and then our exile

we arrived at the library early today, so while n & ammi went to buy foods from the corner grocer uthman and i sat in the car and i watched him live. he lives in an entirely different world than i do. every single thing is a matter for beauty, for wonder, for immediate reaction. for questions. everything is direct. there were two pigeons sitting on the green and white sign above us. and then someone pulled up a few metres away and oh - wuddy - ein riesiger big truck! it isn't just that, but everything - even when he is in the most trouble, wann er schimpft oder weint sehr - even then, there isn't any of the fragmentation i think many of us find ourselves in.

at the sunday madrassah ("sunday school") our group is to present on musa^as. the biblical moses. in preparation we were discussing hairstyles, and so, according to my group of middle-schoolers: "people's hair reflects them. kind of. so for example a punk will spike hair and a geek will comb it over. and people with messy hair are lazy." this last hurt - despite my mother's best efforts to teach me how to operate a combing-device as it grows longer, i have not yet sold out or joined the international hegemon of american capitalism.

these past days - memories of sham surfacing, violently, vibrantly. there was one night i walked across the city, from jisr al-abyad to mezzeh, at 2.30 in the morning - completely deserted streets, a nearly-full moon above, across the mountain and through the park, silver light on cobblestones and leaves. an emotional relationship with that city, of all the cities in the world.

they were holding exams in the pavilion on friday, so that afternoon around the ice arena. twenty laps = ~4k, but i need to set running goals. other than someday beating the legend of murtada.

bruce cockburn is coming to the folkfest. i don't have four days to devote to sitting barefoot on grass in the sun in gallagher park, so just need someone to smuggle me in for his set. who can i bribe to do so? who has contacts with the volunteers there? james, maybe?