Last year went out with quite a bang and, taking in its final week pop star George Michael and movie star Debbie Reynolds, who some say died of a broken heart just a day after the death of her daughter, Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher. In the aftermath of Fisher's death, images of her in the infamous Princess Leia gold bikini flooded the internet, but I prefer to remember her as General Organa, the powerful and wise leader in The Force Awakens.
Coming as they did in the final days of 2016, these deaths seemed to caution us against being too optimistic about the new year. There is loss in the seed of every new beginning, and while I know that a calendar year doesn’t have any actual consciousness, it has certainly felt, at times, as if it did: as if 2016 somehow sensed the bleakness of world affairs and was snuffing out brightness in symbolic harmony.
Maybe it’s just me, but 2016 has felt harder than other years, although I suppose if I take the very long view, the world has known worse. Nonetheless, I am feeling inclined towards resolutions, towards setting intentions to fill up the space offered by the clean slate of the Gregorian calendar’s new year.
Usually I don’t make resolutions because, all too often, by the middle of February I’m standing ankle-deep in unused gym memberships and unfinished lists of what I “should” be doing to become happier, more efficient, thinner, better at this or that. If (or when) I don’t follow through on resolutions, I end up feeling like a failure, precisely the opposite of my intention. But this year, spurred on in part by the still unbelievable fact of the Trump presidency, I’m thinking resolutions are in order.
Because my belly preceded the rest of me into 2017 – too much holiday pudding – my first thought was to work on reducing my own (increasingly rotund) silhouette, which is why January 2 found me in a yoga studio, sweating through a series of sun salutations. Never one to rush into anything, I worked up to that yoga class by spending the first day of the new year sprawled on the couch and indulging my most paranoid fantasies by binge-watching Mr Robot.
Now before anyone rushes to criticise me, I know that going to yoga class and chanting “ohm” with a group of strangers won’t alleviate anyone’s suffering. For that matter, I’m not even sure that “ohm” will soothe my sore lower back (that might be better served by a reduction in the size of my holiday-pudding belly). And yes, I do recognise how lucky I am to have the luxury of sitting in a yoga studio whenever I want to. One of my resolutions, in fact, is precisely that: to remind myself of my good fortune whenever I feel tempted to whine.
Be warned: I’m about to tell you about an insight I had during that yoga class, although it embarrasses me to be someone who finds inspiration in a yoga class. I mean, what’s next? Inspirational posters with pictures of wide-eyed kittens on them?
So there I was, in the almost-first-day-of-the-new-year class, trying to clear my mind and ignore the twinges and creaking of my middle-aged body as the teacher led us in a Sanskrit chant. The chant translates to a wish of sorts: “May all people be happy and free.” As mantras go, it’s a pretty simple statement – but a pretty tall order. We can’t ensure the happiness of others, and the geopolitics of 2016 make me cynical about the possibility of ensuring freedom. On the other hand, what choice do we have? Do we just retreat into holiday puddings and binge-watching TV shows? I tried that for a day, and all I got was indigestion and a sore back.
So my intention for 2017 is to stay off the couch, literally and metaphorically. I’m no General Organa, and I can’t carry a tune like George Michael or dance like Debbie Reynolds, but I can take the spirit of their example and find ways to spread brightness in the world.
Deborah Lindsay Williams is a professor of literature at NYU Abu Dhabi
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Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
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The specs: 2019 GMC Yukon Denali
Price, base: Dh306,500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 621Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.9L / 100km
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The specs
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Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
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Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The five pillars of Islam
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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The years Ramadan fell in May