 We're officially live, which is very exciting. Do you think we're ready to get started at Danica and Nor? Yeah, I'm ready. I mean, I'm ready whenever you guys are. Okay, hello everyone. Thank you all for joining us today for the fifth episode of Beyond the War. Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation and CodePink are hosting this series. My name is ROI Volunteer with YRF, an organization that provides relief in Yemen and advocates in the U.S. to end the war. My name is Danica. I'm a Yemen campaigner at CodePink. CodePink has been working in coalition with other organizations like Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation to stop U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen for years. As many of you know, Yemen is experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. This is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed. However, Yemen has a rich history and culture that also deserves attention. The Beyond the War series aims to showcase Yemen outside the context of war and center Yemeni voices. We hope to break stereotypes and build solidarity with Yemeni communities. Today, we have Nor Kofan joining us to discuss reconnecting Yemen through art. Nor is a Yemeni-American artist and the creator of Nor's Nook. The link is in the chat. A collection of online platforms that showcase Yemeni culture to the world. For further information, please refer to her bio. And anyone can feel free to ask questions throughout. Please leave the chat for comments. And if you have a question, please go to the Q&A section and we will direct all the questions to Nor after her presentation. So with that, Nor, take it away. Thank you. First of all, thank you guys so much for having me. This is really exciting. Before I get started with my presentation, I just wanted to give a little bit more background about myself, specifically with my relationship to Yemen. So the last time I was in Yemen was in 2005. I grew up in Yemen. I was actually born in Yemen. And so between the time that I was born up until 2005, I was really kind of back and forth. But since then, just for personal reasons, I haven't been able to visit and then of course the war happened and then it's just not really been easy to want to go back and to plan to go back. So along the past, I don't know, 10 to 15 years, I've really been searching for different ways to connect within my culture and my heritage. And for a lot of Yemenis or people who know Yemeni, you know, the Yemeni community, they know that we're very, we have a rich culture and like we really hold on to that culture. So, you know, the way that we celebrate holidays and the way that we celebrate, you know, our traditions and weddings and celebrations and it's just it's very vibrant. And so it's not like I'm completely disconnected from the culture, but it was just like I think missing actually physically being there and like being super connected to it. Prior to the crisis, you know, when people would ask me where I was from and I'd say, you know, I'm from Yemen, it was is one of those things where they were a little bit confused like, you know, where's Yemen from like growing up when I was a kid. A lot of my teachers didn't even know where Yemen was, but if I said, you know, south of Saudi Arabia, they were like, okay, cool, we know where Saudi Arabia is. And so like this series, I want to share the beauty of Yemen because as much as there is a crisis and it's really important that there's awareness being spread about what's happening. I don't want people to lose sight of, you know, what is, you know, beautiful about culture and what is rich about culture and the traditions and that there's so much more to Yemen. So, through that I started kind of creating our and I actually started off by like drawing a lot of these old, not old portraits of portraits of old people using colored pencil and then I started doing digital drawings and then that's where I started finding pictures of from Yemen photographers are just from Yemen and kind of recreating them into these pieces so I'm going to share my screen really quick. Can you guys see that. Okay, I'm going to assume you guys can see that so. Yeah, it looks good. Okay, cool. So here's I'll start off with these two pieces so as you can see these are kind of images of kids and so on to my left is this picture. It was actually a photograph by some I found online and the photographer's name is listed at the bottom if there if the photographer is known, they'll be listed if not if it's unknown if someone knows who the photographers please let me know. So these kids that they're, they're dancing what's called a bad dance, and it's a traditional Yemeni dance done by men, or in this case you know boys and they're holding a dagger. This dagger is called the jambia and the root word of the Arabic word gem jambia it comes from gem which means like close to you, because men were around their waist. The dance is, there's an instrument it's just like a mainly a drum that they play and it starts off really slow and then it kind of like picks up the tempo. And it's really beautiful because it's done and kind of large groups up to 20 people and it can also be done with just like two people. It's kind of choreographed kind of freestyled but it's really you kind of really move with the people. It's really performed at like special occasions, holidays, weddings, like births stuff like that. And then on to the right you'll see it's this girl dress in traditional Yemeni clothing. Yemeni clothing is very colorful. We have like these textiles that are very common patterns amongst, especially with it when it comes to the female dress. And actually, one thing I grew up kind of confused about was the way that different regions dress. I always assumed that like Yemeni is all dressed kind of the same or at least what I was exposed to was what I thought like oh just it didn't matter what