CITY Issue 58 - (Page 42) CITY LIFE THE GOOD LIFE IN THE BIG CITY City Moment PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN PARK This is an image f om a ecent t ip I took to Damascus, Sy ia. Damascus is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the wo ld, and I was d awn to expe ience a city with such ich histo y. This a ay of poste s was located off a small side st eet between my hotel and the medina. I had walked past it quite a few times befo e ealizing one of the poste s was of B itney Spea s. I was in a Muslim count y, a e all, and I neve expected a sult y me ican pop sta to be featu e next to images of Mecca and a Hezbollah leade . Most of the women in Damascus a e fully cove ed in bu kas f om head to toe, but I noticed many othe s who chose to only wea a headsca f o even nothing at all on thei heads. I soon ealized that even while wea ing a headsca f o bu ka, some of these same women had applied makeup to thei faces, wo e designe shoes, and spo ted designe handbags. Eventually, I found that even in a city with age-old p actices and beliefs, people seemed to adopt some of the same app eciation fo the glam and glitz of celeb ity as people in a mode n weste n city. On my last day in Damascus, I decided to stop my last-minute ush and pause to satisfy what must have been a g owing, unexpected cu iosity. I walked st aight up to the poste to mo e closely examine the blond-hai ed gi l, and found he name, in plain English, w itten in the poste ’s co ne . I chuckled, snapped a single f ame, and went back to my ush th ough Damascus. B ian Pa is a Ne o can be seen at 42 CITY TY o based photo aphe . His .b ianpa photo.com. http://www.brianparkphoto.com
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