Someone wrote to me to point out a glitch in the comments section: people’s email addresses were linked and publicly visible in their signatures. The wonderful Shazia has fixed the problem, so comment away; your addresses are now hidden and safe.
That is all.
Omar and I are off to the States in two weeks, barring catastrophe--something one always has in the back of one’s mind when one lives in a country as chaotic as Egypt. Whenever I move from place to place, I tend to ‘leave’ before I leave; I check out mentally about a month before the event itself. I think it’s a reflex against sadness. It’s very strange to think of Life Without Cairo. I had the last dregs of adolescence beaten out of me in this city, and like we do all places that test us, I will miss it intensely; in proportion to what I had to endure in it. This is, perhaps, the mercy inherent in leave-taking--you only remember what you love, and come to love what you suffered. It’s one of the mysteries of human experience.
I’m suppressing an urge to quote The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.
On the other hand, as I have been waxing poetic about to the posse, I am very ready for Starbucks. And level roads. And efficient transportation. And American culture--there really is such a thing. People like to pretend there isn’t, but it’s a front. I’ve missed that very particular American subtlety, coupled with that very American bluntness. It’s the contradiction that works.
CAIRO is about to go into galleys. While writing the book has been a long process, I can’t help but reflect that MK, the artist, really hasn’t put down his pencils and inks for a year and a half. A year. And a half. I don’t think he’s taken a full day off the entire time. I encourage you to check out some of his other work while you wait for our joint effort.
Brian Domingos of PopImage pointed me toward a video Joshua Middleton has posted on his blog, featuring the creation of the cover art for OUTSIDERS: FIVE OF A KIND. For those of us whose artistic ability is limited to stick figures, it’s an enlightening couple of minutes.
I really don’t know how I got lucky enough to work with such talented (that sounds almost crass: they’re masterful, wonderful) artists so early in my career. I blame my editors.
From art to information: while I’ve written several pieces about the importance of new media in the ongoing conversation about the state of the world, I’ve written less about the ways people can participate in it. For those of you into ground-level information out of the Muslim world, Aziz Poonawalla of City of Brass runs a live, continuous feed of web-based English-language commentary and analysis. It’s called Carnival of Brass; click here if you’re interested in adding the feed to your site.