“Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe.” Ken Kesey Thursday Thick fog this morning. Not the milky fog, this is the sick brown fog. When I first arrived I thought the fog was filled with dust. It pollution….
Year: 2024
Long Weeks
“If I were to reduce all my feelings and their painful conflicts to a single name, I can think of no other word but: dread.” Hermann Hesse Thursday No job is worth sacrificing your wellbeing. None. Commitment in the workplace is a one-sided affair. The job cares nothing for your loyalty, it cares not at…
Worn Out
“DyingIs an art, like everything else.I do it exceptionally well.I do it so it feels like hell.I do it so it feels real.I guess you could say I have a call.” Sylvia Plath Thursday Another week down. The visit by the Sheikh was unremarkable. The students enjoyed it, some of the girls cried claiming it…
Slow Going in Hectic Times
“Do not confuse movement with action” Ernest Hemingway Thursday The start of last year was exhausting. A new school brings challenges. This year should have been smooth sailing. Yet here we are in our second week and every teacher looks done for the year. Late nights and a Principal that runs on high-frequency energy drain…
Sharjah Lights
“Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling; darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud cover. Like smoke from an unseen fire, a line…
Off the Wagon
“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.” Victor Hugo Thursday Back to work. I fluctuate between enthusiasm and blasé. Tonight I made the most tasteless pasta in history and ate three serves. Justifying binge eating good food is one thing. Gorging on…
Al Qusais
Drifting on the torrid breeze, morning foul stench from the mountain ascends unyielding with trash Heat in blue skies, now brown Red sand lost Ocean desert, now concrete bitumen, plastic, steel, glass, refuse Heat, dust, stench. Nothing more. Thursday “If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the…
Back in the Grind
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato Thursday I have been back at the gym for three days. I feel so much better. I have not gained weight—a deceptive conclusion. The muscle mass I have lost…
Reframing in Budapest
“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” Franz Kafka Sunday It is a beautiful day. There has been quite a bit of doom and complaining recently. After some meditation, it is time for a paradigm shift. We make our way…