.
• Wondering Out Loud – What Really Drives Us Into Being?: Amna AlMadani studies the effect of genes versus upbringing on human behavior, and what if one of them overrules the other?

Hats off to our amazing editorial team: Aida AlBusaidy, Amel Shaheen, and Dhabya AlMuhairi. Enjoy our reads, and don’t forget to check out our illustrations by our creative team: Dana Al Attar, Hayat AlHassan, Marwa Fuad, and Maryam Zainal.

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Warm regards,
Iman Ben Chaibah
Editor in Chief