In the US, it really doesn’t feel like fall until network TV stations begin to air their fall season line up, and all our favorite shows come back on the air. That’s when you know fall has really begun. Similarly, in the Middle East, we know it’s summer when conflicts in the region begin to […]

I don’t know how true this is…
Jordanian authorities have banned all events marking the “Nakba,” or Catastrophe, as Arabs refer to the creation of Israel 60 years ago. Several pro-Palestinian groups and Jordanian opposition parties has been planning to hold a rally in Amman on Friday.
But the authorities informed the organizers of the decision to […]

Last night, three Jordanian short films were presented at the Balad Theater. Butterfly by Mohammad Hushki is a tale of a testosterone-ridden male and this two friends, who’s out to take his revenge on a cabdriver who molested his girlfriend. Fragile by Ahmad Amin brings together a day in the lives of five different people, […]

In the past few months, there has been a campaign, if not a movement, to combat speeding cars and traffic accidents. From the Hikmet-related campaigns of mid-January, to the nation-wide campaign following the Jerash-road bus crash, to the introduction of tough traffic laws and their subsequent legislative rejection a few weeks later. Lately, we’ve seen […]

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. - Walt Whitman
Well today is World Press Freedom Day, and there’s not much for me to say that hasn’t already been said on the Black Iris before. So I will spare everyone the […]

HM Queen Rania’s latest YouTube video attempts to showcase the evolution of women, specifically in Jordan. It presents a series of jobs and/or roles that women have taken on in the Kingdom.

I agree that we’ve come along way, and that’s an accomplishment that deserves to be highlighted because there are many women who have broken […]

Apologies for the non-blogging status lately, as well as the failed promise to do some live blogging from my Dubai trip due to technical difficulties. However, I’ve written a feature on 7iber about everything we did at the Learning From The Future workshop in Dubai these past few days, which I hope satisfies the curious […]

If you love the TV show, Big Brother, and if it’s been a life-long goal of yours to be a contestant on it, then I’ve got good news for all you die-hard reality TV fans; Big Brother is coming to Jordan and in the most hi-tech of manners. The better news is that every […]

Today I got to attend the official launch of the Madrasati initiative and I have to admit, for someone who’s not easily impressed by about 98% of the things that happen in this country, I was pretty impressed. Not many people, especially in the media, knew exactly what it entailed so it was quite […]

There is a question I am frequently asked by people who mistake me for an expert on the Jordanian blogosphere, and that is: why don’t Jordanian bloggers blog about issues (at all, or, more often). The short answer is: I don’t know. The long answer delves into a plethora of questions that are too complicated […]

Could this editorial in the Jordan Times be any more propagandistic? I mean, come on people, a little show of objectivity can’t hurt you. Can it?

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The legislative session is over and MPs are on holiday. After doing pretty much nothing about helping the average Jordanian deal with rising prices, low wages, and fuel hikes, the MPs have decided to take this time off to help themselves. According to Ammon, MPs are asking for their wages to be increased, their cars […]

With the Arab blogosphere growing as rapidly as it is, it’s really tough enough keeping up to date with the new blogs that come out in Jordan, let alone follow blogs happening outside our own borders. And this premise is in itself strange. The Internet is meant to be border less. The geography and politics […]

I wanted to point to a recent piece of local news where the government is expected to remove both the 16% sales tax and customs duty on renewable energy devices like solar panels and windmills. It was interesting because a few days ago I was in a meeting where Ahmad Humeid noted the high prices […]

There has been a tremendous move since 2005, for the government to build public housing for the homeless and the less fortunate, under the directives of HM King Abdullah. The fruition of those directives are only now beginning to emerge as some of the projects are in the processes of being finished. The first phase […]

Let me put aside the obvious shocking factor of being utterly disgusted by the event (is there a way to be shocked and yet not surprised), but there is something that interests me here and that’s the international media’s reaction. Did anyone notice that this crime took place in August of 2007 and is only […]