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.”