region you were from. I'm growing up in the Central Valley of California. I grew up in a very large Yemeni community. And so, you know, I had friends who were from, you know, the south from like Hadhram and region and I had friends who were kind of very central, like myself. And then I had, you know, close friends that were from the North like from Sana'a and I actually lived in Sana'a the last time I was there. I wasn't until like more so recently that I started learning about the differences and even like the way that people dress differently regionally because here I saw all my friends dress in their kind of regional space but it wasn't like I wasn't also exposed to those same types of clothing. And so I think this image specifically of the young girl is more of like a North, North kind of attire. And then this, these two images I kind of grouped together because as you can tell it's, it's people dancing and so these women are from this, this picture was by this photographer named Greek Howard and he I think he was at a celebration and have them out which is in south of Yemen. And so the this is more of like what the traditional southern south Yemen attire would look like. And you can't really tell what they're dancing to. And I'm speaking from like a Yemeni perspective because we have like different types of dances. My guess would be that they're dancing Faisal Alawi which is like this dance that you dance with a partner and there's not like a lot of choreography but it's it's almost like the same movement where you're just swaying side to side with the person but you're really in sync. And actually experience is really beautiful when you get to dance with someone because they mirror your exact body movement and I don't know it's just it's really beautiful. And I also really like this image because it's kind of like contrast where you see one woman is like super dolled up and then the other one is like a lot more modest. And I think that just kind of speaks to the diversity that you can find within Yemen in different places where I just something that I think people aren't very probably aware of. And then this image of this man he's also dancing that which is what I explained earlier with the boys and again he's dancing with the dagger and the dagger is a weapon like it's a knife but they don't you're not really supposed to pull it out unless you're dancing, but it is something that is commonly worn by men and like if you go to Yemen it's not uncommon to see, you know, men wearing this all day every day on any occasion. I think that's interesting that I recently noticed about, you know, talking about Yemeni fashion is that Yemeni men wear the, the thob or like, you know, the, the dress that men wear that you kind of see in different parts of the Middle East and North Africa and even even some Asian countries, but they were like the overcoat with it. I really think you see that anywhere else but it was pointed out to me recently so every time I see this image. I just kind of sit and reflect about kind of that style and, and how it's really more specific to I think Yemeni. Okay, so these two images are adorable. The kind of theme of this slide is youth and of course youth are precious. Today, unfortunately in Yemen we know that they are stripped of a lot of things because of the crisis and so, due to the famine and the war and disease. It's just really unfortunate that they don't get to experience, not only like a basic childhood but they're restricted from access to health care and education, etc. And I was actually really lucky to experience my childhood in Yemen and it was such a freeing experience because it was not like how I, you know, how I grew up here in the United States. I used to wake up early in the morning I would be running outside and tell, you know, it was not of time when the sunset, and I would be playing with my cousins we had. We had like this soccer field behind our house and so we would spend the majority of our time there. And I just remember buying like a bag full of snacks with 100 drills and being able to like eat them all in one sitting it was like chips and chocolates and all that stuff. And I remember once also getting that which is like something that is used in Yemen, which I'll talk about a little bit later. And like sitting in the bed of a truck with my cousins and trying it for the first time and then getting in trouble because I wasn't supposed to. Living in Yemen and living in a, yes it's a third world country and like when I grew up there was still a very underdeveloped place but it was just, it was still such a beautiful experience and you know, inshallah one day. The kids of Yemen will be able to experience that as well. Oh, these two images and I love these images because I grew up with a family of farmers like in Yemen my family. They're farmers my mom tells me stories when she grew up about, you know her experience farming not just like in the fields but also animal farming. And it's funny because even where I grow up right now in California, the Central Valley it's very much rich in agriculture and it's one of the largest industries here and growing up I never thought I was going to get involved in agriculture. And today, in August I'll be five years working with an ag one of the largest ag companies here and in the US and in on the West Coast. And so of course since I kind of entered the industry I've learned so much about it and obviously became a lot more passionate about it. So it's no surprise that I'm also now intrigued into learning more about the industry in Yemen. And like wanting to research more about the agricultural agriculture because it is one of the mainstays of the economy there. And what what it would look like if you know there were improvements to be made into the infrastructure that could you know help feed the people and help feed the economy. Because I imagine it's like underdeveloped in terms of