Category: Essay
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History through a grain of pollen
This piece was originally published in Nature Middle East In a small village called El-Hamoul, surrounded by the green fields of Eygpt’s Nile Delta, a young girl gathered herbs from along the irrigation canal. She arranged similar flowers in neat rows on the damp soil. “The plants that grew all year…
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On a bewitching moment of hesitation
In a letter dated 1754, the English politician Horace Walpole wrote to a friend recounting the unexpected discovery of a lost painting he never thought he’d find. For the first time, at least as recorded, Walpole used the term serendipity to describe the event. The word, with a touch of liberty, can…
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There is poetry in the southbound train to Upper Egypt
In recent days, I find poetry in places where poetry isn’t supposed to be. I suspect it’s because I’ve been steadily moving away from traditional notions of what is “poetic” and what isn’t. Some conventional poetry still stirs me, for its lyrical elegance or rhythmic sweetness, and I revisit it.…
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On Language, an Astronaut, and a Unicorn
This piece was originally Published in Almanassa. _ “I’ve Wasted My Life in the Void!” (Buzz Lightyear, a Toy, Toy Story) In the first encounter between Woody the cowboy and Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, one of the film’s core conflicts emerges—one that is tied specifically to Buzz’s character. The world of…
Ahmad Gamal Saad-Eddin 