Ziad Rahbani: The comrade who left us something “good”
It was the summer of 1992. While my father drove on Route 5 from Santiago, heading north to Chile’s wine country through La Serena on a beautiful summer morning, my mother pressed play to Fairuz’s...
View ArticlePablo Neruda: Poetry (and Fiction) and the ‘Products of Mankind’
Since the Nobel Prize has been in the news lately, here is a related story that’s worth revisiting. In his acceptance speech upon being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, Chilean poet,...
View ArticleBeirut never asks…
The good thing when writing about Beirut – on its quintessence, not the daily abundance of superficial cosmetic changes mistaken for reform and progress – is that once you do, you’ll probably won’t...
View Article“Between Amnesty and Amnesia”: Remembering the 50th Anniversary of Lebanon’s...
How much more is there left for us, not the history books, to say about the Lebanese civil war? Quite a lot, apparently. Earlier this year, Lebanon-based “Agenda Culturel” launched its “Between Amnesty...
View ArticleOn “Multilingual Learning” and “Beyond Shattered Glass”
Being a writer, one usually knows from the start what type of writer one wants to be, or at least strives to. General categories as academic, fiction, non-fiction or journalistic writing are fairly...
View Article“Hope is a Dangerous Thing”
There was a time when everything I ever wanted was to be in Beirut, the beloved home, the enchantress of the Mediterranean, the city that – as the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism would once have it –...
View ArticleThe Good Old Days –أيام الزمن الجميل
“This living room used to be wider; this balcony used to be more spacious. Of course your love, ya habibi, was as big as the whole wide world.” – Fairuz, “It Wasn’t Like This.” In one of many songs...
View ArticleSelective Writer’s Block: When Some Things Are Better Left Unwritten
“Darkness is oppressive. Silence echoes what I do not want to hear. Night is a curse that keeps on coming back. Night is the green screen onto which everything is projected, what I do not want to see...
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One Month Since the Beirut Blast: “The Wound Will Always Stay Open”
It’s been one endless, torturous month already. One month since what were childhood nightmares of war exploded when we thought we were living in peace. One month since our lives came shattering down...
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“And So We Drive On: Short Stories” Out Now
It’s here, finally. Finally, it’s here. Despite feeling rather hopeless as the world seems to be falling apart, especially in Lebanon, I couldn’t be happier to share with you the release of my first...
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Stories in the Times of Corona
These are no ordinary times. I doubt anybody in their wildest dreams (even those behind movies that told a similar story to what is happening today) imagined that, a day would come when the world,...
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“Liban : Messages Pour Un Pays”
Since all of us here in Lebanon are in revolutionary mode these days (67 days no less & counting), I’d like to tell you a small story: In 2014, and in the run up to the 40th anniversary of the...
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“From What Used to be My Window”
For as long as I have written about Lebanon, I have realized that the road toward change would need time and patience. I knew it would take a lot of time, but the more time passed, the more I ran out...
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Ungrateful, Beirut
Beirut never asks you to come back to it. It entices you to and makes you come back out of your own volition. If Beirut were a person, it would be irresistibly charming, more than anybody you would...
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“Godless in the Land of Gods”
Note: This is the fourth in a series of five thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first three posts...
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In Just Six Words…
There are few other things that bring me as much happiness and fulfillment than as writing. The happiness it brings is both from how it allows me to express myself in all elegance, freedom and...
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“Land of the Cedar”
Note: This is the third in a series of five thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first post was on...
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“Resilience”
This is the second in a series of five thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first post – on politics...
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“Politics and Election Nonsense”
Note: This is the first in a series of five thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. What’s the best – or...
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Destination: Cuba
To make a very long story short, I missed you all. I’ve missed writing on the blog, ranting and interacting with you all. A lot more people than I expected have expressed that they miss Eye on the East...
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