track+field: a September 2025 recap
Letters from Helen Khal, a convo with Dia al-Azzawi, a jnoubi aperitivo, the town of Basbouses, tempura grape leaves, a Lebanese play set in Barcelona, and paintings on tarps
This newsletter incorporates movement and activity (hikes, walks, etc) into my work. I’m a productive and self-disciplined person except when it comes to tasks related to taking care of myself (like exercise, diet, and rest). This log blends the two areas of my life (health + work) and it tracks my time in the field.
The 2024 paid newsletter, Grapevine, a bulleted list of offline things I was exploring, is now collapsed into this monthly dispatch.
This month was a FULL one. Of course, having a visitor will do that but the ball kept rolling even after she left. As soon as September kicked off, the arts and culture sphere fired up their engines. There have been lots of events going on all the time, nonstop while Israel is murdering people all the time, nonstop. It’s like someone decided to chiffonade my mental space. I can’t connect the conflicting versions of the Matrix that we’re all plugged into.
In other news, despite the busy days out and about, I made a lot of progress on my short film and it’s now in the final stages of editing and narration. I’m ready for this to be over because I’ve been living in heart-wrenching footage for months. I’m also very ready for winter hibernation but that can’t happen until the fall season shows up. It’s still AC-weather out here till November it seems.