labor and resources soil water. So like I had mentioned about cats which is a mild narcotic it's kind of taken up the resources. A lot of things have been uprooted and in order to plant more cats and it takes a lot of the irrigation water as well. You can see here with this Yemeni coffee farmer I think he's from head as coffee is actually pretty big in Yemen and a lot of people now have really recognized Yemen for its coffee. And I think it's just a very important commodity for the economy and coffee in Yemen is actually very expensive. I mean once you can get it processed and sold here in the US but the berries are actually taken harvested by hand dried and then they peel kind of the skin or the husks by hand to get the bean out. It has a long history up in Yemen's north and the export could be huge but like I said the resources are very limited, unfortunately and that takes a lot of the water irrigation irrigation. And then next to it is a group of women who are obviously farming. And like I mentioned before my mom played a big role in our family's farm but like women in general play a big part in this, which now like looking back I just I kind of want to sit and learn more about it. And because she used to tell me a lot of stories about how when I was growing up, she wasn't really there sometimes because she was out in the fields working or she was working with, you know, whether there was cattle or sheep or whatever it was. Just something that I would hope to like learn more about if I get the opportunity to visit Yemen again. And then my last slide is kind of you know the theme I guess you can say is music. So is probably one of my favorite instruments I love Yemeni music I love listening to a lot of the old stuff that my parents grew up listening to. And actually during the pandemic, I like took my brothers early because he plays it. And I was like you know I'm at home I'm going to learn how to play and it's like one of the hardest things it's not easy at all I don't know what I was thinking. But this image on the left is a female old player. And I just think it's such an empowering picture like I just think she looks very strong. And it's very much represents you know Yemeni culture I think I mentioned before about textiles and the clothing and in the fabric. You'll notice that some of the textiles that she's wearing is very similar like to the one that the girl was wearing. And on the other side it's just a man who's also playing as well. And it is actually interesting because it's not obviously just played in Yemen there's various areas in the Middle East and North Africa as well that where they play it would be every we every country has its kind of distinct sound. And I learned that also Yemen different Yemen's different regions has different sounds as well and so there's actually this YouTube video online it's by his name is Ahmed Shaba. And I actually got to see him play live once he's a player. He's a Yemeni American. And I got to see him play a few years ago. He's in the Bay Area but he has a video where he talks about like his trip in Yemen and he's going through different cities. And as he's talking about it I think it's an Arabic. As he's talking about it he's actually playing the melody or like the sound of each of those regions highlighting some of the famous people that have came out of those places. And it's just it's a really beautiful video if you want to see kind of like a survey of different sounds coming from Yemen. So yeah it's really beautiful. And yeah that's that's my my presentation. Thank you guys for giving me this small chance to talk about how I reconnect with you know my culture during a time where I can't really visit or do much. Well thank you so much that was so beautiful your art is just stunning. It's so stunning. I am going to link Norris at Seashop and Instagram in the chat throughout so people can check it out. I don't remember to follow on Instagram to keep up with all of this. But now we'll switch it over to questions. So if anyone has questions for Nor please. Carrie's asking can someone put a link in the chat of the old playing mentioned by Nor. If you use YouTube my Yemen. If you look up Ahmed Shaba, I can spell it out. I'm pretty sure you'll find his video. It has like hundreds of thousands of views. Cool. So please use the Q&A section. Aisha has a question. You talk about farming what are some of the products that Yemen is famous for. So coffee is definitely one of them and we not like in Yemen we're very I think resourceful we don't just use the bean we also use the shell. So we have something that's called Fisher and it's basically taking the shell roasting and then making a drink out of it as well. It's also very famous for cats, which is like I said it's a mild narcotic. It's kind of what's taking up the space and the resources, but I know that currently there's a lot of push and movement from within for people to kind of, you know, boycott it in a lot of ways because they see that how harmful it is, not just like the use of it but the production of it. So I would say coffee and honestly the climate there it varies in different regions like I know that for coffee it needs to be kind of grown on higher elevations and it's usually grown like on mountainous areas. But I remember on our farm I used to find lots of pomegranates I think we have lots of pomegranates the cactus fruit I don't know what it's called officially but it's like we call it better satiric but it's like a little cactus fruit and it comes like either purple or orange. Yeah I think some people in the chat are probably also listing some things but pomegranates I know are just very very good there because I have pomegranates here in the company I work for also sells pomegranates but the ones in Yemen are just really good so yeah but I would say like I guess coffee and cats unfortunately. And honey yeah someone mentioned honey. There's a place in