Annie Q Syed » nyc

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:03:44 +0000

May 20, 2012.

Today: New Moon; Solar Eclipse.

It almost feels predetermined but Albert Camus’ words came to mind nonetheless: “benign indifference of the Universe”.

It is not a surprise that I woke up thinking about Albert Camus since I fell asleep while reading his words last night.

This Sunday morning’s energy is some light in water that doesn’t move quite as you expect.

Due to travels I have been mostly unplugged. I haven’t even had time to “tweet” that I have no time to tweet. This amused me. How strange is this social media trip that constantly makes us feel as if something is happening when nothing is happening?!

Writing today feels like it once did: only a few ...

light bulb

annie — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:47:50 +0000

A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period.

~ Emily Dickinson

Catching Light (at a wedding) and one photo of a Flag

Light Steps

Third Avenue, BX

Reflection of Cheers

annie — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:24:58 +0000

Novalis wrote, “Our bodies are molded rivers.”

A Quote by the famous and talented photographer Yousuf Karsh

“Friendship is a fashion accessory.”

We could think what we wanted…

annie — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:34:44 +0000

I came home to grab lunch since my parents are here (well, right now on their way out to JFK for their trip to Turkey…they arrived late last night from California…unfortunately, not a long stay, but it will be a little longer on their way back from Turkey).

I told them this small story and said I didn’t have time to tweet share with folks. It’s been a whirlwind few days…all filled with magic and joy…but still a bit too fast…

They asked I write it down somewhere. And since this is the most organized space I know as compared to what is on and underneath my desk and shelves, here it goes…

This morning in the number 2 subway ...

Third Avenue, BX

annie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:21:42 +0000

Some days I work part time in the South Bronx.

It is one of the most dilapidated parts of Bronx, a borough of New York City.

Most people don’t know that New York City is comprised of five boroughs and that Harlem is in Manhattan and quite expensive.

“The hub” is the retail heart of the South Bronx, located where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis, Melrose and Third Avenue. In the 1930s the Hub had movie palaces and vaudeville theaters and a few decades after it became a national symbol of urban decay.

I have witnessed some extreme poverty in my life given my travels and work in legal and education ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:07:00 +0000

Today doesn’t need a date, 2012.

Trying to understand how I see New York City and how an artist sees what is and is not really there.

A weekend ago I was saddened by my inability to successfully articulate to another what is it that I “saw” in New York City. It is like a fairytale that is true only if you believe it. I questioned whether the lens through which I have viewed New York City is tainted with unearned affection. Something I have just made up!

I know many people who live here because they have always lived here. There are also people who have no desire to visit other towns and cities. And frankly ...

Bird Love

annie — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:04:21 +0000

a few weeks ago near my work…i came across so many birds all at once…if i didn’t know any better, i would have believed i was indeed some tree…

“Bird” by Pablo Neruda

It was passed from one bird to another, the whole gift of the day. The day went from flute to flute, went dressed in vegetation, in flights which opened a tunnel through the wind would pass to where birds were breaking open the dense blue air - and there, night came in.

When I returned from so many journeys, I stayed suspended and green between sun and geography - I saw how wings worked, how perfumes are transmitted ...

Still Sundays

annie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:14:01 +0000

February 19, 2012.

I ate a lot of Internet this weekend. I justified it because I ate healthy and kosher. The meat of the articles was halal. Fresh sources, great nutritional articles, lots of juice for thought. And I usually don’t eat meat: I had not browsed through any of my feeds or online journals in over a week. As is often with most things that happen to me, I had tapped in to the momentum exactly at the right time.

The right place, the right time, the wrong me.

I gathered that social media is going through some mid-life crisis. I thought Internet was only a baby. Don’t you first have to grow up, live (or more accurately not ...

Practice, Practice, Practice; Emerson on Experience & Surprise

annie — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:35:44 +0000

Still Sundays.

January 15, 2012.

Last time I wrote fiction was June 2011. It wasn’t even a story but a sketch of words. Prior to June, regularly putting down drafts of fiction, however incomplete, was March 2011. All in all, last time I wrote fiction every week, be it a paragraph for the novel or some story shared on this web space, was December 2010. It would be fair and accurate to state that I consistently tackled the craft of fiction from March 2010 to March 2011 regardless what was shared here—and it was a lot that was shared in this online space. In fact, every Tuesday, come rain or shine or travel. I wrote in planes. I wrote ...

yoga versus yoga: my obiter dicta

annie — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:10:26 +0000

“I came to yoga not on a journey of personal transformation, but because I put my back out and couldn’t sit comfortably in a chair,” begins Claire Dederer in an article, “My Truce With Yoga” in the October issue of Whole Living magazine.

