My swan song to Beirut, through running.

I have pounded these streets over and over, and I think I know every smell and sound and colour. The salty sewage as the corniche pans out beside the seafront opposite McDonald’s at Ain el-Mreisseh. The illuminated balloons, touted by wandering sales children, providing an alternative to the failed street lamps. The swoosh of the sea. The cordoned-off stretch, smashed by a storm last winter, which no one has come to fix.

The young men slouching on the seafront railings, waiting out displacement and war and conscription and unemployment next to the waves. The young couples who perch on the rocks, side by side, soul by soul. The families with impressive picnic sets, chicken and bread and garlic paste set out on the benches in plastic boxes. …

This article was born of the many requests I get for advice about learning Arabic as a non-native speaker. It is definitely not meant as an exhaustive or expert guide to learning this rich, complex and diverse language. It is not a grammar guide (sorry for the disappointment — I know you were all champing at the bit for one). It is not a magic bullet — it won’t replace the frustration or anger you will probably feel at some point when, like me, you fail to grasp a concept, or a phrase, or pronunciation. It is simply some thoughts and observations I’ve arrived at after more than four years as a student of Arabic. …

Today is the start of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week in the USA . I’m going to use this opportunity to clear up a few myths about eating disorders, namely anorexia. This is not because the others aren’t important, but because I don’t have experience of them. I’ll also provide links to some informative fact-based pieces, and some articles I’ve written in the past about suffering and recovering from anorexia nervosa. I have always shared my experiences in the hope that they lead to better quality information and understanding. I hope that they provide a window that allows sufferers to realise they aren’t alone, and provides some sort of insight to victims’ friends and families. That said, I urge anyone — or anyone who knows someone suffering — to get professional help from a doctor or therapist soonest. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disease — either as a result of physical medical complications, or suicide. …

The problem with breaking off to “fix” burnout

Resting means that underlying fears and sadnesses come to the fore.

I have walked a long way on tarmac, and my feet ache. I’ve been forced to confront the uncomfortable.

I decided to take time out from my work as a journalist and foreign correspondent. The duration remains unspecified, as I don’t know how much time is necessary – or how much I can stand. After working non-stop, I had exhausted myself. …

I’m writing this piece in light of the many requests I receive for advice on how to work as a freelance foreign correspondent, particularly in the Middle East, and the realities of working in a perversely unstable and stressful yet rewarding career. It is partly culled from advice I have given to those who have approached me, from my social media posts on freelance journalism, and from my own mulling over of advice other wiser, more experienced correspondents have given me.

I hope it will prove useful for anyone thinking about taking a similar route. I focus on the Middle East as it’s the region in which I have experience, albeit a very limited amount. This advice might apply to other parts of the world, too, but I cannot write on the realities for journalists covering them. …

إنني أزور المدارس في الدوحة من أجل أن أشرح للطلاب عن فوائد تناول الفاكهة والخضار، ولكنّ الأطفال ينظرون لهذا الأمر نظرة دونية، حيث أنهم يعتبرون الفاكهة والخضار غذاءً للفقراء فقط، وذلك لأن هناك أنواعاً من الخضار مثل الخيار أو الجزر تُعتبر رخيصة جداً.

تصدر هذه الكلمات عن غانم السليطي، وهو يجلس على مقعد خشبي أمام “أيفرغرين أرغانيكس”، المقهى الذي يقدم الطعام النباتي فقط، والذي أسسه السليطي في عام ٢٠١٦ في عاصمة قطر الدوحة. يوجد بجانب هذا الرجل — وعمره ٢٦ سنة — حاسب محمول “ماك بوك” وكوب عصير أخضر. بدأ السليطي في مهمة تغيير عادات الأكل وأنماط الحياة في وطنه.

كانت قطر محمية بريطانية فقيرة سابقاً، حتى اكتشاف النفط فيها في عام ١٩٣٩. وخلال السبعين سنة الماضية، أصبحت قطر واحد من أغنى بلدان العالم. يبلغ متوسط دخل الفرد فيها ١٢٨،٠٦٠ دولاراً أميريكياً بالمقارنة مع متوسط دخل الفرد في المملكة المتحدة، الذي يبلغ حسب الاحصاءات ٤٢،٥٦٠ دولاراً أمريكياً. ولكن ترافق هذا الغنى الفاحش بمشاكل صحية خطيرة، بأنّ ما يفوق سبعون في المائة من المواطنين القطريين بدينين، وتشير الإحصاءات إلى أنهم بين الناس الأكثر بدانة على الكوكب، وفقاً لإحصاءات من منظمة الصحة العالمية، وبالإضافة الى ذلك، يعاني سبع عشرة بالمائة من الناس من مرض السكر، وهو ما يعادل ضعف المعدل العالمي لهذا المرض ومردّه جزئياً نسبة العالية البدانة. …

To work as a freelance journalist, learning to hustle is part of the job

This piece was originally presented orally at Hakaya’s “Lesson Learned” storytelling night in Beirut in November 2018.

When I was 15 years old, I worked at the newsagent’s in the English village I grew up in.

Every Saturday morning, it was my job to stack the newspapers, keep the chocolate bars piled high, and nod and smile at various stories of village gossip — roadworks here, sheep breeding there, that sort of thing.

There, I learnt some basic rules of selling.

If The Guardian was not placed on the top shelf, customers would become confused. If The Times of London wasn’t in the middle, they would become flustered. The Sun had its own special spot to one side. If a paper was out of place, customers would grumble. …

This is the first piece I have published in Arabic. It is certainly not an advanced report, and is a basic summary of a couple of articles on the state of corruption and its links to Lebanon’s poor infrastructure. The point is more that it is written in Arabic — something that I aim to keep up (although this may be much easier said than done). With thanks to my teacher Rima for her style and grammar corrections.

سيركّز هذا النص عن الموقف المقدم في المقالة التي نشرها المركز اللبناني للدراسات عن ظاهرة الفساد في لبنان ونتائجها السلبية من حيث جودة البنية التحتيّة العالية في البلد. …