Author: jad

by jad

IN BLOOM: Unrepentant Authenticity

I finally found a good excuse to visit @georgetownsteamplant today. A breathtaking structure and amazing space for art activation. I don’t think this rotary phone was part of the exhibit, but I guess it counts as an art activation in these shots. The challenge and opportunity of an art activation in a space like this is to blend pieces into their surroundings without being completely subsumed. I found the curation in this show quite masterful, though my gaze betrayed the contours of object and field. And that’s probably why it was designed to be set up and broken down on … Continue reading “IN BLOOM: Unrepentant Authenticity” →

by jad

Turned Upside Down

I did some art therapy today. Here’s my piece. The session was about processing grief however we might define it, and we were to use water, hodgepodge, and these colored bits of tissue paper that bleed ink when dabbed or spritzed with moisture. I knew I wanted to use squares and grabbed a stack and two large pieces of red and black and started with the shape they made when I’d set them on the desk. I was initially focused on how I felt, but as I repeated the red and black motif, I started thinking of dad and the … Continue reading “Turned Upside Down” →

by jad

Some Sort of Attempt

When I was finding my way back to some kind of Christian faith, I stumbled on a zine from the 80s called “A Pinch of Salt,” initially founded by a group rather cheekily calling itself C.I.A., or “Christians Interested in Anarchism.” I was a would-be radical fumbling around for some sort of faith, and they were a group whose tagline in the early days was “some sort of an attempt at revolutionary Christianity,” and it completely turned what I thought I’d known about the religion of my birth upside-down. Indeed, one of the pages of first issue boldly declared in … Continue reading “Some Sort of Attempt” →

by jad

Salt of the Earth

Who are the “salt of the earth”? The working class, the poor, the ordinary people who sustain the world through unrecognized labor and quiet endurance. We get this phrase from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13, where Jesus is alluding to the high value of salt in the Judeo-Roman economy. It was so valuable that Roman soldiers were paid with it, giving us the word “salary,” from the Latin “sal” for salt. Salt is valuable because it preserves and gives flavor, so Jesus uses it as a metaphor for his disciples’ role in the world. Today, Christians take … Continue reading “Salt of the Earth” →

by jad

Grove of the Grievers

“I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign I’ll never stop looking for a signGive me a signGive me a sign.” Every year for the past several, I come to this retreat and hope for a reset, and every year it feels hollow or incomplete. This year is not radically different, but a shift has undeniably happened as well. A shift in me but also a shift in the things that have trapped me in this cycle of hope and frustration—a shift … Continue reading “Grove of the Grievers” →

by jad

Let My Mouth Be Ever-Fresh With Praise

“Each morning newEach day shot throughWith all the sharp, small shards of shrapnelThat seem to burst out of me and you. Head down toward KansasWe will get there when we get there,don’t you worryFeel bad about the things we do along the wayBut not really that badWe inhaledthe frozen airLord, send me a mechanicif I’m not beyond repair.“ I wrote copy in the recent past that evoked the notion of “Seattle nice.” Maybe you’ve seen it. The idea was to grab the attention of the connection and community starved in this city and invite them to a thing that would … Continue reading “Let My Mouth Be Ever-Fresh With Praise” →

by jad

Virtue

You know when people are so close to getting it but just can’t seem to get there? How they’ll assert a thing like it’s a side of fries that can sit pretty by their narrow notion burger? I used to have a teacher who would berate us for not absorbing our lessons fully by pompously declaring “you must eat the stones,” which would irritate us to no end, and yet, somehow makes more sense to me now. By what social metabolism can you digest a lesson for others? You cannot. Your advocacy will break them out in hives. Their anti-bodies … Continue reading “Virtue” →

by jad

May Day

Today was May Day. This was a sign left over from the massive rally and march that took place here during the day—I’m not sure how so many could take the day off work, but I’m glad. I, however, joined the after-hours crew for the 5 o’clock shift at a much smaller rally. I even got to use a bullhorn after all these years. Here’s a little from what I had to say today: Looking around, I want to cry out in the words of Alfred Hayes, who wrote: Into the streets May First!Into the roaring Square!Shake the midtown towers!Shatter … Continue reading “May Day” →

by jad

Bus Map at the Biennale

I’m possibly jumping the gun with this post, but I’m too emotionally invested in this improbable happening to stop myself, so the communications strategists will have to forgive this sentimental old immigrant so far-flung across the globe—in a week, that modest proposal that took over my life for the longest time over a decade ago, first as @busmapproject then as @ridersrightslb, is being featured in the “Atlas of Popular Transport,” a compendium and exhibit organized by @mit_lcau & @civicdatadesignlab at @labiennale. One of the most exhausting periods I’ve ever fought through will be one slim chapter of a global story … Continue reading “Bus Map at the Biennale” →

by jad

The Red Thread

The other day, I shared a post I’d made 5 years ago as part of a writing challenge I’d given myself in 2020 called Twenty Weeks of Gratitude. It was a memory of project I worked on in 2015, which had roots in prior work I’d started 5 years before that, so you can imagine how everything might feel like a lifetime ago. Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream, or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream, etc. I recorded these videos when these threads unexpectedly came together while I was in Lebanon … Continue reading “The Red Thread” →