It would be a little ironic that the more Israel digs in that area in search of its ancient history, the more Islamic history it will unearth. This is, by the way, the same Mugrabi Bridge that has recently been controversial.
JERUSALEM, Israel, Feb. 19 (UPI) — Remains of a Muslim prayer room were unearthed […]

You can get the money
You can get the power
But keep your eyes on
The final hour.
- Lauryn Hill

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Perhaps one of the biggest aids in encouraging Jordanian youth to get involved in politics is the lowering of the voting age. And I’m not talking about various debate skirmishes in the past few years that finally resulted in lowering the voting from 19 to 18 in the last elections (2003) but rather from 18 […]

Activism in Jordan reminds me of what happens when a house is on fire in Jordan. Some will rush to help you put it out but most will just gather around to comment and tell you where you went wrong in your life. Some will say your aiming the garden hose wrong. Some will say […]

It all started in 1450 when Gutenberg invented the printing press. It’s 557 years later and the latest draft for the Press And Publications Law in Jordan has seen very few changes since it was put on the debating table a month ago to resolve the biggest contradiction quite possibly in Jordanian legislative history. Or […]

So I’m faced with this problem: how to write a two year blogoversary post, a task, as daunting as it sounds, which seems to have become a necessity in this day and age.
Do I stick with the cliches? The tough-lessons-I’ve-learned-since-starting-to-blog kind of thing or stories of virtual adversities I’ve had to overcome? How my […]

There are very few things which I could ever claim to have the ability to speak with some authority. Very few. And my ongoing life as a student constantly reminds me there is so much in the world still unlearned by the average person so expertise is hard to come by.
But let’s put expertise aside, […]

Loyal readers of this blog know that the women’s quota in Jordanian politics is something I’ve spoken of (against) several times on this blog. One of those readers, Maha, emailed me a Jordanian music video that was actually done as a sketch on a popular JTV comedy show: “Haik; Mish Haik”.
It’s not the funniest […]

…And then the headphones emanate their last gasps of breath. The suddenly disappearing sound from a single ear lobe resulting in a frantic jiggling of the wire to try and resuscitate the melody. And it works for awhile; euphony replaces cacophony. For awhile. But then there’s the realization, that awareness that you can’t move your […]

Almost two years ago forced marriages were banned in Saudi Arabia under the discovery that it was in fact un-Islamic. Who knew eh? Some argued at the time that this wasn’t the reason and instead it was an attempt to curtail the 50% divorce rate.
I think it was neither.
Simply because while forced marriages are […]

I was reading an article in the Jordan Times today that states several traffic jammed areas in Amman are getting a new parking system where the driver can reserve a parking spot by sending an SMS (text message) in advance. You dial *147# (or send an SMS to 94488) with your license number and your […]

Who’s supplying Iran with arms…head and shoulders…knees and toes?

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With a mental plan having fallen through I drove to Mecca Mall last Thursday night frantically in search of a last minute graduation gift. This is after having not been there for almost two years. Mecca Mall is locally and somewhat jokingly nicknamed “Baghdad Mall”…
…On a Thursday night I discovered exactly why that is.
Ordinarily one […]

Nearly 10 days ago before the other shoe fell and a unity government was in the works, an interesting event occurred that flew under my radar; probably because it was a different kind of Palestinian “infighting”. In a meeting between top Fatah members at the government headquarters in Ramallah, Mr. Tawfiq Tirawi, who heads the […]

The Decemberists’ “16 Military Wives” has to be one of the more clever songs that comes with a social statement attached. And the video, directed by Aaron Stewart, is just laugh out loud funny. It reminds me of Wes Anderson’s film ‘Rushmore’. It’s based at a boarding school where Henry has a deep-seated resentment for […]

Last night Ahmad calls at 10pm to remind me to wear a suit. “Something imrettib, mashi?”, he says over a shaky phone connection.
Mashi.
Sick as a rabid dog I get a suit out. Iron my shirt. Shave. Put on my lucky watch. Spray some Dolce & Gabbana across the neck. And dare I say it, […]