A Year in the Life… Of A Syrian Revolutionary

Foreword: 

This is a guest post by a Syrian friend who wishes to remain anonymous. The purpose of such a post is to showcase the side of the Syrian revolution that none of us stop to think about. We all go into the political rhetoric of what the Syrian revolution means to us. We never stop at what the revolution means to its people. 

This is a story of one of them.

I opened my room’s window today, just like every other day.

But today had a different taste, a different vision, even a different sound.

I sat and tried to write something. I couldn’t. I wrote and wrote but was never convinced in what came up on paper. So I left the writing process simmer as usual. I had no idea what I could say after 366 days.

It’s been a year on the revolution of a people, a revolution on tyranny, on underdevelopment and poverty.  It is a revolution on a barren life, with all the intricacies entailed. We’re sick of dryness – the land has to breathe. The bodies of our sons will open up like the most beautiful of flowers and glow in sublime colors under the sun.

It’s been a year and I still hear of cities and villages I had no idea existed on a map. It’s been a year and we’ve started to know Syria anew, as if we were newly born. Throughout this year, we were surprised by some regions that we always considered irrelevant such as the Syrian countryside, which we always considered beneath us, which we always misjudged along with its people. The revolution started and grew out from the countryside and spread to all the regions of my country, leading to beautiful protests with their fiery slogans and chants.

We are revolting on misconceptions and false convictions. It is a revolution to correct our sight – to remove the film that has blinded our eyes and hearts.

Syria needs compassion… before freedom.

If we were not compassionate towards each other, the purpose of the revolution becomes null.  But that isn’t possible. After all that I’ve lived through for the past weeks, when my hometown became a home for all the families leaving their homes seeking fragile safety, I touched compassion in the eyes of everyone I saw. My grandma’s house, which always welcomed people in happy occasions, now fits entire families seeking shelter. I felt that compassion has been reawakened after a long sleep and I’ve lived the diversity that people have carried from their various regions: different cultures, different opinions, different dialect.

But what surprised me the most was their resiliency and how fast they got accustomed to their new situation – not only because we helped them but because they wanted to.

Syria – that painting that had dust settle on its stones, so meticulously built one top of the other, for years is now dusting it off… finally.

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The original arabic version is as follows:


 ..فتحتُ نافِذةَ غُرفَتي اليومَ .. كَما كُلِّ يَوم
 ..وَلكن لِليومِ شيءٌ , طَعمٌ , رُؤيَةٌ , و حتى صَوتٌ مُختَلِف
جَلَستُ لِكِتابَةِ شيءٍ ما .. لَم أَستطع .. كَتبت وَ حَذَفت .. وَ تَركتُ مُشيرَةَ الكِتابَةِ تَنتَظِر وَتَنتَظر كَعادَتِها .. لا أَدرِ مَا الذي يُمكِنُني كِتابَتُهُ بَعدَ 366 يَوم ..؟! 

 .. مَضى عَامُ عَلى ثَورَةِ الشّعب .. ثَورَةُ عَلى الظُلمِ .. عَلى التَخَلُف وَ الفَقر إنَّها ثَورَةُ عَلى الحَياةِ القَاحِلة .. بِكُلِ مَا تَحمِلُهُ فِي تَفاصِيلِها .. لَقَد سَئِمنا القَحطَ وَالجَفاف .. وَ آنَ لِلأرِضِ أَن تَرتَوي ..  سَتَتَفَتَحُ أَجسادُ أَبناءِنا شَقائِقَ نُعمانٍ شَديدَةِ الحُمرة .. 

َعام مضى وَ أنا مازِلتُ أَسمَعُ بِأسماءِ مُدُنٍ وَ قُرى جَديدَةٍ .. لَم أَكن أَعرِفُ أَنّها مَوجودَةٌ عَلى الخارِطة .. عَامٌ مَضى وَ بَدأنا نَتَعَرَفُ عَلى سُورية مِن جَديد وَ كَأنّنا ولِدنا تَوّاً .. 
خِلالَ هَذا العام تَفاجَئنا بِتلكَ المَناطِقِ التي لَطالما اعتَبرناها مُتَخَلِفة .. كَالأريافِ السورية .. وَ التي لَطالَما ظَلمناها وَ ظَلمنا أَهلَها .. لأنَّ الثورة انطَلَقت وَ نَشَطت فِي الريف .. وَأَبدَعَت مَناطِقُهُ المُختَلِفة الممتَدة عَلى رُقعَةِ هذا الوَطن .. فِي هُتافاتِ المُظاهَراتِ وَ لافِتاتِها .. 
ثَورَتُنا هِي ثَورَةُ عَلى المَفاهيم وَ المُسَلَمات وَ المُعتَقَداتِ الخاطِئة التي تُطلَقُ جُزافاً ..هِي ثَورَةٌ شَامِلة لِتصحيحِ البَصر .. وَ إزالَةٍ لِتكَ الغَشاوةِ التي أَعمَت لَيس فَقط أعيُنَنَا بَل قَلبَنا ..! 

