passing for normal

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Broken Letters ... Her, Because she's mourning a ...
2007-02-28 07:20:00
Broken Letters ...Her,Because she's mourning a loverand it is the worst thingto long for a sensation that you knowthat you will never have againyou look at your fingertipsas if to summon some of him...to long for a lover you lostis to dieis to wake up every morningchasing the tip of a dreamonly to remember a nightmarethe feeling of lossthe deep endless source of numbness...You,Your limbs ruffling...your eyes are open but you can't sleepand you can't crybitterness to everything around youyou can't let people catch a sadness in your looksyou're too proudyour blank face refuses to be dismissedrefuses sympathyyou stray...windows of whitewindows of eternal lightof eternal emptinessyou still can't cry...you will cry later and, for nowyou will suffer...And I,Don't you worry when i go,you will be taken care of,I saw the end today, loveI was ready but my only painwas the image of your lost faceI know my time will precede yours,and i cannot leave you behind,the shame of your tears scar...
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Pack your heart and leave your memories behind tr...
2007-02-23 06:20:00
Pack your heart and leave your memories behind travel light ...And the mere exhaustion. Most of what will be too. The trembling shoulders. Moments of truth and trance. Mistakes made by one. Price will be paid by two.He will come and visit her in the city she loves. He comes to take her back with him one day. His words were always commanding and she embraced the numbing feeling of being helpless in love. She gave in to his will when she had nothing to lose. Little does he know. Things have changed. She now has herself to lose. The gray crude city streets became tenderer than his touch over the years. He doesn?t know that she learned how to hide in the blinding lights more than she could ever hide from his eyes. He doesn?t know that she trembled in his arms more than she did in the cold nights of this strange place and that she never knew loneliness in all the years she lived alone as she did with him.Drying skin and wet hands. Eyes roaming so fast. Another knot in her heart. Wrapping...
More About: Leave , Heart , Mori , Memories , Behind

Bonjour tristesse ... I look at the ceiling. I lo...
2007-01-22 16:37:02
Bonjour tristesse ...I look at the ceiling. I look to the skies. No more balconies to transcend into ?No more windows to append one?s hurt ? All I see is empty roads and empty skies.And I dream of places far away. I feel tight and stuck and out of breath, and now I drown in my own uncertainty. The cold dark desk is killing me and San Juan is calling ...powered by ODEOAnd I don?t dream about you every night and I don?t love you anymore? and I don?t hide you in my thoughts and I don?t smile to you once a day. no and I don?t need to see your eyes and I don?t pray for you every step of the way. And i don't love, why should i love ... powered by ODEOSquinting eyes and smirking lines and thin lips are all I seeUnkind nonchalance is all I feel, except for my warm blood. Thoughts stomping through my head raging boiling imploding, spreading darkness in my gut translating through my limbs, abrupt gestures. Angry looks exploding at the last hour and now easing through appeasing through, as th...
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The dream of a global citizenToo bad no human will survive t
2007-01-14 16:31:01
The dream of a global citizenToo bad no human will survive to witness it. By the rate we're going, no human will survive to witness the next century.
More About: Human , Global , Citi , Dream , Survive