South Yemen. It's called Wadi Doan and they're very very well known for their honey. That's great. Also, I was going to have grapes when I think of Yemen because over 40 types, like insane diversity of Dave's grapes, sorry. But speaking of diversity in your presentation you really talk about how much diversity there is within Yemen. How do you incorporate that Yemeni diversity into your art? I think I kind of do it subconsciously because like I said I grew up in a pretty diverse community like the way that I grew up if obviously for the lack of if there wasn't social media. If I grew up in Yemen specifically in Jubban which is where I was born I don't think I'd be really exposed to not just the culture but the traditions and the dialects of those areas. So like if you're if you're from Yemen like different areas speak very differently and they also have different words for certain things. But growing up around it I was able to kind of not only differentiate but kind of mix them in a way. So when I post something usually people will kind of educate me a little bit more on it because I'm just thinking broadly this is a Yemeni dress and people are like oh this is what they wear in and have the most like specifically. So I think I diversified just because I myself grew up around different types of Yemenis I don't really like even my like when I go around people from my own community like my own village and I speak in Arabic they're like I don't sound Jubbani like them. I sound like a mix of a whole bunch of other things. But it's really great because then there's a lots of opportunity to learn and then even when I was in Sana'an the capital and I learned a lot about the culture up north. That in itself is a very diverse area because a lot of people move up there for you know educational and job opportunities and whatnot so. Yeah, I hope that answered your question. Thank you. Basma is asking if you were to visit Yemen, where would you love to visit first. Well thank you Basma for asking that question. That's one of my friends. Where would I visit first. Probably home like as in the village because I have a grandmother that I would love to visit and see. But I deaf there's like a lot of sites that I've never seen before that I want to visit. For example like Wadi Doan. There's some places in Sana'an the capital that I visited before I would love to revisit again just because I was like 15 when I was there. I don't think I had a proper experience of it. And then there's also Suathra which is like the island that belongs to Yemen and it's very beautiful it's kind of. I think it's going to slowly start turning into a touristy place I'd like to visit it before that happens. But I would love to visit there as well. You also mentioned a lot of your time in Yemen and memories in the country. What is your favorite memory in Yemen. You know what I remember probably the most. Like we didn't have much and like I said it's a very underdeveloped country and even though we came from the US and so maybe we were a little bit better off than. Than other people like we the I played as a kid every day I was never bored and we would play with trash sometimes like rocks and whatever you can find outside. And I have cousins who I grew up with who now like live here in the US and when we talk it's always. Talking about how much fun we had with so little in comparison to like now their kids who. Get tired of everything that they get after a week so I think I'm just so grateful for the memories I had with my family and when life was just like very simple. And being able to enjoy honestly like the simplest of things I also really love. A lot of just the traditions the culture. But luckily being in a large Yemeni community here it's not like I'm completely losing that when I'm here I can still get that when we have celebrations and births weddings etc. To still kind of experience that with people. Thank you I think there's like a couple questions about what advice you would give to people pursuing art. Please ask what advice would you give to you many youth interested in pursuing arts. So I don't know if that's like specifically art that like culturally or it's just art in general so. One I think if you're creative just in general I don't know what that necessarily looks like because of course that that's a very broad thing. The matter of if you have ideas and you're passionate about something like you just you do it and I think it's you just have to be disciplined and learn whatever it is that you're trying to. To work with whatever whatever medium it is so maybe it's photography I know I follow a lot of amazing photographers who live in Yemen and here as well. Who are all self taught like I don't think any of them really went to school. But they may do and there's like a movement in Yemen where they're doing like iPhone photography just using the iPhone and. researching how to better edit these types of photos but it's all about I think capturing the right moment and being skilled in that so. I think it's just experience experiment and see what you like best. Anisa knows me and she knows I've experienced with a lot of different mediums, some stick and some don't. But that's the only way you'll you'll ever know what you like and what you're good at is if you try. Our next questions from Carrie and she asked can you talk about how your art connects your experience in the US to your Yemeni heritage. Yeah, thank you Carrie for that question. I think I talked a little bit about how my experience living in America. Made me like kind of grew up in a more diversified Yemeni community and not even just Yemeni but Arab overall so like some of my stuff I'm sure is also influenced by just being an Arab or growing up in an Arab community. Not all my stuff is centered around my identity as a Yemeni American, some of it is solely on me like based off of my identity as an American some of it is just because. I'm