Port Said

Port Said was the name of the LP record I acquired and would play over and over on dad’s home made stereo. I was very proud of my dad building that stereo with that thin needle bringing the most magical sounds into our living room. I loved the way that record would take me to far away places, where men wore turbans, and ladies hid behind translucent veils, with long flowing dresses and jewel sparkled sandals. The music had a lot of drum sounds, (tubbla) and brass. It was nothing like that which played on our radio. I would sit my siblings on the couch drape a scarf around my head and start dancing to the music, synchronizing every step with every beat. Oh to be young and energetic! I could hear the finger cymbals of the belly dancer and realized I was short a prop. I got my hands on some and my performance was over the top, according to me.  The children listened to these strange sounds and the tingle of my cymbals and till this day talk about their introduction into the world of prince and princesses and yes, belly dancers. No friends of theirs had such exposure to the music of a land far away from our little house in Cranston. It was only the beginning of my voyage beyond our New England borders and eventually I brought home friends from all over the world; Columbia, Turkey, Taiwan and the list goes on. 

Once my friends from ‘International House” which was a meeting place for Brown University students, came driving up our long driveway. Our neighbor was planting flowers along her hedge which was underneath a steep hill in our yard. One of students was a very tall, very dark student from Nigeria. He ran up the bank, looked down at my neighbor, who took one look, screamed, threw her spade in the air, and ran into the house. I don’t know what frightened her, his amazing height, his dark, dark skin, or the shinning white of his eyes. I’m guessing for both of us it was the first time we saw such a dark skin and were looking for his war party to follow with tall spears. I exposed my provincial neighbors to a lot of firsts, but it was all a wonderful learning experience as the world came closer and closer in our small town of Anglo Saxons nestled on the east coast of America.