NAEIM GILADI?S BANNED BOOK (thanks Rhiannon) Ben G...
2007-01-13 04:29:01
NAEIM GILADI?S BANNED BOOK (thanks Rhiannon)Ben Gurion's Scandals: How the Haganah and The Mossad eliminated JewsBanned in Israel and the United States, Iraqi-born Jew Naeim Giladi?s book is again available worldwide. Buy it from this website.?After reading Mr. Giladi?s devastating first-hand account of Zionist pillaging and massacres even of other Jews when necessary, it is not surprising that the book was banned,?states Carol Adler, president of Dandelion Book s. Giladi reports about the crimes committed by Zionists in their frenzy to import raw Jewish labor from the Middle East. Newly-vacated farmlands had to be plowed to provide food for the immigrants and the military ranks had to be filled with conscripts to defend the stolen lands. States Giladi: ?I write this book to tell the American people, and especially the American Jews, that Jews from Islamic lands did not emigrate willingly to Israel; that, to force them to leave, Jews killed Jews; and that, to buy time to confiscate...
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An Israeli Defense of Jimmy Carter by John Nichols...
2007-01-13 04:29:01
An Israel i Defense of Jimmy Carterby John Nichols-- The Nation, Jan 09, 07"There is an ugly cynicism to the attack on Jimmy Carter that has been launched by Americans who well recognize that the former president's newbook, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, says nothing that has not already been said about the Middle East conflict by Israeli politicians and commentators. So why is Carter, a longtime friend of Israel and the Jewish people, being smeared as an anti-Semite for suggesting that the occupation by Israeli forces of Palestinian territory inspires troubling comparisons with the apartheid system that white South Africans once imposed on their country's black majority?One of Israel's most prominent political figures suggests that it has a lotto do with the determination of Carter's critics to allow their emotions to trump the facts."The trouble is that their love of Israel distorts their judgment and blinds them from seeing what's in front of them," argues Shulamit Aloni, a ...
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I think he's funny... simple but funny Dear Mr. P...
2007-01-11 10:26:02
I think he's funny... simple but funnyDear Mr. President: Send Even MORE Troops (and you go, too!) ...from Michael Moore1/10/07Dear Mr. President,Thanks for your address to the nation. It's good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain't gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we werel osing the war last year! We've already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean... bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this -- BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE MIDDLE EAST! YES!!!You've got to show some courage, dude! You've got to win this one! C'mon, you got Saddam! You hung 'im high! I loved watching the video of that -- just like the old wild west! The bad guy wore black! The hangmen were as crazy as the hang...
More About: Funny , Fun , Simp , Simple , Think

Don't go yet ... Your limbs spread around you A...
2007-01-03 22:21:02
Don't go yet ... Your limbs spread around youAs if to make a statementAs if to tell the world you existStillAs if to sayThat you are not ready to goNot yet ...Behind your frail bodyBeaten with sicknessYour aching bonesYour eyes, deepened with painBlackened with fearYou scream, let me stayAnd your mortal flesh resistsYou slowlyEver so cruellyCease to existYour disintegrating organsYour wrinkling faceAre mocking the power that you wereEvery tear they drop around youFill you with despairAnd you?re not readyNot yet ...In a blink of a blinkYou are reduced to wires and numbersThe human spirit broken downTo probabilities and systemsYou are reduced to a lumpA sad lump of linenA lump of bonesWrapped in a quilt of fleshYour vibrant presenceEmptied and guttedFlipped inside outCarved and all is leftScars ...You look so small, so weakAnd I feel weakI feel like my back is brokenLike I am exposedLike I am lostAnd a chart reminds meThat they will scar you againAnd I want you to be healthy againAnd...
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Happy 2006! My baby hates the sound of my nails c...
2006-12-31 10:19:01
Happy 2006!My baby hates the sound of my nails clicking on the keyboard. He loves the sound of the key when I come homeHe knows landmarks in my memory that unlock a world of dreams and happiness and nostalgia. He knows when to evoke them.He knows my weaknesses as much as he does my strengths. He loves both.He makes fun of me when I get angry but helpless. He makes me angry and he makes me helpless.He interrupts my conversation onthe phone to tell me if I put the phone in my mouth, his voice will resonate in my head. He's right. It doesHe thinks homing is a word. He says it indicates a state of existence softer than roaming. I think subjacent is a word.He invented a new board game. I can?t tell you what it is. He actually wants to patent it.He loves to cook. He promised he will leave the cooking to me.He thinks he shouldn?t have to go to work. I agree with him.He thinks smoking is not cool anymore and wants me to quit. He bought me a hookah.He says I almost have two opposite sides t...
More About: Baby , Hate , Sound , Hat , Happy

Results from the negotiation room And Happy New Ye...
2006-12-30 10:18:02
Results from the negotiation roomAnd Happy New Year all Thanks Chas againAndrey, started by disagreeing but he proposed this:"We start by suggesting the first step in a plan to bring peace". Let me start by not agreeing, as I think that we should start from the other end: How do you see the final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? What will it be like, this situation, in which there will be an equilibrium between the achieved and unachieved demands of both sides, between what is just for these and those and of course what is just (period). Why start with this question? Because you can move the discussion on from here, with questions like: "What are the obstacles towards achieving that", "How do we deal with those obstacles" and so on.?And so we did and this is what we came up with: ( thanks mone, Snurdly, Lirun, Ingrid, Andrey, Ibn Bint Jbeil, Rhiannon and Zee for commenting and moderating)I- SPECIFIC PLANS:- Two-state solution: We all agree.(Lirun suggested peace keeping...
More About: Results , The N , Room , Negotiation

