Gate A-4 By Naomi Shihab Nye:

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well— one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her . What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”

I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, shu-bid-uck, habibti? Stani schway, min fadlick, shu-bit-se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be…

The accompanying newspaper article came out as a major spoiler to the episode of the BBC’S Who Do You Think You Are program about the actor who became world famous playing Tolkien’s wizard Gandalf – Sir Ian Mckellan, which finally aired last night on BBC1.

About a legend

Where I now live, there are coyotes all around. I’ve encountered a young, curious one in a park while walking my Alaskan Malamutes. I can often hear them singing to each other during the night, and occasionally I will see one on the road nearby that separates the residential area and the farmlands that lead up to the mountains. I feel connected to them when I see or hear them, as if they are guiding and affirming the changes and transformations in my own life.

Coyotes are a skillful, intelligent, and resourceful canine (Canis latrans), and with their playful and seemingly fearless behaviors they symbolize youth and trickster energy.

In Native American cultures, the coyote is seen as a shapeshifter, reminding us to be adaptable to change and that by removing our masks/personas we find our True Self. They are also seen as a transformer, bringing both…