Sense-orship?

thehardyheyday.blogspot.com

Remember the puzzles from scholastic magazine? The ones on the back cover that had macro-lens photos of something in nature that you were supposed to identify? It would always be something like a blade of grass or a panda's paw or the filament of a lightbulb. Well, I have the United Arab Emirates version. Guesses anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

It's not exactly the same thing, but it is a little...puzzling. Got it yet? Well, it's not something that occurs in nature as we know it, but it's quite common here. You know, thinking about it, it may have been even more puzzling to see the whole picture, so here goes:

You may be at this point, as I was the other day, squinting and trying to figure out exactly what it is you're looking at, but I suspect you aren't still trying to figure out that you're looking at the stretching curve of a woman's lower back and a bit of the bum. You're trying to ascertain what it is that's streaking over what might have been the more...artistic, shall we say, portion of the photo. And the answer is...black magic marker! Individually-applied black magic marker (ie, this would have been on every copy of that page of the New Yorker's June 1 edition)!

Jacob and I were both reading before bed when I made my discovery and I squealed with delight that I had actual proof of this phenomenon, which to expats not investing in overtly inappropriate purchases is something of an urban legend.

So, there's good news and, well, hilarious news. The good news is that, at one bookstore in one mall, I can get a copy of a week-late New Yorker for the bargain basement price of about $8.33 (USD). The hilarious news is that, should my nearly-100-year-old literary magazine slip in its morals by displaying a slightly-too-spicy illustration or photos, mine eyes will not be tread upon by its hedonism.

You can be sure I'm breathing a sigh of relief.