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instagraming my adventures
in these confusing and emotionally challenging covid-times, i find it comforting to return to some of the memories and stories of the past for guidance. 💝 king hussein, allah yir7amo, has always been that pillar of support for me and millions of others in my lifetime. i was a teenager the day he died. it shook my world to lose him. and though i still have many days that feel as real and deep and mournful as that moment at 11:43 in 1999 when his spirit passed from this realm, i am also so immensely blessed to have memories that still reach me and teach me the most profound lessons. 💘 today, as i woke up to the news that we have lost our first gerri-patient in jordan, i am mourning her and all the other casualties of this pandemic. i am mourning the loss of life not only within specific borders. i am mourning every loss, everywhere. because we *are* a global village right now - as we have always been. 💗 and i will sit shiva for each loss while also celebrating life and love to come. 💞 i have personally been living in the most fortunate of circumstances throughout this crisis. by the grace of god, i’ve somehow been in the right place at the right time. 🙏 today, i am home and blessed and safe, as are most of my loved ones - today. and while my heart is with them, it continues to beat for the most disenfranchised, the forgotten, the abandoned. here and everywhere. 💓 the inmates from rikers to san quinten. the florence knight-in-gales working triple shifts to heal the broken and watch their children and hold their own despite the most challenging circumstances they do not share with anyone. the undocumented everywhere - and we have many of them here as well because philidelphia has always been the city of love. 💞 if you admire the people on the frontlines of this crisis, please think of how you can extend that support into positive and responsible action. 💖 if you long for the days of kings past, please remember that our future is connected to his name. 💕 and if you have forgotten the lessons of the prophet, allow me to remind you of his wives. bold, strong, fearless women who helped rebuild a broken desert when others tried to burn it to the ground. 🧿the other day, i was on a bus with an interesting group of people, traveling through different parts of my home. • one of them was a visitor who claimed to love my country. • told me she’s been here for so long and wherever she goes, always comes back. that was cool to hear. • but then, she (let’s call her becky cause i’m not gonna actually call her out by name) with her good hair and carefree love of the world, proceeded to step on every little beautiful flower she claimed to love. • at first, i bit my tongue. thinking it would be rude to scold a guest in my house. when the time came, i gently asked becky to stick to the walking path - something she’d likely do by default on other trails. • but then, eventually, becky with her sweet smile and good hair, really struck a nerve. girl started mocking our lack of expiration dates and our simple life. • becky and i had words. and she left feeling a certain way. i don’t wish her anything good or bad, but for the record, let me just say to all the other sweet smiling guests that come thru our desert - we don’t have expiration dates because we use our instinct when we need to. and we gift each other from the heart because we are a community above everything else. and when i tell an aunti for example that i like something, she fills my plate in a way that feast or famine, i’ll always have something for a rainy day. 🙏 🧿 this is jordan a land where all are welcome where visitors are treated with respect and where guests should also meet their hosts with the same level of respect be they with king or pauper. be they on sand or stone. because we love to receive visitors on temporary trips. but for those of us who live her, have ties here, have roots here, have auntis and sisters and histories here: this holy space is our home 🇯🇴🙌🧿🙌🇯🇴 and PS- i am ETERNALLY grateful to anti clara for making me a batch of these delicious cranberry cookies last month 🥰jo/ro love always🥰 i get to nibble on her fantastic, nutritious, made-with-love cookies at home every morning and i don’t have to trip about panic buying my vitamins for now alhamdillah 🙏🧿🙏 pps big big love to mrs k, my 6th grade QUEST teacher whose bday is today ✨pound for pound, this was the best investment i made last year ✨ i subscribed to a several-month-subscription of @afamilythatreads as a gift for someone i love (which you can do right now by following their insta, so you can learn when they open subscriptions for post covid-relief) ✨ because i’m a millennial at heart, i slept thru the chance to gift one of their delivered packages, so i’m considering opening it up myself while on quarantine/ lock down/ physical isolation / whatever the right phrase is at this point 🤣 i’m grateful for all the digital access we have around the world today 🙏 and inshallah we don’t collectively over spend and put a drain on our fiber cables the way we have globally all put a drain on other resources 🌍💧 imma do my part to conserve what i have now, and respect every little thing that i have as an absolute luxury. i’ll appreciate it. i’ll dabble in it. i won’t douse myself in it though. i’ll combine analogue and digital to enjoy both while i have access to them, and i know my future post-covid-self *will* thank me for it 🌤🙌☀️ [sings “row row row your boat...