NOW | 20 August 2025

Think of a Now page as what one would tell a friend they haven't seen in awhile.

Reading: This year I planned to read only 5 books (I was meant to catch up with making notes from last year when I read 30!). I've read 12 books this year. Two of them were even novels, believe it or not: my first Baldwin (Giovanni's Room) and Waguih Ghali's 1964 Beer In The Snooker Club which was a hell of an introduction to Egyptian culture. Until further notice, I am rotating back and forth between Nathan Rochelle DuFord's Solidarity in Conflict: A Democratic Theory and Mohamed Abdou's Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances. Ideas that I encountered in both 2022 books keep coming up in conversations.

Listening: Fairuz - Al Bostah. I dreamed that I was learning this song in a group music class and kept coming in too late on the beat so we had to restart over and over again. I recalled the song clearly, but since I don't understand Arabic it took me a few days to figure out which of the many incredible Fairuz songs it was.

Playing: Saltsea Chronicles— I really enjoyed the differences and similarities between this game and its unrelated predecessor Mutazione. I also played Date Everything, but what I really want to say about that is that I got such a kick out of the mention of a "US Department of Overseas Violence" that I made a whole channel for it.

Making: I made a working glossary. With my hands I am folding and doodling A4 mini zines, mostly based off my existing essays as an exercise to summarise them in a pocket form. I'm also experimenting with creating presentation slides instead of essays to digest ideas from books I've read.

Hyperfocusing: Andor is the best TV show I have ever seen. It is so radicalising that the Star Wars empire will fumble trying to get lightning to strike twice. I will be making references to it for years. Since the announcement of tariffs and further imperial violence in West Asia and the Levant, I learned about financial warfare, which led me to self-learning the basics of geopolitics, and I am convinced is context that is both clearer and more important than ever before.

Watching: Luna instruct me on how to think like a Vietnam communist with her translation of school textbooks.


Total notes filed in my system: 1440

  • 🔹 599 in reading memory (facts, events, reports)
  • 🔸 841 in second memory (concepts, claims, ideas)

Some notes added recently:

  • War starts in policy making
  • The US Empire's greatest export is the illusion
  • Market instability strengthens the owning class
  • The destruction of social welfare increases the supply of working class for private companies to exploit
  • What happens small also happens big
  • Control of geography is control of wealth
  • To make time for one more story is to postpone the end of the world

This is a /now page inspired by Al Ibrahim, who was inspired by Derek Sivers, who said to think of a Now page as what one would tell a friend they haven't seen in a year.

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Liy is a Southeast Asian Muslim knowledge worker and poet, sharing what they learned from the periphery to prep for precarious futures. This is an ad-free space outside of the algo. If you're new here (hello!) or need a refresher, start here for house rules. Here is what I am up to now. I spend time thinking out of my zettelkasten notes system and sharing playlists of curated treasures from my time travels. Consider subscribing for free to read more and stay in touch— I only send out letters a few times a year. If you valued something here, tell me over DM (if we have access to each other) or tip this cryptid with a message— that sends a clear signal of appreciation ✨