antipopper

Strange to be here now, in a place where in the past few months (at least before the bombing started) hardly anyone even knew where Lebanon was. One uncle still unaccounted for. Cousin S actually saw bombs drop from IDF planes. Fuck. She was sitting on a hill, and suddenly these Israeli aircraft fly overhead and begin their bombardment.

Is it crazy that the first thing I thought of was that scene in Doctor Who‘s “Aliens of London”? Rose is sitting on top of her council flat tower, complaining to the Doctor about having seen all this stuff that nobody back home would believe, when all of a sudden a huge fucking alien ship flies overhead and crashes into Big Ben. The incomprehensible happens, in the “right here” of London (the nexus of Anglocentrism) in Doctor Who‘s case, or that of non-Anglo social and familial networks, in this particular case. Except it’s not exactly “incomprehensible” — A and H lived through the bombing of Beirut in the ’80s, and I’d hate to think what kind of memories they’re reliving now. Everyday terror. But I guess that might always be incomprehensible, on another level. I hope Uncle S is okay.

[ tags: family, lebanon, war ]