Illustrations by Jaimee Lee Haddad.
Bizarre as it may seem to simply resume summer festivities, you might be looking for a way to decompress after the 12 days of anxiety that almost knocked everything off course.
While you may also feel reluctant to take a total sigh of relief, we could all probably do with something lighter in our reading diets — a happier story that was drowned out by the apocalyptic dread or a dose of cultural diversion to soothe the mind.
I hope you find that here:
Along Lebanon’s shores, “beach” often means “beach club” and “access” often means “privilege.” In the years-long battle against illegal privatization of the Lebanese coastline, could a new initiative that has introduced benches and bins in Kfar Abida be the start of a sort of revolution?
Lebanon-Syria unpacked on stage
A play running at the Monot Theater’s Beirut Spring Festival, in homage to assassinated journalist Samir Kassir, is tackling the thorny subject of racism between Lebanese and Syrians. The directors deconstruct the issue by digging into personal and political histories of the two countries, which were once united under the name Bilad al-Sham (The Levant). Read Rana Najjar’s review and check out what else is showing.
Though it looked a little dubious for a second, the famous Lebanese summer has not been cancelled. As a testament to this, Byblos’ festival will be going ahead with a lineup encompassing: a Lebanese musician, an international DJ, a French singer and a Franco-American-Haitian singer.
Gucci meets Sporting Beach Club
Of all the places you might expect a Gucci photo shoot, Beirut’s Sporting Beach club would probably not have been first on my bingo card, but seeing it now, somehow makes total sense. The iconic setting is a regional relic, instantly recognizable and steeped in nostalgia for people across the Middle East, so naturally, a tricky one to get right. Do you think they pulled it off?
I love an unexpected collision of worlds, and this week, I learned that Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral and Lebanese writer Gibran Khalil Gibran were pen pals. Newly uncovered letters reveal the exchange between the two literary legends who, despite being miles apart, both found themselves restless outsiders and surprisingly in sync in their ideas.
Macron tells Aoun will hold 'consultations' to prepare for post-UNIFIL period