 .. سُـــورية بَدها حِنيّة .. قَبلَ الحُريّة
إذا لَم نَكن نَملِكُ مِنَ الحَنانِ ما يَكفي عَلى بَعضِنا .. فَإنَّ الغايَةَ مِنَ الثورة تُساوي صِفر .. وَلكن هذا لَيس مُمكِناً وَ ذلك لما لَمَستُهُ فِي الأسابيعِ المَاضية فِي مَدينَتي التي استَضافَ أَهلُها كَباقي المَناطِقِ الهادِئة عَائِلاتٍ مِن المَناطِقِ الساخِنة .. فِي بَيتِ جَدّتي الذي لَطالَما اتسَعَ لِلكَثير مِنَ النّاس فِي المُناسَباتِ الفَرِحَة .. اتسعَ الآن لِعائِلاتٍ لا أَدري كَم .. عَدَدُ أَفرادِها .. أَحسَستُ أنّ المَحَبّة استَفاقَت مِن جَديدٍ بَعدَ نَومٍ دَامَ طَويلاً .. وَعِشتُ التنوّعَ الذي يَحمِلُهُ الأشخاصُ مَعَهم مِن بيئاتِهم المُختَلِفة .. الثّقافَةِ المُختَلِفة وَ الرأي المُختَلِف وَ اللّهجَةَ المُختَلِفة ..لَكن الذي أَدهَشَني كَيفَ استَطاعوا التأقلُمَ مَع هذا الوَضعِ الجَديد ..! لَيس فَقط لأنّنا ساعَدناهُم وَ هذا مَا تَوّجَبَ عَلينا .. وَ لَكن لأنّهُم أَرَادوا ذَلك 

سُــــ ــورية .. تِلكَ اللّوحَة التي تََكَدَسَ الغُبارُ فَوقَ أَحجارِها المُلَوّنةِ المَرصوفَةِ بِعنايةٍ فَائقة .. نَفَضتِ الغُبارَ عَن أَكتافِها .. أَخيراً ..

Lebanon’s Chicken Hit With Deadly Virus

I actually come from a family who owns chicken farms both from my paternal and maternal sides. I grew up around family members highly involved with the little creatures, although I tend to stay away from anything I am not obliged to do with their regards.

Every month or so, my family has to bring in over 125,000 chicken to our farms and get them to grow to full size before they’re taken out and turned into food. Recently, there has been panic about a virus that has been blowing in from the Northern parts of the country, killing thousands of poultry in its path. My uncle likes to call it: the plague of the chicken.

I don’t mean to get anyone to freak out, not with all the rotten meat and cheese frenzy, but I have yet to see any major news outlet talk about the matter so I figured I would.

Only yesterday, one of the farms next to my uncle’s in our hometown, had ten thousand chicken die because of the virus. My uncle was lucky enough to have his current flock removed before the virus hit. My maternal uncle, however, may not be as lucky. Extra measures are currently being taken to ensure his 100,000 birds do not suffer dramatic losses as a result of the virus. Despite those measures, over 8000 have died overnight yesterday.

The “silver-lining” is that with this virus killing the chicken, the odds of it getting transmitted to people by consuming chicken are next to nothing.

However, it will lead to drastic shortages in chicken meat in the Lebanese market. In two short days, the price according to which my uncle’s chicken were sold jumped more half a dollar from $1.90 a kilo to $2.5 and it’s been increasing since then. Add this to another factor eating away at the wage increase.

With all the rotten meat, rotten cheese and now dead chicken, perhaps observing lent was actually a good idea this year? ‘Tis a good time to be a “devout” Christian apparently – or vegan.

Nobody Knows – Lori McKenna Track Cut By Carrie Underwood For Blown Away?

