Culture
‘You Have to Start With Coffee’
In Jordan, as in much of the world, coffee is a symbol of hospitality, but the custom takes on greater intensity in the Arab world. “No matter what you want, you have to start with coffee,” Shahrouri told me. “If you don’t offer coffee to your guests, locals will know you are not a true Jordanian Arab.”
In Jerash, History and Music Among the Ruins
North of Amman, the Roman ruins at Jerash have become a major attraction and the site of a popular music festival.
A Kind of Levitation
On a rainy night in Regua, a hilly town in northern Portugal, a photographer is summoned to the house of a wealthy Catholic family to take a final portrait of their deceased daughter, Angelica.
‘Things Could Get Crazy’
Outside of Amman, women from the Talbieh refugee camp are dealing with waste one tote at a time
Visions of Portugal
On Jose Saramago’s late-in-life memoir of village life in Portugal: “When he was 83, Saramago released a memoir, which, like a missive from the grave, came into English translation in 2010, a year after he died.”
‘The Most Important Blessing Is Bread’
In Amman, writes Heather M. Surls, reverent care for bread is an economic necessity, a religious discipline, and a cultural obsession.
