Take Your Time #12

the continuous thread of revelation

This is the last issue of Take Your Time for 2023! I started Take Your Time in May, and I’ve loved using this space to explore art and ideas that inspire me, remind me of my values, and offer a new perspective. Thank you for reading, listening, subscribing, pledging, messaging me about Take Your Time, and encouraging me to keep going with it. Unfortunately, there will be no audio edition for this issue.

Illustration

Dayanita Ramesh, Pancho and Scooter in the Garden, 2023,

I started this painting, I think, in either 2020 or 2021, and then the canvas sat in the garage with just the center portrait of Scooter until quite recently; I felt compelled to work on it. I almost gessoed it over and was going to start anew. Instead, I decided to build upon what I had already started, which felt right. I’m really proud of it and think I captured the two distinct natures of Scooter and Pancho, the former more mystical and mysterious, the latter charming and cautious. Nothing is more peaceful than seeing them frolic outside under the sun's warmth. This work taught me how creativity requires patience and time and how an environment can elevate the subject, even if the subject is just a couple of goofy doggies.

Inspiration

Sahar Ghorishi, 2023, Image courtesy of Sahar’s Instagram @sahar_ghorishi.x

I dedicate this issue to the Palestinian journalists who bravely and fearlessly are reporting about the attacks on Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour said this is “the most dangerous situation for journalists we have ever seen.”

The situation is painful and gut-wrenching, and it’s hard to fathom how it could get any worse; without their reporting, we probably wouldn’t know the truth. And the truth is that currently, an estimated 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 2.2 million people are displaced, and an estimated half face starvation, according to NBC News as of December 20, 2023.

Please look at this list of resources I put together in a previous issue for how to support the people of Gaza, including calling for an immediate ceasefire and donating to organizations providing critical support and aid on the ground.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists:

• 68 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead. Of these, 61 are Palestinian, 4 are Israeli, and 3 are Lebanese.

• 15 journalists were reported injured.

• 3 journalists were reported missing.

• 20 journalists were reported arrested.

• Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members.

The International Committee of Journalists is reporting that at least 74 journalists and media workers have been killed. According to Democracy Now, the number is even higher, with their reporting claiming that at least 97 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel since October 7.

As of December 21, the IFJ has documented the killings of 67 Palestinian journalists and media workers. These are their names:

1. Mohammad Jarghoun, Smart Media, killed on October 7

2. Ibrahim Lafi, Ain Media news agency, killed on October 7

3. Mohammad Al-Salhi, photojournalist for news agency Fourth Authority, killed on October 7

4. Asaad Shamlakh, freelance journalist, killed on October 8

5. Said Al-Tawil, director of Al-Khamisa news agency, killed on October 10

6. Mohammed Sobboh, photojournalist for a news agency in Gaza, killed on October 10

7. Hisham Al-Nawajha, photographer for Khabar news agency in Gaza, killed on October 10

8. Salam Meimah, journalist for Al Quds Radio, killed on October 10

9. Mohammed Fayez Yousef Abu Matar, freelance photographer, killed on October 11

10. Ahmed Shehab, producer of Voice of Prisoners Radio, killed on October 12

11. Hossam Mubarak, Al Aqsa TV, killed on October 13 

12. Yousef Dawwas, freelance journalist, killed on October 14 

13. Abdul Hadi Habib, Al Aqsa TV, killed on October 16

14. Isam Bahar, Al Aqsa TV, killed on October 17 

15. Mohammed Balousha, Palestine TV, killed on October 17 

16. Samih Al-Nadi, director and producer of Al Aqsa TV, killed on October 18 

17. Khalil Abu Athra, cameraman for Al Aqsa TV, killed on 19 October 

18. Muhammad Abu Ali, Al-Shabab radio, killed on October 20

19. Hani Madhoun, administrative staff for Al Aqsa TV, killed on October 21

20. Roshdi Sarraj, co-founder of Ain Media, photojournalist, filmmaker and fixer for several international media such as Radio France, killed on October 22 

