Hasan Hourani

a moment....a breath...for Hasan


This post is for my friend Hasan who left us 5 years ago today....

I wrote this in August of 2003:

I see Hasan everywhere..in the streets of Ramallah and New York, on the subway, in Ziryab and in Union Square, in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Whenever I think of Hasan I see him laughing and happy. I was overjoyed when Hasan told me he was coming to New York. I couldn't wait.

Hasan arrived in New York in the spring of 2001 full of energy, big ideas and big plans. He charmed and amazed everyone around him with his joy of life, his free spirit and his dreams. I loved being by his side. Hasan loved people and made many friends from every walk of life and background. There are so many stories to tell about his life in New York. There were the days in Union Square, his dancing, his art projects, his solo exhibition, the demonstrations, the eggs he cooked, September 11th, and much, much more.

Before I left New York last May, he told me he was going to South Africa to live on a beach and work on his book. Months later, I was happily surprised to see him in his beloved Ramallah. The last time I saw Hasan was the night before his death. He came to my house bursting with joy from being back in Palestine. He had just found a house in Jifna in which he was going to
settle in to finish his book.

I left the day after Hasan's funeral. As the plane flew over Jaffa, I looked down at the sea and remembered the necklace Hasan loved to wear. A white spoon with a scoop of blue glass, like a spoonful of sea, hung from his neck. He used to laugh and say he wore it so that he could take the sea with him wherever he went.

I know Hasan will be with many of us wherever we go.