HOF — It’s been twenty-three days since I suspended the medication. The fog is finally starting to lift. Feelings are returning — shyly, cautiously — like sunlight breaking through after a long storm.
Continue reading “Threads of Hope”
Author: Mani
Name's M.A. Roumani (Mani) -- a photographer, videographer and blogger from Damascus. I hold a BA in English literature from Damascus University and an MA in English and American Studies from the Universities of Graz & Bamberg.
We, the Orphans of the Signal
Image by Elizabeth Tr. Armstrong
HOF — I was born an outsider in an unforgiving place. I’ve spent my whole life searching — for a way out, for a way in, for a people to call my own. But most days, I feel like an orphan.
My father was one too, though he never said it. He and his siblings carried the same wound — foreign blood, foreign manners — but easier times. They found families, careers, and the illusion of belonging.
Continue reading “We, the Orphans of the Signal”
The Weight of What’s Left
HOF — It’s been five years since I released History from 16 Years to 16mm. A lot has changed since then — and not all for the better. I’ve made many attempts to restart, and each time I asked myself: what’s the point?
Why feed these platforms more data, when they seem to feed on us?
Continue reading “The Weight of What’s Left”
From Theia to Israel — Collisions that Forge the World
This essay tries to understand, not to excuse. It is not a defense of conquest or cruelty. It is a meditation on how, across millennia, the Middle East has been reshaped by collisions — political, religious, and civilizational — and on what those collisions may yet demand of us. Image by Haley Black
HOF — These days, condemning Israel has become a global ritual. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s politics make it easy. His right-wing populism, his faith in force, and his disregard for international restraint have turned Israel from a fortress into a lightning rod. But the more we fixate on Israel, the more we ignore what its existence exposes in all of us — the ancient machinery of power that keeps the Middle East locked in its endless loop of birth and collapse.
Continue reading “From Theia to Israel — Collisions that Forge the World”
When Healing Became Another Battle
HOF — Last year I hit rock bottom. Depression had been with me for years—maybe decades—but in November 2024 it finally broke me. I couldn’t work anymore. I couldn’t do anything anymore. Life turned gray and meaningless, and all I wanted was a way out.
Continue reading “When Healing Became Another Battle”
Roumani Line 