“Before the telephone came to Magdaluna, Im Kaleem’s house was bustling at just about any time of day, especially at night, when its windows were brightly lit with three large oil lamps, and the loud voices of the men talking, laughing, and arguing could be heard in the street below—a reassuring, homey sound” Anwar F. Accawi (p. 46). It’s hard to imagine that a single device such as the telephone, albeit a breakthrough in technology, could change not only a person’s day to day life, but an entire village. These men in the village experienced all of the luxuries the village had to offer at no cost, Im Kaleem provided the men with a place to gather for conversation, games, drinks and sexual services. The children used to hang around Ima Kaleem’s courtyard playing games waiting for a call down from some of the men requesting errands in exchange for money. But that all changed once the telephone was installed, most of the men would now sit at Abu Raja’s store, “they were always looking up from their games and drinks and talk to glance at the phone in the corner, as if expecting it to ring any minute and bring news that would change their lives and deliver them from their aimless existence”. (p.46) Exposure to the telephone not only affected the men in the village, but it also affected the women, children and their entire way of life.…