ARKADELPHIA — As a scholar of English and American literature, a teacher of art history and a professional sculptor, Raouf Halaby has a way with words. That is good, because he has a lot to say.
In January, Halaby plans to teach his last semester after 42 years on the faculty at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. He is known by generations of students as a literature and composition teacher in the department of language and literature, as well as the department of visual arts. This unique career mix of disciplines was, for Halaby, a study of beauty, not only in art but in the English language as well.
The deep study of the visual, as well as the vocal and written traditions of Western culture, may also come from being someone who was born in Jerusalem, the cradle of our civilization, but who once lived on the city’s margins.
“As a naturalized U.S. citizen of Palestinian Christian roots who was born and raised in the birthplace of the three religions,” Halaby said, “I am culturally and socially imbued with these sacred teachings, especially the teachings of Christianity and the rich cultural Arab traditions which are rooted in the language of the Koran, and the rich literary, artistic Arab traditions which predated Islam.”
From that combination of Middle Eastern and American traditions, Halaby has made a scholarly study of the development of storytelling. His has lectured in the U.S. and Europe on how the themes of the very first stories and legends from the Middle East shaped storytelling through history from the Greeks to Chaucer to Hemingway.
Halaby said he has seen the foundations of that storytelling tradition in his own family. Earlier this month, he presented a paper at the Olympia Arab Festival in Olympia, Washington, and talked of his grandmother’s sister, who spent hours telling stories to the children in her family, including Halaby.
“She became a Scheherazade, an O. Henry, narrating stories, he said. “They stretched my imagination and no doubt set me on a path that affected my future avocation.”
From a very early age, living in western Jerusalem, which had become part of Israel when he was 3 years old, Halaby said he wanted to be a writer and tell his own stories.
“I remember being 12 to 13 years old, and I sat at my father’s old Remington typewriter and pounded out a paragraph that could have been the introduction of a short story,” he said. “I carried the sheet of paper to my mother, who said it was fine writing and that I should continue. I don’t know if she even read it, but she was always encouraging me.”
His father was a businessman in Jerusalem, including being the sales agent for Studebaker, the American automobile manufacturer, for the Middle East. But his father died when Halaby was young, and his mother became the biggest influence in his life.
“Her life changed overnight, and much changed for us,” he said, “but she was a strong believer.”
Halaby was raised in the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Palestine and attended an Anglican school in Israel. He said it could be difficult to attend church in Jerusalem, with the new young Israelis taunting and throwing rocks at him.
In 1959, the family left for Beirut, Lebanon.
“We were lucky we were allowed to take personal belongings,” Halaby said. “We did have large coin and stamp collections and a hand-written Koran taken by the border guards. They were taken for security, they said.”
Halaby said living in a land contested by ageless conflict and three religions, he has developed a strong belief based on the idea “do unto others.”
“I am a firm believer that all of God’s creatures are his children. While I have picked Christianity as my road to higher truth, who am I to question someone else’s path?” Halaby said. “It saddens me to see Judaism and Islam, and to a much smaller extent, Christianity, hijacked by mad fanatics promoting a virulently rabid theology that does not reflect the teachings of the Holy Books.”
As a young man, Halaby said he read all the time. He said he immersed himself in books while in Lebanon.
He would go to the English libraries offered by the British and American governments. Next door to the British library was a Southern Baptist Church, and the young Halaby found his way inside.
By the time he was ready to go to college, he was offered a scholarship for international students at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia.
“When I arrived in the U.S., I was told I was a stateless person. We had fled one homeland, and I never received papers from Lebanon,” he said. “My son was an American before I was.
“I came to New York with $300 dollars and spent $36 of it for a bus ticket to Arkadelphia,” Halaby said. “I made that money go a long way.”
A work-study student, he majored in English literature. He also worked several jobs off campus.
“I flipped burgers at the Snack Shack and worked at the town’s first pizza place. For a while, I worked at a boat company.”
From his first day at school, he was learning many new things, he said.
“I was standing in line for registration my first semester at OBU, and the young woman behind me said. ‘Some peanut butter would be good right now,’ and I asked her, ‘What is peanut butter?’” Halaby said. “The story got around, and that year for my birthday, I received 13 jars of peanut butter from my friends and classmates.”
On his way to Arkadelphia, he learned more about American foods.
“At the bus station, I ordered my first hot dog,” Halaby said. “As the man at the stand was making it, he asked, ‘Chili?’ and I said, ‘No, I’m comfortable.’ He laughed and explained chili to me.”
Arriving in America in 1965, Halaby also learned another lesson about his new home.
“Leaving Charlotte, North Carolina, I saw the back seat of the bus was empty, and I moved back there to go to sleep,” Halaby said. “At the next stop, the driver woke me and said, ‘You see this line on the floor of the bus? You sit in front of that. Come on.’”
Like many young men at OBU, the young international student made some important connections.
“I asked one of the house mothers if there were any cute girls in the house,” Halaby said with a smile. “She said there was one lonely cute girl in the house, and she would introduce me. I came by the house on Saturday, but the house mother said the girl was out with her grandmother. I waited until they returned. I was introduced, and she said, ‘So you are a long way from home, too?’ We talked for a while, and I got her number and called her later, and we had our first date.”
Rachel Corrie was from St. Petersburg, Florida, and had wanted to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, but her father said she was going to OBU.
Halaby and Corrie married after they both graduated. Earlier this year, she retired after teaching Gifted and Talented Program students in Arkadelphia for 36 years.
“She is the rudder of my life,” Halaby said. “We are a strong unit. We made it through our biggest challenge when our youngest son had a brain tumor when he was 3. Today, my sons are my heroes. They have such courage and love for each other.”
As retirement comes closer, Halaby said, he is interested in writing an autobiography. He said his story will have a happy ending.
“I’m a very fortunate man,” he said. “I have a great family, great colleagues, and I live in a great country. I have been blessed.”
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 and wbryan@arkansasonline.com.