"I was on a crowded London Underground train at the beginning of last week, rattling back as my ears popped from what was the wonderful hospitality of three generations of one family whose family home in a war-torn region of Africa had recently been smashed up by the rebels now living in it — rebels having shot themselves in someone’s else’s foot, so to speak. I had left feeling like someone who had just made new friends. My hosts’ warmth and resilience had been both impressive and inspiring. They were exact and illuminating in everything they said, without hyperbole or overstatement. Truth mattered greatly to them. It does when elements of your country are at war with themselves. At the end of the day, it was one of those rare experiences that leave you with a complicated mixture of distress and invigoration — distress, at man’s continued inhumanity; invigoration, from people’s dignity, strength, and defiance.

[...]

A beautiful mention by our dear friend Peter Bach in Counter Punch. “Finally, I accepted an invitation last week to see the tireless Nick Franco and his three busy floors of 1185 Films. These are close to the ‘twinkling’ and mildly folkloric Diamond District of London. Also, to a possible Christopher Wren building still standing despite being hit by the Luftwaffe in 1944. On the top floor at 1185 Films — surrounded by wall-to-wall, glowing arrays of well-loved plants — we drank lots of espresso.”

‍

Read the article