Tag: looking forward

by jad

New Year’s Eve, 2023

There’s been an odd circularity to this year; an ouroboros of inner work that opened and is now closing the year on themes of loving others more deeply by tending more gently to oneself. Lully, lulla,thou little tiny child,by by, lully lullay. That hymn made me weep on the First of January and today, on the Thirty-First of December, the symmetry was not lost on me when I was asked to read these lines from a once-familiar lectern: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” … Continue reading “New Year’s Eve, 2023” →

by jad

Soon it will be Christmas Day

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalksdressed in holiday style.In the air there’sa feeling of Christmas.” I’m going back home for Christmas for the first time in five years. My mother asked if I’d be upset to see our old place decorated; she knows how I’ve been feeling for the past month or so, and even Bethlehem is canceling the festivities. I told her no, quite the opposite. Christmas joy is what keeps my hope alive. The last time the festive season found me this blue-tinged, we were in the depths of the pandemic, and now that feeling always reminds me of this … Continue reading “Soon it will be Christmas Day” →

by jad

(NON)INCONJUNCT

For those of you who’ve been following for a while, you might have noticed that we’ve finally called it quits on @inconjunct. The project came together without warning and fizzled out just as spectacularly, which is cool and sad and not atypical: I make myself available to the universe, come what may. Thanks to everyone who supported us while it lasted. Done, done, on to the next one.

by jad

The Compass Still Points to Palestine

Have you heard of Handala? He’s a little cartoon boy with his back turned and his hands clasped behind his back, a posture I find myself instinctually taking at protests like these. Handala turned his back to the audience in 1973 and became a symbol of refusal and more – in the words of the man who drew him, Handala was “the arrow of the compass, pointing steadily towards Palestine. Not just Palestine in geographical terms, but Palestine in its humanitarian sense—the symbol of a just cause, whether it is located in Egypt, Vietnam or South Africa.” I say “was” … Continue reading “The Compass Still Points to Palestine” →

by jad

Montréal from Seattle

Christine and I are going to Montréal in a couple of weeks. It’s going to be my first international trip since becoming a U.S. citizen and the first time back on an airplane since getting my green card and landing here. There are a half dozen reasons to be excited about visiting this oddball part of North America, but our primary impetus for wanting to go in the first place was to visit a Mohawk Catholic shrine as part of @christine.bingham.art‘s ongoing book project based on her series of mirror saint paintings. I’ve been reading a lot about the history of … Continue reading “Montréal from Seattle” →

by jad

Lite-Touch Photography

I’ve been reflecting on what will soon be a year of toying with the idea of doing photography, and how it has represented a liminal time in which I’ve been gradually transitioning out of understanding what I do as “taking photos” into kinda maybe sort of imagining myself as “being a photographer.” It’s both a subtle distinction and one that’s completely serious (ask any professional how serious it is), and one that I didn’t see myself ever engaging in when I started reading Sontag, Benjamin, and Barthes on photography. I had meaning-making on my mind and wanted to wrap my … Continue reading “Lite-Touch Photography” →

by jad

Greyless in Beirut

As you already know, I’ve been making instax prints of some my photos to help raise funds for @christine.bingham.art‘s book project (see my bio for more info). This one is particularly meaningful to me because @greylessinseattle kindly gave me carte blanche to come up with any custom diptych I wanted, giving me the opportunity to dig into more of my old photos from Beirut. These were taken in 2013. It depicts the so-called “bus graveyard” that used to be on the site of the old train station (also defunct), now simply an administrative facility. Next to that is a Marian shrine from the … Continue reading “Greyless in Beirut” →

by jad

Hope is a Funny Thing

This is my fourth time here. I didn’t expect this place to hold much meaning when I first visited, but that’s what happens with punctuation: a beat forms and meaningful things get shuffled into a song of sorts. The last time I was here, I had just been ordained into the order of American, and twice before then, I felt the looming reality of belonging press upon me like the pages of a dogeared book cracked straight down the spine. I’d been laid flat on the table. And now? I guess I’m in the juicy bits of whatever’s within these … Continue reading “Hope is a Funny Thing” →

by jad

#Route101: Another New Year

As we recover from the motion blur of our epic #Route101 road trip, much of the past year is coming into focus for me in the rearview mirror. I spent much of 2022 and a good chunk of 2021 thinking and writing about meaning—discerning it, making it, communicating it. I tried every personality test and even got into tarot. I turned inward, coiling up tighter and tighter until I got sick of that spiritual exhibitionism and the leering that comes with it. I wanted out and I found an unexpected exit in photography, an ecstatic eye to thread new lines through. But … Continue reading “#Route101: Another New Year” →

by jad

Doing Photography

I never intended to actually start “doing” #photography when I first started posted those little excerpts from Sontag and Barthes all those months ago, but here we are, featured in @anna.s.snapshots‘s Issue 3 of Plastic Perspective. It’s a portrait of Christine that I took on my very first roll on my #Holga135 at just the right moment, in just the right light. It’s all kind of surreal. And here we are playing photographer and model. I’d be cringing if I weren’t so grateful for Christine’s steadfast support, encouragement, and patience as I turn her into guinea pig slash muse for this strange new hobby that’s … Continue reading “Doing Photography” →