Where I Come From

I have a best friend. Her name is Tora. Tora is a talented artist, among other things. This is one of her recent works:

I wanted to show you this, however, because, to me, this picture is the essence of where I grew up. The foothills of the Absheron Peninsula are an arid desert, the sheep are everywhere, and oil extraction and refinement have taken a heavy toll on the environment – so much so, that a stroll through the sea-shore park in the center of town was inseparable from the strong smell of refinery fumes and fuel oil that floated freely on the surface, turning the water the color of the rainbow. This, gentle reader, is where I come from.