some guy in lebanon

My father Michael very nicely linked my article “A Short Discussion on Israel and Palestine” on his blog. Thanks dad!

For those of you who are unaware as to why I haven’t published anything recently, it’s because I am waiting to hear about a number of things, namely, and most importantly, the legal status of The Daily Star, the paper I work for. There has been an injunction filed against it due to a credit [...]

I reported today that President Bush had commanded Secretary of State Rice to abstain on her vote on the resolution that she put forth to the United Nations Security Council calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an Israeli withdrawal, after Israeli Prime Minister Olmert demanded that he do so. The AFP reported that Olmert had said this during a speech in southern Israel.

A friend of mine replied with a lengthy note on Facebook. Though I disagreed with him, it would be ridiculous to just delete his comments.

I had my first “Ah-Ha” moment as a journalist today. It helped me in many ways define what it is that a “Journalist” is supposed to be. First the moment itself – I was writing an article this afternoon on a seminar regarding the current Gaza conflict and the 2 year old Gaza seige. I [...]

Still waiting to hear from people, places, and things here in Beirut – No news yet. But I would like to take this time to suggest to Israel that if you insist on attacking United Nations sponsored schools full of civilians and children, I suppose you’ll never be too worried about that nagging feeling in [...]

Note (8/19/09) – This post has been getting a lot of attention recently due to a link from a blog called ‘Dances with Klingons‘ – So I wanted to add a remark. Something that I didn’t understand when I posted this article, is the degree to which it is possible, if you have no dependents, [...]

Dear Israel, Congratulations. Since you’re so good at starving a caged population of almost a million and a half people to death and then, to add insult to injury, kill more people in one day than they’ve killed with their toy rockets in a year, only to be asked politely by the Bush Administration to [...]

Although I find their analysis a little hackneyed and sadly standard, this is a nice article about the current calm and the future challenges facing Lebanon. As Nick said, “Using an unknown business man as the central pillar of a tired argument does seem like a stretch.” From the article: Construction cranes dot Beirut’s Mediterranean [...]

Merry Christmas friends and family! Missing you all as I sit here with Nick, Catherine, Andrew, Fidelius and Meg. All my love, Will

The wanderer is at the feast of Saint John, with its tents, archery contests and country food. Suddenly, a clown begins to mimic his gestures. People laugh, and the wanderer laughs, as well, and invites the clown to have coffee with him. “Commit to life!” says the clown. “If you are alive, you have to [...]

I spent this afternoon at Microsoft Lebanon’s beautiful offices in Downtown Beirut, discussing Open Source Technology, software piracy, and several Microsoft initiatives. Their publicist also sort of offered me a job…! Prior to my meeting I had lunch with Nick in Martyr’s Square – We didn’t have much to say to each other, but it [...]

So Bernard Madoff has admitted that the Financial Services and Management division of his company is essentially an enormous Ponzi Scheme. $50 Billion U.S. is at stake, as are the subsequent investments of hundreds of millions of dollars hedged on money, debt, and guarantees from Madoff’s organization. In the end, charities are being closed, and [...]

A simple update – Life is getting both more and less complex in Beirut – More complex as my job evolves into more and more of a consulting position, less complex as I get to know the city better and settle into a routine… Other than that, there’s isn’t too much to report – I’m [...]

I know I haven’t been good at keeping up this week but things are well. Thought I would share a photo of this amazing car I saw on Gemayze St as well, and a sight of Eckhart Tolle on Hamra St:

This is a great little article I stumbled upon thanks to Reddit – A quote: In my defense, usually what happens is that the thing is described to me in general, vague terms and it sounds great, and I say, “sounds great!” and then I see the thing a little bit closer, and it’s awful, [...]

You’ll find a deck of pictures from my trip to the Cedar Reserve in Shouf, Lebanon, here: http://williamcurtisdonovan.com/photos/?album=1&gallery=10 – the first half of the gallery is of pictures on the way from Beirut to the Reserve, with some amazing pictures of the Shouf area where Karma is from. There will be a second gallery shortly [...]

I have a lot on my mind, but I have no way to spit it out right now. Instead, I want to share the lyrics of this song that has meant so much to my life: The Bravery – Believe The faces all around me they don’t smile they just crack Waiting for our ship [...]

Waiting waiting waiting – Patience patience patience. This is my new mantra, and I’m not very good at it. Waiting to see what will happen at the Daily Star with my proposal, waiting for other people to make decisions about various other business ventures, waiting waiting waiting. This weekend I spent Saturday morning finishing Robert [...]

I’ve written and re-written the intro to this post half a dozen times. How does one sum up the feeling of being 9000 miles from home on Thanksgiving? It’s not exactly a good feeling – Actually it’s not much of a feeling at all – More of a sort of nagging non-feeling. I think that [...]

I have not been good about staying in touch (besides the excitement of TWO stories published on international news wires in two weeks…) – I am really awaiting the return of my all important laptop computer from the Apple store so that I can upload my pictures from the past two weeks. I have some [...]

Hey hey hey – so I moved today from Hamra in West Beirut to Gemayze in East Beirut. I’ll try to find a good map to show where I’m living, given the Newspaper’s office and Nick’s house. Here’s a photo gallery with the trip today across town, plus pics of my new home and my [...]

Today I paid for my new room for the next month, so thankfully I will no longer be sleeping on Nick’s couch…! I’ll be sharing a room in a flat owned by a hostel owner, near the Daily Star’s office Gemayze in East Beirut – It’s small, but decent, with a balcony that has a [...]

I’m sitting here at work, crafting a document which represents the future of the Daily Star’s website, which will be submitted to several of the decisions makers here a the newspaper. I’ve just finished building a mockup for the new “Latest News” section, and I’m jamming out to Linkin Park in Beirut, Lebanon.

In Jordan I was a victim of what Middle Eastern doctors apparently like to call “travel sickeness.” Whatever it is, I’m sure I only exaserbate the problem with my habit of not eating properly or staying well hydrated whenever I travel. Whatever the case, I am now emerging from several days of sleep and feeling [...]

I was the second person to arrive at the Captain’s Cabin at 7:30 PM yesterday, a bar here in Hamra where I’m staying in Beirut. I had been assured by several people that this particular bar had sworn to stay open until an American President was selected, many thousands of miles away… And so it [...]

I have arrived safely in Beirut after a long, long, LONG, flight. If you know me well enough you know I hate to fly. I’m staying with Nick Kimbrell in Hamra near AUB for the next few days, before I move into a place of my own. I’ll be stopping by the newspaper today but [...]

Leaving Portland – headed by car to New York. I fly out of JFK tomorrow evening… I arrive in Lebanon mid-day Monday EST, or around 9:30PM local time. HOPEFULLY, Nick will be at the airport to pick me up (hint hint)… Not really interested in sounding dramatic, so instead I’ll leave you with this wonderful [...]

I know this is a story that is about 48 hours late, but I’m saddened at how quickly its left the airways, so I’m publishing it anyways. The story amazes me. A Texan woman, campaigning for McCain in Pittsburgh, went to the police late last week, claiming that while being mugged by a 6’4” black [...]

Tomorrow I will be writing part 3 of a series I am writing, “The American Diaspora.” So far: The Coming American Diaspora The American Diaspora, Part 2: The Economic Consequences of the Bailout In the meantime, the always informed Christopher Sheeron recently shared this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal (it seems the youth [...]