About a month ago, Christopher Hitchens, one of the great English-language essayists of our time, passed away. In the time since that unfortunate loss, a flood of obituaries has honored the man. According to the standard accounts, Hitchens was a writer, a rascal, and advocate possessing a remarkable talent for provoking and alienating others – even when [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Beirut’
Mr. Hitchens Goes to Beirut: Lessons on Violence and Silence in the Levant
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, Syria, tagged AUB, Beirut, Dissent, Hamra, Hitchens, Lebanon, SSNP, Syria, Violence on January 26, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Christmas Conversations, Volume II: Introduction, Arab Spring, and Steve Jobs
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, tagged Arab Spring, Beirut, Christmas, Conversation, Lebanon, Steve Jobs on January 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Forget about winter merriment. As well as challenging waistlines and livers across the country, Lebanon’s Christmas season offers no respite from intense political debate. Indeed, with members of the family back in town, the holidays are closer to a prolonged political brawl – with breaks to eat and drink, then eat and drink some more [...]
An Oasis of Steel and Glass: A (Westernized) Levantine Impression of Abu Dhabi
Posted in Levant, The GCC States, The Gulf, tagged Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Comfort, Futurism, Glass, Hardware, Infrastructure, Oasis, Software, Steel, UAE on December 4, 2011 | 3 Comments »
The Middle East is not supposed to look this way. Organized city grids, pre-planned mixed-use neighborhoods, green highway medians, strip malls, and a street lamp on every corner. Don’t forget elegant, if empty, steel buildings and roads so smooth that you feel guilty driving on them. From the skies, in one of Etihad’s plush planes, [...]
Life in Lebanon: An Update on the “User’s Manual” and “10 Resolutions” for Lebanon
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, Diaspora, Grade, Lebanon, Life, Rant, Resolutions, Tourism, Traffic, User Manual on November 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Earlier this year, while battling the bar exam blues, I put together a list of resolutions – doubling as a ”user’s manual” for others – that I hoped to live by upon returning to Lebanon. I’ve been in Beirut since the end of August and will be heading back to the U.S. sometime in January, so an interim review [...]
Macho-Sexualism: Understanding the Lebanese Male
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East, tagged Beirut, Crazy Fuckers, Lebanese Man, Macho-Sexualism, Manhood, Rant on October 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
“I knew the men were Lebanese,” an American friend of mine once said, “because they were well-groomed, slightly overdressed, and just too pretty… but they looked like they had ‘disappeared’ one or two people. I didn’t know what to think, but I just knew they were Lebanese! And I was right.” That was five years [...]
The End of Evolution and the Last (Lebanese) Man: Four Brands, Three Languages, Two Passports, One City
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, End of History, Frenchie, Lebanese, Man, rooftop on September 7, 2011 | 3 Comments »
(NOTE: The following post was the result of a serendipitous encounter at the beach, which pushed a bunch of tangential thoughts into my brain. It overlaps slightly with the forthcoming “Macho-Sexualism: Understanding the Lebanese Male,” which I was writing at the time…) The other day, at La Plage – everyone’s favorite part pool, part car [...]
My Grandfather, Hizbullah, and the Hobbesian Jungle
Posted in Christians, Druze, Hizbullah, Israel, Levant, Shiites, Sunnis, tagged Beirut, Conflict, Hobbes, Levantine, Pluralism, Tension, War on August 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
“You need a gun.” It was February 14, 2005. Hours earlier, in a massive blast that shook Beirut to its core, assassins had taken the life of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri and dozens more. Between bouts of shock and rage, many Lebanese pointed the finger at Syria, but others focused their attention on [...]
A User Manual for Lebanon: 10 Resolutions for the Summer Season (2011 ed., Part 2)
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, Diaspora, Racism, Rant, Society, Summer 2011, Traffic, Vacation on July 8, 2011 | 4 Comments »
(CONTINUED…) 6. I Will Not Watch Kalam al-Nass The news is bad. Political talk shows are just plain stupid. I’m just tired of watching thugs, crooks, politicians masquerading as clerics, illiterate academics, clannish elites, and the seemingly endless stream of “former ambassadors.” Never again! Well, maybe the occasional show, but I’ll be sure to check [...]
Movin’ On Up! The Daily Star Remakes Itself
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, Middle East, tagged Beirut, Journalism, The Daily Star, Website on April 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Absolutely stunning. After years of settling for a garish and unwieldy website, The Daily Star has finally adopted a new online format. Gone are the tacky colors, pesky embedded advertisements, and useless clutter. The style is sleek, well-organized, and very accessible. Such change was long overdue. Hopefully, the website represents part of a deeper commitment to what was once the Middle East’s premier [...]
Beirut Notes: Another Overlooked Aspect of Post-War Reconstruction and Reunification
Posted in Lebanon, Levant, tagged Beirut, Concert Hall, Martyr's Square, Music, Opera House on February 8, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Very few things unite the Lebanese, but most can agree on the finer things in life – and many more will assert that their tiny country has long punched above its weight. Food. Wine. Weather. Women. Music. Clearly, Lebanon loves its music. Beirut is home to two national orchestras – a philharmonic, and an orchestra [...]
Confessions for a New Lebanon: Thoughts, Rants, and Sentiments in the Interest of Truth and Reconciliation
Posted in Lebanon, tagged Beirut, Confessions, Lebanese, Rants, Thoughts, Zahle on December 15, 2010 | 5 Comments »
A central part of post-apartheid South Africa’s journey in from the wilderness involved the creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” a non-judicial body empowered to bear witness to and remedy the crimes of the preceding era. Because of Lebanon’s blanket amnesty measures, which have held strong despite less-than-equitable implementation, such an open process of [...]
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