WHY DON’T YOU? #254
Monday: Why don’t you read more autobiographies? These are unequivocally my favorite genre. Nothing satisfies me more than somebody telling the story of their own life—whatever it means to them. […]
Category Archives: ancient Egypt
WHY DON’T YOU? #231
Monday: Why don’t you start intermittent fasting? I use to be a militant calorie counter because it worked wonders, but I soon became exhausted of the constant calculations and the […]
WHY DON’T YOU? #222
Monday: Why don’t you build on last week’s advice and experiment with other culinary delights than your usuals? Today my mission is to make David Lebovitz’s pink grapefruit marmelade that […]
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #247
LOVE: AirPods Pro: When Apple first released their AirPods, I did the thing I normally do when Apple releases new products. I scoffed but found myself immediately enchanted. They were […]
WHY DON’T YOU? #208
Monday:Why don’t you go out and do something about the burning Amazon? I won’t deny that I don’t feel as emotionally shattered by this blaze as I did by Notre […]
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #236
Ever since finding that deal, I’ve had my eyes peeled — what a horrifying expression, I need to look that up. Bear with…bear with…well that was a wild ride. According to linguists, the expression first appeared in American English around 1850 and was derived from a latin word that meant “to pillage.” Over the years, the original spelling became bastardized to “peel” and it meant to remove, which it still kind of does. So, the expression means to remove any covering from the eye, not to literally peel your eye away, which would seem to defeat the purpose. Anyway, back to the main point.
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #235
I miss getting into playful Egyptological arguments with scholars over martinis at The Royal Bar. I even miss the touts demanding baksheesh and donkey drivers hollering at me. I miss the filth in the streets and the flies that buzz around the horses. I miss the robes and the heat and the ferry across the Nile. I miss the cacophony of sounds at night when you’d hear honking horns and bellowing camels and the call to prayer. It suited me and I need to get back. Once I get this terrible year behind me, I’m going to treat myself to a glorious return to the sands of Egypt.
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #232
LOVE: “La Reina del Sur” Return: She’s coming back. Teresa is coming back. LA REINA RETURNS! I honestly don’t think that I’ll be able to handle this. I can barely […]
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #231
I’ve never been over it, so when I found this note addressed to a young woman that was certainly not me, I felt like it could have been addressed to me. “I wish you the best in life,” Barbara told a woman named Caitlin but it might as well have been me. It could not have been a coincidence. It was simply too fortuitous. And as Lady M told me one evening on the rooftop in Giza, there is no such thing as a coincidence. Coincidences aren’t real. And I would never have learned that life changing affirmation or valuable lesson from Lady M if it hadn’t been for Barbara Mertz. I finally went to Egypt in 2014 because of Barbara and it changed my life for the better. I feel so immensely blessed.
THINGS I LOVED/HATED THIS WEEK #224
Cairo was not one of my favorite places. I can’t even pretend that it was. I found the place chaotic and fascinating, but when I was there for a week, I failed to develop any irrational passion for the city. Luxor and Paris and Turin and Mexico City and Los Angeles, well, those were all different. I immediately loved them, oftentimes for no reason, often for the way they made me feel. Cairo made me feel vulnerable and foolish at first. I didn’t understand the city, and I can’t claim that I do now.
Benjamin Phillips 