Negotiation room Chas came up with the idea of pu...
2006-12-27 10:16:01
Negotiation roomChas came up with the idea of putting Lirun and myself in a virtual room so that we can work out our differences when the discussion heated up between us this last July.I want to borrow this idea and try it out here with a few of the commentators who always seem to be in a dispute about issues in the world and the Middle-East.I know the dispute can and will go on forever so this is more of a committee with a specific question to answer. The question that Andrey asked me early on in this blog. What are we doing to bring peace to the ME? The focus of the question is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It cannot be separated from neighboring countries so we can discuss that in the light of its effect on the Israeli/Palestinian issue alone.So the assignment could be very interesting: Lirun, Andrey, Snurdly (and anyone else who's interested) on one hand could represent a spectrum of political opinions but will naturally represent Israel's interests and Rhiannon, mone and ...
More About: With , Idea , Room , Negotiation

Silent night ... Scary night ... ... Fear fear of...
2006-12-24 10:14:02
Silent night ... Scary night ...... Fear fear of the clocksWild teeth-clenching sightsheart wrenching tearsangry birds roaming at the docksa fleeting tune from everyone?s memoryasphalt grown grass hearts of concreteRapa pam pamHome and warmthAnd peace for me and youUnder the bed he went hidingThe skies are roaring with madnessMama washed her facePapa went missingNo food on the tableAnd a dead tree in the ghettoRapa pam pamForgiveness and forgetnessAnd peace for me and youIn the streets they went roamingSearching for the perfect findFlocks of stomping plasticShine and lights and red and greenAnd across the bridge her spilled hairSome spilled crumbs and some despairRapa pam pamWealth and fairnessAnd peace for me and youA cascade of all there isIs all there is. Perfect symmetryOf virtues does not happen and mirror-imagesAre a waste of the imagination, keep it randomNone is gained and none is lostDo not pretend to give just doRapa pam pamLove you the worldTake some, give someAnd let the...
More About: Night , Silent , Lent

On Israel's "Right to Exist" Now that the Palesti...
2006-12-24 10:14:02
On Israel 's "Right to Exist"Now that the Pale stinian civil war long sought by Israel, the U.S. and the EU appears on the verge of breaking out, it may be timely to examine the justification put forward by Israel, the U.S. and the EU for their collective punishment of the Palestinian people in retaliation for their having made the "wrong" choice in last January's democratic election -- the refusal of Hamas to "recognize Israel" or to "recognize Israel's existence" or to "recognize Israel's right to exist".These three verbal formulations have been used by media, politicians and even diplomats interchangeably, as though they mean the same thing. They do not. "Recognizing Israel" or any other state is a formal legal/diplomatic act by a state with respect to another state. It is inappropriate -- indeed, nonsensical -- to talk about a political party or movement, even one in a sovereign state, extending diplomatic recognition to a state. To talk of Hamas "recognizing Israel" is simply...
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- I?m not happy - You?re not - Not at all, it see...
2006-12-21 10:12:01
- I?m not happy- You?re not- Not at all, it seems.- You?re happy enough, no?- No. I don?t have dreams anymore and all my days feel the same- Yes I know- I really think that you coming to my life will make me happy- I am in your life- No, I want you here. I want to see you every day. I want to be happy with you.- Ok will do.- I?m not a happy man. Help me change that?- I?ll be happy to do that.- Are you happy?- Yeah.- Why?- Look at what I have
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DEAR SANTA ... OR SOMEONE! By Deb Reich (a write...
2006-12-21 10:12:01
DEAR SANTA ... OR SOMEONE! By Deb Reich (a writer and translator in Israel/Palestine) Dear Sant a ,I live in Israel/Palestine and I think I am probably addicted to the big bad conflict we have here. We all seem to be addicted to the conflict we have here. We are so used to it, sometimes I wonder if, given half a chance, we could really learn to live without it. Meanwhile, the academics study it. The politicians cook it and bake it and spin it. The pollsters monitor it. Nonprofit organizations and NGOs mop up the messes, frequently lethal, that it makes. Dissident poets bemoan it, and the journalists (with the exception of a courageous handful, who tell the truth) pretend to report on it. The prisoners find their education, for better or worse, in its shadow, while the wardens find some kinky pleasure there, or anyhow their paycheck.Dear Spirit of Love,Or whatever your name is - get us into rehab, quick! We need help! We are massacring the neighbors - we are killing each other here. Pe...
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Happy holidays All of you going home have a great...
2006-12-21 10:12:01
Happy holidaysAll of you going home have a great time..Layoul, Maya, Hashem, Annie, Zouzou ..I am sooooo jealousI love christmas.It reminds me of lights and songs in Hamra street and Dbayyeh when we were kids.It reminds me of the holiday we spent in LA.Of warming up next to the dead fireplace in Faraya with guys in the background screaming that they're out of anti-freeze.It also brings back a sweet sadness of a time up in the snow ...The big window, a basket full of red velvet, pate and wine ...The intimacy of loneliness and the constant taste of sadnessMenthol cigarettes, blue carpets and green masksAnd a room where we all came togetherin silent prayer ...oh yeah.. and Moulin Rougepowered by ODEOand another tagTagged by zee,I don't know what this tag is about but here goes,"She liked to go shopping at night, she claimed that the groceries were tired and so made no resistance to being bought. She opened the door and Gould said hi, without taking his eyes off the television. Shatzy...
More About: Holidays , Holiday , Happy Holidays , Home , Great