🕊]i know there are bigger things right now than the cancellation of wonder woman’s premier i know there are people panicking and starving and dying and struggling while some of us have fridges that are full and that is a luxury 🙏 i also know that we all go around triggering and misunderstanding even the people that we know 💔 i know this because i play my emotions so close to my chest that i stay stoic on the outside sometimes when i’m crumbling inside 🤷♀️ and i stay silent in rooms that are full of noise cause i love to listen with all my senses 🧿 and when i start to talk, there’s always so much to say and so even those closest to me sometimes misinterpret my intentions and words 🤷♀️ but f* it, tomorrow isn’t promised so here it is: • rn i am wonder woman *and* regina king and i wasn’t ever expecting it but in one literal heart beat i fell so deeply in love with someone who i will always think of as my dr manhattan and i will never say his name cause if he’s gotta go to mars for a minute he’ll be back in due time and he’ll know and i’ll know that at the battle of midway something special happened on and before and after that day 🕊 💖 🧿 [and if he stays on mars, it’s all good. cause i’ll dervish twirl around myself like only wonder woman could 💪🥰😘] • and this message is cryptic cause it’s meant to be. pharaohs spoke in hieroglyphics and this fool is my marc anthony 👑 🤣☝️💖 [photo taken before the quarantine. obviously stay at home and be safe fam. listen to the army and care about the community. and once again, linda carter is my OG WW]to all my artist friends, wherever you are and however you create: if you would like to collaborate now or ever on anything inspiring and uplifting, please leave a message in the comments of this thread and i will be in touch on specific ideas throughout the quarantine. 🎨🎼🎭💖 if i don’t know you personally (or if we haven’t connected in the past in an overt way), please mention something in your comment about the type of art you create and what inspires you. that will help me know if and when to contact you for a relevant collaboration. 🙌✨🧿✨🙌 art heals. and in these times of uncertainties and confusion, i know for some of us creating is all we know how to do. 🌍 [ps my heart sings in ways i don’t know how to describe through words when i walk into someone’s home or a public space and see my art on display✨] • ps if you’re not there yet, tag a friend you think would be open to this (but remind them to read the caption and follow my simple request of introducing themselves. 🙏 shukran.my buddy and one of my favorite personalities on air and off, @radiokhaled is hosting a super hero spin off on his stories. 💥 and no, unfortunately wonder woman and she ra haven’t made it into his collection, but he’s got a pretty fly set of other characters at play 🌈🌟😎 hashtag entertainment in the time of cholera... erm i mean corona 🧿 [photo circa sometime a while ago at a place so chill it’s basically wha t rick rubin might call the shangrila of the red sea 🎶] • ps linda carter was the best 💥🙌💥my whole life, i got used to hearing i was small. i never believed it. still don’t. laugh at the narrow definitions of size and power that some might hold. not in a mocking way, just in agreement. like “ok, i see how you see now...”. i let my curiosity triumph over petty perspectives. i let them see what they want to. i lean into it when it works for me. i fly away when it doesn’t. it is a subtle art, to not give a f*ck. i am learning and unlearning it with every season of the sun. 🕊 #dplwrites with respect to @alyeshawise who once shared a poem about size and dreams from a young student of hers, that resonated so deeply i carry it in my bones • also, hat tip to @markmanson cause his book was affirming in the right way at the right time 🌱 [photo circa pre-covid-pandemic, around the time it was obviously at a global tipping point though 🤷♀️💔]he ghosted then i ghosted then he ghosted again 👻 and then we reappeared at the end of a winding street in a tiny town that hosted flavors some tongues might not comprehend ✨ and we shared stories and samosas and different views and at the perfect moment she appeared with a feast for two 🥰 # a vintage millennial friendship story 🧿 [photo taken many moons ago, on a deserted island, far far away] 🙏 _social distancing doesn’t have to mean disconnecting; we learn to love from afar because that’s how we roll_ 🖖 ps - if you’re in jordan or thinking of jordan or just wanna learn how compassionate containment policies work, please follow @jeishfm 🇯🇴super-blooms in the time of corona ✨ 🌱 ps this *is* jordan we have a desert within our borders. we also have two seas we also have some of the most beautiful lush mountains and some of the most incredible trees 🌱 look at how this whole country has blossomed and bloomed in the wake of a collective emergency 🌸🌻🌸 look at how even the dry lands have sprung into colorful fields — when we all got out of nature’s way how she reminded us of her magic *and* her power on a cold spring day ⛅️🌱🇯🇴🙌🌱🇯🇴🌧 #dplwritesme, distilled by chance through the lense of @tshawky: 🧿 as much as i enjoy meeting and engaging with groups of new people, i can really only do so one person at a time. 