For the past two weeks I’ve been living in Shatila camp in Beirut, teaching English and photography to Palestinian youth. Lebanon is a wondrous place and has left me wondering and wandering between the extremes of refugee camps and posh urban avenues, haunting oud melodies in cool swish arts venues and the loud voices and television commercials blasting from the ten apartments that lie within twenty feet of the fifth-story apartment I share with 10 other volunteers. I’ve experienced the most beautiful call to prayer I’ve ever witnessed, Lebanese food that makes all other Lebanese food I’ve tasted seem like shadows on the walls of Plato’s cave (a mere approximation of the original) and so much more that I’m still struggling to put it all into words.

I have many images, though, of food in particular, and because internet is so difficult to come by (and strong internet connections are even more elusive), those will be posted as often as I’m able on my tumblr site / twitter account, which are easier to access than this site, for some reason. These minimalist posts of what my tastes and sights and smells have been here will have to suffice for now…in the meantime, I continue to struggle with words and thoughts and hope that more of those will eventually make their way here.