OutBoise Magazine January 2016 | Page 20

20  |  OutBoise Magazine  | NEWS OutBoisemag.com | Issue 14 | January 2016 Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness By Desmond Slowe The first thing I noticed were his beautiful, brown, almond eyes. Then I heard his mellow, melodic, tenor voice. These two things are riddled with pain of the past and hope for the future. I see it in his eyes. I hear it in his voice. This man, sitting on the couch next me, at the Flying M is Shaadi Ismael, a gay, Syrian refugee. “In the beginning it was awkward, feeling weird and people accepting me. I have good example, yesterday it was really amazing. It happened at the bar, The Balcony. Some people were saying stuff about me but I did not hear them.”