Jordan
City of Mosaics
In the central Jordanian city of Madaba, the tedious work of restoring ancient mosaics never stops. “Replacing tesserae,” writes Danny Wright, “requires a dichotomous balance of strength and subtlety.”
Memory Songs
In a refugee camp in Jordan, a Syrian flute helps a displaced shepherd keep the past alive: “It took weeks to learn how to breathe in and blow out at the same time,” Jehad says. “Now I can play nonstop for hours.”
‘We Don’t Sell This’
In a Jordanian village, the Al Qurashi family has been making olive oil for generations: “Harun dumps the pulp into a pan and massages the mess with his fingers. He scoops up a fist-sized portion, squeezes it between his palms.”
My Grandmother Taught My Mother Who Taught Me
Nellie Safadi teaches Danny Wright how to make a Jordanian culinary staple: “In Arabic,” she says, “the word mansaf means ‘blow up.’ People eat the dish so fast it looks like it has exploded in every direction.”
Make Art Not War
In Amman, writes Danny Wright, graffiti artists are tagging the city’s bland concrete walls, all the while exposing locals to non-traditional forms of expression.
Hot Water Forever
Danny Wright visits Jordan’s Hammamat Ma’in: “I sat under the waterfall for ninety minutes. The roar drowned out all other sounds. After a while, I could no longer feel my limbs.”
