All Heart and No Liver

The heart symbol is everywhere, especially now as we approach Valentine’s Day. But even once Valentine’s Day has passed, I will still inevitably interact with a heart symbol daily and possibly scores of times as I scroll through Instagram, ‘liking’ photographs and comments, or occasionally on Facebook if I particularly appreciate a post. Heart emojis … Read more

rhythm and clapping

Amongst the first words I ever uttered was the Farsi phrase “das das”.  It literally means “hand hand” and was accompanied by repeated simultaneous clapping movements – das das, das das  – an endless source of entertainment and distraction when Bibi, my paternal grandmother who I lived with, played with me in this way. Later on … Read more

Ancestry & Ritual: Persian Jews in 1950s London do Christmas lunch …

When my father died I made sure I kept his old box of loose, predominantly black and white personal photographs. I found them more interesting than the bound albums which had more formal, traditionally “presentable” images often taken at weddings and bar mitzvahs by commercial photographers or selected posed photographs on holidays and birthdays.  Here … Read more