Fourth and Future
Photograph by Rashid Khreiss
July marked our four-year anniversary, but this year it passed by without any fanfare whatsoever. When I published my previous editorial, I knew the COVID-19 pandemic would get worse, but I thought that I would be able to handle it due to my dogged optimism. I was wrong, however. I didn’t anticipate losing friends to the disease, though I always knew it was a possibility. It didn’t take long for a depression to settle into me without my being aware of it, and I became immobilized. Nothing mattered to me during this period except getting drunk and high while I perused Netflix and Amazon Prime. I gained more weight than ever in my entire life. At the moment, I didn’t feel depressed, in fact, I felt great. But recently I became starkly aware of the chaos my life had become, and how far I had fallen. My apartment was a mess, my body was out of shape, and my magazine was dead.
Since my recovery, I’ve been reaching out to contributors who offered their services as well as subjects I had planned to interview months ago (I am genuinely grateful to all who understood my situation and agreed to pick up where we left off). I made a few changes to the aesthetic look of Kingdomz X and will be adding new features which should be live by Monday, August 10. There’s lots of great content to look forward to here during the month of August, and while I normally take this opportunity to talk about these things, I would like to draw your attention to another matter.
I don’t think I have ever discussed magazines that have influenced my own (or that I ever will). Though there were several, one, in particular, continues to influence the look and feel of Kingdomz X (without my having to imitate it). That magazine is the award-winning Plastik, founded by photographer/artist Eli Rezkallah, and based in Lebanon. Some of the most fabulous and creative artists and photographers have graced their pages since 2009. They are (in my opinion) the jewel of the Middle East. I mention it today because, on August 4th, their offices in Beirut (along with many other businesses, residences, and lives) were destroyed by a massive explosion of twenty-seven thousand tons of ammonium nitrate. This disaster couldn’t have come at a worse time as Lebanon has been struggling with a crippling economic crisis; the port explosion is an enormous setback for the Lebanese people. It doesn’t take much to imagine the incalculable suffering they must feel. Both Plastik and (artist) Saint Hoax have put together a fundraiser to help rebuild Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael, two neighborhoods in Lebanon impacted by the destruction. I beg of you to follow this link and give what you can.
In closing, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to those who lost loved ones that day. I truly wish the best for the citizens of Lebanon, and pray that they will recover from this tragedy sooner than later.
