Under Palestinian Skies

He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

video by me

Life is Simple and Beautiful

“ My code of life and conduct is simply this: work hard, play to the allowable limit, disregard equally the good and bad opinion of others, never do a friend a dirty trick, eat and drink what you feel like when you feel like, never grow indignant over anything, trust to tobacco for calm and serenity, bathe twice a day … learn to play at least one musical instrument and then play it only in private, never allow one’s self even a passing thought of death, never contradict anyone or seek to prove anything to anyone unless one gets paid for it in cold, hard coin, live the moment to the utmost of its possibilities, treat one’s enemies with polite inconsideration, avoid persons who are chronically in need, and be satisfied with life always but never with one’s self. ”

George Jean Nathan

At Home

To my mum:
“That is why the contemplative person, without ever leaving his village, will nevertheless have the whole universe at his disposal. There’s infinity in a cell or a desert. One can sleep cosmically against a rock.”
Fernando Pessoa

7

Last day of magic

text by Nigel

Photos by me

Does she sweat under all of that clothing? The sun is high, beating down on everything; Not the weather, one would think to wear an ankle-length black coat over your clothing and wrap your head in cloth. Does it frustrate her to dress such a way in public? Does she yearn for the private oasis of her home’s cool corners? Would she choose such attire if not for the hungry eyes of the men in the street and the moral judgment of her peers?

The rains passed long ago, where we had the cooling influence of green grass and blossoming flowers, now we have the dust and the memory of spring. Summer has arrived and the dried petals collect in the corners. They are parched after drinking too much of the sun.

The bags are packed and the taxi is coming. The occupations will still be here when we return: Concrete walls and razor wire occupy the body; society and religion, the mind; but neither can occupy the soul.

This post is dedicated to my friend Hossam
I terribly miss you
xxx