Last night I finished a book that my 15-year-old sister recommended to me. She may have recommended it to me a few years back – I have a massive to-read list (let’s talk books!), but I always get to things eventually. Between this book and the last that I read, I’ve been pretty immersed in other […]
CAUTION: SPOILERS ABOUND. I deal with TV shows the same way I deal with friends: I don’t have many, and the ones I have get my undying loyalty. I thought Revolution might be a new addition to my life because J.J. Abrams produced it. While I couldn’t get into Lost–I don’t like a large cast […]
I’m a person who checks, “Spiritual but not religious,” on the forms where there’s a red asterisk next to, “Religion.” I try to avoid getting too deep into my belief structure with other people. Mostly because there is no structure and it’s kind of something I made up as I went along. I believe in treating […]
[TW for the discussion of Sexual Assault] “These girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,” an unidentified general was quoted as saying while discussing the sexual assault of seven women at a military prison in Northeast Cairo.
Want to wear out a metaphor with me? The Arab Spring. It’s turned into Fall, or was it Winter? Or is it now raining blood? Were the leaves falling from the trees of the dictatorships or were the good men and women of the Arab world readying for holiday? Maybe it was the one with […]
A friend of mine recently called me, in a place of desperation, not sure where to turn. She recently lost her job – one she’d held for nearly a decade – a management position at a local food manufacturer. She and her husband have had an extremely bad run of luck this past year. He […]
It has been five months now since the historic evening where Mubarak stepped down. The revolution sent seismic waves through the Arab world and touched off unrest in Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Oman and even Saudi Arabia. Yet for the many young Egyptians who fought through tear gas, government thugs, bullets and mass arrests, change […]
“My wife is ready to go to prison without fear,” tweeted Mr. Al Qahtani. Meanwhile his wife, Maha, tweeted her adventure of driving down King Fahd Road. “I decided the car was mine,” she wrote. Like many other Saudi women, Maha spent Friday the 17th protesting the decades-long ban on women driving within the kingdom. […]
Damascus must fall. This seems to be the reigning sentiment of most Syrians. For the revolution to be successful, the large and ancient city must revolt. But this is much easier said than done, and at the very least, residents of Damascus can expect plain-clothed security thugs, bribes for the impoverished to support the president, […]
The first warning came through state-run television: armed gangs in the Northern Syrian town of Jisr al Shughour had killed as many as 120 Syrian soldiers.
Over the weekend, the people of Syria were subject to an almost incomprehensible level of brutality. After spending the past few weeks sending out statements that no force would be used under his discretion, it seems Bashar has reneged on his promise.
In a mostly symbolic move, the United States has drawn up new sanctions against the government of Syria. It is an attempt to condemn the rash of violence and mass arrests sweeping the country without having to actually call for Bashar al Assad to step down from his post as “President.”
The violence in Syria reached horrific new levels as a gruesome discovery was made outside of the town of Daraa. Yesterday, while investigating a hilly area just outside the town, the citizens of Daraa stumbled upon mass graves. The victims were all recent, and included entire families with young children interspersed amongst the dead. Some […]
Yemen, one of the more surprising countries to come out of the region’s revolutionary momentum, is back in the news. In recent weeks there’s been a sort of stalemate between President Saleh and the Yemeni people.
Monday morning, the people of Daraa woke up to one of the most horrifying sights a human being can have the misfortune of seeing: tanks were rolling into their town, blocking the exits and entrances to the city and firing indiscriminately into the streets. Residents no doubt reached for their cell phones, only to find […]