Hey Jordan.
Three things you should know
Life is nothing more than a series of random occurences picked out of an infinite list
Literature is nothing more than a series of ultimate values
An artist’s job is to show us what an eye and camera can’t.
What are you gonna do with your life? Read More
Hey Jordan! Over here.
Last night was fun, we should go out more often.
My mothers washing my clothes, if you’re wondering why I’m naked. Read More
Hey there. Hey Jordan! Come over to my table, lets have a drink.
Its nice out tonight, ay?
Its been a while!
Hows everything been going?
I think I dreamed of you last night.
Or maybe I didn’t, maybe I saw you. Maybe I was with you. Not sure actually, I think I loved you. Read More
Rose water,
Rose water,
Why did she have a daughter?
Why not another boy?
Flowers blooming in the water
In a pail for the dead.
Strange these flowers,
Like limp hands;
Rubied like
Old drying wounds.
When the blood coagulates
There will be no more rose water Read More
I am not a woman who
“Handles the servants well,”
But I do not long for the strange liberty,
Or even the hotly whispered possibility,
Of leaving West Amman.
“Never look back,” Omar said,
But what if looking forward is not an option either?
The only thing you see there
Is the dust beneath your feet.
Anyway, Omar, you still married some idiot: Read More
To say that Mahmoud Darwish was passionate about the homeland would be a severe understatement. Dwelling in the longing for what may today be considered a mere construct of imaginations, the poet succinctly brought to print the thoughts on every disenfranchised or disheartened mind.
Darwish’s words extend far beyond the confines of the conflict from which they were born. They touched the hearts and minds of individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs. A genuine love so evident in every poetic expression propelled his work to capture the attention of millions worldwide.
To dissect the Palestinian poet’s words and achievements would be to separate the colors of a timeless painting, and I will therefore refrain from performing such disservice. Rather than taking apart the life and time of Mahmoud Darwish, I will instead take a moment to reflect on what can be taken away from his very existence. Read More
Introduction: He disturbed me, because he forced me to examine the reasons behind my hatred of my Chinese name (Ka Hon).
Mahmoud, Mahmoud,
Exile, separation and divorce,
You witnessed them at all,
Persecution, violence, killings,
You felt all. Read More
Earlier this week, the Arab film industry lost one of its foremost figures, as the renowned Egyptian director, Youssef Chahine passed away in Cairo at the age of 82, following a brain haemorrhage.
Born on 25 January, 1926 to a Christian family in Alexandria, his father was an attorney of Lebanese origin, while his mother was Greek.
Growing up, the pentalingual Chahine home was as cosmopolitan as the city in which it rested, although as Chahine later joked, as with other Alexandrines, he failed to master any of the languages completely.
After studying engineering at Alexandria University for one year, Chahine convinced his parents to allow him to pursue his interest in acting through studying in Hollywood, where he passed the years 1946 to 1948 at the Pasadena Playhouse on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
On his return to Egypt, he entered the film industry after embarking on apprentice work with the Italian documentary film-maker, Gianni Vernuccio, and cinematographer, Alvisi Orfanelli, the latter of whom introduced Chahine to the major production companies of the late 1940s.
Orfanelli subsequently assisted in Chahine’s early films, Ibn el-Nil (Son of the Nile) in 1951, Nisa Bila Rigal (Women Without Men) in 1953, and Bab El Haded (Cairo Station) in 1958.
Already a resident of the movie hub of the Middle East – Egypt has been a steady source of movies since the 1930s – Chahine commenced his first film, Baba Amine (Father Amine) in 1950.
Nevertheless, it was his second film, Ibn el-Nil that catapulted him to success as the movie’s début at the 1951 Venice Film Festival drew more crowds than anticipated due to a sudden turn of meteorological fortune.
Caught in a flash rainstorm, festival goers thronged into his showing in gowns and bikinis alike, and discovered a cinematic revelation that would seal the fate of Chahine’s reputation in the movie industry.
With a directing career spanning 58 years, Chahine’s work inevitably has challenged as many boundaries as it has garnered awards. Read More
You see a woman holding a chalice, and think, “she looks proud.”
They say that a chalice is the woman’s weapon, or her gift.
The gift she brings to the lost traveler, burning her bare feet on the sands.
The weapon she bears upward with a steady hand, her cloak on the wind like a standard.
And what you do not know
Is that she squeezed herself for you, drop by ruby drop,
Into her chalice.
The annual Egyptian National Theatre Festival has ended on the 16th of this month and out of the 45 plays on show during its 11 days one play in particular attracted the biggest number of critical reviews all of which have been very positive, this play is Qahwa Sada (i.e. black coffee).
In Egypt black coffee is strongly linked to mourning. After a funeral people who come to offer their condolences are given black coffee to drink, and it is to this tradition that the play refers. What the play mourns is everything that many Egyptians lament the disappearance of, from the lack of tightly knit families to the deterioration in the economy and the degeneration of pop culture.
So many positive reviews and so many friends of mine recommended Qahwa Sada that my expectations were very high and I became obsessed with the idea of attending the play. However, when I finally managed to see it (after an hour of standing in the ticket line and arguing with “organizers” who allowed late comers to enter at the front of the line) I was very disappointed by what I saw. Though the idea and execution of the play was, by Egyptian performed arts’ standards, above average, it was still mediocre by international standards. Read More
