Category: Poiesis

by jad

Empire of Lies

The other morning was like any other one of my mornings these days until I came across a series of garish yellow stickers with two ghoulish words in black: H X M X S R X P E Now, if someone had felt the need to put these up in October, I would have left them alone. If someone had felt the need to put them up in November, I would have left them alone. In December. Probably left them alone. In January. Maybe. I don’t know. But definitely not now. Definitely not after six months of genocidal madness and … Continue reading “Empire of Lies” →

by jad

The Machine is Broken

“This machine is broken.” You can’t read it, but that’s what the piece of paper says in the third and fourth slides. I took these Polaroids earlier today because I’ve been searching for a means to articulate a melancholy that’s become neck deep; a feeling of fundamental disjunction between how I spend my days and my weeks and what this particular time in history is actively asking of you and me. There’s a break between my life’s work and our common purpose that’s become increasingly impossible to ignore. How are we to look back on our actions today?How am I … Continue reading “The Machine is Broken” →

by jad

Carnation, WA

Reading about the history of the “Carnation” brand of evaporated milk lends itself to a tortured metaphor for the Seattle liberal worldview: “contented cows give better milk.” Carnation was apparently originally called “Tolt,” a much less florid and alluring name, which is a pretty common pattern out here: Kent was once “Titusville,” Auburn was once “Slaughter” — and, of course, all of it was once known by very different names and tongues. In fact, “Tolt” was the clunky Anglicization of the Lushootseed word “tultxʷ,” which is what the Snoqualmie people called the river here, and they opposed the first time … Continue reading “Carnation, WA” →

by jad

Cornish BFA ’24

There’s a Netflix docuseries on 9/11 and its aftermath where a veteran from the war in Afghanistan shares an epiphany he had on a watchtower one night. “It’s the freedom to pretend,” he exclaims, suddenly realizing what “freedom” means in America. “Everyone feels entitled to their fictions.” There’s something about his insight that resonated with me and how I read the representational politics interrogated and poked fun of at “The Freakshow Show,” this year’s BFA show at @cornish_artdept. Much of the work from this year’s cohort seems to be about laying bare such American fictions. We’ve made it a little … Continue reading “Cornish BFA ’24” →

by jad

Ugliness Machine

Imagine there was a tool or system for doing things that increasingly made your output uglier or less intelligent. The more you used it, and the more that others used it, the crappier everything it was used for becomes. Imagine that. Would you still use it? Like a pen that made your handwriting worse and worse, and in some magical way, made everyone’s handwriting worse and worse too. We would throw that pen in the trash, wouldn’t we? But that’s sort of the deal with the social media tools we’re using today. Do we really want to keep making spastic … Continue reading “Ugliness Machine” →

by jad

Light-Dark

I posted this image on a Sunday in 2013, a couple of days after taking the photo at a Catholic spiritual retreat I was gently compelled to go to by my parents – I wasn’t a fan of the church at the time. The image is taken from a workbook, and I seem to recall that the ocular illustration was meant to convey some theological concept or another — from aleph, the lid, to dal, the pupil — but I don’t remember what. “Contemplate,” it says. I do remember that this retreat was the first time I learned what an … Continue reading “Light-Dark” →

by jad

Latergram

If you want some insight into what it was like to follow me on Instagram in 2013, when I first joined this app, here’s a little peek. Not much has changed, I guess. February ‎24, ‎2013: The windows overlooking Lena’s terrace, where I tasted oranges in a salad for the first time, thanks to Lena’s Sicilian cooking. I don’t remember what we talked about, but the conversation was probably peppered with names like Deleuze and Trotsky, because it often was. Hanging out with Lena was like stepping into a jittery scene on a 16mm reel. March 21 is Mothers’ Day … Continue reading “Latergram” →

by jad

Remembering Dubai

“No matter how long an expatriate has been in Dubai, even if they are born in Dubai, they are not Dubaian. At some point, they must leave. This process of exclusion leaves these particular expatriates betwixt and between–they are not legally Dubaian and can be deported at any point, nor are they culturally of their countries of passport. For some, this uncertainty is liberating; it certifies them as global citizens. For others, it merely points out the dangerous condition of their liminal state.” (Dubai: Guilded Cage) Going through my old photos in that memory stick I found in Lebanon reminds … Continue reading “Remembering Dubai” →

by jad

R.I.P. Piper

I had a really good day on my last day in Houston. Everything seemed to flow well, like a gentle brook, all the way through to takeoff when the plane synced up with the on-board “house mix” I had playing in my earbuds. Everything felt right, even when plans changed or there were unexpected delays. I felt happy and whole. And that whole time I was feeling that way, our beloved blind cat in Lebanon was rapidly dying from a blood clot, unbeknownst to me. I’m thinking about that disjunction, now that Piper has passed. Was I being prepared for … Continue reading “R.I.P. Piper” →