The Names & Faces of The Victims of The Beirut Explosion
Look at their faces. Say their names. Think of their grieving mothers and fathers, their fatherless or motherless sons and daughters, their partner-less wives and husbands. And be angry. These are...
View ArticleThe Lebanese Government Is Blocking International Aid, Rescue Teams, &...
I don’t know where to even start. I wanted to write about how Joe Akiki’s mom broke my heart. How Sahar Fares’ funeral tore me to pieces. How little Alexandra’s face, next to her glass, as they...
View ArticleThe Beirut Explosion Wasn’t An Attack, And That Makes It So Much Worse
I was at my office, having just seen a couple patients in clinic, when my friend Elia texts me: “there’s been an explosion at the Beirut port, check on your family.” I had seen pictures of it on...
View ArticleLebanon Protests: The Need For Change Doesn’t End With Hariri Resigning
Via Art Of Thawra It took 13 days of the entire country being paralyzed for Lebanon’s politician to budge. In a statement in which he decried that “no one is above their country,” Saad Hariri – our...
View ArticleLebanon Protests: It’s Too Late To Believe Any of These Politicians’ Promises
(Picture via Anis Tabet). Nata2 badri, as my mom would say. 72 hours have come and gone. Aoun, Berri and Hariri have finally come out of their weekend long slumber to unveil their country saving plan…...
View ArticleThe Weekend When Tripoli Was The Icon of Lebanon’s Protests
I’ve been writing about Tripoli so frequently on this blog, not only because I loved that city, but because the preconceptions that many Lebanese had of it – mostly out of biased media whose job was...
View ArticleLebanon Burned. And Now It May Rise
My heart broke two days ago when I saw my home country burn, quite literally, in front of our eyes. As firefighters and regular people alike risked their lives to save our forests and homes from...
View ArticleByblos Festival Cancels Mashrou3 Leila’s Concert
There you have it folks, the Byblos Festival has succumbed to the pressure from Christian extremist bigots and canceled the concert of Lebanon’s top band Mashrou3 Leila, in a statement issued today. I...
View ArticleLebanon Slipping To The Dark Ages: Charbel Khalil Wants To Start a Gay...
With each passing day, news transpiring out of Lebanon get more and more disheartening as the latest seems to be a wannabe “comedian” deciding it’s time for him to start a “conversion therapy group”...
View ArticleFrom Mashrou3 Leila To Our Freedoms: Religious Censorship in Lebanon Is...
Picture this, a song released over 3 years ago is suddenly noticed by the collective praying masses, and crucifixes are drawn. Picture this, a meme posted on a Facebook page lands you in court. It’s...
View ArticleIn the 3ahd of Business Deals: Money Can Get You A Lebanese Citizenship, But...
Can you hear that? The sound of every supporter to the current ruling Party in the country scrambling to find every excuse under the sun to justify the latest naturalization law that was passed by...
View ArticleHezbollah’s Culture of Death Attacks Nadine Labaki’s Triumph at Cannes
You would think that a Lebanese director becoming the first Lebanese and Arab female director to win big at Cannes would be a cause for celebration. You would think that Nadine Labaki’s important win...
View ArticleNadine Labaki’s “Capharnaüm” Wins The Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Festival
What an accomplishment. Nadine Labaki just became the first Lebanese director to win such a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s the festival’s second highest prize. The top prize went to Spike...
View ArticleKollouna Watani’s Joumana Haddad & Paula Yacoubian Are Now Parliament Members
Update: Somehow, since the writing of this post Joumana Haddad ended up losing. No comment. On a more than depressing electoral day, a glimmer of hope that started two years ago with Beirut Madinati in...
View ArticleFrom America, I’ll Be Voting For Kollouna Watani… And So Should You
In around a month, I’d have been what Gebran Bassil would like to call a “mountasher” for exactly one year. In a few days, this very same mountasher will be driving around 70 miles north of...
View ArticleNadine Labaki’s New Movie “Capharnaüm” Is Part Of The 2018 Cannes Festival...
After Georges Nasser’s films “Ila Ayn” 1957, “Le Petit Étranger” 1962, and Maroun Baghdadi’s “Hors La Vie” 1991, Nadine Labaki’s latest “Capharnaüm” is chosen to be in the official competition at the...
View ArticleNo, Gebran Bassil, Ne7na Meghterbin
Gebran Bassil – our esteemed minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigrants – wants to change the name of the ministry he is heading from that dealing with Immigrant affairs, to – what I would assume...
View ArticleA Record 111 Women Are Running For Parliament in Lebanon’s 2018 Elections
As Lebanon’s 2018 elections go on in full swing, a total of 976 candidates have presented to the Ministry of Interior affairs as of the deadline at midnight on March 6th. Of those, 111 candidates are...
View ArticleLebanon’s Government Wants To Silence Hisham Haddad For Making A Joke About...
In your daily dose of the increasing censorship being enforced by an unchecked government in this country, comedian Hisham Haddad is now on their chopping block as the Lebanese government is filing a...
View Article“The Insult” Is Nominated For Best Foreign Film Oscar, First Time Ever For A...
Ziad Doueiry’s latest movie, “The Insult,” was just announced as one of the five nominees in the Best Foreign Film category for the 2018 Oscars. This marks the first time ever that a Lebanese movie...
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