The Tomb of the Syrian Prince

A Weekend in Lebanon My memory of Lebanon will forever be linked with the backseat conversations of weekend service van travels. There is something about the motorists’ get-away-driver mindset and their centrifugal turns that seems to bring out the whimsicality in everyone. Herein lies some of the best advice I can offer to the Middle [...]

Hezbollah’s Jihad-Themed Theme Park

Mleeta Museum  Surrealism  Lebanon’s civil war has been described as a house of mirrors, “it was easier to find your way in than to find your way out,” (Thomas Friedman). The longer the war dragged on the more disorienting the house became until the most impossible ironies emerged as Lebanon’s very reality. At one point [...]

My Favorite Place in Lebanon

My Favorite Place in Lebanon My Favorite Place  There hadn’t been any mention of it in the guide book, but as the evening light colored the air a shade of warm orange and a refreshing breeze found its way through the gaps in the ramparts, I knew I had found my favorite place in Lebanon. The battered [...]

Dear Egypt: Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Egypt The Winds of Change Our motorcycle operator banked to avoid the crowds as we navigated the spaces between demonstrators and tire fires.  The wind from our forward motion pushed against my face and forced a cloud of heavy, oily-black smoke into my lungs. In what was most likely an attempt to thwart the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian regime had [...]

South Lebanon

South Lebanon Southern Lebanon Although the country is just over a tenth the size of my home state (smaller even than the country of Whales), the Catholics of the north often spoke of the south as if it were a world away. Many of Beirut’s Christians have never actually been to the south, remaining within [...]

Caves to Cable Cars

Caves to Cable Cars The Jeita Gratto Having both met Walid Jumblatt and visited Balbeck our intensive weekend was followed by a relaxed  tour in the north. After the remarkable sights and experiences of the Beqaa Valley our latest trip had a well welcomed vacation like feel. We made our first stop at the Jeita [...]

All Roads Lead to Lebanon: Part II

All Roads Lead to Lebanon: Part II The Beqaa Valley The bus picked up speed as we rolled earthward along the mountain’s declining edge. It was turning out to be a sunny day despite the polluted haze that settled in the bottom of the gorge. I was finally face to face with the sprawling Beqaa [...]

All Roads Lead to Lebanon: Part 1

All Roads Lead to Lebanon: Part I “Me and my brother against my cousin. Me, my brother and my cousin against the stranger.” -       Bedouin Proverb    Confessions of a Micro State The victim of geography, Lebanon seemed fated to irritation even at birth.  When the borders were carved out of Greater Syria the balance [...]

At the Border: Heaven and Earth, Lebanon and Syria

At the Border: Heaven and Earth, Lebanon and Syria “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?” -       Khalil Gibran Finally, the university [...]

Walking the Green Line

Walking the Green Line The Show Must Go On Life in Beirut always persists, it adapts when necessary but pushes on. Even during the civil war the Lebanese managed to find some normalcy, occasionally maneuvering past snipers like traffic around construction. Somehow people have learned to persevere, so no matter how difficult my classes are [...]