👁 i love the focus of a single story. the opportunity to curiously draw out the details that fascinate me about their perspective and experience. the moments, as brief or extended as they might be, to deeply connect to who they are. 🐪 i dig the communal table, but i also fill my plate slowly and mindfully and enjoy each flavor one at a time. 🍩🍽 that’s how i learn. that’s how i grow. 🧿 it’s how i feed my soul. 🧚♂️ (and in these mercurial times, it’s probably also the best way to stay covid free 🤷♀️) 📸 [photo: jan 2020, colombo] 🧿 _social distancing since before it was “in”_ 🇯🇴[watch video with sound on / visit IGTV for full clip. read caption for accompanying poem] 💫 haft seen for the half-seen 🍏 i spent my week setting a table fit for a queen 👑 and an empress and three kings 🇯🇴🇱🇰🇯🇵🦁🇯🇵🇱🇰🇯🇴 and my family too 👩❤️👨👨👩👧👧👩👩👧👨👩👧👧👩❤️👨 and if you’re confused by what i’m sharing this might not be for you 🤷♀️ but if you flip thru the pictures and zoom in to see my haft seen for the half-seen is a celebration of me 🙋♀️ [this table was made possible thanks to all the gifts i have received over the years from people i have loved and continue to love (although sometimes love takes different shapes, like water). as with everyone around the world today, i am not able to spend this nowrouz in the physical company of everyone i care for. i am blessed to be able to surround myself with virtual and analog mementos though. and in a few moments i will break bread with my day 1 king: baba] 🙌 happy new year to you and yours, with all my love, always, from the hashemite kingdom of jordan 💫 🐺 🐭 🐾 💖 #dplwritesi still remember the day we met with detailed clarity. not as if it happened yesterday. but as if it’s still happening now. 🕰 she had/& has an inspiring honesty. a type of authenticity i had yet to be exposed to. i knew i wanted to work with her right away. and the more i got to know her, the more i realized i had to learn from her. ⏳ and here we are nearly a decade later. contracts no longer bind us. work no longer ties us. our friendship stands. and i still have so much to learn from the woman who told me “i don’t think you should hire me, but i promise if you do i’ll figure out everything i need to know”. 💡 ✨ hashtag women’s history month hashtag this is jordan #sunny1051 🇯🇴 ps if you ever get the opportunity to work with this woman, listen to what she has to say. she is experienced beyond her years, and she is one of the few people i know whose real life work and value far exceeds what can be written in a resume. 🌺 [photo ~ feb 2020] #dplwritesi have flowers sleeping inside of me waiting for their morning to bloom 🌱 @isra.althibehthe coolest cat out of san leandro who wifed up the flyest chick in the game 🙌 from cruisin around town in your low rider to catching high tide with your surfboard 🌊 our friendship has come a loooong way 🙏 happy birthday, my friend as always, i’m sending hecka love your way ✨💖✨ [photo circa a million years ago, which is to say around 2010/2011]a lotus sprouts in murky waters blooming pink and white not always perfect but always beautiful ... ✨ @rashi.r.sanghavi 🌱 [photo circa jan 2020]my favorite unintended collaboration, pulled together thru generations of authenticity with banat el 7ara ✨💖✨ noor, when she built tasmeemmee (whose account i cant tag because so many copy cats mimicked her idea and took the name so now *i* can’t even find it 🤔) saved our old school notebooks and gave me one as a gift 🙌 nissa, who was allllllwayyys the coolest chick in any room - weather it was on stage at the ballet or behind the scenes watching tv and chillin - designed the frame. 🥂 baba helped me get the frames from ikea (cause yeah i’d love to always support local shops but let’s be real, ikea is significantly more cost effective and they pledged to be fully environmentally and socially and consciously sustainable in the next 5 years) 🧿 and i used sticky tape and limited resources to put it together because simple acts of beauty make my heart sing when they come from the heart ✨🙌✨ [ps to my venture capitalist friends: angel investors taught me how to build real value beyond what the term sheets say. speak to the ones that have done it, learn from the ones who failed.... or don’t, but i promise from experience that *is* the best short cut that i’ve discovered if you want compounded returns on your investments 😆🤷♀️💖🤑 and allllllllways always always (or “dayman dayman dayman as ms zoubi used to say): maintain a beginners mindset] 🤗 🤭 😘 🎨“this storm shall pass” {calligraphy in arabic. because the desert folk have weathered rain storms, hail storms, sand storms, and snow storms} 🙏 bye corona [and felcia, alicia, three kims and at least one trina 😆] 🥳🍻 i’m switching to petra or dead serious for now 🥂🇯🇴 [painting circa 2014. lost in a california fire two years later 💔 all storms pass and i am unbelievably grateful for the lessons i have learned in weathering them and constantly growing through them 🧿]the Boss has been saying this for decades but some fools will only listen to e.f hutton 🤣🤑 and like lil’ kim said, i expect that when i talk, my homies listen 🤗🤫 but too many of them looked a gift horse in the mouth, or took more than their need ((that’s greed. eew)) 🤕🙏 so while everyone goes into round 9 of this highly predictable and avoidable pandemic, imma go back to hanging out with family and doing some spring cleaning and