Still Moments

the long version

Zighen Aym's journey from North Africa to achieve his dreams is that of many others who leave their native lands for solace and better life in America. The 9/11 events makes him discriminatorily a suspect of terrorist activities. As an engineer and freelance writer/photographer, he combines a special blend of anger and humor to tell his encounter with an Illinois State trooper and a subsequent call from the FBI. The author depicts with finesse the traumatic interrogation that followed, but naively realizes that in such a situation there are questions to answer, others to refuse to answer, and still others to ponder. Skin color kicks on Route 66 in the post 9/11 period are woven in this laconic story about ethnic profiling, cynical politics, and lucrative hypocrisy.