Annie Q Syed » twitter

Stillness is a peyote that shows what is real.

annie — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:57:32 +0000

March 25th, 2012

STILL SUNDAYS

New York City can’t make up its mind whether to continue enduring pain and stay in winter or finally move forward into spring and summer.

Stillness is a peyote that shows what is real.

You can’t jump into stillness, you work your way into it and realize it is a fusion of all sorts of coming together.

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It was in Paris when James Baldwin was first able to come to grips with his explosive relationship with himself and America. Of course that is not why I went there in 2001—I have never followed in the footsteps of anyone—-this is not a boast, just a fact, just how things have turned out ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:58:42 +0000

February 5th, 2012.

The super bowl of social media and creativity.

I woke up thinking about Wednesday this morning. As if Wednesday was a person I knew.

This last Wednesday was a chaotic morning and no amount of breathing was going to lift me out of the mushroom of frenzy.

Usually calm and steady, on Wednesday morning I was agitated and hyper sensitive to noise. I always try to see what is the longest amount of time I can go without plugging into music with my headphones. This time even music didn’t help. People rushing to some grand nowhere. I joined them to head to one of the most dilapidated parts of New York City. Poverty has a smell ...

“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.

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

Light triumphs. Again and again ...

to really understand is divine

annie — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:37:50 +0000

Still Sundays.

November 6th.

No matter how many times I write about New York City it is not enough. Not enough for me and not enough for those who just don’t see what I see.

Rage is a bull and I am a champion rider who neither tires easily nor plans on retiring. At best I can tame the beast with humor. But I find cynicism easy and eventually boring; therefore, I take whatever it is that I don’t understand by the horns: the spleen wants to spit.

That being said I never write when I am angry. I can create a fury of words that can dissolve the deads’ bones, but actually write?—never. I don’t even “journal” such thoughts ...

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 ...

self-existing magic of things

annie — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:49:44 +0000

Still Sundays

October 9th.

Filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky on “self-existing magic of things” and more. Your talent is a body. Marc Jacobs on innovation.

I find myself intellectually incapable to accept any of the etymologies offered behind “Indian Summer” and google’s curation of history doesn’t satisfy.

October is a solid indigo night, made for returning and leaving at the same time.

Autumn in New York is the muse for so many jazz compositions because only music can capture an indigo night.

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Yesterday I saw a film by Nathaniel Dorsky who has been making and exhibiting films within the avant-garde tradition since 1964. His works have bee shown internationally in museums and theatres and are in the ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:10:29 +0000

August 28, 2011.

Perceptions that hula-hoop around reality: social media and beyond. Little boy who wouldn’t stop crying on bus. Walter from Verdi Square knows with certainty…

It’s truly a still Sunday here in New York City this morning. Not a sound from a dog, car, child…neither near nor from afar. Usually in order to capture this temperament of quietude I have to be up around 6:00 a.m. given by 9:00 a.m. the seal of stillness begins to pop, someone crunching a bag of potato chips in an empty hallway.

Yet somehow this is the least still it has ever been because of the tropical storm. The leaves are speaking loudly to the wind. I am not allowed to ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:42:46 +0000

March 20th.

A conversation with mama about Twitter relationships. Stranger-friends. The Invitation by Oriah.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

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I once met a woman on a subway a few years ago on my way to yoga.

She looked at me and said, “Forgot your keys?”

I laughed and replied, “How did you know?”

She said, “The way your mouth moved and eyes rolled and hands reached into your purse to form the silent expression: oh shit!”

We had a good laugh and she was surprised to ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 12:49:09 +0000

March 13th.

“Who Owns Kafka?” Neither artists nor their supporters can circumvent certain questions. Courage requires much more than strength.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

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Time changed today. In this part of the hemisphere we have ‘sprung forward’, adjusted our clocks “one hour ahead.” We have “lost” an hour to stretch the day longer. What does it matter? Nights are always long. I have never felt the gain or loss of this time adjustment.

Reports estimate that the 8.9-magnitude quake in Japan on Friday shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 ...

A 1000 Year Old Fakir’s Dream

annie — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:23:58 +0000

I don’t claim I can write poetry. It is not my ‘medium’ of expression or telling a story. Perhaps this goes back to the years when I ‘stopped’ writing. I felt poetry—my version (given what I wrote felt incomplete), not what I considered poetry—was my way out of writing seriously. Later I decided it wasn’t even poetry but just lists of fragments showing my perception of a particular instance. Words were my play-doh; I simply recorded the telling details; I affectionately labeled these notebooks my ‘forensic lab.’

