First, it was the great filmmaker Youssef Chahine that bid adieu last month. With Chahine, it was the end of an era that passed away. Throughout his great cinematographic career, Chahine had offered us another norm for the Middle East: a place where different religions would live side by side and where injustice and small-mindedness were singled out. It was the Arab world he had known growing up in Alexandria in the 20s and 30s. Perhaps because I shared this vision for our part of the world, I wrote my MA thesis on the life and movies of Youssef Chahine. For months I lived and breathed the world of Youssef Chahine. Chahine was not only a great filmmaker; he was also an incredible character, generous and curious to the last moment. We will miss him!

As if this was not enough, we had to lose last Saturday another great figure, that of the poet Mahmoud Darwish. He was young too, only 67. "He died before getting the Nobel Prize! " That was my first reaction upon hearing the news! I'm not a great poetry reader myself, but once you pick up one of Darwish's books, you will understand the great loss we have incurred. Darwish managed what no politician will ever do: translate the plight of Palestinians in the most powerful and poignant terms. Sparse, almost minimalist, the anger, sorrow and nostalgia is rendered even more powerful in his poems. History will remember Darwish. It was heartening to see the "Palestinian Street" pay homage to him yesterday: women and men, saying goodbye to their most eloquent ambassador.