a woman and there's things I'm passionate about that I create work towards that so it really just kind of varies with the work that I was creating that were specific about the Yemeni culture it was. Reconnecting to it but also very similar to kind of the purpose behind the series it's just like I want people to see, I don't want to say like I don't want them to see obviously what's happening education is important awareness is important. But when one day inshallah when when things do get better I don't want people to then just suddenly forget and not realize that there's so much beauty and then and what it has. So I'd like to show that as well so it's there's not like this everlasting image of, you know Yemen is starving and it's poor and all the stuff and that's all people can ever see, you know, of it that there's still a lot more to it then just that certainly that's just kind of the dire need right now. Thank you, you talked a little bit about using mediums and the mediums not sticking but can you talk a little bit about what other mediums of art that you do use or that you've experienced with. Yeah, so I studied studio art when I was in undergrad, and I really just wanted to see what what I can do, because a lot of my art I think was more conceptual I just, I wanted to portray things I wanted to tell a story. And so I like I remember I think I took a sculpture class didn't do very well in it was just not was not my thing. But what did stick was I think painting I pretty much started off using whether it was acrylic or oil but like kind of you know traditional paint on canvas. I've used you know pencil charcoal colored pencil. But more recently I've just really been enjoying digital work and I never went into digital work before when you know like people use Adobe illustrator or some kind of like tablet on a computer. And I never liked that I did try it I didn't like it but when the iPad came out and iPad pencil was just super easy. And then I drew on to it and then I realized I could create things, and then I didn't have a mess to clean up so then I was like really excited to just be able to create anytime. But I will say that there is still something very special and something I miss when it comes to like the old messy traditional smelly, you know oil turpentine all that stuff I love that. It's just unfortunately I don't have the time to put into that. It's just the digital creations. The note of a tradition. What is your favorite Yemeni tradition. Um, I think when it comes to weddings, like I always get really hyped up for weddings because I just think that's when we probably can be the most connect like it's just for me what I feel most at home like not connected to the culture it just it takes me back like I think it's the sensory of things so there's smell there's music there's just things that you're seeing and it really feels like for a second I'm not here in the US I'm actually in Yemen. And we have what's called a milwi which is the kind of traditional or Yemeni wedding ceremony it's not you know where she wears the white dress but and it's usually done at home. So it's done at like halls and stuff but I prefer when it's done at home because then it just kind of adds to the mood but I love seeing that tradition being practiced with a lot and that's not even a tradition my family does but we take it on because people in our community do it. But it's it's just it's beautiful to see the just the detail that goes into decorating and the traditions and we also have this thing where women, older women with some others sing to the bride like late at night on that day. And it's kind of like a send off, and they use like these songs that probably were sung at like my mom's you know wedding and her mom's wedding I just think that that's very beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. We have a question from Alison. I noticed on your Instagram that you host this Muslim girl podcast, can you tell us a bit about that. Yeah, hi Alison. Yeah, so the podcast I started in like 2016 or something like that. And I remember when I first started there was no like, hey, you know anyone could just like grab a mic record something and upload it so I was like, Oh, do I have to like go through an approval process which you kind of do but at that time I just really wanted to talk like create a platform for female voices and it wasn't specific to just Yemenis it was it was Muslim woman. And because here I was like constantly at these gatherings and sitting with my friends and talking on the phone for hours talking about these things, wanting to see change in our communities not just our Muslim communities but like the greater public like when we're at work when you know we're out in the street when we're in the park. Not really sharing those experiences with people. And I thought, well I'm sure people would want to listen they just never get to like hear what we have to say and sometimes our voices are spoken for us on you know in the media and it's always misinterpreted so I thought that would be really cool there was like kind of this anonymity piece that was part of it as well because it wasn't like on video or on YouTube so I felt like a woman might feel a little bit more comfortable sharing. And yeah it was, it's something I still continuously do it's not as consistent as I would like it to be but I've met some amazing woman. I've been on that platform and have made really great relationships and been able to share a lot of different stories. So, yeah you can, you can find the podcast on iTunes and spot I really loved your piece in particular of the woman dancing in sync with each other right and how beautiful that seemed and I was wondering if you can talk a little more about your experiences in the Yemeni community and just in Yemeni spaces at large. You mean like, in what way? Like the comfort you feel like how is the diaspora. Yeah, I think social media