Tag: beirut

by jad

Threads To The Naked Eye

The other night, I shared the hyperlink to an interview about a book on ecology. In it, the author gushes about the affect he hopes his work will have on the reader’s way of perceiving the world: “To go and see something like a bunch of gulls swarming, [before you’re like] ‘Oh, they’re just gulls swarming,’ but then realize, ‘Wow, no, directly underneath them there could be thousands of herring.’ I mean, how cool is that? And I just think, wow, I want to be able to see that. I want others to be able to see that and make … Continue reading “Threads To The Naked Eye” →

by jad

This Skin Is For Feeling Nothing

A couple of days ago, Christine and I were having one of those random rabbit-trail conversations that somehow ended up on the question of superhero mutations. She mentioned dragon skin and the power of imperviousness. I speculated on the dynamics of acquiring such powers; would a mutation amplify an existing trait? Or would truly mythic transformations bestow upon the hero-to-be the kinds of capacities they’d only wished for, but had never actualized? This metamorphic distinction seems to mark the line between the curse and the blessing in superhuman ability—then again, we know that both realities may be true at once. … Continue reading “This Skin Is For Feeling Nothing” →

by jad

#BusLineHeroes = #GuardiansOfMobility

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.

by jad

#BusLineHeroes: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 18

Part 1: Becoming the Change This week, I’m stripping it all back to the bare tacks: I’m grateful for the stories I’m able to tell. @BusMapProject was a bit of tactical urbanism, a modest gambit to capture a global moment when participatory data and collective mapping were becoming en vogue, in the service of a sociotechnical artifact that was very much not—and in doing so, it was a lot more than that. It was an attempt at re-writing a story that Lebanese people told themselves about themselves. In place of chaos, we wrote of everyday ordering; instead of lawlessness, we … Continue reading “#BusLineHeroes: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 18” →

by jad

Marking Time: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 16

Part 1: Non-Standard Calendar Time has been an interesting medium and muse for this weekly ritual. When I started this, I knew that I’d be making a partner of the unfolding days; I did not have a script nor plan for the whole arc of my gratitude in the first twenty weeks of #TwentyTwenty. I had general bearings, but no clear map—anything more definite would have been a contradiction in terms. So as we begin to crest the horizon and near the last leg of this journey, I’ve become increasingly aware of the regions of time that I’ve lingered in … Continue reading “Marking Time: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 16” →

by jad

Holy Week: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 15

Part 1: Stations I-III This week is Holy Week. I briefly considered writing about something else—I’ve been thinking about time and how I mark it and what that means for the moments of your day that you share with me reading these—but after seeing @neighborhoodliturgy’s “Stations of the Cross” through South Lake Union, I knew that writing about anything else would be inauthentic to the actual arc of my gratitude, right here, right now. I don’t think the Stations are a thing back home like they are in the West—for me, the Way of Sorrows, a procession commemorating Jesus’ death … Continue reading “Holy Week: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 15” →

by jad

Domesticity: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 14

Part 1: The Grandview I’ve not been able to shelter much in place during this crisis, but every time I get the chance to stay home, I enjoy the domesticity. To have this place to take shelter in as my work hours begin to stretch longer into the night—to still afford to make rent when many will not, come April Fool’s—is a privilege I don’t take for granted. It’s not just that I’m grateful to be housed; I actually love this apartment on the edge of Amazonia. I love our high ceilings and these walls of some mystery blend of … Continue reading “Domesticity: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 14” →

by jad

#StayHome: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 13

Part 1: Livestreamed Concert This week had been planned for months to be a special one at work, with the official launch of a pet project of mine on the occasion of The Feast of the Annunciation. Circumstances have complicated all plans, and yet, have also made this particular one even more relevant than I could have imagined. To express this strange transvaluation of all things in these self-isolating times, I want to share some of my favorite creative responses to COVID-19. I’ll say more about how that connects to what I’d been planning later. First up: Dubioza Kolektiv, an … Continue reading “#StayHome: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 13” →

by jad

Essential Service: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 12

Part 1: St. Peter’s It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the world and a strange time to be so invested in the Church. I’m not sure when I’ll have the energy to articulate what I’ve seen and heard and learned and come up against on this side of our global situation. I’m emotionally & spiritually drained. That’s why, this week, I want to articulate my gratitude for the faithful communities now thrown into self-isolation. St. Peter’s is a minimalist building tucked away in a residential street on the edge of the International and Central districts of Seattle. It’s … Continue reading “Essential Service: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 12” →

by jad

Syria: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 9

Part 1: The Citadel Al a’aqel zeena. “The mind is decoration”—or the mind is what makes one beautiful. I didn’t know it at the time, but those words on that shirt referencing a wartime radio play by the Lebanese artist I was about to see performing at the Damascus Citadel would perfectly summarize my sense of Syria for years to come. I’ve only ever had pleasant feelings in Syria, a place so close yet so distant, so foreign. I grew up in a country where you learned very quickly to stiffen up when a Syrian soldier was addressing you. My … Continue reading “Syria: 20 Weeks of Gratitude, Week 9” →