The Fire These Times

97/ Why I Stopped Writing About Syria w/ Asser Khattab

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This is a conversation with Asser Khattab, a Syrian writer who has reported on Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq for various international news outlets. We spoke about his essay for New Lines Magazine, "why I stopped writing about Syria."

Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes

Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me
Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com
Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes

Topics Discussed:

  • How Asser started writing about Syria
  • Pigeonholing as Arab journalists
  • Why Asser stopped writing about Syria
  • Us leaving Lebanon at the same time
  • Picturing safe spaces
  • What is 'normal'?
  • The role of Twitter in journalism
  • The dangers of living in Lebanon as an undocumented Syrian
  • Survivor's guilt and imposter's syndrome

    • Resources Mentioned:

    • A look at the Lebanon uprising through its chants 
    • Syrian melancholy in Lebanon's revolution
    • Newlines Podcast
    • That Cairo Concert, Mental Health and Growing Up Queer in Lebanon (With Hamed Sinno)
    • ‘Revolution everywhere’: A conversation between Hong Kong and Lebanese protesters
    • Hong Kong’s Existential Crisis (with JP)
    • Syrian Prison Literature and the Poetics of Human Rights (with Shareah Taleghani)
    • Syria, Journalism and the Cost of Indifference
    • In the End, It Was All About Love (with Musa Okwonga)

      • Recommended Books:

      • Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm
      • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
      • The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
      • God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou
        • ...more
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        The Fire These TimesBy Elia Ayoub
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