𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝑔♱𝓇𝓁'𝓈 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓈: أمي ּ ˖ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ ｡ i love to gab about my mother, so here’s some insight about her via her career that might explain me even more. the reason: well, i hate talking about my personal life and experiences, because i always regret it afterwards. i'd rather not be known at all.
my mother; eritrean-lebanese, born in berlin, living in london, and balancing journalism, single motherhood, and a quiet form of influence that travels without announcement:
♱ her first published piece was ghostwritten for a berlin fashion student who couldn’t meet a deadline she rewrote the entire article overnight at age 19, handed it in anonymously, and it ran under his name in a university supplement. he later admitted it at a party but by then, she’d already published two essays under her own name. ♱ she was never formally trained as a journalist no school, no course, no degree. everything came through instinct, obsession, and a background shaped by literature, translation, and multilingual domestic life. she learned how to write for editors by listening, not studying. instead she got degrees in (𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇) — i received my text: the answer is neurodiagnostic technology; this academic journey took place after my birth. ♱ she has been published in five countries under three different names each name reflects a different version of her: one german, one arabic, one anglicised. she uses whichever version fits the tone of the piece or the politics of the publication. ♱ she translated her own pitches into french and italian in the early 90s to bypass london editorial gatekeepers it worked. she got published in elle france and la repubblica before es magazine took her seriously. no agent, no backing, just perfect timing and precision. ♱ she was asked to ghostwrite for a fashion columnist in the mid 90s and turned it down because the voice was “too cowardly” she said, “i won’t write lies about shoes just to protect their budget cuts.” they never approached her again. ♱ she refuses to write anything with the word “empowerment” in it her rule is: if a man can use it in a press release without flinching, it doesn’t belong in your work. she replaces it with structure, contradiction, or quiet defiance. ♱ she’s been blacklisted... briefly, from two british tabloids for calling their fashion coverage “plastic cutlery passed off as silver.” she didn’t mind. she said "i’d rather go hungry than feed people that language.” ♱ she keeps every rejection letter in a folder marked “nearly” german typewritten ones, english scribbled ones, even a fax from 1989 that reads only: “no. wrong tone.” she keeps them to remind herself what tone means, and how it shifts. ♱ she has only ever missed one deadline and it was the week i was ill at age ten she called the editor, didn’t explain anything, just said: “you’ll get it when you get it.” the editor had no choice and waited. the piece arrived four days later and was the strongest she’d written that year.
dreamg♱rl
𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝑔♱𝓇𝓁'𝓈 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓈: أمي ּ ˖ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ ｡ i love to gab about my mother, so here’s some insight about her via her career that might explain me even more. the reason: well, i hate talking about my personal life and experiences, because i always regret it afterwards. i'd rather not be known at all.
my mother; eritrean-lebanese, born in berlin, living in london, and balancing journalism, single motherhood, and a quiet form of influence that travels without announcement:
♱ her first published piece was ghostwritten for a berlin fashion student who couldn’t meet a deadline
she rewrote the entire article overnight at age 19, handed it in anonymously, and it ran under his name in a university supplement. he later admitted it at a party but by then, she’d already published two essays under her own name.
♱ she was never formally trained as a journalist
no school, no course, no degree. everything came through instinct, obsession, and a background shaped by literature, translation, and multilingual domestic life. she learned how to write for editors by listening, not studying. instead she got degrees in (𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇) — i received my text: the answer is neurodiagnostic technology; this academic journey took place after my birth.
♱ she has been published in five countries under three different names
each name reflects a different version of her: one german, one arabic, one anglicised. she uses whichever version fits the tone of the piece or the politics of the publication.
♱ she translated her own pitches into french and italian in the early 90s to bypass london editorial gatekeepers
it worked. she got published in elle france and la repubblica before es magazine took her seriously. no agent, no backing, just perfect timing and precision.
♱ she was asked to ghostwrite for a fashion columnist in the mid 90s and turned it down because the voice was “too cowardly”
she said, “i won’t write lies about shoes just to protect their budget cuts.” they never approached her again.
♱ she refuses to write anything with the word “empowerment” in it
her rule is: if a man can use it in a press release without flinching, it doesn’t belong in your work. she replaces it with structure, contradiction, or quiet defiance.
♱ she’s been blacklisted... briefly, from two british tabloids for calling their fashion coverage “plastic cutlery passed off as silver.”
she didn’t mind. she said "i’d rather go hungry than feed people that language.”
♱ she keeps every rejection letter in a folder marked “nearly”
german typewritten ones, english scribbled ones, even a fax from 1989 that reads only: “no. wrong tone.” she keeps them to remind herself what tone means, and how it shifts.
♱ she has only ever missed one deadline and it was the week i was ill at age ten
she called the editor, didn’t explain anything, just said: “you’ll get it when you get it.” the editor had no choice and waited. the piece arrived four days later and was the strongest she’d written that year.
1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 50