"Anthony Shadid: The Caring Correspondent"

This was probably his last interview, as I am told:  "Shadid understood, in other words, that the “Spring” the Arab world was experiencing was genuine. “For the first time ever, I feel optimistic” about the region’s future, he said at the time. “I hope it’ll have a positive effect on Lebanon.”  Lebanon was ever-present in Shadid’s life. He was born in Oklahoma to parents of Lebanese origin. His paternal grandfather hailed from the southern town of Marjayoun and emigrated to the new world in the 1920s in search of a better life. But the family never forgot their southern Lebanese roots and Lebanon was always in their thoughts, especially after the outbreak of the civil war in 1975.  “I don’t remember my family being with one side or against another. But my father’s views were left-leaning, and that helped form my political consciousness and my brother’s,” he recalled." (thanks Hicham)