A postcard... Postcard reading " Dear America, T...
2006-12-18 10:10:05
A postcard...Post card reading " Dear America , This is an illustration of something that happened to two Palestinian friends of mine as we were all trying to cross through the Tayaseer checkpoint in the Jenin region of the West bank. Soldiers detained them for over an hour, threatened to beat them, and accused them of being Hizballah terrorists. One of the soldiers told them they were "disgusting Arabs who should be beaten like animals and stay in jail". Postcard by Katie Miranda.Not to spread the hate dear 'evil twin' but not to live in denial either.What mother raises her children to call other human beings animals? What Arabic or Israeli or American or any mother raises her children to dehumanize others?Didn't promise we were the love generation? Which generation exactly will come to a world free of hate and racism? What will it take not to raise our children on this and not to propagate the segregation and the supremacy?
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Calm the fuck down It's bigger than us. Well of c...
2006-12-18 10:10:05
Calm the fuck downIt's bigger than us. Well of course. Nothing new. We always know as Lebanese that our internal issues are a mere reflection of anything that is happening in the region. We're cursed with geography.I have posted Alex Jones' terror storm earlier on this blog but check the rest of his links here.The only lesson to get out of this is how pre-planned and how big of an operation all this is. The troubles that resonate throughout the ME right now being nothing but a reflection of a larger power struggle in the world is not a reason for us to lose our principles or not to take a stand against it. However it is worth to stop and think. It is worth not to fight each other over matters that get planned by the leaders and get inflicted upon us. It is worth to look at the big picture and rise above our differences and take a stand together. Let's not self-destroy in the process.I wish we just calm the fuck down. As hot headed as we are, thugs carrying guns on the streets ar...
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WHAT??? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????...
2006-12-14 16:07:01

