This remix is magisterial, teasing out the original subtext with zero effort. This is bumper-to-bumper Saturday night traffic in Monot and sticky carpets on a Monday night at Zanzibar. This is man’oushe w Nescafé after BO18. This is losing your passport in the Northern Quarter.
There’s an organization here called Seattle Solidarity. Years ago, I’d read about them on an old iteration of their website, which was a lot more explicit about a fundamental organizing principle they follow or have followed for over a decade: agitate to win and never mobilize if you’re not convinced that you will. I remember reading somewhere in their FAQs how they understood the critical importance to their effectiveness as a solidarity network and pressure group of maintaining a 100% win rate. I can’t find that information now; I don’t know if their ethos has changed, but when I first … Continue reading “Against American Exceptionalism: Voting as Harm Reduction” →
When words frustrate, I sometimes turn to collage. I took this video on July 17, on my way back home after livestreaming a socially-distanced concert at work. I wasn’t the only bystander there, though I may have been the the only one filming — I’m not entirely sure. “Rather than recording, do you want to come join?” No, I did not expect to be addressed so directly by “ongoing events.”
Part 1: Beginning “Poiesis is understood traditionally as an activity of formation, in which the artist gives shape to matter in accordance with his or her idea. The specifically aesthetic quality of a work is seen as consisting in its form; perfection of form leads to the experience of beauty. The philosophy of art from Aristotle to Kant is based on this understanding. This perspective itself stems, ultimately, from a tradition of reflection in which the intellect is regarded as the primary mode of human existence … In modern aesthetics, especially in the classic work of Kant, the predominance of … Continue reading “Poiesis: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 20” →
This is not a message of endorsement I expected we’d receive one year ago, let alone five or ten years ago, when I first started paying attention to public transport in Lebanon: This is the Secretary General of the UITP, the oldest and biggest transit advocacy group in the world. It’s not the sort of organization that is naturally inclined to be supporting of informal transit, but we were there when that door started opening two years ago. Has this crisis afforded new opportunities for relating to each other, after all? Let’s lead the transition.
You’re probably sick of my rituals by now, but decades don’t come by every day, and there’s something satisfying about symmetry—it’s almost 2020, and just like in 2010, I’m standing at the threshold of something that feels new and energizing. I’m excited to step into this confluence, but I want to do so with a lot more intention & mindfulness than I ever have before. I’m not usually one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I have some in mind this year. I have goals, but more importantly, I seek an orientation. I want to “face up” to this future; à … Continue reading “New Year’s Eve, 2019” →
I’d been fighting back tears all October long, and had managed, quite successfully, to keep the tempests in their tiny bottles despite the highs and lows of this eventful month. Then some footage of a young man from Sidon emerged. This man is a metalhead, from what I could glimpse of his t-shirt in the aggressively framed video; the cinematography directs your eyes elsewhere—to his bloodstained teeth, to the fear in his eyes. “I didn’t mean it,” they have him say. Once more, with feeling. And the bottles fell off their shelves. And here they are, still falling—for this young … Continue reading “November in the October Revolution” →
Seattle stands with the #LebanonProtests for the second Sunday in a row. Back home, a human chain was formed earlier today connecting cities across Lebanon’s coast in a show of unity, as the fissures begin to manifest on day 11 of the revolt. Pro-President friends and family have started to speak out after days of silence; moods swings in people once exuberant and supportive are more noticeable—maybe due to the daily inconveniences to ordinary lives, maybe thanks to pro-government agitprop, I don’t know. Tempers are flaring on the other side as well; the vanguards are in tension, with some raising … Continue reading “#LebanonProtests in Seattle, Part 2” →
Bus Map Project emerged just before the last wave of protests in 2015, and part of its DNA was a desire to see “less talk, more action.” We were tired of hearing the question: “where is the state?” At first, this alienated some of our potential allies. What we wanted was to see more people stepping into their rightful place as “the people.” At the end of the day, we are “the state,” because: 1) people are its source of legitimacy, 2) and people are what make it all function, through everyday “doing.” It’s so heartening to see the current … Continue reading “Reflections on Bus Map Project in the October Revolution” →
Today I visited Kurt Cobain’s memorial bench, in a park by his old house, to break the late morning quiet with a song in support of @mashrouleila & @_lilwatan. The experience was a lot sweeter than I expected; I saw two other “pilgrims” paying their respects, and the neighbors seemed totally fine with a bunch of sentimental weirdos milling around the area. Yeah, I wore flannel. I walked up to what I figured was number 171, and saw a hummingbird hovering by the gate, looking straight at me. I want to think that it was Kurt’s spirit saying “hey.” After … Continue reading “#LilWatan in Seattle” →