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On Homosexuality in Morocco

The Syrian blogosphere recently got fired up over the subject of homosexuality.  Specifically, a group of bloggers of a variety of backgrounds launched a campaign against homosexuality, and another group of bloggers responded rationally (though angrily).  As my dear friend Razan pointed out in this epic post: It is very outrageous for some and for [...]

31.03.2009

10 Comments

Magical Thinking

Step on a crack and you’ll break your mother’s back…Magical thinking is defined by nonscientific causal reasoning including ideas such as the ability of the mind to affect the physical world.  Although it can manifest in a variety of ways, the primary commonality of magical thinking is the belief of the person that his or [...]

27.03.2009

4 Comments

Aleppo

I’ve been home from Syria for ten days, and pathetically, I have only written one blog post. I’ve been busy, you see – looking for a new apartment, catching up on work, being human…and absorbing. Since Prague, I haven’t traveled anywhere personally significant, and even Prague, even the city of a thousand spires, didn’t meet [...]

25.03.2009

8 Comments

In Memoriam: Omidreza Mirsayafi

On Wednesday, I got the news that Omidreza Mirsayafi, Iranian blogger and new friend of mine, had passed away in prison in Iran.  He was arrested last April, tried last November, and detained in February following an interrogation.  On December 21, I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post entitled “Blogging in Iran: A Dangerous [...]

20.03.2009

6 Comments

Syria

Just three days ago I woke up in Damascus for the last time (for now). It doesn’t seem possible, sitting here in my Cambridge office, looking out the window at a still mid-winter sky, that exactly this time last week I was watching the sun set on the road between Homs and Damascus. It doesn’t [...]

18.03.2009

12 Comments

From Amman

I arrived without incident, the 12-hour plane ride which had caused me so much anxiety turned out to be rather simple – you stay awake long enough for dinner, pop a sleeping aid of some kind, knock yourself out for six or so hours and wake up with enough time left to watch a movie [...]

06.03.2009

2 Comments

To Syria

In three days, I will be in Damascus. Even since my passport arrived in the mail with the giant visa stamp leaking through to the next page less than a month ago, it hasn’t quite felt real. I keep waiting for it to, but it seems like the more I travel, the less I’m able [...]

03.03.2009

3 Comments

Do You Herdict?

I’m a bit behind in pushing this on my own blog, but since the launch last Wednesday, it’s been a massive whirlwind of excitement. Herdict.org, or Herdict Web uses crowdsourcing to gather information on Internet accessibility around the globe (which sometimes means filtering and sometimes doesn’t). As a part of the Herdict core team, I’m [...]

02.03.2009

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