by AnnSheybani | Dec 28, 2025 | Life
Envy killed the chickens. Or so my Bedouin mother-in-law believed. There once was a jealous neighbor who came for a visit. Commenting on the large flock of hens pecking away in the courtyard, forgetting to invoke God’s blessing on such wealth, she drew the Evil...
by AnnSheybani | Dec 13, 2025 | Life, Reading, Writing
At my 60th birthday party a couple of years back, something interesting happened. A number of my friends started talking about retirement—counting down the days, making plans to “slow down,” fantasizing about endless yoga retreats in Mexico and Netflix...
by AnnSheybani | Nov 10, 2025 | Life, Writing
My friend and I were seated together at a conference. I could practically feel the sparks coming off her, so consumed was she by the desire to be plucked from the crowd and brought onstage for an exercise. Leaning forward, she gripped the chair-back in front of her,...
by AnnSheybani | Nov 3, 2025 | Life, Writing
In 2010, Marina Abramović did something insane.For seventy-five days straight, she sat in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Six days a week. Nearly eight hours a day. No breaks. No food. No water. She didn’t speak. Didn’t move. She... by AnnSheybani | Sep 18, 2025 | Life, Writing
I was on a blind date, sitting across from some guy I’d met on Match.com, when he asked what I did for a living. You would have thought I was a street walker, the way I started hemming and hawing. I was so mortified to tell him I was a chemical... by AnnSheybani | Aug 24, 2025 | Life, Reading
Decades have passed, but the two and a half years of illness are still fresh in my mind. I can still hear his voice calling me from the hospital after exploratory surgery. From his tone, I know something is terribly wrong even before he tells me. He’s supposed to be...
