Dusty Wyndow Blog

No, I haven't been planning for this post to be my comeback after a long abstinence, but the fact is, Tripoli is blooming with events of all sorts, and I found it dearly necessary to shed light on them and share them among the ones I know. As I had stated in my Facebook posts last night, all events are listed in increasing chronological order by start date. 1- Tripoli Film Festival – April 27 -> May 4 Tripoli Film Festival, organized by Eklat Conseils & Tripoli Foundation - مؤسسة طرابلس - (Lebanon) , has paved the way in the last few years for marking #TripoliLB on the international map of Film Festivals, competing with the likes in Cairo and Dubai in the region. Elias Khlat , alongside an army of supporters and volunteers, has succeeded in pulling this event off for the last few years, always growing and always pushing for a better and sharper event every year. “The Tripoli Film Festival – Lebanon is a cinematic event conceived as an initiative to ameliorate the imag...

This is a post about how small the earth is. Back in my UAE days I learn there's a poetry gathering in Dubai, a couple hours away from where I lived. I contacted the organizers only to know they were Lebanese, she was Lebanese as a matter of fact. It was only her, Zeina, who was in charge of it all and that event happened to be the season finale before their summer/fall break. Knowing the curator of PUNCH (see here ) being Lebanese, and later on finding out she's also from Tripoli was a blast. I do have a handful of friends from Tripoli too, some living abroad, but they all have this in common: they have started a poetry collective wherever they are. Samer Annous , assistant professor at the university of Balamand, has been famous for running those monthly poetry gatherings in Mina, particularly every first Wednesday of a new month. Sara Sibai has blown minds with her spoken word poetry, and keeps on doing so. She is now curator of the Beirut Poetry Slam, and also took pa...

Photo from Ruwwad Lebanon's Facebook Page "I came here a broken woman, Ruwwad has turned me into a strong person. I don't have to beg any politician anymore!" were the words a woman performed as she stood among her peers interpreting a video they were just watching. She gathered the applauds of every single person listening, whether donors, guests or staff. She was one of the ladies that were benefiting from Ruwwad's empowerment program gathering women from both ex-conflicting Jabal Mohsen and Tabbaneh under one roof. "Everybody thought I was a notorious person, somebody who cannot be friends with others, and that made me pretty upset in return, until Ruwwad came along and showed everybody the real me" uttered a young man in front of us during the "Dardashat" stop, part of the "My Identity" program at Ruwwad. I was immensely moved with this young man's intervention, and I bet I saw somebody else wiping her tear to...

It goes without saying that yesterday was probably when the town had witnessed one of its most successful mini-projects. It was that Samer , the Tripolitan professor at a renowned university in town, and the activist if I may call him, had wanted to put to use the available resources in order to bring books back to life, and hopefully promote for a new fashion for reading them. Samer, and through the Cultural Agenda, made ties with a few fellows and created what is now known as the “ El Mina Book Marke t”, the first of its kind in Mina (Tripoli’s very own sea port) where used books are sold, bought and exchanged too, all in the sake of gathering enough money to send children back to school. The event was held in non-other than Rassif café , the roadside coffee shop that, I believe, had excelled in marking a new footprint and raising the bar for all future coffee shops in town. “An open air street market for used books. Kids' reading corner and family activities. If you'...

We finally have it in town, Tripoli's very own, and possibly the first, dog shelter. A group of enthusiasts has decided it's about time there were somebody in town to take care of all the homeless and rejected feline friends, many of whom end up being tortured out there, even put to death in some cases, especially those linked to the municipalities themselves, mainly due to total ignorance of how to handle stray animals. A few words about Paw Shake from the initiative itself on their Zoomal Page : Paw shake is a group of several young guys in Tripoli and all are volunteers. We all have the same passion for dogs and we have raised many dogs in our homes in Tripoli. Each person of this team is dedicating his free time for dogs rescuing through reporting and sending homeless dogs to specific NGOs in Lebanon who are providing shelter and food for these homeless dogs. Puppies put for sale in Tripoli's Flea Market Mahmoud Mawass , founder of Paw Shake, has wholeheart...

Waking up today after -finally- a decent sleep shaking off the thrill of the last two days has left me in such an awe, not realizing anytime before the amount of encouragement we are receiving, the thumbs up and the curious ones wanting openly to join us next time. Long story short, as an immediate result of my early morning sluggishness, we had decided, we as in a bunch of fellow white-hearted friends, to carry on the clown flashmob habit that started in 2013 by Mutaz Salloum, as a concrete reaction to the horrible tremor that was taking place in Jabal Mohsen & Tebbaneh, both of which areas now are thankfully in a state of peace after a political resolute earlier last year. We invaded both towns regardless of the warnings and all the threats. They were a blast, a total success. Fast forward to 2015, Maya Abas and a bunch of enthusiasts that gathered from all over the country, literally, had also taken their toll on both Haret el Tanak (literally the tin neighborhood) and Dahr el ...

I'm getting more and more comfortable with the short, spontaneous, snappy, out of the blog's original context sort-of-posts. This one was triggered by none other than my fellow Tripolitan, Fadi Mikati , who's done something quite incredible. Actually, the simple fact that he actually "did" something is remarkable enough. On a lazy December Friday, he seems to have stumbled on another hideous scene on one of our hometown's streets. He was fed up with what he saw, and felt the rushing urge to say something, well do something as a matter of fact. One thing lead to the other and BAM; there he was announcing on his FB profile that he'll be cleaning the street, claiming he can never tolerate to have encountered that amount of repulsiveness, to have expressed a growing scale of disgust, watching his town turning into a populated landfill. Post by Fadi Mikati . It wasn't long before Fadi's request got the appropriate praise and cheering, all...

Our first Volunteer, Mr. Michel from Koura. Picture by Rimal Abeed. Being severely brought down by all the notorious stench in the air the last few weeks, the three of us had decided to do something about it. Just as any other activity in Trablos, things had happened so spontaneously and smoothly. Discussions have been taking place for almost a month before that, but never were more serious than the week before, where we managed to borrow a guitar for Rimal to practice with, Moussa would practice his drawing skills, and I would prepare basically everything else in order to have a smooth chillout time for everybody, and offer people something they were craving for, I assume. I wonder to myself sometimes, what have we got in this, all of us? It’s neither Rimal, Moussa or le moi that are getting paid anything for taking that action (something society fiercely teaches you in order to survive), neither are we taking any credit, any promotion, not even appraisal. And the photos & sto...

Noun Someone who is half-black, half American Indian. A pedigree of the human race. Excels at friendship, flip cup and being a magnet for women. A jerk. A jackass. Stupidity sometimes due to alcohol or drugs. – source Verb To have your face randomly and/or voluntarily painted by total anonymous strangers To join a mighty local march started by a group of people who proudly paint themselves in colors among which Black, Red or Blue. To have the fun of your life screaming your lungs out shouting the famous Zambo anthem To enjoy the fact that everybody’s happy around you To be able for a day a year at least, to have everybody stare at your pitch black face going back home and having your parents freaked out the first instant they saw you To add another unforgettable day to your life span of unbelievable facts To see the people of Mina drinking, dancing and singing to the tunes of Zambo all while having an outrageous dose of fun painting the faces of bypassers here and th...