Articles
Column: Love and Sects for Watchdog’s Gazette
Be Mine…Offline?
As bar-hopping, party-crashing, and general intermingling enter our long-term memory, social anxiety enters the chat. “I don’t remember the last time I met someone new in real life,” says Marc.
In a Crumbling Economy, How are Relationships Holding up?
Lebanon is the land of overlapping crises and as the country manages life under lockdown, the economic situation continues its downward spiral. For Bilal,* a Syrian refugee, the hardships of our time are particularly difficult. “I feel like I am drowning,” he says.
Love and Loss: Creating Closeness in Post-Explosion Beirut
It has been three months since approximately 2,750 tonnes of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut, making it the most powerful non-nuclear explosion of the 21st century. The blast caused 204 deaths, 6,500 injuries, and $15 billion in damages but has also taken an emotional toll.
Are “Love Languages” Just a Quirky Synonym for Communication?
You’ve heard it before: “men are from Mars, women are from Venus,” a theory which blames relationship troubles on fundamental differences between the sexes.
Radical Love: From CHOP to Martyr’s Square
We climbed into the abandoned theatre, went upstairs, and kissed each other, looking down at people being teargassed,” Soraya describes.
Needing space is considered to be expected at some point in any romantic relationship. It’s likely that even Shah Jahan, who built one of the wonders of the world as a declaration of love for princess Mumtaz Mahal, needed the occasional moment away from his sweetheart.
Has the Relation-ship Sailed for Beirutis?
They sit suspended in a permanent embrace.
“I have always had a personal philosophy of love but I had lost hope in it,” Karim* admits, “Until I met Karl.”
“Outside partners, outside problems?” Views on Dating while Druze
I don’t want to limit myself because of my religion,” 28-year-old filmmaker and actor Hadi Bou Ayash opined, leaning back into his chair. “I’d like to say that if I’ve fallen in love with somebody, I haven’t asked whether or not she’s Druze. I want to fall in love with her,” he added.
Other Articles for Watchdog’s Gazette
As Zoom call durations lengthen and a week’s worth of dishes piles high, we find ourselves grappling with one question: how do I stop feeling so perpetually unfulfilled?
Articles for Muftah
The False Legitimacy of Iran’s Komiteh-ye Emdad
Many Iranians experience the dichotomy of loving their land and hating its laws. As exiled Iranian author Azar Nafisi put it in her book Reading Lolita in Tehran, “Living in the Islamic Republic is like having sex with a man you loathe.”
Articles for The Daily Star Lebanon
Beirut’s Blossoming Drag Scene Beats its Own Path Despite Taboos
“I left the house in full makeup – face beat for the gods!” 25-year-old designer and animal rights activist Joe exclaimed, referencing a particularly powerful, exaggerated style of makeup as he recalled the night of his first drag performance.
An Arena for Inclusive Rap in Lebanon
“In Beirut, we have enough freedom of speech where [people from] different countries can come together, interact, and be critical without being held in contempt,” declared Nasser “Chyno” Shorbaji.
Portraits from the Berlin underground
“This space,” a spectator remarked of the venue of Sven Marquardt’s exhibition, it’s “the kind of thing you would see in East Berlin.”
Nourishing a Homegrown Music Scene
Tucked away in the heart of Sioufi is the quirky and intimate venue and cafe called Onomatopoeia – The Music Hub.
A Continuum of Human-Nature
“Does my country of origin even matter?”