I timely came across this article that sheds light on the 6 billion dollar yoga industry. I share some excerpts that highlight my concerns:

I thought yoga was for self-indulgent, middle-aged ladies with time on their hands, or for fanatical vegetarian former gymnasts.

As I researched studios around Seattle, I noticed that yoga came in a dizzying array of flavors and strengths, often at opposite ends of a spiritual spectrum. At some studios, akin to stylish gyms, ...

A Still Sunday, particularly today.

annie — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:21:51 +0000

December 25, 2011.

on criticism, on friendships come & gone, Keats & soul-making.

New York City is asleep although I have been awake for some time.

Silence is that music where we become instruments.

I have never experienced Stillness and silence this grand in New York City as this Sunday.

This is my first Christmas holiday and New Year’s Eve in New York City despite having lived here for over a decade. Usually I have always been “home” this time of the year, whatever that has meant: sometimes Lahore, other times Johannesburg or Durban, most often a farmhouse, my parents’, in California.

Last night I experienced New York City in a whole new manner. I understood why it is ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:24:53 +0000

December 18, 2011.

Herman Hesse’s Demian. “Tug on Anything at all…” A fortune-teller who could tell all but one thing.

It’s not easy to leave New York City. A stranger-friend, an Italian Ph.D. student, must return to Italy tomorrow as her yearlong fellowship is finally over. And she is not ready. I don’t think those who come to New York City for anything but an idea can ever leave that idea behind. At worst we carry that idea that is New York City with us wherever we go. At best, we return again. And again.

Love is a hard idea to give up.

What will she miss the most, I asked her? She held back tears and replied, The ...

“Fartists”, Light triumphs, Grow!Grow!Grow!

annie — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:46:28 +0000

Still Sundays.

November 13, 2011.

Stillness is a guardian angel.

That being said, on days where the frozen wind in New York City feels like the wrathy breathing of some evil gods, I do yell aloud, forgetting all I know about seasons, climate, and weather, “God you can’t be real! Because no one in his or her right mind would actually create a day this cold!”

Yet so far November feels like early spring. Will March then be like early winter? Maybe winter has never been that long after all? Climate change is changing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do I know without a doubt this Sunday morning as this calendar year is almost over?

Light triumphs. Again and again ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:02:55 +0000

October 30th.

Enjoying New York City despite the winters. Truth. Social Media and this Age of Inspiration.

The day before yesterday was a golden Fall day in New York City: sunny, bright, crisp, and filled with sunbeams shooting around every other autumn leave.

Yesterday winter came unannounced like an unexpected cavity that really should be no surprise. The snowstorm was not pretty: the sleet a constant sleazy nose drip. The snow was only “pure, pretty, and white” here and there, perhaps to create a fantasy of loveliness for those who are not here via photos taken from mobile devices. Sometimes we are able to alter our reality only if someone else believes our perception of it. If you had ...

Love, like New York City, is an Idea…

annie — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:21:00 +0000

Still Sundays.

October 16th.

I am writing from a new place this Sunday morning.

When you say something like that in New York City, you more often than not mean it quite literally.

I am not in my own neighborhood or even inside my apartment. I am in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood around 44th and 9th avenue. I don’t live here; I had to return my rental car this morning around the corner. When I woke up this morning I almost forgot I had even rented a car to go out of the City to attend a wedding this weekend. The only reason I remembered is because I realized I am out of tea and coffee and maybe I ...

Bill Viola is a mockingbird: “out to rearrange reality.”

annie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:41:00 +0000

“Mockingbirds are the true artists of the bird kingdom. Which is to say, although they’re born with a song of their own, an innate riff that happens to be one of the most versatile of all ornithological expressions, mocking birds aren’t content to merely play the hand that is dealt them. Like all artists, they are out to rearrange reality. Innovative, willful, daring, not bound by the rules to which others may blindly adhere, the mockingbird collects snatches of birdsong from this tree and that field, appropriates them, places them in new and unexpected contexts, recreates the world from the world. For example, a mockingbird in South Carolina was heard to blend the songs of thirty-two different kinds of birds ...

Novalis wrote, “Our bodies are molded rivers.”

annie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Fountain, 2011 by an amazingly inspiring artist Winn Rea.

Plastic Strips Hanging Down

Value of Water Exhibition at St. John’s Cathedral.

There were lots of mediums through which artists participated. I thought this one was very cool given so much plastic is wasted for water bottles. There were others works by Winn Rea at the Cathedral but this was the best one I captured to share. You can read more about her here.

I will aslo be contacting Art for Water. They had some amazing art and words to share as well.