Ajnabieh - The Foreigner

This message brought to you from deep within the hinterland of Dissertation-Revision-Land. At least I managed to find that ACS data pull that I needed to run two more distributions on, right? Right?

Quran-burning pastor: Plan to visit Dearborn opposed - Detroit Free Press

OH FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER NO. I wish I had something more coherent to say on this topic, but it's just going to come down to flaily-hands at the moment.

Two Poems by Rashid Hussein - Jadaliyya

And this is why Jadaliyya is awesome: new translations of poems by one of the best literary translators in the biz, for free, on my RSS feed. The poems in this post are posted to commemorate Yom al-'Ard, Land Day, one of the major Palestinian nationalist holidays. Without a Passport, the second passport, is the more effective of the two, IMHO.

Is Egypt ready for "Queer"? - Bekhsoos

A little contemplatory piece on being out and queer in the revolutionary Middle East. This section in particular struck me:

When attending the Women’s Day protest, I noticed a significant number of gay people present (both men and women). The men present were accused of being “faggots”, and bore equal – if not greater – hostility than the women beside them. In the same way that acknowledging women’s role in society threatens male dominance, the notion of diverging sexualities is not just socially taboo, but also a challenge to the prevalent misogyny which informs attitudes to male-female relationships.

Tahrir Documents

ZOMG SO AWESOME. This is a translation project working on producing English versions (and digital copies) of the emphemeral discourse of revolutionary Egypt. Basically, I am in total geekgasm mode over this stuff--and I wish my Arabic were better so I could be helping out.

What Wasn't Said at Senator Durbin's Hearing on "The State of Muslim Civil Rights in the US" - Erik Lov @ Jadaliyya

Compared to the reporting that Peter King's hearings got, I hadn't heard a thing about Durbin's response until this article. Color me shocked that the Islamphobic fear-mongering dramatics of King beat out an evaluation of actual threats to an American minority community. *rolling my eyes FOREVER*

The Cute Cat Theory Talk at ETech - Ethan Zuckerman

Probably people have heard this before, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it. Favorite quote:

I’d offer the hypothesis that any sufficiently advanced read/write technology will get used for two purposes: pornography and activism. Porn is a weak test for the success of participatory media – it’s like tapping a mike and asking, “Is it on?” If you’re not getting porn in your system, it doesn’t work. Activism is a stronger test – if activists are using your tools, it’s a pretty good indication that your tools are useful and usable.

Rescue the Revolution: Notes from Cairo - Michael C. Hudson @ Middle East Channel

As exciting as the fall of Mubarak was, Egypt's revolution can't be over yet; it's going to be a long time before we know what will come of post-Tahrir Egypt. A good piece of reporting from on the ground in Tahrir now.