Category Archives: Blog

I passed by this graffiti today when I was out on the streets of Beirut with my young Syrian refugee friends…

You are here as my companion along the path of life,
and my aid in understanding the meaning of hidden Truth…

— Khalil Gibran

Yesterday, when I was whirling with Sufis in Beirut, a Turkish Sufi group was whirling in Islamabad…

An article on the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair of 1964-5 in today’s NYTimes incorporates personal photographs and recollections from those who attended the event. The fair, designed to share international cultures, was promoted with the theme: “Peace Through Understanding.” Though the fair took place years before I was born, I’ve long felt grateful for its international bent–since the Javanese gamelan instruments that I play in NYC at the Indonesian Consulate happen to be the instruments created specifically for the Indonesia Pavilion at the World’s Fair of 1964-65. With these instruments, my friends and I have performed Javanese music in concert at venues like Lincoln Center and Asia Society. While the World’s Fair of 1964-5 is for many a thing of the past, for our gamelan group the history and theme of the fair live on–as we continue to promote “peace through understanding” by sharing traditional Indonesian music on veteran instruments from the fair.

Your thought is a fortress that neither gale nor the lightning can shake.
My thought is a tender leaf that sways in every direction and finds pleasure in its swaying…

— Khalil Gibran

When I took my students on a field-trip this week to Byblos, we explored this limestone castle built by Crusaders in the 12th century…

Arab Idol Mohammed Assaf’s new song, “Ya Halali Ya Mali,” has almost 2 million views on youtube–even though it was just released last week. The video, which was filmed in the same refugee camp in Beirut where I taught yoga, features dabke dance moves and spirited lyrics about good fortune. On May 11th, Mohammad Assaf is scheduled to perform in Virginia with Lebanese vocalist and Arab Idol finalist Ziad Khoury. Whether his concert in Nazareth will go ahead as planned, however, is an entirely different story…

A new guitar tuning device that was invented by two alums from the American University of Beirut and developed in China will be hitting the market this June. Since I live in Lebanon and study Chinese, I’m interested in the many innovative connections between these two countries…

This colorful staircase seemed like the perfect place to snack on a thyme croissant on my way to tai chi class tonight in Beirut…

Before my tai chi class tonight in Beirut, I snuck into Tartine Bakery for a thyme croissant. They really do have some of the best (and most colorful) pastries in town…

This week, when I was buying a green peanut-butter cookie from some students in Beirut (who were raising awareness about autism), I took a moment to admire their sign…

Spring is beautiful everywhere, but it is more than beautiful in Lebanon. Spring is the spirit of an unknown God speeding through the world, which, as it reaches Lebanon, pauses, because now it is as at home with the souls of the Prophets and Kings hovering over the land, chanting with the brooks of Judea, the eternal Psalms of Solomon, renewing with the Cedars of Lebanon memories of an ancient glory…

— Khalil Gibran