getting my 30something year old r&r on 🙌💇♀️💅💆♂️ phone on silent, except for those i call family. you know who you are, and if you have to ask... well, like they say on rodeo drive, then obviously you can’t afford the call 😆👍😘🗝 lots of love to everyone and may you all show up as authentically as possible to yourself and everyone else ✌️☮️🥳🤩vintage @loveonabike 💫 plus newly discovered best smelling combo of clove and cinnamon 🍻 equals corona free living 😆🤩 ps smudge, sage, 3ood... it’s all the same {i think}. point is, use what’s available because *you* like it and it’s locally accessible, not because it’s trending. • also save what you like from the old, while adding splashes of the new. [kb, for the record- you’re a solid dude] ✨🧿🙌🧿✨hamdeh had this thing where anytime someone she loved traveled, she asked (or maybe we just all did this based on assumption?) for a green shirt. 🌝 no one, ever, in the history of our big family, managed to get the right shade of green 😆😍 but our collective quest continued. 🍀 a couple years ago, while visiting two of my sisters in amsterdam, we went thrift store shopping and i came across this gem of a shirt. 🌸 it had been years since hamdeh passed, and just as long since i stopped keeping an eye out for what she might like, but as soon as my fingers washed over this garment, some sort of emotional memory tapped a nerve in a surprising and beautiful way. 💫 i got the shirt. and though it’s probably not the exact shade she would have loved, i rock it with her in mind, and my heart blossoms a little bit more each time i do. 🌸 🌱 ps if your first reaction to this story is “ew thrift stores”, kindly check yourself. 🤦♀️ we live in a world of overconsumption and fast fashion, and thrift stores are one way to sustainably shop - another being shop less, keep your stuff in good shape, and be mindful overall. but also occasionally, we all want - and sometimes actually need - something new. 🤷♀️ most big cities have varieties of thrift stores you can shop at. in amman, whether it’s soo2 el baaleh or the “trendier” stuff, options exist too. you can check out @thriftit.jo to see some of the fresh gear with seemingly affordable prices - which vary piece to piece. i hope they stay in my price range (i also hope that they post less often but continue to share stuff on inst before they sell) 😆🤭 and if vintage really isn’t your thing, maybe shop local from artists where you can accessorize on a budget, find unique pieces, and your dollar can have a compound effect. (@aliramagallery is a great example) 🎨 cue macklemore 🎤 mic drop 👋 oooh wait, one more thing: if you’re a parent or have anyone from a younger generation you claim to care about, this is for you: “sustainable” is important because the next generation has to clean up “our” mess, which we mostly inherited but also are making worse. so if you claim to care, do the right thing to prove it, consistently. #mambaout-
recent stories
- basic instinct.
- midnight in paris.
- the good, the bad, and the ugly.
- city of love.
- life is beautiful.
- the dark night.
- the streets of san francisco.
- crazy / beautiful.
- cold mountain.
- house of sand and fog.
- coming home.
- once upon a time in the east.
- new york, i love you.
- passion in the desert.
- no reservations.
- vanilla sky.
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- walk the line.
- 40 days and 40 nights.
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Author Archives: eatwritewalk
crazy / beautiful.
there’s a hidden beauty that shrouds tehran. it’s not the obvious, overt type. i don’t find myself mesmerized by architecture and city planning as i explore the city through the backseat of dilapidated taxi cabs. perhaps it’s because of the … Continue reading
Posted in iran
2 Comments
cold mountain.
i’ve developed a morning ritual in the short time i’ve been here. eyes still semi closed, i stumble into the kitchen to sit with my grandmother and her niece where we plan out our day over coffee and sweet cha-ee. my … Continue reading
Posted in iran
8 Comments
house of sand and fog.
everything in tehran used to be something else. vali asr street was pahlavi street, named after the monarch before he was dethroned. esteghlal was the hilton before sanctions meant US businesses could no longer operate here. and the land upon … Continue reading
coming home.
my mother showered me with stories of growing up in iran when i was a child. she created a magical space in my mind of a country i was born connected to, but felt i would never see. i wanted … Continue reading
once upon a time in the east.
since the day i started driving, i’ve dreaded exploring new areas – maps make no sense to me; sudden turns catch me off-guard; and my sense of direction never guides me to the right road. venturing into a new part … Continue reading
new york, i love you.
i’ve spent my last few days secluded in my sanctuary. futile attempts at completing a long abandoned chapter of my manuscript have left me a little frustrated. my wishes that the creative styles trapped away in the books on my … Continue reading
Posted in new york
6 Comments
passion in the desert.
i’ve been back in the middle east for almost a month. tucking away my appetite for adventure, i’ve replaced my comfortable sneakers with six inch stilettos and my cut off shorts with evening gowns as i’ve pranced from one night … Continue reading