21. Mohammed Imad Labad, journalist, killed on October 23 

22. Saed al-Halabi, Al-Aqsa TV, killed on October 25 

23. Ahmed Abu Mahadi, Al-Aqsa TV, killed on October 25

24. Salma Mukhaimar, journalist, killed on October 25

25. Jamal Al-Faqawi, journalist for Mithaq Media Network, killed on October 25 

26. Zaher Al-Afghani, journalist for Mithaq Media Network, killed on October 25

27. Duaa Sharaf, journalist, killed on 26 October 

28. Yasser Abu Namous, journalist, killed on October 27 

29. Nazmi Al-Nadim, deputy director of finance and administration for Palestine TV, killed on October 30

30. Majd Kashkou, media worker for Palestine TV, killed on October 31 

31. Imad Wahidi, media worker for Palestine TV, killed on October 31

32. Majd Fadl Arandas, journalist for news website Al-Jamahir, killed on November 1 

33. Mohammed Abu Hatab, correspondent for Palestine TV, killed on November 2 

34. Mohammed Bayyari, journalist for Al Aqsa TV, killed on November 2

35. Iyad Matar, journalist, killed on November 2

36. Mohammed Al Jajeh, Press House, killed on November 6 

37. Mohammad Abu Hasira, correspondent for WAFA news agency, body found under the rubble on November 7 

38. Yahya Abu Munie, journalist for Al Aqsa radio, killed on November 7

39. Ahmed Al-Qara, photojournalist, killed on November 10

40. Mousa Al Barsh, executive director of Namaa Radio, killed on November 12

41. Ahmed Fatmah, photographer for Al Qahera News, killed on November 13

42. Mahmoud Matar, freelance journalist, killed on November 15

43. Moseab Ashour, photographer, killed on November 18

44. Mustafa Al-Sawaf, journalist and writer, killed on November 18

45. Amr Abu Haya, media worker in Al Aqsa TV, killed on November 18

46. Saary Mansour, director of Quds News Network, killed on November 18

47. Hasouned Isleem, freelance photographer, killed on November 18

48. Bilal Jadallah, director general of media development organisation Press House, killed on November 19

49. Abdelhalim Awad, driver for Al Aqsa TV, killed on 18 November  

50. Ayat Al-Khaddura, digital and broadcaster journalist, killed on November 20 

51. Jamal Hanieh, editor at Amwaj Sports Media Network, killed on November 21 

52. Mohamad Nabil Al-Zaq, journalist for Quds TV, killed on November 22

53. Assem Al-Barsh, journalist for Palestinian Al-Ray radio, killed on November 22

54. Muhammad Moin Ayyash, photojournalist, killed on November 23

55. Amal Zahed, journalist, killed on November 24

56. Mustafa Bakir, journalist, killed on November 24

57. Nader Al-Nazli, technician for Palestine TV, killed on November 25

58. Abdallah Darwish, photojournalist for Al Aqsa TV, killed on December 1

59. Muntaser Al-Sawaf, photographer for Anadolu Agency, killed on December 1

60. Adham Hassouna, freelance journalist, killed on December 1

61. Hassan Farajallah, executive at Al Quds TV, killed on December 3

62. Ala Atallah, journalist, killed on December 9

63. Mohamed Abu Samra, photojournalist, killed on December 9

64. Abdul Karim Odeh, journalist and former Al-Mayadeen correspondent, killed on December 13

65. Samer Abu Daqqa, cameraman for Al Jazeera Arabic, killed on December 15

66. Haneen Ali Al-Qashtan, journalist for Sawt Al Watan Radio, killed on December 17 

67. Abdallah Alwan, media worker for Al Jazeera owned platform Midan, killed on December 18 

How is this inspirational? Journalists try to discover and tell the truth. In that pursuit, they put themselves in danger, but in this case, danger came for them. The truth of what happened in Gaza this year will be huge, a generational truth. These journalists held that valuable truth; and will continue to in death. Truth is beautiful, and that’s why it’s inspiring. Not because they died but because they held it.

Ideas

1. When the World Feels Heavy I did a management training with The Management Center at my day job and I was really surprised to get this email from them, let alone link to it in Take Your Time. I found this newsletter deeply humanizing, compassionate and relieved in a way to see the horrors unfolding in Gaza acknowledged openly. It felt weirdly reassuring to me. I’m unsure if it makes sense, but it has helped slightly with the cognitive dissonance I’m feeling more often than not.

2. Powerful Forces Are Fracking Our Attention. We Can Fight Back. My day job is in social media, which has made me acutely aware of its dangers, such as the way the platforms thrive on hate and do almost nothing to curb harassment or exploitation and how they extract so much from us, their users. “We are witnessing the dark side of our new technological lives, whose extractive profit models amount to the systematic fracking of human beings: pumping vast quantities of high-pressure media content into our faces to force up a spume of the vaporous and intimate stuff called attention, which now trades on the open market. Increasingly powerful systems seek to ensure that our attention is never truly ours.” It doesn’t have to be this way, though. We can reorient and turn our attention away from our screens and towards the world around us, which we all share. The article suggests that we have to pay attention to our attention and deliberately practice it, like by writing down what we see and observe. I loved this excerpt, which sounds so simple and revelatory at the same time, “participants head out into the neighborhood and spend 30 minutes jotting down their observations of absolutely whatever unfolds in the world around them. Upon returning to the group, we sit in a circle and read one line each, consecutively, from these newfound observations. Sounds so simple! But the results are very close to miraculous: A common ground is rediscovered in the weave of collective attention. What I saw, you heard; the breeze that you felt passed my corner as well. A joint song of place unfolds, and with it a giddy, collective sense that the world is ours.” Our phones don’t have to keep us apart.

3. ‘Vortenses’ and the Storms of Space-Time Collaborations between artists and scientists are among my favorites because both artists and scientists tend to be visionary thinkers and seekers of truth. They’re both looking at the same thing or circling the same idea, which they’ve come to via very different processes. This project from Kip Thorne, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, and Lia Halloran, a visual artist and chair of the art department at Chapman University, explores what it would be like to be sucked into a black hole. Halloran’s dynamic, dizzying, and even weirdly playful illustrations are based on years of research. “It was just a fine act of friendship and collaboration. Kip would come to my studio. We’d talk and my head would get fuzzy after trying to wrap it around all the fantastic things he was saying. And then I would try to create something that could tangibly embody the kinds of concepts that he was describing.”

Ending Quote

That brings us to the end of the 12th issue of Take Your Time. I hope this short excerpt from Eudora Welty's One Writer’s Beginnings resonates with you as it did with me.

The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order, a timetable not necessarily — perhaps not possibly — chronological. The time as we know it subjectively is often the chronology that stories and novels follow: it is the continuous thread of revelation.

Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings