The café where people come to find themselves
Conversations in global Brooklyn
I know exactly where I am.
Slightly stagnated, but comfortable. And so, I repeat the habit. Go to the café where people come to find themselves.
Order a shrimp roll.
The second conversation I overhear could be mistaken for the first. Such is its tone, the vibe, a timbre of style—the subject matter and the responses, feel familiar. They all have different accents but the chat is mostly the same. I’d know this café, even if I’ve never been before.1
I know these kind of people, but am not one of them.2
One diner kinda misdefines brunch: ‘It’s like breakfast at lunchtime.’
Another talks about making new friends in festival queues:
‘They were private chef to Megan Thee Stallion.’
Someone else offers this wonderful expression: ‘Music is horizontal; I was very vertical.’
Berlin is described as a city that’s ‘conservative about being progressive’.
I enjoy this. Write it down.
Another speaks of where people—roamers—live nowadays… not so much Thailand now, but… ‘Dubai, Sri Lanka, Lisbon…where else?3 The rent is going up everywhere!’
One voice catches your interest: they say that after finishing their law degree, they’d like to do something different. ‘Maybe woodwork? Or selling pasta?!’
I long to interject! That career path feels familiar, and is not to be mocked. I have studied law, made furniture, and sold pasta. Don’t forget to live your wildest dreams!
In the café where everyone comes to find themselves, there are circles and cycles of meditation, reflection. Waves of belief.
There is talk of
Connection
And planting seeds.
We embrace the
Full moon, releasing those that no longer serve you
Salutations.
Falastin Film Festival in Edinburgh this weekend!
If you live within travelling distance Edinburgh, this weekend marks the second edition of Falastin Film Festival.
Falastin Film Festival (FFF) is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit collective of Palestinians and allies dedicated to bringing Palestinian art to Scottish audiences. Palestinians are often summed up as an ‘occupied people,’ and spoken for, though they have unending stories to tell
Using cinema, primarily, as a tool of resistance, FFF strives to decolonise the narrative and equip audiences with historical context. They want to build community while celebrating Palestinian art and culture through cinema, music, cuisine, and other storytelling mediums.
Scotland’s exposure to Palestinian history, art, and culture remains rather limited. FFF hopes to contribute to filling this gap, using both classical and contemporary cinema, primarily, but not exclusively.
In so doing, they hope to provide a vibrant representation that encompasses the geographic, linguistic, and experiential diversity of the Palestinian people, globally, all the while educating our audiences on the more than 100 years of zionist occupation endured.
For more information and to see the full programme visit their website.
In the research paper ‘Eating and drinking in Global Brooklyn’ and subsequent book, Fabio Parasecoli uses the term ‘Global Brooklyn’ to describe an aesthetic which uses ‘a recurring, vaguely codified set of material objects, environments, practices, and discourses which materialize in cities throughout the world in coffee places, restaurants, and food halls.’
Citation:
Halawa, M. and Parasecoli, F., 2019. Eating and drinking in Global Brooklyn. Food, Culture & Society, 22(4), pp.387-406.
My privilege sits a tier below, hence my criticality.
(I’d proffer Mexico City.)