You’re abroad, likely Beirut. The street is a symphony of bodies and wheels. You hail a taxi on the crowded boulevard. The uncle behind the wheel is at once a stranger and a friend, a local native to elsewhere, a big village called Fresno. Today he’s a journalist out of San Francisco called Hakim, a great lover of life. The tunes are classic – jazz, disco, funk, forgotten mid tempo hits from any country. You talk politics, you see the curves of the land, you hear rhythms repeat in many languages. Welcome to the Taqsim Taxi.