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Travel
We’ll Always Have
Casablanca—American
Travelers in an Arab World
Article and photos
by Ben & Glinda Shipley
We were wandering through the Souk in
Marrakech one afternoon, when an American
tourist exited from a shop, proudly showing off
his new djellaba. The djellaba is a full-length,
hooded and sleeved robe, worn by men since
the dawn of North African civilization—except
it’s worn over long trousers and a sleeved and
collared shirt, whereas this visitor wore his
over underwear. His neck, chest, forearms,
and ankles were bared for all the world to
admire. His American friends were impressed
with his daring launch into the culture—the
passing Moroccans were aghast.
The subject of Arab and Muslim clothing
never comes up in American conversation
without someone opining on the subjugation
of women in their Hijabs, Abayas, and
Burkas. Yet, one glance will tell you that the
men are just as constrained in their choices.
You almost never spot any loud colors on
anyone. Arms, necks, legs, and ankles are
universally covered. Modesty, humility,
and self-control are three great organizing
principles of Arab public life, and on the
rare occasions when they break down—as
in riots, demonstrations, and wartime—you
don’t want to be anywhere nearby.
So we leave short sleeves, tank tops, shorts,
and bikinis at home. In public, Glinda covers
her head with a beautiful scarf or shawl. Ben
wears a non-descript jacket over long, baggy,
dark trousers, no matter how sweltering the
day. We don’t want to become the focus of
anyone’s conversation, because the truth is,
as Christians, Westerners, and Caucasians,
we just don’t have a home here. And we
don’t mind, because we’re not in Morocco
to proselytize for our culture—we’re here to
learn about theirs. And as long as we respect
these basic facts, the citizens, shopkeepers,
and even officials are as correct and helpful
and even friendly as any people anywhere.
Modesty becomes her—At lunch, deep in the Medina.
But why go anywhere we’re not welcomed
with open arms? Where our cash and touristy
demands don’t automatically propel us (at
least in our narcissistic imaginations) to the
front of the line?
For starters, these are the people who
exploded out of the Arabian Peninsula in
the seventh century to engage one society
after another with one of the great muscular
religions of history. That religion still
comforts and informs the lives of almost 2
billion souls worldwide, and at a depth that
is only a distant memory in many parts of
the West. And while it’s easy for a skeptical
Hidden palaces in the Medina—Searching for our favorite Riad.
See Travel, page 15
Council Takes Raytheon to Task
Over Public Park Space During
Proposal of Los Angeles Chargers
Headquarters and Training Facility
By Liz Spear
The Los Angeles Chargers moved one step
closer to building its headquarters and training
facility in El Segundo. The El Segundo City
Council adopted three resolutions and introduced
an ordinance that set the project closer to official
approval. The ordinance was introduced
to approve a second amendment to Development
Agreement No. 11-02 (Agreement No.
4972A), and minor modifications to Specific
Plan No. 11-01 Revision A will be presented
at City Council’s regularly scheduled Tuesday,
Dec. 21 meeting for final approval, which will
open the way for the Chargers’ to launch the
development project in January. The project,
as proposed, will be located at 2000 East El
Segundo Boulevard on 13 acres of land in the
city’s South Campus Specific Plan adopted in
2016. It involves the sale of three acres of land
from Raytheon to achieve the amount of land
required by the National Football League to
meet their standards for such facilities. The
project includes a monetary contribution by
the Chargers of $3 million for the restoration
of the city’s aging Urho Saari Swim Stadium
known as “The Plunge” and is anticipated to
generate ongoing financial benefits such as
property tax and transient occupancy tax due
to overnight hotel stays in the city.
Continental Development Corporation, which
has been headquartered in El Segundo for over
52 years, calls the project, which includes three
regulation football-sized training fields, a threestory,
143,700 square-foot headquarters building,
groundskeeping, and maintenance buildings,
and 347 parking spaces in two areas, “the most
exciting project” it has “ever undertaken.” It
was noted that Raytheon is instrumental to the
project since three acres of their land are needed
to make the project possible. Raytheon has an
existing storage facility, the Butler Building,
on the property it is selling, and that building
will need to be demolished. The proposed plan
calls for Raytheon to be accommodated with
a new 5,000+-square-foot, one-story storage
building nearby.
The biggest point of contention brought up
during the council meeting was public park
space, the precise amount of time the city
would be given to use it, which of the existing
Raytheon fields on their campus (there
are three), what kind of use would be allowed
(practices versus actual games), how the city
See City Council, page 16