some guy in lebanon

Daily Star journalist Nick Kimbrell reported on Stefan Wild’s lecture at the German Orient Institute in Beirut last Tuesday: In September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at Regensburg University which invoked a centuries-old dialogue between the beleaguered Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an unidentified Persian scholar. The pope quoted the emperor as [...]

Interesting article in the New York Times today – Thesis is that in Dubai, religion has become more of a personal choice and Islam less of a common bond than national identity. From the article: “I was more religious in Egypt,” Mr. Galal said, taking a drag from yet another of his ever-burning Marlboros. “It [...]

Direct effects of subprime fallout muted by Arab banking practices According to the Daily Star, The prudent policies of Arab banks and financial institutions have allowed these entities to avoid the negative effects of the acute crisis that hit the stock markets in the United States and part of Europe, a leading Arab banker says. [...]

To all who are reading – in the interest of scholarship, here is my final term paper that I handed into my class, “Prospects for Democracy in the Middle East” – Prospects for Democracy – Final paper – Will Donovan In the Middle East, many of the elements that are normally associated with the development [...]

SO I know it’s been a while since I posted, and after getting yelled at by the appropriate agents (namely everyone who gives a hoot about this blog), I have decided to post. But let me be honest, it’s been a sloooooooooow few weeks, hense the lack of any real content. I’ve come to grips [...]

Ok, hello everyone back home! I have so much to say, so please stay with me…! Two weekends ago, I spent a weekend with my program traveling around the south of Jordan, staying a night in Dana, which is a huge nature preserve, hiking up a huge mountain and meeting a lot of very nice [...]

So two days ago I sort of vented on this forum to identify my growing lack of patience at the perception of the Middle East as the proverbial black hole of the planet. Let me first reiterate: New Jersey is the proverbial black hole of the universe. That is a scientific fact. Now, I realize, [...]

dear mom and dad – i promise that whatever i say on this blog is entirely inconsequential to the rest of the world, and zarqawi is not going to show up at my door step and shoot me in the head because i write in it. please do not worry about it. trust me, if [...]

Sooooo…. what happens when you mix an international conglomaration of businesses hoping to rebuild Iraq, a conference designed to put these businesses on display, and bunch of Arabs with too much money, a few British companies who have no idea what they’re doing there, zero Americans, and a white kid with too much time to [...]

so i’ve discovered the most significant peril of living in jordan: if you somebody says to you “ahlein,” you’re in trouble. see usually they say ‘ahlen,’ which means ‘welcome,’ like ‘welcome to my home/shop/school/country.’ but then you’re supposed to respond with ‘ahlein’ which is like saying ‘double back on your welcome.’ but if they start [...]

So I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but I wanted to fill everyone in who’s probably given up on me saying anything new at this point… I’m now right in the “hump” period, which is usually one of the most difficult of being abroad. There are almost exactly two months left [...]

Though this has nothing to do with Jordan: [EPA officials in the Bush administration sought to broaden this exemption by asserting that "routine maintenance" is any activity that amounts to less than 20 percent of a plant's value. But the ruling, written by Judge Judith W. Rogers, rejected that reasoning as illogical. "EPA's approach would [...]

Heyyyyy! I’m still alive I swear, it’s just been a while. I’ve discovered that one of the interesting things about being in a foreign country for a while is that you stop analyzing everything that goes on, and you sort of insulate yourself to everything. They call this the ‘cultural low’ point, where you get [...]

feeling much better all! don’t have a ton of time but just hoping everyone’s well and that the states is still the states… much love,wd

this post has really only a round-about connection with jordan, which i won’t explain. it is also intended to be vague, and it’s quite likely that nobody will understand it. ah well – just feel like throwing out a spur of the moment thought. isn’t it odd that the smallest, most seeming inconsequential moments of [...]

hey everyone – sorry it’s been a while since i last posted. i’m missing everyone, and given a new mild medical condition (i.e. marginally sick) it’s made life a little bit interesting. a quick trip to the doctor tomrorrow should make everything better though. karak last weekend was amazing – for those who don’t know, [...]

We were up pretty late last night from going out to a club in downtown Amman – Fun, but sort of silly. They love trance music here, and it makes me want to throw up every time I hear it… I’m not really in the mood to make any social commentary today. I’m sort of [...]

One of the first things I told myself that I would do when I came to Jordan is not drink. I’m not really sure why, but I decided that would be a good idea. First off, for those of you who have the suspicion that people in the Middle East don’t drink, or have certain [...]

It’s been a while since I posted last, and a lot of stuff has happened since my little Marxist tirade last week. First, it snowed 3 inches here, which isn’t a lot compared to what’s happening on the East Coast right now, but still, come on, this is JORDAN! Believe me, the last thing I [...]

There was an interesting comment by the King in the paper the other day after a few tabloids here in Amman ran the Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons. It went something like this: “We will not allow these people to abuse free speech in order to defame Muhammad or any prophet or any religion.” I found that [...]

One of the best things I’ve found about Jordan is the family structure that exists here. There’s several levels, which should be expected given this is a tribal culture – Basically, “brothers/sisters,” “cousins/uncles/aunts,” “extended family,” and finally, “neighbors.” HOWEVER, there’s also another classification, “guests,” i.e. US. We, as we live in the house with a [...]

Sooooooo the sun came out! And it’s warm in the sun! Very exciting. I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days with the family upstairs. They’re great people and they make us feel so at home. This morning I had some free time so I even cleaned my room and did laundry! Very [...]

Yesterday we went on a tour of Amman, which was actually a blast. We saw the Citidel, which is a mountain in the middle of Amman that has three different relics of past Imperial rule of the Jordan empire. There’s an old Roman ruin, an Arab tribal ruin, and a Ummayed ruin. All three are [...]

So last night the family that owns the house we’re living in banned all Arabs from hanging out in the upstairs apartment, despite the fact that the family is, in fact, Arabs. Very interesting. No wonder these people have been shooting each other for five thousand years. Yesterday I spent a few hours watching TV, [...]

Soo…….. this afternoon we move out of the comfy though relatively seedy hotel we’ve been living in for the past few days and into our (what I hope to be) large and wonderful apartment. I’m told I have my own bed room, which is nice considering I haven’t had one of those in three years, [...]

hey all – i got into jordan just fine last night. couldn’t figure out how to make the phone work in the hotel so many people are probably still wondering if i’m alive, but i am! so ha. it’s wonderful here and i actually woke up at 6:30 this morning (which i was unaware was [...]

Crazyness. We arrived in DC a few days ago – we survied the car trip (Plain, Zeke, Leigh, me, and all our stuff in the tiny little car), and have spent the passed few days sleeping and partying. Patriots lost last night, which was horrible, but other than that things have been great. Leaving for [...]

Woke up at 2, went to Boston and got Leigh, had dinner with my Grandmother, sleepy sleepy… night!

I have spent the past 24 hours doing absolutely nothing. I did, however, manage to play “Race for the Heisman” on NCAA 06′ for XBox, and I took Virginia Tech to the Rose Bowl, beating USC, and won the Heisman as a freshman. My life is a wasteland. Luckily, Leigh will be arriving sometime on [...]

Ok, so I was having too much fun to post last night, so I’ll recap: Yesterday I had to get a Hep A shot for Jordan, and get my eyes checked. That’s it. That’s all I did. It’s vacation – Leave me alone. Last night Zach “Tiny” Cutler and that funny girl he hangs out [...]