Nestled among the shops along Straight Street in Damascus, a small bar and its scribbled-covered walls serve as an open journal for young people in the Syrian capital during more than a decade of war. Scrawled along nearly every inch of the yellowing walls in the Abu George bar are names, memories and love letters. Abou Essam, whose father first opened the bar more than 70 years ago, says the small shop which is just big enough to squeeze in five tables holds the "memories" of the city and its people. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES