I talked briefly about Lebanon - I was born there, but left when I was five. I have no deep connection, though there are things about Lebanese culture that have remained part of my life for decades now. The recent war made this distance/familiarity even more striking, and I was glad that some semblance of peace had returned to Lebanon.

Or has it? Pierre Gemayel, a prominent Christian politician, was just assassinated. I don't know what the political ramifications will be, but it's not going to be good.

When I read about this, the first place I went was to BloggingBeirut. I was first attracted to the site because it gives a great glimpse into everyday Beirut - as seen through the eyes of a photographer, which for better or worse gives you a much more immediate sense of a place than long passages of writing.

Fink Ployd, the main person who posts there, started this site a few years ago - and then started blogging about the most recent war as it was happening. It was strange to see war posts about the Israeli bombings, followed up by more recent ones again covering what appears to be everyday goings-on of a young club-going Lebanese man (including club nights and theatre reviews). I don't say this because I lack imagination or understanding of how cosmopolitan Beirut is - I say this because it's often difficult for us outside of war zones to fully comprehend how quickly people want life to return to normal after war or disaster - even if "normal" will never be the same again.

This paradox gets to the heart of the the direction Balé Techlorico was headed by the end of our last show, and something I want to explore more of: what do our lives look like when we have to live in a framework of fear and we need a way not to go crazy. Maybe it looks like every TV channel filled with a "reality TV" show. Maybe it looks like taking the long road around bombed out buildings to get to the club. We may never overcome all our fears, but we must learn to face them if we can move on - and in which ways are we facing our fears, and in which ways are we just hiding from them?

The photographer from BloggingBeirut is certainly facing something profound - and with a camera. It's more than many of us in the the U.S. would every want to be confronted with on a regular basis - yet this kind of situation exists all over the world - Beirut here is just an example because of my personal connection to teh country, but also to this parallel idea of finding a safe haven within a club. Clearly the clubs are where the blog author Fink Ployd finds happiness (and his international fundraisers) - or at least a moment free from tension, a place to forget what is happening outside. That's what my parents did when Lebanon was going to shit in 1976 - they found an island of calm (and music and wine) at Les Caves du Roi, a long since bombed out basement bar in Beirut. And it was such an intense time - the fun and the fear - that they still talk about it to this day.