definitely created a space for a lot of us Yemenis and diaspora to like really connect and I mean it doesn't even matter if you're in the US or not but I think for the most part a lot of a lot of people are feeling kind of similar to the way that I feel and then there's a lot of relatability because like I said the Yemeni culture is just we really stick to it the Yemenis and the US and I'm not saying that that's I think it's a good thing but there's a lot of bad that comes along with that too there's a lot of bad cultural kind of standards and stuff especially towards women that isn't great but putting that aside there's a lot of traditional practices that are really nice. When it comes to there's things that I feel like you know if you ask people who aren't from the Yemeni community about Yemeni they'll tell you about how hospitable they are and about how kind they are and it's just these things that I do see within my community and knowing that if something was to happen or when a need is someone is a need that the community comes together and they will support that person we really see each other as like family and we're very interconnected in that way and it's something I think we're very lucky to have because you can find that obviously like through the mosque and through the Muslim community and stuff like that but it's also really nice to have an added layer from within you know the community. Thank you, we have, Aisha has asked what would be the main issues related to agriculture that you're learning now that you would like to take to Yemen. That's a good question so I think the first thing is education so I mean I'm not going to claim that I'm more educated than the people who have learned about agriculture through practice and through generational knowledge. But I think that there's better practices more sustainable practices, I think water is a huge thing I mean water is an issue here in California in general and it's it's something that is constantly. You know, people are trying to be more resourceful when it comes to water. I think there's irrigation processes that can be improved in Yemen that could help make things more sustainable. Also safety, I mean, this is me this is me thinking about the things that I've learned about but and I don't know how safety plays a part. I don't have a lot of safety measures put into place for people who are working whether it's in the field or using machinery during like harvest. But like safety as well so I would be interested to go just see what the current status is and like learn from them, because like I said I don't claim to know more than them but now being in the industry and kind of seeing the needs are I imagine that in a country where resources are limited that they would face a lot more hardship, similar to what we face here but just, you know, a lot worse and I doubt that there's any regulation and I'm sure everything there's a lot better than it is here because we don't have as much, you know chemicals and pesticides and all that extra stuff and genetic modification that occurs here but yeah I think I think those are some of the things I'm sure that the list is as long. Yeah question from Hannah who asks, is there a specific art piece you've created that you're, that's your favorite slash hold this special place for you or invokes a memory of your time in Yemen. I'm going to assume it's based off of the ones I saw because I think if I talk about when I didn't show it'd be kind of hard to discuss but actually it's the one of the four boys dancing. The better the first one that I showed, I don't know why I think it's one of the first images I started with but it's I just think aesthetically it's, it's calm on the eyes I like the way it looks, but also, I don't know it kind of reminds me of my nephews it's it's like seeing youth dance, being playful, the traditional dress like everything about it is just it's yeah it's a very special piece to me. So, Carrie's asking a very interesting question about creating during the time that we're in. I'm assuming she's referring to like the pandemic. Because I, I write fiction and I have been so uninspired lately. So how, you know how do you navigate your creative life. When we're not like able to socialize as much as we'd like to that kind of thing. It's, it's interesting because for me that wasn't the issue until like recently I've actually feel like I've hit a creative block. At the beginning I was super motivated because I'm such a busy person and so sometimes to find that time to be able to go and find the time to sit and actually, you know, I don't like starting something and not ending it it's a bad habit but like I have to sit and do like 90% of it. And so at the beginning I was producing actually a lot probably the most I've ever produced was during this time. And, but more recently I think as we're just really becoming more comfortable with the new normal even though now we're kind of transitioning back out I don't know. I feel like I've lost a lot of not creativity but like the discipline to sit and do it because now it's just I find that I get easily distracted by things. And I'm just okay with that because another focus of mind during this time has been mental health and just really being gentle with myself and not feeling like if I'm not super productive on creating or whatever it is that I'm going to be hard on myself so yes it's it can be hard and sometimes we have like these waves of you know just so much energy and motivation and then it can you know fizz out really quickly. I'm okay with that so when I'm in the mood like I sit and I enjoy it and when I'm not, you know, it's okay as well I think the last time I posted something was actually a few days ago or like a week ago but even that was created a while back but I've not really consistently produced or posted in and quite some time. I'm in similar vein but what are some of the challenges you've