Dear friend,
I preach a lot about making and sharing things (art, writing, business, any project you build) that gives insight into how you see the world and what you experience. I think this is one of the most important things we can do in our lives, as it connects us all and allows us to understand each other.
Last week I started to feel incredibly overwhelmed and suffocated by everything happening in Palestine. It all came to a head one day, leaving me completely debilitated, unable to do anything but cry. I knew that these feelings weren’t helping me, and they certainly weren’t helping the people in Gaza and the West Bank. I needed to channel this energy into something—anything—to digest the horrors I was seeing and reading and release what I could into the world.
I’ve been writing a heavily researched piece that’ll hopefully be done by next week’s letter, and I made my first little zine, which I’ll share below. I wanted to share a snapshot of my experience as Palestinian-American, an existence that often feels a little like survivor’s guilt.
Since immersing myself in these projects, I’ve felt just a little bit lighter, just a little bit more capable of taking action towards things that matter. If you feel this encroaching hopelessness, I invite you to create something. Allow others to see you.
I also wanted to share a poem that my cousin Mariam texted me the other day. She’s about to enter a Phd program researching Palestinian family dynamics. I’m incredibly proud of her and also very grateful to have someone who shares a similar experience to me.
- Mariam Da’Mes, “To the monsters, we’re the monsters”
I’ve come to accept that nothing I do or make will ever feel like enough, but it’s important that I continue to do it anyway. It seems to me an act of rebellion to create even in the face of perceived hopelessness.
That is all for today, I don’t have much else in me at the moment. Next week I’ll have some good links on Zionism and Israel.
If you need help figuring out how you can help, this organization’s instagram is a great place to start.
-hanna
love you hannah. from the river to the sea.