Revolutionary Detritus

Cairo, Egypt

I returned from Jordan today to find my apartment showing signs of its time as a refuge for Egyptian revolutionaries and their allies. From this detritus, I learned a few lessons.

1. Less is more. I couldn't have put it more eloquently than that!

2. Sometimes you can't think too much. My roommate and the other revolutionaries and refugees who took shelter here worked there way through all of his alcohol, and then ravaged mine. It was the least I could do for Egypt!

3. Nicotine is a necessity. At least if you were already a smoker. My roommate is working on a sculpture of found objects. He hopes to eventually reach the top of the mirror....

4. Take your vitamins to harden your resolve! Actually, I don't know if this bottle of calcium was here before the revolution, left by some earlier roommate. The candles, though, were a wise precaution in case the pharaoh cut the electricity along with the Internet....

5. Pick up after yourself. Young people were out all over Tahrir Square and the surrounding streets with buckets of paint. They were repainting fences, railings, bridges, curbs.... I even saw a group of youth enlist a military policeman to divert traffic so they could repaint a crosswalk that probably hasn't been white for years!