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You ask shou sar? They?re all snatching promising...
2006-12-14 16:07:01
You ask shou sar?They ?re all snatching promising us a feastProm ising a piece of meetWe help with the huntThe eternal huntAnd we forget that we?re all vegetariansNow who?s going to make my salad?Meanwhile ?- Ok ok enough with the silver belt already. I?ll get you the belt. I promise. We gheir heik?- Mashi. Hayda el jaww halla?- El jaww bil?shat? Shou sayyafna? la allah bi3tiya ... El balad keef?- Same- Yi7ri' ikht hal same? Are you being careful?- Yeah the scene is back to monot- Eh l7amdellah. Ya3ni talama fee sahra ?- Kill shi mnee7- Are you out of your mind?- No.- How did you change your opinions so easily anyway about all this?- I must be thinking no?- Or giving up ?- Oh save me ?- How come we have inherited our parents? intolerance even when we haven?t endured the burdens of the first war?- I believe in standing up for who we are and I believe that life is not worth living in fear but all I can think about is how tired I am of all this ?- Tayyeb ok ? Wein Ziad?- Ba3ed ma?ija- M...
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We'll sit this one out? http://www.youtube.com/wa...
2006-12-14 16:07:01
We'll sit this one out?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8dKpD 9Ay_gMaybe the next vigil, the next cause, the next fight ...
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Pieces I think it has been a year since I last sa...
2006-12-10 10:02:02
PiecesI think it has been a year since I last saw him. We called him Techno Rami. He also went by Rami Tuesday and the Egyptian. He looked like the descendent of pharos and acted like one. His sense of style is what got him through. Through many circles and many rounds of forgiveness that is. He lived off of 42 street and I always thought it was fitting. He managed a high profiled underground lounge in the meet packing district reserved most of the nights for last minute fashion after parties, he had a mounted hookah in the living room, extra bob Marley orange shirts for guests, bottles of water every where and a complete set of skin treatment lotions cleverly hidden in his bathroom. He stayed up one night comforting his friend as we listened in the next room. Men obsess about the women they love too. These two men were far from intellectual and nicely fitted the profile of the wholesome night guys who you never introduce to your mother. Nonetheless they suffered and they actually d...
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La Pedrera One more letter. One more letter is ...
2006-12-10 10:02:02
La Pedrera One more letter.One more letter is all she can read.One more letter before she resigned to a world of uncertainty. Before she leaves her planned days and planned fate to unravel the thick crust of life.She will read and by the end of the lines she will forget him for good. She will leave her grief behind. This overwhelming feeling of sadness that became her accompanying emotion and her comfort. Today her physical pain leaves no room for sorrow. Today she chooses to be angry. She chooses herself and she chooses to blame the world for her troubles.This was a letter she wrote for him,? My beloved,As he becomes weaker before me every day, I cannot help but think about the futility of this path we call life. As the reason of my turmoil turns helpless, I cannot but question myself. I have to question my courage and my commitment to myself and to you. I have to question the reason I remain by his side. I long for you my love and I am in constant pain. My memory betrays me more s...
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29 It?s quarter to life A letter a picture and to...
2006-12-06 21:59:02
29It?s quarter to lifeA letter a picture and tomorrowI?m 29 tomorrow. I know! I don?t look a day over 28 and a half!My mama is coming soon ?I will be engaged soon ? Yes! Engaged! Me!!!I know where I?ll be early Spring. You guessed it ...And I move to my new job early SummerSoon nothing will be the same ?Life does surprise you when you least expect it ?It?s true ?I'm so stressed out right now and seem unable to hold a thoughtSo excited right now about all the changes around meSo scared still .. Good scared though ...We'll see what happens ...Today i go to bed, my good old bed,I wake up to my New Yorkwalk to my lab, talk to my boss,get lunch at the same placehave a coffee break with MiaMaybe see Mazen, Wassim or Tina ..Design an experiment with Corina ..fill out some forms, send some emails out ...Write ...Most of all start saying goodbyelittle by littleevery day ...And start enjoying every moment leftIn this place i called home for so many yearsAnd in my cozy little life here ...An...
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Reese (palying a country singer) took it from Fel...
2006-12-03 09:57:01
Reese (palying a country singer) took it from Felicity (playing a transgender patient). Philip (portraying the author Truman Capote) took it from Heath (playing a gay cowboy)
More About: Country , Singer , Lying , Sing , Count

ya rab!!! bless this sunday
2006-12-03 09:57:01
ya rab!!! bless this sunday
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In all the foolness of the world, you came to hid...
2006-12-03 09:57:01
In all the foolness of the world, you came to hide beside me.
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There is a truth about people that comes out when...
2006-12-03 09:57:01
There is a truth about people that comes out when they dance
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layla this is for you. ghada yet in another dashi...
2006-12-03 09:57:01
layla this is for you. ghada yet in another dashing performance..guess what she's singing..i will survive...it's refreshing to know that we haven't changed one bit...cheers old friends!
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Went for a microscopy course...ended up imaging n...
2006-12-03 09:57:01
Went for a microscopy course...ended up imaging nature at the Cape..
More About: Course , Aging , Micro , Copy , Imaging