Tag: feminism

by jad

IN BLOOM: Ghostly Alignment

I had the opportunity to try acupuncture for the first time this weekend; I long ago unpacked the biases that name some medicines “alternative” and some sciences “pseudo,” but I was yet to go under the needle, so to speak, and experience the deconstruction (or reintegration) for myself. I was nervous. Not only because I’m actually a touch sensitive and pain averse wimp, but because this particular practice was more than poking and prodding; there was going to be talk involved too, and I was bursting at the seams with things to say. Lucky for me, this practitioner is the … Continue reading “IN BLOOM: Ghostly Alignment” →

by jad

Infra-Politics & Photography

The thing about infrastructure is that it never just does what it’s supposedly designed to do. Infrastructure congeals and conceals social interest. It’s “inevitably imbued with biased struggles for social, economic, ecological, and political power to benefit from connecting (more or less) distant times and places” (Graham and Marvin, 2001). In other words, “one person’s infrastructure is another’s difficulty” (Starr, 1999). Highways, dams, and pipelines have always been flashpoints of protest when they displace and disrupt lifeways and communities; they leverage the same logic as that of nuclear “sacrifice zones” – those spectacular feats of dispossession for the national good, … Continue reading “Infra-Politics & Photography” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Qadisha

One of the highlights of our trip has to be the road trip we took with Stacey and Antoun to the holy valley of Qadisha, the spiritual and ancestral home of the Maronites. I’ve been here before, but never experienced it in this way: once, because I was absolutely terrified in the back of a vehicle that was much too large for the narrow valley roads (post-terror tabbouli was definitely delicious at the Nahr Restaurant though), and another time because I was still in the thick of an atheist rejection of my roots, so I didn’t soak it in that … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Qadisha” →

by jad

A Facebook Post About Love

In two days, I’ll be taking a bus to Redmond to cast my diasporic vote in the Lebanese elections. I won’t be doing this because I believe that there will be a direct correlation between casting my vote and seeing any change in my lifetime; I’ll be taking that bus to cast that vote because I love my friends and family and when you love, you do things like that. You show up, you participate, you chip in. I’m grateful to be able to ride that bus to Redmond; I’m grateful that I can ride a bus to pretty much … Continue reading “A Facebook Post About Love” →

by jad

Ghost Viscera

Did you see that retweet of the screenshot of the story-post of a girl minding her own business reading a book at a bar? “Pick me, pick me,” the photographer mocked. Did you find yourself performing outrage or were you genuinely concerned? Can we know the difference anymore? Do you know what it’s like to be pushed around? To be there no earlier than fifteen minutes before your scheduled appointment? To take off your jacket and belt and empty your pockets? Your boots too. Now your shirt. You have fifteen minutes to run. X Do you know what it’s like … Continue reading “Ghost Viscera” →

by jad

Seattle Womxn’s March, 2019

This morning, I was at the Seattle Womxn’s March with comrades from Seattle DSA, PSL, Socialist Alternative & others, as part of the Revolutionary Feminist Contingent. Just some good, clean intersectional fun, and my first proper demo in this country. We walked from Cal Anderson Park to the Space Needle, where I secretly hoped we’d all stomp our feet like we used to do back in the day, streaming into downtown Beirut. Instead, we bumped into a couple of fire-and-brimstone “preachers” denouncing the godless. This would have been a bummer, if it weren’t for the amazing responses from the crowd; … Continue reading “Seattle Womxn’s March, 2019” →