A Little Bit Of Love
A belated Valentine's Day episode....and maybe a bit dark, but hey, it's February
I am writing to you this morning in between writing updates for Mondoweiss’s daily dispatches for the war on Gaza—an indispensable resource for anyone looking to stay informed on everything from what is happening on the ground, to the ongoing International Court of Justice hearings.
As anyone reading this newsletter knows, I’m deeply devoted to finding moments of love, hope and joy amongst the darkness of this world—but lately that has been extraordinarily difficult. Is it because I just typed the words “Day 141” to describe a genocide that was entirely preventable? Perhaps I shouldn’t have chosen an industry that forces me to forensically analyze the worst of humanity, but really, I couldn’t imagine any other way.
Is it because journalism—not only my industry, but the strange, beautiful, jellyfish-like global network of adventurous weirdos and like-minded nut jobs that gave me the love(s) of my life and my chosen family—is changing, perhaps, beyond recognition?Earlier this week I learned of layoffs at the Intercept—a wonderful publication that has been home to much of my writing, as well as many great pieces from close friends, and then that VICE—another home to many, including our dearly beloved Salem (IYKYK, if you don’t know, you should read Love Across Borders)—has gone completely offline. That is right: we had to archive all of our articles, because apparently in just the press of a button, everything we’ve worked for—all of the stories we’ve obsessed over, the trust that we’ve gained, the words that we’ve painstakingly written to communicate what we have seen and learned with our readers—can just be erased. That is some 1984 shit.
I didn’t properly calculate how much this would affect me—it is one thing to hear about layoffs, to offer condolences to friends who lost their jobs or colleagues to the capitalist machine—but it is another thing entirely to question the future of our work as I know it, to feel a part of my culture being erased. Yesterday, I applied for a job as a “Content Creator,” which, while I actually do not have a problem with this term or the fact that there is a push to put more journalism on social media (I actually think this is a good thing, and have been doing more and more of it myself lately), it said that there was no skill or experience as a writer necessary.
I’m sorry—what? As I said, I have nothing against making videos, but a video is nothing without a script, a story is nothing without an idea and we are nothing without words. AI machines may attempt to analyze our writing styles and plagiarize our words to suit the whims of some tech bro, but can they analyze the collapse of society with the cynical wit of a woman whose had enough?
What if none of us are left to tell stories?
Nevertheless, my work—my readers, the beautiful humans who have chosen to engage with Love Across Borders in a way that goes far beyond the wildest reaches of my imagination—continues to bring me moments of light, even when I’m having trouble finding them myself. So, I wanted to write to you this morning to share a few of those with you, hoping that stories of love and connection will bring you light if you’re feeling consumed by darkness—which, if you’ve chosen to open this newsletter on a Saturday morning, I’m assuming you are, at least, a bit.
Here are a few highlights:
I got to work with Snap Judgement on a beautiful Valentine’s Day episode that took Rayan and Samih’s story—a fan favourite—to a new level by making it into a podcast episode! We started working on the piece in September—long before we knew what would come in October, the way that Palestine would capture headlines, for better or for worse, and it brings me abundant joy that I got to help broadcast a Palestinian love story across the United States.
I am still tingly at this beautiful review from Lina Mounzer, who I have fan girled over long before she was the editor at Al Markaz review, but am even more in awe of now after seeing the way that she connected with the book—and engaged an amazing discussion with me about it afterwards. You can watch the replay here.
Speaking of wonderful reviews, Austin Kocher, who you might know from his vital work gathering and analyzing TRAC data at Syracuse University, devoted a whole newsletter to Love Across Borders, and gave me the distinguishing honor of being called an author who “spices up migration studies” with tales of love and romance. I will now try to spice up literally everything I engage with…
We wrapped up our final meeting for the Insight Collaborative Love Across Borders bookclub, and I can’t believe how many people engaged with the book in such a thoughtful, meaningful way. I hope there will be more book clubs, and I hope that if you like this newsletter you’ll follow Insight Collaborative and keep up with what they’re doing.
Sometimes, I am not quite sure what comes next in this search for light in the darkness—but I do know that everything is a love story when you think about it, and sometimes, that is all we need.
Until next time,
Anna