If there are as many types of poetry as there are those who claim to be poets, then there are even more definitions of what constitutes as poetry. I am fond ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:33:24 +0000

January 23rd.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

Intuition is a serpent. Toni Morrison on serendipity. “Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” ~ Camus

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This Sunday morning I waited till it was fully lit outside before rolling out of bed for I had decided last night there was nothing to decode in the frozen darkness. It just is and you endure it. Sometimes with a frosty, unintended tear on your cheek and other moments a smile that cracks across your dry mouth.

This week I ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:57:47 +0000

Forgive and do Forget. Robert-Robert Frost: one question you should keep close.

October 17th.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

There is a stillness that belongs only to the sky. It’s the stillness in between latitudes and longitudes. We can only know it from afar.

This Sunday I am sipping tea in a suburb somewhere outside Nashville, Tennessee, visiting my sister and her fiance who moved here recently for a short project. They were on a break for a week so we all flew in from the East and West coasts to visit them.

...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:04:41 +0000

A man who chants God. ‘Human desire for a response.’ The voices in your head. Creative Potager. You are the poet.

October 3rd.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

New York City was so very still this morning that I cocooned in a silken sleep longer than usual. Undisturbed by dreams, but never words. Like one’s children, I can always feel them near and can’t help but keep an eye out. It is now later than when I usually begin writing, yet a swan-floating silence prevails. Maybe because the wind is chillier and it is indeed cooler. ...

These 5 Questions Made Me Reconsider Twitter & I even more…

annie — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

Sometimes a question is more important than an answer….

“Why am I on Twitter” has been evolving for me every day since I made my account. I have only been on Twitter publically since end of March, 2010. Prior to that I had minimal use of less than a year old private account which was made for myself only—not kidding—as a texting-notebook while driving cross-country to transport my car from NYC to California with my mother. Some friends signed up as well to follow my updates. I didn’t follow anyone but my real life friends and vice versa. I got on there without an agenda, without knowing there were celebreties on here, without knowing much really.

I am feeling ...

Still Sundays

annie — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:59:45 +0000

August 15th.

What do you know beyond a reasonable doubt? Psyche & The City. “What has been blown away, cannot be found.” Calm Madness.

If you would like to know what Still Sundays is about, please take a quick gander here and just read the third paragraph. Thanks.

Back in New York. My affinity for the City is not just because of the obvious; in fact, it is the subtleties which draw me in. The complexity, paradox, the buzz of it all. Yes, found all places where humans exist but New York boasts it. Here you are challenged to really see beyond the obvious. Every. Single. Moment. And some don’t. I do. It is ...

love palpable twitter synergy

annie — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:12:22 +0000

I couldn’t do this in 140 characters as Twitter allows per tweet so I decided to post it here because I felt it was too awesome not to memorialize.

I tweeted the following picture with the caption: Love how grand the earth is. Lush green can grow through the toughest concrete.

@DavidWeedmark retweeted the pictured addding: Just @so_you_know Love it. Always a fav metaphor on why I don’t fear the end of the world. Life is irrepressible.

I liked that so much that I retweeted it back.

And then @VJaugelis retweeted the above and added: RT @DavidWeedmark RT @so_you_know Life is irrepressible/reminds me of the Wump World

...

How did you bypass Facebook altogether and start gliding on Twitter?

annie — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:57:00 +0000

How did you bypass Facebook altogether and start gliding on Twitter?

This has become my third most frequently asked question; therefore, I decided to formally address it in this space so I can provide the one asking a link if a quick drive-by answer does not suffice. This is not a debate, please. I have just been asked this way too many times. If you like both, good for you. If you like Facebook better, good for you. Do you. I do not like to reinvent the cyberspace wheel and don’t want to post something another has already said, especially if it is better researched and/or articulated. At the end of this I will provide you with some ...

How did you bypass Facebook altogether and start gliding on Twitter?

annie — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:00:01 +0000

How did you bypass Facebook altogether and start gliding on Twitter? This has become my third most frequently asked question; therefore, I decided to formally address it in this space so I can provide the one asking a link if a quick drive-by answer does not suffice. This is not a debate, please. I have just been asked this way too many times. If you like both, good for you. If you like Facebook better, good for you. Do you.

I do not like to reinvent the cyberspace wheel and don’t want to post something another has already said, especially if it is better researched and/or articulated. At the end of this I will provide you with some useful links ...

Authenticity Redux

annie — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:30:04 +0000

The five articles below came from five different sources. All today! If you actually browse them you will think I was doing a research on this topic!

Talk about synchronicity! Perhaps my conscious and unconscious querying is reflective of the state of affairs all over…so that would constitute as a subliminal research of sorts…and this means the virtual world is headed towards the emergence of a new wave of online connecting…or maybe that is just my wishful thinking…

For the last week I have been wondering all these thoughts and questions that are addressed in the articles below.

Specifically, given my gliding in cyberspace is not even a year old, I am learning that people are not ‘authentic’ to ...