How much do I write?

I love to write. I don't read books. I read lots of news. It's not that I wouldn't like books, but I am a very visual person and text just doesn't keep my interest. I also would rather produce than consume and reading is very time consuming. So I take that back, I don't like books. Why should I feel bad about saying it? But I do like books somehow, I just have not made them a priority.

I am also proud of my intellect which comes from just observing and experiencing rather than acquiring it through someone else's process. I seem to be doing alright, at least to my own standards. I also have no problem thinking about what to write, but how much to tell? I want to write about me and my life as it's the subject I am most familiar with, and I also want to write honestly and without embellishment. But my life story is full of other people, and I would be writing from my own point of view of course. If I want to be honest, or frank, or candid, I am certain there will be those who may not agree or who may believe that whatever I am writing about may intrude on their privacy.

I guess I would need to determine why am I writing in the first place and for whom? Well I already know those answers: because I want to and for myself. So why should I write so that others have access to it? Because I want to share and I feel that honest storytelling is important and necessary at a time when we're drowning in fiction, doubt, suspicion, and entertainment. At least I am.

I am just going to write and see how and where it goes.

©2008 Lucien Samaha -  Julie Atlas Muz writing the Set List for the Cabaret show "Weimar New York" at the Green Room in Los Angeles on April 10, 2008.

Where to Begin...

I have been photographing for most of my life, since around 1973.  My archive currently consists of over a million digital assets in the form of photographs and videos. Approximately 40% of these digital files correspond to analog sources in the form of black-and-white and color negatives, color reversal slides, as well as silver gelatin and chromogenic prints, dye sublimation prints, and various other forms of prints made from now obsolete technologies.

It is my preference to maintain my archives in chronological order, although that is not always possible nor accurate when it comes to the earlier negatives and slides from circa 1995 and back. Nevertheless I very much enjoy using forensics to determine unknown dates, at least up to the month or season of a particular year, using anything from Daytimer Organizer entries, invoices, Airline ticket stubs, and not least clues from the images themselves, such as calendars on walls, magazine covers, and even movie posters.

It is Christmas morning.  I am in Meridá, the capital of the state of Yucatan, in Mexico, visiting my sister who lives here with her family and who owns a lovely bed-n-breakfast, Hotel MedioMundo. But since this is high season and the hotel is full, my sister, her daughter and I are guests at the beautiful home of her best friend Michelle and her husband Rick, wonderfully gracious hosts. The photo is taken in their kitchen.