encountered as you create art during a humanitarian crisis in a war. So specifically to the work. So I'll answer this question specifically to the work that I do that pertains to Yemen, and this is actually something I've more recently kind of had a wake up kind of moment or wake up call. So I was using, you know, these photographs that I would find because I'm not in Yemen to like really sit and be inspired so I'm having to use pictures. And one of the challenges I found was that I need to do more work towards giving more credit towards the work that inspires me. So that includes, you know, naming who the photographer is or searching for the photographer so if I don't know who the photographer is it's because I've reversed Google image I've looked. I follow this Twitter page that posts nothing but pictures of Yemen and that's sometimes where I find it or someone will send it to me and then I can't find who the photographer is. I think it's just been to acknowledge the owner of, you know, that work, especially if they are in Yemen I don't want to overshadow them just because I'm here and I have access to like more people to see my work and not, you know, honor their work that they put forth that inspired my work. So I think that's been one of the challenges is just being more diligent with making sure that I give credit where credit is due. I mean, ideally, if there wasn't a war I would like to be there and actually get to experience it and photograph it myself and I didn't talk about this but actually I do or did photography videography I was really into that for some time as well so if I InshaAllah do get to go back I would love to take a camera with me and shoot and yeah. That's amazing. Thank you. What do you think are other ways to celebrate Yemeni traditions and beauty with the rest of the world. So social media is great because I've met people who celebrate that in many different ways so for example I have a friend who her name is M Judd and she's a cook and she is like a whole cookbook that's literally like a lot of Yemeni food. So I know a lot of people who follow her, not that most of her content that she posts is Yemeni food but she does have a cookbook and she's very much shares a lot about her culture or her heritage or experience. And I think that's a beautiful way so like I think everyone has their own thing that they're really attached just like I have, you know, are she has that. Sheba has you know music through it, it just really depends what that creative outlet is I know that there's poets and writers there's, I mean every kind of creative field that you can think of I think there's different ways that they use that medium for them to either connect or story tell, or share with the world, the experience that they have, which I think is nice too because the Yemeni culture specifically towards women it seems to like shelter a lot like in Yemen women, traditionally where the they're also very, you know you don't really find a lot of Yemeni women out in the public space. And I mean it's kind of changed now, but like maybe 10 years ago it would have been very different so it's nice that people get to see have a little bit more insight into the culture and traditions especially from like a woman's perspective. Yeah, I think in the series. One of the things we've been impressed by just like all the outstanding Yemeni artists and all the cool stuff they're doing and women who are really involved in this work and breaking stereotypes and barriers. And before we wrap up, we like to end with a gin story. If you my god. This is the moment. Yeah, who doesn't have a gin story right. How do I have you ever been to Yemen. Yeah, I used to go every summer, but I'm sure you have one too. My yeah we didn't really do gin stories in my house. Disappointing. See, it was not you weren't like living in Yemen if you didn't tell gin stories when the electricity went off and you were sitting around with candles, either waiting for it to go back on or to go to sleep but oh my god gin stories. There's there's so many and honestly like I was the type of person I'm such a like paranoid person that after hearing it I couldn't sleep so then I'd start thinking like I'm totally having my own experience with you know Jim. But I don't know it's always like those weird ones I don't know of one specifically but like where it's like a male gin who possesses a girl because he like loves her or something like it's always like these weird things and sometimes I feel like people like the kids use gin stories to scare kids straight like don't do this because someone did this and you know they had like a gin and all that stuff and it just kind of scares you it really does work though because I think it worked on me as a kid I was super scared. Um, but yeah I don't know what one specifically but definitely there's always ones where it's like you know if you don't do this, then, you know, the gin is going to come for you. Thank you so much. Louie had such a funny one when we interviewed him for Beyond the War about architecture. It was just like this one corner in Sana'a where people would spit at it because something there wasn't a right energy there. It was just the spit corner and that was a fun story to hear about. But that kind of wraps it up for tonight. I want to thank Noor so much for her time. Remember to follow her on Twitter and Instagram at Noor's Nook, check out her Etsy, check out this Muslim girl podcast. And our next Beyond the War episode will be in April. So please subscribe to CodePink's YouTube channel. There's also a playlist where this will be recorded and posted along with all of our other episodes on the Beyond the War playlist. So please subscribe. Thank you to all for all of your engagement and all of your questions. And thank you to Noor again for her time today. Thank you, Dan. Again, thank you, Arwa and CodePink and Yaman Velit. Thank you guys so much. It's an honor.