me love
When I was younger, like 4 years old, I could not stand abdelhaleem …ahhh, the things little kids miss out on ..
but I still wonder why a tomato is called tomato and not a cucumber…
الهوى هوايا
bahir ko wisdom
A: i hate fb status updates … i think for personal use it is the most pathetic creation
B: is the stupid creation updates or fb?
A: status updates
B: oh yeah … that’s why i don’t get how twitter is so successful. i hate twitter. i got one… but i actually didn’t get it at first and then when i understood what it was about i got pissed off.
A: I saw her majesty’s twitter page
B: her majesty? do you actually use that phrase?????
A: HAHAHAHAH
B: it’s the most self-degrading phrase on the planet. please don’t use it…call her queenie
A: why? it’s her title. or an extension of it, I should say. Like, if I actually studied law and became a judge you would call me “Your honor.”
B: i hate the concept of monarchy unless i become one…otherwise i’m for democracy …
ugh i’m getting chest pain …i can’t get into this debate …let me listen to whitney
———-
A: do you like pablo neruda?
B: i don’t know who he is
A: And it was at that age…poetry showed up, and it was looking for me. I do not know, i do not know where it came from, if it came from winter or the river.
“Golden English: Lesson one”
“Make declarative sentences from these words,” declares Mr. Golden
1. contains a universe
2. sand, concrete, horizon
3. I dream
4. blue, clear
My brain contains a universe
I dream in Spanish of white sand beaches
The ground I walk on is hard concrete
but between the tall buildings, on a clear day,
I can still see the blue horizon.
“Maria, you are a poet,” declares Mr. Golden
~Judith Ortiz Cofer
Run
In the heart of this chaos
With the maddening crowd below
You flee behind my overcoat
And it is in this moment
Where dilated pupils meet palpitating hearts
Like sea shores meet wandering tides
Like the moon and Sun dance circles around the Earth
Like two passing strangers whose hands graze each other innocently
Amidst the concrete jungles of Amman
Flirting with the white surf like brown eyes fluttering
Like two tongues stuttering
Like my words
Spin your mind
Like your reason
Spins my rhyme
And.
We .
Run.
life
Does it drive you insane?
Why are you here?
What are you to do?
Why do you do what you do? what you don’t do?
and when it’s all over, then what?
i live
In the Taxi stopped at a check point is when I first heard this song …inhaling smoke …each word sketches an image of its own …I live. off a memory between us some years ago.
my love, come back …I’m calling you
(translation sounds sappy!)
I’m coming back, Palestine!:d
bitgheeb. winta elli 3ala bali…
Seriously, that’s exactly why I’m coming back sooner than I thought :)
waiting to pass that same check point this summer, too. will I live the day when that very same check point no longer exits? a depressed hopeful thought…
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Letters I never sent
18
all of which untitled.
By the way, I had a great weekend. thought provoking conversations. silly laughs. interesting people. silly talks. tamer hosny’s ba3ish (i have a story with this song. i love it. it reminds me of Palestine), milk, WTF moments, coffee, food, Whatever moments, poetry, music, let’s get it over with moments,
The mirror doesn’t lie…
you do know and believe that, right?
P.S. I am very very very very upset that I lost my Palestine charm bracelet last week! I discovered it missing on the plane coming home from DC..I’ve had this bracelet for years! losing it pretty much sealed that sucky Wednesday for me!
Your book cover…
The other day, as I was waiting for Finkelstein to begin his speech, a note taped to the back of a chair in front of me grabbed my attention. I leaned forward and (out of thrill and curiosity) snatched the note and began reading … “In a world where a book is judged by its cover, what would yours say?”
Palestine’s Night Sky
Missing those nights on my parents’ back veranda…
P.S. I don’t understand why many Arab young men find it ‘disrespectful’ to smoke in front of their parents. Seriously. Especially if your parents are smokers themselves. My father lights one for me. My mother, on the other hand, just recently gave up chasing me around the house when ever I light one.
Ahmad Al-Arabi Premier: In Pictures
Here in pictures of night one (Jan 21, 2009) of two (Jan 22, 2009), Marcel Khalife’s (who studied in Lebanon - at Beirut National Conservatory of Music and not in Russia) world Premier of his operatic work Ahmad Al-Arabi from Mahmoud Darwish’s epic poem, Ahmad Al-Zaatar, in which Darwish documents, in 1977 (and not during the first invasion of Lebanon by the Zionists), the 1976 siege and massacre at Tal Al-Zaatar…
Lebanese composer and singer Marcel Khalife performs during “Ahmed Al-Arabi Concert” in Damascus January 21,2009 in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The proceeds from the concert will go to aid Palestinian victims of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Picture taken January 21, 2009. Picture taken January 21, 2009. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi(SYRIA)
Lebanese composer and singer Marcel Khalife (C) performs with singer Omaima al-Khalil as conductor Mesak Baghbodian (back to camera) leads the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra during “Ahmed Al-Arabi Concert” in Damascus January 21, 2009 in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The proceeds from the concert will go to aid Palestinian victims of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Picture taken January 21, 2009. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi(SYRIA)
Lebanese composer and singer Marcel Khalife (2nd L) performs with singer Omaima al-Khalil (R) as conductor Mesak Baghbodian leads the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra during “Ahmed Al-Arabi Concert” in Damascus January 21, 2009 in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The proceeds from the concert will go to aid Palestinian victims of the Israeli offensive on Gaza. Picture taken January 21, 2009. From Reuters Pictures.
Listen to samples of Ahmad Al-Arabi here and purchase here.
And thank me here…
Operatic Masterpiece World Premier: Ahmad Al-Arabi
Historical Background: Tal Al- Za’ atar (the Hill of Thyme ) was the largest Palestinian refugee camp established in 1948 in the northern part of what became Christian East Beirut during the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990. According to the Lebanese Forces website, “June 29 1976 saw the camp at Jisr el Basha fall and then efforts were directed against Tal al-Zaatar, one of the largest Palestinian camps in the country and situated on the Christian side of the Green Line. The battle for Tal al-Zaatar was the final showdown between the Palestinians and the Lebanese Front in Beirut. Tal al-Zaatar contained about 2,000 Palestinian guerrillas intermixed with a civilian population of roughly 15,000 facing them were some 4,000 Lebanese Front militiamen. The Lebanese Front were supported and advised in the siege by the Lebanese and Syrian armies; Israeli advisers were also present.” On August 12 1976, after 7 months of siege, Christian forces overran the camp. At the end of the siege, about 2,000 Palestinians were killed and 4,000 wounded. The surviving civilians were deported to Palestinian held areas as the camp was entirely wiped.
What: A Tribute to Gaza - Marcel Khalife’s world Premier of his operatic work Ahmad Al-Arabi from Mahmoud Darwish’s epic poem, Ahmad Al-Zaatar. Darwish documented the 1976 siege and massacre at Tal Al-Zaatar in his poem, Ahmad Al-Zaatar.
When: January 21st & 22nd, 2009
Where: The Opera House in Damascus - Syria
Who: Marcel Khalife: composer, oud, vocals
Oumaima El Khalil: vocals
Bachar Khalife: percussion
Accompanied by the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra &
The Choir of the National Conservatory of Music
Conducted by Missak Bagbodarian
For information on tickets: www. damascus. org. sy
All proceeds go to benefit the children of Gaza.
