Category Archives: Uncategorized

Disgusting Lebanese People: The “Help” Doesn’t Get a Chair… The Purse Does

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Disclaimer: This post was published originally on Sunday October 20th. I then took it down as per Dyala’s request because she got word that the family had actually asked the maid to sit and she refused.

My friend Dyala Badran was having lunch at a Beiruti restaurant today when she spotted something that made her twist in anger.

A Lebanese family was sitting across the place from her having their Sunday lunch. They were all seated happily, enjoying their food. The father was cuddling his newborn who was sitting on his mother’s lap. And there was their maid, standing there, clutching the chair that was empty… save for the bag of the madame.

And Dyala documented that moment in picture.

Let’s talk about two scenarios.

Scenario

The maid wasn’t actually told to sit as Dyala was told, in which case I wonder what is it about the madame’s brain…

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Egyptian Aak. Week 42

Nervana

Main Headlines

 Monday

Tuesday

  • Egypt’s Muslims mark Eid, but stay away from key squares
  • Thousands perform Eid prayer at Al-Azhar
  • Egypt frees Briton arrested over police-like clothes
  • Amnesty International condemns violence on October 6 anniversary
  • Tamarod backs Sisi’s decision not to run for presidency

 Wednesday

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General Sissi is no savior for Egypt’s non-Islamists

Nervana

Quick glances at the events that lead to the June 30 protests and the subsequent army take-over on July 3rd are enough for any observer to understand that Sissi’s success came mainly in his ability to garner a wide coalition against the Muslim Brotherhood. This support included a wide section of the political elite, the police, media, judiciary, artists, and the general public.

The police and army are now coordinating their moves for the first time since January 2011 and are unleashing their coercive forces to subdue the Muslim Brotherhood and their alliance. Does that mean that the non-Islamists are winning, or even thriving within “Sissi’s coalition?” The simple answer is no. This comes about for various reasons.

For a start, it is not a homogenous coalition. In fact, the opposite is true, and the subgroups are only united by the their anti-Muslim Brotherhood stance. When considering all else…

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Can We Get Over Beirut Being Among The World’s Best Cities?

Too much of the historical city has been lost to modern boxes that are just tall/

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

20131019-190524.jpg

I’ve debated whether to write this or not. Then whether to publish it or not. Then I figured, screw it.

I am a proud Lebanese. And it’s because I like my country that I can’t sit aside and pretend that fake accolades mean more than they are, that void accomplishments are fuller than they actually are.

Beirut isn’t a bad city, sure. It’s perhaps the best city that we have given that our centralization policies have put everything only in and around it. But, forgive the bluntness, there’s no freaking way in hell Beirut can find itself on a world’s best cities list. Unless the person doing that list was high on some Bekaai hashish.

Beirut recently found itself to be on a list of the world’s top 25 cities, courtesy of CN Traveler. Those same people, for those who remember, voted Byblos as the #1 city in the region…

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hue-photo-challenge/ #photography #poetry

penned in moon dust

 

Dawn rises

blue fire in your eyes

warmth of spring

brushes against your skin

Sun sets

golden-red burnishing your heart

cooled only by love

the heart to hold within

This week’s Word Press Photography Challenge is Hue and what are the colors that define us. What colors define you? I’m a combination of the sun and the sea so cool blues and warm reds and oranges (a Gemini always two sided)

A colorful and talented bunch of folks here:

  1. Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You | Chicomallorca’s Blog
  2. Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You | This, that and the other thing
  3. Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You | Flickr Comments
  4. Weekly photo challenge: The Hue of you | Something more to think about
  5. Weekly Photo Challenge: The hue of you | So where’s the snow?
  6. Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You | The Ambitious Drifter

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