The crackle of cellular memory
Feeling like you’re home when you’re far away from it is everything
Phoenician seawall in Batroun, Lebanon (October 2019)
Three years later, I’m still unpacking and processing this trip, and plotting my return - chaos, corruption, and new cases of cholera be damned. I question the ethics of making my next trip over, though. Is it bad juju to travel to a place where people are struggling, or is it my duty to get back as soon as I can, as someone who believes in it and wants to support/promote independent businesses and economies? I was supposed to go back in April 2020, but COVID happened, followed by the horrific Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020. The recovery is ongoing, but people are hurting. Citizens have taken to “holding up” banks, just to get their own dang money out, which makes me wonder if there are Arabic versions of the Mexican corridos, celebrating the heroes and sheroes taking matters into their own hands? G*d, I hope so.
This luscious, tiny jewel in the eastern corner of the Mediterranean, her history, her art, her contradictions and conflicts, and most importantly, her people, will always occupy a huge chunk of my heart. So yeah, I’ll be back. Plus, my friend Diva and I are still on for dinner at Mayrig, and my life will have no meaning whatsoever until I see Alfred Tarazi’s work in person.
FUN FACTS:
Lemons and seawalls are in my DNA.
I’m the one always asking for extra lemons and this probably explains why.
Batroun should be Galveston’s Sister City. There were way too many moments of deja vu to count here. The whole country had this effect on me, like my genetics were short-circuiting, beside themselves the entire time.
Tripoli, you’re next.
MY LEBANON ESSENTIAL READING/VIEWING/RESEARCH LIST/VISION BOARD, ETC.:
BOOKS -
Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet (1923)
Rabih Alameddine - I, The Divine: A Novel In First Chapters (2001) and An Unnecessary Woman (2014)
Edel Adnan - Sitt Marie Rose (this is the mother of all anti-war books, by the way)
Lamia Ziade - Bye-Bye Babylon: Beirut 1975-1979
Hanan Al-Shaykh - The Story Of Zahra
Nadia Tueni - Lebanon/Liban: Poems Of Love And War
VIEWING -
On the list: 1982, Memory Box
Anthony Rahayel’s NoGarlicNoOnions - Mr. Rahayel is Lebanon’s unofficial cultural ambassador at large. I can’t love this guy’s videos enough, and even though my Arabic is shite, he makes it perfectly easy to follow along anyway.
Ziad Doueiri - West Beirut (1998) and The Insult (2017)
Nadine Labaki - Caramel (2007) and Capernaum (2018)
Noor Gharzzedine - Are You Glad I’m Here (2018)
Mounia Akl - Costa Brava, Lebanon (2021)
Daizy Gedeon - Enough: Lebanon’s Darkest Hour (2021 - documentary)
Maroun Bagdadi - Whispers (1980). Great New Yorker article on this and Bagdadi’s 1982 The Little Wars can be found here.
Alfred Tarazi on Sarde After Dinner - Spies, Sex, Media & Liberation(s) in 1970’s Lebanon - Podcast #89 (October 23, 2022. Excellent subtitles and translation, and praise be for top-notch presenters, the record-keepers, and the visual storytellers who bring the truths, legends, and folklore to life. This one really got to me. I remember my mom talking about Georgina Rizk!)
Abdallah Elbinni - War Hotels: How The Holiday Inn Became A Symbol Of The Lebanese Civil War and War Hotels: How Beirut’s Commodore Hotel Became A Safe Haven For The World’s Media (2018 - produced by Al Jazeera English)
All hail Hilmi’s, and each and every lemon that makes the magic happen (October 2019)