According to the Boston Globe, Carrie Underwood has cut the Lori McKenna track titled Nobody Knows but has yet to release it on any album.

We know Lori McKenna has most probably landed a cut on Carrie’s new album. So could Nobody Knows be the one for Blown Away?

I found a demo floating around by Lori McKenna of the song and it’s quite different from the sound Carrie has been known for. It’s more folky and more subdued. I quite like it, actually, and would like to hear Carrie’s interpretation of it because it would surely take it to the next level. And with a song like this, the next level would be simply spectacular.

Let me tell you, the lyrics are great.

You can listen to Nobody Knows here:

Let me know what you think? Would this be something you’d like Carrie to record?

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Movie Review

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the story Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a young American boy who lost his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) in the 9/11 attacks. Trying to cope with the passing of his father, Oskar, who happens to be a very inquisitive boy, tries to make sense of the world. Feeling disconnected with his mother Linda (Sandra Bullock), Oskar sets on a quest across New York City to find one last clue that his father might have left him in a blue vase, which he finds among a stach of things he collected of his father, including his father’s last phone messages on an answering machine he never shared with his mother. The last “hint” is one involving a key and the last name Black, to which he will spring up one last quest involving 472 people with the last name Black in NYC, hoping he’d find the lock which fit the key.

As the movie opens, Oskar, who’s implied to have Asperger’s, says: “If the sun were to blow up, we would still have light and warmth for eight minutes; I feel like my eight minutes with my father are running out.” Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is Oskar’s quest to cling to those eight minutes as long as he could.

Many have called this movie trite and over-indulgent. I disagree. My main problem with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was not the subject matter, which you cannot but appreciate, but it was that the main character, Oskar, is more often than not grating, making it difficult for many to relate to his struggles especially when at a moment he snaps at his mother, telling her he wishes it was her in that tower instead, simply because she couldn’t explain why his father had died. It might be how the character was written but Oskar isn’t likeable at most of the movie’s run. There are moments, though, when he’s at his most vulnerable that his child-self shines through. It is then that you appreciate the performance by Thomas Horn, who does a good job, despite his character’s flaws.

Sandra Bullock is great and saddening as the mother trying to protect her son while receiving his bashing for things out of her control. She provides much realism to the movie. Tom Hanks, in the little screen time he gets, embodies the role of the caring dad trying to break his son out of his shell and into the world through little quests in search of ordinary things sparsed throughout New York City, requiring his son to interact with people.

While on his quest, Oskar will cross paths with an old mute man renting at his grandmother’s place. This old man (Max Von Sydow), whose name is never revealed, will help Oskar on his quest by helping him rise above his fear of ordinary things such as trains and shabby-looking bridges. In doing so, Max Von Sydow gives a great performance without uttering a single word.

In a way, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is not really about 9/11 as it is about coping with death. It focuses less on the American tragedy of a country and more on the tragedy of the Schell family. Its main shortcoming is in the fact that with trying to aim for universality, it comes off short from hitting the mark within its niche. Some of the movie’s sequences seem forced. Some are even out of context and irrelevant to the overall flow. In a way the whole sequence with the old man could be removed without affecting the storyline one bit. The movie is not seamless. It feels rickety at points. And that’s a shame because it could have been so much more.

6/10 

 

Humans and Curiosity Reveal a World of Pure CGI: The Making Of “Qitaf Diamonds” – the STC Ad

This is a guest post by a friend to introduce you to his latest work: a TV Ad for KSA’s STC mobile operating company, named Qitaf Diamonds.

Have you ever wondered how some TV commercials are done?

ABLis about to launch an interactive video that unveils the secrets and techniques of the process that gives rise to these commericals.

Humans and curiosity, they go way back. Come on, let’s admit it, we always want to know how? what? who? and when? Each can help, in their own specialty, to bring knowledge to people. When it comes to ads, many want to know how they’re made. So we ask, how would you like to know how “Qitaf diamonds”, one of our latest commercials, came to life?

Promise! We won’t be wasting your time with the usual making of, a director saying “Action”, or people running around trying to look busy on set. Come along with us to the world of pure CGI, where we uncover the detail behind what your eye is seeing….

Lazy? Choose our “auto pilot mode” by watching this video:

For those more curious and compelled, experience the  “full interactivity mode” via our web app, which you can access here, where you can move the cursor and choose which part of the frame you want to unveil and know exactly “how it was made”!

Enjoy the ride into our virtual fascinating 3D world.