Category Archives: Blog

When I visited this ancient temple complex in Sudan, I was on the hunt for as many samples of graffiti as I could find. Along the way, I found carvings of ostriches, giraffes, and lions–such as the graffito below, which is one of my favorites in Sudan…

Humanity is a brilliant river
Singing its way and carrying with
It the mountains’ secrets into
The heart of the sea…

— Khalil Gibran

Several co-workers from our dig in Sudan helped me conduct additional anthropological research in the desert…

While exploring every inch of the Royal Pyramids of Meroe in Sudan was indeed thrilling, it was also exhausting. At one point, I sank into the warm embrace of this sand dune for a much-needed break in the shade…

Every day that I was excavating this winter in Sudan, I met up with Sufi friends for lunch and whirling in the desert…

Beyond the sanity of fools is a burning desert
Where Your sun is whirling in every atom:
Beloved, drag me there, let me roast in Perfection!

— Rumi

Here is a recording of Fairuz singing selections from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran…

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts…

— Khalil Gibran

When I was studying the ney, or reed-flute, with Sufis in Istanbul, I found an oversized ney (left) in the office of a master ney teacher. The ney is notoriously difficult to learn–on average, it takes a novice three months just to make a sound…

In the video above, legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz sings “Give Me the Ney and Sing” — the lyrics of which are derived from a poem by Khalil Gibran.

أعطني الناي وغني فالغنا سر الوجود
وأنين الناي يبقى بعد أن يفنى الوجود

Give the flute and sing
Forget illness and its cure
people are nothing but lines
which are written on water…

— Khalil Gibran

Last year, I attended this event with friends from my African drumming class, and I’ll be back again this year to support the cause–especially after having just personally witnessed the injustices of the Kefala system in the arrest and deportation of a close friend…

My young Syrian refugee friends and I took this photo today, while making art together on the streets of Beirut…

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise…

— Rumi

I always think of my favorite Persian verses by Rudaki (d. 941 CE) when I’m strolling down Rudaki Prospekt–the bustling boulevard named after the poet in Dushanbe. When I was living in Tajikistan, I spent a lot of time doing research at the Yaqub Charkhi Mosque, which is accessed from Rudaki Prospekt–and named after a beloved Sufi sheikh…

Knowledge in the heart is a bright lamp
And a shield for your body from everything bad…

— Rudaki

After spending time today in Beirut with young Syrian refugees from Daraa, I walked over to the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon/St. Jude to volunteer. As the film Cinderella (dubbed into Arabic) played in the background, one of my four-year-old friends picked up a purple marker and began tracing some English words printed in her coloring book. While I was teaching her the difference between capital and lower case letters in English, she had a revelation. “Wait a minute–look!” she said. “The M and the W have the same shape!” It was a big deal for both of us…

To make an online donation to support the cancer treatment of children in Beirut, please click here.