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Well, here we go. I’m thrilled to be helping out @newlinesmag and eager to connect, reconnect, and help you connect. In the coming months and beyond, working with writers already engaged and anyone who reaches out, we’ll continue their good work and delve into areas like: https://twitter.com/faysalitani/status/1362165439061704715
Area 1. “Our Sea.” We’ll take in Mediterranean, sharing more about it with each other. Stop splitting a sea that has been and is a place of contact and exchange. History of basic goods. Political-military strategies. Characters in time. Commerce. Culture. Shenanigans. More.
Area 2. Places, pathways, things, times. The Coliseum, Al-Azhar, or your grandfather’s house in history. The coffee shop in City X, or the olive farm in Country Y. A restaurant near a Tunisian road. Your family’s migratory moves. Your mother's jewels. "A Cup of Empire." Etc.
Area 3. Cities on the Hills? Different places have their moments in the sun. They’ve all had problems at their peak, not just during decline. They’ve all been places of aspiration, achievement, and opportunity, too. Constantinople/Istanbul. Baghdad. Cairo. Aleppo. Beirut. Dubai?
Area 4. Essays on complexity. Enough empty positivity. Enough misery porn. Enough said.
Area 5. Contact. Why did monks sail west? Who was the woman climbing up the mountain? How did Ottoman trains, European manufacturers, and local assholes influence slang? War. Love. Politics. Diplomacy. Commerce. Contact.
Area 6. Power, Prestige, and Principle. Emperors with codes. Presidents with laws. Church and State v. Religion and Politics. Diplomats with norms. Men wielding guns. Women raising children. Presidents-for-life and constitutional frameworks. Rule sets and contested spaces. Etc.
Area 7. Travel, Food, Booze—and People. Simple, though not always easy. Fun, though ideally informative. Give it a crack, no matter where you’re from, where you are, and/or where you’re going… Just write.
(Personal Tangent: Bring the fire, humor, and half-serious grumbles. Don’t bring mopey self-flagellation, cheap reversals of old one-way tropes, or vicarious self-fetishization through the eyes of others. Not to me, at least.)
Some of you and I have been in touch. We will keep in touch. Moving forward, I (and we, now) hope to hear from a few types of people in particular:
Person 1. The Young Writer. Hit me up if you’re under 30 years old and love writing in any way. All I’ll say: I see you. We’ll kick in the damn doors—and not just at Newlines. Then, you just be yourself...
Person 2. New or Returning Writer. Please hit me up if you’re in your first five years of writing, are switching careers, or are between gigs/jobs. Sometimes, people demand that you prove something without giving you the chance to do it. Fuck 'em, all. Bring it here.
Person 3. The Trapped Professional. You may face a familiar trap. You can’t write about what you know best, because doing so might jeopardize work, and don’t want to write about what you don’t know, because you’re decent and humble. Hit me up. Trust me/us. We’ll figure it out.
Person 4. Academic. If you like, we’ll help popularize your work without sacrificing substance for style. We can team up for collaborative pieces blending thematic and area expertise. We find smaller snippets to share. We can give you fun stuff to try out within your area. Yalla.
Person 5. Uncertain Hoarder. Have a fragment of an idea sitting in your computer, collecting coffee stains? Renovate. Came close to publishing an op-ed? Update. Turned a pitch into an essay, only to never hear back? Cut, edit, reframe—and let’s roll. We've all been here/there.
Person 6. The Unknown/Unseen. I detest people who only support you/someone when it's clear you're already going to make it. (Nah, son... Nah.) Can't control result. Can't promise anything. All I will say is: You have something to say, come on in and say it... We're waiting.
